The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 682
not leave him alone. He continued to help him in the performance of his noble task to its completion. Subject Matter The Surah has six sections and fifty-five verses. It opens with the celebration of the praises of Allah "to Whom belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth," implying that as God is Great and Almighty, a people who seek to defy His authority are sure to meet with failure and frustration. The disbelievers, it further says, try to delude themselves into the belief that their rejection of the Message of Islam will go unpunished and that "the Hour will never come upon them" (v. 4). They accuse the Holy Prophet of being an impostor who seeks to impose his leadership on them. The Prophet is no liar or forger, but a true Messenger of God and as such his cause will grow and prosper and disbelievers will be punished for rejecting him. Their power will break and their glory depart and this fact will constitute a proof of the truth of the Holy Prophet's mission. The Surah proceeds to make a somewhat detailed reference to the Prophets, David and Solomon, who made vast conquests and subdued rebellious tribes and in whose reigns the Israelite power and glory rose to its zenith. The result was that in the pride of their power and prosperity the Israelites fell into evil ways and began to lead a life of sin which resulted in Divine wrath descending upon them. The reference to David and Solomon is followed by a reference to the Sabeans who were a highly prosperous and cultured people, but who like the Israelites defied and disobeyed Divine commandments and like them incurred the displeasure of God and were destroyed by a mighty flood. By referring to the might, glory and prosperity of the Israelites under David and Solomon, and to that of the Sabeans, and to their subsequent destruction, the Surah gives a warning to Muslims that great wealth, power and prosperity will also be bestowed on them, but if in the hey- day of their glory they, like the Israelites and the Sabeans, gave themselves up to a life of luxury and ease, they will be punished like them. The third section (rukū ) deals with the main theme of the Surah, viz. the progressive rise of the cause of Islam and the sad fate that is in store for idol worshippers and their false deities. The disbelievers are challenged to call upon their deities to obstruct the progress of Islam, and to arrest the decline and downfall of their own false ideals and institutions. They are told that no power on earth could stop this from happening. They are further warned that when the "Hour" of their ultimate defeat arrives, the sinners and the guilty will be punished. This process of decline and decay of disbelief began with the Battle of Badr and reached its culmination on the day when Mecca―then the great citadel of idol worship in Arabia-fell, and the Ka'bah was cleared 2596