The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 400
CH. 6 AL-AN'ĀM PT. 7 هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ طِيْنِ ثُمَّ He it is Who created you. 3 b from clay, and then He decreed قَضَى أَجَلًا وَاَجَلُّ مُّسَمًّى عِنْدَهُ a term. And there is another ثُمَّ أَنْتُمْ تَمْتَرُونَ term fixed with Him. Yet you doubt! 750 a15:27; 23:13; 32:8; 37:12; 38:72. b71:5. equally omnipotent and worthy of perfect praise, what need is there for the other two? On the contrary, if only all the three combined can do the work and none can do it singly, God cannot be considered to be worthy of all praise. By saying, and brought into being darkness and light, the Quran refutes the second class of men. The words, All praise belongs to Allah, must be read with this part of the verse also, thus hinting that even "darkness," i. e. things which are generally looked upon as evil, such as death, disease, misery and affliction, are also things for which praise is due to God. In fact, every kind of "darkness" has its uses. Directly or indirectly, it is meant for the good of man and for his general advancement. Now when even apparently evil things are meant for the ultimate good of man, the natural conclusion would be that half of the things meant for the good of men are created by one god and the other half by another, which is simply absurd. As for the good underlying apparently evil things, it may be hinted that the difficulties and troubles which beset man serve as a means of turning him to virtue, and of his attaining divine favours and 840 bounties. Take death for instance. If a man should not die but should remain alive forever, he could not achieve the blessings of Heaven, which embody the most perfect favours of God. On the other hand, these favours cannot be given to man in this life; for, if they were given to him here, they would become apparent to all; in that case there would remain no veil and no secrecy and consequently there would remain no merit in faith. A person deserves credit for his faith only when there is some secrecy about the thing in which he is called upon to believe. 750. Commentary: The creation of man referred to in the words, Who created you, is meant as an illustration of the light mentioned in the previous verse, while the decreeing of a term, i. e. the ordaining of death, is meant as an illustration of "darkness". The verse ascribes both these acts to God as acts of mercy, thus refuting those who believe in two separate Gods, one of evil and the other of good. The words, there is another term fixed with Him, refer to the Day of Judgement or of Resurrection when men, after passing through the gate of death, will receive their rewards from their Lord.