Surah 11. Hud, Ayah 116

For my rendering of the particle law-la, at the beginning of this sentence, as "alas", see surah {10}, note [119]. The present passage connects with the statement in the preceding verse, "God does not fail to requite the doers of good", as well as with verse {111} above, "unto each and all will thy Sustainer give their due for whatever [good or evil] they may have done". - For the wider implications of the term qarn ("generation"), see surah {6}, note [5].

The verb tarifa means "he enjoyed a life of ease and plenty", while the participle mutraf denotes "one who enjoys a life of ease and plenty" or "indulges in the pleasures of life", i.e., to the exclusion of moral considerations. The form mutarraf has an additional significance, namely, "one whom a life of softness and ease has caused to behave insolently", or "one whom the [exclusive] pursuit of the pleasures of life has corrupted" (Mughni). Hence my above rendering of the phrase ma utrifu fihi.

Baqiyat: some virtue or faculty that stands assault and is lasting; balanced good sense that stands firm to virtue and is not dazzled by the lusts and pleasures of this world, and is not deterred by fear from boldly condemning wrong if it was fashionable or customary. It is leaders possessed of such character that can save a nation from disaster or perdition. The scarcity of such leaders-and the rejection of the few who stood out- brought ruin among the nations whose example has already been set out to us as a warning. In xi. 86 the word has a more literal meaning.

The exceptional men of firm virtue would have been destroyed by the wicked to whom they were an offence, had they not been saved by the grace and mercy of Allah. Or perhaps, but for such grace, they might themselves have succumbed to the evil around them, or been overwhelmed in the general calamity.