25:1. Blessed be He Who sent down the criterion [between right and wrong, namely the Qur’an] to His slave, so that it may be a warning to the worlds,

25:2. He to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. He has never begotten a son, and has no partner in His dominion. He has created all things and determined their design and nature in accordance with a precisely accurate plan.

This is a statement of the perfect might and majesty of Allah, that He is One and unique in all aspects, and that His generosity and kindness are abundant.

﴾Blessed be He﴿ that is, glorified be He, for His attributes are most perfect and His goodness is abundant. One of His greatest favours and blessings is that He has sent down this Qur’an to differentiate between lawful and prohibited, guidance and misguidance, those who are destined for paradise and those who are destined for hell.

﴾fto His slave﴿ namely Muhammad (ﷺ), who reached the highest level of servitude and surpassed all the Messengers ﴾so that it may be﴿ - this refers to the sending down of the criterion to His slave.

﴾a warning to the worlds﴿, warning them of the might and vengeance of Allah and explaining to them how to attain His pleasure and avoid His wrath, so that whoever accepts His warning and acts accordingly will be among those who are saved in this world and the hereafter, those who will attain eternal happiness and everlasting glory. Can there be anything greater than this blessing and this grace and kindness? Blessed be the One Whose kindness and blessings include this.

﴾He to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth﴿ that is, He alone controls them and all who are in them of His slaves submit to His greatness, humble themselves before His Lordship and are in need of His mercy; ﴾He has never begotten a son, and has no partner in His dominion﴿.

How could He have a son or a partner when He is the Sovereign and all others are slaves, He is the Subduer and all others are subdued, He is Self-Sufficient in all aspects, and all created beings are inherently in need of Him in all aspects?

How could He have a partner in dominion, when the forelocks of all people are in His Hand, so they cannot move or halt, or do anything except by His leave? Exalted be Allah far above that; the one who says such a thing has not given due recognition to Him. Hence He says:

﴾He has created all things﴿ that is, everything that the upper and lower realms contain, including animate beings, plants and inanimate things.﴾and determined their design and nature in accordance with a precisely accurate plan﴿ that is. He has given each created thing that which befits it and suits it of attributes, in accordance with what His wisdom dictates, so that no sound reason could imagine any created thing to be any different in its shape and image from what we see now. In fact, there is no location for any part or faculty of any created thing that is better suited to it than where it is now. Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

﴾Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High, Who created and fashioned in due proportion. ﴿ (al-A 'la 87: 1-2)

- and:

﴾...Our Lord is He Who gave all things their form and nature, then guided them [as to how to function and yield the benefits for which they were created].﴿) (Ta Hd 20: 50)

Having highlighted His perfection in greatness, and His abundant kindness, this dictates that it is He alone Who should be loved, worshipped and venerated, the only One to Whom we should be devoted, with no partner or associate. Therefore it is appropriate to describe as false the worship of anything other than Him.

25:3. They have taken other gods besides Him that can create nothing but are themselves created; they have no power either to harm or benefit themselves, and they have no power to cause death, give life or resurrect.

That is, one of the strangest things, which is most indicative of their foolishness and lack of reason, and indeed is most indicativeof their wrongdoing and audacity towards their Lord, is the fact that they have taken as gods these things that are completely helpless, that are unable to create anything and are themselves created; in fact they made some of them with their own hands.

﴾they have no power either to harm or benefit themselves﴿ that is, either to a small extent or a great extent.

fjand they have no power to cause death, give life or resurrect)﴿ that is, to raise up after death. One of the greatest conclusions of rational thinking is that these cannot be gods; this idea is corrupt and the minds of those who worship them - taking them as gods and partners to the Creator of all things, Who created them without having any partner in that, the One in Whose Hand is the power to bring benefit and cause harm, the One Who gives life and causes death - are corrupt. He will resurrect those who are in the graves and will bring them together on the Day of Resurrection, and in the hereafter He has created two abodes for them: an abode of doom, humiliation and punishment, for those who took other gods alongside Him, and an abode of triumph, happiness and eternal bliss, for those who took Him alone as their God.

Having affirmed, with clear and definitive evidence, the soundness of His oneness and the falseness of its opposite, Allah then affirms the soundness of the message and the falseness of the views of those who opposed that message and objected to it:

25:4. The disbelievers say: This [the Qur’an] is nothing but a lie that he has fabricated, with the help of other people. What they say is unjust and false.

25:5. And they say: Tales of the ancients that he has written down; they are dictated to him morning and afternoon.

25:6. Say: It [the Qur’an] has been sent down by Him Who knows all that is hidden in the heavens and the earth. Verily He is Oft- Forgiving, Most Merciful.

That is, as for those who disbelieved in Allah, their disbelief led them to say concerning the Qur’an and the Messenger This Qur’an is a lie; it was fabricated by Muhammad (ﷺ) and falsely attributed to Allah, and some other people helped him with that.

But Allah refitted their words by stating that this was arrogance on their part, and that they were uttering words of injustice and falsehood, that cannot be accepted by anyone. They were the people who knew the most about the Messenger (ﷺ) and his perfect sincerity, honesty and righteousness; they knew that neither he nor anyone else was able to bring something like the Qur’an, which is the most sublime of words, and they knew that he did not meet anyone who could help him with that. Rather what they suggested was unjust and false.

Among other things, they said concerning him: This that Muhammad has brought is ﴾Tales of the ancients that he has written down﴿ that is, these are stories and fables of the earlier nations that they transmitted from one to another, then Muhammad (ﷺ) wrote them down as they were dictated to him.

tfthey are dictated to him morning and afternoon﴿. These words of theirs contained a number of grievous accusations, including the following:

• They accused the Messenger (ﷺ), who was one of the most righteous and sincere of people, of lying and committing a gravely audacious deed.

• They said concerning this Qur’an - which is the truest, greatest and most sublime of speech - that it was a lie and a fabrication.

• This implies that they were able to produce something like it, and suggests that man, who is created and is imperfect in all aspects, could compete with the Creator Who is perfect in all aspects, with regard to one of His attributes, namely His words.

• The character of the Messenger (ﷺ) was well known, and they had the most knowledge of his character and were aware that he could not write or meet someone who would write for him, but they made claims to that effect.

Therefore Allah refuted them by saying: ﴾Say: It [the Qur’an] has been sent down by Him Who knows all that is hidden in the heavens and the earth ]•) that is, it has been sent down by One Whose knowledge encompasses all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth, both unseen and seen, what is known and what is secret. This is like the verse in which Allah says:

﴾Verily, this [Qur’an] is a revelation from the Lord of the worlds; the faithful Spirit [Jibreel] has brought it down to your heart so that you may be one of the warners.p (ash-Shu'ara 26. 192-194)

The argument against them here is that the One Who sent it down is the One Whose knowledge encompasses all things, so it is impossible for a created being to make up this Qur’an and say: This is from Allah, if it was not from Him, and to regard it as permissible to fight those who oppose him, and to take their wealth, and to claim that Allah told him to do that, when Allah knows all things, yet He is supporting him against his enemies and giving him control over people and their lands. No one can deny this Qur’an unless he denies the knowledge of Allah, and no group ever said such a thing, apart from the Dahri^{1Dahri: The Dahris were a type of heretical philosophers who did not believe in the hereafter; some Dahris even denied the existence of the Creator Himself.} philosophers who do not believe in the hereafter.

Moreover, referring to the all-encompassing knowledge of Allah will alert them to the importance of pondering the Qur’an and encourage them to do so, for if they ponder it, they will see in it knowledge and rulings of Allah which will definitively prove that it can only be from the Knower of the unseen and the seen. Despite their denial of Allah’s oneness and the message of His Prophet by His grace towards them, Allah does not leave them in the depths of their disbelief and wrongdoing; rather He calls them to repent and turn to Him, and He promises them forgiveness and mercy, if they repent and turn back to Him.

f﴾Verily He is Oft-Forgiving﴿ that is, His characteristic is forgiveness, to those who commit sins and bad deeds, if they take the measures that lead to forgiveness, which means giving up sin and repenting therefrom.

﴾Most Merciful﴿ towards them, for He does not hasten to punish them even when they do that which incurs the punishment, and He accepts their repentance after they have committed sin, and He erases what they did before of bad deeds, and He accepts their good deeds, and He accepts the one who returns to Him after having drifted away from Him and begins to follow the path of obedience towards Him.

25:7. And they say: What sort of Messenger is this, who eats food and walks about in the marketplaces? Why has an angel not been sent down to him, to be a warner with him?

25:8. Or why is not some treasure thrown down to him, or why does he not have a garden from which to eat? The wrongdoers say: [If you were to follow Muhammad] you would be following none but a man who is bewitched.

25:9. See what they liken you to! Thus they have gone astray and cannot find a way [to undermine you].

25:10. Blessed be He Who, if it were His will, could give you better than that: gardens through which rivers flow, and He could give you palaces.

25:11. Rather they deny the Hour,^{1The reason for their disbelief was not that Muhammad (^||) was a human who ate food like them and walked about in the marketplaces; rather it was because they denied the concept of the resurrection, the hereafter and the judgement. (a{-Tabari)} and for those who deny the Hour, We have prepared a raging fire.

25:12. When it sees them from afar, they will hear its raging and roaring.

25:13. When they are cast into a narrow place therein, bound together in shackles, they will call out [wishing] for death.

25:14. [It will be said to them:] Do not call out once [wishing] for death today; rather call out many times.

This is the argument of those who rejected the Messenger (ﷺ), which they used to cast doubts on his message. They objected by asking: why has an angel not been sent, or why does an angel nothelp him? So they said: ﴾What sort of Messenger is this﴿ that is, what sort of person is this who claims to be a Messenger? They said that by way of ridicule and mockery.

﴾who eats food﴿ - for this is a characteristic of human beings; why was an angel not sent, who does not eat food and does not need what humans need?

tfand walks about in the marketplaces﴿ to buy and sell. This - according to their claim - was not befitting for one who was a Messenger, even though Allah says: ﴾We did not send any Messengers before you [O Muhammad] but they ate food and walked about in the marketplaces﴿ (25: 20).

﴾Why has an angel not been sent down to him﴿ that is, why does an angel not come down with him, to help him and support him?

﴾to be a warner with him﴿ because, according to their claim, he was not strong enough to deliver the message and did not have the ability to fulfil that mission.

﴾Or why is not some treasure﴿ that is, wealth that is accumulated without effort (fthrown down to him, or why does he not have a garden from which to eat?﴿ For then he would have no need to walk about in the marketplaces in order to seek provision.

﴾The wrongdoers say﴿ - the reason why they said that was their wrongdoing; it did not stem from doubts or confusion on their part. ﴾[If you were to follow Muhammad] you would be following none but a man who is bewitched﴿. They said this even though they knew that he was wise and mature in his thinking, eloquent in his speech, and free of anything for which he could be criticised.

Because what they said was so strange, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says: ﴾See what they liken you to!﴿ That was because they asked why he was not an angel, free of human characteristics; or why he did not have an angel with him, because they thought that he was not able to do what he said; or why was a treasure not sent down to him, or why was he notgiven a garden, so that he would have no need to walk about in the marketplaces; or they said that he was bewitched.

﴾Thus they have gone astray and cannot find a way [to undermine you]﴿. They said things that were contradictory, all of which were based on ignorance, misguidance and foolishness, and none of which were sound. In fact there was not the slightest reason in any of it to cause any doubt about the message. Once anyone looks at these arguments and tries to examine them, it will become quite clear to the intelligent person that they are flawed, and there is no need to refute them. Hence Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) instructed us to look at them, reflect on them, and see whether this argument would give sufficient reason to undermine one’s certainty of his being the Messenger (ﷺ).

Hence Allah states that He is able to give you much good in this world, as He says: ﴾Blessed be He Who, if it were His will, could give you better than that﴿ that is, better than what they say. Then He explains that:

﴾gardens through which rivers flow, and He could give you palaces﴿ that is, lofty and ornate palaces. His power and will do not fall short of that, but - because for Him the life of this world is something insignificant - He gives to His close friends and Messengers whatever of its conveniences His wisdom dictates, and this questioning on the part of their enemies as to why they were not given a great deal of provision is wrongdoing and audacity.

Because these arguments of theirs are known to be flawed, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) tells us that they did not say it by way of seeking the truth or looking for proofs; rather they said it by way of stubbornness and wrongdoing, rejecting the truth. They said what was in their hearts, hence Allah says:

﴾Rather they deny the Hour﴿. If a person is stubborn in his disbelief and has no intention of following the truth, there is no way he can be guided and there is no benefit in arguing with him. Onlyone thing will work with him, which is for the punishment to befall him. Hence Allah says:

﴾and for those who deny the Hour, We have prepared a raging fire﴿ that is, a great fire that bums intensely and roars and rages against those who are doomed to enter it.

﴾When it sees them from afar﴿ that is, before they reach it and it reaches them

﴾they will hear its raging﴿ against them ﴾and roaring﴿ which will fill them with dread and shatter their hearts. One of them will almost die in fear of it and panic, for its wrath against them stems from the wrath of its Creator, and its flames will increase because of the increase in their disbelief and evil.

﴾When they are cast into a narrow place therein, bound together in shackles﴿ that is, their punishment, when they are in the midst of it, will be a combination of the tight and narrow space and the overcrowding of inhabitants, who will be bound together in chains and shackles. When they reach that dreadful place and think that they have been detained in the worst of places,

﴾they will call out [wishing] for death﴿ that is, they will pray against themselves, calling for death, disgrace and humiliation, and they will realise that they were wrongdoers and transgressors, and that the Creator has been entirely just towards them, as He has caused them to dwell in this abode because of their deeds. But that prayer and call for help will be of no avail, and it will not save them from the punishment of Allah. Rather it will be said to them:

﴾Do not call out once [wishing] for death today; rather call out many times﴿ that is, even if you repeat what you said many, many times, it will not bring you anything but distress, grief and sorrow.

Having highlighted the requital of the wrongdoers, it is appropriate to mention the reward of the pious, those who fear Allah:

25:15. Say: Is that better, or the garden of eternity which has been promised to those who fear Allah? It will be theirs as a reward and final destination.

25:16. There they will have all that they wish for; they will abide therein forever. It is a binding promise given by your Lord, always to be prayed for.

That is, say to them - highlighting the folly of their opinion and their choice of what is harmful over what is beneficial:

﴾Say: Is that﴿ - namely what has been described to you of the punishment ﴾better, or the garden of eternity which has been promised to those who fear Allah?﴿ The provision that helps you to reach it is piety and fear of Allah; whoever fears Allah, Allah has promised this to him. ﴾jlt will be theirs as a reward﴿ for fearing Him ﴾and final destination j﴿ that is, a place of final return, where they will settle and abide forever.

﴾There they will have all that they wish for﴿ that is, whatever they request, wish for and want, of delicious food and drink, fine clothing, beautiful women, lofty palaces, verdant gardens, fruit that is a delight to the eye and a joy to eat because of its beauty and variety, rivers that flow through the gardens of paradise - wherever they want to direct them, they will flow, rivers of water that is not stagnant, rivers of milk in the taste of which there is no change, rivers of wine, delicious to those who drink it, rivers of pure honey - delightful fragrances.ornate dwellings, lovely voices of astounding beauty; brothers will visit one another and they will enjoy meeting with their loved ones.

Even more sublime than all of that is the joy of gazing upon the Countenance of the Most Merciful Lord, hearing His words, being close to Him, earning His pleasure, being safe from His wrath, abiding in this ever-increasing bliss for all eternity.

﴾jlt﴿ namely reaching and entering paradise ﴾is a binding promise given by your Lord, always to be prayed for﴿ - His slaves who fear Him ask Him for it, implicitly and explicitly. Which of the two abodes mentioned is better and to be given precedence? Which of the two types of workers - those who are striving for the abode of doom or those who are striving for the abode of bliss - are more virtuous and mature in thinking, and more deserving of pride, if you understand?

As the truth has become clear and the path has been illuminated, there is no longer any excuse for the negligent to ignore the evidence. We implore You, Who has decreed that there should be people who are doomed to hell and people who are destined for paradise, to make us among those for whom You have decreed paradise, and we seek Your help, O Allah, lest we be among the doomed; we ask You to protect us from that.

25:17. On the day when He gathers them together with those whom they worshipped besides Allah, He will ask:^{1This question will be put to those who were wrongfully worshipped, such as the angels, ‘Eesa (s5l), Prophets, righteous people, ‘saints’, idols and so on.} Did you lead these slaves of Mine astray, or did they stray from the [right] path by themselves?

25:18. They will say: Glory be to You! It was not proper for us to take anyone as an ally besides You [and worship him].^{2A question is implied here: so how could we have asked anyone else to take us as allies and worship us besides You? (ash-Shawkani)} But You granted them and their fathers a life of ease until they forgot the message, for they were people devoid of good and doomed.

25:19. [Allah will say to the disbelievers:] They [those whom you wrongfully worshipped] have denied what you said, so you cannot avert the punishment nor defend yourselves. Whoever among you does wrong. We will cause him to taste a great punishment.

25:20. We did not send any Messengers before you [O Muhammad] but they ate food and walked about in the marketplaces. We have made some of you as a trial for others; will you have patience? For your Lord sees all things.

Here Allah tells us about the state of the polytheists and their so-called partners on the Day of Resurrection, when the so-called partners will disavow them and their deeds will be rendered invalid.

﴾On the day when He gathers them﴿ namely the polytheist disbelievers﴾together with those whom they worshipped besides Allah, He will ask﴿ that is, Allah will address those who were worshipped, by way of rebuke to those who worshipped them:

﴾Did you lead these slaves of Mine astray, or did they stray from the [right] path by themselves?﴿ That is, did you instruct them to worship you, and did you make that fair-seeming to them, or is this something that they did on their own initiative?

﴾They will say: Glory be to You!﴿ That is, they will declare Him to be far above the partners that the polytheists ascribed to Him, and they will declare themselves innocent of that.

﴾It was not proper for us﴿ that is, it was not appropriate and was not right for us to take anyone besides You as allies, worshipping them and calling upon them. As we need You and we need to worship You, we disavow the worship of anyone other than You, so how could we instruct anyone to worship us? This is something that cannot happen. Or, in other words: Glory be to You, it was not appropriate for us ﴾to take anyone as an ally besides You [and worship him]﴿. This is like what the Messiah ‘Eesa ibn Maryam (عليه السلام) will say:

﴾When Allah says: O ‘Eesa son of Maryam, did you say to people: Take me and my mother as two gods besides Allah? He [‘Eesa] will say: Glory be to You! It would not have been proper for me to say that which I had no right [to say]. If I had said it, You would surely have known it. You know all that I know, whereas I do not know what You know. Verily, You alone are the Knower of the unseen. I said nothing to them except that which You commanded me [to say]: Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.. .﴿ (al-Ma’idah 5: 116-117)

And Allah says:

<?(0n the day when He gathers them all together He will say to the angels: Was it you that these people used to worship? They will say: Glory be to You! You are our Close Friend, not they. Rather they used to worship the jinn; most of them believed in them.﴿ (Saba'34: 40-41)f﴾When humankind are gathered [on the Day of Resurrection], they will become their enemies and will reject their worship of them.﴿

Having declared their innocence and stated that there is no way they could have called for the worship of anyone other than Allah or misguided them, they will mention the reason why the polytheists went astray. They will say:

﴾But You granted them and their fathers a life of ease﴿ and they indulged in the pleasures of this world and followed their desires ﴾until they forgot the message﴿ and were distracted by worldly pleasures and focusing on their desires, so they cared only for their worldly interests and neglected their religion. ﴾for they were people devoid of good and doomed﴿) that is, they were worthless, with nothing good in them; they were not fit for anything good and they were only fit to be doomed and lost. Thus they will mention the reason that prevented them from following true guidance, which is enjoyment of worldly pleasures which diverted them from guidance. The reason why they were not guided is the fact that there was no good in them. If the reason for guidance is not present but the impediment is present, then whatever evil and corruption you can think of, you will find in them.

When they (those who were worshipped on the basis of falsehood) disavow the polytheists, Allah will say, rebuking those who worshipped others:

﴾They [those whom you wrongfully worshipped] have denied what you said﴿, about them having instructed you to worship them, having been pleased with your deeds and having said that they would intercede for you with your Lord. They have declared those claims to be false and they have become among your greatest enemies, so you deserve the punishment.

﴾so you cannot avert the punishment﴿ for your deeds, or ransom yourselves, or take any other measures﴾nor defend yourselves﴿ because you are helpless and have no one to support you. This is the ruling on those who were misguided and ignorant, and blindly followed others. As you can see, it is the worst ruling and the worst fate.

As for those among them who were stubborn, who knew the truth but turned away from it, Allah says concerning them:

Whoever among you does wrong﴿ by rejecting the truth, wrongfully and stubbornly,

﴾We will cause him to taste a great punishment﴿ that cannot be estimated.

Then Allah says, responding to the objection of the disbelievers who said: ﴾What sort of Messenger is this, who eats food and walks about in the marketplaces?﴿ (25: 7):

﴾We did not send any Messengers before you [O Muhammad] but they ate food and walked about in the marketplaces﴿. We did not give them bodies that needed no food (21: 8), and We did not make them angels, so you have an example to follow in them.

As for wealth and poverty, these are trials that Allah decrees for a reason, as He says: ﴾ We have made some of you as a trial for others﴿. The Messenger (ﷺ) is a trial for those to whom he is sent, a test to see who will obey and who will disobey, and We test the Messengers by giving them the mission of calling people. The rich man is a trial for the poor man, and the poor man is a trial for the rich man - and so on, with all types of people in this world, which is the realm of trials and tests.

The purpose of that test is to see: ﴾will you have patience?﴿ And do what you are supposed to do, in which case your Lord will reward you, or will you fail to be patient and thus deserve the punishment?

﴾For your Lord sees all things﴿ and He knows your circumstances. He selects whoever He knows is fit to convey His message and singles him out for His blessings. He knows your deeds and will requite youfor them: if they are good then the consequences will be good, and if they are bad then the consequences will be bad.

25:21. Those who do not expect to meet Us say: Why have angels not been sent down to us, or why do we not see our Lord? Indeed they think too highly of themselves and have greatly exceeded all bounds in their arrogance.^{1The meanings of the verses of the Qur’an in this book (with some minor changes to the punctuation) have been translated by the translator. (Editor)}

25:22. On the day when they see the angels, on that day there will be no glad tidings for the evildoers. The [angels] will say: That [glad tidings] is absolutely forbidden for you.

25:23. We will look at the [good] deeds they did and We will turn them into scattered floating specks of dust.

That is, those who reject the Messenger (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam - blessings and peace be upon him) and deny the promise and warning of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala - Glorified and Exalted isHe), those who have no fear in their hearts of the warning and have no hope of meeting the Creator, say:

﴾Why have angels not been sent down to us, or why do we not see our Lord?﴿ That is, why have no angels come down to testify to your being the Messenger, and to support you in your mission, or come down as messengers on their own, or why do we not see our Lord so that He may speak to us and tell us: This is My Messenger, so follow him? This is an argument against the Messenger (ﷺ) which is flawed; rather it reflects pride, arrogance and stubbornness.

﴾Indeed they think too highly of themselves﴿ when they made these audacious suggestions. Who are you, O poor and wretched people, to demand to see Allah and claim that the proof of the message depends on that? What arrogance could be greater than this? sfand have greatly exceeded all bounds in their arrogance﴿ that is, they have grown very hard-hearted and become too stubborn to follow the truth; their hearts are harder than rocks or iron, and they will not soften and open to the truth or pay any heed to sincere advisers. Therefore exhortation and reminders were of no avail to them, and they did not follow the truth when the warning came to them. Rather they responded to the most truthful and sincere of people and to the clear signs and revelations of Allah by turning away, rejecting them and opposing them. What arrogance could be greater than this? Therefore their deeds were rendered invalid and they incurred the greatest loss and the utmost deprivation.

﴾On the day when they see the angels﴿ whose descent they demanded ﴾on that day there will be no glad tidings for the evildoers﴿. That is because their seeing them, at the time when they are persisting in sin and stubbornness, can be nothing but the harbinger of punishment. That will first occur at the time of death, when the angels come down to them. Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says elsewhere:﴾f...If you [O Muhammad] could but see the evildoers when they are in the throes of death and the angels are stretching out their hands [saying]: Give up your souls! Today you will be recompensed with a humiliating punishment, because you used to tell lies against Allah and you arrogantly rejected His revelations.﴿ (al-An am 6: 93)

Then in the grave, (the two angels) Munkar and Nakeer will come to them and ask them about their Lord, their Prophet and their religion, and they will not be able to give any answer that will save them. So the angels will bring the punishment to them and take away mercy from them. Then on the Day of Resurrection, the angels will drive them towards the fire and hand them over to the keepers of hell, who will take charge of their punishment and commence it immediately. This is what they suggested and demanded; if they persist in that transgression, they will inevitably see the punishment and experience it, and at that time they will seek protection from the angels and will try to flee from them, but they will have no place to flee.

﴾We will look at the [good] deeds they did﴿ that is, the deeds which they hoped were good and in which they strove hard ﴾and We will turn them into scattered floating specks of dust﴿ that is, We will render them invalid and worthless, and they will have lost them and be deprived of their reward, and they will be punished for that. That is because those deeds were not based on faith, and they were done by those who disbelieve in Allah and His Messengers. The good deed that is accepted by Allah is that which is done by a sincere believer who believes in the Messengers and follows them.

25:24. On that day the inhabitants of paradise will have a better abode and a better place of rest.

That is, on that terrifying day that is filled with turmoil,

﴾the inhabitants of paradise﴿ who believed in Allah, did righteous deeds and feared their Lord

﴾will have a better abode﴿ than the inhabitants of hell ﴾fand a better place of rest﴿ namely their abodes in paradise. Theirs will be a comfortable abode and a place of perfect rest, because it is a place of perfect bliss that is unspoiled by any distress. This is in contrast to the inhabitants of hell, for hell is the worst abode and the worst place of rest.

0

25:25. On the day when the heaven will be rent asunder with clouds and the angels will be sent down in succession,

25:26. On that day true dominion will belong to the Most Gracious, and it will be a difficult day for the disbelievers.

25:27. On that day, the wrongdoer will bite on his hands and say: Would that I had taken a path with the Messenger.

25:28. Alas for me! Would that I had not taken So-and-so as a friend!

25:29. He led me astray from the Reminder [the Qur’an] after it had come to me. And Shaytan is ever treacherous to man.

Here Allah speaks of the great significance of the Day of Resurrection and all that it will entail of hardship, distress and troubles.

﴾On the day when the heaven will be rent asunder with clouds﴿ - those are the clouds in which Allah will descend from above the heavens; the heavens will be rent asunder and will open up, and the angels of each heaven will descend and stand in ranks, either one rank surrounding all of creation, or the angels of each heaven will form one rank, then the angels of the next heaven will form another rank next to it, and so on.

What is meant is that the angels, even though they are so many and so strong - will descend and surround all of creation in submission to the command of their Lord. Not one of them will speak except by Allah’s leave. So what do you think of weak human beings, especially the one who challenged his Sovereign by committing major sins and doing that which incurred His wrath, then he comes to Him with sins from which he never repented, for which the true Sovereign will pass judgement on him, and He will never be unjust and will not wrong him in the slightest. Hence Allah says:

﴾and it will be a difficult day for the disbelievers﴿ because it will be so hard and because of the troubles the disbeliever will go through. This is in contrast to the believer, for it will be easy for him and the burden will be light.

﴾On the day when We gather the pious before the Most Gracious as an honoured delegation, and We drive the evildoers thirsty towards

﴾On that day﴿ that is, on the Day of Resurrection, ﴾true dominion will belong to the Most Gracious﴿ and there will not remain for any one even the least resemblance of dominion, as was the case in this world; now all will become equal, kings and subjects, free men and slaves, nobles and others. Something that offers reassurance and comfort to the heart is the fact that Allah connected His dominion to His name *(the Most Gracious﴿, Whose grace and mercy encompass all things, by means of which life in this world and the hereafter is maintained, everything that is lacking will be made perfect, and everyshortcoming will be removed. The divine names that refer to Allah’s mercy outnumber the names that are indicative of His wrath, and His mercy takes precedence and prevails over His wrath, so mercy takes priority.

Allah created the human being weak, but He honoured him in order to perfect His blessing and shower him with His mercy.

(On the Day of Resurrection) they will be brought to stand before Him in humility and they will be motionless with fear before Him, waiting for judgement to be passed among them and waiting to see what will happen to them. But He is more merciful towards them than their parents or even their own selves, so how do you think he will deal with them? No one will be doomed when He is so merciful but one who is destined to be doomed, and no one will be cast out from His mercy except one who is overtaken by his wretchedness and the punishment becomes inevitable for him.

﴾On that day, the wrongdoer﴿ who ascribed partners to Allah and disbelieved and rejected the Messengers ﴾will bite on his hands﴿ in sorrow, regret and anguish ﴾and say: Would that I had taken a path with the Messenger﴿ that is, by believing in him and following him.

﴾Alas for me! Would that I had not taken So-and-so﴿ - this refers to devils, be they human or jinn

﴾fas a friend﴿ that is, as a dear and close friend; I took as enemies the most sincere and kindest of people to me and I took as friends the most hostile, from whose friendship I gained nothing but misery, loss, disgrace and doom.

﴾He led me astray from the Reminder [the Qur’an] after it had come to me﴿ when he made fair-seeming to me, by means of tricks and insinuating thoughts, what he was following of misguidance.

﴾And Shaytan is ever treacherous to man﴿ - he makes falsehood fair-seeming to him and makes the truth appear repulsive; he makes false promises, then he abandons him and disavows him, as he willsay to all of his followers, when judgement is passed and Allah has completed humankind's reckoning:

﴾fAnd Shaytan will say, when the matter is decided: Verily, Allah gave you a true promise; I also gave you promises, but I betrayed you. I had no power over you, except that I called you and you responded to me. So do not blame me; blame yourselves. I cannot help you, nor can you help me. I disavow your erstwhile association of me with Allah...(Ibraheem 14: 22)

So each person should think, whilst it is still possible to change his course and take the opportunity to change, before it is too late, and he should take as friends those whose friendship may lead to his bliss; if regarding someone as an enemy will benefit him, whereas he would be harmed by taking him as a friend, then he should regard such people as his enemies. And Allah is the source of strength.

25:30. The Messenger said: O my Lord, my people have taken this Qur’an as a thing to be shunned.

25:31. And similarly We appointed for every Prophet enemies among the evildoers. But your Lord is sufficient as a guide and helper.

﴾The Messenger said﴿, calling upon his Lord and complaining to Him, expressing his sorrow at his people’s turning away from the message he brought:

﴾0 my Lord, my people﴿ to whom You sent me to guide them and convey Your message to them﴾have taken this Qur’an as a thing to be shunned﴿ that is, they have turned away from it, shunned it and ignored it, even though what they should do is submit to its authority, accept its rulings and comply with it.

Allah said, consoling His Messenger (ﷺ) and telling him that there was a precedent for these people and others who had done the same as they were doing:

﴾And similarly We appointed for every Prophet enemies among the evildoers﴿ that is, among those who were not fit for good; they opposed the Messengers and rejected them, arguing with them on the basis of falsehood.

One of the benefits that result from that is that the truth will prevail over falsehood and will become very clear, because the opposition of falsehood to the truth increases it in clarity, so that the evidence will be further highlighted. What Allah does to the people of truth by honouring them, and what He does to the people of falsehood by punishing them, will also be highlighted. So do not grieve for them, and do not destroy yourself with grief for them.

﴾But your Lord is sufficient as a guide﴿, so He will help you to achieve the goal and attain that which is in your best interests, both religious and worldly tfand helper)﴿ so He will help you against your enemies and ward off all harm from you in both your religious and worldly affairs, so be content with Him and put your trust in Him.

25:32. Those who disbelieve say: Why was the Qur’an not sent down to him all at once? [It has been revealed] thus so that We may strengthen your heart thereby, and We have imparted it to you by gradual revelation.

25:33. Whenever they come to you [O Muhammad] with an argument, We reveal to you the truth and the best explanation.

These were among the suggestions and demands of the disbelievers that they came up with by themselves, so they said:

﴾Why was the Qur’an not sent down to him all at once?﴿ That is, as the previous scriptures were sent down. But what was the problem with it being sent down in this manner? In fact, its being sent down in this manner is more perfect and is better. Hence Allah says:

﴾[It has been revealed] thus﴿ that is, piecemeal ﴾so that We may strengthen your heart thereby﴿ because every time something of the Qur’an comes down to him, it increases him in reassurance and steadfastness, especially when there are reasons to be anxious. If Qur’an comes down when there is cause for concern, that will be very effective and will make him more steadfast, more so than if it were to come down before that time and he was to be reminded of it when the reason for it occurred.

﴾and We have imparted it to you by gradual revelation﴿ that is, slowly and gradually. All of this is indicative of Allah’s care for His Book the Qur’an and His Messenger Muhammad (ﷺ), as He caused the revelation of His Book to address the circumstances of the Messenger (ﷺ) and the religious matters he needed to know. Hence He says:

﴾Whenever they come to you [O Muhammad] with an argument﴿, opposing the truth and trying to refute your message,

﴾We reveal to you the truth and the best explanation﴿ that is. We send down to you Qur’an covering all that is needed concerning the truth in all aspects, bringing perfect clarity in its words, for all its meanings are truth; it is not contaminated with falsehood and there is no doubtabout it whatsoever. Its words explain things in the clearest manner, giving the best explanation and clarifying the meanings completely.

This verse indicates that the one who speaks of knowledge, whether he is a scholar of Hadith, a teacher or a preacher, should follow the example of his Lord in the way He dealt with His Messengers’ affairs. In this manner, the scholar should deal with people’s affairs. Every time an incident occurs or there is a special occasion, he should quote what is appropriate of Qur’anic verses and prophetic hadiths, and offer exhortation based on that.

This is also a refutation of those philosopher types who try to make things difficult, such as the Jahamis^{1Jahamis: a group who denied the names and attributes of Allah (tfe). They are named after their founder al-Jahm ibn Safwan} and others, who think that many of the Qur’anic texts are to be understood in a manner other than what their apparent meanings would suggest, and they say that they have meanings other than what may be understood from them. Therefore - according to their view - the Qur’an does not offer a better explanation than anything else; rather - according to their view - the best explanation is their own explanation in which they distorted the meanings.

25:34. Those who will be driven on their faces to hell - they are in a worse position and are further astray from the right path.

Here Allah tells us about the situation of the polytheists who rejected His Messenger (ﷺ), and the wretched fate they will meet, for they ﴾will be driven on their faces﴿, which will be a terrible anddreadful sight, when the angels of punishment drag them and pull them ﴾fto hell﴿ which contains all torments and punishments.

﴾{they﴿﴿ that is, those who are in this state ﴾are in a worse position﴿ than those who believe in Allah and His Messenger (ﷺ)

﴾fand are further astray from the right path﴿. This comparison does not mean that the other party are also astray, only less so, for the believers are in a good state and will have a good end; in this world they are guided to the straight path and in the hereafter they will reach the gardens of bliss.

25:35. We gave Moosa the Book and appointed his brother Haroon to be with him as a helper.

25:36. We said: Go, both of you, to the people who have rejected Our signs. Then We destroyed them utterly.

25:37. And [We destroyed] the people of Nooh, when they rejected the Messengers; We drowned them and made them a sign for all people. And We have prepared for the wrongdoers a painful punishment.

25:38. And [We destroyed] ‘Ad and Thamood, and the people of the well,- and many nations between them.

25:39. To each of them We gave examples [of how We had dealt with previous nations who disbelieved, as a warning] and each of them We obliterated completely.

25:40. They [the disbelievers of Makkah] must surely have passed by the city [Sodom] on which an evil rain poured down. Did they not then see it? But they do not expect to be resurrected.

Here Allah refers to these stories, which He has told in detail elsewhere, so as to warn those addressed against persisting in rejection of their Messengers, lest there befall them what befell these nations who are close to them, and whose stories they know, as the stories were widely known and circulated.

They saw the ruins of some of those nations with their own eyes, such as those of the people of Ṣalih in al-Hijr, and the city (Sodom) on which an evil rain poured down (25: 40), a shower of stones of baked clay (15: 74), which they would pass by night and by day during their journeys. Those nations were not worse than they, and the Messengers of those nations were not better than the Messenger (ﷺ) of these people (namely Quraysh).

Are your disbelievers [O Quraysh] better than those, or have you been promised immunity in the [earlier] scriptures?﴿ (al-Qamar 54: 43)

But what prevented these people from believing, despite all that they had seen of signs, was the fact that they did not expect the resurrection to happen, they did not hope to meet their Lord, and they did not fear His punishment. Therefore they persisted in their stubbornness. Otherwise was it not the case that there had come to them signs that would leave no room whatsoever for doubt?

= but they rejected his call. Whilst they were around the well, it collapsed and they and their dwellings were swallowed up by the earth. (an-Nasafi; al-Baydawi)

25:41. When they see you, they treat you only with ridicule, [saying]: Is this the one whom Allah has sent as a Messenger?

25:42. He might almost have turned us away from our gods had we not been steadfast in our devotion to them. But they will come to know, when they see the punishment, who is further astray from the right path.

25:43. Have you seen the one who takes his own whims and desires as his god? Can you be his keeper?

25:44. Or do you think that most of them listen or understand? They are just like cattle; nay, they are further astray from the right path.

That is, when these people who disbelieve in you - O Muhammad (ﷺ) - and stubbornly reject the signs of Allah, and behave arrogantly in the land see you, they ridicule you and look down on you, and they say, by way of scorn and disrespect:

﴾fls this the one whom Allah has sent as a Messenger?﴿ That is, it is not appropriate and is not right that Allah should send this man as a Messenger. This stems from their extreme wrongdoing and stubbornness, and their turning facts on their heads. These words of theirs may be understood as meaning that the Messenger (ﷺ) - Allah forbid - was insignificant and lowly, and that if the message had come to someone other than him, that would have been more appropriate.﴾And they said: Why was this Qur’an not sent down to some prominent man from [either of] the two cities [Makkah or Taif]?&

Such words could only come from the most ignorant and misguided of people, or from the most stubborn, who is acting in an ignorant manner with the aim of propagating the falsehood he follows, by seeking to undermine the truth and the one who brought it. Otherwise, anyone who reflects on the life of Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah (ﷺ) will find him to be the best of people, the most prominent and the foremost in reason, knowledge, rational thinking, dignity, noble characteristics, good conduct, chastity, courage, generosity, and all good qualities. The one who looks down on him and criticises him has combined foolishness, ignorance, misguidance, contradiction, unfairness and transgression such as no one else has combined. It is sufficient ignorance and misguidance that he should criticise the foremost and most noble Messenger (ﷺ).

The reason for their casting aspersions on him and their mockery of him was their rigid adherence to their falsehood and their desire to deceive the weak-minded. Hence they said:

﴾fHe﴿ that is, this man (the Prophet [$&}) ﴾might almost have turned us away from our gods﴿ by making the gods into One God ﴾had we not been steadfast in our devotion to them﴿, and he might almost have led us astray. They claimed that tawheed* (affirmation of the oneness of Allah) was misguidance, whereas real misguidance was what they were following of ascribing partners to Him. Therefore they urged one another to be steadfast in adhering to it.

﴾The leaders among them left, saying: Carry on as you are, and hold fast to your gods... p (Sad 38: 6)

And here they said: ﴾had we not been steadfast in our devotion to them﴿. Patience and steadfastness are praiseworthy in all circumstances, except in this case, for this was patience and steadfastness in adhering to something that incurs divine wrath and increases the fuel of hell. As for the believers, they are as Allah describes them:

c°f...and exhort one another to hold fast to the truth and exhort one another to hold fast to patience.b (al-'Asr 103: 3)

As they deemed themselves to be guided and regarded the Messenger as misguided, and as it became apparent that there was no hope for them, Allah warned them of the punishment and stated that at that time, ﴾when they see the punishment﴿, they will come to know in a very real sense, *(who is further astray from the right path﴿. ﴾On that day, the wrongdoer will bite on his hands and say: Would that I had taken a path with the Messenger﴿ (25: 27).

Is there any misguidance worse than that of one who takes his own whims and desires as his god, so whatever he likes he does? Hence Allah says:

﴾Have you seen the one who takes his own whims and desires as his god?﴿ Do you not feel amazed by his situation and see how misguided he is, whilst he believes that he is a man of high status?

﴾Can you be his keeper?﴿;? That is, you are not in control of him and you have no power over him; rather you are no more than a warner and you have done what is required of you, and his reckoning will be with Allah.

Then Allah te) comments on their extreme misguidance by noting that He has taken away their power of reasoning and hearing, and He likens them, in their misguidance, to grazing cattle that hear nothing except the sound of shouts and cries. Deaf, dumb, and blind, they do not understand uf 2: 171). Indeed, they are more astray than cattle, because the herdsman guides the cattle, so they are guided and they recognise the path that may lead to their doom, so they avoid it, and their fate is better than the fate of these people. Thus it becomes clearthat the one who accuses the Messenger (ﷺ) of being misguided is more deserving of that description himself, and that any dumb animal is more guided than him.

25:45. Have you not seen how your Lord extends the shadow? If He willed. He could make it still. Then We have made the sun an indication of it.

25:46. Then We gradually draw it [the shadow] in towards Us [as the sun climbs up].

That is, have you not seen with your own eyes and intellect the perfect might of your Lord and the vastness of His mercy? For He extends the shadow over people. This refers to the time before sunrise. ﴾Then We have made the sun an indication of itp that is, of the shadow; were it not for the sun, the shadow would not be known, for a thing is known by its opposite.

﴾Then We gradually draw it [the shadow] in towards Us [as the sun climbs up]b the higher the sun rises, the more the shadow shrinks, little by little, until it disappears altogether. So the shadow and the sun come one after another for people who see them with their own eyes. What results from that of the alternation of night and day, the alternation of the seasons and many other benefits, is one of the greatest signs of the perfect might of Allah and of His greatness, perfect mercy and care for His slaves, and it highlights the fact that He alone is deserving of worship, praise, love and veneration, for He is the Owner of majesty and honour.

25:47. It is He Who has made the night a covering for you, and sleep for rest; and He has made the day for rising [and going out and about, seeking one’s livelihood].

That is, by His mercy and kindness towards you. He has made the night like a garment for you that covers you so that you may settle down, sleep calmly and become still. Were it not for the night, people would not find rest and they would continue moving about, which would be very harmful for them. But if the darkness were to persist, that would also be detrimental to their livelihood and interests, but Allah has made the day for getting up and going about to engage in trade, travel and work, thus achieving that which benefits them and is in their best interests.

25:48. It is He Who sends the winds as harbingers of His mercy, and We send down pure water from the sky,

25:49. So that We may give life thereby to a dead land, and quench the thirst of countless beasts and men We have created.

25:50. And We have distributed [the rain] among them [in various ways], so that they may pay heed, but most people persist in their ingratitude.

That is, He alone has mercy on His slaves and bestows abundant provision upon them by sending the winds as harbingers of His mercy, namely the rain. With the winds He stirs up the clouds and gathers them together, so that they are formed into pieces, then He fecundates them and makes them ready to give rain by the leave of the One Who is in control of them, so as to give people glad tidings of rain before it comes, so that they can prepare for it before it catches them unawares by coming all at once.

sfand We send down pure water from the sky﴿ so that they may purify themselves of minor and major impurity, and cleanse themselves of physical dirt. This is one of the blessings of rain, that He sends it down to revive the dead land, so that it brings forth various kinds of plants and trees, from which people and livestock eat.

﴾and quench the thirst of countless beasts and men We have created﴿ that is. We give it to you to drink, you and your livestock. Is not He Who sent the winds as harbingers and caused the winds to perform different tasks, and sent down from the sky pure and blessed water, in which is provision for people and their livestock, the One Who alone is deserving of worship, without associating anything else with Him?

Even though Allah has sent these visible signs and explained them to His slaves, so that they may know Him, give thanks to Him and remember Him, many people still persist in disbelief, because of their corrupt attitude and nature.

25:51. If We had so willed. We could have sent a warner to every city.

25:52. So do not obey the disbelievers, but strive mightily against them herewith [with the Qur’an].

Here Allah tells us how His will is inevitably done, and that if He had so willed. He would have sent to every city a warner, that is a Messenger to warn them, for His will is not incapable of that. But His wisdom and His mercy towards you and others - O Muhammad (ﷺ) - dictated that He should send you to all of them, red and black, Arab and non-Arab, human and jinn.

﴾So do not obey the disbelievers)﴿ by omitting anything that was sent to you; rather strive your utmost to convey all that was sent to you.

﴾but strive mightily﴿ that is, do not spare any effort to support the truth and suppress falsehood; even if you see them rejecting you and treating you rudely, still do your utmost and do not despair of them being guided; do not stop conveying the message to them just because it does not suit their whims and desires.

25:53. It is He Who causes the two flowing bodies of water to meet, one fresh and palatable and the other salty and bitter. Yet He has placed a barrier between them, and an impassable boundary.

That is, it is He alone Who causes the two flowing bodies of water to meet, that which is fresh and palatable, namely the rivers that flow on the surface of the earth, and the salty and bitter sea, and He causes each of them to benefit His slaves.

﴾Yet He has placed a barrier between them﴿ that is, a barrier to prevent one of them mixing with the other, which would lead to the loss of the benefits intended by them ﴾and an impassable boundary﴿ that is, a strong barrier.

25:54. It is He Who has created humans from water, then made them male and female, for your Lord is Omnipotent.

That is, it is Allah alone, with no partner or associate, Who has created the human from insignificant fluid, and from him has produced many offspring, and made them male and female. All of them come from that insignificant fluid. This is indicative of His perfect power and ability, ﴾for your Lord is Omnipotent﴿.

It also indicates that worship of Him is the truth and worship of all others is false, because Allah says:

25:55. They worship, besides Allah, that which has no power either to benefit or harm them; the disbeliever always gives support against his Lord.

That is, they worship idols and the dead who cannot cause any harm or bring any benefit, and they make them rivals to the One Who does have the power to bring benefits and cause harm, and to give and withhold, even though what they should do is follow the guidance of their Lord and defend His religion, but they did the opposite.

﴾the disbeliever always gives support against his Lord﴿ - the disbeliever gives help and support to falsehood, namely the idols andrivals who are enemies of Allah, against their Lord, and he becomes an enemy to his Lord, declaring his enmity and hostility towards Him.

He does this even though his Lord is the One Who created him, grants him provision and blesses him with all kinds of blessings both visible and hidden, and he cannot escape His dominion, authority or control. But Allah never stops bestowing His kindness and generosity, whilst he - in his ignorance - persists in this enmity and rebellion.

25:56. And We have not sent you but as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner.

25:57. Say [O Muhammad]: I do not ask you for any recompense for this, except that anyone who so wishes should take a path to his Lord.

25:58. Put your trust in the Ever-Living Who never dies, and glorify and praise Him. Your Lord is sufficiently aware of the sins of His slaves.

25:59. [It is] He Who created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, in six days, and then rose over the Throne [in a manner that befits His Majesty]. He is the Most Gracious; so ask about Him one who is well informed.

25:60. When it is said to them [the disbelievers]: Prostrate to the Most Gracious, they say: What is the Most Gracious? Are we to prostrate to whatever you command us? and it increases them in aversion.

Here Allah tells us that He did not send His Messenger Muhammad (ﷺ) to be in control of people. He did not make him an angel, and he does not possess the treasuries of things. Rather He sent him ﴾as a bearer of glad tidings﴿, to give glad tidings to those who obeyed Allah of reward in this world and in the hereafter c﴾and a warner﴿ to warn those who disobeyed Allah of punishment in this world and in the hereafter. This requires him to explain how to attain that reward and how to protect oneself from that punishment, by way of commands and prohibitions. Moreover, you - O Muhammad (ﷺ) - do not ask them for any recompense for conveying to them the Qur’an and guidance, such that this would give them an excuse for not following you and lead to them finding burdensome the fee that you ask of them.

﴾except that anyone who so wishes should take a path to his Lord﴿ that is, except that whoever wishes may spend in ways to please his Lord and for His sake. If that is what you want to do, then I will not force you to do it and it is not a recompense that you owe me; rather it is in your own best interests and will help you to follow the path that leads to your Lord.

Then Allah instructed him to put his trust in Him and seek His help:

﴾Put your trust in the Ever-Living﴿ Whose life is absolute and perfect

﴾Who never dies, and glorify and praise Him﴿ that is, worship Him and put your trust in Him in all matters that have to do with you and that have to do with other people.

﴾Your Lord is sufficiently aware of the sins of His slaves﴿ for He knows them and will requite for them. It is not your task to guidethem at all, or to keep record of their deeds. All of that is in the Hand of Allah alone.

﴾[lt is] He Who created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, in six days, and then﴿ after that ﴾rose over the Throne﴿, which is the canopy of creation, the highest, most vast and most beautiful of His creation ﴾f[in a manner that befits His Majesty]﴿. ﴾He is the Most Gracious﴿ and He rose over His Throne that encompasses the heavens and the earth. Whose mercy encompasses all things. So He rose above the most vast of His creation with the most encompassing of His attributes.

This verse affirms His creation of all created things, and that He is well aware of their outward and inward aspects, that He is above the Throne and is separate from His creation.

t﴾fso ask about Him one who is well informed﴿ what is meant here is Allah Himself, for He is the One Who knows His attributes, greatness and majesty, and He has told you of that and explained to you about His greatness that which will make you blessed to know it. Hence some came to know Him and submitted to His majesty.

But the disbelievers were too arrogant to worship Him and they refrained from doing so. Hence Allah says:

﴾When it is said to them [the disbelievers]: Prostrate to the Most Gracious﴿ that is, the One Who alone bestowed all blessings upon you and warded oft'all harm from you,

﴾they say﴿ in denial and disbelief:

﴾What is the Most Gracious?﴿ They falsely claimed that they do not know the Most Gracious, and this is one of the things that they thought was grounds for their denial and criticism of the Messenger (ﷺ); they said: He forbids us to take other gods alongside Allah, yet he calls upon another god alongside Him and says: O Most Gracious (fa Rahman), and so on. This is like the verse in which Allah﴾Say [O Muhammad]: Call upon Allah, or call upon the Most Gracious [ar-Rahman].^{1The polytheists of Quraysh objected when they heard the Prophet (^g) saying: O Allah, O Most Gracious (Yd Allah, yd Rahman). They said: Muhammad enjoins us to call upon One God at the time when he is calling upon two! So this verse was revealed to clarify that there is only One God, to Whom belong the most beautiful names and sublime attributes.} No matter which name you call upon Him by, to Him belong the most beautiful names...﴿ (al-Isra 17: 110)

His names are many because His attributes are many and His perfection is multifaceted; each of His names is indicative of an attribute of perfection.

﴾Are we to prostrate to whatever you command us?﴿ That is, just because you tell us to do that. This attitude was based on their rejection of the Messenger (ﷺ) and their being too arrogant to obey him ﴾and it﴿ namely the call to prostrate to the Most Gracious ﴾increases them in aversion﴿, so that they flee from truth to falsehood and increase in disbelief and wretchedness.

25:61. Blessed be He Who has placed big stars in the heaven, and has placed therein a lamp [the sun] and a luminous moon.

25:62. It is He Who causes the night and the day to succeed one another, for whoever wishes to reflect or give thanks.

In this soorah, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) repeats three times the phrase ﴾Blessed be He﴿, because its meaning, as mentioned above, is that it isindicative of the greatness of the Creator, His many attributes and His abundant kindness and generosity. This soorah points to His greatness, the vastness of His domain, the doing of His will, the all-encompassing nature of His knowledge and might, and the perfect nature of His wisdom. It is indicative of the vastness of His mercy. His great generosity, and His many kindnesses, both spiritual and worldly, which dictate that this beautiful phrase be repeated. Hence Allah says:

﴾Blessed be He Who has placed big stars in the heaven﴿ this refers to the stars in general. They are regarded as being like towers (the word burooj, translated here as ﴾big stars﴿, also means towers) and fortresses that guard cities; the big stars are like towers that are set up to guard the heaven, as missiles are hurled from them at the devils, sfand has placed therein a lamp﴿ giving light and heat, namely the sun ﴾and a luminous moon﴿ in which there is light, but no heat. This is one of the signs of His greatness and abundant generosity, because what there is in the heaven of dazzling creation, precise order and immense beauty are indicative of the greatness of their Creator in all His attributes, and what there is in the heaven of benefits for people is indicative of His immense generosity.

﴾lt is He Who causes the night and the day to succeed one another﴿ that is, one departs and is replaced by the other, and so on. They never meet and they are never both absent.

﴾for whoever wishes to reflect or give thanks﴿ that is, for whoever wants to reflect upon them and learn lessons, and to take them as evidence for many divine aims and purposes, and to give thanks to Allah for that; and for whoever wants to remember Allah and give thanks to Him, and who has a portion (wire/) to recite by night or day, and if he misses reciting his regular portion for one of them, he can catch up in the other. Moreover, people’s moods alter and change throughout the hours of the night and day. So they may feel energetic or feel tired, be mindful or be heedless, sometimes under stress and sometimes at ease, sometimes focusing in worship and sometimesdistracted. So Allah has caused night and day to come consecutively to people, over and over again, so as to create in them mindfulness, energy and gratitude towards Allah at some times. Because dhikr and acts of worship are to be repeated as night and day are repeated, the more times they are repeated, the more this will renew the individual's energy, after a period of laziness, so he will remember Allah more and show more gratitude. Acts of worship are like irrigation and nourishment for faith; were it not for that, the plant of faith would wither. To Allah be all praise.

Then Allah tells us that part of His great generosity and grace towards His righteous slaves is that He guides them to do righteous deeds by which they attain lofty status in paradise, as He says:(vv-ir

25:63. The true slaves of the Most Gracious are those who walk humbly and with dignity on the earth and, when the ignorant address them, they say words of peace;

25:64. those who spend the night prostrating and standing before their Lord;

25:65. And who say: Our Lord, avert from us the punishment of hell, for verily its punishment is unrelenting.

25:66. Indeed, it is an evil halting-place and an evil abode;^{1It is a halting-place for the sinners among the believers; they will be brought forth from it after some time and admitted to paradise. However, for the disbelievers, it will be an eternal abode. What is meant is that they do not attend gatherings where lies are uttered and sins are committed.}

25:67. And who, when they spend, are neither extravagant nor stingy, but follow a middle path between the [two];

25:68. Those who do not call upon any other god besides Allah; and who do not kill, for that is forbidden by Allah, except in the course of justice; and who do not commit fornication or adultery, for whoever does any of these things will receive the punishment.

25:69. The punishment will be doubled for them on the Day of Resurrection, and they will abide therein disgraced forever,

25:70. Except those who repent and believe, and do righteous deeds; for them Allah will change their evil deeds into good deeds, for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

25:71. Whoever repents to Allah and does righteous deeds has truly turned to Allah.

25:72. Those who will not witness falsehood and, if they pass by [people engaged in] idle talk, they pass by with dignity;

25:73. Those who, when they are reminded of the revelations of their Lord, do not turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to them;

25:74. And those who say: Our Lord, let our spouses and children be a source of joy for us, and make us good examples for those who fear You;

25:75. Those are the ones who will be rewarded with high places in paradise for their patience and steadfastness; they will be met therein with greetings and salutations of peace.

25:76. They will abide therein forever, an excellent halting-place and an excellent abode.

25:77. Say [O Muhammad, to the disbelievers]: My Lord would not concern Himself with you, were it not for your supplication. But you have rejected the call, so it [punishment] is inevitable.

Servitude to Allah is of two types: the first of which is being subject to His Lordship and His control and care. This includes all of humankind, both Muslims and disbelievers, righteous and evildoers; all of them are slaves under His care and control.

﴾There is no one in the heavens or on earth but he will come to the Most Gracious as a slave.﴿ (Maryam 19: 93)

The second type is the servitude of those who are His slaves in the sense that they worship Him alone and are subject to His mercy. This is the servitude of His Prophets and close friends, and this is what is meant here. Hence Allah connected it to His name the Most Gracious, so as to indicate that they only attained this state because of His grace and mercy. So He states that their attributes and characteristics are the best and most perfect of attributes and characteristics, and He describes them as ﴾those who walk humbly and with dignity on the earth﴿;﴿ that is, they are humble towards Allah and towards His creation. Thus they are described as dignified, tranquil and humble towards Allah and towards His slaves.

﴾and, when the ignorant address them﴿ in an ignorant manner ﴾they say words of peace﴿ that is, they respond to them in such a manner that they are safe from sin and avoid responding to ignorance with ignorance. This is praise for their great forbearing, responding to evil with something better, pardoning the one who is ignorant, and thinking in a mature manner that enabled them to achieve that.

﴾those who spend the night prostrating and standing before their Lord﴿ that is, they pray a great deal at night, showing sincere devotion towards their Lord and humbling themselves before Him. This is like the verse in which Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

﴾Who forsake their beds,^{2This refers to staying awake to offer voluntary prayers during the night.} calling upon their Lord with fear and hope, and spend out of what We have provided for them. No soul knows what is kept hidden in store for them of delight as a reward for what they used to do.﴿ (as-Sajdah 32: 16-17)

﴾And who say: Our Lord, avert from us the punishment of hell﴿ that is, ward it off from us by keeping us away from that which leads to it, and forgiving us for what we did of deeds that may incur the punishment

﴾for verily its punishment is unrelenting﴿ that is, ongoing.

﴾Indeed, it is an evil halting-place and an evil abode﴿ this is a supplication from them by way of beseeching their Lord and expressing how great their need for Him is, for it is not in their power to withstand this punishment. That is so that they may remember the blessings of Allah to them, because diverting hardship will have a great impact and cause great joy, commensurate with the degree of the hardship that was diverted.

i﴾ And who, when they spend﴿, whether that spending is obligatory or recommended ﴾are neither extravagant﴿ by spending more than is necessary, so that they come under the heading of those who spend to excess﴾nor stingy﴿ so that they come under the heading of miserliness, covetousness and neglecting people’s rights and dues ﴾but﴿ in their spending ﴾follow a middle path﴿ between the extremes of extravagance and miserliness, so they spend on that which is obligatory, such as zakdh, expiation and other obligations, and they spend on what is appropriate, in an appropriate manner, without causing harm to themselves or others. This is part of their just and moderate character.

﴾Those who do not call upon any other god besides Allah﴿; rather they worship Him alone, devoting their worship solely to Him as true monotheists, turning to Him alone and turning away from all others.

﴾and who do not kill, for that is forbidden by Allah﴿ - this refers to killing Muslims and disbelievers who have covenants with the Muslims

﴾except in the course of justice﴿ such as execution of murderers and previously married adulterers, and disbelievers whom it is permissible to kill (in the case of war)

﴾and who do not commit fornication or adultery﴿; rather they restrain their carnal desires:

﴾Except with their wives or any slave women they may own...﴿ (al-Mn minoon 23: 6)

﴾for whoever does any of these things﴿ that is, ascribing partners to Allah, killing unlawfully any soul that Allah has forbidden, or committing fornication or adultery, ﴾will receive the punishment﴿.

Then Allah explains that further:

﴾The punishment will be doubled for them on the Day of Resurrection, and they will abide therein﴿ that is, in the punishment, ﴾disgraced forever﴿. The warning of eternal punishment is addressed to the one who does all three; that is confirmed and is inevitable; the same also applies to the one who ascribes partners to Allah. The warning of severe punishment is for each of these three sins, because it is either an ascription of partners to Allah or it is a major sin.With regard to the murderer and the fornicator or adulterer, he will not be subject to eternal punishment, because the texts of the Qur’an and the Prophet’s Sunnah indicate that all the believers will be brought forth from hell, and no believer will abide therein forever, no matter what sins he commits. Allah mentions these three, because these are the worst of major sins. Ascribing partners to Him leads to destruction of religious commitment, murder destroys bodies and adultery destroys honour.

﴾Except those who repent﴿ from these sins and others, by giving them up immediately, regretting what has been done in the past and firmly resolving not to do that again sfand believe﴿ in Allah, with sound faith, which requires one to give up sin and do acts of obedience

﴾and do righteous deeds﴿ that are enjoined by the Lawgiver, seeking thereby the pleasure of Allah.

for them Allah will change their evil deeds into good deeds﴿ that is, He will change their words and deeds, that would have been bad, into good words and deeds. So their ascription of partners to Allah is changed into sound faith, and their disobedience into obedience, and what they committed of bad deeds in the past, then repented sincerely from every one of them, in obedience to Allah, will be turned into good deeds, as is the apparent meaning of the verse.

Concerning that there is a hadith that speaks of the man whom Allah brought to account for some of his sins, and He enumerated them to him, then He replaced each bad deed with a good deed, so he said:

«0 Lord, I have some bad deeds that I do not see here.» (A sound hadith recorded by at-Tirmidhi)^{3All hadiths in this text have been checked and verified by IlPH’s researchers. It is rare, but it does happen that a hadith is not verifiable within the timeframe of researching and editing the book. In that case, =}

And Allah knows best.

﴾for Allah is Oft-Forgiving﴿ to the one who repents, and He forgives great sins

﴾Most Merciful)﴿ towards His slaves, as He calls them to repent after they challenged Him by committing major sins, then He guided them and enabled them to repent, then He accepted it from them.

﴾Whoever repents to Allah and does righteous deeds has truly turned to Allah﴿ that is, he should know that his repentance is the most perfect thing he could do, because it is coming back to the path that leads to Allah, which is the essence of a person’s happiness and success. So let him be sincere in his repentance, and let him purify it from any contamination of bad intentions.

The point here is to urge the individual to make his repentance perfect and do it in the best manner, so that when he comes to the One to Whom he repented, Allah will give him a reward in full, commensurate with the perfection of his repentance.

﴾Those who will not witness falsehood﴿ that is, they do not attend when false talk is occurring, namely unlawful words and deeds. So they avoid all gatherings in which there is unlawful talk or unlawful deeds, such as speaking scornfully about the revelations of Allah, arguing on the basis of falsehood, backbiting, spreading malicious gossip, insulting, slander, ridiculing, unlawful music, drinking alcohol, silk furnishings, images and the like. If they do not witness falsehood, it is even more appropriate that they should not say or do anything that constitutes falsehood.

= a decision is made by the editorial board as to whether or not to include the hadith. It is lIPH’s policy not to include weak hadiths or fabricated (fake) hadiths in our publications. If a weak hadith is included in any text, it is only because the author of the book discusses it as a weak hadith. (Editor)

If they do not witness falsehood, they will not speak falsehood, which includes giving false testimony.

﴾and, if they pass by [people engaged in] idle talk﴿ this refers to talk in which there is nothing good and no benefit, whether spiritual or worldly, such as the speech of fools and the like ﴾they pass by with dignity﴿ that is, they respect themselves too much to indulge in such things, and they regard indulging in it - even if there is no sin involved - as foolishness and contrary to dignity, so they stay away from it in order to preserve their dignity.

The phrase ﴾and, if they pass by [people engaged in] idle talk﴿ indicates that they did not intend to be present or listen to it; rather that happened by coincidence, without any intention on their part. So they honour themselves by keeping away from it.

﴾Those who, when they are reminded of the revelations of their Lord﴿ that they are instructed to listen to attentively and be guided by ﴾fdo not turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to them﴿ that is, they do not respond by turning away from them and turning a deaf ear to them, or turning away their eyes and hearts from it, as those who do not believe in it do. Rather their reaction to it, when they hear it, is as Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) describes elsewhere:

﴾Only those believe in Our revelations who, when they are reminded of them, fall down in prostration, and glorify and praise their Lord, and they are not arrogant.﴿ (as-Sajdah 32: 15)

They respond by accepting it, showing their need for it and submitting to it.

You will find that they listen attentively, contemplate the meanings in their hearts, and increase in faith and certainty thereby; they are energised by it and they rejoice greatly in it.

﴾And those who say: Our Lord, let our spouses﴿ - the word translated here as ﴾spouses﴿ may include friends and companions, as well as spousesc-fand children be a source of joy for us﴿ that is, a delight to us.

If we examine the situation of such people, we will realise that, as they have high ambitions and high status, they will not settle until they see their spouses and children obeying their Lord, having knowledge and acting on the basis thereof. As they pray for their spouses and children to follow the path of righteousness, they are, in a way, praying for themselves because the benefit of that comes back to them. Hence they regard that as a gift to them, as is reflected in the original Arabic, where the phrase translated as ﴾let our spouses and children be a source of joy for us﴿ carries the connotation of a gift that is given. Indeed their supplication will be of benefit to all the Muslims, for if those mentioned are righteous, many more will be righteous because of their connection to them, and they will benefit from them.

﴾and make us good examples for those who fear You﴿ that is, help us to attain that high status, the status of those who are strong and true in faith, and those of the righteous slaves of Allah who are perfect. This is the status of leadership in terms of religion, so that they will be a good example to those who fear Allah in their words and deeds, and they will be people whose example is followed and whose words people trust, so that good people follow them and thus they are guided and guide others. It is well known that supplication to attain something is also supplication for that means without which it cannot be attained. This status - the status of leadership in religion - can only be attained by means of patience and certain faith, as Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says elsewhere:

﴾We made some of them leaders, guiding people by Our command, because they were patient and steadfast, and they believed with certainty in Our revelations.﴿ (as-Sajdah 32: 24)

This requires a great deal of effort and patience in obeying Allah and in refraining from disobedience to Him, accepting His decree even when it is painful, and acquiring perfect knowledge that will bring one to the level of certain faith.

Therefore - because their ambitions and goals were high - the reward matches the nature of the deeds, so Allah will reward them with lofty and high places, as He says:

﴾Those are the ones who will be rewarded with high places in paradise for their patience and steadfastness﴿ that is, lofty places and beautiful dwellings, containing all that one could desire and that could delight the eye, and they will attain that because of their patience and steadfastness, as Allah says elsewhere:

﴾f... Angels will enter unto them from every gate [saying]: Peace be upon you because you patiently persevered. How excellent is the

Hence He says here: ﴾they will be met therein with greetings and salutations of peace﴿ from their Lord, and from His noble angels, and from one another, and they will be safe from all that could spoil their joy.

Thus Allah describes them as being dignified, tranquil, humble towards Him and His slaves, well mannered, forbearing, and easy-going; they overlook the ignorant and turn away from them, responding to their bad treatment with good treatment; they pray qiyam (voluntary prayers at night), with complete sincerity; they fear the fire and beseech their Lord to save them from it; they spend what is obligatory and what is encouraged, and are moderate in spending, and if they are moderate in spending - when people usually go to extremes in this matter, either spending too much or too little - then it is more likely that they will be moderate in other matters. They are free of major sins and are described as being sincere in their worship of Allah; they refrain from harming people physically or impugning their honour, and they repent if they do any such thing. They do not attend gatherings in which there are immoral and evil words or deeds, and they do not do such things themselves; they protect themselves from idle talk and bad deeds in which there is no good. This is indicative of their dignity, humanity, perfection and rising above vile words ordeeds. They respond to the revelations of Allah by accepting them, understanding their meanings, acting upon them and striving hard to implement their rulings. They call upon Allah (tfe) with the most perfect of supplications, from which they and those who are connected to them benefit, as do the Muslims at large, such as praying that their spouses and offspring will be righteous. This implies that they strive to teach them, exhort them and advise them, because the one who is keen to attain something and prays to Allah for it, should take measures to attain it. They pray to Allah to enable them to reach the highest possible level, which is the level of leadership and being strong and true in faith (siddeeq). How sublime are these attributes; how noble are these aims and goals; how pure are these hearts and souls; and how pious are these leaders! Allah bestowed His grace, blessings and mercy upon them so that they were able to attain that status. It is a blessing from Allah to His slaves that He highlighted their attributes, described their manners and ambitions, and mentioned their reward, so that people may long to attain these attributes and strive hard to do so, and ask the One Who blessed and honoured them. Whose grace reaches all times and places, to guide them as He guided these people, and to bestow His special care upon them, as He did for these people.

O Allah, to You be praise, to You we complain, and You are the One Whose help we seek. There is no strength and no power except with You, for we have no power to benefit ourselves or ward off harm from ourselves, and we cannot do even an atom’s weight of good unless You make it easy for us; verily we are weak and incapable in all ways.

We bear witness that if you left us to our own devices for even the blink of an eye, You would have left us to our weakness, helplessness and sin. Our Lord, we can only put our trust in Your mercy, by which You created us, granted us provision and bestowed blessings upon us both visible and hidden, and You warded offhardship from us. So have mercy on us, mercy that will suffice us so that we have no needof the mercy of anyone else, for the one who asks of You and puts his hope in You will never be disappointed.

As Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) encompasses all of these people in His mercy and singles them out to be His slaves, because of their honour and virtue, perhaps someone may wonder why others are not included as being His slaves? The answer is, as Allah tells us, that He would not care for anyone other than these, for were it not for your calling upon Him, with the supplication of worship and the supplication of asking, He would not care about you or love you, as He says: ﴾Say [O Muhammad, to the disbelievers]: My Lord would not concern Himself with you, were it not for your supplication. But you have rejected the call, so it [punishment] is inevitable﴿ that is, punishment is inevitable, and Allah will judge between you and His believing slaves.

This is the end of the commentary on Soorat al-Furqan.

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