The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 376
CHAPTER 76 AD-DAHR (Revealed before Hijrah) Introductory Remarks This Surah like its predecessor belongs to the early Meccan period and takes its title from the word Ad-Dahr, occurring in its opening verse. It has also appropriately been called Al-Insān. Towards the end of the previous Surah, it was stated that man's creation from an insignificant fluid and his development into a full-fledged human being, endowed with great natural powers, leads to the inescapable inference that his life has a divine purpose to serve and that the Great God Who created him from a sperm drop possesses the power to give him a new life after he is dead. The present Surah is an extension of the same theme, viz. that man has been gifted with wonderful natural capabilities to rise to great spiritual heights. Subject Matter The Surah in its opening verses reminds man of his insignificant beginning by the words, "Has there not come upon man a period of time when he was not a thing spoken of?" and proceeds to say that he has been endowed with reason and understanding, in order that, following the path shown to him by God's Prophets, he may make interminable spiritual progress and thus achieve the object for which he has been created. But when Divine teachers appear to guide men to God, some of them reject God's Message and incur His displeasure, while others, more fortunate, respond to the Divine Call, follow the Teacher of the age and earn great heavenly blessings. Then, the Surah gives a beautiful description of the Divine favours which are bestowed upon the righteous believers, in this world and in the Hereafter, referring briefly also to the kind of punishment which the disbelievers receive for their wilful rejection of God's Message. The Surah fittingly closes with the observation that God has revealed the Quran, the most perfect teaching to guide man to the path which leads to the Lord and Creator of all creation, but he can derive no benefit from the Divine teaching unless he conforms his will to the will of God. 3272