The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 683
of idols. In order to make disbelievers realize that their cause was destined to perish and Islam was to sweep away everything before it, they are told to study the operation of the laws of nature, which were all working in favour of Islam. In answer to the disbelievers' demand as to when the prophecy about the rise and progress of Islam will be fulfilled, the Surah goes so far as to fix the actual date when palpable signs of the rise of Islam and the decline and downfall of disbelief will begin to appear. These signs, it proceeds to add, will begin to take place about a year after the flight of the Holy Prophet from Mecca, when the Quraishites, by expelling him from his native town, will render themselves deserving of Divine punishment. Next, the Surah says that whenever a Divine Reformer makes his appearance it is always the vested interests and privileged classes that stand in his way. They feel and apprehend that the rise of the new movement will weaken their hold on the poor people who, by accepting the new Message, will refuse to be exploited or suppressed any more. So they fight it tooth and nail and try to nip it in the bud and the suppressed and exploited classes are, by threats and intimidation, dragooned into accepting their lead and opposing the Divine Reformer. This has happened in the time of every Prophet. But no amount of opposition from any direction has ever been able to stay or retard the progress of truth. When, however, the time of reckoning for the disbelievers arrives, both the exploited and the exploiters begin to curse each other for having rejected the Divine Message. But this mutual recrimination and condemnation proves of no avail. Towards its close the Surah refers to a criterion by which it could be easily found out that the Holy Prophet is neither an impostor nor a maniac. He is a true Prophet of God, because an impostor is never allowed to progress and prosper and eventually comes to a sad end, and a madman cannot bring about such a wonderful revolution in the life of a whole people as the Holy Prophet has done. The Surah ends with the warning to disbelievers of Mecca to take a lesson from the fate of the opponents of Prophets of yore, who in pride of power and position, rejected the Divine Reformers and were consequently destroyed. If the Meccan disbelievers rejected the Message of Islam they too would meet with no better fate. 2597