The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 478
CH. 16 AN-NAHL PT. 14 وَيَجْعَلُونَ لِلَّهِ مَا يَكْرَهُونَ وَتَصِف And they attribute to Allah. 63 what they dislike for themselves السِنَتُهُمُ الْكَذِبَ اَنَّ لَهُمُ الْحُسنى ل and their tongues utter the lie جَرَمَ أَنَّ لَهُمُ النَّارَ وَأَنَّهُمْ مُّفْرَطُونَ ) that they will have the best of everything. Undoubtedly, theirs shall be the Fire, and therein shall they be abandoned. 1863 تَاللهِ لَقَدْ اَرْسَلْنَا إِلَى أُمَمٍ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ By Allah, "We did send. 64 Messengers to the peoples فَزَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَنُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ فَهُوَ before thee; but Satan made وَلِيُّهُمُ الْيَوْمَ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ اَلِيمُ ) their works appear beautiful to them. So he is their patron this "6:43; 22:53. 6:44; 8:49. say, if Divine revelation is the only source of guidance, and teachings devised by man all lead to error, why then do disbelievers, in spite of their rejection of Divine guidance, not always come to grief in this life? On the contrary, many of them are seen to prosper, which fact shows that they are not altogether in the wrong. One answer implied in the verse is that if thieves, robbers and murderers do not always meet with immediate punishment and sometimes get respite, how can respite granted to rejecters of the Quran be adduced as a proof that it is not the revealed word of God? Another reason embodied in this verse as to why punishment is not always meted out to the guilty is that if all sins had been at once punished by God, the world would have come to an end and all life on earth would have become extinct. Man would have perished as a result of his sins and there would have been no purpose in the beasts, animals, birds etc. , remaining alive after his destruction. Being created for man's use and benefit they would have perished with him. So God's wise plan in granting respite to evildoers and deferring their punishment provides yet another proof of the life after death when man's actions will meet with full and even-handed justice. 1686 1863. Commentary: The verse reverts to the subject of the previous verse in a different form and says that disbelievers are foolish to think that they can ever come to a happy end by attributing to God abominable things which they dislike for themselves, and that just as they consigned God to oblivion in this life, so would He abandon them in the next life to burn in the fire of Hell.