The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 290
General Remarks CHAPTER 67 AL-MULK (Revealed before Hijrah) With this chapter begins a series of Surahs, extending to the end of the Quran, which were revealed before Hijrah, with the solitary exception of Surah An-Nasr which, though belonging to the Medinite period, was actually revealed at Mecca on the occasion of the Holy Prophet's last Pilgrimage. The whole of the Quran is God's own revealed Word and so is simply inimitable and inapproachable in subject matter, style and diction, but the Surahs revealed at Mecca in the early years of the Prophet's Call possess a majesty and grandeur, all their own. The beauty of rhythm and the charm of cadence of the revelation of this period are beyond human power adequately to describe. As these Surahs generally deal with matters of belief and doctrine, e. g. prophecies about the great and glorious future of Islam, existence of God and His attributes, Revelation, Resurrection, and Life after death, much symbolism has necessarily been used to describe the mystical and the spiritual in terms of what we can perceive by our physical senses. The Surah belongs to the middle Meccan period-8th year of the Call being the approximate time when, according to competent authorities the Surah was revealed. Subject Matter As stated above, the Meccan Surahs generally deal with matters of belief. The present Sūrah, being the first of this series, naturally opens with proclaiming the Lordship, the Sovereignty, and the Almightiness of God, and as proof of these attributes adduces the fact that God is the Creator of life and death, and of the whole universe through whose component parts, from the smallest atom to the largest planet, there runs a wonderful and flawless design and arrangement. The creation of the universe and the beautiful order that pervades the cosmos, are proofs positive of the fact that God is and that He has created man to serve a sublime object and to achieve a noble goal. But man in his ingratitude has always rejected God's Message and consequently has been incurring Divine punishment. The Surah then proceeds to recount the manifold Divine blessings and favours without which man cannot exist for a single moment; it, then, by implication, calls upon him to make proper use of them for the realization of the purpose for which he is created. The Surah closes with a beautiful homily, thereby bringing home to man the supreme truth that just as no physical life can exist without water, so spiritual life needs for its sustenance the heavenly water of Divine revelation. 3186