The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 265
PT. 2 AL-BAQARAH CH. 2 it. The punishment shall not be lightened for them, nor shall they be granted respite. 169 خُلِدِينَ فِيهَا لَا يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمُ الْعَذَابُ They shall remain under. 163 وَلَا هُمْ يُنظَرُونَ وَالهُكُمْ إِلهُ وَاحِدٌ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ And your God is One. 164 الرَّحْمَنُ الرَّحِيمُن b God; there is no God but He, the Gracious, the Merciful. 170 "3:89. b2:256; 16:23; 22:35; 37:5; 59:23, 24; 112:2. The angels, one of whose works is to help good men and punish the wicked, will turn against them and all good men will also strive to bring their evil efforts to naught. They will find the entire forces of God ranged against them. If the word (men) be taken to refer to all men, then the clause would mean that all men being subordinate to God, He would so arrange that no people would be able to help them against His decree. 169. Important Words: be granted respite) is formed ينظرون from which means, (1) he looked; (2) he granted respite. They say i. e. he granted him respite in respect of the payment of debt (Aqrab). Commentary: God is slow to punish but when the cup of the iniquities of a disbelieving people becomes full to the brim and all warning is lost upon them, then severe punishment overtakes them, and no further respite is granted; and as the punishment is primarily meant as a cure, it is of sufficiently long duration and persists till all vestige of spiritual disease is rooted out. 170. Commentary: of faith, this verse fittingly refers to As all sin springs from feebleness the Unity of God, signifying that if people only believed in God's Unity and refrained from setting up false gods, they would never digress from the right path. It must not, however, be and understood that idol-worship consists in worshipping images only. Every man who loves anyone other than God as he ought to love Him, or fears anyone as he ought to fear Him, or trusts in anyone as he ought to trust in Him, is really guilty of idol- worship must suffer the consequences thereof. In fact, the principal and primary object of religion, is to establish the Unity of God, and the Quran has dealt with this subject in a manner and to an extent which has no parallel in any other Book. Islam condemns both (manifest or visible idolatry) and (hidden or invisible idolatry) in the strongest of terms. The verse may also signify that, with the advent of Islam, God, the Maker of heavens and earth, no longer remains the God of this or that people only, but becomes the God of all peoples and all mankind. The 265