The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 406
CH. 6 AL-AN'ĀM PT. 7 وَلَهُ مَا سَكَنَ فِي الَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ وَهُوَ To Him belongs whatever. 14 السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ dwells in the night and the day. And He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. 761 perish, and not (khasira), i. e. he suffered or he was lost, which the Quran has used. This peculiar use of the word is intended to intensify the meaning. Thus, the words alone does not bring punishment upon men in this life. So far as simple disbelief is concerned, the case of the believers and the disbelievers will be decided on the Day of Judgement when all will be assembled together | الذين خسروا و خسروا would really read انفسهم of i. e. those who suffered a loss and caused their souls to perish. For the sake of convenience, however, the expression has been rendered in the text as, those who ruin their souls. For a somewhat similar expression, i. e. medew see Lisān where that expression has been fully dealt with. Commentary: Here God first puts a question, and then Himself answers it. This form has also been employed elsewhere in the Quran. It is meant to bring out the disbelievers' extreme weakness of faith and make them realize it. All that is in the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah; so the enemies of Faith also belong to God. No one would like to destroy that which belongs to him, much less would God like to do so, for He is Merciful and has made mercy binding on Himself. So He is giving the enemies of the Holy Prophet time to repent. He is putting off punishment so that they may turn to Him and repent of their sins. Hence, instead of demanding punishment, let them ask forgiveness and benefit by His mercy. and God's judgement will be pronounced. It is only the extreme wickedness of men and their active opposition to the Prophets of God that hastens punishment for them in this life. So the verse exhorts disbelievers not to demand punishment, but rather to repent, so that God may have mercy on them. 761. Commentary: Not only have darkness and light been made by God (6:2), but, as the present verse puts it, all that dwells in them also belongs to Him. This shows that both darkness and light have been made with a purpose. Now when God is the Master of all that dwells in darkness and light, how could He entrust His own possessions to other beings? As pointed out under 6:2 above, even darkness and afflictions have their advantages. God involves men in darkness and sends down afflictions so that their character may be perfected and they may pray to God and He may hear them, for He is All-Hearing. And if there is no time for men to pray or they do not know or do not realize the It should be noted that disbelief danger and consequently do not pray, 846