13. In these ayat a historical event has been presented, so that the deniers of the Prophet may take a lesson from it. Only those parts of the event are related which are useful for providing a moral. Which was this township? Who were the messengers who were sent there? And when did this event take place? All these questions are not answered by Quran, and probably the reason for this is that this event might have taken place at a very ancient time, even before Prophet Ibrahim’s age, and since its historical marks were obliterated, the necessity of providing relevant names was not felt.

Many commentators have taken this township to be Antioch, which was Syrian city near the border of Turkey. It was a big commercial city. They (the commentators) have taken the companions of Christ to be the messengers who worked for the propagation of religion in Antioch. But Allama Ibn Katheer has rejected such a presumption for various reasons (See Tafseer Ibn Katheer, Vol.3, page 569). We feel that these ayaat do not apply to Antioch and the missionaries of that place:

First of all Antioch is not that township which was destroyed out of existence by any divine punishment, when further on Quran states that this township was ultimately destroyed by the divine punishment (Ayah No.29). According to Bible’s statement Christian missionaries were exceedingly successful in Antioch (See Bible’s book Acts Chapter 11 ).

Secondly the three men about whom Quran says that they were sent to the township were Allah’s messengers (Ayat Nos. 14, 16), when Prophet Eesa’s disciples and companions cannot be considered Allah’s messengers according to Quranic terminology. As stated by Quran they were Prophet Eesa’s companions and assistants (Surah Saf Ayah No.14).

Thirdly, the objection of the township’s people that they were people like them and Allah (Merciful) has not revealed anything (Ayah No. 15) could only be said about the prophets, who said that they had received revelations from God. The companions of Prophet Eesa had gone to Antioch as missionaries, and when a missionary does not claim to be messenger from Allah nobody can raise the objection that he is a man like them. The author of ‘Tadabbur-e-Quran’ has given a different opinion, stating that the township is Egypt, and the two messengers are Prophets Moosa and Haroon, and the third person who is said to have been sent for reinforcing their strength is from Firaun’s court who had embraced the faith. But this opinion is not correct because Quran says that all the three persons were messengers. (Ayah No.16). And interpretation given by him of the ayah is rather far fetched. Besides there is also no proof that Egypt was destroyed by a terrific sound therefore, in the ayah No.29 the punishment cannot be taken to mean the same one which visited Egypt. In short, by the clarifications of Quran this opinion is refuted. According to us, as we have stated above, it is better to be satisfied with the broad points of the outlines as given by the Quran, instead of unleashing our imagination and stating what is not stated by Quran.

14. It may be noted that the third person was also a messenger from Allah, and all these three were divine messengers, therefore, it is not correct to consider them Prophet Eesa’s envoys or messengers. The necessity of sending three messengers in one township is probably to complete all the requirements of fully convincing the people or conveying the message to the people concerned convincingly, and the world should see that when the people become obstinate even three messengers cannot bring them to the right path.

15. These were the objections which the people of Makkah were also raising in the case of the Last Prophet, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam.

16. That is: If you are not prepared to accept me as a Divine messenger in the light of these arguments, then let it be so; now we call Allah as our witness and state that we are His messenger.

17. Our duty is merely to convey Allah’s message to the people, after this it is their responsibility. It is not his responsibility that the Prophet should compel them to accept faith.

It may be noted that whatever is stated here is in connection with those who had not embraced Islam. From this it is not correct to conclude that the responsibility of the Prophet in connection with people of Faith is not more than mere conveying the message. Prophet Moosa had to fulfill a number of responsibilities in connection with Bani Israil, Prophet Dawood was given the responsibility of Khilafat (government), Prophet Sulaiman, having established a government performed the duties of dispensing justice; and the Arabian Prophet, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, imparted moral teaching and training, teachings of the Book and the wisdom and also gave judgments in court cases. Besides, he did full justice to his responsibilities as a fighter in the cause of Islam. In short he provided explanation and clarification of the whole religion by means of his words and deeds, which is necessary to be followed by the people of faith.

18. It appears that Allah had subjected them to the suffering of starvation or some other trouble so that they might turn towards Allah, but they declared their Prophet to be a man of ill omen.

And from the far side of the township came a man running, He said: “O my people! Follow the messengers, ”Follow those who ask of you no recompense, and who are rightly guided.”(AL-Quran)

19. That is: Ill omen does not exist outside, but it is inside you. The result of bad acts is bad, and you cannot declare others responsible for your own evil acts.

20. That is: What crime have we committed that we are being given such a punishment? Is the work of giving admonition and advice a crime?

21. You have thrown by the wayside all the demands of justice, fairplay and morality and are bent on mischief and corruption.

22. That is: In this whole township only one person came out to be a man of faith, otherwise the whole nation had rejected the message of the Prophet. This person was at the far side of the city and when he heard the message of the prophets, he came running at the place where there was a clash the between the people and the prophets.

23. Reaching the people of the township he declared the call of the truth, and invited his people to follow the messengers of Allah. Faith created such a spirit in him that in no time he became a missionary of truth and a mujahid.

24. Prophets according to their character are without any interest and are honest guides, and they are rightly guided and invite people to the straight path of right guidance.

25. That is: Worship is the due of the Creator, then why should I not worship my Creator?

26. In these words, this person expressed his belief in the Hereafter, and also warned his community that ultimately they all have to appear before Allah, then why should they not worry about their end and the life in the Hereafter.

27. On this occasion the mention of Allah, the Merciful, by him expresses his heartfelt attachment to Allah and also this acknowledgment that He is very kind and gracious. What is the use of neglecting such a kind God and worshipping other deities in whose power there is nothing. If God, Merciful, wills to hurt or afflict someone, then their intercession will not be of any avail nor would they be able to save anyone from any hurt or affliction. Then what is the significance of these Wasilas and means.

28. That is: Allah who is the real Lord of all of you.

29. That is: After accepting faith, the advice that I am giving you to follow the messengers should be accepted by you.

30. From the style of the wordings it appears that the plain talk of this man of faith was unpleasant for them and they killed him. He had proved the strength of his faith, and proving himself to be really a brave man, became a martyr in the path of Allah. Immediately the glad tidings of Paradise was given to him.

According to the clarifications of Quran, the People of faith will enter Paradise with the physical bodies only on the Day of Resurrection. However, before this the virtuous spirits are shown great favours in the world of Barzakh, and the martyrs get a special kind of life and also receive provision (food) (Surah Baqarah Ayah 154, and Surah Aal-e-Imran Ayah 169). This man of faith expressed his delight on reaching the world of Barzakh, stating that his Lord has pardoned him and included him in the group of his favoured and honoured slaves, and expressed the wish: would that his community had known that and would have accepted faith. Allah conveyed this desire of this man of faith to the people reading Quran, and now it is up to them to survey their acts in the light of this information.

This ayah is the proof of the fact that after death spirits go to the world of Barzakh, which has been termed as grave in the hadith. There they are treated according to their acts. As for the question, how is punishment or reward given before the Day of Resurrection’? The fact is that on the Day of Resurrection man will be raised with his physical body and after taking an account of his deeds, his account will be settled and whatever is his due will be given him fully. But before the Day of Resurrection, only a part of punishment or reward is given, and that too to the spirit. And there is nothing so strange in this, for in the world also the problem of reward and punishment confronts us.Those disbelieving nations who were destroyed by Allah before the Day of Resurrection, also received a part of the punishment before the Day of Resurrection.

31. That is: After the departure of this man of faith from the world.

32. Allah had not to make any special efforts to destroy this nation that a big army was required to be sent down to exterminate it, nor was Allah ever required in the past to make any special effort to destroy any nation before this, because the slightest hint from Allah suffices to destroy any nation, however big it may be. So only a loud sound was sufficient to finish this nation. Possibly it might have been the sound of the thunderbolt, or of the earthquake or volcano or some other terribly frightening sound. God alone knows what actually happened. Any way, one terrible sound finished the entire nation in such a way that there only remained their ashes.

33. And this is not a case of the past. Even today there are many persons who become casual when the topics of prophethood and the Hereafter are broached before them and they make it a butt of their jokes. But a time will come when they will be sorry for what they did.

Regrets on the condition of the slaves means that the condition of the slaves has reached such a nadir of depravity that there is nothing left for them except regret.

34. Have they not seen, this idiom is used in the Arabic to say: have they not contemplated. In Urdu also such a use is common.

35. That is: A nation which was destroyed once, did not return to the world second time. It is a fact which cannot be denied.

It also negates the theory of transmigration of soul.

36. That is: These nations have been wiped out from the world, but their spirits exist in the world of Barzakh, and on the Day of Resurrection they will be raised with their physical bodies, and they will be placed before Allah for accounting for their deeds. This is not limited to these nations only, but to every individual, everyone will be answerable to Allah on the day of Resurrection for his or her deeds.