The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 150
and unassisted. But all such notions about God are blasphemous and unfounded and those whom the polytheists associate with God as partners are themselves subject to divine laws. After this the Surah points to another divine law which is to the effect that when darkness enshrouds the entire face of the earth and the world suffers from a dearth of righteous men, God opens the gates of His mercy upon mankind and heavenly water, in the form of Divine revelation, descends upon earth and gives new life to a world steeped in sin and iniquity. The phenomenon of the alternation of light and darkness in the spiritual realm corresponds to a similar phenomenon in the physical world where day and night follow each other. Sometimes it is the sun that brightens and gives warmth to the world, at another time it is the moon that shines at night. Similarly, at one time corruption and moral turpitude reign supreme in the world, at another it is righteousness that predominates. Let not this alternating predominance of spiritual darkness and light in the world delude one into the belief that the creation of the universe has failed in its object. On the contrary, this fact rather points to a striking resemblance that exists between the physical and the spiritual worlds. Thus the presence of sin in the world does not justify the invention of the dogma of Atonement. This dogma, in fact, is the product of another equally false idea that the system of prophethood has failed. The fact, however, is that the spiritual world has undergone no change after Jesus; neither has goodness increased nor has corruption declined. The Prophets of God come and go. All of them tasted death and so did Jesus and the Holy Prophet Muḥammad, and so the world goes on. As the setting of the sun causes no dislocation or derangement in the physical world, so does the death of a Prophet of God cause no disorder in the spiritual world. Every person, and for that matter every prophet and messenger of God, has a certain mission in life which he fulfils and then he goes the way of all flesh. The real chain that binds and sustains the entire universe is God Almighty Who is completely immune from death or decay. Next, the Surah drives home the argument that it is foolish on the part of disbelievers to reject the Holy Prophet on the plea that he is but an ordinary man. They do not try to understand this simple fact that it is not so much the status and position of the bearer of the Quran that matters. What really matters is that it is God Himself Who has sent him with His message and Who can and will punish disbelievers in this life and even after death. But as He is slow to punish, the ignorant people fall a victim to false pride and heedlessness on that account. They are warned to read the writing on the wall and fear Divine punishment, as their repenting and making amends will prove of no avail when it actually overtook them. 2064