-->
"Repentance" does not mean sackcloth and ashes, or putting on a gloom pessimism. It means giving up disease for health, crookedness (which is abnormal) for the Straight Way, the restoration of our nature as Allah created it from the falsity introduced by the enticements of Evil. To revert to the simile of the magnetic needle (n. 3540 above), if the needle is held back by obstructions, we must restore its freedom, so that it points true again to the magnetic pole.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
See {6:159, 21:92-93} and {23:52-53}, as well as the corresponding notes.
A good description of self-satisfied sectarianism as against real Religion. See n. 3542 above.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
See note [61] on 16:54 .
Cf. x. 12. It is trouble, distress, or adversity that makes men realize their helplessness and turns their attention back to the true Source of all goodness and happiness. But when they are shown special Mercy-often more than they deserve-they forget themselves and attribute it to their own cleverness, or to the stars, or to some false ideas to which they pay court and worship, either to the exdusion of Allah or in addition to the lip-worship which they pay to Allah. Their action in any case amounts to gross ingratitude; but in the circumstances it looks as if they had gone out of their way to show ingratitude.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
CJ. xvi. 54. They are welcome to their fancies and false worship, and to the enjoyment of the pleasures of this Life, but they will soon be disillusioned. Then they will realize the true values of the things they neglected and the things they cultivated.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "a warrant" or "authority" (sultan), in this context obviously denoting a revelation.
Lit., "of that which they were wont to associate [with Us]". Cf. second paragraph of 35:40 and the corresponding note [27].
Their behavior is exactly as if they were satisfied within themselves that they were entitled or given a license to worship God and Mammon. In fact the whole thing is their own invention or delusion.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
See 4:79 and the corresponding note [94].
Cf xxx. 33. In that passage the unreasonable behavior of men in sorrow and in affluence is considered with reference to their attitude to Allah: in distress they turn to Him, but in prosperity they turn to other things. Here the contrast in the two situations is considered with reference to men's inner psychology: in affluence they are puffed up and unduly elated, and in adversity they lose all heart. Both attitudes are wrong. In prosperity men should realize that it is not their merits that deserve all the Bounty of Allah, but that it is given out of Allah's abundant generosity; in adversity they should remember that their suffering is brought on by their own folly and sin, and humbly pray for Allah's grace and mercy, in order that they may be set on their feet again. For, as the next verse points out, Allah gives opportunities, gifts, and the good things of life to every one, but in a greater or less measure, and at some time or other, according to His All-Wise Plan, which is the expression of His holy and benevolent Will.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Cf. xxviii. 82 and n. 3412. Also see last note. Allah's grant of certain gifts to some, as well as His withholding of certain gifts from others, are themselves Signs (trials or warnings) to men of faith and understanding.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Cf. 17:26 .
lit., seek the Face of Allah.
For Wajh (Face, Countenance), see n. 114 to ii. 112. Also see vi. 52.
In both this life and the next. See n. 29 to ii. 5.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
This is the earliest mention of the term and concept of riba in the chronology of Qur'anic revelation. In its general, linguistic sense, this term denotes an "addition" to or an "increase" of a thing over and above its original size or amount; in the terminology of the Qur'an, it signifies any unlawful addition, by way of interest, to a sum of money or goods lent by one person or body of persons to another. Considering the problem in terms of the economic conditions prevailing at or before their time, most of the early Muslim jurists identified this "unlawful addition" with profits obtained through any kind of interest-bearing loans irrespective of the rate of interest and the economic motivation involved. With all this - as is evidenced by the voluminous juridical literature on this subject - Islamic scholars have not yet been able to reach an absolute agreement on the definition of riba: a definition, that is, which would cover all conceivable legal situations and positively respond to all the exigencies of a variable economic environment. In the words of Ibn Kathir (in his commentary on 2:275 ), "the subject of riba is one of the most difficult subjects for many of the scholars (ahl al-'ilm)". It should be borne in mind that the passage condemning and prohibiting riba in legal terms ({2:275-281}) was the last revelation received by the Prophet, who died a few days later (cf. note [268] on 2:281 ; hence, the Companions had no opportunity to ask him about the shar'i implications of the relevant injunction - so much so that even 'Umar ibn al-Khattab is reliably reported to have said: " The last [of the Qur'an] that was revealed was the passage [lit., "the verse"] on riba; and, behold, the Apostle of God passed away without [lit., "before"] having explained its meaning to us" (Ibn Hanbal, on the authority of Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab). Nevertheless, the severity with which the Qur'an condemns riba and those who practice it furnishes - especially when viewed against the background of mankind's economic experiences during the intervening centuries - a sufficiently clear indication of its nature and its social as well as moral implications. Roughly speaking, the opprobrium of riba (in the sense in which this term is used in the Qur'an and in many sayings of the Prophet) attaches to profits obtained through interest-bearing loans involving an exploitation of the economically weak by the strong and resourceful: an exploitation characterized by the fact that the lender, while retaining full ownership of the capital loaned and having no legal concern with the purpose for which it is to be used or with the manner of its use, remains contractually assured of gain irrespective of any losses which the borrower may suffer in conseqence of this transaction. With this definition in mind, we realize that the question as to what kinds of financial transactions fall within the category of riba is, in the last resort, a moral one, closely connected with the socio-economic motivation underlying the mutual relationship of borrower and lender; and, stated in purely economic terms, it is a question as to how profits and risks may be equitably shared by both partners to a loan transaction. It is, of course, impossible to answer this double question in a rigid, once-for-all manner: our answers must necessarily vary in accordance with the changes to which man's social and technological development - and, thus, his economic environment - is subject. Hence, while the Qur'anic condemnation of the concept and practice of riba is unequivocal and final, every successive Muslim generation is faced with the challenge of giving new dimensions and a fresh economic meaning to this term which, for want of a better word, may be rendered as "usury". - In the present instance (which, as I have mentioned, is the earliest in the history of the Qur'an), no clear-cut prohibition is as yet laid down; but the prohibition appearing in 2:275 ff. is already foreshadowed by the reference to the immoral hope of increasing one's own substance "through [other] people's
Cf. 2:276 .
Another meaning is the gift given to someone with the intention of getting a more expensive gift in return—a common ancient practice.
Riba (literally 'usury' or 'interest') is prohibited, for the principle is that any profit which we should seek should be through our own exertions and at our own expense, not through exploiting other people or at their expense, however we may wrap up the process in the spacious phraseology of high finance or City jargon. But we are asked to go beyond this negative precept of avoiding what is wrong. We should show our active love for our neighbor by spending of our own substance or resources or the utilization of our own talents and opportunities in the service of those who need them. Then our reward or recompense will not be merely what we deserve. It will be multiplied to many times more than our strict account. According to Commentators this verse specially applies to those who give to others, whether gifts or services, in order to receive from them greater benefits in return. Such seemingly good acts are void of any merit and deserve no reward from Allah, since He knows the real intention behind such ostensibly good deeds.
Seeking the "Face" or "Countenance" of Allah, i.e., out of our pure love for the true vision of Allah's own Self. See also n. 3550 above.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Lit., "any of your [God-]partners". Cf. note [15] on 6:22 .
The persons or things or ideas to which we give part-worship, while our whole and exclusive worship is due to Allah, are the "Partners" we set up. Do we owe our existence to them? Do they sustain our being? Can they take our life or give it back to us? Certainly not. Then how foolish of us to give them part-worship!
Cf. x. 18 and similar passages.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
The prefix li in li-yudhiqahum does not indicate here a purport or intent ("so that" or "in order that"), but is a lam al-'aqibah, i.e., a prefix expressing a factual consequence (best rendered as "thereupon" or "and so").
Thus, the growing corruption and destruction of our natural environment, so awesomely - if as yet only partially - demonstrated in our time, is here predicted as "an outcome of what men's hands have wrought", i.e., of that self-destructive - because utterly materialistic - inventiveness and frenzied activity which now threatens mankind with previously unimaginable ecological disasters: an unbridled pollution of land, air and water through industrial and urban waste, a progressive poisoning of plant and marine life, all manner of genetic malformations in men's own bodies through an ever-widening use of drugs and seemingly "beneficial" chemicals, and the gradual extinction of many animal species essential to human well-being. To all this may be added the rapid deterioration and decomposition of man's social life, the all-round increase in sexual perversion, crime and violence, with, perhaps, nuclear annhihilation as the ultimate stage: all of which is, in the last resort, an outcome of man's oblivion of God and, hence, of all absolute values, and their supersession by the belief that material "progress" is the only thing that matters.
Allah's Creation was pure and good in itself. All the mischief or corruption was introduced by Evil, viz., arrogance, selfishness, etc. See n. 3541 to xxx. 30 above. As soon as the mischief has come in, Allah's mercy and goodness step in to stop it. The consequences of Evil must be evil, and this should be shown in such partial punishment as 'the hands of men have earned," so that it may be a warning for the future and an invitation to enter the door of repentance.
The ultimate object of Allah's justice and punishment is to reclaim man from Evil, and to restore him to the pristine purity and innocence in which he was created. The Evil introduced by his possession of a limited free-will should be eliminated by the education and purification of man's own will. For, with his will and motives purified, he is capable of much greater heights than a creature not endowed with any free-will.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
I.e., they worshipped material comfort and power, and thus lost sight of all spiritual values and, in the end, destroyed themselves.
If you contemplate history and past experience (including spiritual experience), you will find that evil and corruption tended to destroy themselves, because they had false idols for worship, false standards of conduct, and false goals of desire.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
See verse {30} above, as well as the corresponding notes; also 3:19 - "the only [true] religion in the sight of God is [man's] self-surrender unto Him".
We should recover the balance that has been upset by Evil and Falsehood before it is too late. For a Day will surely come when true values will be restored and all falsehood and evil will be destroyed. Nothing but repentance and amendment can avert the consequences of Evil. When the Day actually comes, repentance will be too late: for the impassable barrier between Evil and Good will have been fixed, and the chance of return to Allah's pattern will have been lost.
The sharp division will then have been accomplished between the unfortunate ones who rejected Truth and Faith and will suffer for their rejection, and the righteous who will attain Peace and Salvation: see next verse. Note that the state of the Blessed will not be merely a passive state. They will actively earn and contribute to their own happiness.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.
Though the repose and bliss will have been won by the righteous by their own efforts, it must not be supposed that their own merits were equal to the reward they will earn. What they will get will be due to the infinite Grace and Bounty of Allah.
In form this clause is (here as elsewhere) negative, but it has a positive meaning: Allah loves those who have faith and trust in Him, and will, out of His Grace and Bounty, reward them in abundant measure.
No translation has been selected yet. Please click on the (Compare) link at the top and enable the translations of your choice.