የቅዱስ ቁርዓን ይዘት ትርጉም - የእንግሊዝኛ ትርጉም - በዶ/ር ወሊድ ብሊሂሽ አል-ዑመሪይ - ገና ያልተጠናቀቀ
وَلَقَدۡ صَرَّفۡنَا فِي هَٰذَا ٱلۡقُرۡءَانِ لِلنَّاسِ مِن كُلِّ مَثَلٖۚ وَكَانَ ٱلۡإِنسَٰنُ أَكۡثَرَ شَيۡءٖ جَدَلٗا
[3876] Among these examples are the ones posed for those who treated the Believers as inferior (cf. Ayah 32 and 45) and which are enough to uncloud their vision (cf. al-Rāzī).
The examples with which the Qur’an abounds are of all sorts and are expressed in various ways and styles, so that people may become mindful and be guided to the Truth (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī).
[3877] The word used here al-insān (singular for human), is generic for the human race and is of a more general nature than the word al-nās (lit. humans) (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
[3878] Generally, people, by their nature, are always argumentative; always defending their position. They are hardly willing to acknowledge the Truth and heed admonition (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī): “He created man from a ˹mere˺ drop and lo, he is an articulate, ˹ardent˺ opponent!” (16: 4).
However, the context of this aya points to the tendency for argumentation for what is not true (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr). Quoting the next aya, al-Zajjāj (quoted in al-Shawkānī) sees that this observation pertains to the Deniers, more than anyone else.
وَمَا مَنَعَ ٱلنَّاسَ أَن يُؤۡمِنُوٓاْ إِذۡ جَآءَهُمُ ٱلۡهُدَىٰ وَيَسۡتَغۡفِرُواْ رَبَّهُمۡ إِلَّآ أَن تَأۡتِيَهُمۡ سُنَّةُ ٱلۡأَوَّلِينَ أَوۡ يَأۡتِيَهُمُ ٱلۡعَذَابُ قُبُلٗا
[3879] This and the following ayas, as well as the next passage, reflect on the then ongoing stalemate and mounting opposition in Makkah, where the Call of Faith did not make much progress, beyond the commoners, especially with the Makkan oligarchy whose arguments and demands knew no end. This reflection aims at comforting the Noble Messenger (ﷺ) who found their intransigence particularly exasperating (cf. Aya 6 above; Ibn ʿUthaymīn, Sūrat al-Kahf).
[3880] Given the structure of this sentence with the deletion of muḍāf (head of the genitive construct, lit. the added to) and the mentioning of the muḍāf ilayh (the genitive construct, lit. the added to it), the reason for them not to Believe was interpreted differently by exegetes (cf. al-Zamakhsharī, al-Bayḍāwī, Abū al-Suʿūd). They differently fill in what is deleted as follows:
that what prevented them from Believing was God Almighty’s Decree which was as per His Sempiternal Knowledge whereby they would not come to Believe (cf. al-Wāḥidī, Ibn Juzayy, al-Shinqīṭī).
That what prevented them from Believing was the same reason that prevented previous doomed nations, i.e. their habit of intransigence and transgression (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
That what prevented them from Believing was their anticipation of the response to their demand that Punishment should befall them as proof of the truthfulness of the Message (cf. Makkī, al-Hidāyah, al-Zajjāj, Maʿānī al-Qur’ān, Ibn Kathīr).
However, on a pragmatic level, al-Rāzī and Ibn ʿĀshūr, take this to be a threat to the Deniers, that they should Believe or that the Punishment of the earlier nations would come to befall them: “Indeed We have sent ˹Messengers˺ before you for companies of old; *never does a Messenger come to them without them ridiculing him. *Like so We give it ˹Denial˺ passage in the hearts of criminals; *never are they to Believe in it ˹the Reminder˺, though the canon of the ancients already came to pass!” (15: 10-13)
[3881] Sunnat al-awwalīn (also found in 15: 13, 18: 55, 35: 43) or Sunnat Allāh (as in 33: 38 and 62, 35: 43, 40: 85, 48: 23) is used invariably to caution in the Qur’an; the earlier nations who rebelled against God were destroyed. People are always encouraged to consider their fate vis-a-vis the fate of earlier nations and contemplate God’s time-honoured law: “… then do they await except the canon of the ancients? But you shall never find any change in the canon of Allah; you shall never find any alteration in the canon of Allah. *Have they not travelled through the land and observed how the end of those before them was; they were ˹even˺ greater than them in power. Allah is not to be frustrated by anything in the Heavens or on Earth – He is All-Knowing, All-Powerful” (35: 43-44).
[3882] They see it unmasked, in front of their faces (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī): “Certainly ˹Muhammad˺, the ones over whom the Word of your Lord has come true, will never Believe; *not ever if every Sign was to come to them, until they ˹actually˺ see the painful Punishment!” (10: 96-97)
وَمَا نُرۡسِلُ ٱلۡمُرۡسَلِينَ إِلَّا مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنذِرِينَۚ وَيُجَٰدِلُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ بِٱلۡبَٰطِلِ لِيُدۡحِضُواْ بِهِ ٱلۡحَقَّۖ وَٱتَّخَذُوٓاْ ءَايَٰتِي وَمَآ أُنذِرُواْ هُزُوٗا
[3883] Since enough evidence is given in the Qur’an and various examples are posited, and whereby people tend to argue out of lack of willingness to change their views and position, the Messenger is not to concern himself with their turf wars (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Qurṭubī, Ibn ʿĀshūr).
وَمَنۡ أَظۡلَمُ مِمَّن ذُكِّرَ بِـَٔايَٰتِ رَبِّهِۦ فَأَعۡرَضَ عَنۡهَا وَنَسِيَ مَا قَدَّمَتۡ يَدَاهُۚ إِنَّا جَعَلۡنَا عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمۡ أَكِنَّةً أَن يَفۡقَهُوهُ وَفِيٓ ءَاذَانِهِمۡ وَقۡرٗاۖ وَإِن تَدۡعُهُمۡ إِلَى ٱلۡهُدَىٰ فَلَن يَهۡتَدُوٓاْ إِذًا أَبَدٗا
[3884] These prior nations met their eventful end, the canon of the ancients, because they committed the grave injustice of Denial. The Makkans should have no doubt in their mind that they also committed the ultimate injustice by turning their back on and scorning the Call of Faith and thus are well deserving of Divine Punishment. They, however, will await the appointed time of its happening just like that of the towns of those who came before them (cf. al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar).
[3885] That is, he did not reflect on his evil deeds, rebelling against God and the Denying he committed and ‘forgot’, caring not a bit, about their evil consequences (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Bayḍāwī, Ibn Kathīr). This is despite the fact that sound human nature acknowledges what is good and what is evil and that he was time and again warned against them by the Noble Messenger (ﷺ) (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
[3886] Such a ‘comprehension’ with which comes benefit (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī, al-Shinqīṭī): “For him whom God does not give any light, there is no light” (24: 40).
[3887] Their aversion to and heedlessness of the Message has a reason (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr). This they earned in return for their ardent Denial (cf. al-Shinqīṭī, Aḍwā’ al-Bayān) and because their hearts are smitten with the disease of doubt: “We keep on turning their hearts and their sights away for not Believing in it the first time and ˹thus˺ We leave them to wander aimlessly in their ˹unbending˺ recalcitrance” (6: 110); “And We put sheaths over their hearts lest they would perceive it, and in their ears there is impairment; when you mention your Lord ˹being˺ Alone, in the Qur’an, they turn on their heels in aversion” (17: 46); “So when they deviated, Allah caused their hearts to deviate; Allah does not guide the rebellious people” (61: 5).
[3888] The fact of the matter is laid bare before the Messenger (ﷺ); eager as he was, they would never Believe. Guidance is in God’s Hand: “Never will most people be eager as you are ˹Muhammad˺ to Believe!” (12: 103). “Certainly ˹Muhammad˺, the ones over whom the Word of your Lord has come true, will never Believe; *not ever if every Sign was to come to them, until they ˹actually˺ see the painful Punishment (10: 96-97).
al-Shinqīṭī comments: “This aya and its likes in the Qur’an have two well-known interpretations. The first, is that they pertain to those whom in Allah’s Prior Knowledge would be ill-fated. The second, is that they find no guidance as long as they don the mantle of Denial. But, if Allah guides them to Belief and they relent, the cause ˹of misguidance˺ will be removed. However, the first interpretation is the closer of the two. Allah Knows best!”
وَرَبُّكَ ٱلۡغَفُورُ ذُو ٱلرَّحۡمَةِۖ لَوۡ يُؤَاخِذُهُم بِمَا كَسَبُواْ لَعَجَّلَ لَهُمُ ٱلۡعَذَابَۚ بَل لَّهُم مَّوۡعِدٞ لَّن يَجِدُواْ مِن دُونِهِۦ مَوۡئِلٗا
[3889] The following statement is made so that no one should be too eager for their Punishment to be hastened, since their guidance is not possible (cf. al-Tafsīr al-Mukhtaṣar). As with previous doomed nations their Punishment has an appointed time and the situation might change between now and then should they come to their senses and repent (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr).
[3890] A God Who is Ghafūr (All-Forgiving), Dhūl Raḥmah (The Possessor of Mercy) would not hasten their Punishment, although they well deserved it (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Baghawī, Ibn ʿAṭiyyah): “Were Allah to take mankind to task for that which they have earned, He would not leave a single creature upon the surface of the earth. But He grants them reprieve till a term appointed; when their term comes, truly Allah is All-Seeing of His servants!” (35: 45)
وَتِلۡكَ ٱلۡقُرَىٰٓ أَهۡلَكۡنَٰهُمۡ لَمَّا ظَلَمُواْ وَجَعَلۡنَا لِمَهۡلِكِهِم مَّوۡعِدٗا
[3891] A case in hand is cited here. Earlier nations who committed the equally macabre injustice of scorning the Call of Faith met their doom and God’s never changing canon befell them at its appointed hour (cf. al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar).
[3892] These towns are most probably those of the ʿĀd, Thamūd, Midian and others whom the Arabs were quite familiar with or had heard of (cf. Ibn ʿĀshūr): “These accounts We relate to you ˹Muhammad˺, of the ˹bygone˺ towns; some are still standing ˹deserted˺, while others have been mowed down. *We did not wrong them but they wronged themselves; the gods they prayed to besides Allah availed them nothing: when Allah’s Command came upon them, they increased them in nothing except destruction. *That is how your Lord seizes the townships as He seizes them when they are wrongdoers. His seizing is indeed painful, severe. *Truly in that is a Sign for those who fear the Punishment of the Hereafter. That is a Day on which mankind shall be gathered together, and that is a Day that shall be witnessed” (11: 100-103).
وَإِذۡ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِفَتَىٰهُ لَآ أَبۡرَحُ حَتَّىٰٓ أَبۡلُغَ مَجۡمَعَ ٱلۡبَحۡرَيۡنِ أَوۡ أَمۡضِيَ حُقُبٗا
[3893] This, as opposed to the attitude of both the Qurayshites and Satan himself, which has already been mentioned, is a great lesson in humbleness. Moses, the great Messenger (ﷺ), the one to whom God spoke directly without a medium (kalīm Allāh), stood in need of knowledge, thus showing practically that humbleness is superior to arrogance (cf. al-Marāghī, al-Rāzī, Ibn ʿĀshūr).
This story also goes on to show that being a Messenger does not necessarily entail owning all knowledge (cf. al-Shawkānī). Thus nodding at the Jews who advised the Makkans to question the Noble Messenger (ﷺ) about the stories of the Companions of the Cave and the Two-Horned Sovereign claiming that if he told them about these then he was a real Prophet, otherwise, he was merely an imposter (cf. al-Shaʿrāwī).
[3894] This story is mentioned in great detail in al-Bukhārī (78 and 122) and Muslim (2380). The Noble Messenger (ﷺ) tells one story of Moses (عليه السلام) as he stood delivering a speech to the Children of Israel. One of them asked him if he knew anyone more knowledgeable than he was and he replied in the negative. Then God revealed to him that His servant, al-Khiḍr, was of greater knowledge than himself. Moses then asked God about a way of meeting him and he was told to seek him out where the fish come to life and swim into the sea (al-Bukhārī: 78) or where the two seas meet (al-Bukhārī: 122). Then the story unfolds as it is being told here in the Glorious Qur’an.
فَلَمَّا بَلَغَا مَجۡمَعَ بَيۡنِهِمَا نَسِيَا حُوتَهُمَا فَٱتَّخَذَ سَبِيلَهُۥ فِي ٱلۡبَحۡرِ سَرَبٗا
[3895] Saraban (translated here as burrowing) describes the movement of the fish in the sea. They cut their way in the shape of a tunnel (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, Ibn Kathīr, Abū al-Suʿūd).
