The Divine religions commenced with the descent of Prophet Adam and his wife Eve (peace be upon them both) and has sine covered a long distance. Each prophet that followed Prophet Adam brought the same message to its people - to worship none but One True God and the scriptures He gave to Hs selected prophets for the guidance of mankind. Of the four Godly Scriptures, Qur'an is the last of the earlier three, that is Psalms, Torah and Bible, and will remain the source that guides humanity to the Way that is the Straight Most as spelt out in the 9th verse of Surah 17. Al Israa:
اِنَّ هٰذَا الۡقُرۡاٰنَ يَهۡدِىۡ لِلَّتِىۡ هِىَ اَقۡوَمُ وَ يُبَشِّرُ الۡمُؤۡمِنِيۡنَ الَّذِيۡنَ يَعۡمَلُوۡنَ الصّٰلِحٰتِ اَنَّ لَهُمۡ اَجۡرًا كَبِيۡرًا ۙ
(17:9) Verily this Qur'an guides to the Way that is the Straight most. To those who believe in it, and do righteous works, it gives the good news that a great reward awaits them,
Ibn Kathir notes that Allah praises His noble Book, the Qur'an, which He revealed to His Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him). It directs people to the best and clearest of ways.
Allah always offers guidance to man through the revelations which He bestows upon His prophets. Those who believe and follow His commandments contained in His scriptures are the ones who find the most trusted straight path. And those who after believing what Allah guides them through His commandments as contained in the Qur'an also do righteous works are the ones whom Allah tells His messenger that they should be given the glad tidings that a great reward awaits them when these will be resurrected.
Yusuf Ali observes that the Message of the Qur'an is for the entire humanity for as long as this world remains. Those who have Faith and show that Faith in their conduct must reap their spiritual reward. But those who reject Faith cannot escape punishment. Apart from what is past, apart from questions of national or racial history, there is a Hope,-and a Danger- for every soul.
And Qur'an is the hope for the mankind. And the message of Allah as contained in the Qur'an is so strong and appealing that despite many prejudices, more and more people are reverting to Islam, which in essence contains the same message that all earlier scriptures contained: To believe in One God without associating anyone with Him and follow what message the successive prophets brought to them, culminating with the bestowing of the Qur'an, last of the Holy Scriptures revealed to the last of all the prophets, Muhammad (peace be upon him).
However, the glad tidings as promised in the above quoted verse come wit a caution who despite being shown the Straight Path, ridicule Allah's commandments and look the other way. The stern warning comes right in the very next verse:
وَّاَنَّ الَّذِيۡنَ لَا يُؤۡمِنُوۡنَ بِالۡاٰخِرَةِ اَعۡتَدۡنَا لَهُمۡ عَذَابًا اَلِيۡمًا
(17:10) and warns those who do not believe in the Hereafter that We have prepared for them a grievous chastisement.
This means to warn those persons or people or nations who do not take a lesson from the admonitions of the Qur'an to be ready to undergo that chastisement which Israelites had to suffer.
May Allah help us understand Qur'ān and help us to act upon the commandments of Allah contained therein, and save us from the torment of the Hell Fire. Aameen.
For more Selected Verses, please refer to our reference page: Selected Verses from the Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.
For more Selected Verses, please refer to our reference page: Selected Verses from the Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.
An effort has been made to gather explanation / exegesis of the surahs of the Qur'ān from authentic sources and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. In that:
- The plain translation has been taken from the Qur'ān officially published by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. [1]
- The exegesis of the chapters of the 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]
In order to augment and add more explanation as already provided by [2], additional input has been interjected from following sources:
- Towards Understanding the Quran
- Tafsir Ibn Khatir
- Muhammad Asad Translation
- Javed Ahmad Ghamidi / Al Mawrid
- Al-Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation
- Verse by Verse Qur'an Study Circle
In addition the references of other sources which have been explored have also been given above. Those desirous of detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to these sites.
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