The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 307
PT. 13 AR-RA'D CH. 13 لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ فِي الْحَيَوةِ الدُّنْيَا وَلَعَذَابُ For them is a punishment in. 35 الْآخِرَةِ اَشَقُّ ۚ وَمَا لَهُمْ مِنَ اللهِ punishment of the Hereafter is مِنْ وَّاقٍ the present life; and, surely, the harder, and they will have no defender against Allah. مَثَلُ الْجَنَّةِ الَّتِي وُعِدَ الْمُتَّقُونَ تَجْرِي of the similitude 36. "The Heaven promised to the God- مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهرُ أَكُلُهَا دَابِم fearing is that through it flow "39:27; 68:34. "2:26; 4:58; 47:16. The expression, or is it a mere empty saying?, means that idolaters say these things only with their tongues and have no real faith in them. The verse asks disbelievers whether they really believe in what they allege. In this way, an appeal has been made to human nature, which often proves a very successful way of bringing home the truth. their eyes. The expression, and they have been kept back from the right way, signifies that when a man severs his connection with God, he becomes involved in shirk, whether hidden or visible. Man cannot remain without a companion. When he leaves God, the inevitable result is that he begins to seek the support of petty things, which gradually gives rise to shirk. Here the Quran differs from the students of comparative religion. According to the latter, polytheism preceded the belief in one God. According to the Quran the reverse is true, and history supports the Quran. We see that Muslims and Jews were worshippers of one God in the beginning, but afterwards many of them virtually reverted to polytheism and idolatry. The case of Christians is still worse. They were first believers in the Unity of God but took to deifying Jesus afterwards and the whole community became stuck in the quagmire of shirk. Why should we not assume that the same was the It often happens that when a man commits a fraud or imposture in order to procure worldly advantage, he himself gradually falls a prey to his own imposture which, by and by, begins to appear attractive to him. Thus man's design is made to look fair to him not by God, but by man himself. Some men ascribe divine powers to certain creatures, not because they really believe them to be gods beside Allah, but to impose upon simple-minded people and to cheat them of their possessions. But, as time goes on, their own trick begins to appeal to them, and they become the dupes of their own fraud. This is the significance of the words, Nay, but the design of the disbelievers case with the peoples of remote has been made to appear beautiful in | antiquity? 1515