11. Surah Hud

Commentary Surah Hud is among the Surahs that describe the coming of several kinds of mass punishments triggered by Divine displeasure as well as the horrendous happenings of the fateful day of Judgment and its outcome in the form of individual reward and punishment, all in a manner that is unique. For this reason, when a few strands of hair in the blessed beard of the Holy Prophet ﷺ had turned visibly grey, Sayyidna Abu Bakr ؓ expressed his concern by saying: ` Ya Ras ulallah, you have become old.' He said: ` Yes, Surah Hud has made me old.' There are reports which also add Surah al-Waqi` ah, al-Mursalat, ` Amma Yatasa'alun (an-Naba' ) and at-Takwir with Surah Hud. (Reported by a1-Hakim and Tirmidhi) The sense articulated through the Hadith given above was to highlight that such was the awe and terror inspired by the mention of these happenings that it caused the emergence of the signs of old age. The first verse of the Surah opens with the letters: الر (alif lam, ra). These are isolated letters the meaning of which is a secret between Allah Ta` ala and His Rasul ﷺ . Others have not been informed about it. Rather, they have been prohibited from even worrying about it. After that, about the Holy Qur'an it was said that it was a book the verses of which are made ` muhkam' (firm). The word: مُحکَم (muhkam) is from: اِحکَام (ihkam) which means such a correct balancing of meaningful speech as would not leave the probability of any error or disorder in word or meaning. Based on this definition, the making of these verses ` muhkam,' firm or established would mean that Allah Ta` ala has made these verses such as do not admit of any likelihood and probability of any error in words, or disorder in meanings, or defect, or falsity. (Qurtubi) And Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ has said that ` muhkam' (firm) at this place stands in contrast to 'mansukh' (abrogated). And the sense is that Allah Ta` ala has made the verses of the Qur'an as a whole firm, non-abrogated - that is, the way earlier Books, Torah, Injil etc. were abrogated after the revelation of the Qur'an. But, after the revelation of this Book, since the very chain of the coming of prophets and revelations came to an end, therefore, this Book will not be abrogated until the last day of Qiyamah. (Qurtubi) As for the abrogation of some verses of the Qur'an through the Qur'an itself, it is not contrary to this. In the same verse, given there was another standing feature of the Qur'an: ثُمَّ فُصِّلَتْ (thumma fussilat) that is, ` then these verses were elaborated'. The real meaning of tafsil or elaboration is to separate two things and make them distinct from each other. For this reason, different sections in ordinary (Arabic) books bear the heading of 'Fasl'. At this place, the elaboration of verses could also mean that the verses concerning beliefs, acts of worship, dealings, social living, morals etc., have been separated from each other and described clearly. And it could also mean that, as far as Allah Ta` ala's will is concerned, the entire Qur'an had already been embedded in the Preserved Tablet اَلَّوحَ اِلمَحفُوظ (al-lawh al-mahfuz). But, later it was revealed bit by bit in many installments as necessitated under different conditions prevailing among peoples and countries, so that its preservation could become easy and acting in accordance with it also turns out to be functionally convenient. After that, it was said: مِن لَّدُنْ حَكِيمٍ خَبِيرٍ‌ that is, all these verses have come from a Sacred Being who is absolutely and simultaneously Wise and Aware. In other words, there are so many considerations of wisdom ingrained in everything that issues forth from Him. It is impossible for human beings to encompass them all. Then He is fully aware of every particle, present now or to be present in the future, of this multi-faceted universe. He knows all states of their existence as it is and as it will be and releases His commands keeping all this in sight. This is not like what human beings do. No matter how intelligent, smart and experienced they may be, their reason and vision are still cordoned by a limited frame of reference. Their experience is the product of what is around them. And this, mostly, proves to be unsuccessful, even wrong, especially when it concerns what would happen in the future under different times and conditions. (Interestingly enough, the observations of the commentator apply to what we now know as the intellectual phenomena of Futurology with its pundits, fellow travelers and dabblers all over the world, including Pakistan! tr).

From the second verse begins the delineation of one of the most important and foremost themes, that of Tauhid, the Oneness of Allah Ta` ala. It is said: أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا اللَّـهَ (that you worship none but Allah). It means that among things stated in these verses the most important and foremost is that no one else should be worshipped except the One Allah. After that, it was said: إِنَّنِي لَكُم مِّنْهُ نَذِيرٌ‌ وَبَشِيرٌ‌ (Surely, I am for you a warner from Him, and a bearer of glad tidings). It means that the noble messenger of Allah, ﷺ has been commanded to tell the whole world through these verses that he was for them a carrier of warning (against disobedience) and a bearer of glad tidings (of blessings in this life and in the life to come) from Allah. The word: نَذِیر (nadhir) is usually taken to mean a person who puts the fear of something into someone's heart. But, this word is not used to denote a fear-generating enemy or beast or others that harm. In-stead of that, nadhir is applied to a person who, out of his love and affection to someone, warns him against and saves him from some harmful things. These could be things that harm in this world and might as well could be those that bring harm in the Hereafter.

Out of the instructions given in these verses of the Qur'an, the second one appears in the third verse in the words: وَأَنِ اسْتَغْفِرُ‌وا رَ‌بَّكُمْ ثُمَّ تُوبُوا إِلَيْهِ (and that you seek forgiveness from your Lord). It means that, in these verses of firm and established meaning, Allah Ta` ala has also instructed His servants to ask for forgiveness and pardon from their Lord, and make their Taubah before Him. Forgiveness مَغفِرَہ (maghfirah) relates to past sins and Taubah (repentance) relates to the resolve of not going near these anymore. And, in reality, a correct and true Taubah is no more than being ashamed of past sins, praying to Allah that they be forgiven and resolving firmly that they would not be repeated in future. Therefore, some righteous elders have said that seeking forgiveness from Allah only verbally - without having made a firm resolution, and the necessary arrangements to implement it, in order to remain safe from future sins - is the Taubah (repentance) of liars (alkadhdhabin). (Qurtubi) Or, as it was said poetically: مَعصیت راخندہ می آید بر استغفار ما 'Sin laughs at my style of seeking forgiveness' or that such repentance is itself worth being repented. After that, glad tidings of the finest fruits of success in Dunya and Akhirah have been given to those who repent and seek forgiveness by saying: يُمَتِّعْكُم مَّتَاعًا حَسَنًا إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى (He will, then, provide you with good things to enjoy for a given time). It means that those who genuinely seek forgiveness for their past sins and firmly resolve to abstain from these in future and do what it takes to implement their resolution, then, not only that their error will be forgiven, they would also be blessed with a good life. And it is obvious that ` life' here carries a general sense that includes life in the mortal world as well as the life in the Hereafter. It is about such people that the Qur'an has said elsewhere: لَنُحْيِيَنَّهُ حَيَاةً طَيِّبَةً (We shall certainly give them good and pure life - 16:97). According to the investigations of the majority of commentators, both the lives of Dunya and 'Akhirah are included in the sense of this verse as well. This has been further clarified in Surah Nuh. The ad-dress is to the seekers of forgiveness. It was said: يُرْ‌سِلِ السَّمَاءَ عَلَيْكُم مِّدْرَ‌ارً‌ا ﴿11﴾ وَيُمْدِدْكُم بِأَمْوَالٍ وَبَنِينَ وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ أَنْهَارً‌ا ﴿12﴾. It means: (if you were to seek forgiveness from Allah genuinely), Allah Ta` ala shall send the sky showering over you (the rains of His mercy) and bless you with wealth and children and make for you gardens and bring for you rivers - 71:11). It is obvious that the mercy of rains and the blessings of wealth and children relate to the life of the present world. That is why most of the commentators have taken the expression مَّتَاعًا حَسَنًا (good things to enjoy) to mean the worldly enjoyments. According to them the sense is that, ` Allah Ta` ala shall bless you with extended sustenance and easy modalities of comfort and protect you from calamities and punishments - as a result of the forgiveness you seek and the repentance you show. And since this worldly life must end some day, the enjoyment of its comforts cannot become eternal under the law of nature. Therefore, by adding the caveat: إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى (for a given time), it has been stressed that the ` good things to enjoy' in the present world will be available up to a particular time, that is, the time of death. On the final count, death will eliminate all these things. But, soon after this ` death,' the life of the other world will begin, and there too, eternal comforts will be available to those who repent and seek forgiveness. And Sahl ibn ` Abdullah (رح) said, ` The meaning of ` good things to enjoy' is that one's attention bypasses the created and re-mains fixed on the Creator.' Some other men of Allah have said, ` The reality of ` good things to enjoy' is that one remains content with what is available and worries not for what is not.' In other words, one should be satisfied with as much as is within easy reach in this world and should not eat his heart out for what he does not have. Of the glad tidings given to those who repent and seek forgiveness, the second appears in the following words: وَيُؤْتِ كُلَّ ذِي فَضْلٍ فَضْلَهُ '' (and bestow His added grace on everyone of excellence). Here, the first فَضَل (fadl: excellexice) refers to one's good deed, while the second ` fadl' denotes Di-vine grace or bounty, that is, the Paradise. Put simply, the sense is that Allah Ta` a1a shall bless every doer of good deed with His grace, that is, Paradise. A promise was made of Good Life, both in Dunya and Akhirah, in the first sentence, and of everlasting blessings of Paradise, in the second. After that, it was said: وَإِن تَوَلَّوْا فَإِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ كَبِيرٍ‌ (And if you turn away, then, I fear for you the punishment of a great day). That is: ` If you turn away from the good counsel given to you, fail to seek forgiveness for your past sins, and fail to remain safe against sins in the future, then, there is a strong likelihood that you will be seized by the punishment of a great day'. It refers to the day of Qiyamah for it would be a day of one thousand years and, also in terms of what ominous things would transpire in it, it will be the gravest.

In the fifth verse, the theme has been emphasized further. Let man do what he elects to. Let him live the way he fancies. But, ultimately, once dead, man has to return to Him and He is powerful over everything. It is not at all difficult for Him to have each particle man is made of reassembled after he is dead and becomes dust and see to it that there rises the man he was, all over again.

The sixth verse carries a refutation of what the hypocrites and the disbelievers do. They try to camouflage their hostility, and their antagonistic activism against the Holy Prophet ﷺ as deftly as they could. Their hearts blaze with malice and enmity but they maintain a cool front, find all sorts of covers to hide their true identity and intention and surmise that no one would find out who they were really and what they were doing actually. But, the truth of the matter is that Allah Ta` ala knows it all, that which they let come out in the open and that which they conceal behind all sorts of clothes, covers and curtains: إِنَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ‌ because, ` He is All Aware of [ even ] what lies in the hearts.'

Commentary Mentioned in the previous verse was the all-encompassing knowledge of Allah Ta` ala from whom nothing is hidden, nothing from the tiniest particle of the universe down to the secrets of the hearts. It is in consonance with it that the first verse (6) mentions a great favor be-stowed on human beings - that Allah Ta` ala has Himself taken the responsibility of providing their sustenance. Then, this is not restricted to human beings alone. It extends to every living form that walks over the earth. Its sustenance reaches it where it lives or goes to. That being the state of affairs, the intentions and efforts of disbelievers and hypocrites to hide things from Allah Ta` ala are nothing but ignorance and senselessness. Then, taken in a general sense, it would include all beasts, birds, insects and all animals of the land and the sea. To intensify this generality, the word: مِن (min) has been added and the text reads: وَمَا مِن دَابَّةٍ (and there is no creature). Dabbah is any creature that moves on earth. Birds are also included there because their nests are also located somewhere on the land. That creatures living in water have also a connection with the surface of the earth is no secret. Allah Ta` ala has taken the responsibility of providing sustenance for all these life forms and has put it in words which give the impression of a duty imposed on someone. It was said: عَلَى اللَّـهِ رِ‌زْقُهَا (its sustenance is on Allah). It is obvious that there is no power that could put a liability on Allah Ta` ala. What really happened is that Allah Ta` ala himself has made this promise out of his grace and mercy. But, this promise comes from One who is True and Merciful. There is no probability of things happening otherwise, counter to the promise. This is a matter of certitude. It is to express this element of certitude that the word: علی (` ala: on) has been introduced at this place - a word used to describe duties, although, Allah Ta` ala takes no orders from anyone, nor is He responsible for something as obligated or necessary. Lexically, رِزِق rizq (sustenance, provision or livelihood) means something from which a creature procures its food and through which the body grows and the soul survives. According to the lexical meaning of the word رِزِق 'rizq', it is not necessary that whoever has it should also be its owner - because, رِزِق rizq is given to all animals, but they are not its owners. They are not cut out for ownership. Similarly, infants are not the owners of their رِزِق rizq, but it is given to them. In terms of this general sense of رِزِق rizq, ` Ulama' have said that رِزِق rizq could be halal (lawful) and it could also be Haram (unlawful), because for a person who eats up what belongs to the other person, that property, no doubt, becomes his food, but so it becomes only unlawfully. Had this person not used unfair means blinded by his greed, he would have received the halal حلال (lawful) رِزِق rizq reserved and appointed for him. Removal of a doubt against the Divine Responsibility of Rizq رِزِق A question arises at this stage. When Allah Ta` ala has taken the responsibility of providing food for every creature, why is it that there are many animals and human beings who die of hunger and thirst for the reason that they do not get food or water? The ` Ulama' have given several answers. One possible answer is that the responsibility of rizq is there until comes the appointed time, that is, until comes the end of the years of life. When these years are over, one has to die, pass away from this world, the common causes of which are diseases, or accidents like burning, drowning, injury and wounds. Similarly, there could also be the reason that the رِزِق rizq for the incumbent was stopped and which caused death. Imam al-Qurtubi, under his comments on this verse, has mentioned an event related to Abu Musa, Abu Malik and some others from their tribe of Banu al-Ash'ar. When these people reached the blessed city of Madinah after their Hijrah, the wherewithal of their journey was all used up. They sent one of their men to the Holy Prophet ﷺ in the hope that he would make some arrangement for their meals. When this person reached his door, he heard the Holy Prophet ﷺ reciting the verse: وَمَا مِن دَابَّةٍ فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ إِلَّا عَلَى اللَّـهِ رِ‌زْقُهَا (And there is no creature on earth whose sustenance is not on Allah - 6). Hearing this verse, the person, thought that Allah has Himself taken the responsibility of providing رِزِق rizq for all life forms, human or non-human, then, we Ash'arites too would not be any worse than the animals in the sight of Allah. He shall, most certainly, give us our رِزِق rizq. With this thought in his mind, he turned from the door and left. He simply said nothing to the Holy Prophet ﷺ about why he was there. After having returned to his tribe, he said, ` Rejoice, my friends. The help of Allah is coming for you.' His Ash'ari companions took his words in a different sense. They thought that their emissary sent to the Holy Prophet ﷺ was talking about the success of his visit and that the Holy Prophet ﷺ had promised to make arrangements for what they needed. Naturally, they found the news good and felt satisfied. Hardly had they sat down when they saw two men bringing a trencher, a large wooden tray, full of meat and bread. The carriers gave all this food to the Ash'arites who ate it to their fill. When food was still left, they thought it would be nice to send the rest of the food to the Holy Prophet ﷺ that he could use it as he deemed fit. They had two of their men carry this food to the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Later they all presented themselves before the Holy Prophet ﷺ and told him, ` Ya Rasulallah, the food you sent was very nice and very delicious.' He said, ` As for me, I never sent any food.' Then, they told him the whole story that they had sent one of their men to him, the reply that he gave led them to believe that the food was sent by him. Hearing this, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, ` not by me, this was sent by the Most Sacred Being who has taken the responsibility of providing رِزِق rizq to every living creature.' According to some Hadith reports, when Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) reached the Mount of Tur in search of fire, what he found there was not fire but Divine light. He was made a prophet and asked to go to Egypt so that the Pharaoh and his people could be brought on the right path. At that hour, it occurred to him that he had left his wife in a wilderness all alone - who would take care of her? To remove this scruple from his heart, Allah Ta` ala asked Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) to strike his rod at the rock in front of him. When he did what he was asked to do, the rock split and out came yet another rock. He was asked to strike his rod at that too. He did that, the rock split and out came the third rock from it. He was asked to strike his rod at that too. It split and coming out from it he saw a creature holding a green leaf in his mouth. No doubt, Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) believed in the perfect power of Allah Ta` ala even before, but what one sees with one's eyes has an effect of its own. So, when Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) saw this, he took off for Egypt right from that spot. He did not even stop to tell his wife that he had been commanded to leave for Egypt and that he was going there. Rizq رِزِق for All: The Divine System is Unique After having made the promise in this verse that Allah Ta` ala has taken the responsibility of providing the rizq of every living creature, things have not been left at that. Instead, to put human beings further at ease, it was said: وَيَعْلَمُ مُسْتَقَرَّ‌هَا وَمُسْتَوْدَعَهَا (and He knows its permanent and its temporary place - 6). Different explanations of the words: مُستقر (mustaqarr) and مُستودع (mustawda' ) have been reported but, lexically, what Tafsir al-Kashshaf carries is the closest. It says that mustaqarr is the place someone makes a permanent residence, or home; and mustawda' is a place where one stays temporarily to take care of some-thing (as it appears in the translation of the text). The sense being driven home is that the responsibility of Allah Ta` ala should not be taken on the analogy of responsibilities as assumed by peoples and governments of the world of our experience. Here in this world, let us assume that there is a person or institution that would take the responsibility of delivering your رِزِق 'rizq' to you. In that case, if you were going somewhere, you would inform that individual or institution that you were leaving your permanent place to go somewhere else. Then, you will have to give a firm itinerary that you will be living in such and such city or village, from such and such date to such and such date, and that you wanted your provider to deliver your rizq there! But, when things are ` on Allah' and under His responsibility, you do not have to take even this much of trouble because He knows when you move and He knows when you do not and He knows what you are doing in this or that state. He knows where you live permanently and He knows where you live temporarily. He needs no application, or advice or address to take care of your رِزِق rizq. It is just delivered wherever you are. In view of the all-encompassing knowledge and perfect power of Allah Ta` ala, only His will would have been sufficient to make everything come out right - without the need to maintain a log book or master file of work done. But, the only analogy weak man has is the analogy of the system he is used to, therefore, he could have apprehensions of possible errors and omissions. So, for his peace of mind, it was said: كُلٌّ فِي كِتَابٍ مُّبِين (Everything is in a clear book). This ` clear book' means the Preserved Tablet (al-lawh al-mahfuz) which has a universal coverage with full details of the sustenance, age, deed and things like that and which are entrusted with concerned angels as and when needed. As narrated by Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Umar ؓ and reported in the Sahih of Muslim, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, ` Allah Ta` ala had written the destinies of all His creation fifty thousand years even before the creation of the heavens and the earth.' A lengthy Hadith narrated by Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn Masud ؓ appearing in al-Bukhari and Muslim, reports the saying of the Holy Prophet ﷺ which is summarized as follows: ` Man goes through different stages before his birth. When the parts of his body are formed completely, Allah Ta` ala commands an angel who writes down four things about him. One: Deeds he will do. Two: Years of life. Even recorded there is the month, day, minute and breath count. Three: Death: Where would he die and where would he be buried? Four: Rizq: How much is his sustenance and how and where does it have to reach him?' (And that it stands written in the Preserved Tablet (al-lawh al-mahfuz) even before the creation of the heavens and the earth is not contrary to this).

Another manifestation of the all-encompassing knowledge and perfect power of Allah Ta` ala has been mentioned in the second verse (7) - ` And He is the One who created the heavens and the earth in six days and (before creating these) His throne was on water.' This tells us that water was created before the creation of the heavens and the earth. As for the elaboration of the creation of the heavens and the earth in six days, it has appeared in Surah Ha Mim as-Sajdah (also called Surah Fussilat). There it has been said that the earth was created in two days, mountains, river streams, trees and means for the sustenance and survival of living creatures in two days, then, the seven heavens in two days - 41:9-12). According to Tafsir Mazhari, heavens mean everything high and above and the earth means down and below. Day is the measure of time which, after the creation of the heavens and the earth, is from sunrise to sunset - although, at the time of the creation of the heavens and the earth, neither did the sun exist nor its rising and setting. It was also within the perfect power of Allah Ta` ala to create all these things in the flash of a moment but, in His infinite wisdom, He has made the system of this world gradual which is suitable for human temperament. The purpose of the creation of the heavens and the earth has been identified at the end of the verse by saying: لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا (So that He might test you as to who among you is better in deed). This tells us that the creation of the heavens and the earth was not the main purpose. The fact is that these were created for human beings who act right, do better and, along with it, also make the best use of what has been placed therein to run their lives. Finally, it is expected of them that they would ponder over these and would not miss to recognize their Master and Lord (the Malik, the Rabb). The outcome is that human beings are the real purpose of the creation of the heavens and the earth. However, human beings are not all alike. Among them there are those who believe and have faith. Then, even among the later, there is someone, a man or a woman, who is the best in deeds. And it goes without saying that, among the progeny of Sayyidna Adam (علیہ السلام) the best in deeds is our Rasul, on him the blessing of Allah, and peace. Therefore, it is correct to say that the real purpose of creating the entire universe is to bless it with the generous presence of the Holy Prophet ﷺ (serving as a model right through the Last Day). (Mazhari) There is something we should also take note of. Allah Ta` ala said: أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا (who among you is better in deed). He has said nothing about the number of deeds. From here we learn that Allah Ta'ala favors the quality of deed more than He does the abundance or profusion or fre-quency of good deeds such as, Salah, Sawm, Tilawah of Qur'an and Dhikr of Allah. This beauty or excellence of deeds has been expressed through the word: اِحسَان (ihsan) in Hadith. Essentially, it means the doing of a deed for the good pleasure of Allah alone with no worldly motive attached to it. Then, it is also necessary to do it in a way that is liked in the sight of Allah. This way has been demonstrated by the Holy Prophet ﷺ through his conduct and he has made it necessary for his community to follow his Sunnah. In a nutshell, we can say that a little done with total sincerity and according to Sunnah is better than a lot more done with none, or less of the two.

Described in the seventh verse is the condition of those who denied that there was to be a Last Day and a Hereafter. Like chronic deniers of the truth, when they do not understand (or do not want to under-stand) something, they would dismiss it as nothing but magic. In the eighth verse, an answer has been given to people who doubted the warnings of punishment given by prophets, peace be on them. Not willing to believe them, they used to ask them if they were true, and if they were, why the punishment they warned them of would not come?

Commentary In the verses appearing above, it has been confirmed that the Holy Prophet ﷺ is a Messenger of Allah and an answer has been given to those who engineer doubts about it. At the beginning, in the first three verses (9-11), an instinctively bad human habit has been mentioned with an instruction to Muslims that they should stay away from it. That man is naturally fickle-minded and haste-prone, and that he tends to be consumed by his immediate condition and puts all concerns of the past and future out of his mind, has been described in the first two verses (9, 10). It has been said: If We let man taste a blessing and then take it back, he loses courage and hope and turns ungrateful. And if We let him taste a blessing after he has suffered from some hardship, he forgets all about his suffering and starts bragging and boasting. In other words, man is given to hurry things, takes the present as everything, does not bother to refer to the past or show concern for the future, therefore, a suffering after a blessing makes him lose hope and slide into ungratefulness. He never thinks that Allah who blessed him first could bless him again. Similarly, if one gets comfort after suffering, then he, rather than recall his past suffering, turn to Allah and be grateful to Him, starts waxing more proud and arrogant. In that state, he forgets his past and goes about thinking that Allah's blessings were his right, he has to have these, and that he remains under the impression that this was how he would continue for the rest of his life. So heedless he becomes that it just does not occur to him that the way the days of suffering did not continue any more, the same thing could hap-pen to the days of comfort and they too could vanish. Such is the state of human worship of the present and so tragic is the penchant for forgetting the past and the present that a power-hungry man would not even blink to raise the edifice of his power on the blood and dust of another man of power. Always looking up, he would never look down to recall that this had been the fate of the man of power before him. Sad ends and ill fates make no effect on him for power in the present tastes good. When people start worshipping the present and elect to remain drunk with the state they are in, that is high time for Books of Allah and His Messengers to come. When they do, they bring the lesson-oriented events of the past into sharp focus for heedless man to see things in this perspective and have a little concern for what would happen to them in the future. The lesson they teach is: Ponder over the changing conditions of the universe you are in and get to know the power working behind these - great sermonizers from the Lord! A perfect believer, in fact, a perfect human being is one who is able to perceive the hidden Power behind every change, revolution, sorrow and comfort, ignore their transitory phases, dismiss their material causes as the sole explanation. The mark of an intelligent person is that he looks at the originator or causer of causes more than he would look at causes, and it is with Him alone that he would relate to as firmly as possible.

In order to make such perfect models of humanity distinct from those having common human temperament, it was said in the third verse (11): إِلَّا الَّذِينَ صَبَرُ‌وا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ (except those who are patient and do good deeds). It means that people exempted from this common human frailty have two qualities: صَبر Sabr (patience) and al-Amal as-Salih (good deeds). The word: صَبر (sabr) is used to convey a much wider range of meanings in the Arabic language, much wider than conveyed by its translation as ` patience' in English. The real meaning of صَبر Sabr is to tie, check, stop or hold back. In the terminology of the Qur'an and Sunnah, to hold the desiring human self back from going for the impermissible is Sabr. Therefore, the sense of صَبر Sabr (patience) includes abstention from all sins and doings counter to the dictates of the Shari` ah and al-Amal as-Salih (good deeds) covers all that is obligatory (fard), necessary (wajib), Sunnah and recommended (mustahabb). The verse now comes to mean that there are people who will not be affected by common human weaknesses. This will happen because they would have faith in Allah and they would fear the reckoning of the Last Day of Qiyamah. They will abstain from everything disliked by Allah and His Rasul and race towards every deed that brings their pleasure. At the end of this very verse, also identified there is the recompense of these perfect human beings: أُولَـٰئِكَ لَهُم مَّغْفِرَ‌ةٌ وَأَجْرٌ‌ كَبِير (Those are the people for whom there is forgiveness and a great reward - 11) At this place, it should be noted that the Holy Qur'an uses the word: اَذَقنَا (adhaqna: We give them a taste of) for blessing and suffering both. By this device, it was indicated that real blessing and suffering is that of the Hereafter. Neither is the comfort of the mortal world the whole of it, nor is its suffering the whole of it. Instead of that, it should be taken at the level of tasting and sampling so that human beings could have some idea of the blessings and sufferings of the Hereafter. Therefore, neither are the comforts of this world something to be happy about unnecessarily, nor are its sufferings something to grieve about too much. If you were to think, this whole world is, to borrow a commercial term, only a showroom of the Hereafter with sample displays of comfort and suffering.

The fourth verse (12) has been revealed about a particular event. What happened was that the Mushriks of Makkah placed a host of demands before the Holy Prophet One of these was, ` our idols have been maligned in this Qur'an, therefore, we cannot believe in it. So, you should either bring some other Qur'an, or improve it by making alterations in it:;i ائْتِ بِقُرْ‌آنٍ غَيْرِ‌ هَـٰذَا أَوْ بَدِّلْ (Bring a Qur'an other than this, or change it - Yunus, 10:15) '. (Al-Baghawi, Mazhari) Another demand they came up with was, ` we are to believe in your prophesy only when some treasure, like the treasures of the kings of the world, is sent down for you and which you dole out to everyone around. Or that some angel descends from the heavens and hangs out with you everywhere testifying that you were a Messenger of Allah in all certainty.' The Holy Prophet ﷺ felt the pinch of these absurd, even disrespectfully audacious demands in his heart. The reason was that he was mercy for all the worlds. It was not possible for him to leave them to their fate and take out the hope that they might someday believe from his heart. Nor was it possible for him to fulfill their absurd demands. To begin with, these demands were based on bland irrationality. If idols, idol-worship and things like that are not called what they are, what would become of right guidance and how would it be done? And then this brain wave of demanding a treasure from a prophet was a loud miss-match with his mission. They had simply taken the station of a prophet on the analogy of the status of a king. Similarly, it is not the practice of Allah Ta'ala that He would create conditions under which people were materially compelled to start professing the Faith. Otherwise, the whole world is within His power and control. Who could dare profess a belief, and act according to it, against the will of Allah Ta` ala? But, it is in His infinite wisdom that He has made this world a place of test. No material means are used here to compel people to do something good or to abstain from something bad. Certainly, what is done here is through Scriptures and Apostles. Lines are drawn between virtue and vice. Good and bad are separated. The outcome of each is explained. That is how people are invited and exhorted to do what is right and abstain from what is evil. And if some angel were to be miraculously attached to a prophet to attest to the veracity of his word, it would have posed problems. When no one believed it, he would have faced cash punishment on the spot. In that case, this would have been a modality of compelling people to believe. This kind of belief would have not been believing without seeing which is the essence of belief and faith, nor would there be any choice left for man to make which is the essence of his deed. As for the demands of those people, they were, no doubt, absurd and audacious. But, there is another aspect to it. The very act of making such demands proved that these people were grossly unaware of the status and reality of a messenger and prophet of Allah. They saw no difference between Allah and His Messenger. They even took the messenger to be absolutely powerful like Allah, therefore, they demanded that he should do for them what could not be done by anyone other than Allah. In brief, when the Holy Prophet ﷺ became very sad because of such demands, this verse was revealed to comfort him and to revitalize his thinking. Addressing him first, it was said: Would you - surrendering to the pressure of these people - leave out some part of the Qur'an, sent by Allah, which they do not like, such as a part where it talks about the utter helplessness of idols? Would you, then, still be disturbed in the face of such demands? The introduction of the statement in verse 12 with the word: aW (la'allaka: Is it then expected of you) does not mean that something like that could be expected of him actually. Instead, the purpose is to establish that he was free from such things. He would not leave out any part of the Qur'an in consideration of their insistence, nor does he have to be sad, concerned and straitened over their demands. The reason is that he has been sent from Allah as nadhir, as one who warns people against what is harmful for them, then, Allah takes care of the rest for He is powerful over everything. Nadhir has been mentioned here particularly because those being addressed were kafirs, and kafirs deserve nothing but warning against the consequences of their deeds. Otherwise, the Holy Prophet ﷺ is not simply nadhir, one who warns, he is bashir too, one who announces glad tidings for people who do good deeds. In addition to what has been said here about the mission of a nadhir, we should understand that, in reality, nadhir is a person who warns out of love and affection against what is evil and harmful. Therefore, in a way, the sense of bashir, a giver of glad tidings, is included in the sense of nadhir, a giver of warning.

In the cited verses, the Mushriks had demanded the kind of miracles they chose. Verses that follow tell them that they already have a miracle, the miracle of the Qur'an shown at the hands of the Holy Prophet ﷺ before them, a miracle even they could not deny. Now if they were demanding these miracles honestly, only to determine the veracity of the messenger of Allah, then, their demand stands accepted (and the miracle is on). And if this demand is simply to gratify their hostility, the showing of miracles demanded by them would remain redundant, for who could expect from such hostile people that they would embrace Islam, even after having seen those miracles. So, the essential point is that the Holy Qur'an is a clear miracle that cannot be denied. A refutation of the false doubts engineered by Mushriks and Kafirs in it has been made in the next two verses (13, 14): These people say that the Prophet of Islam has himself made up the Qur'an - it is no book of Allah. In answer, it was said: If you really think so, that Muhammad ﷺ can make a Qur'an like this, all by himself, then, you too, better come up with only ten Surahs like that. And it is not necessary either that these ten Surahs have to be made by any one person. Instead, let everyone in the world join forces and come up with it. And when they fail to make even ten Surahs, then, the Holy Prophet ﷺ was to tell them: Now the reality stands out loud and clear, for had this Qur'an been the word of some human being, other human beings could have also been able to make something like this. And that they all fail to do so is a strong proof of the fact that this Qur'an has been revealed only with the knowledge of Allah in which there is no room for the least increase or decrease and that it is beyond human power. At this place, the Holy Qur'an has said that they should come up with ten Surahs like it. And in another verse it was also said: ` Then, bring a Sarah the like of this - al-Baqarah, 2:23.'

The reason is that they were first asked to bring ten Surahs. They failed to do so. Then, to make their inability look more pronounced, it was said in the verse of Surah al-Baqarah quoted above: If you take the Qur'an to be a word of man, then, you too, bring no more than just one Surah being the like of it. But, despite this challenge of the Qur'an, made so easy for them, they could do nothing. It stood proved that the Holy Qur'an was a miracle, and the Word of Allah without any doubt. Therefore, at the end, it was said: , that is, 'would you now believe and obey, or would you prefer to remain heedless as before?'