Surah 10. Yunus

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Verses [Section]: 1-10[1], 11-20 [2], 21-30 [3], 31-40 [4], 41-53 [5], 54-60 [6], 61-70 [7], 71-82 [8], 83-92 [9], 93-103 [10], 104-109 [11]

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Quran Text of Verse 61-70وَ مَاAnd notتَكُوْنُyou areفِیْ[in]شَاْنٍany situationوَّ مَاand notتَتْلُوْاyou reciteمِنْهُof itمِنْfromقُرْاٰنٍ(the) Quranوَّ لَاand notتَعْمَلُوْنَyou doمِنْanyعَمَلٍdeedاِلَّاexceptكُنَّاWe areعَلَیْكُمْover youشُهُوْدًاwitnessesاِذْwhenتُفِیْضُوْنَyou are engagedفِیْهِ ؕin itوَ مَاAnd notیَعْزُبُescapesعَنْfromرَّبِّكَyour Lordمِنْofمِّثْقَالِ(the) weightذَرَّةٍ(of) an atomفِیinالْاَرْضِthe earthوَ لَاand notفِیinالسَّمَآءِthe heavensوَ لَاۤand notاَصْغَرَsmallerمِنْthanذٰلِكَthatوَ لَاۤand notاَكْبَرَgreaterاِلَّاbutفِیْ(is) inكِتٰبٍa Recordمُّبِیْنٍ clear 10. Yunus Page 216اَلَاۤNo doubtاِنَّIndeedاَوْلِیَآءَ(the) friendsاللّٰهِ(of) Allahلَا(there will be) noخَوْفٌfearعَلَیْهِمْupon thenوَ لَاand notهُمْtheyیَحْزَنُوْنَۚۖwill grieve الَّذِیْنَThose whoاٰمَنُوْاbelieveوَ كَانُوْاand areیَتَّقُوْنَؕconscious (of Allah) لَهُمُFor themالْبُشْرٰی(are) the glad tidingsفِیinالْحَیٰوةِthe lifeالدُّنْیَا(of) the worldوَ فِیand inالْاٰخِرَةِ ؕthe HereafterلَاNoتَبْدِیْلَchangeلِكَلِمٰتِ(is there) in the Wordsاللّٰهِ ؕ(of) AllahذٰلِكَThatهُوَisالْفَوْزُthe successالْعَظِیْمُؕthe great وَ لَاAnd (let) notیَحْزُنْكَgrieve youقَوْلُهُمْ ۘtheir speechاِنَّIndeedالْعِزَّةَthe honorلِلّٰهِ(belongs) to Allahجَمِیْعًا ؕallهُوَHeالسَّمِیْعُ(is) the All-Hearerالْعَلِیْمُ the All-Knower اَلَاۤNo doubtاِنَّIndeedلِلّٰهِto Allah (belongs)مَنْwhoeverفِی(is) inالسَّمٰوٰتِthe heavensوَ مَنْand whoeverفِی(is) inالْاَرْضِ ؕthe earthوَ مَاAnd notیَتَّبِعُfollowالَّذِیْنَthose whoیَدْعُوْنَinvokeمِنْother than Allahدُوْنِother than Allahاللّٰهِother than Allahشُرَكَآءَ ؕpartnersاِنْNotیَّتَّبِعُوْنَthey followاِلَّاbutالظَّنَّthe assumptionوَ اِنْand notهُمْtheyاِلَّاbutیَخْرُصُوْنَ guess هُوَHeالَّذِیْ(is) the One Whoجَعَلَmadeلَكُمُfor youالَّیْلَthe nightلِتَسْكُنُوْاthat you may restفِیْهِin itوَ النَّهَارَand the dayمُبْصِرًا ؕgiving visibilityاِنَّIndeedفِیْinذٰلِكَthatلَاٰیٰتٍsurely (are) Signsلِّقَوْمٍfor a peopleیَّسْمَعُوْنَ (who) listen قَالُواThey sayاتَّخَذَAllah has takenاللّٰهُAllah has takenوَلَدًاa sonسُبْحٰنَهٗ ؕGlory be to HimهُوَHeالْغَنِیُّ ؕ(is) the Self-sufficientلَهٗTo Him (belongs)مَاwhateverفِی(is) inالسَّمٰوٰتِthe heavensوَ مَاand whateverفِی(is) inالْاَرْضِ ؕthe earthاِنْNotعِنْدَكُمْyou haveمِّنْanyسُلْطٰنٍۭauthorityبِهٰذَا ؕfor thisاَتَقُوْلُوْنَDo you sayعَلَیaboutاللّٰهِAllahمَاwhatلَاnotتَعْلَمُوْنَ you know قُلْSayاِنَّIndeedالَّذِیْنَthose whoیَفْتَرُوْنَinventعَلَیagainstاللّٰهِAllahالْكَذِبَthe lieلَاthey will not succeedیُفْلِحُوْنَؕthey will not succeed مَتَاعٌAn enjoymentفِیinالدُّنْیَاthe worldثُمَّthenاِلَیْنَاto Usمَرْجِعُهُمْ(is) their returnثُمَّthenنُذِیْقُهُمُWe will make them tasteالْعَذَابَthe punishmentالشَّدِیْدَthe severeبِمَاbecauseكَانُوْاthey used toیَكْفُرُوْنَ۠disbelieve

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Translation of Verse 61-70

(10:61) (O Prophet!) Whatever you may be engaged in, whether you recite any portion of the Qur'an, or whatever else all of you are doing, We are witnesses to whatever you may be occupied with. Not even an atom's weight escapes your Lord on the earth or in the heaven, nor is there anything smaller or bigger than that, except that it is on record in a Clear Book.⁶⁴

(10:62) Oh, surely the friends of Allah have nothing to fear, nor shall they grieve -

(10:63) the ones who believe and are God-fearing.

(10:64) For them are glad tidings in this world and in the Hereafter. The words of Allah shall not change. That is the supreme triumph.

(10:65) (O Prophet!) Let not the utterances of the opponents distress you. Indeed all honour is Allah's. He is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

(10:66) Verily whoever dwells in the heavens or the earth belongs to Allah. Those who invoke others beside Allah, associating them with Him in His divinity, only follow conjectures and are merely guessing.

(10:67) It is Allah alone Who has made the night that you may rest in it, and has made the day light-giving. Surely in that there are signs for those who give heed (to the call of the Messenger).⁶⁵

(10:68) They say: 'Allah has taken a son.⁶⁶ Glory be to Him.⁶⁷ He is self-sufficient! His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth.⁶⁸ Have you any authority to support (that Allah has taken a son)? Do you ascribe to Allah something of which you have no knowledge?

(10:69) Tell them (O Muhammad!): 'Indeed those who invent lies against Allah will never prosper.

(10:70) They may enjoy the life of this world, but in the end they must return to Us, and then We shall cause them to taste severe chastisement for their disbelieving.'

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Commentary

64. The purpose of the statement is to console the Prophet (peace be on him) and to warn his enemies. On the one hand, the Prophet (peace be on him) is being reassured that the resoluteness, diligence and perseverance which characterize his efforts in preaching the truth and attempting to reform people is well known to God. It can hardly be conceived that after entrusting to the Prophet (peace be on him) a perilous task that God would leave him alone, unassisted. God knows full well all what the Prophet (peace be on him) does, and is also well aware of how others behave towards him. At the same time what is being said also - constitutes a warning to the Prophet’s opponents. If they obstruct the efforts of the Messenger of the truth, of one engaged in reforming mankind out of sincerity and goodwill, there is no reason for them to assume that no one is observing their deeds, or that they will never be called to account. They ought to take heed for all their deeds are being duly recorded on the Divine Scroll.

65. What is being said here in a summary fashion requires some elaboration. The statement refers to philosophical inquiry which aims at discovering the reality underlying the physical phenomena of the universe. All those who do not look up to revelation in order to know what such reality is, have to fall back, willy-nilly, on philosophical inquiry. Whether a person ends up with atheism, polytheism or monotheism, he perforce has recourse to philosophical inquiry of some sort in order to arrive at some conclusion about reality. Likewise, the worth of the religious doctrines propounded by the Prophets can also be determined by resort to philosophical reflection after which a person is likely to arrive at some conclusion as to whether the reality to which the physical phenomena allude makes any sense or not. The soundness of the conclusion at which a person arrives totally depends, however, on the soundness of the method of philosophical inquiry that is adopted. If the method is sound, so would the conclusion be; and vice versa.

Let us now examine the methods that were adopted by different groups in this pursuit. Of these, the method used by the polytheists is based on superstition. As for the gnostic and ascetic hermits, even though they flaunt meditation as their characteristic method and claim their ability to penetrate the reality that lies beyond the phenomenal veil, their quest is based merely on conjecture. Likewise, what they claim to have observed is actually a product of their fancy. Swayed by it, they mistake their fancies for the truth.

Now, philosophers are guided in their quest for reality by speculation which, it would seem, is nothing less than conjecture. But realizing that their conjecture has no respectable ground upon which to stand, philosophers provide the crutches of logical reasoning and phony rationalism to support their quest, and give it the imposing title of philosophical inquiry.

Then we come across scientists. In their own field, they resort to scientific methods of inquiry, but as soon as they enter the realm of the metaphysical, they abandon this method and proceed with guesswork and conjecture.

The outlook of all these groups is impaired, afflicted with bias and prejudice of one sort or another. This makes them impervious to everything which is alien to them with the net result that they cling adamantly to their cherished ways.

The Qur’an brands this kind of intellectual quest as essentially fallacious. It tells such people that the real cause of their malady is guesswork and conjecture in their pursuit of reality, and that they do not heed the reasonable counsel of others because of their deep-seated prejudices. The result is not only are they incapable of independently grasping reality, but their prejudice renders them incapable of arriving at any sound judgement regarding it even when it is expounded by the Prophets.

In sharp contrast to these fallacious methods, the Qur’an lays down an altogether different method to guide men in their quest of reality. This requires, first of all, that one should heed with open ears and consider with open minds the statements of those who claim to be expounding their doctrine about reality not on the basis of speculation or conjecture, nor on the basis of meditation or intuitive conviction, but on the basis of ‘knowledge’. They should then proceed to consider the phenomena which form a part of man’s observation or experience of the universe (called ayat — signs — in the Qur’anic parlance); to systematize all that they come to know in this manner and to seriously reflect whether the phenomena seem to testify to the reality underlying the phenomena to which these people [i.e. the Prophets} have drawn. their attention. If one finds sufficient grounds to affirm the truths propounded by the Prophets, why on earth should anyone contradict such truths? In our view, this very method is the basis of the philosophy of Islam and it is regrettable that even Muslim philosophers abandoned it and set ‘out to follow in the footsteps of Plato and Aristotle.

Not only does the Qur’an urge people, over and over again, to follow this method, but by frequently drawing attention to the physical phenomena and then showing how right conclusions can be derived from them, it also seems to train them to follow this method. Were one to consider even the present verse by way of example one would encounter reference to a couple of physical phenomena — night and day. The alternation of day and night is the outcome of an absolutely precise and well-regulated movement of the earth around the sun.

This is an incontrovertible sign of the existence of an all-encompassing.

controller, of an all-powerful Lord Whose dominion embraces the whole universe. This alternation of day and night is also indicative of the infinite - wisdom and purposiveness of the Creator since a lot of creatures of the earth depend upon it. This alternation is also indicative of the Providence, Mercy and Lordship of the Creator since it is evident that He Who has created all beings on earth has also made arrangements to cater to all their requirements.

What this unmistakably proves is that the Creator is the One Who fully controls the entire universe and that far from being arbitrary and capricious, He is Wise. His actions also go to show that in view of His benevolence and providence He alone deserves to be served and worshipped. Also, this alternation of day and night clearly reveals that anything which is subject to the system of alternation of night and day is a servant and not the Lord. All this being the testimony of the natural phenomena, how can it ever be entertained that the religious doctrines developed by polytheists on the basis of their guesswork and conjecture have even a shred of legitimacy?

66. In the preceding verses, the polytheists were reproached for basing their religious doctrines on guesswork and conjecture, and then failing to examine, on scientific grounds, whether those doctrines were backed up by any supporting proof or not. In this verse, the Christians and followers of some other religions are being taken to task for another error — for their designating someone, again by resort to sheer conjecture, as God’s son.

67. This Arabic expression سبحان اللہ is used both in its literal sense and also by way of exclamation. As an exclamatory expression it emphasizes one’s utter amazement about God. In its literal sense, it signifies that God is free of every defect and flaw. The above verse in question employs both meanings.

For, apart from expressing amazement at the notion that God took someone as His son, it also stresses the perfection, the absolute flawlessness of God. Since God is perfect and flawless, how does it make any sense to say that He took someone as His son?

68. In refuting the notion that God took anyone as His son, three arguments are advanced: (I) God is free of all defects; (ii) God is All-Sufficient; and (iii) all that is in the heavens and in the earth belongs to Him.

A brief elucidation of these statements will enable one to appreciate the meaning and significance of what is being said here. To be a son can have only two meanings: either he has sprung from his father’s loins, that is, he is his father’s son in the true sense of the term, and thus of his father’s loins, or that he is not a son in the literal sense of the word but has merely been adopted as such.

Now, if someone is considered to be a son of God in its true, literal sense, that would obviously amount to considering God akin to a mortal. Like any other mortal, God is conceived to belong to one gender or the other, and to stand in need of a spouse, and of some sort of conjugal relationship to enable the birth of offspring, and thus to ensure the continuity of his progeny. Alternatively, God is believed to have adopted someone as His son. Such a statement could either mean that God is akin to that issueless human who resorts to adoption in order that the adopted son might inherit Him and thus secure Him against the loss that would ensue from his being issueless, or at least partially offset that loss.

The other possibility is that God also has certain emotional predilections and it is for this reason that He has fallen in love with one of His creatures to the extent of adopting him as His son. In each of the above-mentioned cases, the concept of God is marred by investing Him with several flaws, defects and weaknesses, and He is conceived as One lacking self-sufficiency, as One Who perforce must depend on others.

Hence, the opening part of the verse clearly proclaims God to be free of all defects, deficiencies and weaknesses which people ascribe to Him. This is followed by saying that God is All-Sufficient, that is, He is free of all those needs which impel an issueless mortal to adopt someone as his son. This is further followed by the assertion that all that is in the heavens and in the earth belongs to God and hence all human beings, without any exception, are His servants and bondsmen. This makes it clear that there is no personal relationship between God and any of His creatures that would prompt Him to choose any, to the exclusion of others, for elevation to the level of godhead. For sure, He holds certain people, on grounds of their merit, to be dearer than others. But God’s love for someone does not mean that he is lifted up from the rank of being God’s servant to becoming His associate and partner in godhead.

What God’s special love for some person means can be gauged from the _ following verse of the Qur'an: ‘Oh, surely the friends of Allah have nothing to fear, nor shall they grieve - the ones who believe and are God-fearing. For them are glad tidings in this world and in the Hereafter’ (see verses 62-4 above).