The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 600
CH. 7 AL-A'RĀF 150. And when they were smitten with remorse and saw that they had indeed gone astray, they said, 'If our Lord do not have mercy on us and forgive us, we shall surely be among the losers. '1039 condemned as a deity, because it does not speak to its votaries nor guide them to any way. This shows that God can remain a true deity only as long as He speaks to His servants and provides for their guidance. So those are manifestly in the wrong who think that, whereas God used to speak and reveal Himself in the past, He has ceased to do so now. It is foolish to say that there is no harm if God has ceased to speak now when He spoke to His chosen servants in times gone by. If this argument possessed weight, worshippers of the calf could also advance a similar argument with regard to it. The fact is that no attribute of God can be supposed to have ceased to operate or become extinct. The gift of Divine revelation is attainable even now as it was attainable in the past, and those who look upon it as a thing of the past are grievously mistaken. God speaks at all times, and those who possess the capacity and quality to hear His voice, can and do hear it even now. Take away the power of speech from God and you leave Him no better than a calf. It is absurd to argue that as the Law of Islam has been made perfect, so no revelation is needed after the Holy Prophet. Revelation does not come merely to bring a new 1040 PT. 9 وَلَمَّا سُقِطَ فِي أَيْدِيهِمْ وَرَأَوْا أَنَّهُمْ قَدْ ضَلُّوا قَالُوا لَبِنْ لَّمْ يَرْحَمْنَا رَبُّنَا وَيَغْفِرْ لَنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَسِرِينَ Law. It is primarily meant to grant freshness of spiritual life to man and bring him near unto his Lord and Master. 1039. Important Words: asul bew suqita (they were smitten with remorse). The word b (saqata) means, he or it fell down; or dropped down from a higher to a lower place. They say a bin i. e. he committed a mistake in his speech. means, such a one fell سقط فلان عن عينى from the place he held in my regard. be means, he repented of what he had done; or he grieved for, and regretted, an act of inadvertence done by him; or he became confounded or perplexed and unable to see his right means, when فلما سقط فى ايديهم course. So they repented; or when they struck their hands upon their hands by reason of repentance; or when they repented greatly. The expression has also been read as a meaning, bow (saqaṭa) i. e. shame and repentance fell into their hands (viz. their shame and repentance became apparent). The word bew is intransitive but it is used in the verse as if it were transitive. Such apparently transitive use of the word is permissible in rare. i. e تمرة مسقوطة cases as in the expression a fallen date (Lane & Aqrab).