289. Its explanation has been given in Note No.163.

290. By the two groups or communities are meant the Jews and the Christians. At the time of the revelation of Quran, these two communities only were the people who had their divine Scriptures. For this reason they have been called the people of the Book. As for the other nations of the world, they might or might not have had religious books, but no part of the Divine Book was with them, and for this reason none of them is declared as the people of the Book, e.g. Majus (fire - worshippers) who had a religious book, and the Arabs, who called themselves as followers of prophet Ibrahim, but they were not considered as the people of the Book.

291. That is: After the revelation of Quran, this excuse has ended. Quran has not only dropped a curtain on the excuse of the Arabs but on the excuse of all other nations of the world. None can now present this excuse, because Allah has blessed this Book with such a fame and reputation, and has made such an arrangement of conveying its message to the nations of the world that no nation is unaware of it, and He has created such resources and means that people of any nation can, if they want to, understand its teachings.

He that brings (the record of ) a good deed, shall be repaid tenfold; and he that brings (the record of ) an evil, shall be repaid the like thereof. And no wrong shall be done to the people. Say: “Verily, my Lord has guided me to a straight path, an upright religion, faith of Ibrahim, the upright and who was not among thepolytheists.” (Al-Quran)

292. Means such signs which may unveil the unseen realities, so that man may be able to see them with his physical eyes.

293. That is: The day on which these special signs of God would appear, which would be revealing the unseen realities, from that day there will be no chance for mankind to be tested. Therefore, neither the acceptance of faith by any disbeliever would be recognised, nor the claim of a person who had posed as a faithful without trying to be righteous would be of any use.

At another place in the Quran it is stated that it was of no use for the nations who accepted faith after the punishment of Allah was unleashed on them (Surah Momin, Verses Nos.84-85).

In a tradition the prophet (P.b.u.h.) has, with reference to this verse, warned the people that when the Doomsday would be drawing near, the sun would rise from the west, and for anyone who would embrace Islam after seeing such a clear and great sign, it would be of no avail. The prophet has said:

“The Doomsday will not occur until the sun rises from the west. When the sun would rise from the west, the people would see it and would embrace Islam, but at that time embracing the faith would be of no avail for anyone:” -(Bukhari, Kitabur Reqaq).

294. The discussion with the idolater which began with the beginning of the surah is ended here by stating a few points of principle. These principles bring into prominence the pathway of religion, and which explain what religion is and what it is not.

295. That is: The religion which was sent down by Allah for the guidance of man was purely a direction for monotheism, but some people invented new and separate ways, which resulted in their division into different sects, Be it Judaism.or Christianity, be it the polytheistic faith of the Arabs or the religion of any other country or nation. the reality of all these faiths is that the people of religion made new by-lanes and pathways, separate from the highway of the Divine religion. Consequently worship was replaced by innovative practices, and the Divine Shariah had to give way to manmade Shariah, so much so that in the place of one God, a number of gods were invented. Now the divisions that are found under different names of different religions are not based on truth, therefore, the prophet of Allah has nothing to do with all these by lanes and divisions and everyone who wants to follow the path of Truth will have nothing to do with all these religions and sectarianism.

296. That is: The task of the Messenger is to clearly show the path of Truth. If even after this, the people of the religions do not give up their sectarianism, then leave them alone. Their case will be dealt with by Allah. They will see their fate on the Day of Resurrection.

297. On the Day of Resurrection every person will get the reward or punishment for his good or bad deed. The principle for this recompense will be that for every good deed the reward will be at least tenfold, but the punishment for a bad deed will be equivalent, and the purpose is to show that in the matter of reward and punishment no injustice will be done to anyone, however for the gift of a good deed that a slave will offer to his Lord, the Almighty, Most Merciful Lord will show His appreciation of His slave’s conduct by granting him a reward that would be at least ten times more than his deed.

It should be noted that the good deed that would be considered for reward would be only that which was done, believing Allah to be the one and only God and for seeking His pleasure.

298. The religion which was sent down to prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is, in the true sense of the word, the religion of Allah. This religion is free from every kind of defect, the religion which was defaced and mutilated by the jews Christians and the idolaters, has been cleansed and purified and presented in its original form. Now it can be recognised by merely casting a glance at it.

299. It refers to the point that the idolaters of Arabia used to ascribe the origin of their religion to prophet Ibrahim, but prophet Ibrahim was not at all a polytheist, but was haneef, a believer in monotheism with honesty and sincerity, and the religion of prophet Muhammad (Sallal Lahu Alaihi wasallam) is the same religion which was that of prophet Ibrahim (Peace be upon him).

It should be noted that prophet Ibrahim was not the religious leader of Arabs alone, but that he was, the religious leader of the world. Allah had made him the Imam (leader) of the peoples, and for this reason his religion had reached, through his followers, various countries and nations. It is another matter if these nations introduced innovations in this religion and defaced it and gave it another name.

300. It has become clear that this religion does not believe in dualism or polytheism, but it believes in monotheism, pure and unstinted belief in one and only one God, which belief should influence the whole gamut of human life. Worship which is a very noble emotion should be only for Allah. Life should be spent according to the commands of Allah, and it should be spent making His pleasure the very purpose of life. And if this life is to be put at stake, then it should be only for His cause. The religion should not be followed as a formality, but it should be followed with deep conviction and making it the very purpose of life.

301. That is: Let anybody obey or disobey His command, and let anybody accept or reject His faith, I have, before all, accepted His command. “and I am the first acceptor of His religion, Islam (Muslim).

302. That is: The burden of sins.

303. Khalifa, that is man of authority. Man has been created as a creature of authority and power. These powers are a trust from Allah and he is responsible for using this authority and these powers according to His guidance For further explanation. please see surah Baqarah, Note No.41

304. That is: According to ability, capability and resources, there are degrees and ranks among men, and this difference has been kept so that they may be tested, with a view to finding out who is a grateful slave of Allah and who is ungrateful, who acts patiently and who becomes impatient, who pays the rights and dues of his fellowmen and who usurps them, who delivers justice and who tyrannises. In short, without these differences in the ranks the good and finer qualities of humanity would not have been manifested, nor its baseness known.