11:1. Alif. Lam. Ra’.^{1Groups of letters (al-huroof al-muqatta'ah) appear at the beginning of several soorahs. The most correct scholarly view states that we are required to believe in them as they appear to be, without delving into their meaning, knowledge of which we should leave to Allah. We believe that they were not revealed in vain, and that there is wisdom behind them of which we are not aware.} This is a Book, the verses of which are perfected, then explained in detail, from One Who is Most Wise, All-Aware.

11:2. [Saying] that you should worship none but Allah. [Say:] Verily I am [sent] to you from Him, as a warner and a bringer of glad tidings.

11:3. [and to instruct you]: Seek the forgiveness of your Lord and repent to Him, so that He may grant you goodly enjoyment of life for an appointed term and bestow His grace on all who merit it. But if you turn away, then verily I fear for you the punishment of a formidable day.

11:4. To Allah you will [all] return, and He has power over all things.

﴾This is a Book﴿ that is, a great Book and noble revelation ﴾the verses of which are perfected﴿ that is, they have been made precise and beautiful, truthful in what they tell you and fair and just in their commands and prohibitions, eloquent in turn of phrase and sublime in meaning.

﴾then explained in detail﴿ that is, they have been made unambiguous and crystal clear, at the highest level of clarity ﴾from One Who is Most Wise﴿ and does what is appropriate, the right thing at the right time, and He does not enjoin or prohibit anything except as His wisdom dictates

﴾A11-Aware﴿ He sees everything, whether apparent or hidden.

As its perfection and clarification come from Allah, the Most Wise, All-Aware, then do not ask about how great and majestic it is and how it encompasses perfect wisdom and vast mercy.

Allah has only revealed His Book so ﴾that you should worship none but Allah﴿ that is, so that all worship will be devoted to Allah alone, and nothing of His creation will be associated with Him in worship.

﴾Verily I am [sent] to you﴿ O people, ﴾from Him﴿ that is, from Allah your Lord f(as a warneri-﴿ to anyone who dares to commit sin, of punishment in this world and the hereafter

﴾and a bringer of glad tidings﴿ to those who are obedient to Allah, of reward in this world and the hereafter.

(([and to instruct you]: Seek the forgiveness of your Lord﴿ for what you have committed of sins

﴾and repent to Him﴿ in the future, for the remainder of your lives, by turning to Him and by turning away from that which Allah dislikes and to that which He loves and is pleased with.

Then comes a description of what will result from seeking forgiveness and repentance:

﴾so that He may grant you goodly enjoyment of life﴿ that is, so that He may grant you of His provision that which you will enjoy and benefit from

﴾for an appointed term﴿ that is, until the time of your death.

﴾and bestow His grace on all﴿ among you

﴾who merit it﴿ that is. He bestows upon people who are good and righteous bounty and blessings as a reward for their good deeds, by enabling them to attain that which they love and warding off that which they dislike.

﴾But if you turn away﴿ from that to which I call you, and you reject it and disbelieve in it

﴾then verily I fear for you the punishment of a formidable day﴿ namely the Day of Resurrection, on which Allah will bring together the first and the last, and He will requite them for their deeds; if they were good He will reward them and if they were evil He will punish them.

﴾and He has power over all things﴿ - among the things He is able to do is bringing the dead back to life, for He has power over all things. He has told us of that and He is the most truthful of all who speak, so that must inevitably come to pass, on the basis of rational thought and textual evidence.

11:5. Verily, they lean forward so as to conceal [their feelings] from Him, but when they cover themselves with their garments, He knows what they conceal and what they disclose, for He knows well what is in [their] hearts.

Here Allah tells us of the ignorance of the polytheists and how extreme their misguidance was.

﴾Verily, they lean forward so as to conceal [their feelings] from Him﴿, as they thought that doing this would conceal their situation from Allah, lest He see what they were doing.

But Allah explained that they were mistaken in their way of thinking:

﴾but when they cover themselves with their garments﴿ He knows what they are doing even when they are most hidden. Indeed ﴾He knows what they conceal﴿ of words and deeds ﴾fand what they disclose﴿ thereof, and He knows what is even more hidden than that,

﴾for He knows well what is in [their] hearts﴿ that is, what is in them of wishes, whispers and thoughts that they never utter, either privately or in public, so how can their state be hidden from Him when they lean forward so as to conceal their feelings from Him?

It may be that what is meant here is that Allah mentions the turning away of those who disbelieved in the Messenger (ﷺ) and paid no heed to his call and states that, as part of their extreme turning away, they ﴾lean forward﴿ that is, they bend down, when they see the Messenger (ﷺ), lest he see them and make them hear his call, and exhort them with words that will benefit them. Can any turning away be worse than this?

Then in the next verse Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) warns them that He knows all their situations and they cannot hide from Him, and He will requite them for their deeds.

11:6. There is no creature that lives on the earth but its sustenance is guaranteed by Allah. He knows its dwelling place and its resting place; all is [inscribed] in a clear record.

That is, everything that moves on the face of the earth, be it human, land animal or sea creature, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) has guaranteed its provision and food.

﴾He knows its dwelling place and its resting placed that is, He knows the dwelling places of all these creatures, namely the places where they reside, settle and return to. The resting places are the places to which they come and go as they go about their business. ﴾all﴿ the details about all these creatures

﴾fis [inscribed] in a clear record﴿ that is, in al-Lawh al-Mahfoodh, which contains all events that will happen in the heavens and on earth. Allah encompasses all of that in His knowledge and has written it with His pen; His will is always done, and His provision encompasses all of them. So hearts may be reassured that the One Who guarantees provision will suffice them, as He encompasses in His knowledge their essence and attributes.

11:7. He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six days - and [before that] His Throne was upon the water - so that He may test you [and see] which of you is best in conduct. But if you say to them: Verily you will be resurrected after death, those who disbelieve will surely say: This is obviously nothing but magic!

11:8. If We delay the punishment for them for a limited time, they will surely say: What is holding it back? Verily, on the day it reaches them, nothing will avert it from them, and the very thing [punishment] they used to ridicule will overwhelm them.

Allah tells us that He ﴾created the heavens and the earth in six days﴿, the first of which was Sunday and the last of which was Friday ﴾and)& at the time when He created the heavens and the earth, ﴾His Throne was upon the water﴿ above the seventh heaven.

After He created the heavens and the earth, He rose above the Throne and is controlling all affairs as He wills, in accordance with His divine decrees.

Hence He says: ﴾fso that He may test you [and see] which of you is best in conduct﴿ that is, He created for you all that is in the heavens and on earth, so that He may try you, by means of His commands and prohibitions, to see which of you will be best in conduct.

Al-Fu^ayl ibn Tyad (may Allah have mercy on him) said: That is, who will be most sincere and most correct in conduct.

It was said: O Abu ‘Ali, what does most sincere and most correct mean? He said: If a deed is sincere but not correct, it will not be accepted, and if it is correct but not sincere, it will not be accepted; it will only be accepted if it is both sincere and correct.

Sincere means that it is done only for the sake of Allah, and correct means that it is in accordance with Islamic teachings and the Sunnah.

This is like the verses in which Allah Cfe) says:

﴾fl have not created the jinn and humans except to worship Me.﴿ (adh-Dhariyat 51: 56)

- and:

﴾lt is Allah Who created seven heavens and of the earth the like thereof. His decree descends throughout them so that you may know that Allah has power over all things and that He encompasses all things in His knowledge.﴿ (at-Talaq 65: 12)

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) created all of creation to worship Him and know Him by His names and attributes, and He has commanded them to do that. Whoever complies and does as he is commanded will be among the successful, but whoever turns away from that will be among the losers. He will inevitably bring them together in a realm where He will requite them for what He enjoined upon them and what He prohibited them to do.

Hence Allah mentioned the polytheists’ disbelief in the recompense, as He says: ﴾(But if you say to them: Verily you will be resurrected after death, those who disbelieve will surely say: This is obviously nothing but magic! )? That is, if you tell these people about the resurrection, they will not believe you; rather they will utterly reject it and criticise the message you have brought, and they will say: ﴾This is obviously nothing but magic!﴿. Rather it is obvious truth.

﴾If We delay the punishment for them for a limited time﴿ that is, until a time decreed, they will find it slow in coming and they will say, in their ignorance and unjust attitude: ﴾What is holding it back?﴿ This implies that they disbelieve in it, because they take the fact that it did not happen straightaway as an indication that the Messenger (ﷺ) was not telling the truth when he told them of the punishment. How far-fetched this conclusion is!

﴾Verily, on the day it﴿ that is, the punishment preaches them, nothing will avert it from them﴿ so that they may rethink the matter. ﴾and the very thing [punishment] they used to ridicule will overwhelm them﴿ that is, befall them, after they had taken the matter so lightly that they were certain that the one who brought the message was lying.

11:9. If We bestow upon a man mercy [prosperity] from Us, then take it away from him, he falls into despair and becomes ungrateful.

11:10. But if We bestow upon him good fortune after adversity had befallen him, he will surely say: All my woes are gone from me, and will become [unduly] exultant and boastful.

11:11. Except those who are patient and do righteous deeds; they will have forgiveness and a great reward.

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) tells us about the nature of man, that he is ignorant and given to wrongdoing. When Allah gives him a taste of mercy from Him, such as good health, provision, children, and so on, then He takes it away from him, he gives in to despair and ends up losing all hope. So he does not hope for the reward of Allah, and it never crosses his mind that Allah could restore it or give him something like it or better than it.

If Allah gives him a taste of mercy and prosperity after some hardship that befell him, he exults in it and becomes boastful. He thinks that he will always have that goodness and he says: All my woesare gone from me, and will become [unduly] exultant and boastful﴿ that is, he rejoices in what he was given that is in accordance with his own whims and desires, and he boasts of the blessings of Allah before the slaves of Allah. This makes him conceited and vain, filled with self-admiration and arrogant towards others, so he looks down on them and scorns them. What misconduct could be worse than this?!

This is the nature of man as he was created, except for the one whom Allah guides and helps him to rid himself of this bad attitude and develop the opposite. They are the ones who make themselves be patient at times of hardship, so they do not despair, and at times of ease they do not gloat; and they do righteous deeds, both obligatory and recommended.

﴾they will have forgiveness﴿ for their sins, and they will be protected from the bad consequences thereof ﴾and a great reward﴿ namely admittance to the gardens of bliss in which there is everything that the heart may desire and that may delight the eyes.

11:12. Beware lest you omit some of that which is revealed to you, and feel distressed thereby, for fear that they will say: Why is not some treasure sent down to him, or why does an angel not come with him? Rather you are but a warner; Allah is in charge of all things.

11:13. Or they may say: He has fabricated it [the Qur’an]. Say: Then produce ten fabricated soorahs like it, and call upon whomever you can other than Allah [to help you], if you speak the truth!

11:14. Then if they do not respond to you, know that it [the Qur’an] is sent down with the knowledge of Allah, and there is no god but He. Will you then submit to Him [in Islam]?

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says, consoling His Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) for the rejection of the disbelievers: ﴾Beware lest you omit some of that which is revealed to you, and feel distressed thereby, for fear that they will say: Why is not some treasure sent down to him﴿ that is, it is not befitting for one such as you to let what they say affect you and turn you away from your mission, so that you omit some of that which is revealed to you and feel distressed by their stubbornness and their saying, ﴾Why is not some treasure sent down to him, or why does an angel not come with him?﴿. These words stem from stubbornness, wrongdoing, obstinacy, misguidance and ignorance of what constitutes proof and evidence. So carry on with your efforts and do not let these worthless ideas that only come from foolish people deter you or cause you distress.

Have they ever given you an argument that you could not refute, or criticised you for anything that you have brought that had an impact on it or detracted from it, and thus caused you distress?

Or are you responsible for bringing them to account, or are you expected to force them to follow you?

﴾Rather you are but a warner; Allah is in charge of all things﴿ - He is in charge of them, recording their deeds and He will requite them in full.

﴾Or they may say: He has fabricated it﴿ that is, has Muhammad (ﷺ) fabricated this Qur’an? Allah answered this question by saying: ﴾Say﴿ to them: ﴾Then produce ten fabricated soorahs like it, and call upon whomever you can other than Allah [to help you], if youspeak the truth;-) when you say that he has fabricated it, for there is no difference between you and him in terms of eloquence and fine words. Moreover, you are his swom enemies who are very keen to do whatever you can to prove his call false. So if you are telling the truth, then bring ten fabricated soorahs like it.

﴾Then if they do not respond to you﴿ with regard to any of that ﴾know that it [the Qur’an] is sent down with the knowledge of Allah﴿, from Allah, because it is based on proof and there is no proof to the contrary.

﴾and there is no god but He﴿ that is, and you should know that there is no god but He; that is. He alone is divine and worthy of worship. ﴾Will you then submit to Him [in Islam]?﴿ That is, will you submit to His divinity and become utterly subservient to Him?

These verses indicate that it is not appropriate for the one who calls people to Allah to be deterred by the objections and criticisms of people, especially if this criticism is baseless and does not undermine the message to which he is calling them. He should not let that distress him; rather he should be certain of his message and persist, focusing on his task. He does not have to respond to their demands for evidence of their own choosing; rather it is sufficient to establish sound proof, with no proof to the contrary.

This indicates that the Qur’an is a miracle in and of itself, for no human being can produce anything like it, not ten soorahs like it, or even one soorah like it, because those eloquent and well-spoken enemies to whom Allah issued this challenge did not try to produce anything that could match it, for they knew that they were unable to do such a thing.

This also indicates that what we need to seek certain knowledge about, and not rely on mere conjecture, is the Qur’an and tawheed (oneness of Allah), because Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says: ﴾that it [the Qur’an] is sent down with the knowledge of Allah, and there is no god but He﴿.

11:15. Those who seek the life of this world and its splendour - We will repay them in full in this life for their deeds, and they will not be given less than they deserve.

11:16. Those are the ones for whom there will be nothing in the hereafter but the fire. There all their efforts will come to nothing, and all they did will be in vain.

﴾Those who seek the life of this world and its splendour﴿ that is, all their aspirations are limited to the life of this world and its adornments, such as women and sons, heaped-up hoards of gold and silver, fine horses, and livestock and well-tilled land (cf 3: 14). Thus they focus their ambitions, efforts and striving on these things, and they do not aspire to the hereafter at all. Such a person can be nothing but a disbeliever, because if he were a believer, his faith would have prevented him from focusing all his attention on this world; rather his faith and whatever he was enabled to do of righteous deeds would be a sign of his aspiring for the hereafter.

But for such doomed individuals, who are as if they were created for this world alone, ﴾We will repay them in full in this life for their deeds﴿ that is. We will give them what was allocated for them in al- Lawh al-Mahfoodh of the reward of this world ﴾and they will not be given less than they deserve﴿ that is, nothing will be detracted from that which has been allocated to them, but that will be all that they get of joy and delight.

﴾Those are the ones for whom there will be nothing in the hereafter but the fire﴿ where they will abide forever, and the torment will never cease; they have been deprived of great reward ﴾There all their efforts will come to nothing﴿ that is, all that they did in this world will come to nothing and all their efforts against the truth and its followers will fail; this includes all the good deeds that they did that had no basis and did not fulfil the essential condition, namely faith.

11:17. Can they be like one who possesses clear proof from his Lord, supported by a testimony from himself, which was preceded by the Book of Moosa [which was revealed as] a guide and a mercy? Such people believe in it [the Qur’an]; as for those of any group who disbelieve in it, the fire will be their promised fate. So have no doubt about it, for it is the truth from your Lord, but most people do not believe.

Here Allah describes the situation of His Messenger Muhammad (ﷺ) and those who followed in his footsteps, calling others to His religion and the proofs that they believed in, and the qualities that they have that no one else could have except them, and no one could be like them.

﴾Can they be like one who possesses clear proof from his Lord﴿ namely the revelation that Allah sent down to explain important matters and give clear proofs thereof, and he is certain of those proofs﴾supported by a testimony from himself﴿ that is, this proof is supported by testimony from himself, which is the testimony of sound human nature and sound reason, when he testifies to the soundness of what Allah has revealed to him and of His religion, and he realises, on the basis of rational thinking, how beautiful it is, and that increases him in faith.

And there is a third testimony, which is ﴾the Book of Moosa﴿, namely the Torah which Allah made ﴾a guide﴿ for people ﴾fand a mercy﴿ to them. It also testifies to the truth of this Qur’an and is in harmony with it with regard to the truth.

In other words, is a person who is like this, who has all these proofs to support his faith and has all of this certain evidence, like one who is steeped in darkness and ignorance, and refuses to come out of it?

They are not equal before Allah or before the slaves of Allah. ﴾Such people﴿ that is, those who have been enabled to establish proof ﴾believe﴿ in the Qur’an in a real sense, so their faith will bear fruit and they will attain good in this world and the hereafter.

﴾as for those of any group﴿ that is, any of the groups of the people of this earth who are ganging up to reject the truth ﴾who disbelieve in it﴿ that is, the Qur’an

﴾the fire will be their promised fate﴿ and they will inevitably enter it. ﴾So have no doubt about it﴿ that is, do not entertain even the slightest doubt tffor it is the truth from your Lord, but most people do not believe﴿ either because of ignorance and wrongdoing on their part, or because of stubbornness and resentment. Otherwise, anyone whose intention is good and whose understanding is sound will inevitably believe in it, because he sees in it that which prompts him to believe in it completely.

11:18. Who does greater evil than he who fabricates lies against Allah? Such people will be presented before their Lord, and the witnesses will say: These are the ones who lied about their Lord. Indeed the curse of Allah is upon the evildoers,

11:19. those who barred [people] from the path of Allah and sought to make it appear crooked, and who disbelieved in the hereafter.

11:20. Such people cannot escape [Allah’s punishment] on earth, nor do they have any protector besides Allah. For them the punishment will be doubled. They could not bear to hear, nor did they see.

11:21. Such are the ones who will have lost their souls and that which they invented will be lost from them.

11:22. Without a doubt, in the hereafter, it is they who will be the greatest losers.

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) tells us that there is no one ﴾Who does greater evil than he who fabricates lies against Allah]j. This includes everyone who tells lies against Allah by attributing partners to Him, or describing Him in terms that do not befit His Majesty, or saying things concerning Him that He did not say, or claiming to be a prophet, or other lies against Allah. These are the most evil of people.﴾Such people will be presented before their Lord﴿ so that He may requite them for their wrongdoing. When He issues the verdict of severe punishment against them,

﴾the witnesses﴿ that is, those who testified against them that they were fabricating lies

﴾will say: These are the ones who lied about their Lord. Indeed the curse of Allah is upon the evildoers﴿ that is, a curse that will never cease, because their evil became second nature to them and is not subject to reduction.

Then Allah describes their wrongdoing: ﴾those who barred [people] from the path of Allah﴿. They barred themselves from following the path of Allah, which is the path of the Messengers to which they called people, and they barred others from following it, so they became leaders who called people to the fire.

﴾and sought to make it﴿ namely the path of Allah ﴾appear crooked﴿ that is, they strove to make it appear crooked, ugly and bad in people’s eyes, so that it did not appear straight. They presented falsehood as good and truth as bad; may Allah curse them ﴾and who disbelieved in the hereafter﴿.

﴾Such people cannot escape [Allah’s punishment] on earth﴿ that is, they cannot escape Allah, because they are under His control and subject to His power.

﴾nor do they have any protector besides Allah﴿ who could ward off the punishment from them or bring them any benefit; rather all ties between them are severed (cf 2: 166).

﴾For them the punishment will be doubled﴿ that is, it will be intensified and increased, because they went astray themselves and they led others astray.

﴾They could not bear to hear﴿ that is, because of their resentment and their aversion towards the truth, they could not bear to hear the revelations of Allah in such a way that they could benefit from them.﴾Then what is the matter with them, that they turn away from the Reminder [the Qur’an], as if they were startled [wild] donkeys, fleeing from a lion?﴿ (al-Muddath-thir 74: 49-51)

﴾nor did they see﴿ that is, they did not see by way of learning and reflection in a way that could benefit them; rather they are like the deaf and mute who cannot understand.

﴾Such are the ones who will have lost their souls﴿ as they caused them to miss out on the greatest reward and made them deserve the worst punishment ﴾and that which they invented will be lost from them﴿ that is, their religion, which they promoted and tried to make look good to others, will diminish, and the gods whom they worshipped besides Allah will avail them nothing when the decree of your Lord comes to pass. ﴾Without a doubt﴿ that is, surely

﴾in the hereafter, it is they who will be the greatest losers﴿. Loss is limited to them; in fact they are given the worst type of loss, because of the extent of their regret and deprivation, and what they will suffer of harsh punishment. We seek protection with Allah from ending up like them.

Having mentioned the state of those who are doomed (destined for hell), Allah then describes the characteristics of those who are blessed (destined for paradise) and what they will have with Allah of reward:

11:23. Verily those who believe, do righteous deeds and humble themselves before their Lord, such will be the inhabitants of paradise; they will abide therein forever.

11:24. The likeness of the two groups is that of one who is blind and deaf, and one who sees and hears. Are they equal when compared? Will you not then pay heed?

﴾Verily those who believe﴿ in their hearts; that is, they believe and acknowledge all that Allah has commanded them to believe in of the fundamentals and principles of Islam.

﴾fdo righteous deeds﴿ - this includes deeds of the heart (beliefs), physical actions and words spoken

﴾fand humble themselves before their Lord﴿ that is, they submit to Him and to His greatness, they humble themselves before His power and turn to Him with love, fear and hope, beseeching Him ﴾such﴿ that is, these people who have all of these characteristics ﴾will be the inhabitants of paradise; they will abide therein forever﴿, because they did not leave any good deed that was required of them but they did it, or any good deed but they were the first to do it.

﴾The likeness of the two groups﴿ that is, the group of those who are doomed and the group of those who are blessed ﴾is that of one who is blind and deaf﴿ these are the ones who are doomed

﴾and one who sees and hears﴿ these are the ones who are blessed ﴾Are they equal when compared?﴿ They are not equal when compared; rather the difference between them is indescribable.

﴾Will you not then pay heed﴿ to the deeds that will benefit you, so that you do them, and to the deeds that will harm you, so that you refrain from them?

11:25. We sent Nooh to his people [and he said): I have come to you with a clear warning:

11:26. That you should worship none but Allah. Verily I fear for you the punishment of a painful day.

11:27. But the chieftains of his people who disbelieved said: We do not see you as anything but a human being like ourselves. Nor do we see that any follow you but the lowest among us, those who are rash and undiscerning. We see no superior merit in you; in fact, we think you are liars.

﴾We sent Noohi? that is, We sent Our Messenger Nooh, the first of the Messengers

﴾to his people﴿ to call them to Allah and to forbid them to ascribe partners to Him.

﴾[and he said): I have come to you with a clear warning﴿ that is, I have explained to you that which I have warned you of, so as to dispel any confusion.

﴾That you should worship none but Allah﴿ that is, that you should devote your worship to Allah alone, and abandon everything that you worship besides Allah.

﴾Verily I fear for you the punishment of a painful day﴿ if you do not affirm the oneness of Allah and obey me.

﴾But the chieftains of his people who disbelieved﴿, namely the nobles and leaders, rejected the call of Nooh Of§!0, as is usually the case with people of their ilk; they are the first to reject the call of the Messengers

﴾said: We do not see you as anything but a human being like ourselves﴿. This was what prevented them - or so they claimed - from following him, even though that was the right thing to do andnothing else was appropriate. That is because humans may learn from a fellow human and discuss all issues with him, which would not be possible with the angels (if an angel had been sent as a Messenger). ﴾Nor do we see that any follow you but the lowest among us﴿ that is, we see that no one follows you among us except the lowest in status and those who are inferior - or so they claimed.

But in fact the ones who followed him were the noble ones and people of mature thinking who submitted to the truth. They were not like the lowest people who were called chieftains, who followed every rebellious devil and took stones and trees as gods, and sought to draw close to them and prostrate to them. Could you see anyone who is lower and viler than these?

﴾those who are rash and undiscemingj﴿ that is, they only followed you without thinking or deliberating; rather as soon as you called them, they followed you. What they meant by saying this was that these people had no insight and did not know what they were doing. But these disbelievers did not realise that the clear truth is something that is based on common sense and as soon as it comes to wise people, they recognise it and are certain of it. It is not like subtle issues that require lengthy thought and reflection.

﴾We see no superior merit in you﴿ that is, you are no better than us, so that we should follow you

﴾in fact, we think you are liars﴿ but they were lying when they said this, for they had seen the signs which Allah sent to support Nooh, which should have made them completely certain that he was indeed a true Messenger.

11:28. He said: O my people, what do you think, if I am relying on clear proof from my Lord, and He has bestowed on me mercy from Himself, but it has been obscured from your sight; can we compel you to accept it when you are averse to it?

11:29. O my people, I do not ask you for any wealth in return for it; my reward is with Allah alone. But I will not drive away those who believe, for they will surely meet their Lord. But I see that you are ignorant people.

11:30. O my people, who would protect me from Allah if I drove them away? Will you not then pay heed?

11:31. I do not tell you that I possess the treasuries of Allah and I do not have knowledge of the unseen, nor do I tell you that I am an angel. Nor do I say of those who are contemptible in your eyes that Allah will never grant them any good - for Allah knows best what is in their hearts; if I did, then I would surely be one of the unjust.

Hence Nooh said to them in response: e(0 my people, what do you think, if I am relying on clear proof from my Lord﴿ that is, certainty, for he was an exemplary leader whom the Messengers of strong resolve would follow, in comparison to whose wisdom the wisdom of the smartest minds is as nothing, and he was indeed telling the truth when he said: I am relying on clear proof from my Lord. This is sufficient testimony in his favour and confirmation of his truthfulness.﴾and He has bestowed on me mercy from Himself﴿ that is. He has given revelation to me, sent me as a Messenger and blessed me with true guidance

﴾but it has been obscured from your sight﴿ that is, it is hidden from you, and you find it burdensome

﴾can we compel you to accept it﴿ that is, can we force you to accept that of which we are certain but about which you have doubts? ﴾when you are averse to it﴿ to the extent that you are keen to reject that which I have brought. That will not harm us or undermine our faith in it; your words and fabrications against us will not keep us from following what we believe. Rather the most that it can do is bar you yourselves from it, and lead to you not following the truth, which you claim is false. If the matter reaches this extent, then we cannot force you to follow the command of Allah or force you to accept something to which you are so averse. Hence Allah says: ﴾can we compel you to accept it when you are averse to it?﴿.

my people, I do not ask you for any wealth in return for it﴿ that is, for my call to you, for you would find it too burdensome to pay me.

﴾my reward is with Allah alone﴿. It is as if they asked him to drive away the believers who were weak in social standing, but he said to them: ﴾But I will not drive away those who believe﴿ that is, it is not appropriate or befitting for me to do that; rather I welcome them warmly, and I honour and respect them ﴾for they will surely meet their Lord﴿ and He will reward them for their faith and piety with gardens of bliss.

﴾But I see that you are ignorant people﴿ as you tell me to drive away the close friends of Allah and make them go away from me, and you rejected the truth because they follow it, and you regard truth as falsehood on the grounds that you say that I am human like you and that we are no better than you.

﴾0 my people, who would protect me from Allah if I drove them away?﴿ That is, who would protect me from His punishment, because driving them away would incur a punishment that no one can ward off except Allah.

﴾Will you not then pay heed﴿ to that which is better for you, and take care of your affairs?

I do not tell you that I possess the treasuries of Allah and I do not have knowledge of the unseen, nor do I tell you that I am an angel﴿; all I am is the Messenger of Allah to you, bringing you glad tidings and warning you. As for anything other than that, I have no control over anything. The treasuries of Allah are not under my control, such that I could give to whomever I wanted and withhold from whomever I wanted

?(and I do not have knowledge of the unseen﴿ such that I could tell you what is in your hearts and minds

﴾nor do I tell you that I am an angel﴿. What is meant is: I do not claim to be anything more than I am, or to have any status other than that which Allah has given me; I do not judge people on the basis of my own speculation.

﴾Nor do I say of those who are contemptible in your eyes﴿ namely the socially weak believers on whom the chieftains who disbelieved look down ﴾that Allah will never grant them any good - for Allah knows best what is in their hearts﴿; if they are sincere in their faith, they will have much good, but if they are otherwise, then their reckoning is with Allah

﴾fif I did﴿ that is, if I said to you any of the things mentioned, ﴾then I would surely be one of the unjust﴿. Thus Nooh (عليه السلام) would make his people lose any hope of him getting rid of or hating the poor believers, and he persisted in trying to convince his people by means that would convince any fair-minded person.

11:32. They said: O Nooh, you have argued with us for too long. Bring us that with which you are threatening us, if you are telling the truth.

11:33. He said: It is Allah Who will bring it upon you if He wills, and you cannot escape it.

11:34. Nor will my advice benefit you, much as I desire to give you good advice, if Allah’s will is to leave you astray. He is your Lord and to Him you will return.

When they saw that he would not give up his efforts to call them and they would not get from him what they demanded, tfThey said: O Nooh, you have argued with us for too long. Bring us that with which you are threatening usjs of punishment ﴾if you are telling the truth﴿. How ignorant and misguided they were, when they said these words to their Prophet who was sincerely advising them. If they were sincere, why did they not say: O Nooh, you have been sincere towards us and cared for us, but you have called us to something that is not quite clear to us, so we want you to explain it to us so that we may follow you; otherwise we appreciate your efforts to give us sincere advice. That would have been a fair-minded response on the part of one who is called to something that is not clear to him. But they were lying in what they said and they were rude to their Prophet. They did not reject what he said because they had any doubts about it, let alone rejecting it on the basis of any sound argument.Hence they turned from ignorance and wrongdoing to seeking to hasten the punishment, as if they were trying to outwit Allah.

Therefore Nooh responded to them by saying: ﴾It is Allah Who will bring it upon you if He wills﴿ that is, if His will and wisdom dictate that He should send it upon you. He will do that ﴾and you cannot escape it﴿ that is, you cannot escape Allah; and I have no control over the matter at all.

﴾Nor will my advice benefit you, much as I desire to give you good advice, if Allah’s will is to leave you astray﴿ for His will is always done. If He wills to leave you astray because of your rejection of the truth, even if I did my utmost and advised you most sincerely - which is what he indeed did - it will not benefit you in the slightest.

﴾He is your Lord﴿ Who will do with you as He will and will judge you as He chooses

﴾and to Him you will return﴿ and He will requite you for your deeds.

11:35. If they say: He has fabricated it himself, say to them: If I did fabricate it, then I am responsible for my own sin, but I am innocent of the sins you commit.

﴾If they say: He has fabricated it himself)* - the pronoun may refer to Nooh, as the context speaks of his story with his people, in which case what is meant is that his people said: He has fabricated lies against Allah and has told lies about the revelation which he claims is from Allah, and he claims that Allah has instructed him to say: ﴾If they say: He has fabricated it himself, say to them: If I did fabricateit, then I am responsible for my own sin, but I am innocent of the sins you commit﴿ that is, each one will bear his own burden of sin. ﴾.. .No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another.. .﴿ (al-An am 6: 164)

Or it may be that the pronoun refers to the Prophet Muhammad in which case this verse is inserted, as if in parentheses, into the story of Nooh and his people, because this story is something that no one knows except the Prophets, so when Allah started to tell the story of Nooh to His Messenger (ﷺ), it was one of the signs that he was indeed a true Messenger and that his message was true, so He mentioned the disbelief of his people despite the perfect proof.

﴾flf they say: He has fabricated it himself﴿, that is, Muhammad has made up this Qur’an by himself, this would be an extremely strange and false thing to say, because they knew that he could neither read nor write, and he had not left them to go and study with any scholars, yet he brought them this Book that challenged them to produce even one soorah like it.

If, despite that, they claimed that he had fabricated it, it would be known that they were being stubborn and there would be no further use in arguing with them; rather what would be appropriate in that case would be to turn away from them. Hence Allah said: ﴾say to them: If I did fabricate it, then I am responsible for my own sin﴿ that is, the sin of my lying

﴾but I am innocent of the sins you commit﴿ that is, so why are you trying so hard to argue that I am a liar?

11:36. it was revealed to Nooh: None of your people will believe except those who have already believed. So do not be saddened by what they have been doing.

(-﴾It was revealed to Nooh: None of your people will believe except those who have already believed﴿ that is, their hearts have become hard

﴾So do not be saddened by what they have been doing﴿ that is, do not grieve and do not pay attention to them and their deeds, for Allah has cursed them and has decreed that they be punished, and His decree cannot be averted.

11:37. Build the ark under Our supervision and in accordance with Our inspiration. And do not plead with Me concerning those who did wrong, for they will surely be drowned.

11:38. So he started to build the ark, and every time the chieftains of his people passed by him, they ridiculed him. He said: Though you ridicule us now, we will certainly ridicule you as you are ridiculing us.

11:39. You will come to know who will receive a punishment that will disgrace him, and upon whom will descend an everlasting punishment.

﴾Build the ark under Our supervision and in accordance with Our inspiration﴿ that is, under Our care, in Our view and with Our approval.

﴾And do not plead with Me concerning those who did wrong﴿ that is, do not discuss their impending destruction with Me ﴾for they will surely be drowned﴿ that is, the punishment has become inevitable and the decree concerning them will be implemented.

Nooh obeyed the command of his Lord, and he started to build the ark.

﴾and every time the chieftains of his people passed by him﴿ and saw what he was doing

﴾they ridiculed him. He said: Though you ridicule us now, we will certainly ridicule you as you are ridiculing us﴿.

﴾You will come to know who will receive a punishment that will disgrace him, and upon whom will descend an everlasting punishment﴿, us or you. And they indeed came to know that when the punishment befell them.

11:40. [And so it went on] until, when Our command came and water gushed up out of the earth, We said: Take on board a pair from every species, and your family, except those against whom the sentence has already been passed, and those who believe. But only a few believed with him.

﴾[And so it went on] until, when Our command﴿ that is, the time when We had decreed that the punishment should befall them﴾came and water gushed up out of the earth﴿ that is, Allah caused the sky to send down rain in torrents and caused the earth to gush forth with springs, and the waters met (and rose) to the extent decreed <cf

﴾We said﴿ to Nooh: ﴾Take on board a pair from every species﴿ that is, from every type of creature, take on board a male and female, so that different species could survive. As for the rest of the animals, other than the pairs that were taken on board, the ark could not carry them all.

﴾and your family, except those against whom the sentence has already been passed﴿ namely those who were disbelievers, such as his son who was drowned.

﴾and those who believe. But﴿ in fact ﴾only a few believed with him﴿.

11:41. Nooh said: Embark; in the name of Allah will be its course and its mooring. Verily my Lord is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

11:42. And as it sailed with them amid waves like mountains, Nooh called out to his son, who had kept himself apart: O my son, embark with us, and do not be with the disbelievers.

11:43. The son said: I will take refuge on a mountain which will save me from the water. Nooh said: Today there is no refuge from Allah’s punishment, except for those on whom He has mercy.And a wave came between them, and [the son] was among those who were drowned.

﴾Nooh said﴿ to those whom Allah had instructed him to take on board: ﴾Embark; in the name of Allah will be its course and its mooring﴿ that is, it will set sail in the name of Allah and drop anchor in the name of Allah, and it will set sail by His command and power. ﴾Verily my Lord is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful﴿ as He has forgiven us and had mercy on us, and He has delivered us from the wrongdoing people.

Then Allah describes its journey, as if we can see it:

﴾And as it sailed with them﴿ that is, with Nooh and those who had embarked with him ijamid waves like mountains﴿, Allah protected it and took care of its people.

﴾Nooh called out to his son﴿ when he embarked, telling him to embark with him

﴾who had kept himself apart﴿ from them, when they embarked. In other words, he was some distance apart from them, but Nooh wanted him to come closer so that he could embark, so he said to him:

﴾fO my son, embark with us, and do not be with the disbelievers﴿ lest there befall you the same as will befall them.

﴾The son said﴿, not believing his father when he told him that no one would be saved except those who went on board the ark with him: ﴾I will take refuge on a mountain which will save me from the water﴿ that is, I will climb up a mountain and protect myself from the water thereby.

﴾Nooh said: Today there is no refuge from Allah’s punishment, except for those on whom He has mercy﴿ that is, no mountain or anything else can protect anybody; even if he took all possible measures, he will not be saved if Allah does not save him.﴾f And a wave came between them, and [the son] was among those who were drowned:?.

11:44. Then it was said: O earth, swallow up your water; O sky, cease [your rain]! The water subsided and the decree was fulfilled. The ark came to rest on Mount Judi and it was said: Gone are the wicked people.

11:45. Nooh called out to his Lord and said: O Lord, surely my son was one of my family, and surely Your promise is true and You are the most just of judges.

11:46. Allah said: O Nooh, he is not one of your family, for indeed he was unrighteous in his conduct. So do not ask of Me that of which you have no knowledge. I admonish you, lest you be among the ignorant.

11:47. Nooh said: O my Lord, I seek refuge with You lest I ask of You that of which I have no knowledge. Unless You forgive me and have mercy on me, I will be among the losers.

When Allah had drowned them and had saved Nooh and those who were with him,﴾Then it was said: O earth, swallow up your water﴿ that came out of you and that which fell upon you. In other words, swallow up all the water that is on your surface t﴾0 sky, cease [your rain]!﴿ They both obeyed the command of Allah; the earth swallowed up its water and the sky stopped sending down rain. ﴾The water subsided﴿ that is, it was absorbed into the earth ﴾and the decree was fulfilled﴿ with the destruction of the disbelievers and the deliverance of the believers.

﴾The ark came to rest on Mount Judi)﴿ that is, it settled on that well-known mountain, which is in the land of Mosul ﴾and it was said: Gone are the wicked people﴿ that is, after their destruction, they were followed by curses and imprecations.

﴾Nooh called out to his Lord and said: O Lord, surely my son was one of my family, and surely Your promise is true﴿ that is, You told me: ﴾Take on board a pair from every species, and your family﴿ (11: 40), and You will never break your promise to me.

Perhaps Nooh felt very sad for his son, and Allah had promised to save his family, so he thought that the promise included all of them, both those who believed and those who did not believe. Hence he called upon his Lord in this manner and referred the matter to the wisdom of Allah.

﴾Allah said: O Nooh, he is not one of your family﴿ whom I promised to save

﴾for indeed he was unrighteous in his conduct﴿ that is, you are offering supplication for the salvation of a disbeliever who did not believe in Allah or His Messenger.

﴾So do not ask of Me that of which you have no knowledge﴿ that is, that of which you do not know the outcome, whether it will be good or otherwise.

﴾I admonish you, lest you be among the ignorant﴿ that is, I give you this admonition so that you will be among those who attain perfection and will be saved from the attributes of the ignorant.

Thereupon Nooh greatly regretted his words, and he said: ﴾0 my Lord, I seek refuge with You lest I ask of You that of which I have no knowledge. Unless You forgive me and have mercy on me, I will be among the losers﴿.

Forgiveness and mercy will save a person from being among the losers. This indicates that Nooh (عليه السلام) had no knowledge that asking his Lord to save his son was forbidden and was included in the words: ﴾And do not plead with Me concerning those who did wrong, for they will surely be drowned﴿ (II: 31). Rather the matter was not clear in his mind and he thought that his son was included in the words ﴾your family﴿.

After it became clear to him that his son was among those for whom he was forbidden to offer supplication or plead.

11:48. It was said: O Nooh, disembark with safety granted by Us, and with blessings upon you and some of the communities [who will spring from] those who are with you. And there will be [other] communities whom We will allow to enjoy life for a while, then a painful punishment from Us will afflict them.

﴾It was said: O Nooh, disembark with safety granted by Us, and with blessings upon you and some of the communities [who will spring from] those who are with you﴿ of humans and other species whom he had taken on board with him. Allah blessed them all, until they filled all regions of the earth.

﴾And there will be [other] communities whom We will allow to enjoy life for a while﴿ on earth﴾then a painful punishment from Us will afflict them﴿ that is, the saving of these people will not prevent Us from sending punishment on those who disbelieve after that; We will send the punishment upon them, even if they enjoyed life for a little while, then they will be brought to account after that.

11:49. This is an account of the unseen [the distant past], which We reveal to you [O Muhammad]; neither you nor your people had any knowledge of it before this. So be patient, for the best outcome is for those who fear Allah.

Allah said to His Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), after telling him the story discussed above, which no one could have known except one whom He blessed with His message:

﴾This is an account of the unseen [the distant past], which We reveal to you [O Muhammad]; neither you nor your people had any knowledge of it before this﴿, so they cannot say that he knew it from before. So praise Allah and give thanks to Him, and be patient and steadfast in adhering to the true religion that you are following, and to the straight path, and be patient in calling people to Allah ﴾for the best outcome is for those who fear Allah﴿, those who guard against polytheism and all sins. For you will ultimately prevail over your people, as Nooh prevailed over his people.

11:50. To ‘Ad We sent their brother Hood. He said: O my people, worship Allah; you have no god but He. You are but inventors of falsehood.

11:51. O my people, no reward do I ask of you for this; my reward is only with Him Who created me. Will you not then understand?

11:52. O my people, seek the forgiveness of your Lord and repent to Him; He will send down upon you abundant rain from the sky, and will add strength to your strength. So do not turn away in sin.

6(To ‘ Ad﴿ they were a well-known tribe in the region of the sandy tracts (al-ahqdf) in the land of Yemen.

﴾-(We sent their brother﴿ in lineage ﴾Hood﴿, so that they would be able to accept what he told them, as they knew that he was truthful. ﴾He said﴿ to them: ﴾(0 my people, worship Allah; you have no god but He. You are but inventors of falsehood﴿ that is, he instructed them to worship Allah alone and he forbade them to continue with what they were doing of worshipping gods other than Allah. He told them that they had fabricated lies against Allah when they worshipped gods other than Him and regarded it as permissible to do so, and he explained to them that it was obligatory to worship Allah alone and that it was wrong to worship anything other than Him.

Then he told them that they had no reason not to submit to his message, as he said: ﴾SfO my people, no reward do I ask of you for this﴿ that is, payment from your wealth for what I am calling you to, lest you should say: This man wants to take our wealth. Rather I am calling you and teaching you for free.

t-fmy reward is only with Him Who created me. Will you not then understand﴿ what I am calling you to and that there is every reason for you to accept it, and there is no reason to reject it.

my people, seek the forgiveness of your Lord﴿ for what you have done in the past

﴾and repent to Him﴿ sincerely, turning to Allah (سبحانه وتعالى).

If you do that, ﴾He will send down upon you abundant rain from the sky﴿ that will make your land fertile and cause its produce to become abundant.

tfand will add strength to your strength﴿, for they were the strongest of people, hence they said:

... Who is more powerful than us?...p (Fussilat 41: 15)

So he promised them that if they believed, Allah would add strength to their strength.

﴾So do not turn away in sin﴿ that is, do not turn away from your Lord in sin, too arrogant to worship Him and transgressing His limits.

11:53. They said: O Hood, you have not brought us any clear sign; we are not going to forsake our gods at your behest, nor will we believe in you.

11:54. We can only say that some of our gods have afflicted you with evil [madness]. He said: I call Allah to witness, and you too are my witnesses, that I disavow all those whom you ascribe as partners

11:55. to Allah. So scheme against me, all of you, and give me no respite.

11:56. I put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord. There is no living creature but He holds it [in His control] by its forelock. Verily my Lord is on a straight path.

11:57. If you turn away, still I have conveyed to you that with which I was sent to you. My Lord will cause other people to replace you, and not the least harm will you do to Him. For my Lord watches over all things.

﴾They said﴿, rejecting his words:

﴾0 Hood, you have not brought us any clear sign﴿. If what they meant by a clear sign was the sign that they suggested, that was not necessary in order to prove the truth, for all that is required is for the Prophet to bring a sign that confirms the soundness of the message he brings. But if what they meant was that he had not brought any signs that testified to the soundness of what he was saying, then they were lying, for no Prophet came to his people but Allah sent at his hands signs that would usually be sufficient for people to believe.

If he had no sign except his calling them to devote their worship to Allah alone, with no partner or associate, and the command to do all good deeds and attain all good attitudes, and the prohibition on all blameworthy characteristics such as ascribing partners to Allah, committing obscenities and wrongdoing, and all kinds of objectionable matters, in addition to what Hood (عليه السلام) himself had of attributes that could not be obtained except by the best and most sincere of people, that would have been sufficient evidence and proof of his sincerity.

Indeed those who possess reason and understanding will see that this sign is greater than mere extraordinary feats that some people may think are the only real miracles. One of the signs and proofs of Hood’s truthfulness is that he was one person, on his own, with no supporters or helpers, and he was shouting out, calling his people andproving them to be helpless, saying to them: (fl put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord﴿ (11: 56), ﴾fl call Allah to witness, and you too are my witnesses, that I disavow all those whom you ascribe as partners to Allah. So scheme against me, all of you, and give me no respite﴿ (11: 54-55). They were the enemies who had the upper hand, and they wanted to extinguish what he had of light by any possible means, but he did not care about them and paid them no heed, for they were helpless and were unable to do him any harm. In that there are signs for people who understand.

Their words *(we are not going to forsake our gods at your behest﴿ (11:53) mean: we will not give up worshipping our gods just because of what you said, for which there is no proof - or so they claimed ﴾nor will we believe in you﴿. They were telling their Prophet Hood (عليه السلام) to give up all hope of them ever believing, and that they would continue to wander blindly in their disbelief.

﴾We can only say﴿ concerning you ﴾that some of our gods have afflicted you with evil [madness]﴿ that is, they have afflicted you with insanity, so you have started to murmur things that cannot be understood. Glory be to the One Who put a seal on the hearts of the evildoers, who regarded the most truthful of people, who brought the truest of truth, as being of such a lowly status, and any wise man would refrain from repeating what they said about him, were it not that Allah has told us about it in His Book.

Hence Hood (عليه السلام) explained to them that he was very confident that no harm would reach him from them or from their gods, as he said: ﴾I call Allah to witness, and you too are my witnesses, that I disavow all those whom you ascribe as partners to Allah. So scheme against me, all of you﴿ that is, try - all of you - to do me harm by all possible means at your disposal ﴾and give me no respite﴿.

﴾I put my trust in Allah﴿ that is, I rely in all of my affairs on Allah﴾my Lord and your Lord﴿ that is, He is the Creator of all, and is in control of us and you, and it is He Who takes care of us.

﴾There is no living creature but He holds it [in His control] by its forelock﴿ so it cannot move or halt except by His leave. If all of you came together to harm me, but Allah did not give you power over me, you would not be able to do that; if He did give you power, it would be for some good reason known to Him.

Verily my Lord is on a straight path﴿ that is, He is just, fair, wise and praiseworthy in all that He decrees of laws and commands, and in His requital, reward and punishment. His deeds do not go beyond that straight path, for which He is to be praised.

﴾flf you turn away﴿ from what I am calling you to ﴾still I have conveyed to you that with which I was sent to you﴿, after which I have no further responsibility towards you.

﴾My Lord will cause other people to replace you﴿ who will worship Him and not ascribe any partner to Him

﴾and not the least harm will you do to Him﴿ because your harm will only backfire on you, for the sins of the disobedient do not harm Him, just as the obedience of the obedient does not benefit Him.

Whoever does righteous deeds, it is to his own benefit and whoever does evil deeds, it is to his own detriment...﴿ (Fussilat 41: 46) tfFor my Lord watches over all things﴿.

11:58. When Our command came. We saved Hood and those who believed with him, by Our mercy; We saved them from a harsh punishment.

11:59. Such were the people of ‘Ad; they rejected the signs of their Lord, disobeyed His Messengers and followed the command of every obstinate tyrant.

11:60. They were overtaken by a curse in this world, and [they will be cursed] on the Day of Resurrection. Verily, ‘Ad disbelieved in their Lord. So away with ‘Ad, the people of Hood!

﴾When Our command earned that is, Our punishment, by sending the devastating wind, that:

([...spared nothing it came upon, but it reduced it to ruin and decay.﴿ (adh-Dhariydl 51: 42)

﴾We saved Hood and those who believed with him, by Our mercy; We saved them from a harsh punishment﴿ that is, a great and severe punishment that Allah sent upon ‘Ad, and when morning came there was nothing to be seen besides their ruined dwellings (cf. 46. 25).

﴾Such were the people of ‘Ad﴿ upon whom Allah sent that punishment because of their wrongdoing, for they ﴾rejected the signs of their Lord﴿, when they said to Hood: ﴾you have not brought us any clear sign﴿ (11: 53). Thus it became clear that they were certain of his call, but they stubbornly denied it

﴾disobeyed His Messengers﴿ because whoever disobeys one Messenger has disobeyed all of the Messengers, for their call is one ﴾and followed the command of every obstinate tyrant﴿ who persecuted the slaves of Allah and persisted in rejecting the signs of Allah. So they disobeyed everyone who sincerely cared about them, but they followed every insincere one who wanted to bring them doom. No wonder Allah destroyed them.

﴾They were overtaken by a curse in this world﴿ in every time and generation, for there will be mention of their evil news and ugly deeds, and they will be condemned﴾fand [they will be cursed] on the Day of Resurrection﴿ too.

﴾Verily, ‘Ad disbelieved in their Lord﴿ that is, they denied the One Who created them, granted them provision and took care of them. f[So away with ‘Ad, the people of Hoodie That is, may Allah send them far away from all that is good and bring them nearer all that is evil.

11:61. To Thamood, We sent their brother Salih. He said: O my people, worship Allah; you have no god but He. It is He Who created you from the earth and caused you to dwell therein. So seek His forgiveness and repent to Him, for verily my Lord is Ever Near, Responsive.

11:62. They said: O Salih, great were the hopes we placed in you before this. Do you [now] forbid us to worship that which our forefathers worshipped? Indeed we are in grave doubt about that to which you are calling us.

﴾To Thamood﴿ they were the second ‘Ad, the well-known tribe who dwelled in al-Hijr (the Rocky Tract) and the Valley of al-Qura. ﴾We sent their brother﴿ in lineage ﴾Salih﴿, the slave of Allah and His Messenger, who called them to worship Allah alone.

﴾He said: O my people, worship Allah﴿ and affirm His oneness, and devote your worship sincerely to Him alone ﴾you have no god but He﴿ among the inhabitants of either the heavens or the earth.﴾flt is He Who created you from the earth and caused you to dwell therein﴿, and He bestowed blessings upon you, both visible and hidden, and gave you the means to establish yourselves on earth, build structures, plant trees and crops, farm it however you wished, benefit from it in different ways and make use of its resources. As He has no partner in all of that, do not ascribe partners to Him in worship.

﴾So seek His forgiveness﴿ for what you have committed of disbelief, ascription of partners to Him and sin, and give up these deeds

﴾fand repent to Him﴿ that is, turn back to Him by repenting sincerely ﴾for verily my Lord is Ever Near, Responsive﴿ that is, He is near to the one who calls upon Him and asks of Him, or who offers supplication as an act of worship; He responds by giving him what he asks for, and accepting his worship and granting him the best of rewards for it.

It should be understood that Allah’s nearness is of two types: general and specific. In general terms, He is near to all people by His knowledge. This is what is referred to in the verse in which He says: ﴾...We are closer to him than his jugular vein.﴿ (QafSO: 16)

In specific terms, He is close to those who worship Him, ask of Him and love Him. This is what is mentioned in the verse tf...Prostrate [in prayer] and draw near [to Allah].﴿ (al-‘Alaq 96. 19)

- in the verse under discussion here, and in the verse

﴾When My slaves ask you concerning Me, I am indeed close [to them]; I answer the call of the caller when he calls on Me...)﴿ (al-Baqarah 2: 186)

This type of closeness leads to the bestowal of Allah’s mercy, His response to their supplications and His fulfilment of their hopes. Hence He mentions His name the ﴾Ever Near﴿ alongside His name the ﴾Responsive﴿.

When their Prophet Ṣalib instructed them and encouraged them to be devoted to Allah alone, they rejected his call and responded in the worst manner.

﴾They said: O Salih, great were the hopes we placed in you before this﴿ that is, we had hoped that you would be wise and bring benefit to us. This testimony on their part in favour of their Prophet indicates that they still acknowledged his good attitude and noble character, and that he was one of the best of his people. But when he brought this message to them, that was not in accordance with their corrupt whims and desires, they said these words, the implication of which was: you were good and perfect, but now you have disappointed us and you have reached the point where nothing good is to be expected from you.

The problem was, as they said: ﴾Do you [now] forbid us to worship that which our forefathers worshipped?﴿ This was the main factor that undermined Salih’s character in their view: how could he cast aspersions on their rationality and that of their misguided fathers? How could he tell them not to worship that which could neither bring benefit nor ward off harm nor avail them anything, that was made of stone, wood and the like?

And he instructed them to devote their worship only to Allah their Lord, Who never stopped bestowing blessings upon them and granting them favours; they had no blessing but it was from Him and none warded off harm from them except Him.

﴾Indeed we are in grave doubt about that to which you are calling usp that is, we are still doubtful and suspicious about that to which you are calling us. According to them, if they knew it was sound they would have followed it. But this was a lie, so Salih pointed out that they were lying:

11:63. He said: O my people, what do you think, if I am relying on clear proof from my Lord, and He has bestowed on me mercy from Himself - then who would protect me from Allah, if I were to disobey Him? What you are offering me is no more than perdition.

11:64. O my people, this is the she-camel of Allah, a sign unto you. So leave her to graze in the land of Allah, and do not harm her in any way, or else an imminent punishment will overtake you.

11:65. But they hamstrung her, so he said: Enjoy life in your worldly abodes for [another] three days. This is a promise that will not be belied.

﴾He said: O my people, what do you think, if I am relying on clear proof from my Lord﴿ that is, evidence and certainty ﴾and He has bestowed on me mercy from Himself﴿ that is, He has blessed me with His message and revelation, so should I follow you in the path you are on and to which you are calling me?

﴾then who would protect me from Allah, if 1 were to disobey Him? What you are offering me is no more than perdition﴿ that is, loss, doom and harm.

﴾0 my people, this is the she-camel of Allah, a sign unto you﴿ she had a day to drink from the well, then all of them could drink from her udder, and they had a day to drink at the well. ﴾So leave her to graze in the land of Allah﴿ that is, you are not responsible for her maintenance and feeding f[and do not harm her in any way﴿ that is, by hamstringing her ﴾or else an imminent punishment will overtake you﴿.

﴾But they hamstrung her, so he said﴿ that is, Salih said to them: ﴾Enjoy life in your worldly abodes for [another] three days. This is a promise that will not be belied﴿; rather it will inevitably come to pass.

11:66. When Our command came. We saved Salih and those who believed with him, by Our mercy, and [saved them] from the disgrace of that day. Verily your Lord is the Strong, the Almighty.

11:67. The blast overtook the wrongdoers, and morning found them lying lifeless in their homes.

11:68. as if they had never lived there. Verily Thamood disbelieved in their Lord. So away with Thamood!

﴾When Our command came﴿, that the punishment was to befall them

﴾We saved Salih and those who believed with him, by Our mercy, and [saved them] from the disgrace of that day﴿ that is. We saved them from the punishment, disgrace and shame.

﴾Verily your Lord is the Strong, the Almighty﴿ by His might and power, He destroyed the evildoing nations and saved their Messengers and their followers.

﴾The blast overtook the wrongdoers﴿; it was a mighty blast that caused their hearts to stop

(fand morning found them lying lifeless in their homes﴿ that is, immobile and not moving.

﴾as if they had never lived there﴿ that is, when the punishment came to them, it was as if they had never enjoyed life in their homes and had never known any good times, for all delight left them and they were overtaken by the eternal punishment that will never end, and it is as if it had always been with them.

Verily Thamood disbelieved in their Lord﴿ that is, they denied Him after the clear signs came to them

﴾So away with Thamood!How doomed and humiliated they were. We seek refuge with Allah from punishment and disgrace in this world.

cS**.

J»jo 1-Ukj U'j -u> CJvi (WJ f'JJCj*---)

11:69. Our messengers [angels] came to Ibraheem with glad tidings. They bade him peace; he answered: [And upon you be] peace. And he hastened to bring them a roasted calf.

11:70. But when he saw that their hands did not reach out towards it, he had misgivings about them and conceived a fear of them. They said: Fear not; we have been sent to the people of Loot.

11:71. His wife, who was standing nearby, laughed. Then We gave her the glad tidings of Is-haq and, after Is-haq, ofYa'qoob.

11:72. She said: Alas for me! How can I bear a child when I am an old woman, and this husband of mine is an old man? That would be a strange thing indeed!

11:73. They said: Do you marvel at the decree of Allah? May the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you, O members of this household.^{1«jmembers of this household)* refers to the family of Ibraheem.} Verily He is Praiseworthy, Glorious.

﴾Our messengers [angels] came to Ibraheem﴿, the close friend (Khaleel) of Allah

﴾with glad tidings﴿ that is, with the glad tidings of a son. When Allah sent them to destroy the people of Loot, He instructed them to pass by Ibraheem and give him the glad tidings of Is-haq. When they entered upon him, ﴾They bade him peace; he answered: [And upon you be] peace﴿ that is, they greeted him and he returned the greeting.

This indicates that it is prescribed to give the greeting of salam; this has been the case since the time of Ibraheem. The greeting should be given before speaking, and the response should be better than the initial greeting.

﴾And he﴿ namely Ibraheem ﴾hastened to bring them a roasted calf﴿ that is, he rushed to his house and prepared for his guests a fat calf that was roasted on hot stones. He brought it to them and said to them: Will you not eat?

﴾But when he saw that their hands did not reach out towards it﴿ that is, towards that food

﴾he had misgivings about them and conceived a fear of them﴿ and he thought that they had come to him for some evil purpose and with the intent of doing him some harm. That was before he found out who they were and why they had come.

﴾They said: Fear not; we have been sent to the people of Loot﴿ that is, we are messengers from Allah; Allah has sent us to destroy the people of Loot.

﴾His wife, who was standing nearby﴿ to serve his guests ﴾laughed﴿ out of amazement, when she heard who they were and what they had been sent to do.

﴾Then We gave her the glad tidings of Is-haq and, after Is-haq, of Ya‘qoob﴿. She was amazed at that, and said:

﴾Alas for me! How can I bear a child when I am an old woman, and this husband of mine is an old man?﴿ These were two impediments to having a child

﴾That would be a strange thing indeed!﴿.

﴾They said: Do you marvel at the decree of Allah?﴿ There is nothing strange in His decree, for His will is always done. So there is nothing strange about what His might and power may do, especially with regard to what He decides and decrees for the members of this blessed household.

﴾May the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you, O members of this household﴿ that is, may His mercy, kindness and blessings always be upon you. This refers to even more of His goodness and kindness, and more divine blessings.

﴾upon you, O members of this household. Verily He is Praiseworthy, Glorious﴿ that is. He is Praiseworthy in His attributes, because His attributes are attributes of perfection; He is Praiseworthy in His deeds, for His deeds are deeds of kindness, generosity, wisdom, justice and fairness.

﴾Glorious﴿ Glory refers to the greatness and ail-encompassing nature of His attributes, for they are attributes of perfection. His are the most perfect and complete of all attributes.

11:74. When Ibraheem’s fear had subsided, and the glad tidings had reached him, he began to plead with Us for the people of Loot.

11:75. Verily Ibraheem was forbearing, humble in supplication, penitent.

11:76. O Ibraheem, cease your pleading, for verily the decree of your Lord has gone forth; verily there is coming to them a punishment that cannot be averted.

﴾When Ibraheem’s fear﴿ of his guests ﴾had subsided, and the glad tidings had reached him﴿ of a child, he began to argue with the messengers about the destruction of the people of Loot, and he said to them:

﴾.. .But Loot is there! They said: We know full well who is there. We will surely save him and his family, except his wife...﴿ (al- Ankaboot 29: 32)

﴾Verily Ibraheem was forbearing﴿ that is, he had a good attitude and was patient and big-hearted; he did not get angry with the ignorance of the ignorant

﴾humble in supplication﴿ that is, he would humbly beseech Allah at all times

﴾penitent﴿ that is, he constantly turned back to Allah by knowing Him and loving Him, and by turning to Him and turning away from all others but Him. Hence he argued on behalf of those whom Allah decreed were to be destroyed.

So it was said to him: Ibraheem, cease your pleading﴿ and arguing tffor verily the decree of your Lord has gone forth﴿ that they are to be destroyed

﴾verily there is coming to them a punishment that cannot be averted﴿, so there is no point in arguing.

11:77. When Our messengers came to Loot, he was perturbed by their coming and felt troubled on their account, and he said: This is a distressing day.

11:78. His people came running towards him, for they had long been accustomed to evil practices. He said: O my people, here are my daughters; they are purer for you.^{1What is meant by ^my daughters^ is ‘the daughters of my nation’. Loot was urging his people to give up their immoral ways and marry women in a lawful and pure manner.} Fear Allah and do not put me to shame by wronging my guests. Is there not among you even one right-minded man?

11:79. They said: You know that we have no need of your daughters. You know very well what we want!

11:80. Loot said: Would that I had the strength to stop you or that I could have recourse to some powerful support.

11:81. [The angels] said: O Loot, we are messengers of your Lord; they will never be able to harm you. So depart with your family in the dead of night - and let none of you look back - except your wife; she will suffer the same fate as the others. Verily their appointed time is the morning; is not the morning nigh?

﴾When our messengers﴿ who had left Ibraheem ﴾came to Loot, he was perturbed by their coming﴿ that is, he was distressed by their coming

﴾and felt troubled on their account, and he said: This is a distressing day﴿ that is, he was very upset and worried, because he knew that his people would not leave them alone, for they had come in the form of beardless young men of the utmost physical perfection and beauty, and what crossed his mind indeed happened.

﴾His people came running towards him﴿ that is, they came rushing, wanting to commit with his guests the evil deeds that they were accustomed to. Hence Allah says: ﴾for they had long been accustomed to evil practices﴿ that is, immoral deeds that no one in the world had ever committed before them.

﴾He said: O my people, here are my daughters; they are purer for you﴿ than my guests. This is like the case when Sulayman (عليه السلام) suggested to the two women that he should cut in half the child over whom they were disputing, in order to find out the truth, because he knew that his daughters were well protected from them and that they had no right to them; rather his greater aim was to ward off these grave immoral acts.

﴾Fear Allah and do not put me to shame by wronging my guests﴿ that is, you should either pay attention to fearing Allah, or you should be kind to me with regard to my guests, and not disgrace me before them. ﴾Is there not among you even one right-minded man﴿ who will tell you not to do this and rebuke you? This indicates that they were completely devoid of goodness and dignity.

﴾They said﴿ to him:

﴾You know that we have no need of your daughters. You know very well what we want!﴿ That is, we only want men and we have no desire for women.

Hence Loot (عليه السلام) grew even more anxious, and said: ﴾Would that I had the strength to stop you or that I could have recourse to some powerful support﴿ such as a powerful tribe who could stop you.

This was with regard to tangible means, otherwise he was turning to the strongest and most powerful support, namely Allah, Whose might none can resist.

Hence when the matter reached an impasse and his distress became very great, ﴾f[The angels] said: O Loot, we are messengers of your Lord﴿ that is, they told him who they were, in order to reassure him ﴾they will never be able to harm you﴿. Then Jibreel moved his wing and put out their eyes, and they began to threaten Loot about the coming of the morning, so the angels instructed Loot to take his family and depart at night:

﴾So depart with your family in the dead of night﴿ that is, in the middle of the night, long before dawn, so that they could get far away from their city.

﴾fand let none of you look back﴿ that is, hasten to leave and let your main concern be salvation from the punishment; do not turn round to look behind you.

﴾except your wife; she will suffer the same fate﴿ that is, punishment ﴾fas the others﴿, because she was a partner with her people in their sin; she would tell them about the guests of Loot if guests came to stay with him.

﴾Verily their appointed time is the morning﴿ - it is as if Loof wanted to hasten it, so it was said to him: ﴾fis not the morning nigh?﴿

11:82. When Our command came, We turned [the cities] upside down and let loose upon them a shower of stones of baked clay, one after another

11:83. specifically marked, and kept with your Lord; nor are they ever far from the evildoers.

﴾When Our command earned that the punishment was to be sent upon them,

﴾We turned [the cities] upside down and let loose upon them a shower of stones of baked clay﴿ that is, stones of very hot fire.

﴾one after another??, targeting those who ran away from the cities.

﴾specifically marked﴿ that is, they bore the mark of punishment and wrath

﴾and kept with your Lord; nor are they ever far from the evildoers﴿ who emulate the deeds of the people of Loot, so let the people beware of doing the same deeds lest the same fate befall them.

11:84. To Madyan We sent their brother Shu‘ayb. He said: O my people, worship Allah; you have no god but He. And do not give short measure or weight. I see you are prospering, but I fear for you the punishment of an overwhelming day.

11:85. O my people, give full measure and weight fairly, and do not undermine people’s rights and dues, and do not strive to spread mischief in the land.

11:86. And that which is left from the provision of Allah [after giving people their dues] is better for you, if you but believe, but I am not your keeper.

﴾To Madyan﴿ they were a well-known tribe who lived in Madyan, in southern Palestine

﴾We sent their brother﴿ in lineage ﴾Shu‘ayb﴿ because they knew him and could learn from him.

﴾fHe said﴿ to them: ﴾0 my people, worship Allah; you have no god but He﴿, that is, devote your worship to Him alone. They used to ascribe partners to Allah and, in addition to their polytheism, they used to give short measure and weight. Hence he told them not to do that, as he said:

﴾f And do not give short measure or weight﴿; rather be fair and give full measure and weight.

﴾I see you are prospering﴿ that is, I see that you are enjoying many blessings, good health, abundant wealth and children, so give thanks to Allah for what He has given you, and do not be ungrateful for the blessings of Allah, lest they be taken away from you.

﴾but I fear for you the punishment of an overwhelming day﴿ that is, a punishment that will overwhelm you, and none of you will survive.

﴾0 my people, give full measure and weight fairly﴿ that is, be fair as you would like to be given fairly,

﴾and do not undermine people’s rights and dues﴿ that is, do not reduce people’s property, stealing it by giving short measure and weight, ﴾and do not strive to spread mischief in the land﴿ for persisting in sin spoils one’s religious commitment, beliefs and interests, both spiritual and worldly, and it leads to destruction of crops and livestock.

﴾And that which is left from the provision of Allah [after giving people their dues] is better for you﴿ that is, what Allah leaves of provision for you, and what is yours, will suffice you, and you should not have hopes of acquiring something that you do not need when it is very harmful to you.

﴾if you but believe﴿ then do as faith requires ﴾but I am not your keeper﴿ that is, I am not keeping a record of your deeds and I am not responsible for them; rather the one who is keeping a record of that is Allah, may He be exalted; as for me, 1 only convey to you the message with which I have been sent.

11:87. They said: O Shu'ayb, does your prayer teach you that we should forsake that which our forefathers worshipped, or that we should not do as we please with our wealth? Are you not [supposed to be] the forbearing and right-minded one?

?[They said: O Shu‘ayb, does your prayer teach you that we should forsake that which our forefathers worshipped﴿ that is, they said this by way of mocking their Prophet and showing that there was no chance that they would respond to his call.

What their words meant was: there is nothing that has made you forbid us to do what we want with our wealth except that you pray to Allah and worship Him; if that is the case, should we then give up what our forefathers used to worship, on the basis of words for which there is no evidence except that it suits you? How can we follow you and give up the ways of our forefathers, who were people of wisdom and reason?

Similarly, what you say does not mean that we should not do with our wealth what you suggest to us of giving full weight and measure and giving others their dues from it. Rather we will continue to do whatever we please with it, because it is our wealth and you have no rights over it.

Hence they said by way of mockery: ﴾Are you not [supposed to be] the forbearing and right-minded one?﴿ That is, are you the one who is supposed to be forbearing and dignified in character, and right minded in your attitude, so that you do not say anything but what is wise and you do not enjoin anything except what is wise, and you do not forbid anything but what is wrong? In other words, what they meant was: you are not like that.

What they meant was to suggest that he had the opposite of these two noble characteristics, and that he was foolish and wrong. In other words: how can you be the forbearing and right-minded one, and our forefathers be the ones who were foolish and wrong?

They said that by way of mocking him and meaning the opposite of what they said, but he was not as they thought he was. Rather he was as they said: his prayer did teach him that he should tell them not to worship that which their misguided forefathers had worshipped, and not to do whatever they pleased with that wealth, for prayer restrains one from shameful and evil acts, and what acts can be more shameful and evil than worshipping something other than Allah, withholding people’s dues, or stealing by giving short weight and measure? Shu'ayb was indeed the forbearing and right-minded one.

11:88. He said: O my people, what do you think, if I am relying on clear proof from my Lord, and He has bestowed on me goodly provision from Himself? I do not want to do that which I am forbidding you to do; I only want to put things right to the best of my ability. My success depends on Allah alone; in Him I put my trust and to Him I turn.

﴾He﴿ that is, Shu’ayb said to them: ﴾what do you think, if I am relying on clear proof from my Lord﴿ that is, if I am certain and sure of the validity of the message I have brought ﴾and He has bestowed on me goodly provision from Himself﴿ that is, Allah has given me different types of wealth, and ﴾I do not want to do that which I am forbidding you to do﴿; I do not want to forbid you to give short measure and weight, and then do it myself, so that you may become suspicious of me concerning that. Rather if I tell you not to do something, I will be the first to refrain from doing it.

e(I only want to put things right to the best of my ability﴿ that is, I have no other aim except that your affairs should be set right and you should attain that which will benefit you; I have no personal aims of my own and I am trying my best for you.

Because what he said could have been taken as a form of self-praise, he balanced it by saying: ﴾My success depends on Allah alone﴿ that is, whatever I succeed in of doing good and whatever I manage to keep away from of evil is only by the help of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) and not by my own strength and power.

﴾in Him I put my trust﴿ that is, I rely on Him in all my affairs and I am certain that He will suffice me ﴾and to Him I turn﴿ in doing what He has enjoined upon me of various acts of worship, and in growing close to Him by means of all kinds of good deeds.

Based on these two things, a person’s well-being will be sound: seeking the help of his Lord and turning to Him, as Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says: ﴾So worship Him [alone] and put your trust in Him﴿ (II: 123) and:﴾You [alone] we worship, and You [alone] we ask for help.﴿ fal-Fdtihah 1:5)

11:89. O my people, do not let your enmity towards me cause you to sin, lest there befall you the like of that which befell the people of Nooh, the people of Hood or the people of Salih; nor are the people of Loot so distant from you.

t(0 my people, do not let your enmity towards me cause you to sin﴿ that is, do not let your differing with me and your resentment towards me prompt you to sin,

﴾lest there befall you﴿ a punishment

﴾the like of that which befell the people of Nooh, the people of Hood or the people of Ṣalih; nor are the people of Loot so distant from you﴿ in place or time.

11:90. Seek the forgiveness of your Lord and repent to Him. Verily my Lord is Most Merciful, Most Loving.

﴾Seek the forgiveness of your Lord﴿ for what you have committed of sins

﴾and repent to Him﴿ in the future, for the rest of your life, repenting sincerely and turning to Him by obeying Him and not going against His commands.﴾Verily my Lord is Most Merciful, Most Loving﴿ to the one who repents and turns to Him; He has mercy upon him and forgives him, and He accepts his repentance and loves him. What is meant by the divine name the Most Loving is that He loves His believing slaves and they love Him.

11:91. They said: O Shu'ayb, we do not understand much of what you say. Indeed, we see how weak you are among us. Were it not for your family, we would have stoned you, for you have no great standing among us.

﴾They said: O Shu'ayb, we do not understand much of what you say﴿ that is, they showed resentment towards his advice and his exhortations, so they said: ﴾we do not understand much of what you say﴿. That was because of their resentment and aversion towards what he said.

﴾Indeed, we see how weak you are among usp that is, you are weak in yourself and not one of the leaders or prominent figures; rather you are one of those of low standing.

﴾Were it not for your family﴿ that is, your tribe ﴾we would have stoned you, for you have no great standing among usp that is, you are not held in any esteem among us and we have no respect for you; rather we respect your tribe by leaving you alone.

11:92. He said: O my people, do you hold my family in greater esteem than Allah, whilst you have cast Him away behind your backs? Verily my Lord has full knowledge of all that you do.

11:93. O my people, carry on as you are, and so will I. You will come to know who will receive a punishment that will disgrace him, and who is a liar. Wait; verily, I too am waiting with you.

﴾He said﴿ to them in a kind manner, seeking to soften their hearts: ﴾0 my people, do you hold my family in greater esteem than Allah﴿ that is, how can you be gentle with me because of my family, yet you are not gentle with me for the sake of Allah, so you hold my family in greater esteem than Allah?

﴾whilst you have cast Him away behind your backs﴿ that is, you have thrown the command of Allah behind your backs and you do not pay any attention to it or fear Him

﴾Verily my Lord has full knowledge of all that you do﴿ and not even an atom’s weight of your deeds is hidden from Him on earth or in heaven. He will requite you in full for what you have done.

When he grew tired and felt that he was not achieving any results with them, he said: ﴾0 my people, carry on as you are, and so will I. You will come to know who will receive a punishment that will disgrace him﴿ and he will suffer an eternal punishment ﴾and who is a liar﴿ me or you? And they did indeed come to know that when the punishment befell them.

﴾Wait﴿ and see what will happen to me

﴾1 too am waiting with you﴿ to see what will happen to you.

11:94. When Our command came, We saved Shu'ayb and those who believed with him, by Our mercy. But the blast overtook the wrongdoers, and morning found them lying lifeless in their homes.

11:95. as if they had never lived there. Away with Madyan just like Thamood!

When Our command earned to destroy the people of Shu‘ayb tSfWe saved Shu‘avb and those who believed with him, by Our mercy. But the blast overtook the wrongdoers, and morning found them lying lifeless in their homes﴿; no sound was heard from them and no movement was seen.

﴾as if they had never lived there﴿ that is, it was as if they had never resided in their homes and had never enjoyed anything there until the punishment came to them.

﴾Away with Madyan﴿ as Allah destroyed them and disgraced them ﴾(just like Thamood﴿ that is, these two tribes shared a common fate of doom and destruction.

Shu'ayb (عليه السلام) was called the eloquent speaker among the Prophets, because of the eloquent way in which he discussed with his people. We leam many lessons from his story, including the following:

• Just as the disbelievers may be accountable and may be addressed with the fundamentals of Islam, they are also addressed with the laws and minor issues thereof. Shu‘ayb called his people to affirm the oneness of Allah and to give full weight and measure, and the warning of punishment was connected to both issues.• Giving short weight and measure is a major sin and there is the fear of punishment in this world for the one who does that. This action comes under the heading of stealing people’s wealth. If stealing from them by giving short weight and measure is subject to this warning, then stealing from them by way of compulsion and force is even more emphatically prohibited.

• Requital matches the nature of the deed, so the one who gives short measure to people, seeking to increase his own wealth, will be punished with the opposite of that, and it will be a cause of blessing being taken away from his provision, because Shu’ayb said: see you are prospering﴿ (11. 84), that is: so do not be the cause of that prosperity being taken away from you because of your deeds.

• The individual should be content with what Allah has given him; he should be content with that which is permissible and with permissible earnings, so that he has no need of that which is prohibited or of prohibited earnings. That is better for him, because Allah says: ﴾And that which is left from the provision of Allah [after giving people their dues] is better for you﴿ (11: 86). Being content with that which is permissible will lead to blessing and increased provision, such as is not found if one persists in prohibited means of earning, which leads to diminishing of provision and the opposite of blessing.

• Being honest in weight and measure is one of the results of faith, because Shu'ayb connected that to faith. This indicates that if there are no righteous deeds, then faith is lacking or absent.

• Prayer had always been prescribed for the earlier Prophets, and it is one of the best of good deeds, to the extent that its virtue is also recognised by the disbelievers and they give it precedence over other deeds. Prayer restrains people from loathsome deeds and from all that is evil (cf. 29:45), and it is the measure of faith and religious observance. So establishing it in the proper mannercompletes a person’s well-being, but if it is not established properly, it undermines his religious well-being.

• If Allah bestows wealth upon a person - even though Allah has put it under his control - that does not mean that he may do whatever he wishes with it, for it is a trust that has been given to him and he must do what Allah has enjoined upon him with regard to it, by paying what is due from it and refraining from ways of earning that Allah and His Messenger have prohibited. It is not as the disbelievers and others of their ilk claim, that their wealth is theirs to do with as they wish, regardless of whether or not it is in accordance with the rulings of Allah.

• Part of perfecting one’s efforts in calling people to Allah is being the first to do whatever one is enjoining others to do and being the first to refrain from whatever one is forbidding them to do, as Shu'ayb said: do not want to do that which I am forbidding you to do﴿ (11. 88) and as Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says elsewhere:

you who believe, why do you say that which you do not do? It is most loathsome to Allah that you say that which you

• The role, way and character of the Messengers was to put things right to the best of their ability. Hence part of the message is to put things right and perfect them, or to achieve as much of that as possible, and to ward off and reduce evils, giving precedence to public interests over private interests.

The aim of putting things right is so that people’s affairs will be put in order and their religious and worldly interests will be sound.

• If a person does whatever he can to put things right, he is not to be blamed or criticised for not doing what he is not able to do. The individual should put right whatever he can in himself and in others, to the best of his ability.• The individual should not rely on his own devices, not even for the blink of an eye; rather he should always seek the help of his Lord, rely on Him and ask Him for guidance and strength. Whatever success comes to him, he should attribute it to his Lord, Who granted it to him, and he should not indulge in self-admiration, because of the words of Shu'ayb: ﴾My success depends on Allah alone; in Him I put my trust and to Him I

• The stories of warnings of punishment and what happened to the earlier generations should be remembered, and these stories, which tell of the punishments that befell the evildoers, should be mentioned in the context of exhortation and admonition. We should also mention the honours that Allah bestowed upon those who feared Him when encouraging and urging people to fear Allah.

• Just as Allah forgives and pardons one who repents from sin, He also loves him. No attention should be paid to anyone who says that if a person repents, it is sufficient that he is forgiven and pardoned, but divine love is not re-established, because Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says: ﴾Seek the forgiveness of your Lord and repent to Him. Verily my Lord is Most Merciful, Most Loving﴿ (11: 90).

• Allah protects the believers by many means, some of which they may be aware of and others they may know nothing of. He may protect them by means of their tribe or their fellow countrymen who are disbelievers, as Allah protected Shu‘ayb from the stoning of his people by means of his family. There is nothing wrong with benefiting from these ties, by means of which Islam and Muslims may be protected; indeed that may be a must, because putting things right is required to the extent of one’s ability and what is possible.

Based on that, if Muslims who live under the rule of disbelievers work with others to change the system in a particular countryto one that is democratic, which will enable individuals and peoples to attain their religious and worldly rights, that is better than surrendering to a political system in which the state deprives them of their religious and worldly rights and tries to ignore them completely, and in which they will be no more than workers and servants.

Yes, if it is possible for the Muslims to be in power and be the rulers, that is what should be the case. But if that is not possible, then the other scenario (establishing a democratic system), in which there can be protection of religious and worldly affairs, should be given precedence. And Allah knows best.

11:96. And We sent Moosa with Our clear signs and compelling proofs

11:97. To Pharaoh and his chiefs. But they followed Pharaoh’s orders, and Pharaoh’s orders were misguided.

11:98. He will go ahead of his people on the Day of Resurrection and lead them into the fire; how wretched is the place to which they will be led!

11:99. They were overtaken by a curse in this world, and [they will be cursed] on the Day of Resurrection; how wretched is the gift to be given!

11:100. These are some of the accounts of the cities which We relate to you [O Muhammad]; of them, some are still standing and some have been mown down.

11:101. We did not wrong them; rather they wronged themselves. Their gods, on whom they called besides Allah, availed them nothing when the command of your Lord came; in fact, they only added to their ruin.

﴾And We sent Moosa﴿ ibn ‘Imran ﴾with Our clear signs﴿ that pointed to the truth of the message he brought, such as his staff, his hand and other signs that Allah caused to occur at the hands of Moosa (عليه السلام).

﴾fand compelling proofs﴿ that is, evidence that was as clear as day

﴾To Pharaoh and his chiefs﴿ that is, the nobles of his people, because they were the ones who were followed; other people would follow their lead. But they did not submit to the signs that Moosa brought, which he showed to them as has been explained above in Soorat al-A‘raf.

﴾But they followed Pharaoh's orders, and Pharaoh’s orders were misguided﴿ - he did not enjoin anything but that which was purely harmful, so it is no wonder that when his people followed him. Pharaoh led them to doom and destruction.

f(He will go ahead of his people on the Day of Resurrection and lead them into the Fire; how wretched is the place to which they will be led!﴿.

﴾They were overtaken by a curse in this world, and [they will be cursed] on the Day of Resurrection﴿ that is, they are cursed by Allah and His angels and by all of humankind in this world and the hereafter. ﴾how wretched is the gift to be given!﴿ That is, how wretched is all that they will receive, as the punishment of Allah and the curses of this world and the hereafter come upon them one after another.

Having mentioned the stories of these nations with their Messengers, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) then says to His Messenger (ﷺ) ﴾These are some of the accounts of the cities which We relate to you [O Muhammad]h so that you may give warning and that may be a sign of the soundness of your message, and an exhortation and reminder to the believers

﴾of them, some are still standing﴿ and have not been destroyed; rather the ruins of their abodes remain to tell something about them ﴾and some have been mown down﴿ that is, their dwellings have been destroyed and vanished utterly, leaving no trace of them.

﴾We did not wrong them﴿ by sending various punishments upon them

﴾rather they wronged themselves﴿ by ascribing partners to Allah and stubbornly disbelieving.

﴾Their gods, on whom they called besides Allah, availed them nothing when the command of your Lord carnet this applies to everyone who turns to anything other than Allah; it does not avail them anything when calamity strikes.

﴾in fact, they only added to their ruin﴿ that is, loss and destruction, the opposite of what they were thinking.

11:102. Such is the punishment of your Lord, when He punishes the cities that are given to wrongdoing; verily His punishment is painful and severe.

11:103. Surely in that there is a sign for those who fear the punishment of the hereafter. That is a day for which all humankind shall be gathered together; that will be a day when all [the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth] will be present.

11:104. Nor do We delay it, but until a time appointed.

﴾Such is the punishment of your Lord, when He punishes the cities that are given to wrongdoing; verily His punishment is painful and severe﴿ that is. He destroys and eradicates them by means of the punishment, and what they called upon besides Allah will avail them nothing.

﴾Surely in that﴿ which is mentioned of sending various punishments upon the wrongdoers

﴾there is a sign for those who fear the punishment of the hereafter﴿ that is, there is a lesson and an indication that those who do wrong and commit evil will have a punishment in this world and a punishment in the hereafter. Then Allah describes the hereafter, as He says: ﴾That is a day for which all humankind shall be gathered together﴿ that is, they will be gathered for that day of requital, and the might, power and great justice of Allah will be made manifest to them in such a way that they will truly know Him.

﴾that will be a day when all [the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth] will be present﴿ that is, it will be witnessed by Allah, His angels and all created beings.

﴾Nor do We delay it﴿ that is, the coming of the Day of Resurrection ﴾but until a time appointed﴿. When the time appointed for this world and what Allah has decreed for it of creation comes to an end, at that point He will move them to the hereafter, where He will carry out on them His rulings of requital as He carried out on them His shar'i rulings in this world.

11:105. When that day comes, no soul will speak except by His leave. Some among them will be wretched and some will be blessed.

﴾When that day comes﴿ and all creatures are gathered together ﴾no soul will speak except by His leave﴿, even the noble Prophets and angels; they will not intercede except by His leave ﴾Some among them﴿ that is, among humankind ﴾will be wretched and some will be blessed﴿ the wretched are those who disbelieved in Allah, rejected His Messengers and disobeyed His command; the blessed are those believers who feared Allah.

O-v

11:106. As for those who are wretched, they will be in the fire, where they will wail and moan.

11:107. They will abide therein for as long as the heavens and the earth endure, except as your Lord wills; your Lord does whatever He wills.

﴾As for those who are wretched﴿, the recompense will be doom, disgrace and shame

﴾they will be in the fire﴿ and immersed in its punishment, which will be of the utmost severity ﴾where﴿ because of their intense suffering﴾they will wail and moan﴿ - these are among the most horrible sounds.

﴾They will abide therein﴿ in the fire with this torment ﴾for as long as the heavens and the earth endure, except as your Lord wills﴿ that is, they will remain therein forever, except for the period before they enter it. This is the view of the majority of commentators. The exception here refers to the period before they enter it; they will abide in it forever apart from the time before they enter it.

﴾your Lord does whatever He wills﴿ everything that He wants to do and is dictated by His wisdom, He does it, and none can avert His will.

11:108. As for those who are blessed, they will be in paradise. They will abide therein for as long as the heavens and the earth endure, except as your Lord wills - a gift without end.

4 As for those who are blessed﴿ that is, those who attain happiness, success and triumph

﴾they will be in paradise. They will abide therein for as long as the heavens and the earth endure, except as your Lord wills﴿. Then Allah confirms that by saying: ﴾a gift without end﴿ that is, what Allah will give them of eternal bliss and sublime pleasure will be ongoing and everlasting, and it will never ever cease. We ask Allah the Most Generous, by His grace, to make us among them.

11:109. Therefore do not be in doubt as to what these people worship; they worship nothing but that which their forefathers worshipped before them. We will surely give them their portion in full, undiminished.

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says to His Messenger Muhammad (ﷺ): ﴾Therefore do not be in doubt as to what these people worship﴿ that is, do not have any doubts about these polytheists and that what they follow is false, for they have no textual or rational evidence; rather their evidence is their specious argument that ﴾they worship nothing but that which their forefathers worshipped before them﴿.

It is well known that this is not a valid argument, let alone constituting proof, because the statements of anybody other than the Prophets require evidence and cannot be used as evidence, especially in the case of people such as these misguided ones who made many mistakes and whose views with regard to the fundamentals of religion were corrupt; even if they were unanimously agreed upon, they are still wrong and misguided.

﴾fWe will surely give them their portion in full, undiminished﴿ that is, they will inevitably have their share of this world, whatever is decreed for them, even if it is a great deal and even if it appears pleasing to you. Yet it is not indicative of their sound well-being, for Allah bestows worldly gain upon those whom He loves and those whom He does not love, but He does not bestow faith and true religion upon any except those whom He loves. The point is that no one should be deceived by the consensus of the misguided on following the beliefs of their misguided forefathers, or by what Allah has bestowed upon them of worldly gain.

11:110. We gave Moosa the Book, but differences arose concerning it. Were it not for a prior decree from your Lord, a decisive judgement would already have been passed between them, but they are in grave doubt concerning it.

11:111. Verily your Lord will pay each one of them in full for his deeds, for verily He is well aware of all that they do.

11:112. So keep to the straight path as you have been commanded, together with those who have turned to Allah with you, and do not exceed the bounds, for verily He sees well all that you do.

11:113. Do not incline to those who do wrong, lest the fire touch you and you will have no protector against Allah, nor will you be helped.

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) tells us that He gave Moosa the Book, namely the Torah, that should lead to consensus on following its commands and prohibitions, and should lead to being united. But despite that, those who claimed to follow it differed concerning it in a manner that adversely affected their beliefs and religious unity.

﴾Were it not for a prior decree from your Lord﴿ that they would be given respite and the punishment would not be hastened for them ﴾a decisive judgement would already have been passed between them﴿ that the punishment should befall the wrongdoer. But His wisdom dictated that judgement between them should be deferreduntil the Day of Resurrection, and they remained in grave doubt concerning it.

If this was their attitude towards their own Book, then with regard to the Qur’an which Allah has revealed to you (O Muhammad [3l|]), it should come as no surprise that the Jews do not believe in it and that they are in grave doubt concerning it.

﴾Verily your Lord will pay each one of them in full for his deeds﴿ that is, Allah will inevitably judge between them on the Day of Resurrection with justice, and He will requite each one of them as he deserves.

﴾for verily He is well aware of all that they do﴿, both good and evil; none of their deeds, small or great, are hidden from Him.

Having described how they did not remain steadfast, which led to differences and divisions among them, Allah then commanded His Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), and the believers with him, to keep to the straight path as they had been commanded, to follow the laws and regulations that Allah prescribed for them, to believe in what Allah told them of sound beliefs, and not to drift away from that to the right or to the left, but to persist in that, and not transgress by exceeding the bounds of righteousness that Allah had set for them.

﴾for verily He sees well all that you do﴿ that is, nothing is hidden from Him of your deeds and He will requite you for them. This offers encouragement to adhere to the straight path and a warning against doing the opposite. Hence Allah warned them against being inclined towards those who had drifted from the straight path, as He said:

﴾Do not incline to those who do wrong﴿, for if you incline towards them and go along with their wrongdoing or approve of it,

﴾the fire [may] touch you﴿ if you do that

﴾fand you will have no protector against Allah﴿ to save you from the punishment of Allah or to bring you any of the reward of Allah ﴾nor will you be helped﴿ that is, the punishment will not be averted from you if it touches you.

This verse contains a warning against inclining towards any wrongdoer; what is meant by inclining is joining him in his wrongdoing and approving of it or being content with what he does of wrongdoing.

If this warning has to do with inclining towards the wrongdoers, then what about the wrongdoers themselves? We ask Allah to keep us safe and sound from wrongdoing.

O \0-U t

11:114. And establish prayer at the two ends of the day and in some hours of the night. Verily good deeds erase bad deeds. This is a reminder for those who pay heed.

11:115. And be patient and steadfast, for verily Allah will not cause the reward of those who do good to be lost.

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) commands us to establish prayer in full ﴾at the two ends of the day﴿ that is, at the beginning and end of the day. This includes fajr, dhuhr and ‘asr prayers, sfand in some hours of the night﴿ this includes maghrib and ‘isha’ prayers, as well as qiyam al-layl (voluntary prayers at night), which are also one of the means by which a person draws closer to Allah (سبحانه وتعالى). ﴾Verily good deeds erase bad deeds﴿ that is, these five prayers, and whatever is added to them of voluntary prayers, are among the greatest of good deeds and - in addition to being good deeds - they bring one closer to Allah and earn reward. Hence they erase and cancel out bad deeds, which in this case refers to minor sins, as specified in the saheeh hadiths from the Prophet (ﷺ), such as the hadith in which he says:«The five daily prayers, from one Jumu‘ah to another, and from one Ramadan to another, expiate whatever (sins) come in between, so long as major sins are avoided.» (Muslim)

In fact, it is also specified by the verse in Soorat an-Nisa', in which Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

t-(If you abstain from the major [sins] out of what you have been forbidden to do. We will erase your [minor] sins for you and admit you to a place of honour [paradise].﴿ (an-Nisa'4: 31)

﴾This﴿ it may be that this refers to all that is mentioned above of the obligation to adhere to the straight path and not transgress and go beyond that, and not to incline towards those who do wrong, as well as the command to establish prayer and the explanation that good deeds erase bad deeds. All of that is ﴾a reminder for those who pay heed﴿, from which they understand what Allah has enjoined upon them and what He has forbidden, and they comply with those instructions which lead to good results and ward off evil and bad consequences. But these commands require effort and patience in order to comply with them, hence Allah says:

﴾And be patient and steadfast﴿ that is, control yourself and compel yourself to obey Allah and refrain from disobeying Him; adhere to that and persist in it, and do not falter.

﴾for verily Allah will not cause the reward of those who do good to be lost﴿; rather Allah accepts from them the best of their deeds and will reward them for the best of what they used to do. This is great encouragement to adhere to patience which will motivate people of weak resolve to remember the reward of Allah every time they falter.

O '1 ® fwh

11:116. There were not, among the nations that came before you, any people of virtue and understanding who would forbid others to spread mischief in the land, except a few among them whom We saved. But those who did wrong pursued the ease and comfort which had been conferred upon them, and they were evildoers.

Earlier in this soorah, Allah mentioned the destruction of the nations who disbelieved in the Messengers, and stated that most of them were deviant, even the people of the divinely revealed Books, all of which could lead to destruction and eradication of religious teachings. In this verse, Allah points out that were it not for the fact that there were some remnants of the past generations who were good people who called others to guidance, and forbade mischief and that which may lead to doom, and some benefit resulted from their efforts, the religious teachings would not have survived at all; but these people were very few.

The conclusion is that they were saved by means of their following the Messengers and adhering to their religion, and because Allah caused His proof and evidence to be established at their hands, so that those who chose to perish (by choosing disbelief) might do so after seeing clear evidence, and those who chose to live (by choosing faith) might do so after seeing clear evidence (cf. 8: 42).

﴾But those who did wrong pursued the ease and comfort which had been conferred upon them﴿ that is, they pursued what they had been used to of a life of ease and luxury, and they did not want anything else ﴾fand they were evildoers﴿ that is, they did wrong by pursuing a life of ease and comfort, hence they deserved the punishment and the punishment eradicated them. This is encouragement to this Ummah, that there should be among them a remnant who put right what people corrupt, adhere to the religion of Allah, call those who go astray to come back to true guidance, bear with patience the harm that people do to them, and try to guide them after they have been heedless. This isthe highest position that a person could aspire to; the one who attains that will be a leader in religion, if he makes his deeds sincerely for the sake of the Lord of the worlds.

11:117. Your Lord would never have destroyed the cities unjustly, so long as their people were acting righteously.

That is, Allah would not have destroyed the people of the cities unjustly if they had been acting righteously and persisting in that. Allah would not have destroyed them unless they did wrong and proof was established against them.

It may be that what is meant is that your Lord would not have destroyed the cities for their previous wrongdoing if they had repented and mended their ways; in that case Allah would have pardoned them and erased their previous sins.

11:118. If your Lord had so willed, He could have made humankind one nation. But they will continue to differ.

11:119. except those on whom your Lord has mercy. For that He created them, and the decree of your Lord will be fulfilled: I will certainly fill hell with jinn and men, all together.

Here Allah (tte) tells us that if He had so willed, He could have made all people one nation, following the Islamic religion, for that is not beyond His will and power, for nothing is beyond Him. But His wisdom dictated that they should continue to differ and go against the straight path, following paths that lead to hell, each one thinking that his way is the true way and that misguidance is what others follow.

﴾except those on whom your Lord has mercy﴿, for He guides them to knowledge of the truth and enables them to act upon it and agree upon it. They are the ones who are destined to be blessed, whom divine care and help has reached.

As for the others, they are forsaken and left to their own devices.

﴾For that He created them﴿ that is. His wisdom dictated that he should create them so that among them there would be those who are blessed (destined for paradise) and those who are doomed (destined for hell), those who will be in agreement and those who will differ, the group whom Allah guided and the group who deserved to be misguided, so as to demonstrate His justice and wisdom to His slaves, and to make manifest what is hidden in human nature of good and evil, so that there will be circumstances that require jihad, and acts of worship which cannot be perfected and done properly except through tests and trials.

﴾fand﴿ because ﴾the decree of your Lord will be fulfilled: I will certainly fill hell with jinn and men, all together﴿. So it is inevitable that hell will be filled with people who do the deeds that will cause them to enter it.

l yj(\rr

11:120. All that We relate to you of the accounts of the Messengers is so that We may make your heart steadfast thereby; through this, truth has come to you, and an admonition and a reminder to the believers.

11:121. Say to those who do not believe: Carry on as you are, and so will we.

11:122. And wait; verily, we too are waiting.

11:123. To Allah belongs all that is unseen in the heavens and on earth, and to Him all things will return. So worship Him [alone] and put your trust in Him, for your Lord is not unaware of what you do.

Having mentioned in this soorah the stories of some of the Prophets, Allah then tells us of the wisdom behind mentioning those stories, as He says:

﴾All that We relate to you of the accounts of the Messengers is so that We may make your heart steadfast thereby﴿ that is, so that your heart may be reassured and made steadfast and patient, as the Messengers of strong resolve were patient, because hearts feel at ease when they have an example to follow and they will be energised to do righteous deeds, and will want to compete in doing them. So the truth is supported by mentioning the proofs thereof and the large number of people who follow it.

﴾through this﴿ soorah, e(truth﴿ that is, certainty ﴾has come to you﴿, so there can be no doubt concerning it whatsoever, for knowledge thereof is knowledge of the truth which is the greatest virtue that one may attain.﴾-(and an admonition and a reminder to the believers﴿ that is, by which they will be reminded and will be deterred from wrong deeds, and they will be reminded of actions that are beloved by Allah, so they will do them.

As for those who are not believers, they will not benefit from the exhortation and various kinds of reminders. Hence Allah says:

﴾Say to those who do not believe﴿, after establishing proof against them

﴾Carry on as you are﴿, doing what you have been doing ﴾and so will weji that is, we shall do likewise.

﴾And wait﴿ and see what will befall us ﴾verily, we too are waiting﴿ to see what will befall you.

Allah passed judgement between the two parties, and demonstrated to His slaves His support for His believing slaves and His suppression of the disbelieving enemies of Allah.

﴾To Allah belongs all that is unseen in the heavens and on earth that is, whatever is hidden and unseen in them.

﴾and to Him all things will return]﴿ of deeds and doers, and He will distinguish the evil from the good.

﴾So worship Him [alone] and put your trust in Him﴿ that is, worship Him, which means doing all that you are able to do of everything that Allah has enjoined, and put your trust in Allah with regard to that, ﴾for your Lord is not unaware of what you doj﴿ of good and evil; rather His knowledge encompasses all of that. His pen is recording it and He will judge and requite for it.

This is the end of the commentary on Soorat Hood.

All praise and thanks are for Allah, and may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), his family, and his Companions abundantly until the Day of Judgement.