The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 162
PT. 4 سبحَنَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ CH. 3 ĀL-E-‘IMRĀN hast not created this in vain; Nay, Holy art Thou; save us, then, from the punishment of the Fire. 474 رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ مَنْ تُدْخِلِ النَّارَ فَقَدْ Our Lord, whomsoever. 193 اَخْزَيْتَهُ وَمَا لِلظَّلِمِيْنَ مِنْ أَنْصَارِ Thou causest to enter the Fire, him Thou hast surely disgraced. And the wrongdoers shall have no helpers. 475 474. Important Words: بطل in vain is derived from) باطلا meaning, it was or became false or vain, or void or futile or devoid of virtue or of no account. They say meaning his blood went for دمه باطلا nothing, i. e. went unretaliated. Jb means, he jested or was not serious in his discourse. Jb therefore, means: false, spurious, vain, useless, void and of no account (Lane). Commentary: Such a grand system to which an allusion has been made in the previous verse could certainly not have been brought into being without a definite purpose. The phenomenon of day and night referred to in the preceding verse affords an illustration of how this purpose is served. With the rising of the sun the whole world is illuminated, and men begin to work. Then night falls and the light of the sun is hidden from our view and men go to sleep, but even then some heavenly bodies are busy doing their allotted task. Thus both during day and night heavenly bodies perform their appointed functions and loyally serve man. The whole universe 602 having been created to serve man, the creation of man must also have a great purpose. Of men, some are bright in themselves like the sun, and there are others who possess no intrinsic light of their own but borrow it from others. Such men as place themselves in right relation to the Sun of the spiritual realm become enlightened, while those that keep away from it are left in the dark. When man ponders over the spiritual implication of the physical phenomenon of the creation of heavens and earth, the alteration of day, and night and the consummate order that pervades the universe, he is deeply impressed by the great wisdom of the Creator, and from the inmost depths of his being rises the cry: Our Lord, Thou hast not created this in vain. Then apprehension takes hold of him lest he should become deprived of the light of the spiritual Sun and he cries out: Save us from the punishment of Fire, which is nothing but being overtaken by spiritual darkness and moral degradation. 475. Commentary: A true believer dreads nothing so