The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 71
CHAPTER 50 QAF (Revealed before Hijrah) Title, Date of Revelation, and Context This Surah is of Meccan origin. All competent authorities assign its revelation to the early Meccan period. Its tenor and contents support this view. The Surah is the first of a group of seven chapters which end with Surah Al-Waqi'ah. Like all Meccan Surahs, it lays special stress, in emphatic and prophetic language, on the Quran being the revealed Word of God, on Resurrection being an undoubted reality, and particularly on the ultimate triumph of the cause of Islam. The Surah points to the phenomena of nature and to the histories of the past Prophets as guides leading to this inevitable conclusion. The Surah takes its title from its initial abbreviated letter (Qāf). The preceding two Surahs had dealt with the prospects of a great and glorious future for Islam, and also with the social and political problems that arise when power and wealth come to a people. The present Surah having the abbreviated letter ¿ (Qāf) in its beginning, points to the fact that the Almighty God has the power to make the weak and disorganized Arabs into a powerful nation, and that He will certainly bring about this consummation, using the Quran as the means and instrument for achieving that purpose. ق Subject Matter The Surah opens with the abbreviated letter Qāf (5) which is the last of the (abbreviated letters) used in the Quran. It represents the Divine attribute or (Qadir or Qadir) meaning, the Mighty, the Powerful, and at once starts to deal with the all-important subject of Resurrection; and in order to prove the truth of this primal fact uses as an argument the phenomenon that a people, who for long centuries were spiritually dead and defunct, received a new and vigorous life through the Quran. The Surah proceeds to say that the Holy Prophet's enemies cannot bring themselves to accept the fact of a Warner appearing from among them to tell them that they will be raised to life after "they are dead and have become dust. " They are told to study the wonderful creation of the celestial firmament with the beautiful stars and planets which adorn it and which work with a regularity and punctuality that knows no deviation. They are further told to ponder over the creation of the vast expanse of earth which grows all sorts of fruits and foods for its dwellers. The Author and Architect of this great and complex universe, the Sūrah says, possesses the power and wisdom to give man a new life after his physical habitat has disintegrated. 2967