Surah Al-An'am 6:83-90 - Quran Translation Commentary

83. And that was our argument with which We furnished Ibrahim against his people¹³⁸. We raise whom We will to an exalted rank¹³⁹. Verily, your Lord is Wise and All- Knowing¹⁴⁰.

84. And we gave him Ishaq and Yaqub¹⁴¹, and guided all of them¹⁴²; and We had guided Nooh earlier¹⁴³, and among his progeny¹⁴⁴ Dawood, Sulaiman, Ayub, Yusuf, Moosa and Haroon¹⁴⁵. In this way We reward the virtuous.

85. And Zakaria and Yahya and Eesa and¹⁴⁶ Ilyas also; all of them were righteous. ¹⁴⁷

86. And Ismail and Alyasa¹⁴⁸, and Yunus and Loot¹⁴⁹. All these we exalted above the peoples of the world.

87. And We gave guidance to many of their forefathers, their children and their brothers, we chose¹⁵⁰ them and directed them to the straight path¹⁵¹.

88. This is the guidance¹⁵² of Allah, He bestows it on whom He pleases of His slaves. Had they associated other gods with Allah, their labours would indeed have been in vain¹⁵³.

89. These are the men on whom we bestowed the Book, and the authority¹⁵⁴ and prophethood. Now if these people¹⁵⁵ reject them, (does not matter), We have entrusted this (blessed gift of religion) to such people as do not reject it . ¹⁵⁶

90. These are they whom Allah guided. Follow then their guidance¹⁵⁷ (and) say: “I demand of you no reward for this¹⁵⁸. It is merely a reminder to all the peoples of the world”.¹⁵⁹

Commentary

138. That ‘is: This argument was put into prophet Ibrahim’s mind by Allah so that he might put forth his case with sound reasoning before his people and convince them.

It shows that the event that was related above was the event of the debate between prophet Ibrahim and his community and not concerning his search for truth. Therefore to call the star as the Lord was to question the people about the absurdity of their belief that whether he should also accept the setting star as his god. After this clarification there is no need to fall back on the absurd stories, in which this event has been referred to as a happening of prophet Ibrahim’s childhood. In This story an imaginary tale has been woven stating that the childhood of prophet Ibrahim was spent in a closed cave, and when for the first time he came out of the cave, he saw the star and considered it to be his god. what a pity that such bogus Israeli tales have found a place in the commentaries of the holy Quran.

139. That is: By giving him this argument, this understanding, this insight and this spirit to invite a polytheist nation to accept the belief of monotheism, we have exalted his rank very high, and in this way We raise high the ranks of those whom we please.

140. Refers to the fact that the exaltation of the ranks of His selected slaves is a manifestation of Allah‘s wisdom and knowledge.

141. Ishaq (Issac) is the son of prophet Ibrahim (Abraham), and yaqub (Jacob) is his grandson. Both of them were prophets. Yaqub (Jacob) was also called Israel, whose progeny was called Bani Israil. Dawatul Qur’an 425 S.6

142. That is: They were also given the guidance to believe in the oneness of Allah.

143. Prophet Nooh (Noah) had lived much earlier than prophet Ibrahim. By mentioning his name here the idea is to explain that the guidance for following monotheism (Tawheed) which was given to prophet Ibrahim and his descendents was given much earlier to prophet Nooh also. In other words, the religion sent down or revealed by Allah is one and the same, which came down in a continuous process from the first prophet to the last. No other religion was revealed to any prophet, and Quran is the standard- bearer of that religion which alone is the common religion of all the true prophets.

144. That is: the progeny of Ibrahim.

145. These are the well-known, great prophets of Bani Israil. prophets Dawood (David), Sulaiman (Solomon), Ayub (Job) Yusuf (Joseph), Moosa (Moses) and Haroon (Aaron) belong to that group of prophets who had achieved political power.

146. These are also great prophets of Bani Israil, whose religion was also the religion of monotheism, that is Islam. The name of Ilyas appears as Elijah in Bible. He had taken exception to the polytheistic activities of the Israilites and insisted on their following the practice of monotheism. He is mentioned in the Bible:

‘‘And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Eli’jah the prophet came near and said, O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that thou, O LORD, art God, and that thou hast turned their hearts back.” (1-King 18: 36, 37)

Zakaria (Zacharia), Yahya (John), Eesa (Jesus) and Ilyas (Elias) belong to that group of prophets who ruled over the hearts of people without attaining any political power.”

147. That is: These were very respectable personalities, but none of them was a god, and all were virtuous slaves of Allah.

148. Alyasa is mentioned in the Bible as Elisha a Deputy of prophet Elias. (See l-Kings 19:16)

149. prophet Loot (Lot) was not a descendent of prophet Ibrahim, but was his nephew, who had embraced his religion, and Allah had favoured him with prophethood. For this reason his name is mentioned here as a prophet belonging to the family of prophet Ibrahim.

150. That is: Chosen for presenting the dawah and serving the religion.

151. Means the religion of Islam.

152. Guidance of Allah means the religion of monotheism, that is Islam.

153. That is: If these exalted persons also had been guilty of committing polytheistic acts, then they would also have lost their exalted position and all their labours would have been in vain, because polytheism is an unforgivable crime. whoever commits this crime would be liable to get punished, and when exalted persons are not exempted, then how the smaller fry can hope to escape.

154. The word ‘Hukm’ used here means authority to take decision, and authority of giving commands of Shariah according to the divine guidance.

155. Means the people of Makkah.

156. It means that as we had favoured those prophets, mentioned above, with the Book, the authority and the prophethood, we have today favoured prophet Muhammad (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wasallam) with the same and this is a great blessing, through him, for the people of Makkah. However, if these people deny this, let them do so, they will deprive only themselves from the benefits of this blessing. we have granted this gift of religion to such persons as do not ignore and deprecate it. It is an allusion to those of the prophet’s companions who had accepted his call and embraced Islam, and thus became the real appreciators of this gift.

157. That is Follow the religion which is the common religion of all the prophets of God. This religion is the religion of monotheism, that is Islam.

158. That is: I do not demand or expect any recompense or reward from you for this service which I am rendering to you and which is the greatest service to humanity. I am doing it for your own good only. If you accept it, it will be to your own advantage, and if you reject it, then you will harm yourself only.

159. That is: Quran is a Reminder and a good counsel for the entire humanity. Its ‘message is general, for all and everlasting. It is neither reserved nor limited to any period, age or time, or meant only for any single nation or community.