Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 27 An-Naml, Ayat 67-72

وَقَالَ الَّذِيۡنَ كَفَرُوۡۤا ءَاِذَا كُنَّا تُرٰبًا وَّاٰبَآؤُنَاۤ اَـئِنَّا لَمُخۡرَجُوۡنَ‏ ﴿27:67﴾ لَـقَدۡ وُعِدۡنَا هٰذَا نَحۡنُ وَاٰبَآؤُنَا مِنۡ قَبۡلُۙ اِنۡ هٰذَاۤ اِلَّاۤ اَسَاطِيۡرُ الۡاَوَّلِيۡنَ‏ ﴿27:68﴾ قُلۡ سِيۡرُوۡا فِى الۡاَرۡضِ فَانْظُرُوۡا كَيۡفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الۡمُجۡرِمِيۡنَ‏  ﴿27:69﴾ وَلَا تَحۡزَنۡ عَلَيۡهِمۡ وَلَا تَكُنۡ فِىۡ ضَيۡقٍ مِّمَّا يَمۡكُرُوۡنَ‏ ﴿27:70﴾ وَيَقُوۡلُوۡنَ مَتٰى هٰذَا الۡوَعۡدُ اِنۡ كُنۡتُمۡ صٰدِقِيۡنَ‏ ﴿27:71﴾ قُلۡ عَسٰٓى اَنۡ يَّكُوۡنَ رَدِفَ لَـكُمۡ بَعۡضُ الَّذِىۡ تَسۡتَعۡجِلُوۡنَ‏  ﴿27:72﴾

(27:67) The unbelievers say: "When we become dust, we and our forefathers, shall we really be brought out (from our graves)? (27:68) We were told about this and so were our forefathers before us. But these are no more than fairy tales that have been recounted from ancient times." (27:69) Say: "Go about through the earth and see what has been the end of the evil-doers."86 (27:70) (O Prophet), do not grieve over them, nor be distressed at their designs.87 (27:71) They also say: "Tell us when this threat will come to pass, if you are truthful."88 (27:72) Say: "The chastisement whose hastening you have been asking for, maybe a part of it has drawn quite near to you."89

Notes

86. This brief sentence contains two strong arguments for the Hereafter as well as admonition:

Firstly, those communities who rejected the Hereafter could not help becoming criminals: they lived irresponsibly; they committed cruelties and all kinds of sins; and ultimately their moral depravity led them to utter ruin. This continuous experience of human history which is testified by the doomed communities all over the world, clearly shows that belief and unbelief in the Hereafter has a deep relationship with the soundness or the unsoundness of human behavior. Belief in it generates sound behavior and denial of it unsound behavior. This is a clear proof of the fact that belief in it is in accordance with the reality; that is why belief helps life to follow the right path. And rejection of it is against the reality; that is why rejection leads life into crooked alleys.

Secondly, the destruction of those communities which became criminals, one after the other, in the long experience of history is a clear pointer to the fact that this universe is not being ruled by the deaf and blind and senseless forces, but this is a wise system which is functioning according to the unalterable law of retribution, which is dealing with the human communities only on moral grounds. In which no community is given long enough rope to commit whatever evil it likes and continue to enjoy life and commit injustices after it has once risen to power and prosperity. But when a wicked community happens to reach a certain stage, a mighty hand topples it from power and hurls it into the abyss of ignominy. Anyone who realizes this fact can have no doubt that the same law of retribution calls for the establishment of a new world after this world, where all individuals and nations and the whole mankind collectively should be rewarded and punished for their deeds. For the requirements of justice cannot be fulfilled only by the destruction of a wicked nation; this does not in any way redress the grievances of the oppressed people; this does not punish those who had enjoyed life and left the world before the coming down of the scourge; this does not also take to task those wicked people who went on leaving behind them legacies of immoralities and deviations for the coming generations. The torment that visited the nation only put a stop to the further tyrannies of its last generation. The court has not yet started working, to punish every wicked person for the evil done, to compensate every oppressed person for the losses incurred, and to reward all those who stood by the right against the onslaught of evil, endeavored to reform things and faced persecutions in this way throughout their lives. All this should necessarily happen at some time. For the continuous operation in the world of the law of retribution clearly points to the temperament and technique of the ruling government of the universe that it judges human deeds by moral standards and punishes and rewards them accordingly.

Besides these two arguments, the aspect of admonition in this verse is: “Learn lessons from the fate of the guilty people of the past, and do not persist in the foolish belief of the denial of the Hereafter, which, in fact, was responsible for making them criminals.”

87. That is, “You have done full justice to your mission of preaching. Now if they do not listen to you, and wish to persist in their folly and deserve the Divine torment, you should not consume yourself by being distressed and grieved at their condition. Then, why should you feel vexed at their mean machinations that they are devising in order to fight the truth and to frustrate your movement of return? You have Allah’s power at your back. If they do not listen to you, they will only be harming themselves, not you.”

88. The same threat which is implied in the preceding verse. What they meant was: “When will the scourge with which you threaten us overtake us? Why are we not being punished when we have not only rejected you but have also done whatever we could to frustrate your mission?”

89. This is a royal way of saying a thing. When words like “may be”, “perhaps”, “no wonder”, etc. occur in the Divine discourse, they do not contain any sense of doubt, but express Allah’s Independence and Self-Sufficiency. Allah’s power is so great that His willing a thing and its happening is one and the same thing. It is inconceivable that He should will a thing and it should not happen. Therefore, when He says, “No wonder it may well be so”, it means, “It will certainly be so if you do not mend your ways.”