The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 458
CH. 16 AN-NAHL PT. 14 الَّذِينَ تَتَوَفَّهُمُ الْمَلَبِكَةُ ظَالِمِ Those whom the angels. 29 أَنْفُسِهِمْ فَأَلْقَوُا السَّلَمَ مَا كُنَّا نَعْمَلُ wronging their souls. Then will cause to die while they are they offer submission, saying, 'We used not to do any evil. ' Nay, surely, Allah knows well what you used to do. 1830 مِنْ سُوءٍ بَلَى إِنَّ اللهَ عَلِيمٌ بِمَا كُنْتُمُ تَعْمَلُونَ فَادْخُلُوا اَبْوَابَ جَهَنَّمَ خُلِدِينَ فِيهَا So enter the gates of Hell. 30 to abide therein. Evil indeed is 4:98; 8:51; 47:28. 16:88. 39:73; 40:77. loss or a calamity afflicts him but that loss or calamity does not bring disgrace or humiliation to him. At another time he suffers disgrace and humiliation but no loss. The verse means to say that when punishment overtakes the opponents of the Holy Prophet they would suffer both disgrace and the loss of their material possessions. 1830. Commentary: The verse speaks of those disbelievers who spend their whole life in disbelief and opposition to the truth. By doing so they only harm themselves while all the time labouring under the misconception that they are injuring the cause of the Divine Messenger. The words, We used not to do any evil, mean that disbelievers would not deny having worshipped the false gods because that would be too patent a fact to be denied but would deny only the baseness of their motives and would protest that what they did Iwas actuated by good intentions and pure motives and that they worshipped their false gods as an aid to concentration on Divine attributes. The present verse gives the lie to this sense of injured innocence of disbelievers by saying that this exactly is the plea which is always advanced by idolaters when they find their position indefensible. The words may also be understood to mean that disbelievers would say that they had tried their best to find out the truth and what they did they did under the impression that it was the right course to adopt. The words, Allah knows well what you used to do, mean that the plea put forward by disbelievers is false and that if they had been really actuated by right motives, they would surely have been guided to the right path in accordance with God's promise contained in the words, And as for those who strive in Our cause, We will surely guide them in Our ways (29:70). So their plea of good intentions could not save them from Divine punishment. 1666