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Lit.. "God increases in guidance those who...", etc.
Lit., "which are better in thy Sustainer's sight as regards merit, and better as regards returns" (cf. 18:46 .)
See footnote for 18:46.
These lines are the same as in xviii. 46 (second clause), (where see n. 2387), except that the word maradd (eventual returns) is here substituted for amal (hope). The meaning is practically the same: but "hope" is more appropriate in the passage dealing generally with this world's goods, and "eventual returns" in the passage dealing with the sinner's specific investments and commitments in worldly position and organised cliques.
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This is a further illustration of the attitude described in verses {73-75} (and referred to in note [59]): namely, the insistence on material values to the exclusion of all moral considerations, and the conviction that worldly "success" is the only thing that really counts in life. As in many other places in the Qur'an, this materialistic concept of "success" is metonymically equated with one's absorption in the idea of "wealth and children".
This statement was made by Al-’Ȃṣ ibn Wâ'il, a Meccan pagan who staunchly disbelieved in resurrection.
Besides the man who boasts of wealth and power in actual possession, there is a type of man who boasts of getting them in the future and builds his worldly hopes thereon. Is he sure? He denies Allah, and His goodness and Mercy. But all good is in the hands of Allah. Can such a man then bind Allah to bless him when he rejects faith in Allah? Or does he pretend that he has penetrated to the mysteries of the future? For no man can tell what the future holds for him.
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In this context, the term al-ghayb denotes the unknowable future.
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Such a man deserves double punishment,-for rejecting Allah, and for his blasphemies with His holy name.
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Lit., "inherit from him" - a metaphor based on the concept of one person's taking over what once belonged to, or was vested in, another.
I.e.. bereft of any extraneous support, and thus depending on God's grace and mercy alone (cf. 6:94 as well as verse [95] of the present surah).
Literally, "We shall inherit", Cf. xix. 40 and n. 2492. Even if the man had property and power, it must go back to the Source of all things, and the man must appear before the Judgment-seat, alone and unaccompanied, stripped of all the things from which he expected so much!
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This refers to the type of man spoken of in the preceding passage as well as in verses {73-75}: people who "worship" wealth and power with an almost religious devotion, attributing to these manifestations of worldly success the status of divine forces.
'Izz=exalted rank, glory, power, might, the ability to impose one's will or to carry out one's will.
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Cf. x. 28-30, where the idols deny that they knew anything of their worship, and leave their worshippers in the lurch; and v. 119, where Jesus denies that he asked for worship, and leaves his false worshippers to the punishment of Allah.
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Lit., "the satans", by which term the Qur'an often describes all that is intrinsically evil, especially the immoral impulses in man's own soul (cf. note [10] on 2:14 and note [33] on verse {44} of the present surah).
See note [31] on 15:41 . According to Zamakhshari and Razi, the expression "We have let loose (arsalna) all [manner of] satanic forces (shayatin) upon those who deny the truth" has here the meaning of "We have allowed them to be active (khallayna) among them", leaving it to man's free will to accept or to reject those evil influences or impulses. Razi, in particular, points in this context to surah {14}, verse {22}, according to which Satan will thus address the sinners on Resurrection Day: "I had no power at all over you: I but called you-and you responded to me. Hence, blame not me, but blame yourselves." See also note [31] on 14:22 , in which Razi's comment is quoted verbatim.
Under the laws instituted by Allah, when evil reaches a certain stage of rebellion and defiance, it is left to gather momentum and to rush with fury to its own destruction. It is given a certain amount of respite, as a last chance: but failing repentance, its days are numbered. The godly therefore should not worry themselves over the apparent worldly success of evil, but should get on with their own duties in a spirit of trust in Allah.
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Lit., "We number for them but a number". Cf. also the first sentence of verse {75} above.
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Note the contrast between the saved and the doomed. The one march with dignity like honoured ones before a king, and the other rush in anguish to their punishment like a herd of cattle driven down by thirst to their watering place. Note the metaphor of the water. They rush madly for water but are plunged into the Fire!
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Lit., "except him who has...", etc. According to the classical commentators - including some of the most outstanding Companions of the Prophet - the "bond with God" denotes, in this context, the realization of His oneness and uniqueness; for the wider implications of this term, see surah {2}, note [19]. Consequently, as pointed out by Razi, even great sinners may hope for God's forgiveness - symbolically expressed by the right of "intercession" which will be granted to the prophets on Judgment Day (see note [7]on {10: 3}) - provided that, during their life on earth, they were aware of God's existence and oneness.
No one will be allowed to intercede except those who firmly believe in Almighty Allah.
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Lit., "And" (wa), connecting the present passage with verse {81}.
This allusion to the Christian belief in Jesus as "the son of God" - and, in general, to every belief in God's "incarnation" in a created being - takes up the theme broached in verse {81} above: namely, the deification of powers or beings other than God "with a view to their being a source of strength" to those who turn to them. But whereas verse {81} refers specifically to the godless who accord a quasi-divine status to material wealth and power and abandon themselves entirely to the pursuit of worldly success, the present passage refers to people who, while believing in God, deify prophets and saints, too, in the subconscious hope that they might act as "mediators" between them and the Almighty. Since this deification offends against the principle of God's transcendent oneness and uniqueness, it implies a breach of man's "bond with God" and, if consciously persisted in, constitutes an unforgivable sin (cf. 4:48 and {116}).
The pagans who claimed that the angels are Allah’s daughters, the Christians who claim that Jesus is the son of Allah, etc.
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The belief in Allah begetting a son is not a question merely of words or of speculative thought. It is a stupendous blasphemy against Allah. It lowers Allah to the level of an animal. If combined with the doctrine of vicarious atonement, it amounts to a negation of Allah's justice and man's personal responsibility. It is destructive of all moral and spiritual order, and is condemned in the strongest possible terms.
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