The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 177
PT. 17 AL-ANBIYA' CH. 21 بَلْ مَتَعْنَا هَؤُلَاءِ وَابَاءَهُمْ حَتَّى طَالَ Nay, “We provided those. 45 and their fathers with the good عَلَيْهِمُ الْعُمُرُ أَفَلَا يَرَوْنَ أَنَّا نَأْتِي things of this world till life grew الْأَرْضَ نَنْقُصُهَا مِنْ أَطْرَافِهَا آفَهُـ الْغُلِبُونَ long for them. 'Do they not see that We are visiting the land, reducing it from its outlying borders? Can they even then be victors?2385 قُلْ إِنَّمَا أُنْذِرُكُمْ بِالْوَحْيِ وَلَا يَسْمَعُ Say, I warm you not but. 46 الصُّمُّ الدُّعَاءَ إِذَا مَا يُنْذَرُونَ ) according to Divine revelation. ' But the deaf cannot hear the call when they are warned. 2386 a57:17. 13:42. º30:53. fate that was meted out to them, how could they help their votaries? Abū Sufyan, the Quraishite chief, when asked by the Holy Prophet on the day of the Fall of Mecca whether he had not yet realized that there was no god but the One Almighty God, replied, "Had there been any other gods beside God, verily they had been of some avail to us" (Muir's The Life of Mahomet, 1923 edition, p. 404). 2385. Commentary: The verse gives the reason why disbelievers go astray and what leads them to forget and forsake the truth. It is this that when the time of the national prosperity of a people becomes prolonged, they come to labour under the misconception that their prosperity and progress will never see decline or decay and consequently they become arrogant and their hearts are hardened and they reject the message of their Prophet. Thus prolongation of the period of the prosperity of a people becomes 2091 the cause of their downfall. The verse warns disbelievers against wishful thinking and false complacency that their progress and prosperity will continue indefinitely and tells them not to shut their eyes to the patent fact that God is gradually but surely reducing and curtailing the land from all its sides i. e. Islam is making inroads into every home and all sections and strata of their society. The high and the low, the rich and the poor, the learned and the illiterate are daily joining its fold. It asks: "Does not this fact alone constitute an irrefutable proof of the truth of Islam? And in view of the sure signs of their decline and fall do they still entertain the false hope that they will continue to enjoy peace, prosperity and progress and will be able to arrest or retard the progress of Islam?" See also 13:42. 2386. Commentary: The verse means to say that the prophecies which the Holy Prophet