Surah Hud 11:110-123 - Quran Translation Commentary

110. And indeed we gave the Book to Moosa but there arose differences therein, and had it not been for a Word that had gone forth before from your Lord, the case would have been judged between them. And they are in doubt concerning it (Qur’an), confounded.¹⁵⁷

111. And verily to each your Lord will repay for his acts in full. Verily He has knowledge of all their actions.

112. So stand firm (in the straight path)as you are commanded, and those who have repented and joined with you, and do not transgress.¹⁵⁸ Verily He sees all that you do.

113. And do not incline towards the wrong-doers, lest the Fire touch you,¹⁵⁹ and you have no protectors other than Allah, nor will you be helped.¹⁶⁰

114. And Establish salat at the two ends of the day and in some hours of the night.¹⁶¹ Verily good deeds remove the evil deeds.¹⁶² This is a reminder to those who care to be reminded.

115. And have patience,¹⁶³ for verily Allah wastes not the reward of the righteous.

116. Why is it then from among the generations that have gone before you upright men did not come out to forbid commitment of corruption in the land except a few whom We saved from them! ¹⁶⁴ And the wrong-doers pursued their (worldly) pleasures, and they were criminals.¹⁶⁵

117. And your Lord would not destroy the townships unjustly while their people were amenable to reform.

118. And if your Lord had willed, He surely would have made mankind one nation, yet they cease not differing.¹⁶⁶

119. Except him on whom your Lord has (bestowed) His mercy;¹⁶⁷ and for that did He create them.¹⁶⁸ And the Word of your Lord has been fulfilled: Verily I shall fill Hell with jinns and men altogether.¹⁶⁹

120. And all that We relate to you of the chronicles of the messengers is in order that thereby We may make firm your heart. And herein has come to you the Truth and an exhortation and a reminder for the believers.

121. And say to those who do not believe: Act according to your way. Verily we too are acting (in ourways).

122. And wait! Verily we (too) are waiting.

123. And to Allah belong the Unseen of the heavens and the earth, and to Him the whole matter will be returned. So worship Him and put your trust in Him. And your Lord is not unaware of what you do.

Commentary

157. Here the purpose is to remove the doubt of the idolaters of Makkah about the Quran’s being a divine scripture. They are being explained that Qur’an is not the first divine Book that has been sent down for the guidance of the people. Before this other divine books had also been sent down. Accordingly, Prophet Moosa was also blessed with a Divine Book, though his followers disagreed with its teachings and distorted it. Such a situation demanded that Allah reveal one more Book for the guidance of the people. To fulfill this demand, Allah sent His messenger with this Book. Therefore, its revelation should be a source and means of blessing for the Arabs and not a thing to be worried about.

If in spite of this reality people want to remain in doubt, let them be so. The judgment on the fate of such people would have been declared then and there, were it not for the fact that Allah had already decided that every nation and community should have a respite for their acts, and under this plan of Allah these people are being let off for the present Only.

158. That is: Remain within the circle of obedience and worship of Allah and do not cross it or transgress.

159. Here wrong-doers refers, according to the context, to polytheists, infidels, idolaters and transgressors, and inclining towards them means to endorse them in their acts of polytheism, idolatry and transgression, whether this endorsement may be either by word or by action. In view of this injunction, Muslims should have no soft corner in their hearts concerning polytheists, infidels and godless people, nor should they attend their meetings or their polytheistic rituals that encourage people to be anti-religious, just to please them, otherwise such a friendship is likely to cost them their faith.

160. This is a warning to take care that if you incline towards these wrong-doers, then on the Day of Judgment they would not be of any help to you. On that day whoever is seized by the final judgment of Allah will be totally helpless.

161. At the two ends of the day means at predawn and after sunset, i.e. the salat of Fajr and the salat of Maghrib. The end of a thing is its limit. The limit of the day starts from where the night ends. That is the time of the Fajr. And where the limit of the day ends is the time of Maghrib. And establishing prayer in the watches of the night means establishing Salat-i’Isha. Zulaf (watches) used in plural points to the length of the time for Isha These are the prayers of three times, emphasis about which was given at the time when this surah was revealed. There after the command for the prayers of five times was given.

162. This is a hint to the fact that salat is that worship which, if performed and established in a good way, would cause the spring of goodness and righteousness to burst forth in the performer’s heart and it would wash away and wipe out all his sins. This gives an idea of the tremendous benefits and extraordinary importance of this worship. In a hadith, the Messenger of Allah (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) has stated:

“If anyone of you has a canal near his doorway, in which he bathes five times a day, will there remain any particle of dirt? His companions answered: ‘No particle of dirt would remain.’ He said: so is the position of the five times’ prayers that through them Allah exterminates sins.”

(Mishkat—— with reference’ to Bukhari and Muslim)

163. That is: Have patience when troubled by the opponents.

164. That is: The reason for the destruction and ruin of these communities which were totally destroyed was that no upright and pious men could emerge from amongst them. The result was that moral degradation was common and complete, and the roots of evil became firm. If some upright men emerged, they were so few in numbers that the people did not take any notice of them. However, Allah saved them when their communities were destroyed.

From these words of Allah, it can be concluded that when there is corruption either of belief or of action in a society, then men of sound belief and uprightness should come out for reforming the society. In a hadith the Prophet (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) has emphatically warned the Muslims to fulfil their responsibilities concerning the reform of the society:

“By Him in whose hand is my life you will have to enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil lest Allah send His punishment for you, then you may pray to Him for relief and He may not answer your prayer.” -(Tirmizi Abwabul Fitan).

165. Generally people adopted the wrong path. The worldly pleasures which were provided for them as a measure of test were made a means of leading a corrupt life, and people regarded well being in this world as their goal, forgetting about the Hereafter. This mentality prompted them to live for the sake of pleasure only, they did not distinguish between good and evil acts and had no concern what soever with mending themselves or reforming the society.

166. For explanation please see Notes Nos. 308 and 309, Surah Baqarah.

Except him on whom your Lord has (bestowed) His mercy; and for that did He create them. And the Word of your Lord has been fulfilled: Verily I shall fill Hell with jinns and men all together. (Al-Quran)

167. A person who did not entangle himself in the differences of religions but followed the straight path which Qur’an shows and which in reality is the voice of nature and of whose veracity the whole universe is a witness, such a person is blessed with great favours from Allah. A man gets perplexed seeing the differences among the religions of the world. It is not possible to come out of this perplexed positions without the guidance of Allah, and whoever is the seeker of truth, Allah helps him and shows him the right path.

168. That is: They have been created for this test only to find out who makes himself deserving of receiving mercy and who for getting His wrath. If this test were not the objective, then He would have created only one group of people and every person would have been compelled to follow the right path. Since the purpose is to take their test, mankind is allowed to form a right or wrong opinion, to select truth or falsehood and has been granted the freedom to follow either path. Therefore, the deviation of a very large number of people from the right path to the wrong path and their creating new religions in opposition to the right religion (Islam), are practices which take undue advantage of the freedom given by Allah, but such a situation is not outside the circle of the scheme which Allah had formulated before creating man. Accordingly, the differences of religions in the world will go on, and people will have to face the consequences of these wrong practices. But any person who wants that he should meet with a happy end, for him it is necessary that leaving aside all the other religions and the waywardness of ideology and action, he should adopt that line of action and that path which Quran has shown and which in fact is the path of all the prophets (Peace be upon them), and the name of that path is Islam.

169. Means all jinns and men and women who have gone astray and have invited on themselves Allah’s wrath.