The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 362
CH. 15 AL-HIJR PT. 14 وَمَا أَهْلَكْنَا مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ إِلَّا وَلَهَا And We have never destroyed. 5 كِتَابٌ مَّعْلُوم any town but there was for it a known decree. 1712 مَا تَسْبِقُ مِنْ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلَهَا وَمَا No people can outstrip their. 6 appointed time, nor can they remain behind. b6 يَسْتَأْخِرُونَ 7. And they said, b. O thou to UQUNE whom this Exhortation has been sent down, thou art surely a madman. 1713 إِنَّكَ لَمَجْنُونٌ 7:35; 10:50; 16:62. 37:37; 44:15; 68:52. to increase their influence with the people by extending to them their hospitality, and by accumulating means of worldly enjoyment as well as by their deep-laid and long drawn- out schemes against Islam, but that all their efforts would prove futile and success would finally come to the Holy Prophet, much to the chagrin of disbelievers. The verse also suggests that the wish of disbelievers mentioned in the last verse that they had been Muslims is simply a "vain hope" i. e. a mere passing wish, their real desire being the pursuit of worldly enjoyment and material gain. Such passing desires could yield no profit. It is only the serious and honest desires of a man that can be of any use to him. 1712. Commentary: In this verse the word "town" stands for the people to whom a Prophet is sent. The town of the Holy Prophet is called (the mother of towns) in the Quran. When the mother is visited by Divine punishment, the other places which are, as it were, its children must also share its fate. This is why in the present age, which has witnessed the advent of Aḥmad, the Promised Messiah, calamities and disasters of diverse kinds have visited the world, because like his Master, the Holy Prophet of Islam, he too was raised for the whole of mankind. The term "known decree" here means the time appointed for the destruction of the opponents of a Prophet and predicted by him. To the opponents of a Prophet punishment comes only after it has been foretold by him. 1713. Important Words: (this Exhortation) is derived from (dhakara). They say ; i. e. he remembered it; he preserved it in his memory; he talked of it. S; (dhikr) means, remembrance; the presence of a thing in the mind; memory; the mention or relating of a thing; the 1570