The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 311
PT. 13 AR-RA'D CH. 13 يَمْحُوا اللهُ مَا يَشَاءُ وَيُثْبِتُ وَعِنْدَةٌ Allah effaces what He wills. 40 ام الكتب and establishes what He wills, and with Him is the source of all commandments. 1650 وَاِنْ مَّا نُرِيَنَّكَ بَعْضَ الَّذِي نَعِدُهُمْ And whether We make thee. 41 see the fulfilment of some of the a42:25. 13:40. 10:47; 40:78. Prophets with the power to punish the people, it would have at least this advantage that the people would have feared and respected them and dared not oppose them. The Quran answers this question in the words, For every term there is a divine decree, which means that, as it is God Who determines the nature and form of each punishment and the time of its occurrence and He alone, being All- Knowing, knows in what form and at what time the sending down of a certain punishment will prove beneficial to the people, the power of punishing cannot be delegated to any other person. For if that delegation can at all be fair and useful, it must be accompanied by the delegation of many other divine powers, which is simply unthinkable. The infliction of punishment, therefore, could not be entrusted to the Prophets or to anybody else. 1650. Commentary: The verse lays down two laws relating to punishment: (a) God either cancels the punishment partially or wholly; or (b) He lets it stand, as decreed. So punishment never comes unless it is fully deserved, nor is it ever in excess of the offence. It may, however, be less than what it should be or it may be altogether remitted. This dual law is invariably observed in all heavenly punishments. The words, with Him is the source of all commandments, mean: (a) God alone knows the root cause of all commandments or the wisdom underlying them, so it is by His guidance alone that the right way may be known. (b) All the commandments of Shari'ah are based on Divine attributes, so the source of the law lies with God. The latter meaning makes it clear that moral and spiritual perfection is impossible of attainment unless one imitates and imbibes Divine attributes and conforms his conduct to them. Indeed, it is extremely difficult to define good or bad morals by human standards or in the light of human actions. Virtue is nothing but imitation of Divine attributes, and vice its antithesis. This definition is calculated to solve all those difficulties which philosophers of Ethics have to face in defining "virtue" and "vice" or good and bad morals. (c) That God alone knows the purpose of Divine commandments, therefore the punishment for their violation should also lie in His hands. He alone knows who should be punished and who not; for an 1519