Sūrah At-Taghābun " التغابن " - The Mutual Loss and Gain, is the sixty fourth sürah with 18 āyāt with two rukus, part of the 28th Juzʼ of the Qur'ān. The Surah takes its name from the sentence Dhalika yaum-ut taghabun " ذٰ لِكَ يَوۡمُ التَّغَابُنِ " of verse 9, thereby implying that it is the Surah in which the word at taghabun has occurred. It is part of Al-Musabbihat group. The previous Surah 63. Al-Munafiqun was about hypocrisy and the lack of Iman (faith). This surah is discussing the opposite of that.
As for its being Makki or Madni, Muqatil and Kalbi say that it was partly revealed at Makkah and partly at Madinah. Hadrat Abdullah bin Abbas and Ata bin Yasar say that verses 1-13 were revealed at Makkah and verses 14-18 at Madinah. But the majority of commentators regard the whole of the surah as a Madinan Revelation. Although there is no internal evidence to help determine its exact period of revelation, yet a study of its subject matter shows that it might probably have been sent down at an early stage at Madinah. That is why it partly resembles the Makkah surahs and partly the Madinan Surahs.
The theme of this surah is invitation to the Faith and obedience (to Allah) and the teaching of good morals. The sequence followed is that the first four verses are addressed to all men; verses 5-10 to those men, who do not believe in the invitation of the Qur'an; and verses 11-18 to those who accept and believe in this invitation.
In the verses addressed to all men, they have been made aware in a few brief sentences of the four fundamental truths:
First, that the universe in which they live is not Godless, but its Creator, Master and Ruler is an All Powerful God, and everything in it testifies to His being most Perfect and absolutely faultless.
Second, that the universe is not without purpose and wisdom, but its Creator has created it with truth no one should be under the delusion that it is a mock show, which began without a purpose and will come to an end without a purpose.
Third, that the excellent form that God has created you with and the choice that He has given you to choose between belief and unbelief is not a useless and meaningless activity so that it may be of no consequence whether you choose belief or unbelief. In fact, God is watching as to how you exercise your choice.
Fourth, that you have not been created irresponsible and un-answerable. You have to return ultimately to your Creator, and have to meet the Being who is aware of everything in the universe, from Whom nothing is hidden, to Whom even the innermost thoughts of the minds are known.
After stating these four fundamental truths about the Universe and Man, the address turns to the people who adopted the way of unbelief, and their attention is drawn to a phenomenon which has persisted throughout human history, namely that nation after nation has arisen and ultimately gone to its doom. Man by his intellect and reason has been explaining this phenomenon in a thousand ways, but Allah tells the real truth and declares that the fundamental causes of the destruction of the nations were only two:
First, that they refused to believe in the Messengers whom He sent for their guidance, with the result that Allah too left them to themselves, and they invented their own philosophies of life and went on groping their way from one error to another.
Second, that they also, rejected the doctrine of Hereafter, and thought this worldly life to be an end in itself, and that there was no life hereafter when they would have to render an account of their deeds before God. This corrupted their whole attitude towards life, and their impure morals and character so polluted the world that eventually the scourge of God itself had to descend and eliminate them from the scene.
After stating these two instructive truths of human history, the deniers of the message of Truth have been admonished to wake up and believe in Allah, His Messenger and the Light of Guidance that Allah has sent in the form of the Qur'an if they want to avoid the fate met by the former peoples. Besides, they have been warned that the Day shall eventually come when all the former and the latter generations will be collected at one place and the fraud and embezzlement committed by each will be exposed before all mankind. Then the fate of each man will be decided finally on the basis as to who had adopted the path of the Faith and righteousness and who had followed the way of disbelief and denial of the Truth. The first group shalt deserve eternal Paradise and the second shall be doomed to everlasting Hell.
Then, addressing those who adopt the way of the Faith, a few important instructions have been given:
First, that whatever affliction befalls a person in the world, it befalls him by Allah's leave. Whoever in this state of affliction remains steadfast to the Faith, Allah blesses his heart with guidance; otherwise although the affliction of the one who in confusion or bewilderment turns away from the path of the Faith, cannot be averted except by Allah's leave, yet he becomes involved in another, the greatest affliction of all, namely that his heart is deprived of the guidance of Allah.
Secondly, that the believer is not required to affirm the faith with the tongue only, but after the affirmation of the Faith he should practically obey Allah and His Messenger. If he turns away from obedience he would himself be responsible for his loss, for the Holy Messenger of Allah (upon whom be His peace) has become absolved from the responsibility after having delivered the message of Truth.
Thirdly, that the believer should place his trust in Allah alone and not in his own power or some other power of the world.
Fourthly, that the worldly goods and children are a great trial and temptation for the believer, for it is their love which generally distracts man from the path of faith and obedience. Therefore, the believers have to beware some of their children, and wives lest they become robbers for them on the Way of God directly or indirectly; and they should spend their wealth for the sake of God so that their self remains safe against the temptations of Satan.
Fifthly, that every man is responsible only to the extent of his power and ability. Allah does not demand that man should exert himself beyond his power and ability. However, the believer should try his best to live in fear of God as far as possible, and should see that he does not transgress the bounds set by Allah in his speech, conduct and dealings through his own negligence.
The Surah has been divided into Two Ruku as under:
- Ruku One Verses 1-10: To Allah belongs the kingdom of heavens and earth, and He knows all that you conceal and reveal and Surely there will be life after death, day of judgement and reward for good and bad deeds
- Ruku Two Verses 11-18: No affliction can ever befall except by the leave of Allah and Among your wives and children there are some who are your enemies, be aware of them
We have already presented the overview / summary of the sürah. Let us now read the verse by verse translation and exegesis / tafseer in English.
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful"
Ruku One Verse 1-10:
يُسَبِّحُ لِلّٰهِ مَا فِى السَّمٰوٰتِ وَمَا فِى الۡاَرۡضِۚ لَهُ الۡمُلۡكُ وَلَهُ الۡحَمۡدُ وَهُوَ عَلٰى كُلِّ شَىۡءٍ قَدِيۡرٌ
( 1 ) Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is exalting Allah. To Him belongs dominion, and to Him belongs [all] praise, and He is over all things competent.
" Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is exalting Allah " (For explanation, see commentary on verse 1 of Surah 57 Al-Hadid).
A study of the following theme by itself shows why the discourse has ban begun with this sentence. What has been stated below about the universe and man is that Allah alone is their Creator, Master, Ruler, and He has not made this universe without purpose and wisdom, that man has not been created and left irresponsible, so that he may act as he may please, and there should be nobody to call him to account, and that the Ruler of this universe is not a care-free and ignorant king so that he may have no knowledge of what is happening in his kingdom. The best introduction to this theme could be the same as has been couched in this brief sentence. In view of the context, the introduction means: In whichever direction you may turn your gaze, from the earth to the limitless vastnesses of the heavens, you will clearly see that everything from a particle to the great galaxies not only testifies to the existence of God but also bears evidence that its God is free from every defect, every weakness and error. Had there been the least probability of a defect or fault, weakness or deficiency, in His essence and attributes, in His acts and decrees, this perfect and wise system could not have come into being at all, nor continue to function so consistently and immutably from eternity to eternity.
"To Him belongs dominion" That is, the Kingdom of the universe solely belongs to Him. He has not just created it and left it alone after giving it the initial creation, but He alone is actually ruling over it every moment. No one else has any role or share whatsoever in this rule and sovereignty. If others possess temporarily and on a limited scale some powers of ownership or rule somewhere in the universe, these are not their personal powers, which they might have acquired by virtue of their own ability, but these have been granted to them by Allah. They possess these powers as long as Allah wills, and they can be withdrawn as and when He so desires.
" and to Him belongs [all] praise " In other words; He alone is worthy of all praise. Whatever other being has any praiseworthy quality, it has ban granted by Allah. And if hamd (praise) be taken in the sense of shukr (thankfulness), the meaning would be: In reality Allah alone is worthy of being thanked, for all good things in the world have been created by Him, and He alone is the real Benefactor of all kinds of creation. When we thank another being for favor, we thank it for the reason that Allah conveyed His blessing through it or him to us, otherwise neither the being itself is the creator of the blessing nor could it convey the blessing to you without Allah’s permission and help.
" and He is over all things competent " That is, He is the possessor of absolute power: He can do whatever He wills, there is no power to restrain or limit His Omnipotence.
Yusuf Ali Explanation: Cf. lxii. 1 (reproduced herein under):
"Whatever is in the heavens and on earth doth declare the Praises and Glory of Allah the Sovereign the Holy One the Exalted in Might the Wise."
See explanation to lix. 24:
Thus the argument of the Sura is rounded off on the same note as was struck at the beginning lix. 1. The first verse and the last verse of the Sura are the same, except as regards the tense of the verb sabbaha. In the first verse it is the optative form of the preterite sabbaha: everything declares the Glory of Allah! After the illustrations given, the declaratory form of the aorist is appropriate, yusabbihu: "everything doth declare the Glory of Allah'.
where I have explained the difference in signification between sabbaha and yusabbihu. The latter form is used here, to express an actual fact. 'Everything declares the Praises and Glory of Allah, because Allah's mercies extend to all Ms creatures: He sends His Revelation for the benefit of the ignorant and unlettered as well as for those who have learning in their midst, especially as the latter are apt, by the very weight of their ponderous learning, to miss the real point and spirit of Allah's Message.'
All things by their very existence proclaim the Glory and the Praises of Allah. He has dominion over all things, but He uses His dominion for just and praiseworthy ends. He has power over all things: therefore He can combine justice with mercy, and His Plan and Purpose cannot be frustrated by the existence of Evil along with Good in His Kingdom.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: Ie., each and every object glorifies God, and in this way testifies that to God alone belongs the sovereignty of this universe, and when He is the sole sovereign, then only He is worthy of being thanked and He has power on everything; He is not dependent on anyone to accomplish any of His tasks. Hence there is no reason to regard anyone else as His partner or worthy of being showing gratitude to.
هُوَ الَّذِىۡ خَلَقَكُمۡ فَمِنۡكُمۡ كَافِرٌ وَّمِنۡكُمۡ مُّؤۡمِنٌؕ وَاللّٰهُ بِمَا تَعۡمَلُوۡنَ بَصِيۡرٌ
( 2 ) It is He who created you, and among you is the disbeliever, and among you is the believer. And Allah, of what you do, is Seeing.
" He it is Who has created you: and among you are those that deny the Truth " It has four meanings and all are correct in their respective places:
First, that He alone is your Creator, yet some of you deny His being the Creator and others acknowledge this truth. This meaning becomes obvious when the first and the second sentences are read together.
Second, that He Himself has created you with the nature that if you choose to adopt unbelief, you may do so, and if you choose to affirm belief, you may do so. He has not compelled you to either accept or reject the faith. Therefore, you yourselves are responsible for your adopting belief or unbelief. This meaning is confirmed by the following sentence: Allah sees whatever you do. That is, by giving you this choice He has put you to the test, and He is watching how you exercise this choice.
The third meaning is, He has created you with a sound, wholesome nature, which demands that you should all adopt the way of the faith, yet some of you adopted unbelief, which was opposed to the nature and purpose of their creation, and some of you adopted the way of the faith, which was in conformity with their nature. This theme becomes obvious when this verse is read along with (verse 30 of Surah Ar-Room) which says: Set your face sincerely and truly towards faith, and be steadfast on the nature whereupon Allah has created mankind. There can be no alteration in the nature made by Allah. This is the right and true faith. And this very theme is explained by several Ahadith in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) has repeatedly stated that every man has been created on true human nature; then polytheism and deviation befall him from outside (For further explanation, see( E.Ns 42 to 47 of the commentary of Surah Ar-Room). Here, it may he pointed out that no divine Book has ever presented the concept of man’s being a sinner by birth, which Christianity has embraced as its fundamental doctrine for 1,500 years. Recently even Catholic scholars themselves have started expressing the view that there is no basis for this doctrine in the Bible. The famous German biblical scholar Rev. Herbert Haag writes in his book, Is Original Sin in Scripture: Among the earliest Christians, at least till the 3rd century A.D. there existed no such creed that man was a sinner by birth, and when this idea started spreading among the people, the Christian scholars continued to contradict it for two centuries. At last in the 5th century A.D. St Augustine by the power of his logic made this idea a part of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity. Mankind is heir to the original sin committed by Adam, and there is no way to salvation for man except through the Atonement made by Christ.
The fourth meaning is: Only Allah brought you into existence from nonexistence: you were not, then you became. This was such a simple thing that if you had thought over it seriously and seen that life is the real blessing through which you are benefiting by the other blessings in the world, none of you would have adopted the attitude of disbelief and rebellion against your Creator. But some of you did not give it due thought or thought wrongly, and adopted the way of disbelief, and some others adopted the same way of belief and faith which was the very demand of correct thinking.
In this sentence seeing does not merely mean to see, but it automatically gives the meaning that man will be rewarded or punished according to his actions and deeds. It is just like a master’s taking a person into service and then telling him: I shall see how you perform your duties, which implies: If you perform your duties well, I shall reward you fully; otherwise I shall call you to account for your negligence.
Yusuf Ali Explanation: It is not that He does not see Rebellion and Evil, nor that He cannot punish them. He created all things pure and good, and if evil crept in by the grant of a limited free-will by Him, it is not unforeseen: it is in His wise and universal Plan, for giving man a chance of rising higher and ever higher.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: The implication is that creator of mankind is the very one who has created this universe; hence, what was befitting was that man too should have glorified God the way the universe does; however, He blessed man with the freedom to exercise his will; so the result is that some people believe in God and some do not. Yet this does not mean that God will leave man do whatever he wants to and not hold him accountable and remain unconcerned with him. The fact is that God is watching whatever man does.
خَلَقَ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ الۡاَرۡضَ بِالۡحَقِّ وَ صَوَّرَکُمۡ فَاَحۡسَنَ صُوَرَکُمۡ ۚ وَ اِلَیۡہِ الۡمَصِیۡرُ
( 3 ) He created the heavens and earth in truth and formed you and perfected your forms; and to Him is the [final] destination.
In this verse three things have been stated in their sequence, which are well connected logically:
First, it has been said that Allah has created this universe with the truth. When the word with the truth is spoken for a news, it means a true news; when it is spoken for a command, it means a command based on justice; when it is spoken for a statement, it means a correct statement; and when it is used for an act, it implies an act which is wise, reasonable and useful. Now, khalq (to create) is an act; therefore, to say that the universe has been created with the truth, would inevitably mean that the universe has not been created for fun but it is a serious work of a Wise Creator: everything in it has a rational object and purpose, and the element of its being purposeful is so evident that if a sensible person understands the nature of a thing well, it cannot be difficult for him to know the rational and wise purpose for which it has been created. All of modern science testifies that whenever man has succeeded in understanding the true nature of a thing by careful thought, research and investigation, he has also come to know eventually the purpose and object of its creation, and this understanding of its purpose has led him to countless inventions which are now being used in civilized human life. This could not be possible, had this universe been the plaything of a carefree person, devoid of any wisdom and purpose. (For further explanation, see (E.N. 46 of Surah Al- Anaam); (E.N. 11 of Surah Yunus); (E.N. 26 of Surah Ibrahim); (E.N. 46 of Surah An-Nahl); (E.Ns 15, 16 of Surah Al-Anbiya), (E.N. 102 of Surah Al-Mominoon); (E.N. 75 of Surah Al-Ankabut); (E.N. 6 of Surah Ar-Room); (E.N. 34 of Surah Ad-Dukhan); (E.N. 28 of Surah Al-Jathiyah).
Secondly, it has been said that in this universe Allah has created man in the best shape. Shape here does not imply only man’s face but his whole bodily structure; it also includes all those powers and abilities which man has been granted to function in this world. In both these aspects man has been given the best shape and form among the creatures of the earth, and on the same basis he has become worthy to rule over all the universe. He has been given an erect stature; he has been given most appropriate feet to walk on; he has been given most suitable hands to work with; he has been given such senses and organs to acquire knowledge by which he obtains every kind of information; he has been given a powerful mind to think and understand and deduce results from the body of acquired information; he has been given a moral sense and a power of discrimination by which he distinguishes between good and evil, right and wrong; he has been given the power of decision by using which he selects his own course of action, and decides as to where he should employ his efforts and where he should not. He has even been given the freedom that he may acknowledge his Creator and serve Him if he so likes and reject Him if he pleases, or may make whomever he likes his gods, or rebel even against Him Whom he regards as his God. Along with all these capabilities and powers Allah has granted him the authority to appropriate everything created by Him, and he is practically using this authority in the world. (For further explanation, see (E.N. 91 of Surah Al-Momin).
The third thing which logically follows from the first two, as explained above has been stated in the third sentence of the verse: To Him you have to return in the end. Obviously, when a creature endowed with power and authority has been created in a wise and purposeful system of the universe, wisdom does not require that he should be left to live irresponsibly in the world, but it necessarily requires that that creature should be accountable to the Being Who has granted it this position and rank and blessed it with these powers; Returning in this verse does not merely mean to return but to return for accountability. In the following verses it has been explained that this return will not be in this life but into the second life after death, and its right time will he when all mankind will be resurrected and gathered together simultaneously for accountability, and in consequence of the accountability man will be rewarded or punished on the ground whether he had used the powers given him by God in the right way or the wrong way. As for the question, why cannot this accountability be held in the present life of the world, and why is its right time only the second life after death, and why is it necessary that this accountability be held only when all mankind has passed away from this world, and all the former and the latter generations have been resurrected and gathered together simultaneously? If man only uses his common sense a little, he can understand that all this is perfectly rational as well as the very demand of wisdom and reason that accountability should be held in the second lift and of all mankind together. The first reason is that man is accountable for his whole life-work. Therefore, the right time of his accountability should necessarily be when his life-work has come to an end. The second reason is that man is responsible for all those effects and influences which he produces by his acts on the lives of others, and those influences and effects do not come to an end with his death but continue to influence others till ages after him Therefore, true accountability call he held only when the life-work of entire mankind has come to an end and all the former and the latter generations are gathered together simultaneously for accountability. (For further explanation, see (E.N. 30 of Surah Al-Aaraf); (E.Ns 10, 11 of Surah Younus); (E.N. 105 of Surah Houd); (E.N. 35 of Surah An- Nahl); (E.N. 9 of Surah AI-Hajj); (E.N. 27 of Surah An-Naml); (E.Ns 5, 6 of Surah Ar-Room); (E.Ns 29, 30 of Surah Suad), (E.N. 80 of Surah Al-Momin), (E.Ns 27 to 29 of Surah Al- Jathiyah).
Yusuf Ali Explanation: Cf. explanation of xl. 64: also vii. 11. In addition to the beauty and grandeur of all God's Creation, He has endowed man with special aptitudes, faculties and capacities, and special excellencies which raise him at his best to the position of vicegerent on earth. "Beautiful" also includes the idea of "adapted to the ends for which they were created".
"The final Return": not only of mankind, but of all things created, whether material or in the realm of ideas and events. All things return to Allah: as they derive their origin from Him, so is the return or destination of all of them to Allah.
Muhammad Asad Explanation: As explained for verse 5 of Surah 10. Yunus:
" and has determined for it phases so that you might know how to compute the years and to measure [time]. None of this has God created without [an inner] truth. "
Lit., "God has not created this otherwise than in accordance with truth" - i.e., to fulfil a definite purpose in consonance with His planning wisdom (Zamakhshari, Baghawi, Razi): implying that everything in the universe - whether existent or potential, concrete or abstract - is meaningful, and nothing is "accidental". Cf. 3:191 - "O our Sustainer! Thou has not created [aught of] this without meaning and purpose (batilan)"; and 38:27 - "We have not created heaven and earth and all that is between them without meaning and purpose, as is the surmise (zann) of those who are bent on denying the truth".
" and formed you and perfected your forms" - i.e., in accordance with the exigencies of human life. Abd as explained for verse 11 of surah 7 Al A'raf:
The sequence of these two statements - "We have created you [i.e., "brought you into being as living organisms"] and then formed you" [or "given you your shape", i.e., as human beings] - is meant to bring out the fact of man's gradual development, in the individual sense, from the embryonic stage to full-fledged existence, as well as of the evolution of the human race as such.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: This statement substantiates what is stated above viz. this world has been created with a true purpose and has not been created by its creator for his amusement. In a similar manner, elaborate arrangement has been made in the creation of man. It is the consequence of this purpose and this arrangement that for reward and punishment a day come when man is returned to the very Lord who created him. If this does not happen, then all this arrangement is rendered meaningless; hence, man should beware that at last he has to return to his creator.
یَعۡلَمُ مَا فِی السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ الۡاَرۡضِ وَ یَعۡلَمُ مَا تُسِرُّوۡنَ وَ مَا تُعۡلِنُوۡنَ ؕ وَ اللّٰہُ عَلِیۡمٌۢ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُوۡرِ
( 4 ) He knows what is within the heavens and earth and knows what you conceal and what you declare. And Allah is Knowing of that within the breasts.
Another translation can be: Whatever you do secretly and whatever openly.
He is aware not only of those acts of man, which come to the notice of the people but He knows also those acts which remain hidden from them. Moreover, He does not only see the superficial form of the acts, but also knows what intention and purpose underlay each act of man and with what motive and aim he did whatever he did. This is such a truth that if man ponders over it seriously, he can fully understand that justice can be done only in the Hereafter, and only in God’s court can real justice be possibly done. Man’s own intellect itself demands that man must be punished for each of his crimes. But everyone knows that in the world most of the crimes remain hidden, or the culprit escapes punishment because of insufficient evidence, or even if the crime becomes revealed, the culprit is so influential and powerful that he cannot be punished. Then the intellect of man also requires that man should not be punished only because his behavior resembles a criminal act, but it should be ascertained that he has committed the act intentionally and deliberately and at the time he committed it, he was acting as a responsible agent, his intention, in fact, was to commit the crime, and he knew that what he was doing was a crime. That is why the worldly courts inquire into these things when they decide the cases, and regard such an inquiry as a demand of the rule of justice. But are there any means available in the world by which these things may be precisely ascertained beyond every shadow of doubt? Considered from this viewpoint, this verse also bears a deep logical relevance to Allah Almighty’s saying: He has created the earth and the heavens with truth. The necessary demand of creating them with truth is that perfect justice should prevail in this universe. Such justice can be established only when every act of a responsible man may not only remain concealed from the eyes of the one administering justice but the intention with which a person performed an act also should not remain hidden from him. And obviously, there cannot be any being, apart from the Creator of the universe, who can administer such justice. Now, if a person denies Allah and the Hereafter, he in fact, asserts that we humans live in a universe which is devoid of justice, which is rather a place where justice cannot possibly be done. The person whose intellect, mind and conscience feel satisfied at such an assumption would be a shameless creature if be thought he was being progressive and rationalistic and those people antiquated and retrogressive who accept a highly rational concept about the universe, which the Quran presents.
Yusuf Ali Explanation: Not only does He create and develop and sustain all things; but all thoughts, motives, feelings, ideas, and events are known to Him. Therefore we must not imagine that, if some evil seems to go unpunished, it is not known to Him or has escaped His notice. His Plan is wise and good in its fullest compass: sometimes we do not see its wisdom and goodness because we see only a broken fragment of it, as our own intelligence is narrow.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: This verse clarifies a misconception which people have generally been afflicted with about the reward and punishment of the Hereafter. They think that how can the record of what they do secretly and openly and the intention they have behind their deeds be preserved so that each and every thing come to the fore and their fate be decided with justice. The verse states that God is aware of each of these things; in fact, He even knows the secrets of the hearts.
اَلَمۡ یَاۡتِکُمۡ نَبَؤُا الَّذِیۡنَ کَفَرُوۡا مِنۡ قَبۡلُ ۫ فَذَاقُوۡا وَبَالَ اَمۡرِہِمۡ وَ لَہُمۡ عَذَابٌ اَلِیۡمٌ
( 5 ) Has there not come to you the news of those who disbelieved before? So they tasted the bad consequence of their affair, and they will have a painful punishment.
That is, the evil that they tasted in the world in consequence of their misdeeds was neither the real punishment of their crimes nor the full punishment. The real and full punishment they have yet to suffer in the Hereafter. However, the people can learn a lesson from the torment that visited them. They can see how the nations which adopted an attitude of unbelief against their Lord, went an degenerating and consequently met with an evil and disgraceful end. (For further explanation, see (E.Ns 5, 6 of Surah Al-Aaraf), (E.N. 105 of Surah Houd).
Yusuf Ali Explanation: "The evil result of their conduct" begins to manifest itself in this very life, either in external events, or in internal restlessness and agonies of conscience. But its culminating force will be seen in the "grievous Penalty" of the Hereafter.
Muhammad Asad Explanation: This is an allusion to the disasters and the suffering which, as history shows, inevitably befall every community or nation bent on rejecting the basic ethical truths and, thus, all standards of morality.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: Attention is directed here to the nations in which God’s worldly retribution manifested itself. The Arabs were aware of the ‘Ad, the Thamud and Madyan, and the remnants of some of these nations were situated in the paths tread by them. Details of their accounts can be found in the previous surahs.
ذٰلِکَ بِاَنَّہٗ کَانَتۡ تَّاۡتِیۡہِمۡ رُسُلُہُمۡ بِالۡبَیِّنٰتِ فَقَالُوۡۤا اَبَشَرٌ یَّہۡدُوۡنَنَا ۫ فَکَفَرُوۡا وَ تَوَلَّوۡا وَّ اسۡتَغۡنَی اللّٰہُ ؕ وَ اللّٰہُ غَنِیٌّ حَمِیۡدٌ
( 6 ) That is because their messengers used to come to them with clear evidences, but they said, "Shall human beings guide us?" and disbelieved and turned away. And Allah dispensed [with them]; and Allah is Free of need and Praiseworthy.
The word bayyinet as used in the original has a vast meaning. Bayyin (singular of bayyinat) in Arabic is something which is very clear and manifest. Saying about the Prophets that they came with bayyinat gives the meaning that firstly, they brought such manifest signs as bore clear testimony to their having been appointed by Allah. Secondly, they presented whatever they presented with rational and clear arguments. Thirdly, there was no ambiguity in their teaching. They clearly explained what was the truth and what was falsehood, what was lawful and what was unlawful, what path man should follow and what he should avoid.
" but they said, "Shall human beings guide us? " This was then the foremost and basic cause of their degeneration and ruin mankind could not have known the right course of action in the world unless their Creator gave them the correct knowledge, and there could be no practical means of bestowing such knowledge by the Creator unless He blessed some of the human beings with the knowledge and entrusted them with the duty to convey it to other human beings. For this purpose, He sent the Prophets with the manifest signs (bayyinat) so that there was no reasonable ground for the people to doubt their being on the truth. But the people refused to believe that a human being could be a Messenger of God. Then, obviously there could be no other way for them to receive guidance. (For further explanation, see (E.N. 11 of Surah YaSeen). In this connection, however, a strange manifestation of the ignorance and folly of human beings is seen. They have in fact, never shown any hesitation in accepting the guidance of men, so much so that they have carried out gods of wood and stone according to their guidance, they have made human beings themselves God, the incarnation of God, even son of God. And they have adopted such strange viewpoints by following the guidance of their misleaders blindly, which ruined human civilization and morals altogether. But when the Messengers of God came to them with the truth, and they presented the pure truth before them without any selfish motive, they said: Shall mere human beings show us guidance? This amounted to saying that if a human begin misled them, they would follow his guidance willingly, but if he showed the right path to them, his guidance was not acceptable.
When they treated the guidance sent down by Allah with indifference, then Allah also became indifferent to them and did not care what pit they fell in. Allah did not stand in need of their acknowledging Him as God in order to sustain and support His Godhead. Nor was He in need of their worship, nor of their praise and adoration. He, in fact, willed to show them the right path only for their own good and well-being. But when they turned away from it, Allah also became heedless of them. Then, neither He gave them guidance, nor remained responsible for their protection, nor saved them from being afflicted with calamities, nor prevented them from bringing about their own ruin for they themselves were not keen for His guidance and help.
Yusuf Ali Explanation: This is referred to in a more expanded form in xiv. 9-11, which see.
Their obedience is not necessary to Allah, nor will their rejection of Truth affect the validity of Truth or injure the progress of Truth. Allah is free of all needs or dependence on any circumstance whatever. He sends His Message for the good of mankind, and it is man who suffers by ignoring, rejecting, or opposing it.
Muhammad Asad Explanation: I.e., apostles from their own midst, entrusted with divine messages specifically meant for them. The expression "time and again" is conditioned by the phrase kanat ta'atihim, which implies repetition and duration.
Lit., "guide us". This negative response is characteristic of people who, in result of their own estrangement from all moral standards, are instinctively, and deeply, distrustful of all things human and cannot, therefore, accept the idea that a divine message could manifest itself through mere human beings that have nothing "supernatural" about them.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: They meant that have they become so lowly that a person from among them has been sent to guide them; had God wanted to send a messenger, He should have appointed someone from a superior creation than them; as far as guidance is concerned, they are sufficient for themselves; why should they be burdened by someone’s favour? These sentiments obviously reflect ultimate rebelliousness and arrogance. Thus it is stated ahead that if that is the case, then God too does not care about the ruinous fate they will meet.
زَعَمَ الَّذِیۡنَ کَفَرُوۡۤا اَنۡ لَّنۡ یُّبۡعَثُوۡا ؕ قُلۡ بَلٰی وَ رَبِّیۡ لَتُبۡعَثُنَّ ثُمَّ لَتُنَبَّؤُنَّ بِمَا عَمِلۡتُمۡ ؕ وَ ذٰلِکَ عَلَی اللّٰہِ یَسِیۡرٌ
( 7 ) Those who disbelieve have claimed that they will never be resurrected. Say, "Yes, by my Lord, you will surely be resurrected; then you will surely be informed of what you did. And that, for Allah, is easy."
" The unbelievers have vehemently contended that they shall not be raised to life " That is, this was the second basic error in which the deniers of the truth have been involved in every age, and which has ultimately brought about their ruin. Although no denier of the Hereafter ever had any means of knowing, nor has he today, nor will he have in the future, that there is no life after death, but these ignorant people have always asserted the same thing, whereas there neither exists any intellectual basis for denying the Hereafter with absolute certainty nor any scientific basis for it.
" Say to them: “Yes, by my Lord, you shall surely be raised to life " This is the third place where Allah Almighty has instructed His Prophet to tell the people by swearing an oath by his Lord that such a thing shall certainly happen. First, in Surah Younus, it was said: They ask, is what you say really true. Tell them: Yes, by my Lord, it is absolutely true and you have no power to avert it.(verse 53). Then, in Surah Saba, it was said: The disbelievers say: How is it that Resurrection is not overtaking us. Say: By my Lord, it will surely overtake you. (verse 3).
Here, the question arises: What difference does it make for a disbeliever in the Hereafter whether you give him the news of its coming by swearing an oath or without swearing an oath. When he does not believe in it at all, will he believe in it only because you are asserting this on oath. The answer is: In the first place, the addressees of the Prophet (peace be upon him) were the people who knew from their personal knowledge and experience that he had never uttered a lie in his life. Therefore, even if they might have forged the most shameless slander against him with their tongue, yet in their hearts they could never conceive that a truthful man like him could say a thing on oath by Allah of which he himself was not convinced by knowledge and experience. Secondly, the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not only present the doctrine of the Hereafter but also gave highly rational arguments for it. What distinguishes a Prophet from others is that the arguments, however strong and cogent, that others may give for the Hereafter, can at the most make the listener admit that the occurrence of the Hereafter is more reasonable and probable than its absence. On the contrary, a Prophet stands at a notch higher level than a philosopher. His real position is not that be has arrived at the conclusion of the necessity of the Hereafter by the exercise of reason. But his real position is that he has the knowledge that the Hereafter shall occur and says with conviction that it shall surely occur. Therefore, only a Prophet can swear an oath to declare this but not a philosopher. Then, faith in the Hereafter can be generated only by a Prophet’s statement; the reasoning of a philosopher does not have the power to induce even himself to adopt it as his religious creed on the basis of his own argument, not to speak of another person. If the philosopher is really correct, he cannot go beyond, should be or ought to be. Only a Prophet can assert with conviction that a thing is and certainly is.
" and you shall certainly be fully informed of all that you did " This is the purpose for which the children of Adam will be resurrected. This also contains the answer to the question: What is the special need for it. If one keeps in view what has been discussed concerning verse 1,4 above, one can easily understand that in this universe, which has been created with the truth, it would be highly unreasonable to imagine about man who has been given freedom to choose either belief or unbelief, who has been granted authority to appropriate many of the things in this universe, and who after choosing the way of belief or unbelief has accomplished much good or done evil on his own responsibility by making the right or the wrong use of his authority during his life. That when he has done all this the good done by the virtuous and the evil committed by the criminal, one should neither bear any fruit, nor should there be any time when his deeds and actions should be subjected to security. The person who asserts such an irrational thing inevitably commits one of the two absurdities: either he thinks that although this universe is based on wisdom, yet a creature like man, who has been endowed with authority, has been created and left irresponsible here; or he thinks that this universe is a random creation devoid of the wisdom of a Wise Creator. In the first place, he makes a contradictory statement, for the existence of an irresponsible creature, endowed with authority, in a universe based on wisdom, is clearly against justice and wisdom. In the second case, he cannot give any rational being like man should come into being in a haphazardly created, foolish universe, and how he conceived the idea of justice. Only a stubborn person could uphold the belief that folly could generate wisdom and injustice could generate justice, or the one who has become a mental patient because of his obsession for hair splitting.
" That is easy enough for Allah.” This is the second argument for the Hereafter. The first argument was for its necessity and this second is for its possibility. Obviously, when God could create such a grand and wonderful system of the universe without any difficulty and when He could create human beings in the world in the first instance, it cannot be difficult for Him to resurrect the same human beings and summon them before Himself for the purpose of accountability.
Yusuf Ali Explanation: In other words, they think that there is no future life, and no responsibility for our actions beyond what we see in the present life. If that were true, all the profits of fraud and roguery, which remain unpunished in this world-and many do remain unpunished in this world-will remain with the wicked; and all the losses and pain suffered by integrity and righteousness, if they find no compensation in this life, will never find any compensation. This would be an odd result in a world of justice. We are taught that this is not true,-that it is certain that the balance will be redressed in a better future world; that there will be a resurrection of what we call the dead; and that on that occasion the full import of all we did will be made plain to us, and our moral and spiritual responsibility will be fully enforced.
Muhammad Asad Explanation: Their refusal to believe in resurrection and a life to come implies a conviction that no one will be called upon, after death, to answer for what he did in life.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: This apparently is an answer in the form of a claim to the claim of the disbelievers referred to earlier in the verse. Deliberation however will show that the style of swearing an oath adopted in it harbours in it a subtle point of reasoning.
Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi has explained it He writes: … The providence of the Almighty the magnificence of which is evident in every speck of this universe necessitates that He does not deal in the same manner with the righteous and the wrongdoers; this providence necessitates that the former be rewarded for their deeds and the latter be punished. It follows from this that He will definitely raise the dead one day and hold them accountable for their deeds and reward or punish them accordingly. (Amin Ahsan Islahi, Tadabbur-i Qur’an, vol. 8, 418)
فَاٰمِنُوۡا بِاللّٰہِ وَ رَسُوۡلِہٖ وَ النُّوۡرِ الَّذِیۡۤ اَنۡزَلۡنَا ؕ وَ اللّٰہُ بِمَا تَعۡمَلُوۡنَ خَبِیۡرٌ
( 8 ) So believe in Allah and in His Messenger and in the Light that We have sent down. Allah is fully aware of what you do.
" So believe in Allah and in His Messenger and in the Light that We have sent down " That is, when this is the truth and the whole human history testifies that the real cause of the destruction of the nations has been their disbelieving the Messengers and their denial of the Hereafter, then they should not insist on meeting the same doom by following their example, but should believe in the guidance presented by Allah and His Messenger and the Quran. Here, as the context itself shows, by the light that We have sent down, means the Quran. Just as light itself is clearly seen and reveals everything that was hidden in darkness around it, so is the Quran a light whose being based on the truth is self-evident; in its light man can solve and understand every problem that he cannot solve and understand exclusively by means of his own knowledge and intellect. Anyone who has the light can clearly see the straight path of truth out of the countless, crooked paths of thought and action, and can follow the straight path throughout life in such a way that at every step he can know where the crooked bypaths are misleading and where the pitfalls of destruction are situated on the way, and what is the path of safety and security among them.
Yusuf Ali Explanation: "The Light which We have sent down": i.e., the light of Revelation, the fight of conscience, the light of reason, and every kind of true light by which we may know Allah and His Will. If we play false with any such lights, it is fully known to Allah.
یَوۡمَ یَجۡمَعُکُمۡ لِیَوۡمِ الۡجَمۡعِ ذٰلِکَ یَوۡمُ التَّغَابُنِ ؕ وَ مَنۡ یُّؤۡمِنۡۢ بِاللّٰہِ وَ یَعۡمَلۡ صَالِحًا یُّکَفِّرۡ عَنۡہُ سَیِّاٰتِہٖ وَ یُدۡخِلۡہُ جَنّٰتٍ تَجۡرِیۡ مِنۡ تَحۡتِہَا الۡاَنۡہٰرُ خٰلِدِیۡنَ فِیۡہَاۤ اَبَدًا ؕ ذٰلِکَ الۡفَوۡزُ الۡعَظِیۡمُ
( 9 ) (You shall come to know that) when He will assemble you on the Day of Gathering. That shall be the Day (to determine) mutual gains and losses. Whoever believes in Allah and acts righteously, Allah will have his evil deeds expunged and will admit him to Gardens beneath which rivers flow. Therein they shall abide forever. That is the supreme triumph.
" (You shall come to know that) when He will assemble you on the Day of Gathering." The Day of Gathering: the Resurrection, when all human beings born in the world from the beginning of creation till the Last Day will be gathered together simultaneously. This theme has been fully explained in the Quran at several places; e.g. in Surah Houd it has been said: That will be the Day when all the people shall gather together and will witness everything that will happen there. (verse 103). And in Surah Al-Waqiah: Say to them; Surely, the former and the latter, all shall be gathered together one day, the hour of which has already been appointed. (verse 50).
" That shall be the Day (to determine) mutual gains and losses." The word yaum-ut-taghabun as used in the original is too vast in meaning to be explained in a word, or even a sentence, of any other language. Of all the names of the Resurrection that occur in the Quran, this name probably is the most meaningful. Therefore, an explanation is necessary to understand its meaning.
Taghabun is from ghabn, which can be pronounced both as ghabn and as ghaban. Ghabn is mostly used concerning commercial and business transactions and ghaban concerning opinion. Lexically, it has other meanings also, e.g. heedlessness, forgetfulness, a person’s being deprived of his share, a man’s harming another inadvertently in business or mutual dealing, etc.
The derivative taghabun implies the occurrence of ghabn between two or more persons. Thus, taghabun-al-qaum means some people’s treating others fraudulently, or a person’s harming another person and the other’s being harmed and damaged by him, or one’s taking away the share of another and the other’s being deprived of his share, or a person’s incurring loss in business and another’s gaining a profit, or some people’s proving heedless or weak-minded in comparison to others.
Now consider that in this verse it has been said about the Resurrection: That will be a Day of taghabun (mutual loss and gain) among the people. These words automatically give the meaning that in the world taghabun is a common thing, but this taghabun is superficial and deceptive, not the real and factual taghabun, the real taghabun will take place on the Day of Resurrection. There it will become manifest as to who actually incurred the loss and who actually earned the profits, who actually was deceived and who proved to be prudent and sensible, who actually had invested all his life capital in a wrong bargain and become bankrupt and who had invested all his energies and abilities, wealth and time, in a good bargain and earned all the benefits and gains, which the former also could have earned had he not been deceived in understanding the truth about the world.
The commentators while explaining the meaning of youmut- taghabun have given several meanings of it, which are all correct, and throw light on different aspects of its meaning. Some commentators have explained that on that Day the dwellers of Paradise will take away that share of the dwellers of Hell which they would have had in Paradise had they done good deeds in the world as did the dwellers of Paradise and the dwellers of Hell will take away that share of the people of Paradise, which they would have had in Hell had they done evil deeds is the world. This is supported by a Hadith, which Bukhari has related in kitab ar-Riqaq, on the authority of Abu Hurairah, saying that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Whoever goes to Paradise will be shown the place which he would have had in Hell had he done evil deeds in the world so that he may give more and more thanks to God; and whoever goes to Hell will be shown the place which he would have had in Paradise had he done good deeds in the world so that he may feel more and more remorseful.
Some other commentators say that on that Day, the wronged one will take away so many of the good deeds done by the wrongdoer as may be a suitable compensation for the wrong suffered, or the wrongdoer will be equal in weight with his usurped rights. For on the Day of Resurrection man will not possess any wealth which he may give to make up for the wrong done, there the only commodity worth exchange will be one’s conduct. Therefore, whoever had wronged another in the world, will have to make up for the wrong done by surrendering some of his own good deeds in his favor, or by taking some of his sins on himself and suffering the punishment for them. This theme also has been reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him) in Ahadith. In Bukhari (Kitab ar-Riqaq) a tradition has been related from Abu Hurairah, saying that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Whoever bears a burden of a wrong done to his brother, should compensate him for it here, for in the Hereafter no one will have any wealth or money for compensation. There, some of his good deeds will he taken from him and given away to the wronged person, or if he did not have enough good deeds, some of the sins of the wronged person will be transferred to him. Likewise, in Musnad Ahmad there is a tradition from Jabir bin Abdullah bin Unais, saing that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: No dweller of Paradise will enter Paradise and no dweller of Hell will enter Hell until he will have compensated the other person for the wrong done to him so much so that one will have to compensate even for a slap given to another person. We asked; How will this compensation be made when on Resurrection we shall be naked and penniless? The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied: Compensation will be made by means of the good deeds and the evil deeds. In Muslim and Musnad Ahmad there is a tradition from Abu Hurairah, saying that the Prophet (peace be upon him) once asked the people sitting in his assembly: Do you know who is poor. The people replied: He who has nothing to possess. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: In my ummah the poor is he who appeared before his God on the Day of Resurrection with his acts of the Prayer and the Fast and the payment of the Zakat, while he had abused some one, usurped the property of another, and shed blood or hit still another. Then his good deeds were taken away and given over to each of the wronged and when nothing was left of his good deeds to make compensation, some of the sins of each wronged one were transferred to him and he was east into Hell. In another Hadith which Muslim and Abu Daud have related on the authority of Buraidah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: If in the absence from home of a soldier for the cause of Allah, a person treats his wife and the people of his house treacherously, the person would be made to stand before the soldier on the Day of Resurrection, and the latter would be asked to take away whatever he liked from his good deeds. Saying this, the Prophet (peace be upon him) turned to us and said: Then what do you say. That is, what do you think he would leave with him.
Some other commentators say that tile word taghabun is mostly used concerning commerce and business, and in the Quran at several places the attitude that the believer and the unbeliever adopt in their worldly lives has been compared to trade and commerce. If the believer giving up disobedience adopts obedience and invests his life and wealth and effort for the cause of God, he is giving up a bad bargain and investing his capital in a business which will fetch him much gain and profit in the end. On the contrary, if an unbeliever abandons the way of obedience and invests his entire capital in the way of disobedience to God, he in fact, is a trader who has purchased deviation for guidance, and will incur loss in the end. The gain and the loss of both will become manifest on the Day of Resurrection. It may well so happen in the world that the believer appears to be the loser and the disbeliever the gainer. But in the Hereafter they will see who actually had made the right bargain and who the wrong bargain This theme has occurred at many places in the Quran, e.g. in (Surah Al- Baqarah, Ayats 16,175, 207); (Surah Al-Imran, Ayats 77, 177); (Surah An-Nisa, Ayat 74); (Surah At-Taubah, Ayat 111); (Surah An-Nah, Ayat l95); (Surah Fatir, Ayat 29); (Surah As- Saff, Ayat 10).
Yet another from of taghabun is that in the world the people go on cooperating with one another in unbelief and sin, injustice and wickedness, with full peace of mind with the confidence that they are enjoying fully mutual love and friendship. The mutual intrigues and comradeship of the members of wicked families’ immoral guides and their followers, gangs of thieves and robbers, alliances of corrupt and unjust officers and officials, groups of dishonest traders, industrialists and land owners, groups established to spread deviation, error and mischief, and nations and governments which support and uphold injustice and wickedness in the world, is based on the same confidence. The individuals belonging to each of these groups harbor the impression that they are good companions of one another and their mutual cooperation is proving very successful. But when these people reach the Hereafter, they will suddenly wake up to the realization that they had been grievously mistaken and deceived. Each one of them would feel that the one whom he considered his best father, brother, wife, husband, child, friend, companion, leader, guide, disciple or supporter and helper, had been, in fact, his worst enemy. Every kind of relationship and friendship and bond of love and reverence will change into enmity. They will all abuse and curse each other and each one will desire that maximum responsibility of his crimes be laid an the other and will strive to get him severely punished. This theme also has occurred at many places in the Quran, e.g. in (Surah Al-Baqrah, Ayat 167); (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayats 37 to 39); (Surah Ibrahim, Ayats 21-22); (Surah Al-Mominoom, Ayat 101); (Surah Al-Ankaboot, Ayats 12, 13, 25); (Surah Luqman, Ayat 33; (Surah Al-Ahzab, Ayats 67,68); (Surah Saba, Ayats 31 to 33); (Surah Fatir, Ayats 18); (Surah As- Saaffat, Ayats 27 to 31); (Surah Suad, Ayats 59 to 61); (Surah HaMim As-Sajdah, Ayat 29); (Surah Az-Zukhruf, Ayat 67); (Surah Ad-Dukhan, Ayat 41); (Surah AI-Maarij, Ayats 10 to 14); (Surah Abasa, Ayats 34 to 36).
" Whoever believes in Allah and acts righteously," Believing in Allah does not merely imply believing that Allah exists but believing in Him in the way Allah Himself has taught through His Messenger and His Book. This belief by itself includes belief in apostleship and belief in the Book. Likewise a good act also does not imply every such act as man may himself have adopted considering it a good act, or following a man-made criterion of morality, but it implies the righteous act that is in accordance with the law sent down by God. Therefore no one should have the misunderstanding that believing in Allah and doing good deeds, without the medium of the Messenger and the Book will lead to the results being mentioned below. Whoever studies the Quran carefully cannot remain unaware that according to it no such belief is genuine belief in Allah and no such act is righteous at all.
Yusuf Ali Explanation: The Day of Judgment will truly be "a Day of Mutual Loss and Gain", as the title of this Surah indicates. Men who thought they were laying up riches will find themselves paupers in the Kingdom of Heaven. Men who thought they were acquiring good by wrong-doing will find their efforts were wasted; xviii. 104. On the other hand the meek and lowly of this life will acquire great dignity and honour in the next; the despised ones doing good here will be the accepted ones there; the persecuted righteous will be in eternal happiness. The two classes will as it were change their relative positions.
"Remove from them their ills". The ills may be sins, faults, mistakes, or evil tendencies; Allah will of His grace cover them up, and blot out the account against them; or they may be sorrows, sufferings, or disappointments: Allah may even change the evil of such persons into good, their apparent calamities into opportunities for spiritual advancement: xxv. 70. This is because of their sincere Faith as evidenced by their repentance and amendment.
"Gardens" the place of the highest Bliss, see ii. 25; xiii. 35; xlvii. 15.
Muhammad Asad Explanation: This or a similar interpolation is necessary in view of the mansub form of the subsequent noun, yawma (lit., "day"), which I am rendering in this context as "the time".
وَ الَّذِیۡنَ کَفَرُوۡا وَ کَذَّبُوۡا بِاٰیٰتِنَاۤ اُولٰٓئِکَ اَصۡحٰبُ النَّارِ خٰلِدِیۡنَ فِیۡہَا ؕ وَ بِئۡسَ الۡمَصِیۡرُ
( 10 ) But the ones who disbelieved and denied Our verses - those are the companions of the Fire, abiding eternally therein; and wretched is the destination.
These words by themselves make manifest the meaning of unbelief (kufr). Unbelief is nothing but denying the verses of Allah’s Book to be divine revelation, rejecting the truth expressed therein and refusing to follow and obey the commandments given in them; its results are those being mentioned below.
Ruku One Verse 11-18:
مَاۤ اَصَابَ مِنۡ مُّصِیۡبَۃٍ اِلَّا بِاِذۡنِ اللّٰہِ ؕ وَ مَنۡ یُّؤۡمِنۡۢ بِاللّٰہِ یَہۡدِ قَلۡبَہٗ ؕ وَ اللّٰہُ بِکُلِّ شَیۡءٍ عَلِیۡمٌ
( 11 ) No disaster strikes except by permission of Allah. And whoever believes in Allah - He will guide his heart. And Allah is Knowing of all things.
The discourse now turns to the believers. While reading this passage one should keep in mind the fact that at the time when these verses were revealed. Muslims were passing through great hardships. After years of persecution at Makkah they had left their home and emigrated to Madinah, where the sincere Muslims who had given them refuge had been doubly burdened. On the one hand, they had to support and sustain hundreds of the emigrants who were coming to them from different parts of Arabia. On the other, they had become the target of the persecution and enmity of the enemies of Islam of entire Arabia.
" No misfortune ever befalls unless it be by Allah's leave." This same theme has also occurred in ( Surah Al-Hadid, Ayats 22-23 ) above and we have explained it in( E.Ns 39 to 42 of the commentary of that Surah). The same circumstances under which this thing was said there and the same object for which it was said underlie the verses here as well. This means that afflictions and hardships do not descend of themselves, nor has anyone in the world the power to cause an affliction to descend on anyone he may like by his own authority. All calamities wholly depend on Allah’s leave. He may allow an affliction to descend upon someone or may disallow it. And Allah’s leave in any case is based on one or other wisdom, directed to some ultimate good, which man neither knows, nor can understand.
" And whosoever has faith in Allah, Allah directs his heart along the Right Path " That is, it is only belief in Allah which keeps man on the right path even in the face of an onslaught of afflictions and does not let him waver under the most trying circumstances. The one whose heart is devoid of belief either looks upon afflictions as a result of mere chance, or thinks they are brought or prevented by worldly powers, or considers them to be the work of such imaginary powers which human superstition regards as potent in bringing good and causing evil, or believes that God is the real Doer of everything but does not believe so truly and sincerely in all these different cases man degenerates. He endures the affliction, but then yields and bows to every false god, accepts every humiliation, is ready to do any mean thing and commit any wrong act he does not hesitate to abuse God, even commits suicide. On the contrary, the heart of the person who knows and believes sincerely that everything is in the hands of Allah. He alone in the Master and the Ruler of the universe. That only by His permission can an affliction befall and only by His command can it be averted. Such a person is blessed by Allah with the grace of patience and submission and of acquiescing in divine will, and is granted the power to face every circumstance with determination and courage. Even under the most straitened circumstances the candle of the hope of Allah’s bounty lights up his way. No affliction, however severe and trying, can dishearten him as to cause him to swerve from the right path or bow to falsehood, or invoke others than Allah for the redress of his grievances. Thus, every affliction opens up for him a new door to well-being and happiness and no affliction remains an affliction for him. In fact, it becomes, in the final, a blessing in disguise. For whether he falls a victim to it or passes through if safely, in each case he emerges successful from the trial set for him by his Lord. This same thing has been stated by the Prophet (peace be upon him) in a Hadith which has been reported unanimously by all the reporters, saying: Strange is the affair of the believer! Whatever Allah decrees for him is good for him. When an affliction befalls him, he endures it patiently, and this proves good for him. When he is blessed with prosperity, he thanks his Lord, and this too proves good for him. Such a good fortune only falls to the lot of a believer.
" Allah has knowledge of everything " In this context this has two meanings: First, that Allah knows who really believes and what is the measure of his belief. So, on the basis of His knowledge, He grants guidance only to that heart, which has belief in it, and grants it guidance precisely in accordance with the measure of belief. Another meaning can also be: That Allah is not unaware of the condition of His believing servants. He has not left them alone after having invited them to faith and subjected them at the same time to severe trials and temptations of the world. He knows exactly what hardships a believer is passing through in the world, and under what circumstances he is fulfilling the demands of his faith. Therefore, O believers, you should rest assured that whatever affliction descends upon you by Allah’s leave, in Allah’s knowledge it must be directed to some ultimate good, which must be for your own well-being. For Allah is well-wisher of His believing servants. He does not will to subject them to afflictions and hardships without good reason.
Yusuf Ali Explanation: What we consider calamities may be blessings in disguise. Pain in the body is often a signal of something wrong, which we can cure by remedial measures. So in the moral and spiritual world, we should in all circumstances hold firmly to the faith that nothing happens without Allah's knowledge and leave; and therefore there must be some justice and wisdom according to His great universal Plan. Our duty is to find out our own shortcomings and remedy them. If we try to do so in all sincerity of heart, Allah will give us guidance.
Muhammad Asad Explanation: I.e., in the words of Razi, "towards self-surrender to God's will...[and so] towards gratitude in times of ease, and patience in times of misfortune". It is also possible - as some of the commentators do - to understand the phrase in another sense, namely, "if anyone believes in God, He [i.e., God] guides his heart". However, the rendering adopted by me seems to be preferable inasmuch as it stresses the idea that conscious belief in God impels man's reason to control and direct his emotions and inclinations in accordance with all that this belief implies.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: From here on the discourse changes its direction towards the Muslims. The implication is that when no calamity comes without God’s permission, a true believer should not start doubting the Hereafter; instead he should understand that no trial can befall him while obeying a directive of God which he cannot bear. God does not burden His people beyond their capacities.
وَ اَطِیۡعُوا اللّٰہَ وَ اَطِیۡعُوا الرَّسُوۡلَ ۚ فَاِنۡ تَوَلَّیۡتُمۡ فَاِنَّمَا عَلٰی رَسُوۡلِنَا الۡبَلٰغُ الۡمُبِیۡنُ
( 12 ) And obey Allah and obey the Messenger; but if you turn away - then upon Our Messenger is only [the duty of] clear notification.
In view of the context, it means: Whatever the circumstances, good or bad, you should remain steadfast to obedience to Allah and His Messenger. But if under the pressure of hardships you turned away from obedience, you would only harm your own selves. The only responsibility of Our Messenger was to guide you to the right path, which the Messenger has fulfilled in the best way possible.
Yusuf Ali Explanation: The Messenger comes to guide and teach, not to force and compel. The Messenger's teaching is clear and unambiguous, and it is open and free to all. Cf. also v. 95.
اَللّٰہُ لَاۤ اِلٰہَ اِلَّا ہُوَ ؕ وَ عَلَی اللّٰہِ فَلۡیَتَوَکَّلِ الۡمُؤۡمِنُوۡنَ
( 13 ) Allah - there is no deity except Him. And upon Allah let the believers rely.
That is, all divine powers belong to Allah alone. No one else has any power to make or mar your destiny. He alone can bring about a good time and He alone can avert a bad time. Therefore, whoever believes sincerely that Allah is One, has absolutely no other choice than to place his full trust in Him and to continue doing his duty as a believer with the conviction that goodness and well being only lie in the way that Allah has shown him. If he attains to success in this way, it will only be by Allah’s help and leave; there is no other helper. And if he encounters difficulties, hardships, dangers and disasters in this way, Allah alone will rescue him, for there is no other rescuer beside Him.
Muhammad Asad Explanation: The above construction of this passage makes it clear, firstly, that a realization of God's existence, oneness and almightiness is the innermost purport - and, thus, the beginning and the end - of God's message to man; and, secondly, that His prophets can do no more than deliver and expound this message, leaving it to man's reason and free choice to accept or reject it.
يٰۤاَيُّهَا الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡۤا اِنَّ مِنۡ اَزۡوَاجِكُمۡ وَاَوۡلَادِكُمۡ عَدُوًّا لَّكُمۡ فَاحۡذَرُوۡهُمۡۚ وَاِنۡ تَعۡفُوۡا وَتَصۡفَحُوۡا وَتَغۡفِرُوۡا فَاِنَّ اللّٰهَ غَفُوۡرٌ رَّحِيۡمٌ
( 14 ) O you who have believed, indeed, among your wives and your children are enemies to you, so beware of them. But if you pardon and overlook and forgive - then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
This verse has two meanings:
According to the first meaning, it applies to most of those difficulties which are encountered by many believing men from their wives and the women from their husbands and the parents from their children in following the way of God. It seldom so happens in the world that a man has a wife or a wife has a husband, who are full companions and helpers of each other in the matter of faith and righteousness, and that both may also have such children as may be the comfort of their eyes as regards to faith and deeds, morals and conduct. But generally it so happens that if the husband is righteous and honest, the wife and children look upon his honesty and piety and righteousness as a misfortune for themselves, and want that the husband and the father should earn Hell for their sake, and, by giving up the distinction between the lawful and the unlawful, should provide means of luxury and enjoyment, sin and vice, for them in every passable way. On the contrary, many a time a pious believing woman happens to have a husband, who does not at all approve her obedience to the laws of God. And the children, following in the footsteps of the father, make the life of the mother miserable by their deviation and evil deeds. Then, particularly, when during the conflict between Islam and unbelief a man’s faith demands that he should suffer losses for the sake of Allah and this religion, run risks, emigrate from the country or even endanger his life by joining the war against unbelief, the greatest hindrance in his way are the people of his own household.
The second meaning relates to those special circumstances which most of the Muslims were facing at the time these verses were sent down, and also today they are faced by every person who embraces Islam in a non-Muslim society. At that time in Makkah and in other parts of Arabia a situation that was commonly being experienced was that a man would embrace Islam but his wife and children would not only be disinclined to accept it but would try their best to press him to give up Islam. And similar were the situation encountered by the women who alone embraced Islam in the family.
Addressing the believers who may be confronted with either situation, three things have been impressed:
First, they have been warned as if to say: Although from the worldly point of view these are the dearest relations of man, yet from the religious point of view, they are your enemies. This enmity may be for the reason that they hinder you from good and induce you to do evil, or that they restrain you from belief and pull you towards unbelief, or that their sympathies are with he unbelievers, and through you if they ever come to know any of the war secrets of the Muslims, they convey it to the enemies of Islam. Owing to these the nature and quality of enmity may vary, but in any case it is enmity; and if you hold your faith dearer to your heart, you should regard them as your enemies. In their love you should never forget that between you and them there stands the barrier of belief and unbelief, or of obedience and disobedience.
Then, it is said: Beware of them. That is, you should not ruin your eternal life for the sake of their worldly life. Let not their love so overwhelm you that they become a hindrance for you in your relationship with Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) and your loyalty to Islam. Do not place such reliance on them that the secrets of the Muslim community should come to their notice and through them reach your enemies only by your negligence and carelessness. This is the first thing of which the Prophet (peace be upon him) has warned the Muslims in a Hadith: A person will be brought up on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be proclaimed: His wife and children ate up all his good deeds.
In the end, it is said: If you pardon and overlook and forgive, Allah is surely All-Forgiving, All-Merciful. It means: You are being made aware of their enmity so that you may beware of them and do your best to save your faith from them. This warning does not, however, mean that you should treat your wife and children harshly, or strain your relations with them so as to make your own and their domestic lift miserable and wretched. For if you did so, two of the disadvantages would obviously result: First, it may close down every avenue to the reformation of the wife and children forever; second, it may give rise to suspicions and misgivings against Islam in the society and the people around may form the impression that a Muslim turns unduly rigid and ill-tempered for his own children in his own house as soon as he has embraced Islam. In this connection, one should also keep in mind that in the beginning when the people became Muslims, they encountered a special difficulty if their parents were unbelievers. They would press their children to give up the new faith. They would face another difficulty when their wives and children (or in case of women, their husbands and children) persisted unbelief and would force them to abandon the faith of truth. About the first difficulty, instruction was given in (Surah Al-Ankabut, Ayat 8) and (Surah Luqman, Ayat 14-15), saying: Treat your parents well but if they press you to join with Me another about whom you have no knowledge, do not obey them at all. About the second difficulty the instruction has been given here, saying: You must try to save your faith from your children and family members but do not treat them harshly, but rather politely and leniently. (For further explanation, see (Surah At-Taubah, Ayats 23-24); (E N. 37 of Surah Al-Mujadalah); (E.Ns 1 to 3 of Surah Al- Mumtahanah); (E.N. 18 of Surah Munafiqoon).
Yusuf Ali Explanation: In some cases the demands of families, i.e., wife and children may conflict with a man's moral and spiritual convictions and duties. In such cases he must guard against the abandonment of his convictions, duties, and ideals to their requests or desires. But he must not treat them harshly. He must make reasonable provision for them, and if they persist in opposing his clear duties and convictions, he must forgive them and not expose them to shame or ridicule, while at the same time holding on to his clear duty. Such cases occurred when godly men undertook exile from their native city of Makkah to follow the Faith in Madinah. In some cases their families murmured, but all came right in the end.
For the different words for "forgiveness", see explanation of ii. 109 (reproduced herein under):
There words are used in the Qur-an, with a meaning akin to "forgive" but each with a different shade of meaning. Afa (here translated "forgive") means to forget, to obliterate from one's mind. Safaha (here translated "overlook") means to turn away from, to ignore, to treat a matter as if it did not affect one. Gafara (which does not occur in this verse) means to cover up something as God does to our sins with His grace; this word is particularly appropriate in God's attribute of Gaffar, the One who forgives again and again.
Muhammad Asad Explanation: I.e., "sometimes, your spouses...", etc. Since, in the teachings of the Qur'an, all moral duties are binding on women as well as on men, it is obvious that the term azwajikum " أَزْوَٲجِكُمْ " must not be rendered as "your wives", but is to be understood - according to classical Arabic usage - as applying equally to both the male and the female partners in a marriage.
Love of his or her family may sometimes tempt a believer to act contrary to the demands of conscience and faith; and, occasionally, one or another of the loved ones - whether wife or husband or child - may consciously try to induce the person concerned to abandon some of his or her moral commitments in order to satisfy some real or imaginary "family interest", and thus becomes the other's spiritual "enemy". It is to this latter eventuality that the next sentence alludes.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: Here the Qur’an has explained the whole context of the previous verses of the surah: though disbelievers are also addressed in them, the real addressees are the Muslims whose wife and children had embraced faith yet true faith had yet to enter the hearts of some of them. So when they would see their husbands and fathers losing the pleasures of this world in hope of gaining in the Hereafter and sacrificing their personal interests and generously spending the wealth they have earned for the cause of God, they would try to stop them. They would also try to create uncertainty in their minds about the Hereafter by raising objections similar to the ones raised by the disbelievers before them. In order to streamline the minds and hearts of these Muslims, the Qur’an first reminded them about the Hereafter and the arguments that substantiate it, then addressed the disbelievers for a short while to remove the confusions created by them about the Hereafter, and then warned these Muslims by saying that the enemies of their faith and religion are present in their houses and that they should protect themselves from them.
اِنَّمَاۤ اَمۡوَالُـكُمۡ وَاَوۡلَادُكُمۡ فِتۡنَةٌ ؕ وَاللّٰهُ عِنۡدَهٗۤ اَجۡرٌ عَظِيۡمٌ
( 15 ) Your wealth and your children are but a trial, and Allah has with Him a great reward.
For explanation, see (E.N. 23 of Surah Al-Anfaal). Here one should also keep in view the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) saying which Tabarani has related on the authority of Abu Malik al-Ashari, saying: Your real enemy is not he whom, if you kill there is success for you, and if he kills you, there is Paradise for you; but your real enemy may be your own child who is born of your own loins, or the wealth of which you are the owner. That is why here as well as in Surah (Al-Anfaal, Ayat 28), Allah says: If you save yourselves from the temptation and allurements of worldly possessions and children and succeed in keeping love of them subject to the love of Allah, there are rich rewards for you with Allah.
Yusuf Ali Explanation: Children may be a "trial" in many senses: (1) their different ways of looking at things may cause you to reflect, and to turn to the highest things of eternal importance; (2) their relationship with you and with each other may confront you with problems far more complicated than those in separate individual lives, and thus become a test of your own strength of character and sense of responsibility; (3) their conflict with your ideals (see n. 5494 above) may vex your spirit, but may at the same time search out your fidelity to Allah; and (4) their affection for you and your affection for them, may be a source of strength for you if it is pure, just as it may be a danger if it is based on selfish or unworthy motives. So also riches and worldly goods have their advantages as well as dangers.
Muhammad Asad Explanation: For an explanation of 8:28 , which is almost identical with the present passage - reproduced herein under:
"and know that your worldly goods and your children are but a trial and a temptation, and that with God there is a tremendous reward." - (8:28)
Inasmuch as love of worldly goods and a desire to protect one's family may lead a person to transgression (and, thus, to a betrayal of the moral values postulated in God's message), they are described as fitnah - which, in this context, is best rendered by the two words "trial and temptation". This reminder connects with verse {8:25} above, "beware of that temptation to evil which does not befall only those who are bent on denying the truth," since it is acquisitiveness and a desire to confer benefits on one's own family which often tempt an otherwise good person to offend against the rights of his fellow-men. It is to be borne in mind that, contrary to the New Testament, the Qur'an does not postulate a contempt for worldly attachments as a pre-requisite of righteousness: it only demands of man that he should not allow these attachments to deflect him from the pursuit of moral verities.
فَاتَّقُوا اللّٰهَ مَا اسۡتَطَعۡتُمۡ وَاسۡمَعُوۡا وَاَطِيۡعُوۡا وَاَنۡفِقُوۡا خَيۡرًا لِّاَنۡفُسِكُمۡؕ وَمَنۡ يُّوۡقَ شُحَّ نَفۡسِهٖ فَاُولٰٓـئِكَ هُمُ الۡمُفۡلِحُوۡنَ
( 16 ) So fear Allah as much as you are able and listen and obey and spend [in the way of Allah]; it is better for your selves. And whoever is protected from the stinginess of his soul - it is those who will be the successful.
" So hold Allah in awe as much as you can " At another place in the Quran it has been said: Fear Allah as rightfully He should be feared. (Surah Aal-Imran, Ayat 102). At still another place: Allah does not burden any one with a responsibility heavier than he can bear. (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayat 286) And here: Fear Allah as much as you can. When these three verses are read together it appears that the first verse sets an ideal which every believer should try to attain. The second verse lays down the principle that no one has been required to exert himself beyond his power and ability, for in Allah’s religion one has been made responsible only for what is within his power and ability. This verse enjoins every believer to try to attain piety and consciousness of God as far as he can. He should carry out His commands and avoid His disobedience as best as he possibly can. For if he shows laxity in this regard, he will not be able to escape punishment. However, one will not be held accountable for what was beyond his power and Allah alone can decide best what was really beyond a person’s power and ability.
" And whoever remains safe from his own greediness, it is such that will prosper. " For explanation, see (explanation of verse 9 of Surah Al-Hashr - reproduced herein under).
The word used here means “is saved” and not “was safe”, for without Allah's help and succor no one can attain to the wealth of the heart (liberal-mindedness) by his own power and effort. This is a blessing of God, which one can attain only by God’s bounty and grace. The word shuhha is used for stinginess and miserliness in Arabic. But when this word is attributed to the self of man, it becomes synonymous with narrow-mindedness, niggardliness, mean spiritedness and small-heartedness, and not mere stinginess: it is rather the root cause of stinginess itself. Because of this very quality man avoids acknowledging even the good qualities of another, not to speak of recognizing his rights and discharging them. He wants that he alone should gather up everything in the world, and no one else should have anything of it. He never feels content with his own right, but usurps the rights of others, or at least wants to have for himself all that is good in the world and should not leave anything for others. On this very basis one’s being saved from this evil has been described in the Quran as a guarantee for success. The Prophet (peace be upon him) has counted it among the most evil qualities of man which are the root cause of corruption and mischief. Jabir bin Abdullah has reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Avoid shuhha for it was shuhha which ruined the people before you. It incited them to shed each other’s blood and make the sacred and forbidden things of others lawful for themselves. (Muslim, Musnad Ahmad, Baihaqi, Bukhari in Al-Adab). The tradition of Abdullah bin Umar contains the following words: It led them to commit wickedness and they committed it. It commanded them to commit sins and they committed sin. It urged them to break off all connections with the kindred and they broke off all connections with them. (Musnad Ahmad, Abu Daud, Nasai). Abu Hurairah has reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Faith and shuhha of the self cannot combine in one and the same heart. (Ibn Abi Shaibah, Nasa Baihaqi in Shuab al-Iman, Hakim). Abu Said Khudri has stated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Two of the qualities are such that they cannot combine in a Muslim: stinginess and misbehavior. (Abu Daud, Tirmidhi, Bukhari in Al-Adab). It is as a result of this very teaching of Islam that, apart from individuals, the Muslims as a nation are still the most generous and liberal minded people in the world.
Yusuf Ali Explanation: "Fear Allah" combined with "as much as you can" obviously means: "lead lives of self-restraint and righteousness": the usual meaning of Taqwa: see explanation to ii. 2.
Charity is meant to help and do good to other people who need it. But it has the highest subjective value for the person who gives it. Like mercy "it blesseth him that gives and him that takes". It purifies the giver's soul: the affection that he pours out is for his own spiritual benefit and progress. Cf. Coleridge: "He prayeth best who loveth best all things both great and small, for the Great God Who loveth us, Who made and loveth all".
Cf. lix. 9. Our worst enemy is within ourselves,-the grasping selfishness which would deprive others of their just rights or seize things which do not properly belong to it. If we can get over this covetous selfishness, we achieve real Prosperity in justice and truth.
Muhammad Asad Explanation: Cf. last sentence of 59:9 (reproduced herein under):
"... for, such as from their own covetousness are saved - it is they, they that shall attain to a happy state!"
Thus, greed, niggardliness and covetousness are pointed out here as the main obstacles to man's attaining to a happy state in this world and in the hereafter (cf. surah {102}).
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: The actual word is: شُحّ. It means “miserliness and stinginess.” In this verse, it is related to the soul. This is because miserliness is one of the inclinations found in the soul; hence like anger and lust, it too needs to be restrained.
Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi has explained it He writes: … The only way to check it is that when a person starts to feel its domination, he should weaken it by spending for the cause of God until it becomes so weak that it is not able to impede virtuous deeds. It is evident from these words of the Qur’an that those who try to suppress this instinct succeed by the blessing of God, and only those who succeed in this effort are worthy of success in the Hereafter. For this reason, spending for the cause of God is the greatest thing which can earn His pleasure specially the spending which a person does by disregarding his own personal needs. (Amin Ahsan Islahi, Tadabbur-i Qur’an, vol. 8, 424)
اِنۡ تُقۡرِضُوا اللّٰہَ قَرۡضًا حَسَنًا یُّضٰعِفۡہُ لَکُمۡ وَ یَغۡفِرۡ لَکُمۡ ؕ وَ اللّٰہُ شَکُوۡرٌ حَلِیۡمٌ
( 17 ) If you loan Allah a goodly loan, He will multiply it for you and forgive you. And Allah is Most Appreciative and Forbearing.
" If you give Allah a goodly loan, He will increase it for you several fold " For explanation, see (E.N. 267 of Surah Al-Baqarah); (E.N. 33 of Surah Al-Maidah); (E.N. 16 of Surah Al-Hadid).
" and will forgive you. Allah is Most Appreciative, Most Forbearing. " For explanation, see (E.Ns 52, 59 of Surah Fatir); (E.N. 42 of Surah Ash-Shura).
Yusuf Ali Explanation: Cf. ii. 245 . Our Charity or Love is called a loan to Allah, which not only increases our credit account manifold, but obtains for us the forgiveness of our sins, and the Capacity for increased service in the future.
Cf. xiv. 5; and xxxv. 30. Allah's appreciation of our service or our love goes far deeper than its intrinsic merits or its specific expression on our side. His reward is beyond our deserts, and passes over out defects. He judges by our motives, which He can read through and through: see next verse.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: Earlier, the spending for the cause of God mentioned was for general purposes. Here Muslims are urged to spend for God’s cause specifically for serving the needs of His religion and for waging jihad for His cause. The appeal and eloquence found in the word “loan” for these purposes does not need any explanation. A good loan is one which is given from one’s clean wealth and with the generosity and willingness of the heart.
عٰلِمُ الۡغَیۡبِ وَ الشَّہَادَۃِ الۡعَزِیۡزُ الۡحَکِیۡمُ
( 18 ) Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
Yusuf Ali Explanation: Allah's Appreciation and Forbearing Kindness can reach so far beyond our merits, because (1) His universal knowledge comprehends hidden motives, which others cannot see in us; (2) His power is so great that He can afford to reward even the unworthy; and (3) His Wisdom is so great that He can turn even our weakness into our strength.
Read more about attributes of Allah mentioned in the verse:
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: Ie., God is appreciative of the sacrifices of Muslims and is forbearing towards their blemishes. Hence the sacrifices offered will not remain hidden from Him. Hence if they support Him, they will never be among the losers.
You may now like to listen to tafsir of the surah by eminent Muslim scholar Noman Ali Khan:
Please refer to our Reference Page "114 Chapters (Sūrahs) of the Holy Qur'an" for translation, explanation and exegesis of all other chapters of the Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Quran.
- The plain translation and explanation has been taken from the Holy Quran officially published by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. [1]
- The exegesis of the chapters of the Holy Quran is mainly based on the "Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an" by one of the most enlightened scholars of the Muslim World Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi. [2]
- Towards Understanding the Quran
- Tafsir Ibn Khatir
- Muhammad Asad Translation
- Al-Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation
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- Verse by Verse Qur'an Study Circle
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