The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 2
use, and the so-called gods of idolaters not only are incapable of responding to the prayers of their votaries, they are even unconscious of having been called upon by them. The Surah then proceeds to say that by laying claim to prophethood, the Holy Prophet has not brought forward any innovation. Divine Messengers have been appearing at all times and among all peoples to teach them Unity of God and their duty to their fellow beings, and the revelation vouchsafed to the Holy Prophet contains the essentials of all those revealed teachings. The Surah further says that the truth of the Quranic revelation is supported not only by the intrinsic worth of its teaching but also by the prophecies which Moses, the greatest Israelite Prophet, centuries ago, had made about it. The Surah then dismisses as foolish and unfounded the disbelievers' plea which, in their conceit and ignorance, they put forward as an excuse for rejecting the Divine revelation, viz. "if there had been any good in the revelation presented to us, we, being better informed and better placed in life, would have been the first to accept it. " The Sūrah further says that whereas disbelievers, proud of their great material resources and social status, reject the Divine Message, others who are endowed with faith and spiritual wealth, accept it, and stick to it under the severest trials and tribulations, till they are comforted with the Divine assurance, viz. "no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve. These are the fortunate ones from whom God shall accept their good works and overlook their ill deeds. " The Surah then cites the fate of ‘Āda people who had flourished in the neighbourhood of the Meccans to show that disbelief never prospers and is sure to come to grief in the long run. The Adites were so completely destroyed that not a vestige of their great and glorious civilization remained behind. Towards its end the Surah sounds a note of warning to the people of the Holy Prophet. They are told that they should not be misled by their wealth and prosperity and by the poverty and weakness of Muslims, and that if they persisted in rejecting the Divine Message, their present prosperity itself would prove to be their ruin, because rejection of Truth never goes unpunished. The Surah ends with an exhortation to the Holy Prophet and his followers, calling upon them, as brave votaries of Truth, to bear with patience and fortitude, all the suffering and persecution to which they were being subjected, as the time was fast approaching when the cause of Truth would 2898