Surah Al-An'am 6:31-40 - Quran Translation Commentary

31. Lost indeed are those who deny that they will meet Allah, until on a sudden the Hour⁵¹ is on them,⁵² and they will say: “Alas for us that we neglected it.” And they will bear upon their backs their burdens.⁵³ Lo! Vile is that which they will bear!

32. And the life of this world is nothing but a pastime and a sport.⁵⁴ But the abode of the Hereafter is better for those who fear Allah. Will you then not understand? ⁵⁵

33. We know that their talk grieves you. But it is not you that they belie, it is the revelations of Allah that these evil-doers deny.⁵⁶

34. And before you, Messengers were denied, but they bore patiently their denial and persecution until Our help reached them. And there is none that can alter the words of Allah.⁵⁷ And you have already received the accounts of the prophets.⁵⁸

35. And if their aversion is hard to bear for you, then seek, if you can, a tunnel in the ground or a ladder to the sky so that you may bring to them a sign.⁵⁹ Had Allah willed, He could have brought them all together to the guidance. So do not be among the ignorant ones.⁶⁰

36. Only those can accept (truth) who hear.⁶¹ As to the dead, Allah will raise them up,⁶² then will they be turned to Him.⁶³

37. And they say: “Why has no sign come down to him from his Lord?⁶⁴ Say: “Allah is certainly able to send down a sign.” But most of them know not.⁶⁵

38. And there is no animal on the earth, nor a bird that flies with its wings, but are communities (species) like you.⁶⁶ Nothing have we omitted from the Book.⁶⁷ Then They are all gathered before their Lord.⁶⁸

39. And those who deny our revelations are deaf and dumb,–in the midst of darkness.⁶⁹ Whom Allah wills misguides, and whom He wills guides to the right path.⁷⁰

40. Say: Did you reflect on this that if there come upon you the wrath of Allah or the Hour (Doomsday), would you then call (for help) any other than Allah? (Reply) if you are men of truth.

Commentary

51. For the Day of Resurrection or the Dooms day, the word “As-Sa’ah’ has been used in the Quran at various places, which means the fixed hour and appointed time.

52. The Day of Resurrection will be an occurrence that will occur suddenly. Even a few moments before this occurrence nobody will know that it will be occurring in a few moments.

53. Means burdens of sins.

54. That is: If the Hereafter: is ignored, then the life of this world is reduced to a pastime or a sport. That is why the rejectors of the Hereafter have not been able to point out any serious purpose behind the creation of this world.

55. Denial of Hereafter is not wise. It is the result of not thinking intelligently.

56. Quraish knew the prophet (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wasallam) to be truthful and trustworthy but when he commenced his Dawah work, they began to belie him. In other words, that main target of their denial was not the person of the prophet, but the revelations or verses of the Quran, which he was placing before them.

57. Refers to that Sunnah (tradition) of Allah, according to which Allah’s help is provided. The promise which Allah has made to His Messengers and the people of faith will essentially be fulfilled, irrespective of the intensity of the opposition. But this help does not come before its time. Accordingly, it has never happened that the call to accept the truth has been given and the missionaries have not had to pass through trials and tribulations before overcoming their opponents.

It is not possible to effect any change in the words of Allah, that His decrees, decisions and promises are immutable and sure of execution. There is no power on earth that can change them. Every decision of His is unchangeable.

58. That is: From the accounts of the prophets that have been related in the Quran, this tradition of Allah becomes clear that Allah’s help to the followers ‘of truth comes after their passing through the fires of trials and after manifestation of the truth. Therefore, the followers of truth should not grieve.

59. The idolaters were asking the prophet to perform such miracles as would unveil the unseen, for example, the angels should appear before them in their original form, etc. This verse is in reply to such a demand, in order to console the prophet, and also to show that the performance of a miracle is not within the power of the prophet and that only Allah helps the prophet to do so. And so far as the demand for the miracles made by the idolaters is concerned, if they are performed, then there will be no chance for men to think and use their intelligence. conscience and will. Manifestation of such miracles is against the divine scheme of things.

Another aspect of this verse which comes to the fore is the point that when a prophet cannot perform any miracle without the help and consent of Allah, then how can any saint or sage perform any preternatural act without His aid and consent’! Physical and natural laws are governed by Allah alone, and it is not possible for any man to perform any act which is outside or not governed by the natural laws, whether that man may be a prophet, or a saint. However, when Allah wills. a prophet is able to perform some miracle. And when He wills He provides support to a saint or a righteous man in some extraordinary way. Otherwise no saint or righteous man has power. in his own right, to perform any preternatural act. nor does a saint claim to be able to do so. For this very reason, as We see, none of the honorable companions of the prophet did ever claim to have performed a preternatural act.

60. That is: It is not the plan or will of Allah that all people should inevitably follow the right guidance, and no opportunity be given to them to test their intelligence and conscience. If such were the plan or the will of Allah, then no man could have deviated from the path of guidance. But His plan was that man should be given an opportunity to think for himself and to act in the light of his intelligence and conscience. Therefore, to arrange for the performance of a miracle after which the opportunity for the intelligence of man to think and for his conscience and will to act does not remain, is contrary to the scheme of things devised by Allah for this world. Those who do not try to reflect on this scheme of Allah indulge in unreasonable talking.

61. By hearing is meant the hearing which is done for the purpose of accepting the truth, that is the heart should be ready to accept the truth if what is heard is the truth, and that no personal likes or dislikes or desires would come in the way of accepting it.

62. Those persons are called dead who are not prepared to hear and understand what the prophet is saying. It is the result of their hearts being dead; and when a man’s heart has died, then where is his existence! Such a man is nothing more than a dead body. When such persons will be raised up from the graves on the Day of Resurrection, then the truth will be seen by them.

63. That is : for appearing before the Lord for giving an account of their good and bad deeds in this world.

64. That is: a sign or a miracle which should be palpable and. which should tear the veil of the unseen and show to them that truly this man has been sent as a Messenger by Allah.

65. Not causing such a miracle to be performed is not on account of Allah’s being unable to do so,but its reason is different which the people do not know. The reason is this that they are demanding to see such a miracle which, if arranged to be shown, would remove the difference between the seen and the unseen (ghaib).

As to the question: How other prophets were given palpable miracles by God? the answer is: First of all, the idolaters of Makkah did not demand a palpable miracle of that kind but what they wanted was that such signs should be shown to them by which they should be able to observe the realities of the Unseen, e.g. seeing an angel in his original form, sending down a written book from the sky, prophet’s climbing a ladder into the sky, falling of a piece of the sky on to the earth. etc. It is obvious that the miracles that were performed by the earlier prophets were not of this nature. Secondly the palpable miracles which the earlier prophets had performed were of two kinds: first were those which were performed without any demand being made for them, like the staff of prophet Moosa (Moses) turning into a python or snake, secondly those miracles which were performed on the demand of the infidels, like the miracle of the she-camel of prophet Saleh. So far as the first kind of miracles are concerned, the Last prophet (Sallal lahu Alaihi Wasallam) has been given an everlasting miracle superior to all temporary miracles, and that is the holy Quran. For this reason, a challenge is thrown to the polytheists of Makkah that if to them Quran is not a miracle, then they should bring a Quran authored by them like it. As for the second kind of miracle. it is a miracle as demanded by the infidels and when arrangement for the performance of such a miracle is made, and then after that the infidels do not accept faith, then their respite for action comes to an end, and Allah’s punishment overtakes them. Therefore, the Divine wisdom did not consider it fit to arrange to show the demanded miracle. so that the respite of the infidels of Makkah for action may not end. The subsequent events have shown that the non-arrangement of the performance of the miracle as demanded by the infidels of Makkah proved beneficial in their case. because gradually many people from amongst them realized the truth of the prophet’s Dawah and they were fortunate to receive the right guidance and embraced Islam.

66. That is: They may be animals or birds, animals of the land or the sea, ants or butterflies, all are of different kinds (species) and as mankind has its own social environment and unity and there is a system behind its growth and development, similarly there is a social environment and unity for every kind of animal and there is also a system behind its growth and development. As an example the system of the ants’ life and that of the honey bee can be seen, how they live in co-operation and co-ordinate their work with one another of their group, and in what a systematic way they follow the line that has been set for their way of life.

If man observes these different kinds of living beings carefully, he will see amazing signs pointing to the Creator of the universe, and these signs will lead him to those very realities towards which Quran and the prophet. are guiding.

67. That is: The Book of Destiny which Allah has prepared for His creatures contains all big and small things. There is nothing that has been left out from this book. It means that whatever is happening in this universe is according to a set plan, and behind this plan there is the active will and administration of a Being who has perfect knowledge.

68. The souls of all the living creatures are gathered to God after their death, because He is the Creator of all and to Him all have to return.

69. When the signs which Allah has placed in the universe for leading men to the reality are misinterpreted by man, and when he does not Dawatul Qur’an 405 S.6 follow the teachings of the prophet, then his condition becomes like that of a deaf and dumb person. He can neither hear truth, nor can he speak truth. Such a person wanders in the darkness of ignorance, though he may be proud of his learning.

70. Going astray or following the right path depends on the will of Allah. None can interfere in this matter. This will of Allah is in accordance with His scheme of not compelling anyone to go astray or to follow the right path, but that the person who desires to have guidance gets it and the person who wants to go astray is allowed to do so. In other words, a person’s being on the right path or going astray is in accordance with Allah’s law’ of guidance. and misguidance.