The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 115
PT. 12 HŪD CH. 11 مَنْ كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْحَيَوةَ الدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتَهَا Whoso desires the present. 16 life and its embellishment, We نُوَفِّ إِلَيْهِمْ أَعْمَالَهُمْ فِيهَا وَهُمْ فِيهَا will fully repay them for their لَا يُبْخَسُونَ works in this life and they shall not be wronged therein. 1397 أُولَيكَ الَّذِينَ لَيْسَ لَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ إِلَّا Those are they who shall. 17 have nothing in the Hereafter النَّارُ وَحَبِطَ مَا صَنَعُوا فِيهَا وَيُحِلُّ مَّا save the Fire, and that which "2:201; 17:19. 17:19. like the Quran will also prove that there is no god beside Allah; for, if there had been other gods, they and their votaries would have accepted the challenge and, by producing through their cumulative efforts a work like the Quran, would have demonstrated the hollowness of this challenge. Complete silence on their part is sure evidence of the fact that there is no God beside Allah and that He has no equal. It is disbelievers who are addressed in the closing words, Will you then submit, and they are asked whether they will not join the fold of Islam now that this unaccepted challenge has proved that the Quran is indeed the Word of God. 1397. Commentary: It is clear from this verse that those who desire the present life and its riches and strive after it get their full share of it. No one is deprived of what he strives after. The worldly prosperity and material advancement of Christian nations is sometimes adduced as an evidence of the truth of Christianity. This verse exposes the inference. The falsity of this attainment of worldly prosperity is no proof of the fact that one is following the right religion, for God has appointed laws for every kind of progress and anyone who observes the laws appointed for the material progress of man can attain worldly felicity. The mere attainment of worldly prosperity, unless it is attended by other clear signs, is therefore no proof of godliness. It must, however, be remembered that in this life one gets the reward of only those deeds which one does purely for this world. It is to this important point that the words, their works in this life, refer. The expression, they shall not be wronged therein, means that disbelievers will not be deprived of the rewards of their work in this life, simply for refusing to believe in God's Messengers. Disbelievers are not punished in this life for mere disbelief or mere denial of truth for which punishment is reserved in the next life. In this world they are only punished when they make mischief and create disorder and persecute believers. 1323