58. “I.e., through progressive deepening and widening of their insight into the wonders of the universe as well as through a deeper understanding of man’s own psyche – all of which points to a conscious Creator” (Asad).

Mawdudi offers another perspective: “One of the two interpretations of the major commentaries has been that the allusion of signs in the horizon is to the prediction that Islam will prevail over large tracts of land in and beyond Arabia. It is then that the sign referred to in this verse will be fully perceived and recognized. The objection that can be raised is that political dominance does not prove the veracity of a Message or its carriers. The answer is, the triumph of Islam was not a military or political triumph. It was not the kind of triumph which results in a conqueror ending up owning the life and property of the conquered nation, in consequence, the land filled with tyranny and injustice. (At this point, and at this time of writing, one might be reminded that – by the accounts of a British newspaper and other sources – five years of American occupation of Iraq has resulted in transformation of a vast area into the stone-age: no power, no water, no fuel and no food. To obtain a few liters of petrol in this oil-rich country, people sleep at the petrol stations to queue up in the morning. So far, close to a million of Iraqis have died, several times more injured and maimed, and several millions have become refugees. This is the “conquer” that Mawdudi is alluding to. And, to continue with Mawdudi: Au.): “Contrary to this, the Islamic conquest brought with it a great religious, moral, intellectual, cultural, political, economic and social change whose influences elicited what was best in man and suppressed what was worst in him. The revolution brought by this phenomenon nurtured the moral excellence that the world could hope to see in the hermit and meditative recluses: in the politics of the rulers, in the wars and conquest, in the work of the tax-collectors or commerce of the big business, everywhere a huge moral upliftment, unseen anytime in human history, was achieved. The influence was so great and deep, that within a short time, in morality, character and behavior, cleanliness and purity, the common man was raised above the selected few of other societies. The Muslim conquests brought about in the conquered lands order in place of chaos, peace in place of anarchy, piety in place of wickedness, justice in place of tyranny, purity in place of obscenity and brotherhood in place of sanctioned inequality.

“These were the signs that the Makkan Arabs were told they will see in the horizons. And it has not stopped there. People of all ages have been witness to the signs foretold in this Qur’anic passage. The Muslims – even during their decline - have displayed such moral order as has not been attained by their antagonist contemporaries. No precedents can be found from any period of Muslim history of the tyrannical treatment that has been meted out by the Western nations to the subdued nations of Africa, America, Asia and, in fact, of Europe itself. Anyone can check through history books how the Muslims treated Christians in Spain and how the Christians treated Muslims there; how the Muslims behaved towards Hindus during their long rule in India and how the Hindus have begun to treat the Muslims once in power, how the Muslims treated the Jews during 1300 years and how the Jews are treating the Muslims since the deceptive occupation of Palestine.”

“The other meaning given by the commentators is that the unbelievers will be shown physical signs in the material world, as well as those found in their own physical existence. These signs will never end. In every new generation new signs will be discovered that will lead to the recognition that the world is not an accident but a well-designed creation” (With minor modifications).

Majid has a short comment on this aspect, “The words are also of general application. If we only care to reflect on the marvelous structure of the atom and on the still more marvelous nature of the human mind, we are inevitably, inescapably, led to the truth of an All-Designing, Omnipotent, Omnipresent Being.”

Following the same theme as above, one could add that by the words “within their own selves”, the allusion could be to the unbelievers of all ages who, once antagonists and opposed to Islam, undergo mighty changes in their own selves, to become, with the acceptance of Islam, entirely new – and laudable – personalities endowed with exemplary character (Au.).

Yusuf Ali puts it in a more sublime manner: "Allah’s Truth always spreads, in its own good time, across to the uttermost ends of the earth, as it did in the case of Islam. But its intensive spread in the hearts and souls of people is even more remarkable than its extensive spread over large areas. Men like the four Companions of the Prophet - and many more - became leaders of men and arbiters of the world’s fate. Madinah from being a focus of jarring tribes and factions that hated each other, became the seat of heroic actions and plans and the nursery of great and noble heroic deeds that resounded throughout the world. It makes no difference what men may say or do. Allah’s Truth must prevail, and He knows who obstruct and who help.”