(Makki)

6:1. Praise be to Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, and made the darkness and the light. Yet those who disbelieve ascribe equals to their Lord.

6:2. He it is Who created you from clay, then He decreed a term for you [in this world], and another [in the hereafter] known only to Him. Yet still you doubt.

Here Allah tells us that He is to be praised for His perfect attributes, for His greatness and majesty in general and for the attributes mentioned here in particular. He praises Himself for creating the heavens and the earth, which are indicative of His perfect might, and for His vast knowledge and mercy, His immense wisdom, for Hisuniqueness in possessing the power of creation and control, and for creating darkness and light.

That includes all that is visible or tangible, such as night and day, sun and moon, as well as all that is metaphorical or intangible, such as the darkness of ignorance, doubt, polytheism, sin and heedlessness, and the light of knowledge, faith, certainty and obedience.

All of that offers definitive proof that He, may He be exalted, is the only One Who is deserving of worship and sincere devotion.

Yet despite that clear evidence and proof, ﴾those who disbelieve ascribe equals to their Lord﴿ that is, they associate others with Him and they worship and venerate them equally alongside Him, even though they do not believe them to be equal to Allah in any aspect of perfection; rather they are weak and helpless, lacking in all regards.

﴾He it is Who created you from clay﴿ that is, when He created your substance and created your father Adam (عليه السلام) ﴾then He decreed a term for you [in this world]﴿ that is, He ordained the duration of your stay in this world, during which you would enjoy its delights and be tried and tested by means of what He sent to you of His Messengers:

ff...so that He may test you [and see] which of you is best in

- and He granted life long enough for anyone who was going to pay heed to do so.

﴾and another [in the hereafter] known only to Him﴿ that is, the hereafter, to which people move from this world, where He will requite them for their deeds, good and bad.

﴾Yet﴿ despite this explanation and definitive proof, ﴾still you doubt﴿ that is, you doubt the promise and threat of Allah, and the requital of deeds on the Day of Resurrection.

Allah mentions darkness [in (6: 1)] in the plural (in the original Arabic, dhulumat) because there are so many different types ofdarkness. But He mentions light in the singular, because the path that leads to Allah is one, not many. It is the path that requires knowledge of the truth and acting upon it, as He says:

﴾Verily, this is My path, leading straight; follow it, and do not follow [other] paths, lest they cause you to deviate from His path... (al-An am 6: 153)

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6:3. He is Allah [the only One to be worshipped] in the heavens and on earth. He knows what you conceal and what you disclose, and He knows what you earn.

That is. He is the only one to be worshipped in the heavens and on earth. The inhabitants of the heavens and the earth - the angels who are close to Him, the Prophets, the Messengers, the siddeeqoon, the martyrs and the righteous - are slaves to their Lord, subjugated to His greatness, and submitting to His might and majesty.

He knows what you conceal and what you disclose, and He knows what you earn, so beware of disobeying Him, strive hard to do righteous deeds that will bring you closer to Him and bring you nearer to His mercy, and beware of any deed that will take you far away from Him and from His mercy.

6:4. No sign ever comes to them from their Lord but they turn away from it.

6:5. Thus they denied the truth when it came to them, but soon they will learn the consequences of their ridicule.

6:6. Do they not see how many nations We destroyed before them? [They were] people whom We had made more powerful in the land than We have made you, to whom We sent down abundant rain from the sky, and made rivers flow at their feet. Yet for their sins We destroyed them, and raised up after them other nations.

Here Allah tells us how the polytheists turn away and how intense their rejection and opposition are, and that the signs did not benefit them at all, until the punishment befell them.

﴾No sign ever comes to them from their Lord﴿, pointing definitively to the proof and calling them to follow it and accept it ﴾but they turn away from it﴿ and do not pay attention to it or listen to it, because they are distracted by something else and they turn their backs on it.

﴾Thus they denied the truth when it came to them﴿ - the truth deserves to be followed, and they should have given thanks to Allah for making it available for them and bringing it to them. But they responded with the opposite of what they should have done, thus they deserved the severe punishment.

﴾but soon they will learn the consequences of their ridicule﴿ that is, they will see that what they ridiculed is true, and Allah will highlight to the liars their lies and fabrications, and their ridicule of theresurrection, paradise and hell. Hence, when the Day of Resurrection comes, it will be said to the liars:

﴾...This is the fire which you used to deny.﴿ (at-Toor 52: 14)

And Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

﴾They swear their most solemn oaths by Allah that Allah will not raise up those who die. Nay, it is a promise by which He is bound, but most people do not realize. [They will be raised up] so that He may make clear to them that concerning which they differ, and so that those who disbelieved may realize that they were lying.(an-Naht

Then Allah instructs them to learn a lesson from the previous nations:

﴾Do they not see how many nations We destroyed before them?﴿ that is, how many successive disbelieving nations We destroyed, and We gave them respite before that, as ﴾f[They were] people whom We had made more powerful in the land than﴿ these people, in terms of wealth, sons and a life of ease and luxury.

﴾to whom We sent down abundant rain from the sky, and made rivers flow at their feet﴿ which produced for them whatever Allah willed of crops and fruits, of which they enjoyed and ate whatever they wanted. But they did not give thanks to Allah for His blessings; rather they focused on their whims and desires and were distracted by all kinds of physical pleasure.

The Messengers came to them with clear signs, but they did not believe them; rather they rejected them and denied them. Therefore Allah destroyed them for their sins and raised up Rafter them other nations﴿.

This is the regular way in which Allah dealt with the earlier and later generations, so learn a lesson from those whose story Allah has told you.

6:7. If We had sent down to you [a message] written on paper, and they touched it with their own hands, the disbelievers would still say: This is obviously nothing but magic!

6:8. They say: Why has an angel not been sent down to him? If We did send down an angel, that would be the end of the matter and they would be given no respite.

6:9. And if We had appointed [as Messenger] an angel. We would have made him appear as a man, and thus We would only have confused them in the same way as they are now confusing themselves.

Here Allah tells His Messenger (ﷺ) how stubborn the disbelievers are, and that their rejection is not because of any shortcoming in the message that you brought, or because they are ignorant of the truth; rather it was based on wrongdoing and stubbornness which you have no power to deal with.

﴾flf We had sent down to you [a message] written on paper, and they touched it with their own hands﴿ and became certain of it ﴾(the disbelievers﴿ who disbelieved out of defiance and arrogance ﴾would still say: This is obviously nothing but magic!﴿

What greater proof can there be than this clear proof? Yet these abhorrent words are what they say concerning it, for they would reject something that they touched with their own hands, that no one with the slightest intelligence could reject.

﴾They say﴿J that is, they also say, out of stubbornness based on ignorance and lack of rational thinking: ﴾Why has an angel not been sent down to him?p, that is: why has not an angel been sent down with Muhammad (ﷺ), to support him and help him in what he is doing. They said this on the grounds that he was human, and that the message of Allah could not come except carried by the hands of the angels.

Allah says, highlighting His mercy and kindness to His slaves, when He sent to them a human Messenger from among their number, so that their faith would be based on knowledge and understanding, and belief in the unseen:

﴾If We did send down an angel﴿ with the message, then faith would not stem from knowledge of the truth, rather it would stem from seeing something visible that is of no use on its own.

That applies if they even believe in the first place. But it is most likely they would not believe, and if they do not believe then the matter is concluded; the punishment will be hastened and they will be granted no respite, because this is the way in which Allah deals with those who demand signs then do not believe.

Therefore sending human Messengers to them with clear signs, which Allah knows is in the best interests of people and is kinder to them, whilst granting respite to the disbelievers and deniers, is better and more beneficial for them.

Their demand for an angel to be sent down is bad for them, if only they knew. Moreover, if an angel were sent down to them, they would not be able to leam from him, for they would not be able to bear that.

﴾And if We had appointed [as Messenger] an angel, We would have made him appear as a man'p, because wisdom does not dictate otherwise

﴾and thus We would only have confused them in the same way as they are now confusing themselves﴿ that is, the matter would still have been confusing for them, because they confused themselves bybasing the matter on this confusing principle, which further obfuscates the truth.

When the truth came to them in the proper manner, that was not conducive to their guidance, although others were guided thereby. That was their fault, as they had closed the gate of guidance to themselves and had opened the gates of misguidance.

6:10. Indeed Messengers before you were ridiculed, but then those who mocked them were overwhelmed by the very thing [punishment] they used to ridicule.

6:11. Say: Travel through the land and see what was the fate of the deniers.

Here Allah consoles His Messenger (ﷺ) and urges him to be patient, and He issues a warning and threat to His enemies:

﴾Indeed Messengers before you were ridiculed﴿ when they brought clear signs to their nations, but they disbelieved them and ridiculed them and what they brought. So Allah destroyed them for that disbelief and rejection, and He requited them with the punishment that they deserved.

﴾but then those who mocked them were overwhelmed by the very thing [punishment] they used to ridicule﴿. So beware -O disbelievers - lest you continue to reject the message and there befall you the same fate as befell them.

If you doubt that, then travel through the land and see what was the fate of the deniers, for you will never find anything but people who were destroyed and nations who were given exemplary punishments. Their dwellings became empty and their land became devoid of any joy. The Sovereign, the Avenger destroyed them and what was left of their structures became a lesson for those who have insight. The kind of travel enjoined here is travel in both a spiritual and physical sense, which will lead to drawing lessons; as for merely looking without learning any lesson, that is of no benefit.

6:12. Say: To whom belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth? Say: To Allah; He has taken it upon Himself to be merciful. He will certainly gather you together on the Day of Resurrection, concerning which there is no doubt. It is those who have lost their own souls who will not believe.

Here Allah says to His Prophet (ﷺ):

﴾Say﴿ to those who ascribe partners to Allah, affirming the concept of Allah’s oneness and making it binding upon them to believe in it: ﴾To whom belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth?﴿ that is, who is the Creator and Sovereign of all of that, who is control of it all? ﴾Say﴿ to them: ﴾To Allah﴿. They will affirm that and not deny it, so should they not acknowledge that Allah alone is the sovereign and controller, and should they not devote their worship to Him alone and affirm His oneness?

﴾He has taken it upon Himself to be merciful﴿ that is, both the upper and lower realms are subject to His dominion and control, and He has extended His mercy and kindness over all of them; He has encompassed them in His mercy and blessings, and He has taken it upon Himself and has decreed for Himself that His mercy should take precedence over His wrath, and that giving is dearer to Him than withholding. Allah has opened the gates of mercy to all of His slaves, unless they close the gates to themselves by sinning; He has called them to His mercy unless they are prevented from seeking it by their sins and faults.

﴾He will certainly gather you together on the Day of Resurrection, concerning which there is no doubt﴿. This is an oath from Him, and He is the most truthful. He has established clear proof and evidence to that effect, which has reached the point of extreme certainty.

Yet the wrongdoers insisted on rejecting that and denying the power of Allah to resurrect His creation; they persisted in disobedience towards Him and had the audacity to disbelieve in Him. Thus they lose out in this world and in the hereafter, and hence He says: «jlt is those who have lost their own souls who will not believe﴿.

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6:13. To Him belongs all that takes rest in the night or in the day, and He is the All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

6:14. Say: Should I take for my protector anyone other than Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, Who feeds but is not fed? Say: I am commanded to be the first of those who submit to Allah [as Muslims]; and do not be one of those who ascribe partners to Allah.

6:15. Say: I fear, if I were to disobey my Lord, the punishment of a momentous day.

6:16. Whoever is spared [the punishment] on that day, is the one on whom Allah has bestowed mercy, and that is the clearest triumph.

6:17. If Allah afflicts you with harm, none can remove it but He; if He blesses you with good, then He has power over all things.

6:18. He is Dominant over His slaves, and He is Most Wise, All- Aware.

6:19. Say: Whose testimony carries the most weight? Say: It is Allah's; He is witness between me and you. This Qur’an has been revealed to me so that I may warn thereby you and whomever it reaches. Do you really bear witness that there are other gods besides Allah? Say: I bear no such witness! Say: Verily He is only One God, and I disavow all [the partners] that you ascribe to Him.

6:20. Those to whom We gave the scripture know it as they know their own sons. It is those who have lost their own souls who will not believe.

This soorah discusses and affirms the oneness of Allah (tawheed) on the basis of rational and textual evidence. Almost the entire soorah speaks of tawheed and debates with those who ascribe partners to Allah and disbelieve in His Messenger (ﷺ).

In these verses, Allah states that by means of which His guidance becomes clear and the arguments of those who ascribe partners to Him are defeated.

He tells us that ﴾To Him﴿, may He be exalted, ﴾belongs all that takes rest in the night or in the day﴿. That refers to all created things, humans, jinn, angels, animals and inanimate objects.

All of them are created by Allah and under His control; they are enslaved to and subjugated by their Almighty Lord, the Subduer, the Dominant.

So is it right, on the basis of rational thought or any text, that any of these slaves should worship something that cannot bring him any benefit or ward off any harm, and refrain from devoting his worship to the Creator, the Controller, the Sovereign, Who alone possesses the power to benefit or harm?

Or is it the case that sound rational thinking and sound human nature call one to devote worship and love sincerely to Allah alone, the Lord of the worlds, and focus their fear and hope solely on Him?

﴾the All-Hearing﴿ Who hears all voices, in different languages, expressing all kinds of needs sfAll-Knowingj﴿ Who knows what was and what will be, and what will not happen, and if it were to happen, how it would happen; He is aware of all things, visible and invisible.

sjSayj﴿ to those who ascribe partners to Allah: ﴾Should I take for my protector anyone other than Allah ﴿, among these helpless created beings, to help and support me? I will not take anyone other than Him to help and support me, because He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth; He is the One Who created them and controls them.﴾Who feeds but is not fed﴿ that is, He is the One Who provides for all of creation, but He has no need of them. So how can it be appropriate for me to take as my protector someone other than the Creator, the Provider, Who is free of all wants and is most praiseworthy?

﴾Say: I am commanded to be the first of those who submit to Allah [as Muslims]﴿, affirming His oneness, submitting and obeying Him. I should be the first to do so, by complying with the commands of my Lord.

﴾and do not be one of those who ascribe partners to Allah﴿ that is, I am also forbidden to be one of those who ascribe partners to Allah, either by sharing their beliefs or keeping company with them or meeting up with them. This is the most important of my obligations and duties.

﴾Say: I fear, if I were to disobey my Lord, the punishment of a momentous day﴿ for the sin of ascribing partners to Allah deserves eternity in hell and the wrath of the Almighty, and that day is the day of which one should fear the punishment, because the one who is saved from punishment on that day is the one who is truly fortunate and who has indeed triumphed, just as the one who is not saved from it is the one who is indeed doomed and wretched.

Another proof of His oneness is the fact that He is the only One Who can remove hardship and bring good and ease. Hence He says:

If Allah afflicts you with harm js such as poverty, sickness, hardship, grief, worries and the like ﴾none can remove it but He; if He blesses you with good, then He has power over all things﴿. For He alone is the One Who brings benefit or causes harm, so He alone is deserving of worship and servitude.

﴾He is Dominant over His slaves﴿, so none of them does anything or moves or stays still except by His will. Neither kings nor anyone else can go beyond His control and authority; rather they are controlled and subjugated. As He is the One Who is Dominant and others are dominated. He is the only One Who is deserving of worship.

﴾and He is Most Wise﴿ in what He enjoins and prohibits, in His reward and punishment, in what He creates and decrees ﴾AI1-Aware﴿ - He knows well what is hidden in people’s hearts and minds, and all subtle matters. All of this is indicative of His oneness.

﴾Say﴿ to them - after We have highlighted the path of guidance to them: ﴾Whose testimony carries the most weight﴿ concerning this great principle?

﴾Say: It is Allah’s﴿ that is, Allah’s testimony carries most weight, for He ﴾is witness between me and you﴿. There is no testimony greater than His, and He testifies for me by means of His approval and His actions; He supports me in what I say to you. This is like the verse in which Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

﴾If he [Muhammad] had falsely attributed something to Us, We would surely have seized him by the right hand, then We would surely have severed his aorta.﴿ (al-Haqqah 69: 44-46)

Allah is Most Wise, All-Powerful, so it is not befitting His wisdom and might to let one who is lying about Him and claiming that Allah sent him when He did not, or that Allah commanded him to call people when He did not, and that Allah permitted him to fight those who oppose him, get carried away (and not seize or punish him). Yet He confirms that he is speaking the truth by allowing him to carry on and by supporting him in what he says by means of dazzling miracles and clear signs, and He helps him and causes the efforts of those who oppose him to end in failure. What testimony could be greater than this testimony?

﴾This Qur’an has been revealed to me so that I may warn thereby you and whomever it reaches﴿ that is, Allah has revealed the noble Qur’an to me for your benefit and in your best interests, so that I can warn you thereby of the painful punishment. This mention of the punishment serves to both encourage and alarm, and explains the actions and words, both visible and hidden, which - if a person does them - he is regarded as having paid heed to the warning.

This Qur’an contains a warning to those who were addressed initially and all those whom it will reach until the Day of Resurrection. It mentions everything that Allah wants from His slaves.

Having explained His testimony, which is the greatest testimony to His oneness, Allah then says: Say to these people who oppose the word of Allah and reject His Messengers: ﴾Do you really bear witness that there are other gods besides Allah? Say: I bear no such witness! )﴿ that is, if they testify to that effect, do not testify with them.

This highlights the contrast between the testimony of the most truthful of those who speak the truth, namely the Lord of the worlds and of the best of His creation (the Prophet [j||]), which is supported by definitive proof and strong arguments that Allah is One with no partner or associate, and the testimony of the polytheists who lost their reasoning, whose religion is mixed up, whose morals and manners are corrupted and who made a laughing stock of themselves before the people of sound reasoning.

Indeed, by their testimony they have gone against their sound human nature and they express contradictory views in their attempt to prove that there are other gods besides Allah, even though their arguments are very flimsy and cannot prove anything.

Choose for yourself which of the two testimonies you want, if you understand; we choose for ourselves that which Allah chose for His Prophet (ﷺ), whose example He instructed us to follow, as He said: ﴾Say: Verily He is only One God﴿ that is, unique, and no one deserves servitude and worship except Him, as He is the only Creator and controller.

﴾and I disavow all [the partners] that you ascribe to Him﴿, such as the idols and rivals, and everything that you ascribe as a partner to Allah. This is the reality of tawheed, affirming the divinity of Allah and rejecting such claims for all others.

Having explained His testimony and that of His Messenger (ﷺ) for His oneness, and the testimony of the polytheists whose argument cannot prove the opposite, Allah then tells us that the People of the Book, namely the Jews and Christians, ﴾know it﴿ that is, they acknowledge the truth of tawheed ﴾as they know their own sons'p that is, they have no reason to doubt, just as they would have no reason to doubt their own children, especially the sons who usually stay by their fathers’ side.

Or it may be that the pronoun refers to the Messenger Muhammad (ﷺ), and the People of the Book have no doubt as to the truth of his message, and they are not confused about it, because they have prophecies which foretold his coming and gave a description which fits him and no one else. The two interpretations are interconnected.

﴾flt is those who have lost their own souls﴿ that is, they have missed out on the purpose for which they were created, namely faith and affirmation of the oneness of Allah, and they have deprived themselves of the bounty of the Most Glorious Sovereign ﴾who will not believe﴿ as they have no faith, so do not ask about the loss and evil consequences that befall them.

6:21. Who does greater evil than he who fabricates lies against Allah, or denies His revelations? Verily the wrongdoers will never prosper.

That is, no one does greater evil or is more stubborn than one who possesses either of these two attributes, so how about if they are combined, both fabricating lies against Allah and denying Hisrevelations which were brought by the Messengers? Indeed such a person is the worst of wrongdoers, and wrongdoers never prosper.

This includes everyone who fabricates lies against Allah by claiming that He has a partner or helper, or claims that someone else should be worshipped instead of Him, or ascribes to Him a wife or son. It also includes all those who reject the truth which was brought by the Messengers or those who acted in their stead.

6:22. On the day when We gather them all together. We will say to those who ascribed partners [to Us]: Where are the partners whom you claimed [to be equal to Allah]?

6:23. Then they will have no excuse but to say: By Allah, our Lord, we never ascribed any partners [to Allah],

6:24. See how they will lie against themselves. And the [false gods] of their own invention will be lost from them.

Here Allah tells us of the fate of the polytheists on the Day of Resurrection; they will be questioned and rebuked, and it will be said to them: ﴾Where are the partners whom you claimed [to be equal to Allah]?﴿ Allah has no partner; rather they said that by way of a claim and a fabrication.

﴾Then they will have no excuse but to say: By Allah, our Lord, we never ascribed any partners [to Allah]﴿ When they are tested with that question, they will have no response but to deny that they ascribed partners to Allah and swear that they were not polytheists.

﴾See﴿ - this is indicative of astonishment at them and their situation

﴾how they will lie against themselves﴿ that is, they told a lie that will result in loss and great harm to themselves

﴾And the [false gods] of their own invention will be lost from them﴿ - this refers to the partners that they claimed existed besides Allah, exalted be Allah far above that.

6:25. Among them are some who listen to you, but We have placed covers on their hearts so that they will not understand it, and deafness in their ears. Even if they saw every sign, they would not believe in them. When they come to you to argue with you, those who disbelieve say: These are nothing but tales of the ancients.

That is, some of the polytheists are people who sometimes, for some reason, find themselves listening to what you say, but it is listening that is devoid of any quest for the truth. Hence they do not benefit from that listening, because they are not seeking to follow what is right.

﴾but We have placed covers on their hearts﴿ that is, so that they will not understand the word of Allah; He has protected His word from such people

﴾and deafness in their ears﴿ that is. We have placed deafness in their ears, so that they do not listen to that which would benefit them.﴾Even if they saw every sign they would not believe in them﴿ - this is the utmost wrongdoing and stubbornness, when there are clear signs that point to the truth, but they do not accept them or believe them; rather they argue on the basis of falsehood, seeking to refute the truth.

Hence Allah says: ﴾When they come to you to argue with you, those who disbelieve say: These are nothing but tales of the ancients﴿ that is, taken from the books of the earlier peoples which were not from Allah or from His Messengers. That is due to their disbelief, otherwise how could this Book, which contains stories of the earlier and later peoples, and truths brought by the Prophets and Messengers, and words of truth, fairness and justice, that is perfect in all aspects, be tales of the ancients?

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6:26. They prevent others from [following] him [the Prophet (ﷺ)] and they keep away from him themselves, but they only destroy their own souls, although they do not realise it.

This refers to those who ascribe partners to Allah and disbelieve in His Messenger (ﷺ). They both go astray and lead others astray; they forbid people to follow the truth, and they warn against it whilst keeping away from it themselves. They will never harm Allah or His believing slaves in the slightest by their action.

﴾but they only destroy their own souls, although they do not realise it﴿.

6:27. If you could but see them when they will be made to stand before the fire. They will say: Would that we could be sent back [to this world]! Then we would not reject the revelations of our Lord, and we would be among the believers.

6:28. But that which they concealed before will manifest itself to them. And even if they were sent back, they would surely go back to that which was forbidden to them, for they are indeed liars.

6:29. And they say: There is nothing beyond our life in this world, and we will not be resurrected.

Here Allah tells us of the situation of the polytheists on the Day of Resurrection, when they are brought to hell:

﴾If you could but see them when they will be made to stand before the fire﴿ to be rebuked and reprimanded; you would see something terrifying and alarming, and you would see how they will acknowledge their disbelief and wrongdoing, and will wish to go back to this world.

﴾They will say: Would that we could be sent back [to this world]! Then we would not reject the revelations of our Lord, and we would be among the believers. But that which they concealed before will manifest itself to them﴿ for they knew, deep down in their hearts, that they were lying, and they often felt that in their hearts, but their ulterior motives prevented them from acknowledging that and turned their hearts away from good. They will also be lying when they express these wishes, for their aim will be only to ward off the punishment from themselves.﴾And even if they were sent back, they would surely go back to that which was forbidden to them, for they are indeed liars﴿.

﴾And they say﴿, denying the Resurrection ﴾There is nothing beyond our life in this world﴿ that is, there is nothing real and the only purpose of our existence is the life of this world ﴾and we will not be resurrected, ji.

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6:30. If you could but see them when they will be made to stand before their Lord. He will say: Is this not the truth? They will say: Yes indeed, by our Lord. He will say: Then taste the punishment for having disbelieved.

﴾If you could but see them﴿ namely the disbelievers ﴾when they will be made to stand before their Lord﴿, you would see a grave and terrifying scene.

﴾He will say﴿ to them, by way of rebuke and reprimand:

﴾Is this﴿ that is, what you see of punishment ﴾not the truth? They will say: Yes indeed, by our Lord﴿ - they will affirm and acknowledge at the time when doing so will be of no benefit to them.

﴾He will say: Then taste the punishment for having disbelieved﴿.

6:31. Lost indeed are those who deny the meeting with their Lord until, when the Hour comes upon them suddenly, they will say: Alas for us, that we neglected it! They will bear their burdens on their backs; miserable indeed will be their burden.

That is, those who disbelieve in the meeting with Allah are lost and doomed, and deprived of all good, because this denial caused them to fall into that which is prohibited and to commit sins which incurred doom f﴾until, when the Hour comes upon them suddenly﴿, when they are in the worst condition, they will express the utmost regret ﴾they will say: Alas for us, that we neglected it!﴿ But this feeling of sorrow will come when the time for regret has gone. tfThey will bear their burdens on their backs; miserable indeed will be their burden﴿, for their burden will be heavy and will weigh them down, and they will not be able to rid themselves of it. Hence they will abide forever in hell and they will deserve the eternal wrath of the Almighty.

6:32. The life of this world is nothing but play and a distraction; but indeed the life of the hereafter is better for those who fear Allah. Will you not then understand?

This is the reality of this world and of the hereafter. The reality of this world is that it is mere play and distraction; it is play in a physical sense, and its distraction affects hearts and minds, which are deeply attached to it and focus all their attention on it, like children at play.

As for the hereafter, it is ﴾better for those who fear Allah﴿, in and of itself and in its attributes and eternal nature. In it there is what hearts long for and what delights the eye of bliss, pleasure, happiness and joy. But that is not for everyone; rather it is only for those who fear Allah, comply with His commands and avoid that which He prohibits.

﴾Will you not then understand?﴿ That is, do you not have minds with which to understand which of the two realms is most deserving of being given precedence?

^:33. We know well that what they say grieves you [O Muhammad]. It is not you they disbelieve; rather it is the revelations of Allah that the wrongdoers deny.

6;34. The Messengers before you were also rejected, but they bore with patience that rejection and mistreatment until Our help came to them. No one can change the words [promises] of Allah. And you have already received some accounts of those Messengers.

6;35. [f you find their turning away hard to bear, then seek a tunnel into the earth or a ladder into the heavens, if you can, and bring them a sign. If Allah had so willed. He could have brought them all to guidance; so do not be among those who are ignorant.

That is, We know that what those who disbelieve in you say grieves you and upsets you, but We only instruct you to be patient so that you may attain high status and great reward. So do not think that what they say stems from suspicion or doubt concerning you.

﴾flt is not you they disbelieve﴿ because they know that you tell the truth and they know all about you and your comings and goings. They even used to call him - before his mission began - al-Ameen (the trustworthy one)

﴾rather it is the revelations of Allah that the wrongdoers deny﴿ that is, their rejection is of the revelations of Allah which Allah has sent at your hands.

﴾The Messengers before you were also rejected, but they bore with patience that rejection and mistreatment until Our help came to them﴿ - so be patient as they were patient, and you will attain victory as they did.

fjAnd you have already received some accounts of those Messengers﴿by means of which you may find reassurance and peace of mind.

﴾If you find their turning away hard to bear﴿ that is, if it is difficult for you because of your keenness for them to be guided and your eagerness for them to believe, then do your utmost to bring that about, but you will not be able to guide those whom Allah does not will should be guided.

﴾then seek a tunnel into the earth or a ladder into the heavens, if you can, and bring them a sign﴿ that is, if you can, then do that, but it will not benefit them at all. This put a stop to his hope that people like these stubborn ones would be guided.

If Allah had so willed, He could have brought them all to guidance﴿ but His wisdom dictated that they should remain misguided ﴾so do not be among those who are ignorant﴿ who do not acknowledge facts or appreciate them properly.

6:36. Only those who hear will respond; as for the dead, Allah will resurrect them, then to Him they will return.

6:37. They say: Why has no sign been sent down to him from his Lord? Say: Allah does indeed have the power to send down a sign, - but most of them do not understand [the consequences].

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says to His Prophet (ﷺ): ﴾Only those who hear﴿ with their hearts that which will benefit them, namely the people of understanding who are willing to listen

﴾will respond﴿ to your call, accept your message and comply with your commands and prohibitions.

What is meant by hearing in this case is listening with the heart and responding; as for merely hearing with the ears, this is something that is common to both righteous and immoral. Proof is established against all those who are accountable when they hear the revelations of Allah, after which there is no excuse left for not accepting the message.

﴾as for the dead, Allah will resurrect them, then to Him they will return﴿. It may be that what is meant here is a contrast to what is mentioned earlier, in other words: only those who are spiritually alive will respond to you; as for those whose hearts are spiritually dead, who do not realise what is in their best interests or understand what could save them, they will not respond to you or comply with your message. Their time of reckoning is the Day of Resurrection, when Allah will resurrect them, then to Him they will return.

Or it may be that what is meant by this verse is the apparent meaning, and that Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) knows when the Day of Resurrection will begin and that He will resurrect the dead on the Day of Resurrection, then He will inform them of what they used to do.

This carries an implicit encouragement to respond to Allah and His Messenger (ﷺ), and an implicit warning against not doing so.

﴾They﴿ that is, those who reject the message out of stubbornness ﴾say: Why has no sign been sent down to him from his Lord?﴿ this refers to signs that they suggest and demand on the basis of their corrupt ideas and thoughts.

This is like when they said:

﴾j...We will never believe in you until you cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us; or you have a garden of date palms and vines, and you cause rivers to gush forth in their midst; or you cause the sky to fall upon us in pieces, as you claimed [that Allah could do that if He willed];^{1This is a reference to a punishment coming upon them from above, as mentioned in v. 68 «f... or that He will not send against you a violent squall of pebbles...]*. (ar-Razi)} or you bring Allah and the angels before us, face

﴾﴾Say﴿﴿ in response to them: ﴾Allah does indeed have the power to send down a sign﴿, and it is not beyond His power to do so; how could it be otherwise when all things are subjugated to His glory and might?

But most people do not know, hence because of their ignorance and lack of knowledge they demand what is bad for them, by asking for signs which, if they came, they would not believe in them, and then the punishment would be hastened for them, as this is the way of Allah which does not change. Nevertheless, if what they meant is signs to highlight the truth and show them the way, then Muhammad (ﷺ) has brought all definitive signs and proof which indicate thathis message is the truth, to such an extent that with regard to every issue of religion, the individual will be able to find, on the basis of what he brought, ample rational and textual evidence, so that there will be no room left for even the slightest doubt.

Blessed be the One Who sent His Messenger (ﷺ) with guidance and the true religion, and supported him with clear signs, so that those who choose to perish (by choosing disbelief) might do so after seeing clear evidence, and those who choose to live (by choosing faith) might do so after seeing clear evidence. Verily Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing (cf 8: 42).

6:38. There is no creature that moves on the earth, and no bird that flies on its two wings, but they are communities like you. We have neglected nothing in the Book [of Our decrees], then to their Lord they will be gathered.

That is, all animals on land and in the air, tame or wild, including birds, are communities like you. We have created them as We have created you. We grant them provision as We grant you, and Our will is done concerning them as it is done concerning you.

﴾We have neglected nothing in the Book [of Our decrees] that is, We have not been careless or heedless in omitting anything from al-Lawh al-Mahfoodh■ Rather all things, great and small, are written in al-Lawh al-Mahfoodh as they are decreed, and all things will come to pass in accordance with what the Pen wrote.

This verse indicates that written in the first Book (al-Lawh al-Mahfoodh) are all things that will happen. This is the first categoryof the divine will and decree, of which there are four categories: the all-encompassing knowledge of Allah; His Book that contains all that exists; His will and decree that is applicable to all things; and His creation of all created things, even people’s deeds.

It may be that what is meant by ﴾the Book﴿ here is this Qur’an, in which case the meaning of this verse will be similar to the meaning of the verse in which Allah says:

﴾f... And We have sent down to you the Book, explaining all things... j?

﴾then to their Lord they will be gathered﴿ that is, all nations will be gathered and assembled before Allah in the place of standing on the Day of Resurrection, in that huge and terrifying gathering. Then He will requite them on the basis of His justice and kindness, and His judgement will be passed concerning them, which will be praised by the first and the last, the inhabitants of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth.

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6:39. Those who reject Our revelations are deaf and dumb, [dwelling] in the depths of darkness. Whomever Allah wills, He leaves astray and whomever He wills. He sets on a straight path.

This is a description of those who disbelieve in the signs of Allah and reject His Messengers. They close to themselves the door of guidance, and open the door of doom. They are ﴾deaf﴿ to the truth and ﴾dumb﴿, unable to speak the truth, so they speak nothing but falsehood.

﴾[dwelling] in the depths of darkness﴿ that is, they are immersed in the darkness of ignorance, disbelief, wrongdoing, stubbornness and sin. That is because Allah has left them astray, for ﴾Whomever Allah wills. He leaves astray and whomever He wills, He sets on a straight path﴿, because He is the only One Who decrees guidance and misguidance, according to what is dictated by His grace and wisdom.

6:40. Say: What do you think, if the punishment of Allah or the Hour came upon you, would you then call upon anyone other than Allah? [Answer that,] if you are truthful!

6:41. No, it is on Him [alone] you would call; then, if He so willed. He would remove that which caused you to call upon Him, and you would forget [the partners] that you ascribe to Him.

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says to His Messenger (ﷺ): ﴾Say﴿ to those who ascribe partners to Allah and regard others as equal to Him:

﴾What do you think, if the punishment of Allah or the Hour came upon you, would you then call upon anyone other than Allah? [Answer that,] if you are truthful!﴿ That is, if this hardship and distress occurs, which one would have to try to relieve oneself of, would you call upon your gods and idols, or would you call upon your Lord, the True Sovereign?

﴾No, it is on Him [alone] you would call; then, if He so willed, He would remove that which caused you to call upon Him, and you would forget [the partners] that you ascribe to Him﴿. If this is howyou are with your false gods, and you forget them when you are faced with hardships, because you know that they cannot benefit you or harm you, and they have no power to give life, cause death or bring about resurrection, and you call sincerely upon Allah because you know that He is the only One Who can bring benefit or cause harm, and He is the only One Who can answer the call of the one who is in distress, then how come at times of ease you ascribe partners to Him? Is this based on any rational or textual evidence, or do you have any proof for that? Rather you fabricate lies against Allah.

6:42. We sent [Messengers] to nations before you, and We afflicted them with adversity and distress, so that they might humble themselves.

6:43. If only they had humbled themselves when Our punishment came upon them! But their hearts were hardened and the Shaytan made fair-seeming to them what they were doing.

6:44. So, when they forgot that of which they had been reminded. We opened unto them the gates of all [good] things until, when they were rejoicing in what they had been given. We seized them suddenly and they were plunged into utter despair.

6:45. Thus the transgressors were destroyed to the last man. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

﴾We sent [Messengers] to nations before you﴿ among the previous generations, and they rejected Our Messengers and denied Our signs ﴾and We afflicted them with adversity and distress﴿ that is, with poverty, sickness, calamities and disasters, out of mercy towards them, ﴾so that they might humble themselves﴿ before Us, and turn to Us at times of hardship.

﴾lf only they had humbled themselves when Our punishment came upon them! But their hearts were hardened﴿ that is, they became like rock and could not be softened and opened to the truth ﴾fand the Shaytan made fair-seeming to them what they were doing﴿ so they thought that what they were following was the true religion, and they indulged in their falsehood for a while, and the Shaytan toyed with them and made fools of them.

﴾So, when they forgot that of which they had been reminded, We opened unto them the gates of all [good] things﴿ of the pleasures and distractions of this world

﴾until, when they were rejoicing in what they had been given, We seized them suddenly and they were plunged into utter despair﴿ that is, they despaired of all good. This is the worst of all possible punishments, for to be seized unawares at a time when one is heedless and feeling safe and secure makes the punishment more severe and the calamity greater.

﴾Thus the transgressors were destroyed to the last man﴿ that is, they saw the punishment and all ties between them were severed (cf. 2: 166)

﴾Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds﴿ for what He has willed and decreed of destruction for the disbelievers, for this highlights His signs, honours His close friends, humiliates His enemies and confirms the truthfulness of what the Messengers brought.

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6:46. Say: What do you think, if Allah took away your hearing and your sight, and sealed up your hearts, what god other than Allah could restore them to you? See how elaborately We make the revelations clear, yet still they turn away.

6:47. Say: What do you think, if the punishment of Allah came upon you, suddenly or predictably, would any be destroyed except the transgressors?

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) tells us that just as He is the only One Who creates things and controls them, He is also unique in His oneness and divinity.

﴾Say: What do you think, if Allah took away your hearing and your sight, and sealed up your hearts﴿ and you remained unable to hear, see or think

(fwhat god other than Allah could restore them to you?﴿;﴿ If there is none but Allah Who could do that, then why do you worship alongside Him those who have no power to do anything unless Allah wills it?

This is part of the evidence for the oneness of Allah and proof that the ascription of partners to Him is false. Hence He says: ﴾See how elaborately We make the revelations clear﴿ that is, We explain it in various ways, giving all kinds of examples, to explain the truth and highlight the way of the wrongdoers (so that it can be avoided), ﴾yet still they turn away﴿ that is, despite this perfect explanation, they turn away from the revelations of Allah and ignore them.

﴾Say: What do you think﴿ that is, tell me﴾if the punishment of Allah came upon you, suddenly or predictably﴿ that is, suddenly or preceded by precursors whereby you would know of its approach

﴾would any be destroyed except the transgressors?﴿ who were the cause of the punishment coming upon them, because of their wrongdoing and stubbornness. So beware of persisting in wrongdoing, for it leads to eternal doom and misery.

6:48. We sent the Messengers only as bearers of good news and as warners. So those who believe and mend their ways will have no fear, nor will they grieve.

6:49. But as for those who reject Our revelations, punishment will strike them for their evil deeds.

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) mentions the essence of the message brought by the Messengers, which is glad tidings and warning. That requires an explanation of who the bringer of glad tidings is, what the glad tidings are about, and the deeds which, if a person does them, he will attain those glad tidings, and an explanation of who the warner is, what the warning is about and the deeds which, if a person does them, the warning will become applicable to him. People are divided - according to their response to the call or their lack thereof - into two groups:

﴾So those who believe and mend their ways﴿ that is, they believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers and the Last Day, and they make sure that their faith, deeds and intentions are also sound﴾will have no fear﴿ in the future ﴾nor will they grieve﴿ over the past.

﴾But as for those who reject Our revelations, punishment will strike them﴿ that is, punishment will overtake them ﴾for their evil deeds﴿.

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6:50. Say [O Muhammad]: I do not tell you that I possess the treasuries of Allah, and I do not know the unseen, nor do I tell you that I am an angel; I only follow that which is revealed to me. Say: Is the blind man equal to one who can see? Will you not then reflect?

Here Allah Bs) instructs His Prophet (ﷺ) to address those who demand signs of him or who say to him: You are only calling us to take you as a god besides Allah:

﴾I do not tell you that I possess the treasuries of Allah﴿ that is, the keys to His provision and mercy

﴾and I do not know the unseen﴿. Rather all of that belongs to Allah; whatever of mercy Allah grants to people, none can withhold, and whatever He withholds, none can release it thereafter (cf. 35: 2). He alone is the Knower of the unseen and the seen:

﴾...He does not disclose His unseen to anyone, except a Messenger whom He has chosen...﴿ (al-Jinn 72. 26-27)

﴾nor do I tell you that I am an angel﴿ and therefore strong and powerful. I do not claim to be above the station that Allah has allocated to me﴾I only follow that which is revealed to me﴿ that is, the most that I can claim about myself is that I follow that which is revealed to me, so I act upon it concerning myself and I call all people to do likewise.

Once my status is known, why would anyone argue with me or demand of me something that I do not claim to have? Will a man be obliged to do something of which he does not claim to have the means?

Why - when I call you to that which has been revealed to me - do you try to make me claim for myself something that is beyond me? Can this be anything but unfairness, stubbornness and rebelliousness on your part? So explain to them the difference between the one who accepts my call and submits to what is revealed to me, and the one who is not like that:

﴾Say: Is the blind man equal to one who can see? Will you not then reflect?﴿ so that you will be able to evaluate things as they are and make the right choice?

6:51. Warn hereby those who fear being gathered to their Lord, when they will have no protector or intercessor but Him, so that they may become pious.

6:52. Do not send away those who call upon their Lord every morning and afternoon, seeking His Countenance. You are not at all accountable for them nor are they accountable for you, and therefore you have no right to send them away; [if you did so] you would be one of the wrongdoers.

6:53. Thus We tested some of them by means of others, so that they [the disbelievers] would say: Are these the ones whom Allah has favoured among us? Does not Allah know best those who are grateful?

6:54. When those who believe in Our revelations come to you, say: Peace be upon you. Your Lord has taken it upon Himself to be merciful: whoever among you commits a sin out of ignorance, and after that repents and mends his ways, then verily He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

6:55. Thus We explain the revelations in detail, so that the way of the evildoers may be made known.

This Qur’an is a warning to all people, but only ﴾those who fear being gathered to their Lord﴿ will benefit from it, for they are certain that they will move from this realm to the eternal realm of the hereafter, and therefore they do that which will benefit them and refrain from that which will harm them.

﴾when they will have no protector or intercessor but Him﴿ that is, except Allah; they will have no one but Him to take care of their affairs so that they may attain what they seek, or to ward off what they fear, or to intercede for them, because all of humankind will have no control over the matter at all.

f(so that they may become pious﴿ and fear Allah by obeying His commands and complying with His prohibitions, as a result of heeding the warning.

﴾Do not send away those who call upon their Lord every morning and afternoon, seeking His Countenance﴿ that is, do not send away from you and from your gatherings, preferring to sit with others, people who are devoted to sincere worship, those who consistently call upon their Lord by way of worship, remembering Him, praying and so on, and who call upon Him by way of asking, at the beginning and the end of the day, seeking thereby Allah’s Countenance, with no other aim or goal.

Such people do not deserve to be sent away or ignored; rather they deserve to be taken as friends and loved, and to be brought close, because they are the best of people even if they are poor, and they are indeed noble and honourable, even if in the eyes of people they are lowly and humble.

﴾You are not at all accountable for them nor are they accountable for you﴿ that is, each one will have his own reckoning, for he has his own good or bad deeds.

﴾and therefore you have no right to send them away; [if you did so] you would be one of the wrongdoers﴿. The Prophet (ﷺ) complied closely with this command. When he sat with the poor believers, he was patient and content with them, treated them kindly and gently, showed a good attitude towards them and brought them close to him. Indeed they formed the majority of the people around him, may Allah be pleased with them.

The reason for the revelation of these verses was that some people among Quraysh or among the rough and harsh Arabs said to the Prophet (ﷺ): If you want us to believe in you and follow you, then send away So-and-so and So-and-so - naming some of the poor Companions - for we feel embarrassed for the Arabs to see us sitting with these poor people.

Because he was so keen for them to become Muslim and follow him, he thought of doing that, but Allah rebuked him in these and similar verses.

﴾Thus We tested some of them by means of others, so that they [the disbelievers] would say: Are these the ones whom Allah has favoured among us?﴿ That is, this is a way in which Allah tests His slaves, as He has made some of them rich and some of them poor, some of them prominent and some of them of lowly standing. Therefore when Allah blesses a poor or lowly person with faith, that is a test for the one who is rich or of high standing.

If a person is seeking the truth and wants to follow it, he will believe and become Muslim, and he will not be prevented from doing so by the fact that he will be sharing a faith with one who is of lesser standing than him in terms of wealth and prominence. But if he is not sincere in seeking the truth, then this will form an obstacle that will prevent him from following the truth.

But they said, looking down on those who they thought were beneath them: ﴾Are these the ones whom Allah has favoured among us?﴿ Hence this prevented them from following the truth, because the intention in their hearts was not pure. Allah said in response to their implicit objection to His having guided these people and not them: (-﴾Does not Allah know best those who are grateful?﴿ that is, those who will acknowledge the blessing and do what it requires of righteous deeds, thus He will bestow His favour and blessings upon them, and not upon those who are ungrateful.

For Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) is wise, and He does not bestow His favour upon one who is not deserving of it. These people who raise objections are of that type, unlike those among the poor and others whom Allah blessed with faith, for they are the ones who are grateful.

When Allah forbade His Messenger (ﷺ) to send away the pious believers. He instructed him to treat them with honour and respect, as He said: ﴾When those who believe in Our revelations come to you, say: Peace be upon you﴿ that is, when the believers come to you, greet them and welcome them warmly, and say things to raise their moraleand motivate them, telling them of the mercy, bounty and kindness of Allah, and encourage them by all means that may achieve that; and warn them against committing sin and persisting therein, and instruct them to repent from sin, so that they may attain the forgiveness and mercy of their Lord. Hence He says: ﴾Your Lord has taken it upon Himself to be merciful: whoever among you commits a sin out of ignorance, and after that repents and mends his ways﴿ that is, in addition to giving up sin and regretting it, it is also essential to mend one’s ways, do what Allah has enjoined, and change one’s bad deeds, both outward and inward.

If you do all of that, ﴾then verily He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful﴿ that is, He will bestow upon them forgiveness and mercy commensurate with what they have done of what was enjoined upon them.

﴾Thus We explain the revelations in detail﴿ that is, we explain them and distinguish between the path of guidance and the path of misguidance, so that people may be guided thereby and so that the truth which should be followed will be made clear.

﴾so that the way of the evildoers﴿ which incurs the wrath and punishment of Allah ﴾may be made known﴿, for once the way of the evildoers is made clear, it can be avoided, unlike when it remains indistinct and ambiguous, in which case this noble goal (of avoiding it) cannot be attained.

6:56. Say: I am forbidden to worship those you call upon besides Allah. Say: I will not follow your vain desires; if I did, I would go astray and I would not be one of the rightly guided.

6:57. Say: I am [relying] on clear proof concerning my Lord, while you deny [the truth]. What you seek to hasten is not within my power. The decision rests with Allah alone; He rules on the basis of truth and He is the best of judges.

6:58. Say: If what you seek to hasten was within my power, the matter would [already] have been settled between me and you. But Allah knows best who the wrongdoers are.

Allah says to His Prophet ﴾Say﴿ to these polytheists who claim that there are other gods besides Allah: ﴾fl am forbidden to worship those you call upon besides Allah﴿, namely the rivals and idols who have no power to bring benefit or cause harm, or to cause death, bring life or resurrect, for this is falsehood which you have no proof or argument, except following whims and desires, which is the worst misguidance.

Hence Allah says:

﴾Say: I will not follow your vain desires; if I did﴿ follow your whims and desires, ﴾I would go astray and I would not be one of the rightly guided﴿ in any way at all. Rather the path I am following, of affirming the oneness of Allah and sincerely devoting my deeds to Him, is the truth for which there is definitive proof and evidence.

﴾Say: I am [relying] on clear proof concerning my Lord﴿ that is, I am relying on clear certainty that my Lord is the true Lord, and that everything else is false. This is firm testimony from the Messenger (ﷺ) in which there is no wavering or hesitation, and he is the bestwitness of all people. The believers accepted this testimony and the clarity of their certainty of its soundness was commensurate with the level of their faith with which Allah blessed them Awhile you﴿, O polytheists, ﴾deny [the truth]﴿. He does not deserve such a response from you, for there is no appropriate response except to believe it. Because you persisted in your rejection, you should understand that the punishment will inevitably befall you; it is with Allah and He will send it down upon you whenever He wills, however He wills, and if you seek to hasten it, I will have no control over the situation, for ﴾The decision rests with Allah alone﴿; just as He is the One Who ordained the rulings of Sharia, commands and prohibitions, it is He Who will issue the decree of requital, and He will reward or punish according to His wisdom. So objecting to His decree in any way is not acceptable. He has made the right path clear and has told His slaves about the truth, thus leaving no room for excuses and no argument against it, so that those who choose to perish (by choosing disbelief) might do so after seeing clear evidence, and those who choose to live (by choosing faith) might do so after seeing clear evidence (cf. 8: 42).

﴾and He is the best of judges﴿ between His slaves in this world and the hereafter. So He judges between them and will be praised for it, even by those against whom judgement is passed and they are found guilty.

﴾﴾Say﴿﴿ to those who seek to hasten the punishment wrongfully, out of ignorance and stubbornness:

﴾flf what you seek to hasten was within my power, the matter would [already] have been settled between me and you﴿, for I would have brought it upon you and there would be nothing good for you in that.

But the matter is in the Hand of the Most Forbearing, Most Patient, Whom people disobey in the most audacious manner, yet He grants them well-being and provision, and bestows His blessings, both visible and invisible, upon them﴾But Allah knows best who the wrongdoers are﴿ - nothing about them is hidden from Him, so He grants them respite but He does not forget about them.

6:59. With Him are the keys of the unseen; no one knows them but He. He knows all that is in the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls but He knows it; there is no grain in the darkest bowels of the earth, nor anything fresh or dry, but it is [inscribed] in a clear record.

This verse is one of the verses that most clearly highlight His all-encompassing knowledge, which includes all of the unseen, of which He discloses whatever He wills to whomever He wills of His creation, although much of it remains concealed from the angels who are close to Him and the Prophets who were sent, let alone other people. He knows what is in the wilderness of animals, plants, sand, rocks and dust, and what is in the sea of marine creatures, minerals and other things, that may be contained in different parts of it, and what is in the water.

﴾Not a leaf falls﴿ from plants on land and in the water, in cities and in the wilderness, in this world and in the hereafter, but He knows it. ﴾there is no grain in the darkest bowels of the earth jj, which includes the seeds of fruits and other crops, seeds that are sown by people and the seeds of wild plants from which different types of vegetation grow.

﴾nor anything fresh or dry﴿ this is general in meaning and comes after specific descriptions ﴾but it is [inscribed] in a clear record﴿ - this refers to al-Lawh al-Mahfoodh. which contains mention of them and listed them all. Some of the things mentioned may dazzle and astound the minds of smart people. This is indicative of the greatness of the Almighty Lord and the all-encompassing nature of all of His attributes.

If all of humankind, from the first to the last of them, were to come together to comprehend some of His attributes, they would never be able to do so. Blessed be the Almighty Lord, the All-Encompassing, All-Knowing, the Praiseworthy and Glorious, the Witness, the Omniscient.

How great is Allah; no one can list all the words of praise for Him. Rather He is as He has praised Himself, and is far above whatever His slaves may say in praise of Him. This verse indicates that His knowledge encompasses all things and His clear record (al-Lawh al-Mahfoodh) includes all that happens.

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6:60. It is He Who takes your souls [in sleep] by night, and knows what you have done by day. Then He awakens you again [by day] to complete the term appointed [for you]. Then to Him you will all return, then He will inform you about what you used to do.

6:61. He is Dominant over His slaves. He sends keepers [to watch] over you, then when death comes to one of you. Our envoys [angels] take his soul, and they never fail in their duty.

6:62. Then they are returned to Allah, their true Lord. Verily His is the judgement and He is the swiftest in reckoning.

All of this is an affirmation of His divinity and is proof against those who ascribe partners to Him. It is a statement that He alone is deserving of love, veneration, respect and honour. Here Allah tells us that He is the only One Who is in control of His slaves’ affairs, when they are awake and when they are asleep; He takes their souls in sleep during the night, so their movements become still and their bodies rest, then he wakens them from their sleep, so that they can go about their business and tend to their spiritual and worldly affairs.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) knows what they do and what they earn by their deeds. Allah continues to control them like that until the appointed time comes. Thus He decrees a term for them in this world, and another term after that, when they are resurrected after death. Hence He says: ﴾Then to Him you will all return﴿ and not to anyone else.

﴾then He will inform you about what you used to do﴿ of good and evil.

﴾He is Dominant over His slaves﴿ - His all-encompassing will is done concerning them, so they have no control over their affairs at all; they cannot move or stay still except by His leave.

Nevertheless, He has appointed angels who watch over His slaves and record their deeds, as Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

﴾While indeed there are watchers appointed over you, honourable scribes,^{1These are the recording angels who write down all that people do of both good and bad deeds.} who know all that you do.﴿ (al-lnfitar 82:10-12)﴾f. ■ .constantly accompanying him, one on his right, the other on his left. Not a word does he utter but there is with him a watcher, ready to record it.p (Qaf50: 17-18)

They keep watch over them whilst they are alive.

﴾then when death comes to one of you. Our envoys [angels] take his soul﴿ that is, the angels who are appointed to take people’s souls ﴾and they never fail in their duty﴿. They never allow an hour more than what Allah has decreed, nor do they cut short anyone’s lifespan, or carry out any instruction except in accordance with the divine decree.

﴾Then﴿, after death and life in al-barzakh,^{2An intermediate state between death and the Day of Resurrection; it is also said to be a ‘place’ where the souls of the deceased will remain until the blowing of the trumpet.} with whatever it entails of good or bad, ﴾they are returned to Allah, their true Lord﴿ that is, the One Who took care of them on the basis of what He decreed for them, then He took care of them by means of what He enjoined and forbade; He sent the Messengers to them and revealed Books to them.

Then they will return to Him, so that He can take charge of their requital, rewarding them for what they did of good and punishing them for what they did of evil. Hence Allah says: Verily His is the judgement﴿ - it is His alone, with no partner or associate ﴾and He is the swiftest in reckoning﴿ because of His perfect knowledge and His recording of their deeds, by means of what is written in al-Lawh al-Mahfoodh, then it is written again by the angels in the records that they keep.

As Allah is the only One Who creates and controls, and He has power over His slaves, and takes care of them in all situations, He alone is the One Who decrees what will happen to them, and to Him alone belong the divine decree, the power to ordain what is lawful and what is prohibited, the judgement (on the Day of Resurrection)and the requital. So how could the polytheists turn away from One Who is like that, and instead worship those who have no power of command, who cannot bring even an atom’s weight of benefit, and indeed have no power at all?

By Allah, if they knew how patient Allah is with them, how He grants them well-being and shows compassion towards them even while they are challenging Him by ascribing partners to Him and showing ingratitude towards Him, and disrespecting His greatness by fabricating lies, yet still He grants them well-being and provision, they would become highly motivated to learn about Him and their hearts would be filled with love for Him, and they would hate themselves intensely for having responded to the call of the Shaytan which leads to disgrace and loss. But they are people who do not understand.

6:63. Say: Who is it that delivers you from distress on land and sea, when you call upon Him out loud or privately [saying]: If only He would deliver us from this, we will certainly be among those who are grateful.

6:64. Say: It is Allah Who delivers you from this and all other adversity, yet you still ascribe partners to Him.

﴾Say﴿ to these people who ascribe partners to Allah and call upon other gods besides Him, so as to make it binding upon them, as they accept the oneness of Allah’s Lordship, to also accept the oneness of His divinity (and that He is the only one deserving of worship):﴾Say: Who is it that delivers you from distress on land and sea﴿ that is, from its hardship and difficulties, when you cannot find a way out of your troubles, so you call upon your Lord, beseeching Him with humble hearts and a tongue that never ceases to offer supplication, stating your need of Him, and you say - when you are in that situation: ﴾flf only He would deliver us from this﴿ hardship in which we find ourselves ﴾fwe will certainly be among those who are grateful﴿ to Allah; in other words, we will be among those who acknowledge His blessing and use it to help them obey their Lord, and will protect it lest they use it in acts of disobedience.

﴾Say: It is Allah Who delivers you from this and all other adversity﴿ that is, from this particular hardship and from all hardships in general ﴾yet you still ascribe partners to Him﴿ and you do not fulfil your promise to Allah; you forget the blessings that He has bestowed upon you. What proof can be clearer than this of the falsehood of polytheism and the truth of Allah’s oneness?

(■vv-to

6:65. Say: He has the power to send punishment upon you from above you or from beneath your feet, and to divide you into discordant factions, causing some to suffer at the hands of others. See how elaborately We make the revelations clear, so that they may understand.

6:66. But your people deny this, although it is the truth. Say: I am not your keeper.

6:67. For everything that is foretold there is a time when it will come to pass; and you will come to know.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) is able to send the punishment upon you from all directions, dfrom above you or from beneath your feet, and to divide you into discordant factions, causing some to suffer at the hands of others﴿ that is, at times of turmoil and internal fighting.

He is able to do all of that, so beware of persisting in sin, lest there befall you a punishment that would bring about your ruin and destruction. Although He states that He is able to do that, yet by His mercy He has spared this Ummah from the punishment of stones raining down from above and the like, and from the punishment of being swallowed up by the earth beneath their feet.

But He may punish some whom He chooses to punish by causing them to suffer at the hands of one another; so He may give some power over others who then mistreat them, as a punishment in this world, which people may see and learn lessons from, and which people with knowledge will understand.

﴾See how elaborately We make the revelations clear﴿ that is, We make them vary and We have verses which approach the matter from different angles, so as to prove various points, but all of them are indicative of the truth ﴾so that they may understand﴿ that is, so that they may understand the reason for which they were created, and so that they may understand the teachings of Islam and the divine message.

﴾But your people deny this﴿ namely the Qur’an ﴾although it is the truth﴿ concerning which there is no doubt.

﴾Say: I am not your keeper﴿ and it is not my role to record your deeds or requite them; rather my role is to warn you and convey the message.

﴾For everything that is foretold there is a time﴿ which cannot be brought forward or put back﴾fand you will come to know﴿ the punishment of which We have warned you.

6:68. If you see people speaking scornfully about Our revelations, withdraw from them until they begin to talk of other things. If the Shaytan causes you to forget, then as soon as you remember, do not sit with the wrongdoing people.

6:69. Those who fear Allah are in no way accountable for them. However, it is [their duty] to admonish them, so that they may desist from their mockery.

What is meant by speaking scornfully about the revelations of Allah is saying that which is contrary to the truth, such as presenting false ideas in an attractive manner and promoting them, praising those who hold those views, turning away from the truth, and casting aspersions on it and on those who believe in it. So Allah instructed His Messenger (ﷺ) first of all, and his Ummah too, if they see anyone speaking scornfully about the revelations of Allah in any of the ways mentioned, to turn away from them and not to attend the gatherings of those who speak scornfully on the basis of falsehood and persist in doing so, until they talk about something else, then when they talk of other matters, the prohibition mentioned no longer applies.

If there is some good purpose or benefit in talk, it is enjoined, but if it is otherwise, then it is not useful and it is not enjoined. Asindulging in falsehood is condemned and criticised, in that prohibition there is implicit encouragement to search, examine and debate in order to reach the truth.

Then Allah says: ﴾If the Shaytan causes you to forget﴿ that is, if you sit with them by way of forgetting and heedlessness, ﴾then as soon as you remember, do not sit with the wrongdoing people﴿. That includes those who indulge in falsehood and everyone who engages in unlawful talk or unlawful deeds. It is prohibited to sit with them or be present when they are doing or saying unlawful things that one is unable to stop.

This prohibition applies to the one who sits with them and does not act in accordance with Islamic teachings, such as if he joins them in their unlawful actions and deeds, or he keeps quiet and does not denounce the evildoing. But if he does adhere to Islamic teachings by enjoining them to do good and forbidding them to do evil or to say the evil words that they utter, and that results in putting an end to the evil or reducing it, then there is no blame or sin on him in that case. Hence Allah says: ﴾Those who fear Allah are in no way accountable for them. However, it is [their duty] to admonish them, so that they may desist from their mockery﴿ that is, rather let him remind them and admonish them, so that they may fear Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) and desist.

This indicates that the one who wants to admonish should use words that are most likely to help them to attain piety. It also indicates that if the reminder or admonition will push the listener further in the way of evil, to the extent that he will refrain from doing what is obligatory, then not admonishing is the better option.

6:70. Leave alone those who take the religion they were ordained to follow as a mere game and mockery, and are deceived by the life of this world. But admonish [with the Qur’an] lest any soul be doomed because of what it has earned, for [then] it will find no protector or intercessor to deliver it from [the punishment of] Allah, and whatever ransom it offers will not be accepted. Such are the ones who are doomed because of what they themselves have earned. They will have scalding water to drink and a painful punishment, because they disbelieved.

What is required of people is sincere devotion to Allah, by worshipping Him alone, with no partner or associate, and doing their best to earn His love and pleasure. That includes turning with all one’s heart to Allah and focusing on Him. All one’s efforts should be beneficial, serious and not frivolous, sincerely for the sake of Allah, and not for the purpose of showing off.

This is true devotion that is deserving of the name. As for those who claim to be following the truth and to be people of devotion and piety, whilst treating their religion as a game, whereby their hearts are distracted from loving and knowing Allah, and they turn their attention to that which will harm them and waste their time in the pursuit of falsehood, that is because any effort and striving that is not for the sake of Allah is mere play. Allah has instructed us to shun and caution such a person, and not to be deceived by him. His situation should be examined and people should be warned against his actions, and they should not be deceived by him or distracted by his failure to do that which brings one closer to Allah.

﴾But admonish [with the Qur’an]﴿ that is, remind with the Qur’an, mentioning that which will benefit people, enjoining and explaining.and presenting it in an attractive manner by referring to its beauty. And mention that which is harmful to people and warn them against doing it, describing various types and explaining what is bad about it, which will prompt people to refrain from it.

All of that is ﴾lest any soul be doomed﴿. In other words, before a person commits sins and goes against the will of Allah, and persists in that which is to be avoided. So remind and admonish, so that people will be deterred and will refrain from doing those things.

﴾for [then] it will find no protector or intercessor to deliver it from [the punishment of] Allah﴿ that is, before it is overwhelmed by its sins, for then no one will be able to benefit it, no relative or friend, for no one could help it besides Allah and no one could intercede for it.

﴾and whatever ransom it offers will not be accepted﴿, not even an earthful of gold. No ransom will be accepted or be of any avail.

﴾Such﴿ that is, those who are described thus ﴾are the ones who are doomed﴿ and will despair of all good ﴾because of what they themselves have earned. They will have scalding water to drink﴿ that is, water that has been heated to the ultimate degree, which will scald their faces and break up their bowels ﴾and a painful punishment, because they disbelieved﴿.

1

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6:71. Say: Shall we call on others besides Allah who can neither benefit us nor harm us, and turn on our heels after Allah has guided us, like one whom the devils have caused to be confused and disoriented in the land, although he has companions calling him to guidance, saying: Come to us ? Say: Verily Allah’s guidance is the only [true] guidance, and we are commanded to submit to the Lord of the worlds,

6:72. and to establish prayer and to fear Him, for it is to Him that you will be gathered.

6:73. It is He Who created the heavens and the earth for a true purpose. [Remember] the day when He will say, ‘Be!’ and it will be; His word is the truth. His will be the dominion on the day the Trumpet will be blown. He knows the unseen and the seen, and He is the Most Wise, the All-Aware.

﴾Say﴿ O Messenger, to those who ascribe partners to Allah and call upon others besides Him, and who call you to follow their religion, and explain to them what their gods really are, for in the case of any rational person, it would be sufficient to tell him what they really are and there would be no need to tell him explicitly not to worship them. Any rational person, if he understood the true nature of the polytheists’ belief, would be sure that it is false and there would be no need to establish further proof concerning that, and hence he would say: ﴾Shall we call on others besides Allah who can neither benefit us nor harm us?﴿.

This description includes everyone who is worshipped besides Allah: he cannot bring benefit or cause harm, and he has no power or control over anything, for all power and control belongs only to Allah.

﴾and turn on our heels after Allah has guided usp that is, should we turn back to misguidance after Allah has guided us, and turn back from the path that leads to paradise, and turn back to the ways that lead the one who follows them to the painful punishment?

This is a situation that no wise person would accept, for the one who is in this situation is ﴾like one whom the devils have caused to be confused and disoriented in the land﴿ that is, they have made him lose the way that leads to his goal, so he remains disoriented and confused, ﴾although he has companions calling him to guidance﴿, whilst the devils call him to doom. Thus he remains confused, not knowing which way to go.

This is the situation of all people, except those whom Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) protects. They find within themselves conflicting inclinations and motives. There is the inclination towards the message of Islam, rational thinking and sound common sense; they call him to guidance and the highest possible status in paradise.

Then there is the inclination towards the Shaytan, his followers and the self (nafs) that prompts evil; they call him to misguidance and to the lowest depths of hell.

Some of the people will follow their inclination towards guidance in all or most of their affairs.

Others will do the opposite of that.

And some will be inclined equally towards both, and will experience inner conflict. Thus you may recognise those who are destined for paradise and those who are destined for hell.

﴾Say: Verily Allah’s guidance is the only [true] guidance﴿ that is, there is no guidance except the path which Allah has prescribed on the lips of His Messenger (ﷺ); anything else is misguidance which leads to doom f﴾and we are commanded to submit to the Lord of the worlds﴿ by accepting and affirming His oneness, complying with His commandsand prohibitions and accepting to be His slaves. This is the greatest blessing that Allah has bestowed upon people and the best way to be.

﴾and to establish prayer﴿ that is, and we have been commanded to establish prayer with all its essential parts, conditions, sunnahs and so on.

tjand to fear Him﴿ by doing that which He has enjoined and avoiding that which He has prohibited

﴾for it is to Him that you will be gathered﴿ that is, you will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection, then He will requite you for your deeds, good and bad.

It is He Who created the heavens and the earth for a true purpose﴿, to ordain commands and prohibitions for His slaves, and to reward or punish them

﴾[Remember] the day when He will say, ‘Be!’and it will be; His word is the truth﴿, concerning which there is no doubt and there is no need to repeat it, for He does not say anything in vain.

﴾His will be the dominion on the day the Trumpet will be blown﴿ that is, the Day of Resurrection. It is singled out for mention - even though He is the Sovereign of all things (this world and the hereafter) - because no one will have any sovereignty then, and there will no longer be any dominion except that of Allah, the One, the Subjugator.

﴾fHe knows the unseen and the seen, and He is the Most Wise, the All-Aware﴿ He is the Bestower of all blessing. Who is possessed of perfect wisdom, great kindness and knowledge that encompasses all that is secret and hidden; there is no god but He and no Lord except He.

4. tiLiJ Zi[ -AicJ jjl* Jli ijjj

6:74. And [remember] when Ibraheem said to his father Azar: Do you take idols as gods? I see that you and your people are clearly misguided.

6:75. Thus We gave Ibraheem an insight into [Allah’s] mighty dominion over the heavens and the earth, so that he might be one of those who have certain faith.

6:76. When the night overshadowed him, he saw a star. He said: This is my lord. But when it set, he said: I do not like those that set.

6:77. When he saw the moon rising he said: This is my lord. But when it set, he said: If my Lord does not guide me, I will certainly be one of those who go astray.

6:78. When he saw the sun rising, he said: This is my lord; this is greater. But when it set, he said: O my people, I disavow all [the partners] that you ascribe to Allah.

6:79. Verily I have turned my face toward Him Who created the heavens and the earth, having turned away from all that is false, and I am not one of those who ascribe partners to Allah.

Here Allah says: remember the story of Ibraheem (' ). This is in the context of praising him and highlighting his virtue in that he called people to affirm the oneness of Allah and he prohibited them to ascribe partners to Allah. He said to his father Azar:

﴾Do you take idols as gods?﴿ For they cannot benefit or harm, and they have no power at all

﴾fl see that you and your people are clearly misguided﴿ for you worship that which is not deserving of worship at all, and you fail to worship your Creator Who provides for you and has control over you.

﴾Thus﴿ when We guided him to affirm Our oneness and call people to do likewise

﴾We gave Ibraheem an insight into [Allah’s] mighty dominion over the heavens and the earth﴿ that is, so that he would see, with that insight, what those realms contain of definitive evidence and clear proof t﴾so that he might be one of those who have certain faith﴿ because the strength of faith and knowledge of all that is required will be commensurate with the strength of the evidence and proof.

﴾When the night overshadowed him, he saw a star﴿. Perhaps this refers to a heavenly body that shone more brightly than others. Hence some scholars suggested that this refers to Venus - and Allah knows best.

﴾He said: This is my lord﴿. Going along with his opponent’s argument, he said: This is my lord, so let us see whether it is deserving of lordship or not, and whether there will be any proof for that, for it is not appropriate for the wise man to take something as his god without proof or evidence.

﴾But when it set﴿ that is, when that star disappeared ejhe said: I do not like those that set﴿ that is, those that disappear from the one who worships them, for the object of worship should take care of the one who worships it and should manage all his affairs. As for that which disappears for a long time, how can it be deserving of worship? Is taking it as a god anything but the utmost foolishness and the worst falsehood?

﴾When he saw the moon rising﴿ he saw that it was brighter than the star and different from it﴾he said: This is my lord﴿ for the sake of argument.

﴾But when it set, he said: If my Lord does not guide me, I will certainly be one of those who go astray﴿; thus he expressed his great need for the guidance of his Lord, for he knew that if Allah did not guide him, no one could guide him, and if Allah did not help him to obey Him, no one could help him.

﴾When he saw the sun rising, he said: This is my lord; this is greater﴿ than the star and the moon.

﴾But when it set﴿ at that point the path of guidance became clear and the path of doom was defeated.

So t﴾he said: O my people, I disavow all [the partners] that you ascribe to Allah﴿, as clear proof has been established of the falsehood thereof.

﴾Verily I have turned my face toward Him Who created the heavens and the earth, having turned away from all that is false﴿ that is, I have turned to Allah alone, turning away from all others ﴾and I am not one of those who ascribe partners to Allah﴿. Thus he disavowed polytheism and believed in the oneness of Allah, and he established proof for that. (What we have mentioned concerning the interpretation of these verses is the correct view. The context is one of debate between Ibraheem and his people, highlighting the falseness of ascribing divinity to these heavenly bodies or anything else. As for those who say that the context is that of looking and wondering in childhood, there is no evidence for that.)

6:80. (AT-A•

His people argued with him. He said: Are you arguing with me about Allah, when He has guided me? I do not fear any partner you may ascribe to Him, unless my Lord wills [that harm should reach me]. My Lord encompasses all things in His knowledge. Will you not then pay heed?

6:81. Why should I fear that which you ascribe as partners [to Him], when you do not fear ascribing partners to Allah for which He has not sent down to you any authority? So which side has a greater right to feel safe, if you know [the answer]?

6:82. It is those who believe and do not mix their faith with wrongdoing who will be truly safe, and it is they who are truly guided.

6:83. That was Our argument that We inspired Ibraheem [to use] against his people. We raise in rank whomever We will. Verily your Lord is Most Wise, All-Knowing.

﴾s﴾His people argued with him. He said: Are you arguing with me about Allah, when He has guided me?﴿ That is, what benefit is there in arguing with one to whom the path of guidance has not been made clear? As for the one whom Allah has guided and who has reached the highest level of certainty, he himself will call people to what he believes in.

f[I do not fear any partner you may ascribe to Him﴿ for they can never harm me and they can never keep any benefit from me ﴾unless my Lord wills [that harm should reach me]. My Lord encompasses all things in His knowledge. Will you not then pay heed﴿ and realise that He alone is the only One Who deserves worship?

﴾Why should I fear that which you ascribe as partners [to Him]﴿ when they are so helpless and useless﴾when you do not fear ascribing partners to Allah for which He has not sent down to you any authority﴿ that is, except that you are merely following your whims and desires

﴾So which side has a greater right to feel safe, if you know [the answer]?﴿

Then Allah (te) says, judging between the two sides:

﴾lt is those who believe and do not mix their faith with wrongdoing who will be truly safe, and it is they who are truly guided﴿, so they will be safe from fear, punishment and misery, and they will be guided to the straight path. If they do not mix their faith with wrongdoing at all, or ascription of partners to Allah, or commit sin, they will be completely safe and perfectly guided.

However, if they only avoid mixing their faith with ascription of partners to Allah, but they do some bad deeds, they will attain guidance and will basically be safe, but not perfectly so.

What this verse means is that those who do not attain both matters will be neither guided nor safe; rather their lot will be misguidance and misery.

As Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) ruled that Ibraheem should defeat his people in argument because of the definitive proof he presented, He says: ﴾That was Our argument that We inspired Ibraheem [to use] against his people﴿ that is. We caused him thereby to prevail over them and silence them.

﴾We raise in rank whomever We will﴿ as We raised Ibraheem in rank in this world and in the hereafter. Allah raises the one who has knowledge by virtue thereof above other people, especially the one who has knowledge, and acts upon it and teaches others; Allah makes him a leader for people to follow, according to his situation, whereby his deeds are watched, his footsteps followed, and his light is sought so that people may walk in the light of his knowledge in the darkness of the night.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says:

. .Allah will raise in status those of you who believe and [especially] those who have been given knowledge... p (al-Mujadilah 58:11) ﴾Verily your Lord is Most Wise, All-Knowing﴿ so He only grants knowledge and wisdom to the right person, and He knows best who that is and how much he deserves to be granted.

Sjr ^'A»

6:84. We gave him Is-haq and Ya‘qoob, both of whom We guided; before him, We guided Nooh, and among his progeny, [We guided] Dawood, Sulayman, Ayyoob, Yoosuf, Moosa and Haroon. Thus do We reward those who do good.

6:85. And [We guided] Zakariya, Yahya, ‘Eesa and Ilyas; each was among the righteous.

6:86. And [We guided] Isma'eel, Alyasa, Yoonus and Loot; each of them We favoured above all other people [of their own times].

6:87. And [We guided] some of their forefathers, progeny and brothers; We chose them and guided them to a straight path.

6:88. This is the guidance of Allah, with which He guides whomever He will among His slaves. If they had ascribed partners to Him, all their deeds would have come to nothing.

6:89. These were the men to whom We gave the scripture, wisdom and prophethood. If these people [the Makkans] disbelieve therein, then We have entrusted it to a people who do not disbelieve therein.

6:90. Those [Prophets] are the ones whom Allah guided; let their guidance be an example to follow. Say: No reward do I ask of you for this. It is but a reminder to the worlds.

Having mentioned His slave and close friend Ibraheem, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) then mentions what He bestowed upon him of knowledge, the message and patience, and what Allah honoured him with of righteous offspring, for He made the best of creation one of his lineage; how great is this tremendous honour, which has no comparison.

﴾We gave him Is-haq and Ya‘qoob﴿ his son, who is also known as Isra’eel (Israel); he was the father of a people whom Allah favoured over all others (of their own time).

﴾both of whom We guided﴿ to the straight path, in terms of both knowledge and action.

﴾before him. We guided Nooh﴿. This was a special kind of guidance which was only bestowed upon a few people, namely the Messengers of strong resolve, of whom he (Nooh) was one.

﴾fand among his progeny﴿ it may be that the pronoun refers to Nooh, as he was the last mentioned, because among those whom Allah mentions is Loot, who was a descendent of Nooh but not of Ibraheem, because he was his nephew (brother’s son).

Or it may be that the pronoun refers to Ibraheem, because the context is one of praising him. Even though Loot was not one of hisdescendants, he was one of those who came to believe at Ibraheem’s hands, and his virtue in guiding Loot is more significant than if he were merely his son.

﴾f[We guided] Dawood, Sulayman﴿ the son of Dawood, ffAyyoob, Yoosuf﴿ the son of Ya'qoob, ﴾Moosa and Haroon﴿ the two sons of ‘Imran.

CThus﴿ that is, just as We made the progeny of Ibraheem al-Khaleel righteous, because he did well in worshipping his Lord and in benefitting people ﴾do We reward those who do good﴿ by bestowing upon them generous praise and righteous offspring, commensurate with their good deeds.

﴾And [We guided] Zakariya, Yahya﴿ his son ﴾‘Eesa﴿ the son of Maryam

﴾and Ilyas; each﴿ of these people ﴾was among the righteous﴿ in their attitude, deeds and knowledge; in fact they were leaders of the righteous and foremost among them.

﴾And [We guided] Isma'eel﴿ the son of Ibraheem, the father of the people who are the best of peoples, namely the Arab people, and father of the leader of the children of Adam, Muhammad (ﷺ).

﴾Alyasa, Yoonus﴿ the son of Matta ﴾and Loot﴿ the son of Haran, the brother of Ibraheem.

﴾each of them﴿ that is, each of these Prophets and Messengers ﴾each of them We favoured above all other people [of their own times]﴿ because the degrees of virtue are four, as Allah mentions in the verse:

﴾Those who obey Allah and the Messenger are the ones who will be with those whom Allah has blessed of the Prophets, the strong and true in faith, the martyrs and the righteous...(an-Nisa'4: 69)

These are among the highest degrees; in fact they are the best of all the Messengers.

The Messengers whose stories Allah tells in His Book are undoubtedly of higher status than those whose stories He did not tell us.

And [We guided] some of their forefathers﴿ that is, the forefathers of those mentioned

﴾progeny and brothers﴿ that is, We guided some of the forefathers, progeny and brothers of those mentioned ﴾We chose them﴿ that is, selected them ﴾and guided them to a straight path﴿

﴾This﴿ namely the guidance mentioned ﴾is the guidance of Allah﴿ and there is no guidance except His ﴾with which He guides whomever He will among His slaves﴿. So seek guidance from Him, for if He does not guide you, no one else can guide you. Among those whom He chose to guide were the people mentioned here.

﴾If they had ascribed partners to Him﴿, hypothetically speaking, ﴾fall their deeds would have come to nothing﴿, for ascribing partners to Allah invalidates all good deeds and incurs eternity in hell. If these chosen elite had ascribed partners to Allah-which is unlikely as they are far above doing such a thing - all their good deeds would come to nothing, and this applies even more to others.

﴾Those [Prophets]﴿ who are mentioned here ﴾are the ones whom Allah guided; let their guidance be an example to follow﴿ that is, follow - O noble Messenger - in the footsteps of these chosen Prophets, and tread their path.

He complied with this command and followed the guidance of the Messengers who came before him; he acquired all perfect attributes and virtues by means of which he surpassed all people and was the leader of the Messengers, foremost among the pious - may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him and upon all of them.

Based on the fact that he had the example of all the previous Prophets and he followed their example, some of the Sahabah quoted this verse as evidence that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was the best of all the Messengers.

﴾Say﴿ to these people who turn away from your call ﴾No reward do I ask of you for this﴿ that is, I do not ask you for any payment or fee in return for conveying the message to you and calling you to it, for that may be a reason for you to refuse to heed the call. Rather my reward is due only from Allah.

﴾It is but a reminder to the worlds﴿ so that they may be reminded of that which will benefit them so that they may do it, and of that which will harm them so they may avoid it, and so that they may be reminded of their Lord and of His names and attributes, and be reminded of good manners and the ways that lead to them, and of bad manners and the ways that lead to them. This was a reminder to the worlds and was the greatest blessing that Allah bestowed upon them, so they should accept it and give thanks for it.

6:91. They did not give due recognition to Allah when they said: Allah has not sent down any revelation to any human being. Say: Who then sent down the scripture that Moosa brought as a light and guidance to the people, but you made it into separate sheets, showing some but concealing many, although now you have been taught what neither you nor your forefathers knewbefore? Say: Allah [sent it down]. Then leave them to amuse themselves with their vain discourse.

This is a denunciation of those who rejected the message (among the Jews and the polytheists), and claimed that Allah never sent anything down to any human being. The one who says such a thing has not given due recognition to Allah and has not venerated Him as He deserves to be venerated, because this is casting aspersions upon His wisdom and claiming that He neglected His slaves and did not issue any commands and prohibitions to them; it is a denial of the greatest blessing that Allah has bestowed upon His slaves, which is the message which His slaves have no way of attaining happiness, dignity and prosperity except by following it. What aspersions towards Allah could be greater than this?

﴾Say﴿ to them - confirming the corrupt nature of their view and asking them what they would confirm - ﴾Say: Who then sent down the scripture that Moosa brought﴿ namely the Torah

﴾as a light﴿ in the darkness of ignorance

﴾and guidance﴿ away from misguidance and towards the straight path in terms of knowledge and practical application. This is the Book which was widely known and famous, to the extent that they copied it on separate sheets and used it however they wanted; whatever was in accordance with their whims and desires they would show and make it known, and whatever was contrary to their whims and desires, they would hide it and conceal it. That happened a great deal.

﴾although now you have been taught﴿ a great deal of knowledge because of that noble Book ﴾what neither you nor your forefathers knew before﴿ so when they ask you about the one who sent down this great Book, which has those qualities, then respond to this question and ﴾Say: Allah [sent it down]﴿. Then the truth will become clear as day and proof willbe established against them; once this is established and you have proven your point, ﴾Then leave them to amuse themselves with their vain discourse﴿ that is, leave them to indulge in falsehood and amuse themselves with things that are of no benefit, until the day comes of which they were warned.

6:92. This is a blessed Book that We have sent down, confirming what came before it, so that you may warn the Mother of Cities [Makkah] and all those around it. Those who believe in the hereafter believe in it [this Book] and they are ever mindful of their prayers.

﴾This﴿ - the Qur’an ﴾is a blessed Book that We have sent down﴿ that is, it is blessed because there is a great deal of good in it and abundant benefits

﴾confirming what came before it﴿ that is, in accordance with the previous Books, attesting to their truth.

﴾fso that you may warn the Mother of Cities [Makkah] and all those around it﴿ that is, We have sent it down also, so that you may warn the Mother of Cities, namely Makkah al-Mukarramah, and those around it in the regions of Arabia and indeed in all lands. So warn the people of the punishment of Allah and how it came upon previous nations, and alert them to the implications of that.

﴾Those who believe in the hereafter believe in it [this Book]﴿ because if fear is in the heart, the heart will be filled with faith and the individual will do that which pleases Allah.

tfand they are ever mindful of their prayers﴿ that is, they persist in doing them regularly, fulfilling the necessary conditions and observing their limits and etiquette, and perfecting them. May Allah make us among them.

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6:93. Who does greater evil than he who fabricates lies against Allah or says: I have received revelation, when he has received none, or who says: I will bring down the like of what Allah has sent down? 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.

6:94. Now you have come to Us alone, as We created you the first time, and you have left behind all that We had bestowed on you. We do not see with you your intercessors who you claimed were entitled to a share of your worship and devotion. Now all ties between you have been severed and that which you presumed is lost from you.

Here Allah says: No one does more wrong or greater evil than the one who tells lies against Allah, by attributing to Him words or rulings that have nothing to do with Him. Indeed this is the worst of characteristics, because it involves lying and changing religious teachings, both fundamental and minor issues, and attributing that to Allah. This is one of the worst of evil deeds.

It also includes making false claims of prophethood and mendaciously claiming that one received revelation. In addition to telling lies against Allah and audaciously challenging Him, such a person also demands that people should follow him and he strives to make them do that, regarding it as permissible to shed the blood and seize the wealth of anyone who goes against him.

This verse refers to all those who falsely claimed to be prophets, such as Musaylimah al-Kadh-dhab, al-Aswad al-‘Ansi, al-Mukhtar and others of their ilk.

﴾or who says: I will bring down the like of what Allah has sent down﴿ that is, who does greater evil than one who claims that he is able to do what Allah can do, and tries to compete with Allah in His decrees and to prescribe laws as Allah does? This includes everyone who claims that he is able to compete with the Qur’an and produce something similar to it.

What wrongdoing can be greater than the claim of one who is needy and helpless in and of himself, and imperfect in all ways, that he is able to match the One Who is most strong and independent of means, Who is possessed of absolute perfection in all ways, in His essence, names and attributes?

After criticising the wrongdoers, Allah then mentions what He has prepared of punishment at the moment of death and on the Day of Resurrection: ﴾If you [O Muhammad] could but see the evildoers when they are in the throes of death)﴿ that is, their great terror and dreadful anguish, you would see something indescribably frightening.﴾and the angels are stretching out their hands﴿ towards those dying wrongdoers, beating and tormenting them, and saying as they are pulling out their anguished souls that are reluctant to leave their bodies: ﴾Give up your souls! Today you will be recompensed with a humiliating punishment﴿ that is, a severe punishment that will humiliate you, as the recompense fits the nature of the deed.

This punishment is ﴾because you used to tell lies against Allah﴿, because you lied about Him and rejected the truth that was brought by the Messengers c-fand you arrogantly rejected His revelations﴿ that is, you thought yourselves to be above submitting to His revelations and rulings. This is indicative of punishment or bliss in al-barzakh. These words and the punishment that is aimed at them occur at the time of death, just before and afterwards. This indicates that the soul is a physical being that may enter and exit, and be addressed; it inhabits the body and departs from it. This refers to their condition in al-barzakh.

As for the Day of Resurrection, when they reach it they will arrive bankrupt and alone, with no family, wealth, children, troops or supporters, as Allah created them the first time, bereft of all things.

On that day, the individual will be separated from everything that he had in this world, apart from his righteous deeds and bad deeds, which are the currency of the hereafter. The outcome in the hereafter will be based on these deeds: good and bad, pleasure and pain, torment and bliss, will all be determined on the basis of deeds. It is deeds that will benefit or harm, cause misery or bring happiness. All other things, such as one’s spouse, children, wealth and supporters, will be mere accessories and temporary conveniences. Hence Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says: (-﴾Now you have come to Us alone, as We created you the first time, and you have left behind all that We had bestowed on you﴿ that is, everything We gave you and blessed you with; they cannot help you in any way. ﴾We do not see with you your intercessors who you claimed were entitled to a share of your worship and devotion﴿.

The polytheists ascribed partners to Allah, and they worshipped alongside Him the angels, the Prophets, the righteous and others. They are all slaves of Allah, but they gave a share of themselves and of their worship to these created beings, and this claim of theirs was wrongdoing on their part. All creatures are slaves of Allah, and Allah is their Sovereign and the only One Who is deserving of their worship. On the Day of Resurrection, they will be rebuked for joining others in worship with Allah and devoting worship to some of His slaves, ascribing to them the status of the Creator and Sovereign, and these words will be said to them.

﴾We do not see with you your intercessors who you claimed were entitled to a share of your worship and devotion. Now all ties between you have been severed﴿ that is, the connection between you and your so-called partners, in the sense of intercession and otherwise, has been cut off, and is of no help or benefit to you.

﴾and that which you presumed is lost from you﴿, whether it is gain, security, happiness, or salvation, whatever the Shaytan made fair-seeming to you, so that you held it dear and uttered it with your tongues. You were deceived by this false claim, which has no basis in reality, and now that the opposite of what you claimed has become clear to you, you can plainly see that you are losers and have lost your selves, your families and your wealth.

6:95. Verily Allah is the One Who cleaves the grain and the date stone [and causes them to sprout]. He brings forth the living from the dead, and He is the One Who brings forth the dead from the living. Such is Allah; so how could they be turned away [from the truth]?

6:96. He is the One Who cleaves the daybreak [from the dark of night]. He has made the night for rest, and the sun and moon for the reckoning [of time]. That is the decree of the Almighty, All-Knowing.

6:97. It is He Who made the stars for you, so that you may navigate by them in darkness [or when you lose your way] on land and sea. Indeed We have explained Our signs in detail for people who have knowledge.

6:98. It is He Who has created you from a single soul, then a repository and a depository. Indeed We have explained Our signs in detail for people who have understanding.

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) tells us of His perfection, the greatness of His authority, the power of His might, the vastness of His mercy, the comprehensive nature of His generosity and His great care for His creation.

﴾Verily Allah is the One Who cleaves the grain﴿ this includes all seeds that people plant themselves, as well as those that they do not plant themselves, such as the seeds that Allah disperses in the wilderness. He cleaves or splits the seeds of crops and plants of various types which are used for all kinds of purposes.

He cleaves or splits the stones or pits from which trees grow, such as date palms, fruit trees and so on, from which humans, livestock and other animals benefit, feeding on that which grows from the seeds andstones that Allah splits. They eat from them and benefit from them in all kinds of ways, as ordained by Allah.

Allah shows them examples of His kindness and generosity that dazzle the mind of the most rational people; He shows them the brilliance of His creation and the perfection of His wisdom, by which they may know Him and affirm His oneness, and they may realise that He is the Truth and that worship of anything other than Him is false.

﴾He brings forth the living from the dead﴿ as He brings forth sperm from the semen, the chick from the egg, and plants and trees from seeds and stones (of dates and the like).

﴾fand He is the One Who brings forth the dead﴿ - this refers to that which does not grow or that which does not have a soul ﴾from the living﴿, as He brings forth stones (of dates and the like) and seeds from trees and plants, and he brings forth eggs from birds, and so on.

﴾Such﴿ that is, the One Who does that is unique in His creation and control of these things

﴾fis Allah﴿ your Lord; that is, He is the only One Who is divine and worthy of worship from all of His creation, and He is the One Who bestows His blessings upon all of creation and nourishes them by His bounty

﴾so how could they be turned away [from the truth]?﴿ That is, how could they be diverted and turn away from worship of the One Who is like that, and worship instead that which has no power over itself to bring benefit or cause harm, and no control over its own life, death or resurrection?

Having referred to the blessing of creating provision, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) then mentions the blessing of providing shelter and creating everything that His slaves need of light and darkness, and the benefits and interests that results from that, as He says:

﴾He is the One Who cleaves the daybreak [from the dark of night]﴿ that is, just as He cleaves the seed and date stone. He also cleaves thedepths of darkness of the night, which envelops everything on the face of the earth, with the light of dawn which He cleaves gradually, until the darkness of night disappears entirely and is followed by the brightness of daylight, in which people go about their business and earn their livelihood, and tend to their interests, both spiritual and worldly.

Because people need peace, calm and rest, which cannot be attained in the light of day, Allah ﴾0ias made the night for rest﴿, during which humans go back to their homes and sleep, animals go back to their pens and bams, and birds go back to their nests and roosts, and they all have their share of rest. Then Allah takes away the night by bringing the daylight, and so it will continue until the Day of Resurrection.

﴾and﴿ Allah has made ﴾the sun and moon for the reckoning [of time] so as to organise the times for acts of worship and the terms of transactions, and so that one may know how much time has passed. Were it not for the existence of the sun and moon, and their alternation and changes, most people would not know these things and they would not be common knowledge; rather these matters would be known only to a few individuals after a great deal of effort, and people would miss out on these essential benefits.

﴾That﴿ namely what has been mentioned above ﴾is the decree of the Almighty, All-Knowing﴿ to Whom - by His might - these mighty creations submit, and so they move in submission to His command in such a way that they do not go beyond the course that Allah has set for them, and they do not go ahead or fall behind. ﴾All-Knowing﴿ - His knowledge encompasses all things, seen and unseen, first and last.

One of the rational proofs of the all-encompassing nature of His knowledge is the fact that these mighty creations are subjugated to His control and He makes them run according to a brilliant and precise system that is dazzling in its beauty and perfection, and the way in which it serves people’s interests in accordance with divine wisdom.

﴾It is He Who made the stars for you, so that you may navigate by them in darkness [or when you lose your way] on land and sea﴿. If you lose your way or the traveller is not sure which direction to take, Allah has made the stars means by which humans may find their way when travelling for their interests or for the purpose of trade. For example, there are stars which are always seen and their position does not change, and there are other stars whose position always changes, but people of knowledge are aware of that and can work out directions and times from that.

This verse and similar verses indicate that it is prescribed to learn about the movement and positions of the stars, a science that is called astronomy, for navigation is not possible without it.

﴾Indeed We have explained Our signs in detail﴿ that is. We have clarified them and distinguished each type from another, so that the signs of Allah are clear and obvious ﴾for people who have knowledge﴿ that is, for people of knowledge, for they are the ones who are addressed here and from whom a response is required, unlike the ignorant and harsh people who turn away from the signs of Allah and from the knowledge brought by the Messengers, for the explanation will be of no benefit to them and will not dispel their confusion or clarify anything that they do not understand.

﴾It is He Who has created you from a single soul﴿, namely Adam (عليه السلام). Allah created this human race from him, that has filled the earth and is still increasing and growing, and that varies so greatly in character and physical characteristics that it can scarcely be controlled or described.

Allah created for them a repository; that is a place where they end up and to which they are driven, which is the abode of settlement after which there is nothing. That is the realm which they were created to inhabit and they were placed in this world to strive for itand to do all sorts of activities that will lead to its development and enhancement.

Allah deposited them in the loins of their fathers and the wombs of their mothers, then in this world, then in al-barzakh, and all of these are temporary abodes, which will not last forever. Rather the individual will move on from them until he reaches the permanent realm. As for this world, it is only transient.

﴾Indeed We have explained Our signs in detail for people who have understanding﴿ of the signs of Allah, and are able to infer proof and evidence from them.

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6:99. It is He Who sends down water from the sky, with which We bring forth all kinds of vegetation. From it We bring forth green shoots, from which We produce grain in close-packed rows. From the spathes of the date palm [come] low-hanging clusters of dates. [With the water We also bring forth] gardens of grapevines, and olive and pomegranate trees, similar [in some ways] yet dissimilar [in others]. Watch their fruits as they grow and ripen. Surely in that there are signs for people who believe.

This is one of the greatest blessings that all creatures are in need of, both humans and others. Allah repeatedly sends down water from the sky at times when people need it, and He causes to grow thereby everything that people and animals eat, so they are nourished bythe bounty of Allah and they enjoy His provision and rejoice in His kindness, and He relieves them of drought, despair and famine. So their hearts rejoice and their faces become cheerful, and people attain the mercy of the Most Gracious, Most Merciful, through which they find joy and are abundantly nourished. In return they are required to do their utmost to give thanks to the One Who has bestowed these blessings upon them, to worship Him alone, to turn to Him and to love Him.

Having mentioned in general terms what grows by means of this rain, namely all kinds of trees and plants, Allah then mentions in particular grains and dates, because of their many benefits and because they are staple foods for the majority of humankind.

﴾From it We bring forth green shoots, from which We produce﴿ that is, from those green plants, ﴾grain in close-packed rows﴿ that is, one row above another, such as wheat, barley, com, rice and other kinds of grains.

﴾From the spathes of the date palm﴿ this refers to the vessel before the bunch of dates appears from it. From that vessel Allah brings forth fjlow-hanging clusters of dates﴿ that is, they are close at hand and easy to pick for the one who wants to do so. It is not difficult to pick them from the palm tree even if it is tall, because it has something like steps on its trunk and is easy to climb.

﴾f[With the water We also bring forth] gardens of grapevines, and olive and pomegranate trees﴿. These trees provide many benefits, hence Allah singles them out for mention after having mentioned trees and plants in general terms.

﴾similar [in some ways] yet dissimilar [in others]﴿ it may be that this refers to pomegranates and olives; that is, they are similar in terms of the tree and its leaves, but not in terms of the fruit. Or it may be that it refers to all kinds of trees and their fruits, and that some of them resemble one another and are similar in some ways, and others arenot similar to one another. But all of them are beneficial to people, as they enjoy their fruits, find nourishment in them and also leam lessons from them, which Allah enjoins them to do: Watch﴿ that is, observe, contemplate and reflect on ﴾their fruits﴿ that is, observe all trees, especially the date palm, when they begin to bear fruit.

﴾jas they grow and ripenthat is, observe it at the time when the fruit appears and the time when it ripens, for in that there are lessons and signs which are indicative of the mercy of Allah, the vastness of His kindness and generosity, and the perfect nature of His power and His care for His slaves.

But not everyone ponders and reflects, and not everyone thinks and understands the intended meaning. Hence Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) stated that only the believers benefit from His signs: ﴾Surely in that there are signs for people who believe﴿.

The faith of the believers makes them strive in accordance with the dictates of faith, part of which is to contemplate the signs of Allah and leam from them the lessons to which they point, and what is indicated by sound reason, common sense and Islamic teaching.

6:100. They regard the jinn as partners of Allah, although He created them, and they falsely attribute to Him sons and daughters without any knowledge. Glory be to Him, and exalted be He far above what they ascribe [to Him].

6:101. [He is] the Originator of the heavens and the earth; how could He have a son when He has no wife? He created all things, and He has full knowledge of all things.

6:102. Such is Allah your Lord. There is no god but He, the Creator of all things. So worship Him, for He is in charge of all things.

6:103. No vision can encompass Him, whereas He encompasses all vision. He is the Knower of subtleties, the All-Aware.

6:104. Clear proofs have come to you from your Lord. Whoever sees [the truth], it will be for [the good of] his own soul; whoever is blind [to the truth], it will be to his own detriment. I am not your keeper.

Here Allah tells us that despite His kindness to His slaves, and His showing them His clear signs and proof, the polytheists, such as the Quraysh and others, ascribe to Him so-called partners whom they worship, including some of the jinn and angels who were themselves created by Allah and who possess no characteristics of lordship or divinity at all. They described them as partners to the One Who alone possesses the power of creation and command, and is the Bestower of all kinds of blessings, and Who has the power to ward off all calamities. Thus the polytheists fabricated and invented of their own accord sons and daughters that they falsely ascribed to Allah, with no knowledge whatsoever.

Who does more wrong than one who speaks of Allah without knowledge and falsely attributes to Him the worst of shortcomings, which he should declare Allah to be far above?

Therefore He declared Himself to be far above the fabrications of the polytheists, as He said: ﴾Glory be to Him, and exalted be He farabove what they ascribe [to Him]﴿. For He possesses all attributes of perfection and is far above all shortcomings, faults and defects.

﴾f[He is] the Originator of the heavens and the earth﴿ that is, their Creator, the One Who created them in a precise manner with no precedent, in the most precise and beautiful manner such as not even the people of the greatest reason could invent, and He has no partner in the creation thereof.

﴾how could He have a son when He has no wife?﴿ That is, how could Allah have a son when He is the Almighty God, who has no wife and has no need of anything that He has created, whilst they are all in need of Him in all situations?

A son must inevitably be of the same nature as his father, but Allah is the Creator of all things and nothing that He has created is like Allah in any way whatsoever.

Having mentioned His creation of things in general, Allah then states that His knowledge encompasses all of them, as He says: ﴾He created all things, and He has full knowledge of all things﴿. Mention of knowledge after creation hints at rational evidence for His definitive knowledge of all things, and that evidence is the perfect design and brilliance of these created things. This points to the vastness of the Creator’s knowledge and the perfect nature of His wisdom, as Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says elsewhere:

﴾How could He Who created not know His own creation, when He is the Knower of subtleties, the All-Aware?﴿ (al-Mulk 67: 14)

- and:

﴾fls not He Who created the heavens and the earth able to create the like of them?^{1That is. He is able to recreate them (on the Day of Resurrection) exactly as they were in the first creation. (as-Sa‘di)} Yes indeed, for He is the Creator of all, the All- Knowing.﴿ (Yd Seen 36: 81)

﴾Such﴿ that is, the One Who created all of this and ordained it ﴾is Allah your Lord﴿ that is. He is the only one to be worshipped, the only One Who is deserving of the utmost humility and love, the Lord Who is in charge of all His creation and He bestows all kinds of blessings and wards off all kinds of calamities.

﴾There is no god but He, the Creator of all things. So worship Him﴿ that is, as it is proven and established that it is Allah besides Whom there is no other god, devote all kinds of worship to Him alone and make it sincerely for Allah alone, seeking thereby His Countenance, for this is the purpose for which they were created:

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

﴾for He is in charge of all things﴿ that is, all things are under the control of Allah, for He creates and controls them, and they are all at His disposal.

It is well known that the soundness, perfection and proper function of anything that is put under someone’s control is dependent upon how good the one in charge of it is, but this applies to people and is not applicable when speaking of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) being in charge of things, because their being in charge is on behalf of someone else, and the proxy receives instructions from the one who put him in charge.

But when we speak of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) being in charge, He is in charge by and for Himself, which is indicative of His perfect knowledge, proper running of affairs, excellence and justice. It is not possible for anyone to check on Him or find flaws or problems in His creation or find any faults or shortcomings in the way in which He manages things.

One aspect of His being in charge is that He undertook to explain His religion and protect it from anything that may undermine or alter it. He also undertook to protect the believers from that which may undermine or be detrimental to their faith and religious commitment.

﴾No vision can encompass Him﴿ because of His greatness, majesty and perfection. Yet people will be able to see Him and have the joy of gazing upon His Countenance (in the hereafter). Saying that no vision can encompass Him does not mean that people will not see Him; rather it implicitly confirms that. As the verse denies that vision will be able to encompass Him - although encompassing is one of the main characteristics of vision - this indicates that they will see Him, but not encompass Him with their vision.

If He had wanted to say that they will not see Him, He would have said “No vision can see Him” and the like. Thus it is known that there is nothing in this verse to support the view of those who deny the divine attributes and say that they will not see their Lord in the hereafter; rather it is indicative of the opposite of what they say.

﴾whereas He encompasses all vision﴿ that is. He is the One Whose knowledge encompasses all things, visible and hidden; His hearing encompasses all sounds, audible and inaudible; His sight encompasses all that may be seen, small and great. Hence He says: ﴾fHe is the Knower of subtleties, the All-Aware﴿, Whose knowledge and awareness are so subtle and precise that they encompass everything that is hidden in people’s hearts and innermost selves.

By His subtle knowledge He drives His slave to that which leads him to carry out his religious duties and brings him to that point in ways of which he is not aware and did not plan for. And He leads him to eternal happiness and success in ways that he never anticipated. He may even decree things that a person dislikes and finds hard, so he calls upon Allah to grant him relief, because He knows what is best for the person’s religious commitment and that his reaching perfection is connected to that thing. Glory be to the One who is the Knower of subtleties and is Most Merciful towards the believers.

﴾Clear proofs have come to you from your Lord. Whoever sees [the truth], it will be for [the good of] his own soul; whoever is blind [to the truth], it will be to his own detriment. I am not your keeper﴿.Having mentioned clear signs and proofs, which point to the truth, Allah then draws attention to them and states that guidance and its opposite are for their own sake.

﴾Clear proofs have come to you from your Lord﴿ that is, verses that point to the truth and make it as clear as day, because of what they contain of eloquence and clarity, and what they discuss of sublime meanings and beautiful facts, because they come from the Lord Who bestows all kinds of blessings, visible and invisible, upon His creation, the best of which is the sending of clear revelations that explain different issues.

﴾Whoever sees [the truth]﴿ Through the lessons he learned from those revelations and acts upon it,

﴾fit will be for [the good of] his own soul﴿ for Allah is independent of means, Most Praiseworthy

﴾whoever is blind [to the truth]﴿ in that he was shown but failed to see, and he was warned but failed to pay heed, and the truth was shown to him but he did not submit to it or humble himself, his blindness will only harm him.

﴾I﴿ - this refers to the Messenger (ﷺ)

﴾am not your keeper﴿ that is, I do not watch over your deeds constantly; rather all I have to do is convey the message clearly, and I have fulfilled my duty and conveyed that which Allah revealed to me. That is my task, and anything apart from that is not up to me.

6:105. Thus We make the revelations elaborately clear, so that they may say: You have learned this [from somebody else], and so that We may make them clear for people who have knowledge.

6:106. Follow that which has been revealed to you from your Lord - there is no god but He - and turn away from those who ascribe partners to Him.

6:107. If Allah had willed, they would not have ascribed partners to Him. But We have not made you their keeper, nor are you in charge of them.^{1Shaykh as-Sa‘di did not discuss the meaning of vv 105-107 in his Tafseer. (Translator)}

6:108. Do not revile those on whom they call besides Allah, lest they revile Allah out of spite and lack of knowledge. Thus We have made fair-seeming to every nation its actions. In the end they will return to their Lord and He will inform them of what they used to do.

Here Allah forbids the believers to do something that had originally been permissible and even prescribed, which is reviling the gods of the polytheists, which they took as idols and gods besides Allah, as scorning and reviling them was a means of drawing closer to Allah.

But because this was something that may be a cause of the polytheists reviling the Lord of the worlds. Who should be declared to be exalted far above any faults, defects, reviling or defamation, Allah forbade reviling the gods of the polytheists, because they would spring to defend their religion and rally around their gods. That is because Allah has made fair-seeming to every nation its deeds, so they think that their ways are good and if the Muslims revile their gods, they will defend them by all means, even if that means revilingAllah, the Lord of the worlds, reverence for Whom is instilled in the hearts of righteous and immoral alike.

But all people will return to Allah on the Day of Resurrection, and they and their deeds will be presented before Him, and He will inform them of what they used to do, both good and bad.

This verse points to an important shar'i principle, which is that means are to be judged by ends, and means that may lead to something prohibited - even if those means are permissible - are to be deemed prohibited also, if they will lead to evil.

6:109. They swear their most solemn oaths by Allah that if a sign came to them, they would believe in it. Say: Signs are in the power of Allah alone. How do you [O Muslims] know that even if such a sign were to come, they would believe?

6:110. We will turn their hearts and eyes away [from the truth], since they refused to believe in it the first time, and We will leave them to wander blindly in their misguidance.

6:111. Even if We did send angels down to them, and the dead spoke to them, and We gathered together all things before them to testify to the truth, they still would not believe, unless Allah willed it. But most of them are ignorant [of this fact].^{1Juz’ 7 actually ends with v. 110, but as the author treated vv. 109-111 as a single passage, we have included v. 111 here. (Translator)}

That is, the polytheists who reject the Messenger Muhammad (ﷺ) swear (jtheir most solemn oaths by Allah﴿ that is, most emphatically, in order to confirm

﴾that if a sign came to them﴿, indicating that Muhammad (ﷺ) was indeed speaking the truth

﴾they would believe in it﴿. Their words were not for the purpose of sincerely seeking guidance; rather their aim was to give an answer that would ward off people’s objections and to definitively reject what the Messenger (ﷺ) had already brought. For Allah had supported His Messenger (ﷺ) with clear evidence and proof which, if anyone paid attention to it, he would not have the slightest doubt about the soundness of the message he brought.

Hence their demand for signs - after that - was a kind of stubbornness that did not deserve a response; in fact not responding was more appropriate.

Allah’s way of dealing with His slaves, in the case of those who demand signs from their Messenger - but if they came to them, they would not believe in them - is to hasten the punishment for them. Hence He said here: ﴾Say: Signs are in the power of Allah alone﴿ that is, He is the One Who sends them if He will, and He withholds them if He will, and I have no control over the matter at all. Therefore your demanding signs from me is a kind of wrongdoing and a demand for something that I have no power to deliver. Rather you may ask me to explain what I have brought to you and to confirm it, and that has already happened, but there is no guarantee that if the signs came to them they would accept them and believe; usually people with such an attitude do not believe. Hence Allah says: ﴾How do you [O Muslims] know that even if such a sign were to come, they would believe?﴿ ﴾We will turn their hearts and eyes away [from the truth], since they refused to believe in it the first time, and We will leave them to wander blindly in their misguidance﴿.

That is. We will punish them - if they do not believe when the Messenger first comes to them and establishes proof against them - by turning their hearts away and preventing them from believing, and by not guiding them to follow the straight path.

This is by Allah’s justice and wisdom concerning His slaves, for they are the ones who have brought it upon themselves. He opened the gate for them, but they did not enter; He showed them the way but they did not follow it. So after that, if they are deprived of guidance, that is appropriate for their situation.

Moreover, connecting the issue of having faith to their will only, and not relying on Allah, is one of the most grievous errors. If great signs came to them, such as the angels coming down to them and testifying to the truth of the Messenger, or the dead speaking, or their resurrection after death and the gathering of all things ﴾before them﴿ to speak to them, and they were to see that with their own eyes and touch it with their own hands, to confirm that what the Messenger (ﷺ) brought is the truth, they still would not believe, if Allah did not will that they should do so. But most of them are ignorant, hence they connected the issue of their faith to merely seeing the signs.

Rather what reason and knowledge dictate is that the individual should aim to follow the truth and to seek truth by means of that which Allah has explained, and act upon it, seeking the help of his Lord. He should not rely on himself or his own strength, or demand signs in which there is no benefit.

6:112. And similarly We appointed for every Prophet enemies, devils from among humankind and jinn, whispering to one another fancy words in order to deceive. If your Lord had so willed, they would not have done that. So leave them to their fabrications.^{1Juz’ 8 actually begins with v. Ill, but as the author treated vv. 109-111 as a single passage, we included those verses in Juz’ 7. (Translator)}

6:113. And this is so that the hearts of those who do not believe in the hereafter may incline to it [that deceit] and be well pleased with it, and so commit whatever sins they want.

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says, consoling His Messenger Muhammad (ﷺ): Just as We made for you enemies who reject your message, oppose you and envy you, this is Our way; for each Prophet whom we send to humankind, we make enemies among the devils of humankind and the jinn, who do the opposite of what the Messengers do. ﴾whispering to one another fancy words in order to deceive﴿ that is, they make fair-seeming to one another the falsehood to which they call people, and they come up with flowery words and depict it in the best image, so as to deceive the foolish who do not understand the reality of things.

Thus the foolish are deceived by these fancy words and flowery phrases, so they believe truth to be falsehood and falsehood to be true. Hence Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says: ﴾And this is so that the hearts of those who do not believe in the hereafter may incline to it [that deceit]﴿ that is, they may be inclined towards those fancy words, because their lack of belief in the Last Day and their lack of sound reasoning cause them to do that

«fand be well pleased with it]﴿ after inclining towards it. So first of all they incline towards it, then when they have inclined towards it and heard those fancy words, they are pleased with it and it becomes fair-seeming to their minds and becomes a firmly-rooted belief in their hearts.

Then as a result of that they do what they do, namely telling lies in word and deed, which inevitably leads to abhorrent beliefs.

This is the state of those who are deceived by the devils among humankind and the jinn, and respond to their call.

As for those who believe in the hereafter, people of sound reasoning and mature thinking, they are not deceived or dazzled by those fancy words; rather their focus is on learning facts and looking at the meaning of that to which those people call them. If it is true, they accept it and submit to it, even if the phrases are not eloquent, but if it is false, they reject it, no matter who its proponent is, even if he uses the most eloquent and flowery of language.

In His wisdom, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) has created enemies of the Prophets, and supporters of falsehood who promote it, so as to test His slaves and distinguish between the sincere and the insincere, the wise and the ignorant, the one who has insight and the one who is blind.

By His wisdom, He thereby demonstrates and highlights the truth, for the truth is always bright and clear; when falsehood tries to wrestle with it and resist it, at that point evidence that points to the reality of the truth becomes clear and distinct, and the signs of the corrupt nature of falsehood become apparent. This is one of the greatest goals that may be sought.

6:114. [Say:] Should I seek a judge other than Allah when it is He Who has sent down to you the Book, explained in detail? Those towhom We gave the scripture know full well that it has been sent down from your Lord in truth, so do not be among those who doubt.

6:115. The word of your Lord is perfect in truth and justice. None can change His words, and He is the All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

That is, say, O Messenger: ﴾Should I seek a judge other than Allah ]? to refer to for judgement and comply with his commands and prohibitions? For anyone other than Allah is subject to judgement, and is not to be the judge. Any edict and ruling issued by any created being is inevitably prone to shortcomings, faults and injustice.

The only One Who is to be taken as a judge is Allah, with no partner or associate, to Whom belongs the power of creation and command.

﴾when it is He Who has sent down to you the Book, explained in detail﴿ that is, in which are explained what is lawful and what is prohibited, the rulings of Sharia, fundamental and minor issues, and no explanation can supersede His, no argument can be clearer than His, and no one can be better in judgement or more sound in statement than Him, because His rulings are endued with wisdom and mercy.

The people of the previous scriptures, the Jews and Christians, acknowledged that, and they ﴾know full well that it has been sent down from your Lord in truth﴿. Therefore the reports of earlier nations all confirm that

﴾so do not be among those who doubt﴿ this fact.

Then Allah describes it in detail: ﴾The word of your Lord is perfect in truth and justice﴿ that is, it is true in the stories of past nations, and it is just in commands and prohibitions. There is nothing more true than the stories of past nations which Allah mentions in this great Book, and there is nothing more just than His commands and prohibitions.

﴾None can change His words﴿, as He has preserved them and has given them the highest level of precision and accuracy, so no one could change it and nothing could be better than it.

﴾and He is the All-Hearing﴿ - He hears all voices in all languages, expressing different needs to Him All-Knowing﴿ His knowledge encompasses all things, visible and invisible, past and future.

O w-m

6:116. If you were to obey most of those who are on earth, they would lead you astray from the path of Allah. They follow nothing but conjecture and they do nothing but lie.

6:117. Verily your Lord knows best who goes astray from His path, and He knows best who is rightly guided.

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says to His Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), warning him against obeying the majority of people: If you were to obey most of those who are on earth, they would lead you astray from the path of Allah﴿, for most of them have gone astray in their religions, deeds and knowledge. Hence their religions are corrupt, their deeds follow their whims and desires, and their knowledge is not based on facts and does not guide to the straight path. Rather the most that can be said is that they follow nothing but mere conjecture, but conjecture is no substitute for certain truth (cf. 10:36), and they say things about Allah on the basis of speculation, things of which they have no knowledge. It is appropriate that Allah should warn His slaves against one who is like that, and describe them as they are. Although this is addressed tothe Prophet (ﷺ), it is intended for his Ummah, because they - like him - are subject to all rulings that are not specifically for him alone.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) is the truest in speech, and He ﴾]knows best who goes astray from His path﴿, and He knows best who is guided and guides others. So you - 0 believers must follow His instructions, commands and prohibitions, because He knows best what is in your best interests, and is more merciful to you than you are to yourselves.

This verse indicates that the number of followers is no indicator of truth, and that scarcity of followers does not signal that something is not truth. Rather reality is something other than that, for the people of truth are the fewest in number, but are the greatest in esteem and reward before Allah. Rather we must determine what is true and what is false on the basis of proof and evidence.

6:118. So eat of that over which the name of Allah has been pronounced, if you [truly] believe in His revelations.

6:119. Why should you not eat of that over which the name of Allah has been pronounced, when He has explained to you in detail what is forbidden to you, except if you are forced by necessity? Indeed, many mislead people by their desires, without any knowledge. Verily your Lord knows best who are the transgressors.

Here Allah instructs His believing slaves, as is expected of them as believers, that if they are truly believers, then they should eat ofthat over which the name of Allah has been pronounced, of livestock and other permissible animals, and they should believe that it is permissible; they should not do what the ignorant do of prohibiting many things that are permissible, following innovations based on their own ideas and the misguidance of their devils.

Allah tells us that the sign of the believer is that he differs from the people of ignorance with regard to this blameworthy custom which involved changing the laws of Allah. What could prevent them from eating that over which the name of Allah has been pronounced, when Allah has explained to His slaves what is prohibited, and has made the rulings perfectly clear? So there is no room left for confusion or doubt that would prevent them from eating some of that which is permissible for fear of falling into that which is prohibited.

This verse indicates that the basic principle with regard to things and food is that they are permissible, and that if there is no shar‘i text to indicate that a thing is prohibited, then it remains permissible. Whatever Allah has remained silent about is permissible, because Allah has clearly explained what is prohibited. If He has not clearly declared it to be prohibited, then it is not prohibited.

However, with regard to that which Allah has explained and clearly stated is prohibited, He has permitted it if one is forced by (severe) hunger, as He (ﷺ) says:

﴾Forbidden to you [for food] are: the meat of animals found dead, blood, the flesh of swine... But if any is forced by [severe] hunger [to eat that which is forbidden], with no intention of sinning, Allah is indeed Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.﴿ (al-Ma’idah 5: 3)

Then Allah issues a warning concerning many people: ﴾Indeed, many mislead people by their desires﴿ that is, on the basis of mere whims and desires ﴾without any knowledge﴿ or proof. So people should beware of such people; their sign - as Allah describes them to His slaves - is that their call is not based on proof and they haveno legitimate evidence. Rather all they have as a basis for what they want to do is specious arguments and flawed views, according to their corrupt whims and desires.

These people are transgressing against the laws of Allah and against the slaves of Allah, and Allah does not love the transgressors.

This is in contrast to those who are guided and who guide others; they call people to truth and guidance, and they support their call with rational and textual evidence, seeking nothing thereby but to please their Lord and draw close to Him.

6:120. Avoid committing sin, whether openly or in secret; verily those who commit sin will get due recompense for what they earn.

What is meant by sin here is all acts of disobedience that cause trouble for the individual with regard to the rights of Allah and the rights of other people. Allah forbids His slaves to commit sin openly or in secret, whether those sins have to do with physical actions or have to do with thoughts, beliefs and attitudes in the heart.

The individual has not fully given up sin, either outward or hidden, until he learns what it is and finds out about it. Finding out about it and learning what constitutes sin, both outward or hidden, so that one is aware of it, is an individual obligation for everyone who is accountable.

Many people are unaware of many sins, especially the sins of the heart such as arrogance, self-admiration, showing off and so on, to such an extent that a person may commit many of these sinswithout being aware of it, because of lack of knowledge and lack of understanding.

Then Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) tells us that those who incur a burden of sin, whether openly or in secret, will be requited according to what they earn and according to the extent of their sins, small or great. This recompense will come in the hereafter, and it may come in this world, whereby a person will be punished, thus reducing his burden of sin.

6:121. Therefore do not eat of that over which the name of Allah has not been pronounced, for verily that is an abomination. But the devils whisper to their friends [among humankind] to argue with you; if you were to obey them, you would indeed become [like] those who ascribe partners to Allah.

This prohibition includes everything over which a name other than that of Allah has been pronounced, such as that which is sacrificed to the idols and their gods, which comes under the heading of that which is profane, over which (a name) other than that of Allah has been invoked (at the time of slaughter) (cf. 6. 145), which is specifically prohibited in the text.

It also includes that over which the name of Allah is not pronounced at the time of slaughter, such as sacrifices or ordinary meat, if the one who slaughtered it deliberately omitted to mention the name of Allah. This is the view of many of the scholars.

Excluded from this general meaning is the one who forgets, according to other texts, which indicates that there is no blame on him. This verse also applies to that which dies without being slaughtered inthe prescribed manner, because it comes under the heading of that over which the name of Allah was not pronounced at the time of slaughter.

Allah specifically mentioned it (meat of animals that were not slaughtered in the prescribed manner) in the verse:

﴾Forbidden to you [for food] are: the meat of animals found dead... ﴿

- and perhaps this was the reason for the revelation of the verse, because Allah says: ﴾But the devils whisper to their friends [among humankind] to argue with you﴿ without knowledge.

When the polytheists heard that Allah and His Messenger (ﷺ) prohibited the meat of animals found dead, but they permitted the meat of those which were slaughtered in the prescribed manner - as they regarded the meat of animals found dead as permissible - they said, out of stubbornness towards Allah and His Messenger (ﷺ), and arguing without proof or evidence: Do you eat what you kill, but you do not eat what Allah kills? - referring to that which died of natural causes.

This was a flawed argument that was not based on any proof or evidence; rather it was based on their corrupt opinions by which, if the truth had been in accordance with their desires, verily, the heavens and the earth, and everyone therein would have been corrupted (cf. 23: 71).

May he perish, the one who gives precedence to such arguments over the laws and rulings of Allah, which are in accordance with people’s best interests on both the societal and individual level. But this view of theirs should come as no surprise, because this and similar views stem from the whisperings of the devils to their friends (among humankind), who seek to misguide people from their religion and call them to be among the inhabitants of hell.

﴾if you were to obey them﴿ and go along with their ascribing of partners to Allah, making permissible that which is prohibited, and vice versa,﴾you would indeed become [like] those who ascribe partners to Allah﴿, because then you would have taken them as allies instead of Allah, and you would have agreed with them in parting from the way of the Muslims, therefore your path would have been the same as theirs.

This verse indicates that whatever some people experience of inspiration and spiritual experiences, which happens a great deal with the Sufis and their ilk, is not to be regarded as truth on its own, and should not be accepted until it has been checked against the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (ﷺ).

If the Qur’an and Sunnah testify in its favour, then it may be accepted, but if it is contrary to them, then it is to be rejected. If nothing is known about that, then judgement is to be reserved and it is to be neither accepted nor rejected, because revelation and inspiration may come from the Most Merciful, or it may come from the Shaytan, so it is essential to distinguish between the two and to see the difference between them. Failing to see the difference between them leads to errors and misguidance the extent of which is known only to Allah.

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6:122. Can the one who was dead then We brought him to life and gave him a light with which to walk among the people be like one who is in the depths of darkness from which he cannot emerge? Thus have their own deeds been made fair-seeming to the disbelievers.

6:123. Thus We have placed in every city leaders from among its evildoers, so that they may plot [against the believers] therein. But they only plot against their own selves, although they do not realise.

6:124. And when a sign comes to them, they say: We will not believe until we are given the like of what Allah’s Messengers were given. Allah knows best where to place His message. Humiliation from Allah and a severe punishment will befall the evildoers for all their plots.

﴾Can the one who was﴿, before Allah guided him ﴾deadji and lost in the darkness of disbelief, ignorance and sin ﴾then We brought him to life﴿ with the light of knowledge, faith and obedience, so he began to walk among people aware of what he is doing and where he is going, knowing what is good and giving precedence to it, striving to implement it with regard to himself and others, and aware of evil and hating it, striving to avoid it and remove it from himself and others - is such one equal to one who is lost in the darkness of ignorance, misguidance, disbelief and sin?

﴾in the depths of darkness from which he cannot emerge﴿ because he is confused and does not know which way to go, so he is overcome with worry, distress, grief and misery. Here Allah points out what rational people already know and understand, which is that these two cannot be equal, just as night and day, light and darkness, living and dead, cannot be equal.

It is as if it is being asked: how can anyone with the least reasoning prefer to be in that situation and remain confused in the depths of darkness? The answer is as follows:

﴾Thus have their own deeds been made fair-seeming to the disbelievers﴿ - the Shaytan keeps making their deeds fair-seeming to them until they think of them as something good and regard them as true, and that belief becomes deeply entrenched in their hearts. Therefore they accept the way they are, complete with evil and sins.

Those who are wandering blindly in darkness and confused in their falsehood are not all the same. Some of them are leaders and others are followers. Some of the leaders will be among the worst off, hence Allah says: ﴾Thus We have placed in every city leaders from among its evildoers﴿ that is, leaders whose sin is greater and who are worse in wrongdoing

﴾fso that they may plot [against the believers] therein﴿ by means of their treachery and calls to the path of the Shaytan, opposing the Messengers and their followers in word and deed.

But their plots and schemes will backfire on them, because they plot and plan, and Allah also plans; but Allah is the best of planners

Thus Allah causes the leading figures of guidance and the best of them to strive against these evildoers, refute their arguments and engage in struggle against them for the sake of Allah, taking appropriate measures to achieve that. Allah helps them, guides them and makes them steadfast, and He causes their fortunes to fluctuate, until the matter is ultimately settled with their victory and prevailing over their enemies, and the best outcome is for those who fear Allah

But the leading figures among the evildoers persisted in their falsehood and rejected the truth which was brought by the Messengers, out of envy and resentment on their part, so they said:

﴾We will not believe until we are given the like of what Allah’s Messengers were given﴿ namely prophethood and messengership. This is an objection on their part towards Allah, which indicates that they were filled with self-admiration and were too arrogant to acceptthe truth that He sent down at the hands of His Messengers, and they were trying to restrict the bounty and grace of Allah.

But Allah refuted their objections that were based on flawed arguments, and He stated that they were not fit for any good, and there was nothing in them that would dictate that they should be among the righteous slaves of Allah, let alone be among the Prophets and Messengers. Hence He said: Allah knows best where to place His message﴿. Therefore whoever He knows is fit for that, and is able to carry out this tremendous mission, has all good characteristics and is free of all bad characteristics, Allah will give him in accordance with His wisdom, and whoever is not like that, Allah will not give the best of His gifts to one who is not qualified or pure.

This verse is indicative of the perfect nature of Allah’s wisdom because, even though He is most merciful, abundantly generous and most kind. He is also Most Wise and only bestows His abundance upon one who is deserving of it.

Then He warns the evildoers and says:

﴾Humiliation from AllahjJ that is, shame and disgrace; because they were too arrogant to accept the truth, Allah will humiliate them dand a severe punishment will befall the evildoers for all their plots﴿ that is, because of their plots, not due to any injustice on the part of Allah (tfe).

6:125. Whoever Allah wills to guide, He opens his heart to Islam, and whomever He wills to leave astray. He closes and constrictshis heart, as if he were ascending to heaven. Thus Allah places blight on those who do not believe.

Here Allah describes to His slaves the sign of a person’s being blessed and guided, and the sign of his being doomed and misguided. If Allah opens a person’s heart to Islam, and it is filled with the light of faith and certainty, so that he feels at ease with it, loves good deeds and finds joy in doing them, and does not find them burdensome, then this is a sign that Allah has guided him and has blessed him with faith and guided him to the straight path.

The sign that Allah has willed to send someone astray is that He makes his heart constricted and unwilling to accept faith, knowledge and certainty. So he becomes overwhelmed with doubts and desires, and nothing good reaches his heart; it is not open to any good deeds because it is constricted as if he is having to climb up to heaven when he has no means of doing so.

Because of this lack of faith, he is the reason why Allah places blight upon him, because he has closed the door of mercy and divine kindness to himself.

This is a measure that never alters. The one who gives in charity and fears Allah, and believes in goodness, Allah will make easy for him the path to ease, but whoever is miserly and thinks that he is self-sufficient, and rejects goodness, Allah will make easy for him the path to hardship.

6:126. This is the path of your Lord, a straight path. Verily We have explained Our signs in detail for people who pay heed.

6:127. For them will be an abode of peace with their Lord; He will be their Protector, because of their good deeds.

It is a moderate path that leads to Allah and to the place of His honour, the rulings and laws of which have been clearly explained, and good has become distinct from evil. But these details and this explanation are not for everyone; rather they are only ﴾for people who pay heed﴿, for they are the ones who have knowledge, so they benefit from their knowledge and Allah has prepared for them a great reward. Hence He says:

﴾For them will be an abode of peace with their Lord﴿. Paradise is called an abode of peace because it is free of all faults, troubles, stress, grief and worry, and anything else that could spoil its joy.

This means that its delights will be of the utmost perfection and completeness, to an indescribable degree, and no one could wish for anything better of both spiritual and physical delights. They will have whatever their hearts desire and they will abide therein forever.

f(He will be their Protector﴿ Who will take care of them, look after them and protect them in all their affairs; He will help them to obey Him and make it easy for them to attain His love. He only protects them because of their righteous deeds by which they seek to please their Lord, unlike the one who turns away from his Lord and follows his whims and desires; the Shaytan will gain power over him and will take care of him, thus corrupting his religious commitment and worldly affairs.

6:128. On the day when He gathers them all together [He will say]: 0 jinn, you enticed many of humankind. Their friends among humankind will say: Our Lord, we used one other, but now we have reached the appointed term that You decreed for us. He will say: The fire will be your abode, to dwell therein forever, unless Allah wills otherwise, for your Lord is Most Wise, All- Knowing.

6:129. Thus We cause the wrongdoers to take one another as friends and allies, because of what they earn.

6:130. 0 jinn and humans, did there not come to you Messengers from among you, reciting My revelations to you and warning you of the meeting of this day of yours? They will say: [Yes,] we testify against ourselves. They were deceived by the life of this world. They will testify against themselves that they were disbelievers.

6:131. That is because your Lord would never destroy a city for its wrongdoing while its people were still unaware.

6:132. For all there will be ranks according to their deeds, for your Lord is not unaware of what they do.

6:133. Your Lord is Self-Sufficient, full of mercy. If He so willed, He could destroy you and cause whomever He will to replace you, as He created you to replace other people who came before you.

6:134. Verily, that which you are warned of will surely come to pass; you cannot escape it.

6:135. Say: O my people, carry on as you are, and so will I; you will come to know who it is whose end will be [best] in the hereafter. Verily the wrongdoers will never prosper.

﴾On the day when He gathers them all together﴿ that is, all of the two races, humanity and jinn, those who went astray and those who led others astray, and He says, refuting the jinn who misled humans and made evil fair-seeming to them and enticed them to commit sin: ﴾fO jinn, you enticed many of humankind﴿ that is, by misguiding them and barring them from the path of Allah; how could you transgress My sacred limits and stubbornly reject My Messengers? You persisted in fighting against Allah, striving your utmost to bar the slaves of Allah from His path and divert them to hell. Therefore today My curse is inevitably upon you and My vengeance against you is assured; We shall increase your punishment according to the degree of your disbelief and the extent to which you led others astray. You have no excuse to offer and no refuge to turn to, no intercessor to intercede for you and no plea that could be heard.

So do not ask about what will befall them on that day of punishment, disgrace and doom. Hence Allah did not mention any excuse that they may offer.

As for their allies among humankind, they will offer excuses that will not be accepted and will say: ﴾Our Lord, we used one other﴿ that is, both the jinni and the human used one another and benefited thereby.

The jinni liked the human’s obedience to him, and his worship and veneration of him, and his seeking protection from him. The humanliked what he got of achieving his goals and attaining - according to the degree of the jinni’s service - some of his desires. The human worshipped the jinni, so the jinni served the human and gave him some of his worldly needs. In other words, the human will admit: we committed some sins and it is not possible to change that.

﴾but now we have reached the appointed term that You decreed for us﴿ that is, we have reached the point at which You will requite for all deeds, so do to us whatever You will and pass judgement upon us however You will, for we have no argument and no excuse. The matter is in Your Hands and the decision is Yours. It is as if these words of theirs are a kind of plea for mercy and compassion, but it will come at the wrong time. Hence He will judge concerning them on the basis of justice, and no injustice will be done to them, and He will say: ﴾The fire will be your abode, to dwell therein forever﴿

Because this ruling is based on His wisdom and knowledge, the verse ends with the words: ﴾for your Lord is Most Wise, All- Knowing﴿. That is, just as His knowledge encompasses all things, His ultimate wisdom also encompasses all things.

﴾Thus We cause the wrongdoers to take one another as friends and allies, because of what they earn﴿ that is, just as We caused the marid jinn to be allies of some humans, and We gave them the power to misguide their human allies, and We caused the bond of alliance and friendship to be established between them because of their striving to attain that, it is Our way to create an alliance between every wrongdoer and his counterpart (among the jinn), to entice him and urge him to do evil, and to turn him away and divert him from goodness. This is a severe punishment from Allah, with terrible consequences and a serious impact.

It is the wrongdoer’s fault, because he is the one who brought it upon himself.

4- • And your Lord is never unjust to His slaves.﴿ (Fussilat 41: 46)

If people do a great deal of wrong and evil, and they withhold what is due from them, Allah will put evildoers in charge of them, who will oppress them, mistreat them and make them suffer, and will take from them unjustly and by force many times more than what they withheld of what is due to Allah and to His slaves, without them getting any reward for giving it.

By the same token, if people do good and are upright, Allah will make those in charge of them righteous, and He will make them rulers who rule on the basis of justice and fairness, not on the basis of wrongdoing and oppression.

Then Allah will rebuke everyone who turned away from the truth and rejected it, jinn or human, and will highlight their error, and they will acknowledge that:

﴾0 jinn and humans, did there not come to you Messengers from among you, reciting My revelations to you﴿ that is, My clear revelations which contained details of commands and prohibitions, good and evil, promises and warnings,

﴾and warning you of the meeting of this day of yours﴿, teaching you that salvation and triumph may only be attained by obeying the commands of Allah and avoiding that which He prohibited, and that doom and loss will result from failing to do that? They will acknowledge that, and say: ﴾[Yes], we testify against ourselves. They were deceived by the life of this world﴿ and its adornments and delights, so they were at ease with it and were content with it, and that distracted them from the hereafter.

﴾They will testify against themselves that they were disbelievers﴿, thus proof will be established against them. At that point, everyone - even they themselves - will realise that Allah is being just with them. Then He will say to them, issuing the verdict that theirs will be a painful punishment:

﴾...Enter the fire with the nations who passed away before you, of both jinn and humans...﴿ (al-A 'raf7: 38)﴾you will come to know who it is whose end will be [best] in the hereafter﴿ - me or you.

This is the attitude of the fair-minded person in a serious debate: he points out the two types of deeds and doers, and leaves it to Allah to requite each of them, without stating bluntly or clearly what he really means. But it is already known that the best end in this world and in the hereafter will be for those who fear Allah, and that the believers will have the best end, whilst everyone who turns away from what the Messengers brought will have the worst end. Hence He says: ﴾Verily the wrongdoers will never prosper﴿, for every evildoer, no matter what he enjoys in this world, his end in the hereafter will be doom and ruin.

«Verily Allah gives respite to the wrongdoer until, when He seizes him. He will not let him ofif.» (Muslim, at-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah)

6:136. They allocated to Allah a portion of that which He created of crops and livestock. They say: This is for Allah - or so they claim - and this is for our partners [that we ascribe to Him]. Then, that which is allocated for their ‘partners’ never reaches Allah, while that which is allocated for Allah does reach their 'partners’. How despicable is their judgement!

6:137. Similarly, their ‘partners’ [the devils] made it fair-seeming to many of the polytheists to kill their own children, in order to destroy them and cause confusion to them in their religion. If Allah had so willed, they would not have done that. So leave them to their fabrications.

6:138. They say: These livestock and crops are taboo, and no one may eat thereof except those whom we wish - or so they claim - and other livestock which it is forbidden to ride. And there are livestock over which they do not pronounce the name of Allah [at the time of slaughter], fabricating lies against Him. He will surely requite them for what they fabricate.

6:139. They say: What is in the wombs of these animals is reserved exclusively for our males and is forbidden to our females, but if it is stillborn, they all partake of it. He will surely requite them for what they attribute [to Allah, falsely]. Verily He is Most Wise, All-Knowing.

6:140. Losers indeed are those who, in their ignorance, have foolishly slain their children, and have made unlawful [food] that Allah has provided to them, fabricating lies against Allah. They have indeed gone astray and have not heeded any guidance.

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) speaks of the foolishness and grave ignorance of the polytheists who reject the Prophet (ﷺ) and mentions some of their myths, in order to highlight some of their misguidance and warnagainst them. The objection of such foolish people to the truth brought by the Messenger (ﷺ) does not undermine it at all, for they are not qualified to stand up to the truth. Thus Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says as an example of that: ﴾They allocated to Allah a portion of that which He created of crops and livestock﴿, and they also allocated to their so-called partners a portion, when in fact Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) is the One Who created it for His slaves, as provision. Thus they combined two questionable and prohibited matters. In fact they combined three: thinking that they were doing Allah a favour by allocating a portion to Him, as they believed that this was a donation on their part; allocating a share to the so-called partners who never gave them any provision; and their unjust way of sharing out, as they did not care about or pay attention to that which they allocated to Allah, even though it ended up being for the so-called partners, whilst they did pay attention to and look after that which was allocated to the so-called partners, and none of that would reach Allah. That is because when they gained something - of the crops, fruits and livestock that Allah had created for them - they divided it into two parts: one part which they said was for Allah, or so they claimed, for Allah does not accept anything but that which is done sincerely for His sake, and He does not accept any good deed from anyone who ascribes partners to Him; and another part that they allocated to the so-called partners, namely the idols. If any of that which they had allocated to Allah got mixed with that which they had allocated to others, they would say: Allah has no need of it, and they would not put it back, but if any of that which they had allocated to their gods got mixed with that which they had allocated to Allah, they would put it back and would say: They (the false gods) are in need of it, so it must be put back with their share.

Is there any ruling worse and more unfair than this? For they paid more attention to that which was allocated to the created being, and took more care of it than that which was done for the sake of Allah.

The meaning of this verse may be that which is proven in a saheeh report from the Prophet (ﷺ), in which he told us that Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says: «I am the least in need of a partner. Whoever does any deed in which he associates someone else with Me, I will reject him and his deed.» (Muslim and Ibn Majah)

According to this interpretation, what the verse means is that what they allocated as a means of drawing closer to the idols is completely devoted to something other than Allah, and Allah has no share in it, and whatever they devoted to Allah - or so they claimed - none of it reaches Him because it is shirk (ascription of partners to Allah). In fact it is also part of the share allocated to the so-called partners and idols, because Allah has no need of it and He does not accept any deed in which any of His creation is associated with Him.

As a result of the foolishness and misguidance of the polytheists, the so-called partners - namely the leaders and the devils - made it fair-seeming to many of them to kill their children by burying them alive. They would kill their male children for fear of poverty and the female children for fear of shame.

All of that resulted from the tricks of the devils who wanted to destroy them and cause confusion to them in their religion, so that they would do acts that are extremely repugnant.

The partners kept making it fair-seeming to them until, in their view, these became good things and desirable conduct. If Allah had so willed, He would have prevented them from doing these things and protected their children from being killed by the parents, and they would not have done it. But His wisdom dictated that they should be left alone to do what they wanted to do, so that they would get carried away. Thus He gave them respite and overlooked what they were doing. Hence He says: ﴾So leave them to their fabrications﴿ that is, leave them to their lies and falsehood, and do not grieve over them, for they can never harm Allah.

Another example of their foolishness has to do with the livestock which Allah made permissible for them in general, and bestowed it as provision and mercy for them to enjoy and benefit from. But they fabricated and introduced innovations based on their own ideas.

They had a special terminology for some types of livestock and crops, concerning which they said: ﴾These livestock and crops are taboo﴿ that is, prohibited ﴾and no one may eat thereof)* that is, it is not permissible for anyone to eat them, except those who we want to eat them, or who meet a description that we give - based on their own ideas.

All of that was based on their own claims for which there was no basis or proof except their whims and desires and corrupt notions.

They also had livestock that was not prohibited in all ways; rather it was prohibited to ride it or carry loads on it. They called this ham.

There were other kinds of livestock on which they did not invoke the name of Allah; rather they invoked the names of the idols and that which they worshipped instead of Allah, but they attributed these actions to Allah; they were lying when they spoke these evil words.

﴾He will surely requite them for what they fabricate﴿ that is, when they claimed that it was permissible to ascribe partners to Allah and that it was prohibited to eat or benefit from livestock in ways that He had permitted.

Another of their foolish notions was the idea that what was in the wombs of certain types of livestock - which they specified - was prohibited to females but not to males, so they said: ﴾What is in the wombs of these animals is reserved exclusively for our males﴿ that is, it is permissible for them, and women have no share in it ﴾fand is forbidden to our females﴿ that is, our womenfolk. This applied if the offspring was bom alive. But if what was in its womb was stillborn, then they all had a share of it - in other words, it was permissible for both males and females.

﴾He will surely requite them for what they attribute [to Allah, falsely]﴿ that is, when they described what Allah had permitted as being prohibited, and they described what was prohibited as being permissible. Thus they went against the laws of Allah and attributed that to Him.

﴾Verily He is Most Wise﴿ as He gives them respite and enables them to pursue the misguidance they are following ﴾All-Knowing﴿ -nothing is concealed from Him; He knows what they do, what they say against Him and what they fabricate, yet He grants them well-being and bestows provision upon them.

Then He describes their loss and foolishness:

﴾Losers indeed are those who, in their ignorance, have foolishly slain their children)﴿ that is, they have lost their religion, their children and their minds and - after having been blessed with rational thinking - they are now described in terms of foolishness that causes destruction and misguidance.

﴾and have made unlawful [food] that Allah has provided to them﴿ that is, what He had given as a mercy to them and granted as provision for them. They rejected the blessing of the Lord, but they did not stop there; rather they described it as unlawful when it was of the utmost permissibility.

All of that is ﴾fabricating lies against Allah﴿ that is, it comes under the heading of lies told by every stubborn disbeliever. tfThey have indeed gone astray and have not heeded any guidance﴿ that is, they have gone far astray and they have not been guided in any of their affairs.

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6:141. It is He Who produces gardens, trellised and untrellised, and date palms and all manner of crops, and olives and pomegranates, similar [in some ways] yet dissimilar [in others]. Eat of their fruit when they bear fruit and give what is due on the day of harvest. But do not be extravagant, for Allah does not love those who are extravagant.

Having mentioned what the polytheists did with much of the crops and livestock that Allah had made permissible for them, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) then describes the blessings that He had bestowed upon them, and their obligations with regard to crops and livestock:

﴾lt is He Who produces gardens﴿ that contain various types of trees and plants

﴾trellised and untrellised﴿ that is, in some of those gardens there are trellises on which the plant grows, and it helps it rise up from the ground; in other gardens there are no trellises, and the plant grows on its stem or trunk, or spreads along the ground.

This highlights the many benefits of those gardens, and tells us that Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) taught man how to make trellises and grow things.

f[and]﴿ He produces ?(date palms and all manner of crops﴿ that is, all in one place, and all irrigated by the same water, yet Allah causes some of them to excel others in taste (cf. 13: 4).

Allah singles out for mention the date palm and all manner of crops because of their many benefits, and because they are the staple food for most people.

Allah also produces ﴾olives and pomegranates, similar﴿ in trees ﴾yet dissimilar﴿ in their fruits and taste. It is as if it is saying: for what purpose did Allah create these gardens and what they produce?Then He tells us that He produced them for people’s benefit; thus He says:

﴾Eat of their fruit﴿ that is, the fruit of the date palms and crops ﴾when they bear fruit and give what is due on the day of harvest﴿ that is, give what is due of those crops. This refers to zakah of those crops for which Sharia sets a minimum threshold (nisab). Allah instructed them to give it on the day of harvest, because the harvest of crops is equivalent to the one-year deadline that applies to other kinds of wealth. That is the time when the poor would expect it, and at that time it is easy for the growers to give it. Thus the one who gives it will be known, and will stand out from the one who does not give it.

﴾But do not be extravagant﴿ this prohibition on extravagance applies to food, with regard to eating more than is normal. The one who owns the crops should not eat in such a way that it impacts zakah. It also refers to giving zakah on the crops; the owner should not give more than is required of him and thus harm himself, his family or his creditors. All of that comes under the heading of extravagance which Allah has prohibited and which He does not love; rather He hates it and disapproves of it.

This verse indicates that it is obligatory to give zakah on fruits, and that there is no requirement to wait for one (Hijri) year to pass; rather it becomes due when it is harvested in the fields and when collected from the date palms.

Zakah is not repeated in this case, even if the harvest remains with a person for many years, so long as it is not intended for trade, because Allah has only commanded that zakah be paid on it at the time of harvest. But if the crop is affected by blight before that, without any negligence on the part of the owner, then he is not liable for it. It is also permissible to eat from the date palms and crops before giving zakah on them, and whatever is eaten is not to be counted for the purpose of zakah; rather zakah is to be given on what remains after that.

The Prophet (ﷺ) used to send someone to estimate the people’s harvest and he would instruct him to leave one third or one fourth of it for the owner, depending on how much had already been eaten by the owners or others.

6:142. Among livestock, [He creates for you] some that carry loads and others that are too young or too small to do so [such as sheep]. Eat of that which Allah has provided for you, and do not follow the footsteps of the Shaytan, for he is to you an avowed enemy.

6:143. Of livestock you have eight in [four] pairs: a pair of sheep and a pair of goats. Say: Has He forbidden the two males, or the two females, or that which the wombs of the two females may contain? Tell me on the basis of knowledge, if you are speaking the truth.

6:144. [And likewise] a pair of camels and a pair of cattle. Say: Has He forbidden the two males, or the two females, or that which the wombs of the two females may contain? Were you present when Allah ordained such a thing for you? Who does greater evil thanhe who fabricates lies against Allah in order to misguide people without knowledge? Verily Allah does not guide the evildoers.

﴾Among livestock, [He creates for you] some that carry loads and others that are too young or too small to do so﴿ that is, some you use to carry loads and ride, and others are not fit to carry loads or be ridden, because they are too small, such as infant animals and the like. With regard to carrying loads and being ridden, livestock are divided into these two categories.

But with regard to eating them or other benefits, they may all be eaten and put to other uses. Hence Allah says: ﴾Eat of that which Allah has provided for you, and do not follow the footsteps of the Shayfan﴿ that is, his ways and deeds, which includes prohibiting some of that which Allah has granted to you as provision, tffor he is to you an avowed enemy﴿ and he only enjoins you to do that which will harm you and lead to your eternal doom.

These are the livestock with which Allah has blessed His slaves, and He has made all of them permissible and wholesome, and He has explained them as follows:

height in [four] pairs: a pair of sheep﴿ male and female f(and a pair of goats﴿ likewise. This makes four, all of which are included in that which Allah has permitted, with no differentiation between them.

So say to these people who go to extremes and prohibit some things and not others, or they prohibit some of them to females but not to males, proving to them that there is no difference between what they permit and what they prohibit:

﴾Has He forbidden﴿ of sheep and goats ﴾the two males﴿? For you do not say that; rather you reject that idea

﴾or the two females?﴿ For you do not say that either; you do not prohibit the males only or the females only of either type.

So what remains is the idea that if the womb contains both a male and a female, or it is not clear what it contains, then do you prohibit ﴾that which the wombs of the two females may contain?﴿ that is, the female sheep or the female goat, without differentiating between male or female? But you do not say this either.

So you do not say any of these three options, which list all the possible categories, then what do you say?

﴾Tell me on the basis of knowledge, if you are speaking the truth﴿ in your claim.

It is well known that they could not say anything acceptable on a rational basis, except one of these three things, but they did not say any of them; rather they said that some livestock, which they decided about themselves, was prohibited to females but not males, or it was prohibited at certain times, and other such notions that were undoubtedly based on deep ignorance and could only be produced through deviant thinking and corrupt ideas. Allah had not sent down any authority for what they said, and they had no proof or evidence for it.

Then Allah says something similar concerning camels and cattle. Having highlighted the falseness and corrupt nature of what they said, He then said to them something the consequences of which could not be escaped except by following the laws of Allah: ﴾Were you present when Allah ordained such a thing for you?﴿. That is, you have only one claim left, and you have no way of proving it, which is for you to say, “Allah ordained this for us and He revealed it to us as He revealed to His Messengers; indeed He revealed to us something contrary to what the Messengers claimed and what was mentioned in the Books that were sent down.” That is a fabrication, as anyone would realise, hence Allah says: ﴾Who does greater evil than he who fabricates lies against Allah in order to misguide people without knowledge?﴿ That is, in addition to his lies and fabrications against Allah, his aim is tomislead the slaves of Allah from the path of Allah, with no clear proof or evidence, and no rational or textual evidence.

﴾Verily Allah does not guide the evildoers﴿, those who have no aim but to do wrong and commit injustice, and to invent fabrications against Allah.

OM-Uo 4(vn)

6:145. Say: I do not find in that which is revealed to me anything to be forbidden for people to eat unless it be the meat of animals found dead, blood poured forth or the flesh of swine, for that is an abomination, or that which is profane, over which [a name] other than that of Allah has been invoked [at the time of slaughter]. But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits, then your Lord is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

6:146. To the Jews We forbade every [animal] with undivided hoof, and We forbade to them the fat of cattle and sheep, except that which adheres to their backs or entrails, or is attached to their bones. Thus We requited them for their wilful disobedience; verily We state the truth.

When Allah criticised the polytheists for what they prohibited of permissible things and attributed that to Allah, and declared theirwords to be false, He instructed His Messenger (ﷺ) to explain to the people what Allah has prohibited to them, so that they might know that everything else is permissible; whoever suggests that any of that is prohibited by Allah is lying and fabricating, because a prohibition can only come from Allah on the lips of His Messenger (ﷺ), and Allah said to His Messenger (ﷺ):

﴾Say: I do not find in that which is revealed to me anything to be forbidden for people to eat﴿ that is, regardless of whether the prohibition applies to using it for other purposes or not ﴾unless it be the meat of animals found dead﴿ this refers to animals that died without being slaughtered in the prescribed manner; that is not permissible, as Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says elsewhere:

﴾Forbidden to you [for food] are: the meat of animals found dead, blood, the flesh of swine... (al-Mri 'idah 5:3)

﴾blood poured forth﴿ this refers to blood that comes out of the animal at the time of slaughter, for it is blood that would be harmful if it was retained in the body; when the blood is expelled from the body, the harm that may result from eating the meat is removed.

What this phrase implies is that the blood that remains in the flesh and veins after slaughter is permissible and pure.

﴾or the flesh of swine, for that is an abomination﴿ that is, these three things are an abomination, which means that they are unclean, impure and harmful. Allah has prohibited them out of kindness towards you, and so that you will keep a distance from filth.

﴾or that which is profane, over which [a name] other than that of Allah has been invoked [at the time of slaughter]﴿ such as the idols or false gods worshipped by the polytheists. This comes under the heading of profanity, which refers to disobedience towards Allah.

﴾But if one is forced by necessity﴿ that is, despite the fact that these are prohibited things, if a person is forced by necessity or needto eat any of these things, because he has nothing else and fears that he may die,

﴾without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits﴿ that is, without wanting to eat it if it was not a matter of necessity, or eating more than he needs to,

﴾then your Lord is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful﴿ that is, Allah has pardoned everyone who finds himself in this situation.

The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) differed concerning this exclusive list mentioned in this verse, even though there are other prohibited things that are not mentioned here, such as wild carnivorous animals, birds of prey that have talons, and so on. Some of the scholars stated that this verse was revealed before the prohibition on other things that are not mentioned here, so there is no contradiction between the list mentioned here and the prohibition that was revealed subsequently, because at that time there was nothing revealed to prohibit what came afterwards.

Other scholars said that this verse includes everything that is prohibited; some of it is mentioned explicitly and other things may be inferred from the context and the general reason for prohibition.

The reason given for the prohibition on the meat of animals found dead, blood and the flesh of swine - or at least the latter - is ﴾for that is an abomination﴿. This is a general description that applies to everything that is prohibited, for all prohibited things are abominable and unclean, and they are filthy and off-putting things that Allah has forbidden to His slaves, so as to protect and honour them, and to keep them away from directly handling filthy and unclean things.

The details of that which is an abomination and prohibited are to be found in the Sunnah, which explains the Qur’an and its goals. If Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) has not prohibited any food except what is mentioned here, and the prohibition has no source except the laws of Allah, this indicates that the polytheists who prohibited that which Allah hadprovided to them were fabricating lies against Allah and attributing to Him something that He did not say.

The verse also points to a strong possibility: Allah mentioned swine (pigs) in this verse, in which the context is one of criticising and refuting the views of the polytheists mentioned above, having to do with prohibition of that which Allah has made permissible, and mentioning their arguments concerning that on the basis of their own whims and desires, which had to do only with livestock animals (an ‘am: camels, cattle, sheep and goats), none of which are prohibited except that which is mentioned in this verse, namely those found dead and those over which a name other than that of Allah is invoked at the time of slaughter; all others are permissible.

Perhaps the reason why swine or pigs are mentioned here, according to this idea, is that some ignorant readers may include them with livestock animals, assuming them to be akin to sheep, as the ignorant among the Christians and others of their ilk do, so they raise them as they raise other livestock, and they regard them as permissible, not differentiating between them and an‘am livestock. So this list of prohibited things is aimed at protecting this Ummah from such impure things. With regard to that which was prohibited to the People of the Book, some of these things are good and permissible, but they were prohibited to them by way of punishment. Hence Allah says: ﴾To the Jews We forbade every [animal] with undivided hoof﴿, such as camels and the like.

Also prohibited to them were certain parts of cattle and sheep: ﴾and We forbade to them the fat of cattle and sheep﴿.

Not all the fat was prohibited; rather it was the fat of the buttocks. Hence permissible fat was excluded from that: ﴾except that which adheres to their backs or entrails﴿, which is the fat that is mixed with them, ﴾or is attached to their bones﴿.

﴾Thus﴿ that is, by means of these prohibitions ordained for the Jews﴾We requited them for their wilful disobedience﴿ that is, the wrongdoing and transgression against the rights of Allah and the rights of His slaves. Hence Allah forbade these things to them, as a punishment to them

﴾verily We state the truth﴿ in all that We say, do and rule. Who is truer than Allah in speech, and who could be better in judgement than Allah, for a people who are certain in faith?

6:147. If they accuse you [O Muhammad] of lying, then say: Your Lord is full of mercy all-embracing, but His punishment cannot be averted from the evildoers.

That is, if these polytheists accuse you of lying, then carry on calling them with promises of reward and warnings of punishment, and tell them that Allah ﴾Sfis full of mercy all-embracing﴿ that is, His mercy encompasses all of His creation, so hasten to seek His mercy by appropriate means, first and foremost among which, and the most essential of which, is believing in Muhammad (ﷺ) and the message he brought.

﴾but His punishment cannot be averted from the evildoers﴿ that is, those who do a lot of wrong actions and commit a lot of sins. So beware of sin that incurs the punishment of Allah, the gravest of which is disbelieving in Muhammad (ﷺ).

6:148. Those who ascribe partners to Allah will say: If Allah had so willed, we would not have ascribed partners to Him, and neither would our forefathers, and we would not have introduced any taboos. In like manner did those who came before them reject [their Prophets], until they tasted Our punishment. Say: Do you have any [certain] knowledge? If so, present it to us. You follow nothing but conjecture and you do nothing but lie.

6:149. Say: Allah alone has the ultimate proof. If He had so willed, He could have guided you all.

Here Allah states that the polytheists will present arguments to justify the ascription of partners to Allah and the prohibition of that which Allah had permitted, on the grounds of it being the divine will and decree; they will take the will of Allah, which encompasses all things, good and bad, as an argument to ward off any blame from themselves.

And they did indeed say what Allah said they would say, as He tells us elsewhere:

﴾Those who ascribe partners to Allah say: If Allah had so willed, we would not have worshipped anything besides Him...﴿ (an-Nahl 16: 35)

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) tells us that the disbelieving nations kept using this argument as justification for rejecting the call of the Messengers, and they took it as an excuse, but that did not benefit them in any way at all. They persisted in this attitude until Allah destroyed them and made them taste the punishment.

If it had been a valid argument, it would have averted the punishment from them, and Allah would not have sent the punishmentupon them, because He only sends His punishment upon those who deserve it. Thus it is known that this is an invalid and flawed argument, and it is specious and unconvincing on a number of counts, the most significant of which are as follows:

• Allah states that if this argument had been valid, the punishment would not have befallen them.

• An argument should be based on knowledge and proof. If it is based on mere speculation and conjecture that is no substitute for certain truth, then it is invalid. Hence Allah says: ﴾Say: Do you have any [certain] knowledge? If so, present it to us﴿. If they did have any knowledge - at a time when they were avowed enemies of the Prophet (ﷺ) - they would have produced it. Because they did not produce it, it is known that they had no knowledge.

﴾You follow nothing but conjecture and you do nothing but lie﴿. The one who bases his argument on speculation and conjecture is following falsehood and is a loser, so how about if he bases it on transgression, stubbornness, evil and corruption?

• Allah alone has the ultimate proof which leaves no excuse for anyone, on which the Prophets and Messengers, the divinely revealed Books, the prophetic reports, sound reasoning, upright human nature and righteous attitudes are all agreed.

Thus it is known that everything that is contrary to this definitive evidence is false, because whatever is contrary to the truth can only be falsehood.

• Allah te) has given each person ability and willpower by means of which he is able to do what he is obliged to do. Allah does not enjoin upon anyone that which he is unable to do, and He does not prohibit to anyone that which he is unable to give up. Therefore using the argument of the divine will and decree is nothing but pure wrongdoing and stubbornness.• Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) does not compel people to do anything; rather He has made their actions the matter of their own choice. If they want, they may do it, and if they want they may refrain. This is something that is well known and well established, and no one denies it except one who stubbornly rejects tangible and visible evidence. Everyone differentiates between voluntary and involuntary movements; however all of that comes under and is subject to the will of Allah.

• Those who use the concept of the divine will and decree as justification for their sins are contradicting themselves, for they cannot be consistent in argument. Rather if someone mistreats them by beating them, taking their wealth and the like, then gives the argument that this happened by the will and decree of Allah, they will not accept this argument, and they will become very angry with him.

So how strange it is when they use this argument to justify their disobedience towards Allah and their doing that which incurs His wrath, but they do not accept for anyone to use this argument for doing anything that upsets them.

• They do not use the argument of the divine will and decree to express belief in these concepts, for they know that this is not a valid argument. Rather their intention is to ward off the truth, for they think of the truth in terms of defending themselves against it, so they try to avert it by means of whatever argument crosses their minds, even if they think it is wrong.

(to. :fu\l

6:150. Say [O Muhammad]: Bring your witnesses who can testify that Allah has forbidden all this. Then if they testify, do not testify with them. Do not follow the desires of those who reject Our revelations, and those who do not believe in the hereafter, and they ascribe equals to their Lord.

That is, say to those who prohibit that which Allah has made permissible and they attribute that ruling to Allah: Bring your witnesses who can testify that Allah has indeed prohibited this. If these words are said to them, they have two options: either they will not bring anyone to testify to that effect, thus their claim is demonstrated to be false and not based on any testimony or proof; or, if they do bring someone to testify to that effect for them, no one could testify to that effect except a sinful fabricator whose testimony is not acceptable, for this is not a matter concerning which people of good character may be found to testify. Hence Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says, forbidding His Prophet and his followers to give such testimony: ﴾Then if they testify, do not testify with them. Do not follow the desires of those who reject Our revelations, and those who do not believe in the hereafter, and they ascribe equals to their Lord﴿ that is, they regard others, such as the idols, as equal to Him.

As they disbelieved in the Last Day, and did not affirm the oneness of Allah, their whims and desires were in accordance with their beliefs, which leaned towards ascribing partners to Allah and rejecting the truth. Hence it was more appropriate, with regard to someone with such inclinations, for Allah to forbid the best of His creation to follow such a man or to testify with such people. Thus it is known that their prohibition of that which Allah had made permissible stemmed from those misguided whims and desires.

6:151. Say: Come, I will recite to you what your Lord has made binding on you: that you should not ascribe any partner to Him; that you should show kindness to parents; that you should not kill your children because of poverty, for We will provide for you and for them; that you should not approach shameful deeds, whether openly or in secret; that you should not kill, for that is forbidden by Allah, except in the course of justice. Thus He instructs you, so that you may understand.

6:152. Do not touch the orphan’s property, before he comes of age, except to improve it; give full measure and weight, with equity. We do not place on any soul a burden greater than it can bear. And when you speak, be fair, even if it concerns a close relative. And fulfil the covenant of Allah. Thus He instructs you, so that you may pay heed.

6:153. Verily, this is My path, leading straight; follow it, and do not follow [other] paths, lest they cause you to deviate from His path. Thus He instructs you, so that you may protect yourselves [from misguidance].

Here Allah Oic) says to His Prophet (ﷺ): ﴾Say﴿ to these people who prohibited that which Allah had made permissible: ﴾Come, I will recite to you what your Lord has made binding on you﴿, the rulings that are binding upon everyone and which include what is prohibited in terms of food, drink, words and actions.

﴾that you should not ascribe any partner to Him﴿ that is, neither few nor many.

The real nature of ascribing partners to Allah is that a created being is worshipped as Allah is to be worshipped, or is venerated as Allah is to be venerated, or is described in terms of any attribute that is unique to Allah in terms of Lordship or divinity. If a person refrains from ascribing partners to Allah in any way, then he becomes a monotheist (one who affirms the oneness of Allah), sincere towards Him in all his affairs. It is Allah’s right over His slaves that they should worship Him alone, and not associate anything with Him.

Then He lists the most important rights after His own:

﴾that you should show kindness to parents﴿ by speaking respectfully and kindly, and doing good deeds. Showing kindness includes any word or deed that benefits one’s parents and makes them happy, and if the individual shows kindness to his parents, then there is no disobedience towards them.

﴾that you should not kill your children﴿ male or female ﴾because of poverty﴿ that is, because you are worried about how to provide for them, as happened during the jahiliyah when hard-heartedness and injustice prevailed. If they are prohibited to kill their own children in this situation, then killing their children for no reason, or killing the children of others, is even more emphatically prohibited.

﴾for We will provide for you and for them﴿ that is, We have guaranteed the provision of all. You are not the ones who provide for your children or even for yourselves, so there is no need to worry about them.

﴾that you should not approach shameful deeds﴿ - this refers to major sins that are regarded as obscene or repugnant﴾whether openly or in secret﴿ - this refers to actions that are visible and those that have to do with thoughts and intentions.

The prohibition on approaching shameful deeds is more effective than a prohibition on merely doing them, because it includes a prohibition on their precursors and the means that lead to them.

﴾that you should not kill, for that is forbidden by Allah﴿ this refers to killing any Muslim, male or female, young or old, righteous or evildoer, or killing a non-Muslim who is protected by a covenant with the Muslims

﴾except in the course of justice﴿ such as the previously-married adulterer, cases of murder, or one who leaves his religion and splits from the main body of Muslims.

﴾Thus He instructs you﴿ and enjoins what is mentioned above ﴾fso that you may understand﴿ His instructions, then pay attention to them and adhere to them.

This verse indicates that the individual’s compliance with the commands of Allah will be commensurate with his level of understanding.

﴾Do not touch the orphan’s property﴿ by consuming it or replacing it with your wealth in an unfair manner, or taking it for no reason ﴾before he﴿ that is, the orphan ﴾comes of age﴿ that is, reaches maturity and knows how to handle it. When he reaches maturity, he may be given his wealth at that point and he may dispose of it as he sees fit.

﴾except to improve it﴿ that is, except in the event that you are trying to improve their wealth, so that they may benefit from it. This indicates that it is not permissible to touch the orphan’s property or dispose of it in a manner that is detrimental to the orphan, or in a manner that, although it is not detrimental to him, is not in his best interests either.

This indicates that the orphan - before he comes of age - is not allowed to dispose of his wealth and that his guardian may disposeof his wealth in the manner that is best, and this ruling comes to an end when the orphan comes of age.

﴾give full measure and weight, with equity﴿ that is, on the basis of fairness and honesty. If you strive hard in that, then ﴾We do not place on any soul a burden greater than it can bear﴿ that is, as much as it is able to bear, and not too much. So if anyone strives hard to be honest in terms of measures and weights, then falls short without realising, and without being negligent, then Allah is Oft-Pardoning, Oft-Forgiving.

The scholars of usool quoted this and similar verses as evidence that Allah does not burden anyone with more than he can bear, and that if a person fears Allah with regard to His commands, and does whatever he can, then there is no blame on him for anything beyond that.

﴾And when you speak﴿ in the event of judging between people and putting an end to their disputes, or you comment on their views or their situations, then ﴾be fair﴿ in what you say, by paying attention to being truthful both regarding those whom you like and those whom you dislike, and by being fair and not concealing that which needs to be disclosed, for being biased against someone because you dislike him or some of his views constitutes wrongdoing, which is prohibited.

In fact when a scholar discusses the views of the innovators, what he is required to do is give credit where it is due, and to explain what there is of truth or falsehood in their statements and to take into consideration how close to or far from the truth it is.

Th e/uqaha ’ (jurists) have stated that the qddi (judge) must be fair and equitable towards both disputants in the way he speaks to them and looks at them.

﴾And fulfil the covenant of Allah﴿ that includes the covenant which He has made with His slaves, according to which they must fulfil His rights, as well as the covenants that people make with oneanother. All covenants must be fulfilled and it is prohibited to break any covenant or fail to fulfil it properly.

﴾Thus﴿ that is, the rulings mentioned above ﴾He instructs you, so that you may pay heed﴿ to what He has explained to you of rulings, and so that you may carry out His instructions properly and learn the wisdom behind them and the rulings concerning them.

Having explained many of the major rulings and important laws, Allah then refers to them and to that which is more comprehensive and general than them, as He says: ﴾Verily, this is My path, leading straight﴿ that is, these and similar rulings, which Allah has explained in His Book and made clear to His slaves, are the path of Allah that leads to Him and to paradise; it is a moderate, easy and straightforward path.

﴾follow it﴿ in order to attain success and prosperity, and to fulfil your hopes

﴾and do not follow [other] paths﴿ that is, paths that are contrary to this path

﴾lest they cause you to deviate from His path﴿ that is, lead you astray and cause you to deviate right and left. For if you go astray from the straight path, there is nothing else but paths that lead to hell.

﴾Thus He instructs you, so that you may protect yourselves [from misguidance]﴿; if you do what Allah has explained to you, by learning it and acting upon it, you will be among the pious and successful slaves of Allah. The path is described in the singular and as being His because there is only one path that leads to Him, and Allah is the One Who helps those who follow it to adhere to it.

6:154. Moreover, We gave Moosa the scripture, completing [Our favour] for those who did good, and explaining all things in detail, and as a guidance and a mercy, so that they might believe in the meeting with their Lord.

6:155. And this [Qur’an] is a blessed Book that We have sent down, so follow it and fear Allah, so that you may attain mercy.

6:156. Lest you should say: The scripture was sent down to two groups [the Jews and Christians] before us, and we were unaware of their teachings.

6:157. Or lest you should say: If the scripture had been sent down to us, we would have been better guided than they. Now there has come to you a clear sign from your Lord, and a guidance and a mercy. Who does greater evil than he who rejects Allah’s revelations and turns away from them? We will requite those who turn away from Our revelations with the worst kind of punishment, for their turning away.

Here Allah tells us that He ﴾gave Moosa the scripture﴿, namely the Torah

﴾completing]* His favour and kindness

﴾for those who did good﴿ among the Ummah of Moosa, for Allah bestowed upon the doers of good among them unlimited blessings, the most perfect of which was the Torah which was sent down to them. Thus the blessing of Allah to them was completed, and it was obligatory for them to give thanks for it.

﴾and explaining all things in detail﴿ for which they needed explanation, such as what was lawful and what was prohibited, commands and prohibitions, beliefs and so on ﴾and as a guidance﴿ that is, to guide them to that which was good and to inform them of what was evil with regard to both fundamental and minor issues

﴾and a mercy﴿ so that by means of it they might attain happiness, mercy and a great deal of goodness

﴾fso that﴿ by means of Our sending down to them the Book and clear proofs ﴾they might believe in the meeting with their Lord﴿, for it included definitive evidence of the Resurrection and recompense for deeds, which required them to believe in the meeting with their Lord and to prepare for it.

﴾And this﴿ namely the Holy Qur’an and wise reminder ﴾is a blessed Book that We have sent down﴿ that is, it contains much good and abundant knowledge, and all other branches of knowledge are taken from it and all blessings are derived from it. There is nothing good but the Qur’an calls to it and encourages it. It mentions wisdom and interests that encourage one to pursue good. And there is nothing evil but it forbids it and warns against it, and it mentions reasons that put one off doing such things, and the bad consequences thereof.

﴾so follow it﴿ and comply with its commands and prohibitions, and base your understanding of your religion, both fundamental and minor issues, on it.

﴾and fear Allah﴿ lest you go against His command and ﴾so that﴿, if you follow it (the Qur’an)

﴾you may attain mercy﴿, for the greatest means of attaining Allah’s mercy is following this Book, learning it and acting upon it.

﴾Lest you should say: The scripture was sent down to two groups [the Jews and Christians] before us, and we were unaware of their teachings﴿ that is. We have sent down this blessed Book to you so that you will have no excuse, and lest you should say: The Book wasonly sent down to two groups who came before us, namely the Jews and Christians.

﴾fand we were unaware of their teachings that is, lest you say: No Book came down to us, and of the Books that were revealed to the two earlier groups we have no knowledge. Therefore We sent down a Book to you, and no other Book that came down from heaven is more comprehensive or clearer than it.

﴾Or lest you should say: If the scripture had been sent down to us, we would have been better guided than they﴿. That is, either you will give the excuse that no guidance reached you in the first place, or you will give the excuse that what you had of guidance was incomplete and imperfect. But by means of this Book you have received the basics of guidance and more, to the point of perfect guidance. Hence Allah says: ﴾Now there has come to you a clear sign from your Lord﴿ which includes everything that can highlight and explain the truth in a perfect manner

﴾fa guidance﴿ away from error

﴾and a mercy﴿ that is, blessing for you in your spiritual and worldly affairs. This requires you to comply with its rulings and to believe in its stories, and implies that the one who does not pay attention to it and rejects it is the worst of wrongdoers. Hence Allah says: ﴾Who does greater evil than he who rejects Allah’s revelations and turns away from them?﴿ That is, he shuns them and turns away from them.

(fWe will requite those who turn away from Our revelations with the worst kind of punishment﴿ that is, the punishment that causes pain and distress

﴾for their turning away﴿ themselves and turning others away from it; this will be a requital for their bad deeds.

﴾.. .And your Lord is never unjust to His slaves.﴿ (Fussilat 41: 46)

This verse indicates that knowledge of the Qur’an is the noblest and most blessed of knowledge, by means of which one attainsguidance to the straight path, which is perfect guidance, with which there is no need for the speculations and ideas of the philosophers or any other branches of knowledge of the earlier and later generations. It is well known that earlier scripture was not revealed to any except the two groups, namely the Jews and Christians. They are the People of the Book unless otherwise specified; no other group is included with them, neither the Magians nor anyone else.

This passage highlights how the people of the jahiliyah (pre-Islamic period) were before the Qur’an was revealed: they were completely ignorant and had no knowledge of what the People of the Book had, who had some knowledge, and they were unaware of their teachings.

6:158. Are they waiting for the angels to come to them, or for your Lord to come, or for some of the signs of your Lord to come? On the day when some of the signs of your Lord come, no good will it do to a soul to believe then, if it did not believe before or earn some good through its faith. Say: Wait then; we too are waiting.

Here Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says: are these people, who are persisting in their wrongdoing and stubbornness, waiting for the precursors of punishment and the precursors of the hereafter? Are they waiting ﴾for the angels﴿ to come and take their souls? For if they reach that point, neither faith nor righteous deeds will benefit them.

Or are they waiting ﴾for your Lord to come﴿ and judge all people, requiting the doers of good and the doers of evil?

Or are they waiting ﴾for some of the signs of your Lord to come﴿ which will signal the approach of the Hour?

﴾On the day when some of the signs of your Lord come﴿, extraordinary signs, from which it will be known that the Hour is at hand and that the Resurrection is nigh, ﴾no good will it do to a soul to believe then, if it did not believe before or earn some good through its faith﴿ that is, when some of the signs of Allah appear, it will not benefit the disbeliever to believe, or the believer who is falling short, to mend his ways after that. The only thing that will benefit him is the faith that he had before that, and the good deeds, for which he hoped for reward, that he did before these signs came.

The wisdom behind that is obvious. Faith is only of benefit if it is faith in the unseen and is voluntary on the part of the individual. Once the signs appear, then it becomes a matter of that which is seen and faith will no longer be of benefit because it is more akin to faith when one has no other choice, like the faith of one who is drowning or burning to death and the like, those who, when they see death, they give up what they were doing. This is like what Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says elsewhere:

﴾But when they saw Our punishment, they said: We believe in Allah alone, and we reject that which we used to associate with Him. But their believing after they had seen Our punishment could not benefit them at all. Such has always been the way of Allah in dealing with

Many saheeh hadiths from the Prophet (ﷺ) indicate that what is meant by “some of the signs of Allah” here is the rising of the sun from its place of setting; when the people see that, they will believe, but their faith will be of no benefit and at that time the gate of repentance will be closed.

As this is a warning to those who rejected the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), who were expecting calamities and disasters to befall the Prophet (ﷺ) and his followers, Allah says:

﴾Say: Wait then; we too are waiting﴿ and you will come to know which of us is more deserving of protection and safety.

This verse offers proof for the view of ahl as-Sunnah wal-jama ‘ah who affirm the actions of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى), such as His rising above the Throne (in a manner that befits His Majesty), descending and coming, without likening it to or thinking of it in terms of human attributes.

There is a great deal of evidence to this effect in the Qur’an and Sunnah.

It also indicates that one of the portents of the Hour will be the rising of the sun from its place of setting, and that Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) is Most Wise; by His decree, faith is only of benefit if it is by choice and not under compulsion, as mentioned above.

We also learn from this verse that man may attain good by means of his faith. Acts of obedience, righteousness and piety are only of benefit and can only develop if the individual has faith. If his heart is devoid of faith, then none of these deeds will be of any benefit to him.

6:159. As for those who differed concerning their religion and divided into sects, you [O Muhammad] have nothing whatsoever to do with them. Their case rests with Allah; in the end He will inform them of what they used to do.

6:160. Whoever comes [on the Day of Resurrection] with a good deed will be repaid tenfold, but whoever comes with an evil deed will be recompensed only with the like thereof; and no one will be wronged.

Here Allah warns those who differed concerning their religion, those who divided and split into factions, each of them taking a share and calling themselves by a name that is of no benefit with regard to religious commitment, such as the Jews, Christians and Magians. Something similar may be said concerning those who call themselves by names that do not help to perfect their faith, such as those who take something of Islamic teachings and make that the core of their religious commitment, abandoning other matters that are of equal or greater importance, as is the case with various sects and followers of innovation and misguidance who divided the Ummah.

This verse indicates that Islam calls for unity and harmony, and it forbids division and dissent among its followers with regard to all matters, both fundamental and minor.

Allah enjoined him (the Prophet [^]) to disavow those who divide their religion, as He says: ﴾you [O Muhammad] have nothing whatsoever to do with them﴿ that is, you have nothing to do with them and they have nothing to do with you, because they have differed with you and opposed you

﴾Their case rests with Allah﴿, for they will return to Him and He will requite them for their deeds

﴾in the end He will inform them of what they used to do﴿.

Then He describes the nature of the requital: t﴾ Whoever comes [on the Day of Resurrection] with a good deed﴿ - this includes both words and deeds, outward or inward, having to do with the rights of Allah or the rights of His creation ﴾will be repaid tenfold﴿. This is the minimum degree of reward﴾but whoever comes with an evil deed will be recompensed only with the like thereof]* this is by the perfect justice and kindness of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى), for He will never wrong them in the slightest. Hence He says: ﴾and no one will be wronged﴿.

6:161. Say: Verily, my Lord has guided me to a straight path, an upright religion, the religion of Ibraheem the monotheist, and he was not one of those who ascribe partners to Allah.

6:162. Say: Verily my prayer, my sacrifice, my living and my dying are all for Allah, the Lord of the worlds;

6:163. No partner has He. Thus I am commanded, and I am the first of those who submit to Allah [in Islam],

6:164. Say: Should I seek a lord other than Allah, when He is the Lord of all things? No soul earns [evil] but it is to its own detriment; no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another. Then to your Lord you will [all] return, then He will inform you about the matters concerning which you differed.

6:165. And it is He Who has made you the successors of others on the earth, and has caused some of you to excel others [in worldly advantages], so that He may test you by means of that which Hehas bestowed upon you. Verily your Lord is swift in punishment, yet He is indeed Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Here Allah Bs) instructs His Prophet (ﷺ) to say and proclaim that what he is following of guidance to the straight path is the moderate religion which promotes sound beliefs and righteous deeds, and it enjoins all that is good and forbids all that is abhorrent. This is the religion of the Prophets and Messengers, especially the leader of the monotheists and the father of those Prophets who were sent after his death, namely the close friend of the Most Merciful, Ibraheem He is the monotheist whose path stands out from all crooked paths and all other deviant religions such as those of the Jews, Christians and polytheists.

This is in general terms; then Allah singles out for mention the noblest acts of worship, as He says:

﴾Say: Verily my prayer, my sacrifice﴿ - this is because of the virtue of these two acts of worship and what they imply of loving Allah, devoting worship sincerely to Him alone and drawing closer to Him in one’s heart and by means of one’s words and actions. Sacrifice means giving up what one loves of wealth or property for that which is dearer to one, namely Allah (سبحانه وتعالى).

If a person is sincere in his prayer and sacrifice, he will inevitably be sincere towards Allah in all his deeds.

﴾jmy living and my dying﴿ that is, whatever I do in my life and whatever Allah decrees should happen to me, and what He decrees for me at the time of my death, all of that is ﴾for Allah, the Lord of the worlds; No partner has Hej﴿ in worship, just as He has no partner in sovereignty and control.

This sincerity towards Allah is not something that I have made up by myself; rather ﴾Thus I am commanded﴿ - it is enjoined upon me and I have no choice but to comply﴾and I am the first of those who submit to Allah [in Islam]﴿ of this Ummah.

﴾Say: Should I seek a lord other than Allah﴿ among His creation; would that be right or would it be appropriate for me to take someone other than Him as a lord and submit my affairs to him, when Allah is the Lord of all things? All creatures are subject to His Lordship and must submit to His commands.

Therefore I and others have no choice but to take Allah as our Lord and be content with Him, and not be attached to any of those who are subject to His control and are helpless in themselves.

This is followed by encouragement and warning, which takes the form of mentioning the recompense:

﴾No soul earns [evil] but it is to its own detriment﴿ that is, whatever a person does, good or evil, the consequences thereof will reach him. This is like the verse in which Allah says: ﴾Whoever does righteous deeds, it is to his own benefit and whoever does evil deeds, it is to his own detriment... ﴿ (Fussilat 41: 46)

﴾no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another﴿ rather each one will carry his own burden; if anyone causes someone else to be misguided and to incur a burden of sin, then he will also bear a burden of sin for what he caused, without that detracting from the burden of the one who actually did it.

﴾Then to your Lord you will [all] return﴿ on the Day of Resurrection ﴾then He will inform you about the matters concerning which you differed﴿ of good and evil, and He will requite you for that abundantly.

And it is He Who has made you the successors of others on the earth﴿ that is, He has caused you to succeed one another, generation after generation, and to succeed other people on earth; He has subjugated to you all that is on earth and has tested you, to see what you will do.

﴾and has caused some of you to excel others [in worldly advantages]﴿ in terms of strength, well-being, provision, physical appearance and character

﴾so that He may test you by means of that which He has bestowed upon you]j as your deeds vary.

﴾Verily your Lord is swift in punishment﴿ for those who disobey Him and reject His revelations

^yet He is indeed Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful﴿ to those who believe in Him and do righteous deeds, and repent from that which could incur doom.

This is the end of the commentary on Soorat al-An‘am.

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