The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 332
CH. 14 IBRAHIM PT. 13 وَمَا ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللهِ بِعَزِيزِ ) 21. And that is not at all hard for Allah. 1675 وَبَرَزُوا لِلَّهِ جَمِيعًا فَقَالَ الضُّعَفَوا They shall all appear before. 22 Allah; then shall the weak say were your لِلَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُوا إِنَّا كُنَّا لَكُمْ تَبَعًا :to those who behaved proudly 'Surely, we فَهَلْ أَنْتُمْ مُّغْنُوْنَ عَنَّا مِنْ عَذَابِ اللهِ followers; can you not then b avail us aught against Allah's Allah had guided us, we should مِنْ شَيْ قَالُوا لَوْ هَدْنَا اللهُ punishment? They will say, If لَهَدَيْنَكُمْ سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْنَا أَجَزِعْنَا أَمْ have, surely, guided you. But it صَبَرْنَا مَا لَنَا مِنْ مَّحِيصٍ is now equal for us whether we show impatience or remain patient: there is no way of escape for us. '1676 "35:18. 6:129; 7:39, 40; 28:64; 33:68,69; 34:32, 33; 40:48, 49. purpose, which the world has been created to serve. Their very existence seems to belie and contradict that supreme object. Hence they cannot be allowed to succeed in their designs. They should not, therefore, delude themselves with the false notion that they are irreplaceable. Not only will they meet with destruction, but God has actually prepared "a new creation" in the form of the followers of His Prophet who will take their place and prove worthy successors of an unworthy generation. 1675. Commentary: themselves as incapable of ever falling low. This notion, however, is belied by the hard facts of history as well as our common observation and experience. Nations that had sunk deep into the morass of seemingly irretrievable degradation and were considered as past redemption have risen to great heights of material and spiritual glory, while peoples who have scaled the summits of power and glory and considered themselves beyond the reach of decay and decadence have sometimes fallen into the deepest pit of degradation. The verse means that it is not difficult for God to bring ruin to the powerful and prosperous enemies of His Prophets and make the latter's weak and down- trodden followers inherit the earth. The verse is intended to remove a very common misconception. While, on the one hand, once a people have fallen low, they lose all hope of regeneration and despair of their future, on the other, those who happen once to achieve greatness and prosperity begin to look upon from 1540 1676. Important Words: (they shall appear) is derived which means, he came out in