The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 8
everything clearly and fully. But that will only be a time of vain regret for them. Their power shall break and their glory will depart and the possession of the earth shall be given to the followers of the Holy Prophet who will make proper use of it. As the Resurrection and the existence of life after death were to be widely denied in the Latter Days by Christians with whom the Surah particularly deals, much stress has also been laid on rewards and blessings of the Hereafter, and stale and hackneyed arguments of disbelievers against life after death exposed and refuted. The disbelievers, the Surah says, seem to derive false comfort from their wealth, material means and large numbers and adduce these things as an argument in support of their denial of the life after death and their belief that what really matters is the present life. To this foolish and vain argument of disbelievers the Quran replies that truth must eventually triumph and disbelief come to grief and that till that time the real thing to see is who takes his stand on reason, suffers for his cause and sets a noble example. Surely, he who possesses these prerequisites will ultimately succeed even in this world. The disbelievers should not be deceived by the apparent weakness of believers. Truth always progresses gradually and in stages but it most surely prevails and triumphs in the end. Next, we are told that disbelievers are always involved in shirk (associating false gods with God) and regard it as a source of great strength. On the contrary, it always proves to be a source of disgrace and humiliation for those who practise it. The very thing that disbelievers regard as a source of strength proves to be a source of weakness for them. The Surah then proceeds to say that when disbelievers are defeated in argument they have recourse to violence. The Holy Prophet is told to ignore the violence of disbelievers, as resort to force on their part will lead only to victory and predominance of believers. It will afford them a legitimate cause to take up arms in self-defence and God being always on their side they will surely win, and thus the adoption of an unjust and aggressive attitude on the part of disbelievers will recoil on their own heads and will lead to their eventual destruction. The Surah ends with an answer to an implied objection of the Jews, viz. why has Hebrew been discarded in favour of Arabic as a vehicle for the revelation of Quranic teaching? To this objection the Surah returns the answer that the Arabs are the first addressees of the Quran and it is quite natural that a Message should be addressed to a people in their own tongue so that they may 1922