Surah 29. Al-'Ankabut

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Verses [Section]: 1-13[1], 14-22 [2], 23-30 [3], 31-44 [4], 45-51 [5], 52-63 [6], 64-69 [7]

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Quran Text of Verse 23-30وَ الَّذِیْنَAnd those whoكَفَرُوْاdisbelieveبِاٰیٰتِin (the) Signsاللّٰهِ(of) Allahوَ لِقَآىِٕهٖۤand (the) meeting (with) Himاُولٰٓىِٕكَthoseیَىِٕسُوْا(have) despairedمِنْofرَّحْمَتِیْMy Mercyوَ اُولٰٓىِٕكَAnd thoseلَهُمْfor themعَذَابٌ(is) a punishmentاَلِیْمٌ painful 29. Al-'Ankabut Page 399فَمَاAnd notكَانَwasجَوَابَ(the) answerقَوْمِهٖۤ(of) his peopleاِلَّاۤexceptاَنْthatقَالُواthey saidاقْتُلُوْهُKill himاَوْorحَرِّقُوْهُburn himفَاَنْجٰىهُBut Allah saved himاللّٰهُBut Allah saved himمِنَfromالنَّارِ ؕthe fireاِنَّIndeedفِیْinذٰلِكَthatلَاٰیٰتٍsurely (are) Signsلِّقَوْمٍfor a peopleیُّؤْمِنُوْنَ who believe وَ قَالَAnd he saidاِنَّمَاOnlyاتَّخَذْتُمْyou have takenمِّنْbesidesدُوْنِbesidesاللّٰهِAllahاَوْثَانًا ۙidolsمَّوَدَّةَ(out of) loveبَیْنِكُمْamong youفِیinالْحَیٰوةِthe lifeالدُّنْیَا ۚ(of) the worldثُمَّThenیَوْمَ(on the) Dayالْقِیٰمَةِ(of) the Resurrectionیَكْفُرُyou will denyبَعْضُكُمْone anotherبِبَعْضٍone anotherوَّ یَلْعَنُand curseبَعْضُكُمْone anotherبَعْضًا ؗone anotherوَّ مَاْوٰىكُمُand your abodeالنَّارُ(will be) the Fireوَ مَاand notلَكُمْfor youمِّنْanyنّٰصِرِیْنَۗۙhelpers فَاٰمَنَAnd believedلَهٗ[in] himلُوْطٌ ۘLutوَ قَالَand he saidاِنِّیْIndeed I (am)مُهَاجِرٌemigratingاِلٰیtoرَبِّیْ ؕmy LordاِنَّهٗIndeed Heهُوَ[He] (is)الْعَزِیْزُthe All-Mightyالْحَكِیْمُ the All-Wise وَ وَهَبْنَاAnd We grantedلَهٗۤto himاِسْحٰقَIshaqوَ یَعْقُوْبَand Yaqubوَ جَعَلْنَاand We placedفِیْinذُرِّیَّتِهِhis offspringsالنُّبُوَّةَthe Prophethoodوَ الْكِتٰبَand the Bookوَ اٰتَیْنٰهُAnd We gave himاَجْرَهٗhis rewardفِیinالدُّنْیَا ۚthe worldوَ اِنَّهٗAnd indeed heفِیinالْاٰخِرَةِthe Hereafterلَمِنَ(is) surely amongالصّٰلِحِیْنَ the righteous وَ لُوْطًاAnd Lutاِذْwhenقَالَhe saidلِقَوْمِهٖۤto his peopleاِنَّكُمْIndeed youلَتَاْتُوْنَcommitالْفَاحِشَةَ ؗthe immoralityمَاnotسَبَقَكُمْhas preceded youبِهَاwith itمِنْanyاَحَدٍoneمِّنَfromالْعٰلَمِیْنَ the worlds اَىِٕنَّكُمْIndeed youلَتَاْتُوْنَapproachالرِّجَالَthe menوَ تَقْطَعُوْنَand you cut offالسَّبِیْلَ ۙ۬the roadوَ تَاْتُوْنَand commitفِیْinنَادِیْكُمُyour meetingsالْمُنْكَرَ ؕevilفَمَاAnd notكَانَwasجَوَابَ(the) answerقَوْمِهٖۤ(of) his peopleاِلَّاۤexceptاَنْthatقَالُواthey saidائْتِنَاBring upon usبِعَذَابِ(the) punishmentاللّٰهِ(of) Allahاِنْifكُنْتَyou areمِنَofالصّٰدِقِیْنَ the truthful قَالَHe saidرَبِّMy Lord!انْصُرْنِیْHelp meعَلَیagainstالْقَوْمِthe peopleالْمُفْسِدِیْنَ۠the corrupters

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Translation of Verse 23-30

(29:23) Those who disbelieved in Allah's signs and in meeting Him, it is they who have despaired of My Mercy;³⁶ it is they for whom a painful chastisement lies ahead.

(29:24) The people³⁷ (of Abraham) had no other answer than to say: “Kill him or burn him.”³⁸ But Allah delivered him from the fire.³⁹ There are many Signs in this for those who believe.⁴⁰

(29:25) He said:⁴¹ “You have taken up idols instead of Allah as a bond of love among yourselves⁴² in the present life, but on the Day of Resurrection you will disown and curse one another.⁴³ Your refuge shall be the Fire, and none will come to your aid.”

(29:26) Then did Lot believe him,⁴⁴ and Abraham said: “I am emigrating unto my Lord.⁴⁵ He is All-Powerful, All-Wise,”⁴⁶

(29:27) and We bestowed upon him (offspring like) Isaac and Jacob,⁴⁷ and bestowed prophethood and the Book⁴⁸ on his descendants and granted him his reward in this world; he will certainly be among the righteous⁴⁹ in the Hereafter.

(29:28) We sent Lot⁵⁰ and he said to his people: “You commit the abomination that none in the world ever committed before you.

(29:29) What! Do you go to men⁵¹ (to satisfy your lust), engage in highway robbery, and commit evil deeds in your gatherings?”⁵² Then they had no answer to offer other than to say: “Bring Allah's chastisement upon us if you are truthful.”

(29:30) Lot said: “My Lord, aid me against these mischievous people.”

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Commentary

36. This means that obdurate unbelievers will have no portion of God’s mercy; in fact, they have no reason to entertain any such expectation. The fact is that the unbelievers deny the Hereafter. They do not even recognize that a Day will come when they will have to stand before God for His judgement. This clearly means that, to start with, they do not even look.

forward to receiving any reward in the Next Life and that they entertain no expectation of God’s forgiveness and mercy. However, on the Day of Judgement when they will be brought back to life - which is, in any case, altogether contrary to their expectations — they will have no opportunity to receive any portion of God’s mercy. Moreover, when they open their eyes in the Hereafter, they will come face to face with the Divine Signs which they had rejected in this world as utterly false and which they will then come to know were true. There will, therefore, be no reason for them to look forward to God’s mercy.

37. This marks the resumption of the Prophet Abrahams story.

38. The Prophet Abraham's people had no reasonable response to his weighty arguments. Their only answer was: “Kill him or burn him.” They said this because they were not ready to listen to the person who spoke the truth, who pointed out their errors, and asked them to distance themselves from them. It is clear from their response that they were all united about putting the Prophet Abraham (peace be on him) to death.

They differed only as regards the mode of killing. Some suggested that he be murdered while others preferred that he be burned alive. In the end, the latter option was chosen in an attempt to make an example of Abraham that would deter others from championing the Truth with such zeal and single-mindedness.

39. The wording of the verse implies that they finally decided to burn.

the Prophet Abraham (peace be on him) alive and that he was so hurled into a fire. The Qur’an, however, confines itself to stating that he was rescued. Elsewhere, the Qur’an clarifies that by God’s command the fire became cool and safe for Abraham: “We said: ‘O fire, become coolness and safety for Abraham’,” (al-Anbiya’ 21:69). Had Abraham not actually been thrown into the fire, this command would be meaningless.

The truth that emerges from this incident is that all things owe their properties to God’s command. He may alter the property of a thing as and when He wills. In the normal course of things, fire’s property is to burn and when a combustible object is cast into it, it is reduced to ashes.

This property to burn is part of a system that God has instituted. This fact does not, however, prevent God from ever issuing ’a command in violation of the normal pattern that He has devised. Being the Lord of fire, as of everything else, He can command fire to cease burning. It is within His power to transform an inferno into a blooming garden. True, such things are out of the ordinary and are a deviation from the normal order of things and happen only rarely. Moreover, when they do take place they do so for some overriding reason. Nevertheless, there is no basis to believe that God’s power is circumscribed by the bounds of normal occurrences or to think that nothing beyond the ordinary can ever take place by God’s command.

40. There are Signs for the believers in the Prophet Abraham's example. Rather than cling to the false religion of his family, his people _ and his country, Abraham (peace be on him) opted to follow the Truth as soon as it dawned upon him that polytheism was nothing but falsehood whereas monotheism was the quintessence of Truth. Once Abraham (peace be on him) realized this, he ceaselessly preached that people should’ give up polytheism and embrace monotheism, He did so in utter disregard of the obduracy and bigotry of his people. So deep was his devotion to monotheism that he refused to relinquish it even when hurled into a blazing fire. There are also God’s Signs in the fact that He made His Prophets, including Abraham (peace be on him), undergo certain tests so as to establish their mettle. There is also God’s Sign in the fact that after Abraham had successfully passed through the tests to which God had.

subjected him, He assisted Abraham so gloriously that the cauldron of fire into which he had been hurled was miraculously made cool.

41. It appears from the context that the Prophet Abraham (peace be on him) would have addressed his people in these words only after he was miraculously saved from the fire.

42. The nucleus of their collective life was devotion to idols rather than to God. The fact is that even devotion to idols can provide a workable basis for bringing about worldly cohesion among a people: This because people can be brought together by any cause, gathering around both true and false beliefs as they do. Moreover, any kind of cohesion and unity, even if it is founded on a false proposition, can serve as a means to foster and sustain friendships, family ties and vocational bonds, as also provide a basis for religious, social, cultural, economic and political fellowship.

43. The unbelievers are told that their social structure, based as it is on a false proposition, will not endure in the Hereafter. The only bonds that will endure — bonds of friendship, cooperation, kinship, and reverential discipleship will be those based on servitude to the One True God and on righteous conduct and piety. In the Next World, bonds rooted in unbelief, polytheism, misguidance and waywardness will cease to be; in fact, friendships in this world will turn into enmity. All those who are bound in devotion to those. they revere will become enemies to one another. Father and son, husband and wife, and teacher and disciple will curse each other. Each of them will blame the other for his error and demand that the latter be given double the punishment for having misguided him. The Qur’an states this at several places. The following are illustrative: On that Day even bosom friends shall become enemies to one another, all except the God-fearing. (al-Zukhruf 43:67) As a nation enters Hell, it will curse the one that went before it, and when all are gathered there, the last of them shall say of the first: “Our Lord! These are the ones who led us astray. Let their torment be doubled in Hell-Fire.” (al-A ‘raf 7:38) They will say: “Our Lord, we obeyed our chiefs and our great ones, and they turned us away from the Right Way. Our Lord, mete out to them a double chastisement and lay upon them a mighty curse.” (al-Ahzab 33:67-68)

44. The sequence of the discourse indicates that the Prophet Abraham (peace be on him) made these remarks after he was miraculously delivered from the fire. Among those present, however, Lot was the only one to come forward and declare his belief in Abraham (peace be on him) and pledge to follow him. Presumably, many others, too, were persuaded to believe in the truth of Abraham’s message. However, the hostility that the whole nation as well as the state generally displayed towards Abraham’s teaching was ferocious. Thanks to that, nv one other than Lot, the Prophet Abraham's nephew, could muster the courage to follow his way, which seemed beset with risks. It was Lot’s unique privilege that he publicly accepted his uncle Abraham’s message and later accompanied his uncle and aunt, Sarah, when they migrated for God’s cause.

We should stop here for a moment to dispel one misperception whereby some people are bound to ask: did Lot indulge in unbelief and polytheism before witnessing the Prophet Abrahams rescue from the fire? Did he embrace faith only after this miraculous incident? If this were the case, can anyone who once committed polytheism be designated to the august office of Prophet hood? The Qur’an only says the following about Lot: “Then did Not believe him.” These words do not necessarily mean that before this miraculous event Lot disbelieved in God or associated others with God in His Divinity. What is stated here is simply that after Abraham’s rescue from the fire Lot testified to the truth of his mission and pledged to follow him. It is also likely that he was then only a youth who, for the first time, came to know about his uncle’s mission and his exalted status as God’s Messenger.

45. Abraham migrated for the sake of his Lord and expressed his readiness to go wherever God wanted him to.

46. Abraham reiterated his conviction that God, being All-Powerful and All-Wise, will protect him in the best possible manner and, in His infinite wisdom, will choose for him the land to which he should migrate.

47. The Prophets Isaac and Jacob (peace be on them) were respectively Abraham's son and grandson. His other sons are not mentioned here because only the Prophet Shu ‘ayb (peace be on him) was raised as God’s Messenger among the Midianite branch of Abraham’s descendants. As for the Ishmaelite branch, no Messenger was raised among them for another 2,500 years until the advent of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him). In contrast, Isaac’s descendants continued to be favored with Messengers and Scriptures until the advent of the Prophet Jesus (peace be on him).

48. This includes all Prophets raised among the various branches of the Prophet Abraham’s descendants.

49. The purpose of the statement is to stress that the rulers, the clergy and the polytheists of Babylon, who sought to degrade the Prophet Abraham’s call and blindly followed the wrong-doers in opposing it, had all disappeared, and no trace of them could be found. However, the Prophet Abraham (peace be on him) whom they had tried to burn alive for his “crime” of upholding God’s Word, and who was also forced into exile in a state of utter helplessness, was immensely exalted by God. This is borne out by the fact that for the last four thousand years he has remained a highly renowned figure in world history, a position he will enjoy till the end of time. All Jews, Christians and Muslims unanimously regard him as their patriarch and religious guide. His message has been instrumental in providing direction to mankind for the last four thousand years. Besides the invaluable rewards that will be his in the Hereafter, Abraham's renown in this world too is unrivalled, being quite incomparable to those who hanker after material gain and fame.

50. Cf. al-A ‘raf 7:80-84; Hud 11:69-83; al-Hijr 15:57-79; al-Anbiya’ 21:71-75; al-Shu ‘ara’ 26:160-175; al-Naml 27:54-58; al-Saffat 37:133-138, and al-Qamar 54:33-40.

51.. They made males a means for the gratification of their sexual desires. This point is also made elsewhere in the Qur’an as follows: “You approach men lustfully in place of women”, (al-A ‘raf 7:81).

52. Not only did they commit shameful acts, they did so publicly. The same reproach against them features in another verse, whereby: “We sent Lot, and recall when he told his people: ‘Do you commit shameless acts with your eyes open?” (al-Naml 27:54).