The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 624
CH. 7 AL-A'RĀF PT. 9 وَمِمَّنْ خَلَقْنَا أُمَّةً يَهْدُونَ بِالْحَقِّ وَ بِهِ And of those We have. 182 created there are a people that guide men with truth and do justice therewith. 1068 b R. 23. 183. And those who reject Our Signs, We will draw them to destruction step by step in a manner which they do not know. 1069 يَعْدِلُونَ وَالَّذِيْنَ كَذَّبُوا بِايْتِنَا سَنَسْتَدْرِجُهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ a7:160. 3:12; 7:183; 8:55. with respect to His attributes. When God possesses all the best attributes mentioned in the Quran or the Ḥadīth, what need is there to devise other attributes for Him? Such attributes cannot be free from error. An instance of such an ill-devised attribute is J (Just) which Christians attribute to God. The Quran says that God certainly is not unjust but at the same time it scrupulously avoids the ascription of the attribute of J (Just) to Him, for the ascription of this attribute to God would imply that His justice should demand that He must always punish sinners. But He is not bound to do so, because He is Forgiving and Merciful and He can pardon any sinner. In fact, God is not like a judge bound by the Law to deal with men according to their deeds. But He is UL or Master of His creatures and Master of His law as well. He can forgive the sins of His servants as and when He pleases. By calling God "just", the Christian Church had to enlist the aid of a so- called redeemer who, by his supposed death on the cross, should atone for the sins of men to satisfy God's attribute of justice. 1068. Commentary: The verse does not mean that among the opponents of the Holy Prophet there were "people who guided men with truth and did justice therewith". What it means is that among God's creatures there are men who not only themselves are rightly guided and practise justice but also enjoin others to do the same; and the verse hints that it behoves other people to follow their example. The reference obviously is to those who accepted the Holy Prophet; or the may refer to God-fearing people who lived before Islam. 1069. Commentary: 1064 verse This verse speaks of the opponents of Islam. The Battle of Badr provided a good illustration of the destruction promised to them in this verse. Neither the Muslims nor the Meccans knew that a battle was about to take place. The disaster came to the