[1384] The taking of people’s souls away from their bodies during their sleep (known as al-wafāt al-ṣughrā; the lesser death) (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī): “Allah takes the souls of the dead and the souls of the living while they sleep - He keeps hold of those whose death He has ordained and sends the others back until their appointed time - there truly are Signs in this for those who reflect” (39: 42).
[1385] A person’s life.
[1386] On the Day of Judgement, God will bring people to account for their deeds after reviewing their records in public. (al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī)
[1387] God Almighty’s total, unchecked Dominance over His servants is a notion which is underlined in many Qur’anic passages; cf. 10: 107, 35: 2, 39: 38, 48: 11, 33: 17.
[1388] Ḥafaẓah (lit. keepers/protectors); these are angels who protect people and keep record of their deeds (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī): “For each one there are successive angels before and behind, protecting them by Allah’s command” (13: 11); “Standing over you are guardians ˹angels˺, *watchers, noble recorders *who know what you do” (82: 10-12).
[1389] The angels whose task is to take souls. (al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī)
[1390] The change of tone in this passage concluding aya is nothing short of majestic: the shift from first person to third person pronouns, from being talked to and then being talked about; from the present tense, which directly addresses the interlocutors and talks about the now, to the past tense in which the intended are only alluded to, and talks about a scene from the future as if already past and gone; and use of the marked exclusive “a-lā” (nay but!) is meant to further indicate the boundless Supremacy of God, Who is the sole Judge of people’s deeds.
[1391] The Arabs of that time, like many people nowadays, did not deny that ‘Allah’ was their sole Lord (known as tawḥīd al-rubūbiyyah) Whom they turned to in hard times, but what they denied was His sole Godhood (known as tawḥīd al-ulūhiyyah), i.e. that He is the only God worthy of worship. Discourse here draws their attention to this fact in argument against them (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī).
[1392] That is they summon up their most sincere prayers in true humbleness and whole-heartedly as people would do in hard times, yet once their prayers are answered, they renege on their promise to God.
[1393] “When you are touched with hardship at sea, you forget all ˹the gods˺ you invoke, except for Him. But when He delivers you ˹safely˺ ashore, you turn away. Humankind is ever ungrateful!” (17: 67).
[1394] This is to make them realize that the thin cover of safety and security in which they revelled can easily be blown away by the Almighty, so that they need not take Him lightly or pretend to forget about Him (cf. al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar): “Do the people of these towns feel secure that Our Punishment will not come upon them by night, while they are asleep? *Do the people of these towns feel secure that Our Punishment will not come upon them by day, while they are at play? *Do they feel secure against Allah’s planning? None would feel secure from Allah’s planning except the losers!” (7: 97-99).
[1395] This unqualified, undefined ‘Punishment’ opens up the doors to imagining all sorts of awful disasters that God can strike them with (Riḍā). They only need to ponder the fate of earlier nations and indeed their own fate whereby they think about the blessings they comfortably take for granted and the dangers they are oblivious to: “Your Lord is He Who makes ships go smoothly for you on the sea so that you can seek His bounty: He is Most Merciful towards you. *When you are touched with hardship at sea, you forget all ˹the gods˺ you invoke, except for Him. But when He delivers you ˹safely˺ ashore, you turn away. Humankind is ever ungrateful! *Do you feel secure that He will not cause the land to swallow you up, or unleash upon you a storm of stones? Then you will find none to protect you. *Or do you feel secure that He will not cause you to return to it another time, and unleash upon you a tempestuous wind, and drown you for your having been ungrateful? Then you would find no avenger therein against Us” (17: 66-69); “Are you sure that He Who is in Heaven will not make the land swallow you up with a violent shudder? *Are you sure that He Who is in Heaven will not send a whirlwind to pelt you with stones? You will come to know what My warning means!” (67: 16-17).
[1396] That is to trigger discord and civil unrest. Society’s vulnerability to this most hideous monster rearing its head in its midst, making life almost impossible to endure, is thus exposed. At such turbulent times, they just wish for their lives to end a thousand times over. Jābir Ibn ʿAbdillāh narrated that the Prophet (ﷺ) sought refuge by God from the former two types of Punishment when he heard this aya for the first time, but said: “These two are much lighter and much less severe”, when he heard the third type of Punishment, i.e. them being divided into warring factions (al-Bukhārī: 7313).
[1397] Building on the preceding episode as much as in an earlier passage (Ayas 51-55), this passage yet again points the Messenger (ﷺ) to the right way of dealing with his circumstances and the people that exist in them. Given the elongated answer that he was delivered before, he is also told here of the right manner to deal with the Denying ones around him (cf. al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar).
[1398] This is a general rule that applies at all times: “He sent down ˹in˺ the Book to you that should you hear the Signs of Allah being Denied or ridiculed ˹by some˺, then remain not with them unless they engage in a conversation other than that. ˹If you still stay with them˺ Then you are ˹just˺ like them—indeed Allah will gather the Deniers and the hypocrites in Hellfire altogether” (4: 140).