The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 957
has raised the Holy Prophet to give new life to a spiritually dead world. But, alas! those for whose spiritual resurrection he has been raised, doubt and deny his Message and oppose him. The Holy Prophet is told to wait till as a punishment for their sins his people are visited with a severe famine which will overwhelm Mecca and the surrounding country. And if they did <mark>not</mark> benefit from this punishment and did <mark>not</mark> repent, they will be seized with an affliction of even greater severity. The Surah goes on to say that the advent of the Holy Prophet is <mark>not</mark> a novel phenomenon. Divine Messengers had appeared before him in the fulness of time, most prominent among them being Moses, who was raised to deliver the Israelites from servitude under Pharaoh, who threatened to kill him. Moses prayed to <mark>God</mark> to save him from Pharaoh and his cohorts. He was commanded by <mark>God</mark> to leave Egypt with the Israelites in the stillness of night and cross the sea at a time when it was calm, going over the dunes. Pharaoh pursued the Israelites with his mighty hosts but was drowned in the sea. The Surah then gives a pathetic description of the dreadful fate that overtook Pharaoh and his people. "How many were the gardens," it says, "and the springs that they left behind, and the cornfields, and noble places and the comforts wherein they took delight. " They were made to give up all these things of which a<mark>not</mark>her people took possession, and they went to their doom in disgrace and ignominy. Such was the terrible end to which Pharaoh and his people came. As against this, <mark>not</mark> only were the Israelites saved but <mark>God</mark> chose them for the bestowal of His special favours and blessings, and then in order to test their faith made them pass through severe trials and tribulations. This is how <mark>God</mark> brings about great transformation in the life of a people through a Prophet. The Prophet gives them new life after they are dead, morally and spiritually; and yet these people the Meccans—say that once they are dead they will <mark>not</mark> be raised to new life. They are warned that if, in spite of the many signs they have witnessed, they persisted in rejecting the Divine Messenger, they will meet with no better fate than that which overtook the opponents of the Prophets of yore. Next, the Surah says, that <mark>God</mark> has <mark>not</mark> created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, in sport. It is <mark>not</mark> for <mark>not</mark>hing that man came upon this earth. The be-all and end-all of his existence is <mark>not</mark> to eat, drink and be merry. Life has a great mission. It is for the fulfilment of this great mission that <mark>God</mark> sends His Messengers to the world. They lead man to <mark>God</mark>. But the evil-minded men do <mark>not</mark> believe in them. They reject their teachings and oppose and persecute them, and at last there comes the Day of Decision, when those who reject them make themselves the object of <mark>God</mark>'s wrath and those who give their allegiance to them deserve Divine favours and blessings. The Surah proceeds to give a graphic description of the punishment that will be 2871