33. There are several reasons why this verse has been brought here. The pagans for instance said about their idols that they had a share in divinity and that Allah had ordered them to worship them. They claimed that angels were Allah's daughters. There were other lies that they fastened upon Allah. As for the Jews and Christians, they claimed that what was revealed to them was the final word of God and that no prophet was due. Further, they committed several kinds of evils claiming that they were so ordered by Him. The Jews said ‘we are the children of God,' and, ‘we shall not enter the Fire but for a few days.' All these were lies that were fastened upon Allah, hence the verse (Razi).

34. This verse is a continuation of the previous one. Together they are saying, "The transgressors shall not prosper (neither in this world, nor) on the Day when We shall gather them together ..." (Ibn Jarir).

35. Asad writes: "Whenever the term shuraka' (pl. of sharik) is used in the Qur'an with reference to beliefs, it invariably denotes real or imaginary beings or forces to whom one ascribes a share in God's divinity: consequently, this concept and its utter condemnation in Islam relates not merely to the worship of false deities but also to the attribution of semi divine qualities and powers to saints (in the liturgical sense of this word), as well as to abstract notions like wealth, social status, power, nationality, etc., to which men so often ascribe an objective influence on human destinies."

36. The fitnah of the original has been interpreted as "answer, reply, argument" etc., by authorities such as Ibn `Abbas, Qatadah and Dahhak. However, it appears that the meaning is, "When they are tried before Allah, there will be nothing for them to bank upon but to say, ‘We were not associators,' for fitnah also stands for "trial, test," etc. (Ibn Jarir).

Qurtubi quotes a hadith from Muslim. It says:

فيلقى العبد فيقول أي فل ألم أكرمك وأسودك وأزوجك وأسخر لك الخيل والإبل وأذرك ترأس وتربع ؟ فيقول بلى قال فيقول أفظننت أنك ملاقي ؟ فيقول لا فيقول فإني أنساك كما نسيتني ثم يلقى الثاني فيقول أي فل ألم أكرمك وأسودك وأزوجك وأسخر لك الخيل والإبل وأذرك ترأس وتربع ؟ فيقول بلى أي رب فيقول أفظننت أنك ملاقي ؟ فيقول لا فيقول فإني أنساك كما نسيتني ثم يلقى الثالث فيقول له مثل ذلك فيقول يا رب آمنت بك وبكتابك وبرسلك وصليت وصمت وتصدقت ويثني بخير ما استطاع فيقول ههنا إذاقال ثم يقال له الآن نبعث شاهدنا عليك ويتفكر في نفسه من ذا الذي يشهد علي ؟ فيختم على فيه ويقال لفخذه ولحمه وعظامه انطقي فتنطق فخذه ولحمه وعظامه بعمله وذلك ليعذر من نفسه وذلك المنافق وذلك الذي يسخط الله عليه

"(On that Day) Allah will speak to one of His slave and say, ‘O so and so. Is it not true that I honored you, made you a leader, gave you a spouse, subdued the cattle for you and made you rich?' He will say, ‘Sure, you did my Lord.' He will ask, ‘Did you ever imagine you would meet Me?' He will reply, ‘No.' He will say, ‘Today I shall forget you as you forgot Me.' Then He will address a second one, similar to the first. Then He will speak to a third one. He will reply, ‘My Lord. I believed in You, in Your Book, in Your Messenger. I prayed, fasted and spent in charity.' He will thus speak well of himself so far as possible. He will be told, ‘Here too?!' Then it will be said, ‘Anon! We shall present witnesses over you.' He will wonder who would bear witness against him. Then his mouth will be sealed and his thighs, flesh, and bones would be ordered to speak. His thighs, flesh, and bones would bear witness against the man. This, so that the man is left with no excuse. This man, he would be a hypocrite with whom Allah would be angry."

37. It is reported that a man went to Ibn `Abbas and asked, "What have you to say about these two verses: ‘By Allah, our Lord, we were not associators,' and, ‘And they shall not be able to conceal anything?'" Ibn `Abbas replied, "As for the unbelievers saying, ‘By Allah, our Lord, we were not associators,' that will be when they will notice that none but the believers are entering Paradise. They will say to themselves, ‘Let us deny,' and, consequently, will say, "By Allah, our Lord, we were not associators.' But, subsequently, Allah will seal their mouths. Their hands and feet will speak out (testifying against them). Then it will be that, ‘They shall not be able to conceal anything'" (Ibn Jarir).

Nevertheless, tafasir Al Bahr al Muhit and Maz hari have said that the people alluded to here are those who had not committed open shirk but had sought help from others besides Allah, such as those who address their prayers to the dead near the graves. It is they who would claim that they were not associators (Ma`arif).

Asad adds: "This refers to beliefs which undoubtedly imply shirk ("the ascribing divinity or divine qualities to beings or forces other than God") in the objective sense of this concept, but which the person concerned does not subjectively visualize as denying God's oneness (Razi): for instance, the mystical dogma of the "Trinity" which, in the Christian view, does not conflict with the principle of God's oneness inasmuch as it is supposed to express a "threefold aspect" of the One Deity, or the attribution of divine or semi divine qualities to saints as supposed "mediators" between man and God, and so forth."

Sayyid writes: There are three kinds of ‘associations' and all the three were prevalent among the pagan Arabs. They believed in beings who they thought had a say in the affairs of the world: such as angels, jinn and spirits of the dead. They believed these powers resided in their idols and spoke their mind through the priests. These powers could interfere in the affairs of the people, and, either by their own will, or through intercession with the supreme God, alter the course of events.

A second kind of shirk that they committed was by presenting their offerings to the deities, (although the priests bagged those offerings), or devoting themselves to false gods, or addressing their supplications to them. Influenced by the Persians, some of them believed that the stars too had a say in their destiny. This explains the story of Ibrahim that follows in this chapter.

Their third kind of association was to depend for their values, laws, and the way of life in general, on the priestly class. Their priests were their law makers. Like their counter parts of modern times, they believed that what they received from their priests was Divine Law."

38. Asad comments: "I.e., by allowing themselves to think, in their life time, that their beliefs did not offend against the principle of God's oneness (Razi)."

39. Yusuf Ali makes his usual subtle remark: "The lies which they used to tell have now ‘wandered’ from the channels which they used to occupy, and left the liars in the lurch. In denying the indisputable fact that they took false gods, they admit of their notions and thus are practically convicted out of their own mouths."

40. A variant reading is "wiqran" (instead of "waqran") in which case the word could be understood as "a plug" (Shawkani).

Shabbir writes: That is the state of those who listened to the Qur'an and the words of the Prophet, not seeking guidance, rather, to work up an argument against it. Running on this track for a lengthy period, and having given their conscience a long holiday, they lost the use of the faculties of their mind insofar as truth was concerned and became blind of heart. Their own attitude was the cause of their peril, but Allah attributed it to himself since He is the Final Cause of all causes.

41. Note the various faculties that have been spoken of: the hearts and ears, and then the sight (Thanwi, reworded).

42. "Asatir signifies lies; or falsehoods; or fictions; or stories having no foundation, or no right tendency or tenor, such as we commonly term as legends or wonderful stories of the ancients" (Majid).

Nadr b. al Harith had widely travelled. He used to narrate tales of Rustum and Suhrab, Isfandyar and others. When he was asked about what he thought of the Prophet's message, he quipped, ‘Tales of the ancients' (Qurtubi, Alusi).

43. Ibn `Abbas, Qatadah and Suddi have said that it is our prophet Muhammad that the Quraysh prevented the people from seeing, while staying away from him themselves. However, according to Mujahid, which is a second opinion of Qatadah too, it is from the Qur'an that the Quraysh kept others away. There has been a third opinion, but the first is the more plausible one. However, another opinion of Ibn `Abbas is that, the allusion is to Abu Talib, the Prophet's staunch supporter, who used to prevent the people from harming the Prophet, but distanced himself from Islam. In this light the translation would be: "(Some of them, such as Abu Talib) prevent others from harming the Prophet, but themselves stay away from him (instead of accepting him as a Messenger)" Ibn Jarir.

Apart from other books, the statement of Ibn `Abbas is in Ibn Abi Hatim, Tabrani and Hakim, the last named assessing it as a sahih report (Shawkani). And, of course, there were others of the kind among the Quraysh (Au.).

Thanwi adds: The above explanation leads us to the rule that mere natural love (hubb al taba`i) of the awliya' is not of much significance. It is the rational basis for attachment and love (hubb al `aqaliyy) that is required of a lover.

44. The translation is based on Qatadah's understanding. Zamakhshari says that the allusion could also be to the people of the Book who, although convinced of the authenticity of the Prophet, concealed the truth.

45. The implication is that the unbelievers do not consider belief in Allah and His Messenger as something of an intrinsic value: something they should have done as the demand of honesty, love of truth and hatred of anything false, however dear to the carnal self. But they did not. Therefore, in the Hereafter, it is the fear of condemnation to the Fire that will invoke the wish to return. And hence, they would be lying when they will say ‘we shall believe.' The Qur'an said about them elsewhere (23: 99 100):

حَتَّى إِذَا جَاءَ أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ رَبِّ ارْجِعُونِ (99) لَعَلِّي أَعْمَلُ صَالِحًا فِيمَا تَرَكْتُ كَلَّا إِنَّهَا كَلِمَةٌ هُوَ قَائِلُهَا [المؤمنون : 99 ، 100]

"Until, when death comes to one of them he cries out, ‘My Lord. Send me back, so that I may do good deeds in affairs that I have left behind.' (He will be told) ‘Not at all. It is a word that he speaks out (without meaning it)'” Au.

In the words of Asad (who acknowledges Razi for the idea), "... their longing for a ‘second chance’ is not dictated by love of truth for its own sake but, rather, by their dread of the evil consequences of their doings: and faith is useless unless it is desired for its own sake."

Majid adds: "The lam (of the la kazibun) used as corroborative is sometimes difficult to express in English except by emphasis on pronunciation."

46. Ibn Zayd has said that this verse is a continuation of the previous verse. That is, if they are sent back to this world, they would say, ‘It all amounts to nothing but this earthly life. We are not going to be resurrected' (Ibn Jarir).

47. Asad explains: "The particle bi ma (translated as ‘for': Au) expresses here a causal connection between the denial of the truth and the subsequent suffering..."

48. With those words they would be dispatched to the Fire (Thanwi).