The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 482
CH. 6 AL-AN'ĀM PT. 8 الظُّلُمتِ لَيْسَ بِخَارِجِ مِنْهَا كَذَلِكَ among men, be like him whose ۖ زُيِّنَ لِلْكَفِرِينَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ condition is that he is in utter darkness whence he cannot come forth? "Thus have the doings of the disbelievers been made to seem fair to them. 864 atajkojukajis, وَكَذَلِكَ جَعَلْنَا فِي كُلِّ قَرْيَةٍ اكبر And thus have We made. 124 مُجْرِمِيهَا لِيَمْكُرُوا فِيهَا وَمَا يَمْكُرُونَ إِلَّا بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ in every town the great ones from among its sinners such as are in utter darkness with the result that they plot therein; and "6:109; 10:13; 27:5. 17:17. devoid of reverence for Him and this gradually leads to i. e. associating partners with God. 864. Commentary: In the foregoing verses it was pointed out that man-made teachings are always defective. Now, the Quran proceeds to show that man-made teachings cannot stand against Divine teachings. The verse purports to put the question: "If there is a teaching which is really from God, will it not be better than that devised by man?" Now, this is a question which every man, even a disbeliever, will have to reply in the affirmative. Indeed, human reason cannot have the boldness to deny it. The question has thus been put to make disbelievers conscious of a great truth. The laws made by men are always subject to change owing to their intrinsic defectiveness. A law is made today but it has to be changed tomorrow on account of the defects Then the new law is again changed which by experience are found in it. for the same reason, and this process goes on indefinitely and sometimes even a sort of a circle comes into being. Thus the case of such men as devise their laws with the aid of human reason alone is like one who is in darkness from which he will never come out. The words, made to seem fair, imply that Satan and his associates adorn the evil doings of men. In the beginning it is Satan who misleads men by inciting them to evil. But when a man goes on doing evil deeds, his evil deeds gradually begin to appear good to him. This is the law of God meant as a punishment. It is to this later adornment of deeds under The expression, he is in utter darkness whence he cannot come forth, refers to the man who devises laws with the aid of reason alone- reason that is fettered by numberless the law of God that the Quran refers limitations to which man is subject. | in 6:109 above. 922