Surah Luqman 31:20-30 - Quran Translation Commentary

20. Do you not see ³⁴ that Allah has made subservient to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth³⁵ and lavished on you His visible and unseen favours³⁶? Yet among people there are some who dispute concerning Allah without knowledge or guidance or illuminating scriptures ³⁷.

21. And when it is said to them: “Follow what Allah has revealed,” they reply: “Nay, but we will follow which we found our forefathers³⁸ following.” What! will they (follow),when Satan is inviting them to the raging Flame ? ³⁹

22. Whoever surrenders himself to Allah and leads a righteous life⁴⁰ has grasped the firmest support.⁴¹ All matters will ultimately return to Allah.

23. And whoever disbelieves, let not his disbelief grieve ⁴² you. To us they will return, then we will inform them what they have been doing. Verily Allah knows the secrets of (men’s) breasts.

24. We will give them life’s comforts for a little while,⁴³ and then we will drive them to a severe punishment.

25. If you ask them: “Who created the heavens and the earth,” they would answer: “Allah.”⁴⁴ Say: “Praise be to Allah!” But most of them do not know.⁴⁵

26. To Allah belong whatever is in the heavens and the earth.Verily, Allah, He is Self-Sufficient, Worthy of Praise !

27. If all the trees in the earth were pens, and the sea (were ink), with seven more seas to replenish it, the words of Allah could never be finished. Verily, Allah is Mighty, Wise.⁴⁶

28. Your creation and your resurrection⁴⁷ are only as (the creation and the resurrection) of a single soul. Verily, Allah is Hearer, Seer.⁴⁸

29. Do you not see that Allah causes the night to pass into the day and the day into the night,⁴⁹ and has subdued the sun and the moon, each running to an appointed term?⁵⁰ and Allah is aware of what you do.

30. That is so, because Allah, He is the Truth and which they invoke beside Him is the False,⁵¹ and that Allah, He is Sublime, Great.⁵²

Commentary

34. In the foregoing ayah the counsels of Luqman were finished. Now the direction of the discussion turns towards tawheed.

35. “Sakhkhara” means made subservient to or made serviceable to. Allah has made a number of things subservient to man so that he may derive benefit from them as he may like, e.g. animals from whom he takes work as he likes and he can slaughter them also. Similarly vegetables and minerals, etc. which he uses as he likes. But many things like the heavenly bodies which are out of man’s reach are continually providing him benefit, e.g. the sun which is continually giving out heat and light for mankind find we do not know what benefits we are deriving from the Cosmic Rays which are spread out in the open space and we also do not know what work is being done for us by the heavenly bodies. But our observation shows that these heavenly bodies are doing a lot of good for mankind.

36. Visible favours means perceptible and known favours, and unseen favours means those favours which benefit man but about which he is not aware. In the present age how many new discoveries have been made by science which has shown that they render great service inside the human body, provide resistance against diseases, help in nourishment, but they were unknown to man before. These and other such things have now come to the knowledge of man. And there are countless such things which are still unknown to man.

37. That is: After driving benefits from the things mentioned, above, man should have become grateful to Allah, but there are many men who turn out to be ungrateful, and create disputes about His being the real benefactor and the only God. These discussions and debates, are not based on knowledge, nor on guidance, nor extracted from the pages of a divine scripture, but they are based merely on ignorance and superstition.

For the explanation of knowledge. see Surah Hajj Note No.5.

By guidance here is meant those signs of monotheism which are found in man’s own self and in the outside world, and especially the guidance which is made available in the teachings of the prophets. (Peace be upon them). And by the illuminating scripture is meant the Book which is revealed by God, and the qualifying word ‘illuminating’ shows that the said Book should be in the right condition, otherwise any mutilated book or amended scripture cannot illuminate the path of guidance completely. And so far as the ‘Ved’ and ‘Gita’ are concerned, there is no proof in these books to show that they have been revealed or sent down by God, and about the Vedas it is also not clear as to who was its compiler or presenter. Then the subjects of these books also do not give evidence of their being the words of God. Therefore, they cannot be presented as proof.

38. In other words we will stick to our ancestral religion and the religious culture.

39.That is: In the matter of religion, to follow the astray forefathers or the polytheistic national culture, leaving aside the Divine revelations, is to accept the invitation of Satan, for Satan invites to Hell and this path leads direct to Hell.

40. It has become clear that man should surrender himself in a conscious way to Allah and should develop beauty and efficiency in his practical life.

41. By firmest support (wurwatul wuthqa) is meant the religion of Allah, which strengthens relationship with Allah.

42. That is: When you had looked after their welfare fully and had not spared any efforts in explaining what was good for them, and if inspite of all this they stuck to their disbelief, then why should you grieve about them and for their fate, they will get what is coming to them.

43. That is: The respite which they got for deriving benefit is very little. Very soon they will have to leave that and go to the next world.

44. The polytheists of Arabia believed that Allah Only was the Creator.

45. When the creator of the universe is Allah, then He is only worthy of thanks and praise. But many people do not know this big truth, and because of this commit polytheism.

46. That is: If all the trees on the earth are made into pens, and the water of the ocean is made into ink and additional water of seven seas is added as ink, even then all this material will not be sufficient to record all the things about Allah’s might and wisdom. It is obvious that it is not possible to record the work done by every particle created by Allah from the first day of creation, but Allah’s knowledge is so vast that it encompasses everything. If a man tries to conceive correctly His greatness, then he will have no hesitation in accepting these facts, which Quran is presenting. For further explanation, please see Surah Kahf, Note No. 133.

47. For Allah creating innumerable persons is as easy as creating a single person. Similarly to resurrect all the persons is as easy as resurrecting a single person. By His command “Be”, the whole mankind came into existence, then why will not the dead rise again by His same command ‘Be’?

48. Hints at the fact that when He sees and hears every act of His slaves, why will He not give rewards for their good acts and punishment for their evil act

49. For explanation, please see Surah Aal-e- Imran, Note No.39.

50. For explanation, please see Surah Ra’d Note No.8.

51. That is: The sun and the moon are subdued because Allah has caused them to be subdued. Had they been gods, then they could not have been subdued, and if there were more then one God, then the system of this universe would not have worked with such a regularity. Therefore, it is a clear proof of the fact that Allah is the only God and there is no possibility of existence of any other god beside Him. Therefore, whoever is being invoked by these polytheists as their god is a contradiction reality.

52. Allah’s grandeur is unmatched and greatness is for Him only. For explanation, please see Surah Ra’d Note No.25.