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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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The idea that God might have a "son" - either in the real or in the metaphorical sense of this term - would presuppose a degree of innate likeness between "the father" and "the son": but God is in every respect unique, so that "there is nothing like unto Him" ({42: 11}) and "nothing that could be compared with Him" ({112: 4}). Moreover, the concept of "progeny" implies an organic continuation of the progenitor, or of part of him, in another being and, therefore, presupposes a degree of incompleteness before the act of procreation (or incarnation, if the term "sonship" is used metaphorically): and the idea of incompleteness, in whatever sense, negates the very concept of God. But even if the idea of "sonship" is meant to express no more than one of the different "aspects" of the One Deity (as is claimed in the Christian dogma of the "Trinity"), it is described in the Qur'an as blasphemous inasmuch as it amounts to an attempt at defining Him who is "sublimely exalted above anything that men may devise by way of definition" (see last sentence of 6:100 ).
This basic principle was laid down early in the argument (xix. 35). It was illustrated by a reference to the personal history of many messengers, including Jesus himself, who behaved justly as men to their kith and kin and humbly served Allah. The evil results of such superstitions were pointed out in the case of many previous generations which went to their ruin by dishonouring Allah. And the argument is now rounded off towards the close of the Sura.
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I.e., all of them - whether men or angels - are but created beings, having no share whatever in His divinity, and all of them submit, consciously or unconsciously, to His will (cf. 13:15 and {16:48-49}).
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Allah has no sons or favourites or parasites, such as we associate with human beings. On the other hand every creature of His gets His love, and His cherishing care. Everyone of them, however humble, is individually marked before His Throne of Justice and Mercy, and will stand before Him on his own deserts.
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See note [69] above.
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I.e., bestow on them His love and endow them with the capability to love His creation, as well as cause them to be loved by their fellow-men. As is shown in the next verse, this gift of love is inherent in the guidance offered to man through divine revelation.
His own love, and the love of man's fellow-creatures, in this world and in the Hereafter. Goodness breeds love and peace, and sin breeds hatred and contention.
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Since man is incapable of understanding the "word" of God as such, it has always been revealed to him in his own, human tongue (cf. 14:4 -"never have We sent forth any apostle otherwise than [with a message] in his own people's tongue"), and has always been expounded in concepts accessible to the human mind: hence the reference to the Prophet's revelations as "brought down upon thy heart" ({2: 97}), or "[divine inspiration] has alighted with it upon thy heart" ({26: 193-194}).
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I.e., civilization - a meaning which the term qarn has also in the identical phrase in verse {74}.
Cf. xix. 74, from which this sentence is brought up as a reminiscence, showing the progress of sin, the Guidance which Allah gives to the good, the degradation of blasphemy, the respite granted, and the final End, when personal responsibility will be enforced.
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