043- AL-ZUKHRUF
GOLD ORNAMENTS
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL
# Ḥā. Mīm. # By the clear Book, # truly We have made it an Arabic Quran, that haply you may understand, # and truly it is with Us in the Mother of the Book, sublime indeed, wise. # Shall We withdraw the reminder from you altogether for your having been a prodigal people? # How many a prophet did We send among those of old? # Yet never did a prophet come unto them, but that they mocked him. # So We destroyed those of greater prowess than them, and the example of those of old has passed. # Wert thou to ask them, “Who created the heavens and the earth?” they would surely say, “The Mighty, the Knowing created them.” # He it is Who made the earth a cradle for you and made paths for you therein, that haply you may be guided; # Who sent down water from the sky in due measure, whereby We revived a dead land—thus shall you be brought forth; # and Who created the pairs, all of them, and appointed for you ships and cattle that you ride, # that you may mount their backs and then remember the blessing of your Lord when you are mounted thereon and say, “Glory be to God, Who made this subservient unto us, though we were not equal to it. # Truly unto our Lord do we turn.” # Yet they assign to Him a portion from some of His servants. Truly man is a manifest ingrate. # Or has He taken daughters from that which He creates and favored you with sons? # And when one of them receives glad tidings of that which he has set forth as a description of the Compassionate, his face blackens and he chokes with anguish. # “What! One who is reared amid ornaments and is incoherent in dispute?” # And they have made the angels, who are servants of the Compassionate, females. Did they witness their creation? Their witnessing shall be recorded, and they will be questioned. # They say, “Had the Compassionate willed, we would not have worshipped them.” They have no knowledge thereof. They do naught but guess. # Or did We give them a book beforehand to which they hold fast? # Nay! They say, “We found our fathers upon a creed, and surely we are rightly guided in their footsteps.” # Likewise, We sent no warner unto a town before thee, but that those living in luxury therein said, “We found our fathers upon a creed, and we are surely following in their footsteps.” # He replied, “What! Though I bring you better guidance than that which you found your fathers following?” They said, “Truly we disbelieve in that wherewith you have been sent.” # So We took vengeance upon them. And behold how the deniers fared in the end. # And [remember] when Abraham said to his father and his people, “Truly I am quit of that which you worship, # save Him who originated me, for surely He will guide me.” # And He made it a word enduring among his posterity, that haply they may return. # Nay, I provided for these and their fathers until the Truth came unto them and a clear messenger. # And when the Truth came unto them, they said, “This is sorcery, and we do not believe in it.” # And they said, “Why was this Quran not sent down to a great man from one of the two towns?” # Is it they who apportion the Mercy of thy Lord? We have apportioned for them their livelihood in the life of this world and have raised some of them above others in rank, that some of them may take others into service. And the Mercy of thy Lord is better than that which they amass. # And were it not that mankind would be one community, We would have made for those who disbelieve in the Compassionate silver roofs for their houses, stairways whereon to ascend, # doors to their houses, couches whereon to recline, # and gold ornaments. Yet all of that would be but enjoyment of the life of this world. And the Hereafter, in the presence of thy Lord, is for the reverent. # Whosoever turns blindly away from the remembrance of the Compassionate, We assign to him a satan who is then a companion unto him. # And they turn them from the way; yet they suppose that they are rightly guided, # till, when he comes unto Us, he will say, “Would that there were between me and thee the distance of the two easts! What an evil companion!” # Yet on that Day it will not benefit you, since you did wrong, to share in the punishment. # Dost thou, then, make the deaf to hear or guide the blind and those in manifest error? # Either We shall take thee away, and then take vengeance upon them, # or We shall show thee that which We have promised them. For surely We have power over them. # So hold fast to that which We have revealed unto thee. Truly thou art upon a straight path. # Truly it is a reminder unto thee and thy people, and you will be questioned. # Ask those of Our messengers whom We sent before thee, “Have We appointed gods to be worshipped apart from the Compassionate?” # We did indeed send Moses with Our signs unto Pharaoh and his notables. And he said, “I am a messenger of the Lord of the worlds.” # But when he brought them Our signs, behold, they laughed at them. # Not a sign did We show them, but that it was greater than its sister. And We seized them with the punishment, that haply they may return. # They said, “O sorcerer, call upon your Lord for us in accord with that which He has covenanted with you; surely we shall then be guided.” # Yet when We removed the punishment from them, behold, they reneged. # And Pharaoh called out among his people, saying, “O my people! Is not the sovereignty of Egypt mine, and do these streams not flow beneath me? Do you not, then, see? # Am I not better than this one who is vile and can scarcely speak plain? # Why, then, have armlets of gold not been cast upon him, and why do angels not accompany him?” # Then he incited his people to make light, and they obeyed him. Truly they were an iniquitous people. # So when they roused Our Anger, We took vengeance upon them and drowned them all together. # We made them a bygone people and an example for those of later times. # And when the son of Mary is set forth as an example, behold, thy people turn away from it. # They say, “Are our gods better, or is he?” They do not cite him to thee, save to dispute. Nay, they are a contentious people. # He was naught but a servant whom We blessed and whom We made an example for the Children of Israel. # Had We willed, We would have appointed angels among you, succeeding one another upon the earth. # And he is indeed a portent of the Hour; so doubt not concerning it and follow Me. This is a straight path. # And let not Satan turn you away; truly he is a manifest enemy unto you. # When Jesus brought clear proofs, he said, “I have come unto you with wisdom and to make clear to you some of that wherein you differ. So reverence God and obey me. # Truly God is my Lord and your Lord; so worship Him. This is a straight path.” # But, then, the parties differed among themselves. Woe unto those who do wrong for the punishment of a painful day. # Do they await aught but that the Hour should come upon them suddenly, while they are unaware. # Friends on that Day will be enemies to one another, save for the reverent. # O My servants! No fear shall be upon you this Day; nor shall it be you who grieve, # you who believed in Our signs and who were submitters; # enter the Garden, you and your spouses, made joyous. # For them are brought round trays and goblets of gold. Therein is whatsoever souls desire and eyes find pleasing. And you shall abide therein. # This is the Garden that you have inherited for that which you used to do. # Abundant fruit from which you will eat shall be yours therein. # Truly the guilty are abiding in the punishment of Hell. # It will not be lightened for them, and therein will they despair. # We did not wrong them; rather, it is they who were the wrongdoers. # And they will call, “O Mālik, let thy Lord put an end to us.” He will reply, “You will surely remain. # We did indeed bring you the truth, but most of you were averse to the truth.” # Or have they devised anything? Truly it is We Who devise. # Or do they suppose that We hear not their secret and their secret converse? Yea, and Our envoys are present with them, recording. # Say, “If the Compassionate had a child, then I would be the first of the worshippers.” # Glory be to the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne, above that which they ascribe. # And leave them to indulge in idle talk and play until they meet the Day that they are promised. # He it is Who is God in Heaven and God on earth. And He is the Wise, the Knowing. # Blessed is He unto Whom belongs sovereignty over the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is between them, and with Whom lies knowledge of the Hour, and unto Whom you will be returned. # Those upon whom they call apart from Him have no power of intercession, save such as have borne witness to the truth knowingly. # Wert thou to ask them, “Who created you?” they would surely say, “God.” How, then, are they perverted? # And as for his saying, “O my Lord, truly these are a people who believe not, ” # bear with them and say, “Peace.” For soon they will know.
Commentary
# Ḥā. Mīm.
1 This sūrah is the fourth in a series of seven sūrahs that open with the Arabic letters ḥāʾ and mīm and are referred to collectively as the ḥawāmīm; see 40:1c.
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# By the clear Book,
2 Cf. 44:2. The Quran is described as a clear Book (cf. 5:15; 12:1; 26:2; 27:1; 28:2; 44:2), clear in both wording and meaning (IK). This appellation is understood to allude to its being sent down by God rather than composed by human beings (Ṭ). It is also said that all things in Heaven and on earth are recorded in a clear Book (10:61; 27:75; 34:3). Clear renders mubīn, which is in the form of an active participle and could thus be understood to mean that it makes clear or clarifies, implying that the Quran makes the path of guidance clear from the path of misguidance (R, Z) and truth from error and that it clarifies what is needed in order to follow religion properly (JJ, Z).
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# truly We have made it an Arabic Quran, that haply you may understand,
3 That God has revealed an Arabic Quran (cf. 12:2; 20:113; 39:28; 41:3; 42:7) in a clear, Arabic tongue (26:195; cf. 16:103; 46:12) indicates that it should be clear to the Arabs (Ṭ), who then have no excuse for rejecting it; see 39:28c.
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# and truly it is with Us in the Mother of the Book, sublime indeed, wise.
4 Mother of the Book (cf. 3:7; 13:39) is interpreted by most as a reference to the Preserved Tablet (85:22; IK, JJ, R, Z), which is said to be the source of all revealed scripture, and interpreted by some as a reference to the Quran itself (see 3:7c). Sublime indeed, wise refers to the Quran or to the Mother of the Book (R). Sublime renders ʿalī, which indicates that it is transcendent and thus beyond the possibility of any corruption or falsification (R). Some say that when read as modifying Quran, ʿalī means that the Quran transcends all other revealed books, because it is a miracle that will remain for all time (R). Regarding the inviolability and permanence of the Quran, see commentary on 15:9; 56:77–80. The Quran is also described as wise in 10:1; 31:2; and 36:2. Wise (ḥakīm) can also be taken to mean “determined” or “made firm” (muḥkam, from the same root), as in 3:7, where the Quran is described as having signs determined (R; cf. 11:1). Ḥakīm could also mean something that makes wise (muḥkim), indicating that the Quran or the Mother of the Book teaches the truth.
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# Shall We withdraw the reminder from you altogether for your having been a prodigal people?
5 The first part of this verse may mean, “Shall We withhold the reminder of the punishment from you?” (Ṭ), or, “Shall we withhold the Quran from you?” (JJ), as “the Reminder” is often used as a name for the Quran itself. According to the second interpretation, the verse refers to God’s continuing to reveal the Quran out of His Mercy, even though it had initially been rejected by many (IK). For the meaning of a prodigal people, see 10:12c; 25:67c.
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# How many a prophet did We send among those of old?
# Yet never did a prophet come unto them, but that they mocked him.
6–7 These verses are understood as consolation for the Prophet (IK, JJ), informing him that the derision he faces is no greater than that confronted by previous prophets (Ṭ). For v. 7, cf. 15:11; 36:30.
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# So We destroyed those of greater prowess than them, and the example of those of old has passed.
8 The disbelievers whom God destroyed before this generation of disbelievers were more numerous than them, greater than them in strength, and left firmer traces upon the earth (40:82; cf. 50:36). Nonetheless, their achievements could not avail them against God. This implies that the opponents of the Prophet, who are weaker than previous generations, are misguided in thinking that they can successfully oppose the message he brings; see 40:82c. The example of those of old refers to their way of life (IK) or to the fact that the punishment they received serves as an example for future disbelievers, as in v. 56: And We made them a bygone people and an example for those of later times (IK); see also 14:45; 40:84–85c.
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# Wert thou to ask them, “Who created the heavens and the earth?” they would surely say, “The Mighty, the Knowing created them.”
9 When questioned about the source of creation, they—that is, the idolaters among the Quraysh—would surely say, “The Mighty, the Knowing created them” (cf. 10:31; 23:84–85; 29:61, 63; 31:25; 39:38; 43:87), because they acknowledged that one God was responsible for creation, but they nonetheless worshipped other deities alongside Him (IK) and denied His ability to resurrect (R). Alternately, them and they can be understood as references to the prophets (R), meaning that all prophets affirm this statement. With this latter reading, vv. 10–13 could be read as a continuation of the quotation with which this verse ends.
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# He it is Who made the earth a cradle for you and made paths for you therein, that haply you may be guided;
10 Cf. 20:53. That God made the earth a cradle means He made the earth smooth, easy to travel upon (IK), tractable for agriculture (R), and a home for human life. Paths (cf. 21:31: 67:15; 71:19–20) refers to navigable routes He has made upon it (IK, JJ). In the context of this passage (vv. 10–14), that haply you may be guided (cf. 2:53, 150; 7:158; 16:15; 21:31; 23:49; 32:3) is thought to refer to the manner in which God both facilitates travel upon the earth in this life and provides signs and revelation to guide human beings to truth and to Paradise in the Hereafter.
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# Who sent down water from the sky in due measure, whereby We revived a dead land—thus shall you be brought forth;
11 That water is sent in due measure (cf. 23:18) indicates that God sends water sufficient to sustain people, livestock, and crops (IK) and does not usually send down a deluge (JJ) as He did in the case of Noah (R). Elsewhere it is said that God created everything, then measured it out with due measure (25:2). Regarding the theological significance of “measure,” see 54:49c. The last line of the present verse is one of several places where the Quran employs the revivification of dead land as a metaphor for the resurrection of human beings (R); see 7:57; 16:65; 29:63; 30:19, 24, 50; 35:9; 36:33; 41:39; 45:5; 50:9–11; 57:17. Such imagery is also understood as a spiritual allegory and symbol for the death and life of the soul, as discussed in 7:58c; 22:63c; 30:50c.
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# and Who created the pairs, all of them, and appointed for you ships and cattle that you ride,
# that you may mount their backs and then remember the blessing of your Lord when you are mounted thereon and say, “Glory be to God, Who made this subservient unto us, though we were not equal to it.
12–13 The pairs, all of them (cf. 36:36) refers to all species of animals (IK, Q), to all opposites (R), or to the fact that all animals have both males and females (Q). According to al-Rāzī, that they are pairs indicates that they are all relative and multiple, whereas their Creator is an Absolute Being Who transcends all duality. This is one of several passages that mention seafaring as a blessing bestowed by God (cf. 14:32; 17:66; 22:65; 30:46) and invoke the benefits of cattle—their usefulness for riding and transporting goods, for providing warmth and clothing, for providing food and drink, and even their beauty—as signs of God’s Beneficence toward human beings; see also 6:142c; 16:5, 66, 79; 23:21–22; 36:72; 40:79. The supplication given at the end of this verse is often employed by Muslims when traveling by land; see also 28:85c. When traveling by sea, one is advised to use the supplication in 11:41: In the Name of God be its coursing and its mooring. Truly my Lord is Forgiving, Merciful (Q, R). Recognizing that God has made certain aspects of creation subservient unto human beings, though they are not equal to it, is to acknowledge that human beings do not have the capacity to make use of these resources without Divine Aid (IK, Q, R, Z); see also 31:20c.
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# Truly unto our Lord do we turn.”
14 Unto our Lord do we turn (cf. 7:125), that is, in prayer. Alternately, the phrase could be rendered, “Unto our Lord do we return” in the Hereafter (Aj, IK, R, Ṭ). In the latter interpretation, mention of earthly journeys in the previous verse draws one’s attention to the journey toward the Hereafter, just as elsewhere mention of preparing provisions for an earthly journey is employed to remind human beings to prepare provisions for the Hereafter: And make provision, for indeed the best provision is reverence (2:197; IK). The mention of the return to God after the mention of the means by which human beings journey is understood as a recognition of the dangers inherent in setting out upon a journey, especially without the necessary preparation, and that the successful return from a journey lies entirely in God’s Hands (R). That the Arabic is phrased as an active participle (munqalibūn, lit. “are we returners”) speaks to the definitive nature of this verse, since from a Quranic perspective human beings cannot but turn to God and all are traveling toward Him at every moment whether they want to or not.
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# Yet they assign to Him a portion from some of His servants. Truly man is a manifest ingrate.
15 The idolaters maintain that some of God’s servants are His offspring (JJ, Q, R), who share in His Divinity and in His creative power. Some see this verse as a reference to the practice among the Makkan idolaters of devoting a portion of their cattle to their idols, as in 6:136: And they dedicate to God a share of the crops and cattle He created, saying, “This belongs to God”—or so they claim —“And this belongs to our partners” (IK). The present verse could also be understood to mean that the idolaters maintain that God has partners and that they only assign “a portion” of His servants to Him and then assign another portion of His servants to the partners they attribute to Him (R).
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# Or has He taken daughters from that which He creates and favored you with sons?
#And when one of them receives glad tidings of that which he has set forth as a description of the Compassionate, his face blackens and he chokes with anguish.
16–17 Cf. 16:57–58. These verses are similar to 37:149–53; 52:39; and 53:21–22. The Quran criticizes frequently the idea that God has offspring (2:116; 6:100; 9:30; 10:68; 17:40, 111; 18:4; 19:35, 88–93; 21:26; 25:2; 37:149, 153; 39:4; 43:81–82; 52:39; 72:3). In this instance, the Quranic argument is not meant to suggest that males are better than females. Rather, it shows that the idolaters’ attributing female offspring to God, which they themselves despise (see commentary on 16:57–59), while favoring male offspring for themselves, is illogical and demonstrates the utter inconsistency and vacuity of their position as well as the degree to which they belittle God’s rights and dues.
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# “What! One who is reared amid ornaments and is incoherent in dispute?”
18 The idolaters regard women as lacking something for which they must compensate with jewelry and ornaments and do not allow women to be heard in a dispute; so how could they attribute being female to those beings they call divine? (IK). Alternately, this verse could be read as a description of the idols that they decorate with gold and silver and then worship, though the idols cannot speak (Ṭ).
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# And they have made the angels, who are servants of the Compassionate, females. Did they witness their creation? Their witnessing shall be recorded, and they will be questioned.
19 Cf. 37:150. The disbelievers make claims regarding aspects of the Unseen of which they have no knowledge. On the one hand, they could not have witnessed the creation of the angels; nor do they have intellectual proofs for their position. On the other hand, they deny revelation, by means of which one could receive such information. Thus they have no means by which to substantiate what they claim (R); see 17:40c; 37:150c. Servants renders ʿibād, a reading supported by 21:26. According to another canonical reading ʿibād would be read ʿinda, meaning “with,” in which case who are servants of the Compassionate would be read “who are with the Compassionate” (Q, R). This reading is supported by 7:206, which speaks of the angels as those who are with thy Lord, and by 21:19: Those who are with Him are not too arrogant to worship Him; nor do they weary (Q, R). This alternate reading would mean that, as the angels are with God and not with the disbelievers, the disbelievers have no basis for their assertion that the angels are female (R).
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# They say, “Had the Compassionate willed, we would not have worshipped them.” They have no knowledge thereof. They do naught but guess.
20 This verse describes the idolaters’ response to the question posed in v. 19. They maintain that since their worshipping of idols happens only by God’s Will, He must approve of it (IK, JJ); see 6:148c; 16:35c. In other words, they consider the absence of Divine Punishment to indicate tacit approval. Just as the idolaters are here accused of conjecture when maintaining that God will be pleased with their worship, so too are they accused of conjecture when giving names to their idols (Truly those who believe not in the Hereafter name the angels with female names. Yet they have no knowledge thereof. They follow naught but conjecture; and surely conjecture avails naught against the Truth; 53:27–28) and when maintaining that God has a child (see 18:4–5).
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# Or did We give them a book beforehand to which they hold fast?
21 In context this question asks, “Did God give them a revealed scripture that they are able to study and use as a source for their claims to knowledge of the angels?” This challenge is similar to that posed in 37:156–57, where the disbelievers are challenged regarding their belief in deities as the offspring of God: Or have you a manifest authority? Bring your Book, then, if you are truthful (see also 34:44; 35:40c; 46:4; 68:37–38).
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# Nay! They say, “We found our fathers upon a creed, and surely we are rightly guided in their footsteps.”
22 This verse begins one of several passages in which disbelievers state their unwillingness to abandon the false gods and deities worshipped by their fathers (cf. 2:170; 5:104; 7:28, 70; 10:78; 11:62, 87; 14:10; 31:21; 34:43). In the context of the previous verses, this verse argues for the vacuity of following the beliefs of one’s forefathers in the absence of intellectual or revealed truths to support one’s position (R). Creed renders ummah, a word employed in many different ways in the Quran, but usually meaning “community,” as in 23:52: And truly this community of yours is one community. In the present context, the term indicates both a set of beliefs and a corresponding way of life, thus a religion (Q).
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# Likewise, We sent no warner unto a town before thee, but that those living in luxury therein said, “We found our fathers upon a creed, and we are surely following in their footsteps.”
23 Cf. 34:34; 51:52–53. This is one of several verses indicating that it is the leaders or notables of a community who are usually most adamant in opposing God’s messengers, implying that they benefit from a corrupt social order and therefore stand the most to lose from the advent of a just social order. In other verses, they are thus referred to as the guilty (6:123). It is the leaders and notables who are said to have opposed Moses (see 7:103–27; 10:75–88; 11:97–98; 23:46–47; 28:20; 43:46–47), Noah (see 7:60; 11:27, 38; 23:24–25) and other prophets (see 7:66, 75, 88–90; 23:33–36), among them Muhammad (see 38:6). The disbelievers’ statement we are surely following in their footsteps implies that they see following the ways of their forefathers as sufficient justification for their beliefs and actions.
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# He replied, “What! Though I bring you better guidance than that which you found your fathers following?” They said, “Truly we disbelieve in that wherewith you have been sent.”
# So We took vengeance upon them. And behold how the deniers fared in the end.
24–25 He replied renders qāl, but several canonical readings allow this to be read qul, or “say,” in which case it is an injunction to the Prophet. This reading is preferred by several commentators (IK, Q, Ṭs). The depth of the idolaters’ devotion to their “forefathers’ creed” is such that they will not listen to arguments from reason or revelation. Al-Rāzī observes that the root of their devotion to this ancestral creed is love of the world and its delights, since the creed functions to secure their wealth and position. As they were presented with both rational arguments and revelation, they no longer had any excuse for rejecting the truth; yet they continued to do so; thus God took vengeance upon them (R). This is in keeping with the Quranic principle that God will not punish or destroy any people until they have been sent a warner (see 15:4; 26:208–9).
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# And [remember] when Abraham said to his father and his people, “Truly I am quit of that which you worship,
# save Him who originated me, for surely He will guide me.”
26–27 In contrast to the notables, whose love of the world and its accoutrements led them to adhere to the creed of their forefathers and reject both rational arguments and revelation, Abraham’s love for God led him to risk his own life in rejecting the creed of his father and his people. Citing Abraham in this context provides a poignant argument for the Arabs, as their claims to honor and nobility were closely connected to their claim of descent from Abraham. On the one hand, these verses cite his example as one to be followed. But on the other hand, they present an argument against the claim made by the Makkans that they are following the creed of their forefathers (v. 22–23). Since Abraham was regarded as their greatest forefather, following his example would in fact be nobler than following the example of the generations immediately preceding them (R). These verses thus seek to undermine the argument of the Makkan idolaters by claiming that, even if they are following their forefathers, they are not doing so as perfectly as Muhammad and his followers, who are following the noblest of their forefathers. Abraham makes a declaration similar to the one stated in v. 26 in 6:78, saying: O my people! Truly I am quit of the partners you ascribe. Likewise, the Arabian prophet Hūd says to his people, I call God as witness—and you be witness—that I am quit of that which you ascribe as partners apart from Him (11:54–55), and the Prophet Muhammad is instructed to say to his detractors, Truly I am quit of that which you ascribe as partners unto Him (6:19; cf. 10:41; 26:216).
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# And He made it a word enduring among his posterity, that haply they may return.
28 It refers to the statement of the affirmation of God’s Oneness (JJ, R), which is understood to be what Abraham stated in vv. 26–27 (R, Ṭ), or to the Islamic testimony of faith, “There is no god but God” (IK, Ṭ). Others say that it refers to Abraham’s statement in 37:99, Truly, I am going unto my Lord. He will guide me (JJ), or to 2:131, And when his Lord said unto him, “Submit!” he said, “I submit to the Lord of the worlds.” In this context, that haply they may return is understood to mean that later generations might return to this “word” or declaration (IK), return to obedience to God (Ṭ), repent or remember (Ṭ), or recant what they follow and return to the religion of Abraham (JJ).
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# Nay, I provided for these and their fathers until the Truth came unto them and a clear messenger.
29 Nay renders the particle bal, which when employed in this manner indicates a stark contrast. Here it can be understood to mean that, although God made it a word enduring among his posterity, they nonetheless became deluded and were distracted from the message by their preoccupation with their passions and enjoyments (R). Nonetheless, God provided for the people of Makkah and their ancestors and did not destroy them or punish them (JJ, Ṭ). But now that the Truth, meaning the Quran (JJ, R, Ṭ) has come to them, they will be held accountable for not adhering to the teachings found in it and in the word enduring that Abraham had bequeathed to them. As in v. 2, clear renders mubīn, which is in the form of an active participle and could thus be understood to mean that the Prophet clarifies by bringing clear proofs (Ṭ) or that he brings with clarity the stipulations of the revealed Law (JJ); see 43:2c.
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# And when the Truth came unto them, they said, “This is sorcery, and we do not believe in it.”
30 As in v. 20, the idolaters are said to have no argument against what the Prophet brings. In v. 22 they cite the beliefs of their forefathers to justify their position, while here they reject the Prophet and the Quran out of hand by deriding them as connected to sorcery. This is one of many verses in which the Prophet is accused of being a sorcerer (cf. 10:2; 11:7; 34:43; 37:15; 38:4; 46:7; 51:52; 54:2; 74:24), as were Moses (7:109; 10:76; 20:57, 63; 26:34; 27:13; 28:36; 40:24; 51:39) and Jesus (5:110; 61:6).
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# And they said, “Why was this Quran not sent down to a great man from one of the two towns?”
31 The two towns are Makkah and Ṭāʾif. Most maintain that the great man of Makkah is thought to be al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah and the great man of Ṭāʾif, ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd al-Thaqafī (IK, JJ, Ṭ). Others say ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah of Makkah and Ibn ʿAbd al-Yālīl al-Thaqafī of Ṭāʾif (Ṭ). The idolaters were incredulous that God would choose as a prophet one who did not possess high social standing among them and used this fact as another excuse for not following the Prophet, as in 38:7–8, where the notables among them say, We did not hear of this in the creed of latter days. This is naught but an invention. Has the Reminder been sent down upon him among all of us? In general, the leaders of the Quraysh could not bear the thought that the new revelation would alter their position in society, as in 46:11: And those who disbelieve say of those who believe, “Had it been good, they would not have outstripped us in [attaining] it.” In response to this attitude, 6:124 states, God knows best where to place His message. In other passages, they express amazement at God’s choice of a human being as His Messenger, as in 25:7: What ails this Messenger, who eats food and walks in the markets? Why is there not an angel sent down unto him to be a warner with him? (see also 6:8–9; 11:12; 14:10; 17:94; 23:33; 36:15; 41:14; 54:24; 64:6c). For other verses that speak of their marveling at this phenomenon, see 7:69; 10:2; 38:4; 50:2.
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# Is it they who apportion the Mercy of thy Lord? We have apportioned for them their livelihood in the life of this world and have raised some of them above others in rank, that some of them may take others into service. And the Mercy of thy Lord is better than that which they amass.
32 Is it they who apportion the Mercy of thy Lord? That is, “Do they apportion prophethood?” (JJ), or “Do they apportion the sustenance that God provides such that they can give it to those they love and withhold it from others?” (Ṭ), or “Should God’s choice of a prophet be in accord with their caprice?” (Qu). For similar rhetorical questions, see 35:40; 46:4; 52:36–37, 41; 68:37–39, 47; see also 35:40c; 46:4c. When the question is seen as a reference to prophethood, the implication is that God knows best who is fit for this station (IK). That God apportions livelihood can then be understood as an allusion to God’s choice of whomever He wills as a messenger (Ṭ). Wealth and social station are incorrectly interconnected with prophethood in the minds of the “leaders,” so here it is as if God is asking how being favored with wealth could be connected to being favored with prophethood (R). Regarding the manner in which God raises some above others in rank, see 6:165c; 17:21. The last sentence is understood to mean that Paradise is better than all the material goods and pleasures the disbelievers may amass and experience in this world (JJ, Ṭ). More generally, it can be understood to mean that the Mercy granted by God in religion is greater than any wealth that could be amassed, because God’s Mercy lasts forever, while the things of this world fade away (R).
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# And were it not that mankind would be one community, We would have made for those who disbelieve in the Compassionate silver roofs for their houses, stairways whereon to ascend,
# doors to their houses, couches whereon to recline,
33–34 These verses are understood to mean that, were it not for the fact that people would have all disbelieved due to their inclination toward the world and neglect of the Hereafter, God would have provided great wealth for them (Q), or that ignorant people would think that God’s giving wealth was a sign of His Love and would thus be joined together in disbelief for the sake of wealth (IK). For other verses that allude to God’s not wanting to make human beings a single community in disbelief, see 16:93c; 42:8c.
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# and gold ornaments. Yet all of that would be but enjoyment of the life of this world. And the Hereafter, in the presence of thy Lord, is for the reverent.
35 Enjoyment of the life of this world indicates the ephemeral delights of this world, which are naught but the enjoyment of delusion (3:185; 57:20) and stand in stark contrast to the rewards of the next life; see 3:14; 4:77; 9:38; 13:26; 20:131; 28:60; 29:64c; 40:39; 42:36.
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# Whosoever turns blindly away from the remembrance of the Compassionate, We assign to him a satan who is then a companion unto him.
# And they turn them from the way; yet they suppose that they are rightly guided,
36–37 Remembrance of the Compassionate refers to either remembering and following God (IK) or the Quran (JJ); in the latter case it could be translated “the Reminder of the Compassionate.” In either interpretation, this verse can be understood as a response to all of the excuses for not following the Prophet posed by the disbelievers in the preceding verses. When the disbelievers choose to ignore the proofs of God, both rational and revealed, by turning away from them, save with a weak glance, their glance is like that of one whose vision has dimmed (Ṭ). Yet they have willed this for themselves. Therefore, God punishes them by “assigning satans” to them who will lead them further into the blindness they have chosen. Ibn Kathīr likens this verse to 61:5, which says of those among the Israelites who mistreated Moses, When they swerved, God caused their hearts to swerve; and God guides not iniquitous people; and 4:115: But whosoever opposes the Messenger, after guidance has been made clear to him, and follows a way other than that of the believers, We shall leave him on [the path] he has taken, and We shall cause him to burn in Hell—what an evil journey’s end! That those who turn away from God and His Messenger fall victim to Satan and his minions is asserted in several verses of the Quran, such as 4:38: Whosoever has Satan for a companion has an evil companion indeed! And 4:119: Whosoever takes Satan as a protector apart from God has surely suf ered a manifest loss. For such people Satan has overwhelmed them, and thus made them forget the remembrance of God. They are the party of Satan. Lo! The party of Satan are losers (58:19). Their companion satans keep them from the things that are permissible and make them incline toward what is forbidden, prevent them from being obedient, and encourage them to disobey (Q). They thus make going astray seem like going aright, as in 41:25: We assigned to them companions, and they made that which is before them and that which is behind them seem fair to them. Regarding the influence that satans have upon human beings, the Prophet said, “There is none among you but that he has been assigned a jinn as his companion.” The Prophet was then asked, “And you, O Messenger of God?” He replied, “And me, except that God helped me against him and he submitted; so he only commands me to good.”
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# till, when he comes unto Us, he will say, “Would that there were between me and thee the distance of the two easts! What an evil companion!”
38 He comes unto Us renders jāʾanā, which in other canonical readings is considered to be in the dual form jāʾānā, meaning “when the two of them come,” that is, the one who turned away and his companion satan (IK, Q). On the Day of Judgment, those who had turned away blindly from the remembrance of God will seek to distance themselves from the satan they had taken as a companion in this world. Some understand the distance of the two easts to mean the distance between the east and the west (JJ, Q). The two easts, translating mashriqayn, could also be rendered “the two places from which the sun rises,” as the rising of the sun, sharaqa, derives from the same root, sh-r-q, as the word for “east,” mashriq. The distance between the two easts could thus be understood as a reference to the distance between the point from which the sun rises at the winter solstice and the point from which it rises at the summer solstice (Q).
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# Yet on that Day it will not benefit you, since you did wrong, to share in the punishment.
39 This verse can be read as an address to one who has turned away blindly and to his companion satan; it means that their being together in the Fire will not be of any help to them and that they will both partake of the punishment (IK). It can also be read as an address to human beings who were spiritually blind, meaning that their expression of remorse in disowning their companion satans will be of no benefit (JJ, Q). That they express regrets and admit their sin (67:11; cf. 40:11) is of no avail to them, since they had been offered ample opportunity to repent and make amends during the life of this world; see 6:25c; 32:12c; 35:37c. It could also be understood as a reference to the remembrance of the Compassionate (v. 36), meaning that because they choose to turn away from it in this world, they will not have the opportunity to turn toward it in the Hereafter.
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# Dost thou, then, make the deaf to hear or guide the blind and those in manifest error?
40 This verse is an address to the Prophet. From a Quranic perspective, the Prophet cannot cause those who are spiritually deaf and blind to hear or be guided by the revelation, because his only duty is to convey the revelation (see 3:20; 13:40), and whomsoever God leads astray, no guide has he (7:186; 13:33; 39:23, 36; 40:33); see 10:42–44; 27:80–81; 30:52–53c.
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# Either We shall take thee away, and then take vengeance upon them,
# or We shall show thee that which We have promised them. For surely We have power over them.
41–42 The second part of v. 41 is understood by some to mean, “for We were vengeful with them,” meaning that God took vengeance upon past communities who rejected the prophets sent to them (Ṭ). In either rendering, these verses indicate that God will either take vengeance upon the disbelievers after the Prophet has passed away or bring the promised punishment upon them while the Prophet is still among them. These verses can also be read to mean that God will punish those who oppose the Prophet in the Hereafter or that He will punish them in this life by bringing the promised punishment upon them (JJ) and making the Prophet victorious over them (Ṭ). The two possibilities express the inevitability of Divine Punishment for rejecting the Prophet and the Quran. God spared them before (see 43:29c), but now that a messenger has come to them, they will have no reprieve.
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# So hold fast to that which We have revealed unto thee. Truly thou art upon a straight path.
43 The injunction is to hold fast to the Quran (IK, JJ, Ṭ), which ensures that one remains upon a straight path (see 1:6c), in contrast to the idolaters, who were not given a book beforehand to which they hold fast (v. 21).
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# Truly it is a reminder unto thee and thy people, and you will be questioned.
44 The Reminder (al-dhikr) is one of the names of the Quran (see 15:9c; 36:10–11c) and is also employed as a reference to scripture in general or to the Torah, as when the People of the Book are referred to as the people of the Reminder (16:43; 21:8); also see 41:41–42c. That it is a reminder unto thee and thy people is understood to mean that the Quran is an honor bestowed upon the Prophet and his people (IK, JJ, Ṭ), especially since it was a revelation sent down in their own language (IK, JJ). It also implies that since they are foremost in their ability to understand its language, they should be the most steadfast in adhering to it (IK), and that they will be questioned in the Hereafter regarding the degree to which they have fulfilled their duty toward it (JJ). The Quran mentions that people will be questioned at the Final Judgment in several verses (see, e.g., 7:6; 16:56, 93; 17:36; 29:13).
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# Ask those of Our messengers whom We sent before thee, “Have We appointed gods to be worshipped apart from the Compassionate?”
45 This verse is understood to mean that when the Prophet met all of the other prophets on the Night Journey (see 17:1c; introduction to Sūrah 53), he was to ask them this question (JJ), or that he was to ask it of the People of the Book (JJ, Ṭ), in which case some say there is an implied “unto whom” (ilayhim) in the verse so that it could be rendered, “Ask those before you [unto whom] We sent from among Our messengers” (Ṭ). The verse can also be understood as a purely rhetorical question, reaffirming that all of the messengers called their people to the same truths to which the Prophet Muhammad calls his people, as in 16:36: We indeed sent a messenger unto every community, “Worship God, and shun false deities!” (IK).
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# We did indeed send Moses with Our signs unto Pharaoh and his notables. And he said, “I am a messenger of the Lord of the worlds.”
46–56 Here the account of Moses provides a spiritual example, reflecting aspects of the Prophet Muhammad’s own challenges. For more detailed accounts of Moses’ mission, see 7:103–55; 10:75–93; 20:9–97; 26:10–66; 28:3–46. Shorter accounts pertaining to particular aspects of Moses’ mission can be found in 2:49–61; 5:20–26; 17:101–4; 27:7–14; 40:23–30; 44:17–31; 51:38–40; 79:15–25.
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# But when he brought them Our signs, behold, they laughed at them.
46–47 When Moses brought God’s signs to Pharaoh and his notables, they laughed at them in the same way that the Makkan idolaters mocked the signs with which the Prophet was sent (Ṭ), as when Pharaoh, Hāmān, and Korah said that Moses was a lying sorcerer (40:24; cf. 51:39).
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# Not a sign did We show them, but that it was greater than its sister. And We seized them with the punishment, that haply they may return.
48 Each of the signs that Moses brought was greater than the sign immediately before it (JJ, Ṭ); see 7:133–35, where these signs are mentioned. For their rejection of the signs, God punished them in the hope that they would repent (Ṭ) and recant their disbelief (JJ).
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#They said, “O sorcerer, call upon your Lord for us in accord with that which He has covenanted with you; surely we shall then be guided.”
49 A similar verse is 7:134, in which Pharaoh and the notables continue the address to Moses, saying, If you lift this torment from us, we shall surely believe in you, and we shall surely send forth the Children of Israel with you; see 7:134–35c. Their addressing Moses as sorcerer is not a slight, since they did not regard sorcery as reprehensible (cf. 7:109; 26:34–35). According to their worldview, this might in fact have been a way of honoring him (IK). In this way they recognized the “evidentiary miracles” with which Moses was sent, but the miracles themselves had no ultimate effect on them, because they were hardened disbelievers (see 7:132c; 27:13–14c). The primary function of prophetic miracles seems to be to elicit and encourage belief among those who are already somehow disposed to it, like the sorcerers who professed belief in the religion of Moses once they witnessed the power of his miracles (see 7:119–20c; 20:70; 26:47–48). In this way, evidentiary miracles, like the prophetic messages themselves, serve to distinguish the inherently good, but merely misguided, members of a disbelieving community from those, like Pharaoh, whose hearts were so thoroughly hardened that they rejected every sign or message the prophet brought. Regarding the inability of signs to convince those unwilling to believe in a prophet’s message, see 2:145; 6:25c; 7:146; 10:96–97. See also 10:81–82, where Moses responds to the sorcerers’ feats by indicating that it is God’s Words (rather than apparent supernatural feats) that ultimately separate truth from falsehood and illusion.
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# Yet when We removed the punishment from them, behold, they reneged.
50 Cf. 7:135. Despite the miracles and God’s suspension of the punishment in response to Moses’ supplications, Pharaoh and his notables return to their inveterate disbelief as soon as they feel safe. Their doing so reflects the Quranic theme that human beings will often invoke God when they are in need and then neglect God when they are safe or at ease, as in 39:8: And when harm befalls man, he calls upon his Lord, turning unto Him. Then when He bestows a blessing from Himself upon him, he forgets the One upon whom he called before and sets up equals unto God to lead astray from His path (see, e.g., 6:40–41c; 10:12; 17:67; 30:33).
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# And Pharaoh called out among his people, saying, “O my people! Is not the sovereignty of Egypt mine, and do these streams not flow beneath me? Do you not, then, see?
51 Pharaoh’s invocation of the streams running beneath his feet as a sign of his sovereignty demonstrates both his haughtiness, since from a Quranic perspective God alone makes water flow, and his ignorance, since the Quran warns that God grants respite for a while, but can remove such blessings at any moment, as in 6:6: We sent the sky upon them with abundant rains, and made streams flow beneath them. Then We destroyed them for their sins, and brought into being after them another generation (see also 2:266; 15:3–4; 16:54–55; 22:48; 23:54–56; 44:25–28; 68:17–20).
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# Am I not better than this one who is vile and can scarcely speak plain?
52 The charge that Moses can scarcely speak plain refers, according to some commentators, to a lisp said to have resulted from a hot coal that was accidentally placed in his mouth when he was a child (IK, JJ); see 20:25–28c; 26:12–13c. According to some accounts, Pharaoh is lying, since this impediment had been removed when Moses asked of God, And untie a knot from my tongue, that they may understand my speech (20:27–28). To which God responded, Thou hast been granted thy request, O Moses! (20:36; IK). Alternately, it could be understood as Pharaoh’s assessment of the message that Moses brought.
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# Why, then, have armlets of gold not been cast upon him, and why do angels not accompany him?”
53 Here Pharaoh exhibits the same misunderstandings expressed by the Makkan idolaters in the first half of the sūrah. Just as the Makkan idolaters asked why God did not send the Quran down to a great man from one of the two towns (v. 31) rather than Muhammad, Pharaoh asks why Moses is not endowed with wealth similar to his own. And just as the idolaters asked of Muhammad, What ails this Messenger, who eats food and walks in the markets? Why is there not an angel sent down unto him to be a warner with him? (25:7), so too Pharaoh wonders why do angels not accompany Moses. The answer to these queries is given in 6:8: Had We sent down an angel, then the matter would be decreed, and they would be granted no respite; and 17:95: Were there angels walking about upon the earth in peace, then We would have sent down upon them an angel from Heaven as a messenger. For the disbelievers’ various expressions of this objection to the prophets, see 6:8–9, 50; 11:12; 14:10–11; 17:94–95; 23:24, 33–34, 38, 47; 26:154, 186; 36:15; 41:14; 54:24; 64:6c; 74:25.
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# Then he incited his people to make light, and they obeyed him. Truly they were an iniquitous people.
54 Then he incited his people to make light could also mean that he moved them to submit or to be foolish.
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# So when they roused Our Anger, We took vengeance upon them and drowned them all together.
55 This is one of several references in the Quran to the drowning of Pharaoh and his army; see also 2:50; 7:136c; 8:54; 10:90; 17:102–3; 28:40; 44:23–24; 51:40. The Prophet is reported to have recited this verse after saying, “When you see that God gives a person what he wants even though he persists in sin, that means that God is enticing him into destruction” (IK).
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# We made them a bygone people and an example for those of later times.
56 A bygone people renders salaf, which in this context could also be understood as “a precedent,” meaning that the manner in which God dealt with them served as a precedent and an example for other people who chose to follow their corrupt leaders rather than messengers from God (IK, Q), as did the Makkan leaders in rejecting the prophethood of Muhammad.
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# And when the son of Mary is set forth as an example, behold, thy people turn away from it.
# They say, “Are our gods better, or is he?” They do not cite him to thee, save to dispute. Nay, they are a contentious people.
57–58 Turn away from it renders minhu yaṣiddūn, which can also be understood to mean, “cry aloud at it.” Are our gods better, or is he? expresses the idolaters’ objection that the Christian worship of Jesus is no different from their own worship of idols (Ṭ) or even their claim that their deities are better than Jesus (R). These verses are understood as a response to the objection posed by the idolaters when the Prophet recited 21:98: Surely you and that which you worship apart from God shall be fuel for Hell. Unto it you shall come. The idolaters sought to liken the Christian worship of Jesus to their worship of their own idols and then conclude from 21:98 that Jesus would suffer the same fate as their idols (IK, R). But since they know that 21:98 is addressed to them specifically, they should know that Jesus would not be included among the objects of worship referred to in this verse; thus they do not cite him . . . save to dispute (IK). Rather, they only bring up Christian worship for the sake of argument, not because it pertains to their beliefs (IK) or because they are concerned that the Prophet would say that Jesus was destined for Hell. In this sense, they are like the people of Noah, who disputed by means of falsehood in order to refute the truth (40:5).
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# He was naught but a servant whom We blessed and whom We made an example for the Children of Israel.
59 That Jesus is naught but a servant (cf. 19:30; 61:6) is understood as a response to the Christian view of Jesus as fully Divine and fully human, but may also be understood as a response to Christian sects that understood Jesus to be entirely Divine. Regarding the question of the divinization of Jesus, see commentary on 4:171–73. The Quran speaks of Jesus as a servant of God who was blessed with prophethood (IK, JJ) and was an example for the Children of Israel in being born miraculously of a virgin (see 3:42–47; also see commentary on 19:16–17), speaking as a baby in the cradle (see 3:46; 19:29–33), and performing evidentiary miracles (see commentary on 5:110–15). Alternately, this verse could be rendered, “He was naught but a servant. We blessed him and made him an example for the Children of Israel.”
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# Had We willed, We would have appointed angels among you, succeeding one another upon the earth.
60 God could destroy human beings and cause there to be generations of angels succeeding one another on earth instead of human beings (IK, JJ, Ṭ). This verse serves as a response to the idolaters’ understanding that the angels share in God’s Power by asserting that they are completely subject to God’s Will (R).
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# And he is indeed a portent of the Hour; so doubt not concerning it and follow Me. This is a straight path.
61 According to traditional Islamic belief, Jesus did not die a natural death; rather, God raised him up unto Himself (4:158; cf. 3:55). In traditional Islamic eschatology, Jesus’ return to earth is among the signs of the end of time. The Prophet is reported to have said, “One of the signs of the Hour will be the appearance of Jesus the son of Mary before the Day of Resurrection” (IK, Q, Ṭ), at which point it is said that he will fight the Antichrist (al-Dajjāl), eventually die, and be resurrected like other mortals.
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# And let not Satan turn you away; truly he is a manifest enemy unto you.
62 This verse cautions believers not to let Satan turn them away or block them from following the way of God’s religion (JJ) or the truth (IK). For references to Satan as a manifest enemy, see also 2:168, 208; 6:142; 7:22; 12:5; 17:53; 28:15; 36:60.
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# When Jesus brought clear proofs, he said, “I have come unto you with wisdom and to make clear to you some of that wherein you differ. So reverence God and obey me.
63 For the story of Jesus and the message he brings, see 3:45–59; 4:153–72; 5:110–18; 19:16–40. All messengers are said to bring clear proofs, which are understood by some to be evidentiary miracles and the prescriptions of the Divine Law (JJ, R). In the case of Jesus, some also understand clear proofs to mean the Gospel (Ṭ) and its injunctions (Z). For the evidentiary miracles with which Jesus came, such as speaking in the cradle, healing lepers, raising the dead, and breathing life into a bird, see commentary on 3:49; 5:110; 19:29–34; also see 2:87c; 2:253. Wisdom is understood as a reference to prophethood (IK, JJ, Ṭ) or to the Gospel and its revealed laws (Z). It can also be understood to mean the knowledge of God’s Essence, Attributes, and actions (R). To make clear to you some of that wherein you dif er refers to Jesus’ clarification of the rulings of the Torah regarding which the Jews disputed with one another (JJ, Q, Ṭ). Some understand this verse to be a reference to the accusation that the Jews had altered parts of the Torah (cf. 2:75; Q, Ṭ). So reverence God and obey me is also said by Jesus in 3:50 and by the prophets Noah (26:108, 110), Hūd (26:126, 131), Ṣāliḥ (26:144, 150), Lot (26:163), and Shuʿayb (26:179).
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# Truly God is my Lord and your Lord; so worship Him. This is a straight path.”
64 Cf. 3:51; 19:36.
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# But, then, the parties differed among themselves. Woe unto those who do wrong for the punishment of a painful day.
65 The followers of Jesus differed regarding whether he was God or the third of three (5:73; JJ), in which case this verse would refer to the views regarding the Trinity of various Christian sects, such as the Melkites, the Jacobites, the Nestorians (Q, R), and others not known to the classical commentary tradition. It could also be read as a reference to the Jews’ and Christians’ dispute regarding the understanding of Jesus (Q, R).
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# Do they await aught but that the Hour should come upon them suddenly, while they are unaware.
66 Cf. 47:18. That the Hour of Judgment or the punishment will come upon the disbelievers while they are unaware (cf. 12:107; 26:202; 29:53; 39:55) indicates that one must be prepared for it at all times and alludes to the Quranic position that knowledge of the Hour lies only with God; see 43:85c.
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# Friends on that Day will be enemies to one another, save for the reverent.
67 On the Day of Judgment, those who were friends in disobedience to God will become enemies to one another (JJ), since the folly of everything upon which they had relied will be exposed and all recourse will be cut of from them (2:166); so today they have no loyal friend here (69:35). Thus no loyal friend shall ask about a loyal friend (70:10), and on that Day a man will flee from his brother, and his mother and his father, and his spouse and his children (80:34–36), since for every man that Day his af air shall suf ice him (80:37; see also 40:18; 44:41). The rancor they feel toward one another (see 2:166–67; 7:38–39c; 29:25; 34:31–33) is among the reasons the Day of Judgment is also known as the Day of Mutual Dispossession (yawm al-taghābūn; 64:9); also see commentary on 70:10–14 and Abraham’s words to his people in 29:25: You have taken idols apart from God on account of af ection between you in the life of this world. Then on the Day of Resurrection you will disown one another, and you will curse one another; your refuge will be the Fire, and you will have no helpers. The fate of the disbelievers stands in sharp contrast to the experience of the reverent, whose conversation in Paradise is marked by mutual greetings of “Peace” (see 10:10; 14:23; 19:62; 56:25–26), since God has removed all rancor from them (see 7:43c; 15:47).
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# O My servants! No fear shall be upon you this Day; nor shall it be you who grieve,
# you who believed in Our signs and who were submitters;
68–69 The promise that they shall not fear or grieve indicates that they are spared any punishment in the Hereafter. This same promise is made with slight variation to those who follow God’s Guidance (2:38), whosoever believes in God and the Last Day and works righteousness (2:62; 5:69; cf. 6:48), whosoever submits his face to God, while being virtuous (2:112), those who spend their wealth in the way of God (2:262; cf. 2:274), those who believe and perform righteous deeds, maintain the prayer and give the alms (2:277), whosoever is reverent and makes amends (7:35), and the friends of God (10:62), all of which are attributes of those who can truly be called God’s servants. Submitted renders muslimūn and is thus understood by many as a confessional designation (Q). But given the Quran’s more comprehensive use of the words muslim and islām as well as their verbal forms, it can also be understood as a reference to all human beings who submit themselves to God; see 31:22c.
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# enter the Garden, you and your spouses, made joyous.
70 Cf. 36:56–57. Believers are said to be rewarded with spouses made pure (2:25; 3:15; 4:57), which can be understood as an allusion to spiritual beings particular to Paradise or to the spouses of this world who have also attained Paradise; see also 56:16. Made joyous (cf. 30:15) translates yuḥbarūn, which also indicates being blessed and honored (IK, JJ, Q, Ṭ).
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# For them are brought round trays and goblets of gold. Therein is whatsoever souls desire and eyes find pleasing. And you shall abide therein.
71 Trays and goblets of gold allude to the food and drinks that such implements are used to serve (IK). For other delights brought round, see 37:45–47 and 76:15–17; see also 56:18–19. The inhabitants of Paradise will receive whatsoever souls desire (cf. 41:31; 52:22; 56:20–24; 77:41–44), whatsoever they will (16:31; 25:16; 39:34; 42:22; 50:35), and whatsoever they call for (36:57; cf. 41:31; 44:55), whereas for the disbelievers a barrier is set between them and that which they desire (34:54). Some commentators see trays and goblets of gold as a reference to the rewards received by those who are attached to reward, and whatsoever souls desire and eyes find pleasing as an allusion to those whose hearts burn with love for God and yearn for the vision of Him (My).
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# This is the Garden that you have inherited for that which you used to do.
72 Regarding inheriting the Garden, see 7:43c. In this context, some maintain that no one will enter Paradise by virtue of deeds alone, but that the degrees of Paradise to which its inhabitants may attain will be according to righteous deeds (IK).
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# Abundant fruit from which you will eat shall be yours therein.
73 This is one of several verses to promise fruit or fruits in Paradise; see 36:57c; 37:41–42; 38:51; 44:55; 47:15c; 55:22, 52–54, 68; 56:20, 32; 77:41–42.
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# Truly the guilty are abiding in the punishment of Hell.
# It will not be lightened for them, and therein will they despair.
74–75 The punishment . . . will not be lightened (cf. 2:86, 162; 3:88; 16:85; cf. 35:36) for a single moment (IK), since it is inescapable (25:65), and there is no security from the punishment (70:28). Will despair renders mublisūn (cf. 6:44; 30:49), which also connotes regret and the experience of being dumbstruck, unable to speak in defense of oneself (Iṣ); see 6:42–44c.
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# We did not wrong them; rather, it is they who were the wrongdoers.
76 This is one of many verses indicating that God does not cause injustice, as in 4:40: Truly God commits not so much as a mote’s weight of wrong. From a Quranic perspective, although evil befalls people, it results from their own actions, since themselves do they wrong (3:117, 135; see also, e.g., 10:44; 16:118; 35:32; 37:113).
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# And they will call, “O Mālik, let thy Lord put an end to us.” He will reply, “You will surely remain.
77 The denizens of Hell will call to the angel Mālik, who is said to be the keeper of Hell, to destroy them, so that they will receive some respite from the torments of the Fire (IK). Similarly, on the Day of Judgment, the disbeliever says, “Oh, would that I were dust!” (78:40), and when they are cast bound together into a narrow place thereof, they will, there and then, call to be destroyed (25:13). Regarding their request to die or be destroyed, 35:36 states, They will not be done away with so as to die; nor will aught of its punishment be lightened for them. Thus do We requite every disbeliever (IK). Mālik’s response, which is said to take a thousand years (JJ, Q), will be that they are to remain there everlastingly.
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# We did indeed bring you the truth, but most of you were averse to the truth.”
78 Cf. 10:82. This verse can be read as a continuation of Mālik’s address to the denizens of Hell or as a Quranic address to the disbelievers (Q). The latter reading makes more sense in the present context, but the former reading corresponds more closely to a similar passage in 40:49–50: And those who are in the Fire will say to the keepers of Hell, “Call upon your Lord to relieve us from a day of the punishment.” They will reply, “Did not your messengers bring you clear proofs?” They will say, “Yea, indeed.” They will say, “Then make supplications!” But the supplication of the disbelievers is naught but astray. When understood as an address to the disbelievers, the truth can also be read as a proper name for the Quran, in which case it would be the Truth.
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# Or have they devised anything? Truly it is We Who devise.
79 Whatever the disbelievers plot or devise is of no avail to them, since ultimately it is God Who devises all plots, as in 27:50–51: And they devised a plot, and We devised a plot, while they were not aware. So behold how their plot fared in the end; truly We destroyed them and their people all together (cf. 14:46; 52:42).
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# Or do they suppose that We hear not their secret and their secret converse? Yea, and Our envoys are present with them, recording.
80 Their secret refers to the sins that people attempt to hide or to their intentions, while secret converse refers to what the disbelievers say when plotting against the Prophet or when deriding him. God is present in and knows the details of every gathering, as in 58:7: There is no secret converse among three, but that He is their fourth, nor among five, but that He is their sixth, nor less than that, nor more, but that He is with them wheresoever they are. Then on the Day of Resurrection He will inform them of that which they did. The plots people devise during their secret converse are, like all deeds, recorded by attendant angels who are elsewhere described as guardians, noble, writing, knowing what you do (82:10–12); see 50:17–18c. On the Day of Judgment, each person is then presented with a record of his or her deeds, which is unfolded as a book he will meet wide open (17:13), and to each person it is said, Read your book! On this Day, your soul suf ices as a reckoner against you (17:14; Ṭ), and they find present [therein] whatsoever they did (18:49); see 17:13–14c; 18:49c.
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# Say, “If the Compassionate had a child, then I would be the first of the worshippers.”
81 This verse returns to the discussion at the beginning of the sūrah regarding the idolaters’ assertion that God has offspring, an idea frequently criticized in the Quran (see 2:116; 6:100; 9:30; 10:68; 17:40, 111; 18:4; 19:35, 88–93; 21:26; 25:2; 37:149–53c; 39:4; 43:16; 52:39; 72:3). Most understand this verse to mean that the Prophet would be the first to worship God’s offspring if He did indeed have any (IK, JJ, R, Ṭ). Others understand the verse to mean, “If by your account God has a child, I am the first to worship God alone and to deny you” (R, Ṭ). In this sense it could be understood as a categorical rejection of the central tenet upon which the religion of the idolaters is founded. If renders the Arabic particle in, which can function as a conditional particle, as rendered here, or as a particle of negation, such that the verse could be read, “The Compassionate does not have a child; and I am the first of the worshippers” (R, Ṭ), meaning, “I am the first among you to worship Him with faith and sincerity” (Ṭ).
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# Glory be to the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne, above that which they ascribe.
82 Glory be also indicates God’s complete transcendence and is thus a way of negating the assertion of the idolaters addressed in the previous verse by saying that God is too great to be associated with anything they ascribe to Him; see 37:180c. God is Lord of the Throne (see also 9:129; 21:22; 23:86, 116; 27:26), which is borne by angels (40:7; 69:17), and is also described as Possessor of the Throne (17:42; 81:20; 85:15).
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# And leave them to indulge in idle talk and play until they meet the Day that they are promised.
83 This verse is similar to 70:42, and both are reflected in the injunction of 6:91: Say, “Allāh,” then leave them to play at their vain discourse. This is not to say that one cannot have any contact with the idolaters, but that when you hear the signs of God being rejected and mocked, do not sit with them till they engage in some other discourse, or else you will surely be like them (4:140; cf. 6:68, 112–13). Elsewhere, those who indulge in idle talk are said to be in the Fire (52:11–15; 74:45–46).
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# He it is Who is God in Heaven and God on earth. And He is the Wise, the Knowing.
# Blessed is He unto Whom belongs sovereignty over the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is between them, and with Whom lies knowledge of the Hour, and unto Whom you will be returned.
84–85 God is not confined to the heavens, and His relationship with earth is the same as His relationship with Heaven (R). In this sense, God has no need for offspring or other deities to govern the affairs of any realm, since He is the God not only of all realms but also in all realms, with complete sovereignty over all realms. Knowledge of their end lies with Him alone (see 7:187; 31:34; 33:63; 41:47; 67:25–26; 79:42–46; cf. Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32), and at that time all souls will return to Him.
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# Those upon whom they call apart from Him have no power of intercession, save such as have borne witness to the truth knowingly.
86 The idols upon whom the idolaters call can do nothing for them, but this does not mean a categorical rejection of intercession. Although Unto God belongs intercession altogether (39:44), others can be granted powers of intercession by His Leave, as in 20:109: On that Day intercession will be of no benefit, save [that of] those whom the Compassionate has granted leave and with whose word He is content (cf. 19:87; 34:23; 53:26). Regarding the question of intercession, see also 2:48c; 2:255c; 10:3; 39:44; 74:48. Save such as have borne witness to the truth knowingly means that only those who bear witness to the truth will receive intercession (Q, R, Ṭ), in which case, that they must do so knowingly indicates that testimony with the tongue is not efficacious unless it is combined with faith, knowledge, and certainty (Q, R). Alternately, this last phrase is understood as a reference to the angels, Jesus, and Ezra, all of whom are said to have been worshipped mistakenly (that is, people called upon them apart from God), though they themselves never ceased to bear witness to the Truth (Ṭ).
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# Wert thou to ask them, “Who created you?” they would surely say, “God.” How, then, are they perverted?
87 Cf. 29:61. Although some of the idolaters recognize a supreme Creator over all of the other deities they associate with Him (cf. 10:31; 23:84–85; 29:61, 63; 31:25; 39:38; 43:9; see 43:9c), they still maintain a polytheistic view in which other deities partake of His Power. The Quran thus asks rhetorically how it is that they can be perverted, or turned away from worshipping God alone (IK, JJ, Ṭ); see 29:61c.
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# And as for his saying, “O my Lord, truly these are a people who believe not, ”
88 This verse records the words of the Prophet lamenting the state of his people, similar to 25:30: And the Messenger will say, “O my Lord! Truly my people have taken this Quran for foolishness” (IK). Here it is read as a new thought, but it can also be understood as following upon v. 85, meaning with Whom lies the knowledge of the Hour and of his saying, “O my Lord, truly these are a people who believe not” (Ṭ). Others read this verse in the nominative and understand it to follow upon v. 80, meaning “Or do they suppose that We hear not . . . his saying, “O my Lord, truly these are a people who believe not” (Ṭ).
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# bear with them and say, “Peace.” For soon they will know.
89 In response to his lament, the Prophet is enjoined to avoid responding to the disbelievers in the same manner in which they address him and to seek, rather, to soften their hearts and forgive them (IK). That soon they will know the truth of that which they rejected (cf. 15:3, 96; 29:66; 37:170; 40:70) may refer to their realizing the truth in the Hereafter, but it can also be understood as an allusion to the Prophet’s eventual defeat of the Makkan idolaters (IK, JJ). In accord with this latter interpretation, some say that this verse was abrogated after the command to fight was given (Q, Ṭ), implying that it no longer applies (IK, JJ). But such an interpretation is not in keeping with the general Quranic principle found in 25:63–64: The servants of the Compassionate are those who walk humbly upon the earth, and when the ignorant address them, they say, “Peace,” and who pass the night before their Lord, prostrating and standing [in prayer]; see 25:63c; 7:199c. Others maintain that the present verse is “definitive” (muḥkam) and therefore cannot be abrogated (Q).
Source: The Study Quran, by Sayyed Hossein Nasr and 4 Others
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