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See Appendix II.
See Introduction to S. xi.
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This verse is the same as the second verse of the last Sura, but the theme is worked out differently in the two Sura. In S. xlv. was shown how deniers of Revelation will at last be humbled until they can no longer deny its truth and power. In this Sura is shown how Truth and Revelation will be vindicated by patience and constancy (xlvi. 35).
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Regarding the expression "in accordance with [an inner] truth", see note [11] on 10:5 . The reference to the "term" set by God to all creation is meant to stress the fact of its finality in time as well as in space, in contrast with His Own timelessness and infinity.
Lit., "from that whereof they have been warned": i.e., they refuse to heed the warning not to attribute divine qualities to any being or force beside God.
Cf. xlv. 22. Many things may appear to us in the present world as strange and inexplicable. But everything made by Allah has a just purpose which must be fulfilled. Nothing in this world is permanent: everything is for an appointed term. The Word of Allah alone abides. All else will pass away after it has fulfilled its purpose. But Unbelievers refuse to face the danger of which they are warned.
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Sc., "in support of your claim that there are other divine powers besides God".
Some people may rush thoughtlessly into false worship, because it is the fashion or an ancestral custom, etc. They are asked to pause and see for themselves. Have the false gods or falsehood created anything? (They destroy much). Or have they any share or lot in the things we associate with the heavens,-spiritual well-being, etc.?
'Or is there any warrant for you from any earlier revelation, assuming that you do not believe in this Revelation? Or can you point to the least scrap or remnant of real knowledge on which you can base what We condemn as your false life?' No, you cannot.
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Lit., "will not respond to him till the Day of Resurrection", i.e., never.
As there is no argument at all in favour of your sham worship, what sense is there in it? Either your false gods are senseless stocks and stones which will never answer you to the end of Time, being themselves devoid of understanding, or they are real objects which will disown you at the last. If you worshipped Self, your own misused faculties will witness against you at the last (xli. 20-23). If you worshipped good men or prophets, like Jesus, they will disown you (v. 119). Similarly, if you worshipped angels, they will disown you (xxxiv. 40-41).
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For this symbolic "enmity" of all false objects of worship, see note [11] on {lS}.
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Lit.' "sorcery": see note [12] on 74:24 , where the term sihr has been used, chronologically, for the first time in the above sense. As in that early instance, the truth referred to here is the message of the Qur'an.
When the truth is actually brought to their doors, they call it sorcery! Cf. xxxvii. 12-15, and n. 4042.
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Sc., "then why should I have invented all this for your sake?"
The implication is, "May God forgive you, and grace you with His guidance" (Zamakhshari).
Muḥammad (ﷺ).
'If I forged a message from myself as one purporting to come from Allah, you would not be able to see me enjoy any of the blessings from Allah which I enjoy: you would not see me calm and relying on Allah, nor would you see me bear the reputation of being a trustworthy man. A liar comes to an evil end. But what about those who talk so glibly and freely about things which they know not? Allah knows all and He is my witness! According to Ibn Kathir, the verse means that if the Prophet's claim to be Allah's messenger would have been a false one, he would have been stricken by a severe punishment from Allah and none had the power to avert that punishment.
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Thus Tabari, Baghawi, Razi, Ibn Kathir, implying - as Razi stresses - "I am but a human being like all of God's message-bearers who preceded me". Alternatively, the phrase may be rendered as "I am no innovator among the apostles" - i.e., "I am not preaching anything that was not already preached by all of God's apostles before me" (Razi and Baydawi): which coincides with the Qur'anic doctrine of the identity of the ethical teachings propounded by all of God's prophets.
I.e., "What will happen to all of us in this world" (Tabari, quoting with approval this interpretation of Al-Hasan al-Basri), or "both in this world and in the hereafter" (Baydawi). Either of these two interpretations implies a denial on the Prophet's part of any foreknowledge of the future and, in a wider sense, any knowledge of "that which is beyond the reach of human perception" (al-ghayb): cf. 6:50 or 7:188 .
'What is there to forge? All prophets have taught the Unity of Allah and our duty to mankind. I bring no new fangled doctrine, but etemal truths that have been known to good men through the ages. It is to reclaim you that I have come. I do not know what will be your fate for all this callousness, nor what you will do to me. But this I know, that I am preaching truth and righteousness as inspired by Allah. My duty is only to proclaim aloud and clearly the Message entrusted to me by Allah. The rest I leave to Allah.'
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I.e., a prophet like himself. The "witness" spoken of here is evidently Moses: cf. the two Biblical passages relating to the advent of the Prophet Muhammad (Deuteronomy xviii, 15 and 18): "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me"; and "I will raise them up a prophet from among thy brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in his mouth." (See in this connection note [33] on 2:42 .)
This refers to ’Abdullâh ibn Salâm, a Jewish scholar, who embraced Islam when the Prophet (ﷺ) emigrated to Medina.
Another side of the argument is now presented. 'You pagan Arabs! You are puffed up with pride, though you are an ignorant nation. Among Israel there are men who understand the previous scriptures, and who find in the Qur-an and its Preacher a true confirmation of the previous scriptures. They accept Islam as a fulfilment of the revelation of Moses himself! (See Deut. xviii. 18-19). And yet you hold back, though the Qur-an has come in your own language, in order to help you to understand. How unjust and how shameful! In that case, with what face can you seek guidance from Allah?'
There were learned Jews (and Christians) who saw in the holy Prophet the Messenger of Allah foreshadowed in previous Revelations, and accepted Islam. As this is a Makkan Sura we need not construe this as a reference to Abdullah ibn Salam, whose conversion was in Madinah only two years before the Prophet's death, unless we accept this particular verse to be so late in date. The sincere Jews were in a position to understand how this Revelation fitted in with all they had learnt about Revelation.
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Lit., "towards it". Almost all of the classical commentators assume that this refers specifically, to the contempt with which the pagan Quraysh looked down upon the early followers of Muhammad, most of whom came from the poorest, lowliest strata of Meccan society. However, the abouve "saying" has undoubtedly a timeless import inasmuch as the poor and lowly have always been among the first to follow a prophet. Moreover, it may also have a bearing on our times as well, inasmuch as the materially powerful nations, whom their technological progress has blinded to many spiritual verities, are increasingly contemptuous of the weakness of those civilizations in which religion still plays an important, albeit largely formalistic, role; and so, not realizing that this very formalism and the ensuing cultural sterility, and not religious faith as such, is the innermost cause of that weakness, they attribute it to the influence of religion per se, saying as it were, "If religion were any good, we would have been the first in holding on to it" - thus "justifying" their own materialistic attitude and their refusal to be guided by spiritual considerations.
I.e., the concept of divine revelation as such, as is evident from the subsequent reference to the revelation of Moses.
Poor and powerless Muslims.
A great many of the early Muslims were in humble positions, and were despised by the Quraish leaders. 'If such men could see any good in Islam,' they said, 'there could be no good in it: if there had been any good in it, we should have been the first to see it!' The spiritually blind have such a good conceit of themselves! As they reject it, and as the Revelation is proved to have historic foundations, they can only call it "an old, old falsehood"!
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Sc., in its original, uncorrupted form.
The last revealed Book which was a Code of Life (Shari'at) was the Book of Moses; for that of Jesus was not such a Code, but merely moral precepts to sweep away the corruptions that had crept in. The Qur-an has the same attitude to it as the teaching of Jesus had to the Law. Jesus said (Matt. v. 17): "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." But the corruptions took new forms in Christian Churches: an entirely new Shari'at became necessary, and this was provided in Islam.
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To say, "Our Lord is Allah" is to acknowledge that we owe no service to any creature, and shall render none: Allah shall have our exclusive devotion. "To remain firm on that Path" is shown by our conduct: we prove that we love Allah and all His creatures, and will unflinchingly do our duty in all circumstances.
Cf. ii. 38. The phrase occurs in numerous other places, with a new application on each occasion. Here, if our claim is true that 'our Lord is Allah', what fear can possibly come on us, or what calamity can there be to cause us grief? For our Lord is our Cherisher, Defender, and Helper, our Hope and our Comfort, which can never fail.
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Cf. 29:8 and 31:14 . In the present instance, this connects with the reference to the "doers of good" at the end of verse {12} and in verses {13-14}.
See note [14] on 31:14 .
I.e., the age at which man is supposed to attain to full intellectual and spiritual maturity. It is to be borne in mind that the masculine noun insan ("man" or "human being") appearing in the first sentence of this verse applies to both sexes alike.
Sc.. "of whatever sin I may have committed". See note [41] on the last sentence of 24:31 .
Cf. xxix. 8 and xxxi. 14.
In xxxi. 14 the time of weaning was stated to be at the age of two years, i.e., 24 months. See also ii. 233. That leaves six months as the minimum period of human gestation after which the child is known to be viable. This is in accordance with the latest ascertained scientific facts. The average period is 280 days, or ten times the inter-menstrual period, and of course the average period of weaning is much less than 24 months. The maximum period of breast-feeding (2 years) is again in accordance with the time that the first dentition is ordinarily completed in a human child. The lower milk incisors in the centre come out between the 6th and 9th months; then come out the milk teeth at intervals, until the canines appear. The second molars come out at about 24 months, and with them the child has a complete apparatus of milk teeth. Nature now expects him to chew and masticate and be independent of his mother's milk completely. On the other hand it hurts the mother to feed from the breast after the child has a complete set of milk teeth. The permanent teeth begin at the sixth year, and the second molars come at 12 years. The third molars are the wisdom teeth, which may appear at 18 to 20 years, or not at all.
The age of full strength (ashudd) is held to be between 18 and 30 or 32. Between 30 and 40 the man is in his best manhood. After that he begins to look to his growing issue, and rightly commends the new generation to Allah. Perhaps his spiritual faculties also gain the upper hand after 40.
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