Surah Al-'Ankabut 29:14-22 - Quran Translation Commentary

14. And We verily sent ²¹ Nooh to his people, and he dwelt among them a thousand years less fifty,²² and the deluge²³ engulfed them and they were wrong-doer.²⁴

15. And We rescued ²⁵ him and those with him in the Ark, and made it a great sign for mankind. ²⁶

16. And (We sent) Ibrahim,²⁷ when he said to his people: “Worship Allah and fear Him;²⁸ that is better for you if you but knew.”²⁹

17. You worship idols instead of Allah³⁰ and invent falsehoods.³¹ Verily those whom you worship instead of Allah cannot give you food (provision). So seek your provision from Allah³² and worship Him, and give thanks to Him. To Him you shall return.³³

18. And if you deny, then (other) nations before Had denied. And there is no responsibility on the messenger but to convey (the Message) clearly.³⁴

19. Do they³⁵ not see how Allah initiates the creation and then will reproduce it? Verily for Allah that is easy.³⁶

20. Say: “Travel in the land and see how He originated Creation, then Allah will create a later Creation.” Verily Allah has power over everything.³⁷

21. He punishes whom He will, and shows mercy³⁸ to whom He will, and to Him you will be returned.³⁹

22. You cannot escape (from Him) in the earth or in the sky,⁴⁰ and beside Allah there is for you no Guardian nor Helper.⁴¹

Commentary

21. Here events of the lives of Prophet Nooh and other messengers are briefly presented, which give an idea of how trying times and hard circumstances the prophets (peace be upon them) had to pass. For details about Prophet Noah, see Surah A’raf Note No.95.

22. Qur’an does not go into the minute details of the events, it has not related the age of any prophet. But since the purpose to show that Prophet Nooh spent an extraordinary period in striving for spreading the message of Islam. which is an excellent example of keeping patience and persevering in trying circumstances, therefore here it has been clarified that he lived in his community for a period of nine hundred and fifty years, and by stating this period to be a thousand years less fifty is to emphasise the long period spent by him in the dawah work, as this style is very effective.

Prophet Nooh dwelt for nine hundred and fifty years among his community, but how long he lived after the destruction of his community, has not been clarified. Therefore, we cannot say what was the age of Prophet Nooh, but it is certain that it was a little more than nine hundred and fifty years. However in the Bible his total age has been shown to be nine hundred and fifty years. In ancient times the age of human beings used to be much longer than the normal ages of the present day humans. Accordingly in the Bible the age of Prophet Nooh’s father has been shown to be seven hundred and seventy seven years and the age of his grandfather is shown to be nine hundred and sixty nine years” (Genesis, Chapter 5). The natural environment of those ancient days was quite different from the present day environment and it was free from all unnatural and artificial encumbrances. Moreover in those days the natural factors were quite helpful for longer living.

23.The flood refers to the well known deluge which drowned the community of Prophet Nooh.

24. They had wronged themselves by indulging in polytheism and disbelief, and they stuck to this wrong doing till their last.

25. For explanation, please see Surah A’raf Note No.103.

26. That is: The Ark of Prophet Nooh (Noah’s Ark) was made a great sign for the people of the world. As long as this Ark was being seen by the people, it reminded them of this event and was a sign which taught them a moral. After this the event of the Ark is preserved by the pages of the history and the Qur’an in such a way that till the end of the world the people will get the lesson that only those people will be rescued from the punishment of Allah who will believe in Him and will follow His Messenger.

27. That is: Ibrahim was sent as a messenger. For explanation please see Surah An’am Note No.127.

28. Fear Allah means fear disobeying Allah, and the greatest disobedience of Allah is polytheism and idolatry.

29. That is: If you give up ignorance and try to learn in what your benefit lies, then you will easily understand that worshipping the only God and living a life fearing Him only is the right, fruitful and beneficial way.

30.Those whom you worship are not gods but mere idols. These statues of stone have no attributes of godhood in them. Their reality is nothing beyond stone and dust. Then what is the meaning of worshipping them ?

That idolatry is non-sensical is quite clear and there is absolutely no argument in favour of its being right or lawful. But it is strange that not only in the past but in the present times also, which is supposed to be the age of knowledge and intellectualism, many people still indulge in idolatry, and when there is no reasonable argument in support of idolatry, they make strange statements. Some extracts from the’ Outlines of Hinduism’ may be seen:

“The Idol is the most concrete of God’s form.” “and the belief is that God descends into the idol and makes it divinely alive so that he may be easily accessible to his devotees.” -(Outlines of Hinduism by T.M.P. Mahadevan p.193-194). When no reasonable argument is found in support of idolatry then its exponents indulge in such senseless talk. Would that they use their intelligence and talk sensibly!

31. That is: your god is imaginary as also your religion. Thus it is falsehood and nothing else, which you have named as god and religion.

32. To provide food and provision was not within the power of these idols whom they worshipped as gods nor in the power of others, but it is within the power of Allah and they should, there fore, seek their provision and food from Allah.

Inspite of the clear directions: ‘Seek livelihood from Allah only’ a big group of Muslims seeks livelihood in their prayers from the saints, which is open polytheism. When they shout invoking ‘Khwaja’ to fill in their ‘jholi’ (cloth basket), they have no realisation that such an act of theirs is polluted with polytheism, for the ‘ignorant scholars’ (ulema) have taught them so. If they would have studied Qur’an with an open mind, the truth would have become clear to them and they would have been saved from straying.

33. After death you will neither be returned to the idols nor to any other beings, but you will be returned to Allah only, and He alone will give you recompense for your all actions. Therefore, your real God is He only and to Him only you will be returning.

34.The duty of the divine messenger is to convey Allah’s word and message in clear terms and to believe in that is your responsibility.

35.The statement of Prophet Ibrahim concluded with the foregoing ayah. The matter from here till the ayah No.23 is addition from Allah, as is clear from the style of the words used, so that the addressees of the Qur’an may be invited to contemplate and ponder.

36. The deniers of the Hereafter considered life in the next world impossible. To remove their doubt, they have been invited to ponder over the beginning of the Creation, that the Being for whom it was possible to bring in existence a creature like man from non-existence, for such a Being what difficulty is there to repeat such a process once more? (For further explanation, please see Surah Hajj Note No.7 and Surah Muminoon, Note No.18).

37. When man goes out of his surroundings, he sees strange models of creation which invite him to ponder over them, for example in sea travel new and novel types of fishes will be seen, in the journey by land colourful birds and in the jungles various kinds of animals will be observed. In short the outside world will appear like a zoo, where life will appear in thousands of forms. If the observer has a wakeful conscience, then it will speak out that it is the creation of a Being, who is the Holder of Great Might, Grand Craftsman, has full control over creation, Knower and Wise, Beautiful and perfectionist. This aspect of recognition of the Creator will create in the heart of man a belief that He has power to create man for the second time, and the talk of reviving men on the Day of Resurrection presented by Qur’an is quite true. Qur’an has invited man to undertake travel in the land with this noble cause in view.

It is therefore, learnt that to undertake journey for seeking knowledge and for research in the cause of Allah is the means resulting in good and is auspicious.

38. Hints at the fact that by travelling in the land the history of the rise and fall of the nations passes before man’s eyes, and he will know how many nations were made the victims of Allah’s punishment and how many nations were rescued or saved, and were helped to progress by His mercy.

39. That is: Ultimately you have to be brought back to Allah’s presence.

40. As man is bound by the physical laws, similarly he is bound by Allah’s law of reward and punishment. At every place he is within Allah’s reach, whether he goes to the remotest corner of the land or on the highest peak of the mountain. Today man travels in the air in an aeroplane, but his helplessness is such that if Allah Wants him to be a victim of an accident, then it becomes impossible for him to save himself.

41. For you there is really no Reliever or Helper except Allah, therefore, do not consider any other being as your reliever and helper and do not treat him in the manner in which Allah is to be treated. And remember that if Allah wants to seize you with His punishment, then there is none who can help you in any way.