Surah Al-Isra 17:71-77 - Quran Translation Commentary

71. On the day when We will summon all men with their leader ,⁹⁹ whoever is given his record in his right hand ¹⁰⁰--they will read their records¹⁰¹and they will not be wronged a shred.

72. And whoever is blind here will be blind in the Hereafter¹⁰² and farther from the path.

73. And they tried to entice you away from what We revealed to you so that you might invent something other than that (as our revelation); and then they would have accepted you as their friend.¹⁰³

74. And had We not made you absolutely firm, you might have almost inclined towards them a little.¹⁰⁴

75. Then We would have made you taste a double (punishment) of living and a double (punishment) of dying, then you would have found no helper.¹⁰⁵

76. And they are trying to unsettle you from the land so that they may drive you away from it, and in that case they would not stay there after you but a little while.¹⁰⁶

77. Such was our tradition in the case of those messengers whom We sent before you, and you will not find any change in our tradition.¹⁰⁷

Commentary

99. That is: Man will have to appear before God on the Day of Resurrection with the being who he had made as his leader in beliefs and practice. Sincere men of faith will gather under the leadership of the Messenger of Allah, as they had made him their leader in all sincerity and had accordingly followed him. As against this the polytheists and the infidels will appear with misguided leaders and the followers of the false religions under the leadership of their astray leader, and founders of false religions.

100. For explanation, please see Surah Inshiqaq, Note No.7

101. That is: They will read their records of deeds with pleasure because the handing over of the records in their right hands is the sign of their success.

102. In the world he had been seeing signs of Allah’s existence, but his heart remained blind to this great reality. Therefore, his recompense will be that in the Hereafter he will remain blind. Further on in ayah No.97 more clarification concerning this punishment is given. It may be noted that on the Day of Judgment man will have to pass through various stages. One stage will be that in which the eyesight of the disbelievers will be very strong, as stated in Qur’an:

......and piercing is your sight this day.” (Qaf-22). This sharpness of the eyesight will be to witness the punishment. The second stage will be that in which they will see their false deities and will call out: Our Lord! These are deities invented as your partners. And one stage will be in which they will be made deaf, dumb and blind and will be driven facing backward into the Hell. (We seek Allah’s refuge from such a punishment!)

103. It gives an idea how much pressure the polytheists were applying to the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam),to unauthorisedly change the divine scripture. They wanted that if he has not prepared to give up the Qur’an totally, then at least he should make certain changes in it so that there might be found some room for their idolatry being tolerated or justified. On this condition they were prepared to accept the Prophet as a friend.

In the polytheists and the disbelievers of the present day a tinge of this mentality can be seen. They ask the Muslims to present their monotheism in such a way that it should not refute polytheism and idolatry, and should present Islam in such a way that the truthfulness of other religions should not be questioned.

104. That is: The pressure of the polytheists was so heavy that it was not easy even for a Prophet to remain firmly stuck to his stance, but the provision made by Allah for safeguarding the innocence and purity of the Prophet and the divine guidance which is ever available to him assisted him to stick firmly to his mission.

And We are sending down in the form of Qur’an that which is a healing and a mercy for believers, but it adds nothing to the evildoers but ruin. And when We bestow favours on man, he turns his back and keeps aloof, and when ill touches him he grows despondent. (Al-Quran)

105. This is a spine-chilling warning and it is to make it clear to the polytheists that if they expect His messenger to be soft towards their polytheism as a result of their enticement, and if such a situation really came to pass, then it would have been against the high exalted office of prophethood, and on this account the messenger would be liable to receive double punishment in the world as well as in the Hereafter. This statement makes it automatically clear that to expect any compromise with the Prophet on the issue of polytheism is totally useless.

106. That is: The polytheists of Makkah have created such conditions that it was not possible for the Prophet to stay any longer in Makkah and consequently had to migrate from there. If it were to so happen, then they should remember that after the migration of the Prophet they themselves will not be able to stay there for long. Their being seized by the divine punishment is certain.

107. This tradition, rule of Allah is unchangeable that when a township turns out its Prophet, compelling him to migrate to some other town, then after his migration the respite left to the people of the township is soon ended and divine punishment seizes it.

This divine tradition came to be operated in the case of the polytheists of Makkah also. Within two years of the migration of the Prophet from Makkah, the Battle of Badr took place, in which big leaders of the polytheists were killed, and after a few years from thence Makkah was totally cleared of the polytheists. This was the punishment which was meted out, according to the tradition (rule) of Allah, to those who had turned out the Prophet from their township, and had stuck to their polytheism and denial.