The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 909
excellent results and his cause is making uniform and rapid progress. So disbelievers should take a lesson from his life. But it is a matter for regret that by fighting the Prophet and his cause they will incur the displeasure of God. Man, however, is never beyond redemption. God is always prepared to forgive him if only he repents and turns to Him. And to His righteous servants He gives of His grace in unbounded measure. The Surah then draws attention to a physical phenomenon, viz. that whenever dry earth needs water God sends down rain from the clouds. Similarly, when the spiritual earth had become dry, God sent down heavenly rain in the form of the Quran. If after seeing so many earthly and heavenly signs in support of the Holy Prophet, the disbelievers continued to oppose him and persisted in their disbelief, they would themselves be to blame for any misfortune that might befall them. No impediment or obstacle would be allowed to stand in the way of the spread of Islam because it was God's decree that it should spread and nobody can frustrate God's decree. Then, after drawing attention to Divine favours, upon which material prosperity of man greatly depends, the Surah points to the transitoriness of physical comforts and the vanity of human ambition, but refers to the permanence of favours and blessings reserved for the righteous and the God- fearing in the Hereafter. Next, mention is made of some of the prominent good qualities of the God-fearing, one of which is that they transact their national affairs and matters of importance by mutual consultation. After briefly referring to this fundamental principle which, in practice, was the basis on which affairs of the early Muslim State were transacted, the Sūrah lays down the foundation of the penal laws of Islam. According to the Quran, the real object underlying punishment is the moral reformation of the guilty person. A man is to be punished for his crime if punishment is likely to do him moral good, but the punishment should, in no case, exceed the offence. If, on the other hand, forgiveness is likely to bring about in the offender a change for the better, he should be forgiven. There is no place in Islam for the monastic Christian teaching of turning the left cheek when the right is smitten, nor for the Jewish doctrine of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. " It adopts the golden mean. Towards its close the Surah holds out a stern warning to disbelievers. They are warned that if after the truth of Islam has been made quite manifest and they have seen many heavenly signs, they still refuse to accept it, they would do nobody any harm, but would ruin their own souls. They are further told that the Prophet has done his duty. He is but a Warner and he has warned them. He has not been made a guardian over them. His cause will triumph; the disbelievers will be removed from the scene, and their children will accept Islam. This is the unalterable decree of God to Whom belongs the kingdom of 2823