Surah Al-An'am 6:91-94 - Quran Translation Commentary

91. They have not appreciated Allah as He deserves to be appreciated, when they say: “Allah has not revealed anything to any man.” Say: “Who then sent down the Book which Moosa brought ¹⁶⁰ -a light and guidance for mankind? The Book which you make into separate parchments for show and conceal much of it; and (by which) you were taught what neither you nor your forefathers knew before.” Say: “Allah (sent it down).” Then leave them playing in their vain discourse.¹⁶¹

92. And this is a Book that We have sent down¹⁶², blessed¹⁶³ and confirming what (Books) came before¹⁶⁴ it, and so that you may warn the (residents of) Ummul Qura¹⁶⁵ and those around her¹⁶⁶.Those who believe in the Hereafter also believe in this ¹⁶⁷, and they are watchful about their prayers.¹⁶⁸

93. And who is more wicked than the one who attributes a lie¹⁶⁹ to Allah, or claims: ”A revelation has come to me,” when nothing has been revealed to him¹⁷⁰? or the man who says: “I will reveal the like of what Allah has revealed¹⁷¹ “? Could you but see the wrongdoers when they suffer the pangs of death, the angels with outstretched hands, saying: “Deliver your souls; this day you shall be rewarded with a shameful punishment, for you used to say about Allah what is untrue and in your pride scorned His revelations¹⁷².”

94. (Then Allah will say:) “And now you have come to Us, alone¹⁷³, as we had created you for the first time, and you have left behind what we had bestowed on you. Nor do we see with you your intercessors whom you considered to be Allah’s partners¹⁷⁴ concerning your affairs. Your ties are, broken¹⁷⁵ and which you had presumed has failed you.”

Commentary

160. It is an allusion to the Jews who had said this absurd thing referred to in these verses. Although they believed in the series of the prophets, and also believed in Moosa to be a prophet and the Torah to be a divine Scripture, they were not prepared to believe in the fact that any prophet could be from outside the family or progeny of prophet Moosa. For this reason, according to their traditional obstinacy, they refused to accept this reality that Allah had revealed His word to any human being. Taking an exception to this attitude of theirs, Quran has mentioned two points: first that the denier of the divine revelation is in reality the denier of the divine wisdom, because how can it be possible that God who looks after every need of man should not provide for his spiritual guidance; and secondly they make two contradictory statements on the one hand they deny totally that there was any revelation from God to any man, and on the other hand they believe that prophet Moosa was prophet of God and the Torah was a revealed book.

161. That is: After pointing out to them that Allah had revealed His word to prophet Moosa and He also revealed His message to this prophet today, you may leave them alone. Those who refuse to see reason, it is futile to argue with them.

162. That is: This book is not a product of the human efforts, but it is revealed by the Ruler of the Universe, and on this account enjoys a unique distinction.

163. This book is the source of blessings and auspiciousness, from which the nations of the world will be receiving benefits, and from whose brilliance and illumination all the corners of human life will be illuminated.

164. Means the Torah.

165. Ummul Qura means the centre of dwellings and colonies, that is Makkah. It is called Ummul Qura because there is the House of Allah here, where universal gathering of Hajj takes place. On account of this distinction it has been made a religious and spiritual centre for the whole world.

166. That is: Convey the message of Quran first to the citizens of Makkah, then to the people dwelling in the surrounding areas, so that your sphere of dawah may be widened. For the propagation of the prophet’s message the city of Makkah has been selected because the voice that would be raised from the centre would resound in the mountains and the valleys of the world, and its echo will be heard in every nook and cranny of the earth.

167. That is: It is not possible that the man who believes in the Hereafter and has in his heart the fear of accounting before God may refuse to accept this Book as the Book revealed by Allah. If such a man studies a little of this Book, he will recognise that these are the words of Allah, and after this he would not feel any hesitation in embracing Islam. Here the allusion is to those righteous persons of the people of the Book who believed in the Hereafter. About such people it is said that they would also believe in Quran.

168. That is: A person who really believes in the Hereafter is bound to reflect from his manner of living some signs of God-worship, and the first symbol of God worship is offering prayers (salat).

169. To invent a religion or to give a religious colour to some invented thing is to invent a lie against or to attribute falsehood to Allah, and one who is guilty of this act is the greatest criminal. His crime is like the crime of a person who makes and gives currency to counterfeit coins. Since this insolent act is committed against God, one who commits it commits the greatest crime.

170. It shows that the false claimants of prophethood are the greatest criminals, because they commit deception against both, God and His creatures.

171. When a man, in response to the call for accepting truth, adopts an attitude of opposition for the sake of opposition, then seriousness and solemnity leave him and he comes down to the level of making insensible statements. The statement of the opponents quoted in the verse is an example of this.

172. This is a reply to the absurd objections and foolish claims of the rejectors of Quran, that when they do not want to comprehend a thing through reasoning, let them not comprehend it. They will come to their senses when death will overtake them and the angels will be slapping their faces.

From the verse this thing also becomes clear that at the time of death those realities, in which the people are asked to believe, become manifest, and also that death is merely the name of the soul passing out of the body, and that the souls of the rejectors of faith undergo punishment during their stay in the world of ‘Barzakh.’

173. That is: Allah will speak these words on the Day of Resurrection.

174. That is: In the world you had believed that your affairs were not being settled by what Allah decides but that those beings for whom you had regard also had a say in the matter. You thought that they had some importance in the eyes of God and that by pleasing them God will also be pleased. But where these partners invented by you have gone today, as none is present to help you?

175. That is: The tie, the relationship of love and regard that you had established with the false gods has been cut off.