Surah 24. An-Nur, Ayah 55

Lit., "cause them to be successors on earth"-i.e., enable them to achieve, in their turn power and security and, thus, the capability to satisfy their worldly needs. This Qur'anic reference to God's "promise" contains an oblique allusion to the God-willed natural law which invariably makes the rise and fall of nations dependent on their moral qualities.

Cf. 5:3 -"I have willed that self-surrender unto Me (al-islam) shall be your religion". Its "firm establishment" (tamkin) relates to the strengthening of the believers' faith as well as to the growth of its moral influence in the world.

Lit., "exchange for them, after their fear [or "danger"], security". It is to be noted that the term amn sigifies not merely outward, physical security but also - and, indeed, originally - "freedom from fear" (Taj al-'Arus). hence, the above clause implies not only a promise of communal security after an initial period of weakness and danger (which, as history tells us, overshadows the beginnings of every genuine religious movement), but also the promise of an individual sense of inner security - that absence of all fear of the Unknown which characterizes a true believer. (See next note.)

I.e., the believer's freedom from fear is a direct outcome of his intellectual and emotional refusal to attribute to anyone or anything but God the power to shape his destiny.

Three things are promised here, to those who have Faith and obey Allah's Law: (1) that they will inherit power and authority in the land, not for any selfish purposes of theirs nor by way of favouritism, but in order that they may maintain Allah's Law; (2) that the Religion of Right, which Allah has chosen for them, will be openly established, and will suppress all wrong and oppression; (3) that the righteous will live in peace and security, instead of having to suffer persecution, or leave their hearths and homes for the cause of Allah, or practise the rites of their Faith in secret.

If this verse was revealed about the time of the Battle of the Ditch (Khandaq), also called the Battle of the Confederates (Ahzab), A.H. 4-5, we can imagine the comfort it gave to the Muslims who were besieged in Madinah by a force ten times their number. The Muslims then fived in a state of great suspense and danger, and under arms for days on end. (See xxxiii. 9-20). The security and authority they were promised came to them subsequently in abundant measures.