36. After consoling and encouraging the believers, now they are being exhorted towards their real duty. In the preceding verse they were told: Being firm in the service to Allah and standing steadfast on this way after adopting it is by itself the basic good, which makes man a friend of the angels and worthy of Paradise. Now they are being told: The next thing which wins man the highest place of honor is that he should do good deeds himself and should invite others to the service of Allah, and even in the environment of severe antagonism where to proclaim Islam is tantamount to inviting hardships for oneself, one should firmly say that one is a Muslim. To understand the full significance of these words, one should keep in view the conditions in which they were said. The conditions were that anyone who proclaimed to be a Muslim would feel as if he had stepped into a jungle of beasts, where everyone was rushing at him to tear him into pieces. More than that, if anyone opened his mouth to preach Islam he would feel as if he had called on the beasts to come and devour him. Such were the conditions when it was said: A person’s believing in Allah as his Lord and adopting the right way and standing steadfast on it is indeed a great and fundamental good, but the greatest good is that man should boldly say that he is a Muslim and should invite others towards Allah’s service, fearless of the consequences, and while performing this duty should remain so pure and pious in conduct and character that no one should have a cause to find fault with Islam and with those who uphold it.

37. To understand the full significance of these words, one should keep in view the conditions in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) and, through him, his followers were given this instruction. The conditions were that the invitation to the truth was being resisted and opposed with extreme stubbornness and severe antagonism, in which all bounds of morality, humanity and decency were being transgressed. Every sort of lie was being uttered against the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions. Every kind of evil device was being employed to defame him and to create suspicions against him in the minds of the people. Every kind of accusation was being leveled against him and a host of the propagandists were busy creating doubts against him in the hearts. In short, he and his companions were being persecuted in every possible way because of which a substantial number of the Muslims had been compelled to emigrate from the country. Then the program that had been prepared to stop him from preaching was that a hand of the mischievous people was set behind him, who would raise such a hue and cry that no one should be able to hear anything as soon as he opened his mouth to preach his message. In such discouraging conditions when apparently every way of extending invitation to Islam seemed to be blocked, the Prophet (peace be upon him) was taught this recipe for breaking the opposition.

First, it was said that goodness and evil are not equal, as if to say: Although apparently your opponents might have raised a dreadful storm of mischief and evil, as against which goodness might seem absolutely helpless and powerless, yet evil in itself has a weakness which ultimately causes its own destruction. For as long as man is man, his nature cannot help hating evil. Not only the companions of evil, even its own upholders know in their hearts that they are liars and wicked people and are being stubborn for selfish motives. Not to speak of creating dignity and honor for them in the hearts of others. It lowers them in their own esteem, and causes their morale to be weakened and destroyed in the event of every conflict. As against this evil, the good which appears to be utterly helpless and powerless, goes on operating and working and it becomes dominant in the long run. For, in the first place, the good has a power of its own which wins the hearts and no man, however perverted and corrupted, can help esteeming it in his own heart. Then, when the good and evil are engaged in a face to face conflict and their nature and merits become apparent and known, after a long drawn out struggle, not many people would be left, who would not start hating the evil and admiring the good.

Second, it was said that evil should be resisted not by the mere good but by a superior good, as if to say: If a person treats you unjustly and you forgive him, it is the mere good. The superior good is that you treat the one who ill-treats you which kindness and love.

The result would be that your worst enemy would become your closest friend, for that is human nature itself. If you remain quiet in response to an abuse, it will be mere goodness but it will not silence the abuser. But if you express good wishes for him in response to his abuses, even the most shameless opponent will feel ashamed, and then would hardly ever be able to employ invectives against you. If a person doesn’t miss any opportunity to harm you, and you go on tolerating his excesses, it may well make him even bolder in his mischief. But if on an occasion he gets into trouble and you come to his rescue, he will fall down at your feet, for no mischief can hold out against goodness. However, it would be wrong to take this general principle in the meaning that every enemy will necessarily become a close friend when you have treated him with the superior good. There are such wicked people also in the world, whose inimical nature will never change for the better no matter how tolerantly you may overlook their excesses and how benevolently you may react and respond to every evil committed by them. But such devil-incarnates are as few in the world as the embodiments of goodness are.

38. Although a very efficacious recipe, it is not easy to use. It requires a great will power, resolution, courage, power of endurance and full control over one’s own self. A man may act benevolently in response to an evil done, on an impulse, and there is nothing extraordinary in it. But when a person has to fight for years and years, for the sake of the truth, those mischievous worshipers of falsehood, who do not feel any hesitation in violating any bond of morality, and are also intoxicated with power, it requires extraordinary grit to go on resisting the evil with good, and that too with the superior good, without ever showing any lack of restraint and self-control. Such a work can be accomplished only by him who has resolved with a cool mind to work for the cause of upholding the truth, who has subdued his self to intellect and sense and in whom good and righteousness have taken such deep roots that no malice and mischief of the opponents can succeed in deposing him from his high position.

39. This is a law of nature. Only a man of very high rank is characterized by these qualities; and the one who possesses these qualities cannot be prevented by any power of the world from attaining to his goal of success. It is in no way possible that the depraved people may defeat him with their mean machinations and shameless devices.

40. Satan feels grieved when he sees that in the conflict between the truth and falsehood, meanness is being resisted with nobility and evil with goodness. He wants that he should somehow incite the fighters for the sake of the truth and their prominent men in particular, and especially their leaders, to commit such a mistake, even if once, on the basis of which he may tell the common people that evil is not being committed by one side only. If mean acts are being committed by one side, the people of the other side also are not morally any better, they too have committed such and such a shameless act. The common people do not have the capability that they may assess and counterbalance fairly the excesses being committed by one party by the reactions of the other. As long as they see that while the opponents are adopting every mean act yet these people do not swerve at all from the path of decency and nobility, goodness and righteousness, they continue to regard and esteem them highly. But if at some time they happen to commit an unworthy act, even if it is in retaliation against a grave injustice, both the sides become equal in their esteem, and the opponents also get an excuse to counter one blamable act with a thousand abuses. That is why it has been said: Be on your guard against the deceptions of Satan. He will incite you as a well wisher to take note of every abuse and every insult and attack and urge you to pay the opponent in the same coin, otherwise you would be regarded as a coward and weaken your image of strength. On every such occasion whenever you feel any undue provocation, you should take care that this is an incitement of Satan who is arousing you to anger and wants you to commit a mistake. And after having been warned, do not be involved in the misunderstanding that you have full control over yourself, and Satan cannot make you commit any mistake. This high opinion of one’s own power of judgment and will is another and more dangerous deception of Satan. Instead of it you should seek Allah’s refuge, for man can save himself from mistakes only if Allah helps and grants him protection.

The best commentary of this subject is the event which Imam Ahmad has related in his Musnad on the authority of Abu Hurairah. He says that once a man started uttering invectives against Abu Bakr in the presence of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Abu Bakr kept on hearing the invectives quietly and the Prophet (peace be upon him) kept on smiling at it. At last, when Abu Bakr could restrain himself no longer, he also uttered a harsh word for the person in response. No sooner did he utter the word, the Prophet (peace be upon him) was seized by restraint, which appeared on his face, and he rose and left the place immediately. Abu Bakr also rose and went behind him. On the way he asked: How is it that as long as the person went on abusing me, you kept quiet and smiling, but when I also said a word in retaliation, you were annoyed. The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied: As long as you were quiet, an angel remained with you who went on replying to him on your behalf, but when you spoke out, Satan came in place of the angel. I could not sit with Satan.

41. After seeking Allah’s refuge against the storm of opposition, the thing that brings patience and peace and tranquility to the heart of the believer is this conviction, Allah is not unaware. He knows whatever we are doing as well as that which is being done against us. He is hearing whatever we and our opponents utter and watches the conduct of both of us. On the basis of this very conviction, the believer entrusts his own and the opponents of the truth’s affair to Allah and remains satisfied.

This is the fifth place where the Prophet and, through him, the believers have been taught this wisdom of preaching and reforming the people. For the other four places, see (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayats 199-204), (Surah An-Nahl, Ayats 125- 128), (Surah Al-Muminun, Ayats 96-98), (Surah Al-Ankabut, Ayats 46-47) and the E.Ns.

42. Now the discourse turns to the common people and they are made to understand the truth in a few sentences.

43 That is, they are not the objects of divine power that you may start worshiping them, thinking that Allah is manifesting Himself in their form, but they are the signs of Allah by pondering over which you can understand the reality of the universe and its system, and can know that the doctrine of the Oneness of God which the Prophets are teaching is the actual reality. The mention of the night and day before the sun and moon has been made to give the warning that the hiding of the sun and appearing of the moon at night, and the hiding of the moon and appearing of the sun in the day clearly point to the fact that neither of them is God or object of divine power, but both are helpless and powerless objects, and are moving subject to the law of God.

44. This is an answer to the philosophy that the intelligent among the polytheists generally used to propound to prove that polytheism was rational. They said that they did not bow to these objects but bowed to God through them. An answer to this has been given, so as to say: If you really are Allah’s worshipers, there is no need of these intermediaries: why don’t you bow down to Him directly?

45. If they are arrogant: If they think it is below their dignity for them to listen to you, and still persist in the ignorance in which they are involved.

46. It means this: The system of this whole universe, whose agents are the angels, is running on the basis of Allah’s Oneness and His servitude. The angels who are its agents are testifying every moment that their Lord is pure and exalted far above that another should be His associate in His Divinity and worship. Now, if a few foolish persons do not believe even after admonition, and turn away from the way that is being followed by the whole universe and persist in following the way of shirk only, let them remain involved in their folly.

The consensus is that it is obligatory to perform sajdah (prostration) here, but the jurists differ as to which of the two preceding verses requires the performance of sajdah. Ali and Abdullah bin Masud performed the sajdah at the end of (verse 37), while Ibn Abbas, Ibn Umar, Said bin Musayyab, Masruq, Qatadah, Hasan Basri, Abu Abdur Rahman as-Sulami, Ibn Sirin, Ibrahim Nakhai and several other prominent jurists have expressed the opinion that it should be performed at the end of verse 38. The same also is the opinion of Imam Abu Hanifah, and the Shafeites also have held the same view as preferable.

47. For explanation, see (Surah An-Nahl, Ayat 65); (Surah Al-Hijr, Ayats 5-7); (Surah Ar-Room, Ayat 19) and (E.N. 19 of Surah Al-Fatir).

48. After telling the common people in a few sentences that the doctrine of Tauhid and the Hereafter to which Muhammad (peace be upon him) is inviting them, is rational and the signs of the universe testify to its being right and true, the discourse again turns to the opponents who were determined to oppose it stubbornly.

49. The word yulhidun in the original is derived from ilhad which means to deviate, to turn away from the right to the wrong path, to adopt crookedness. Thus, ilhad in the revelations of Allah would mean that instead of understanding them in their clear and straightforward meaning one should misconstrue them and go astray and also lead others astray. One of the devices being adopted by the disbelievers of Makkah to defeat the message of the Quran was that they would hear the verses of the Quran and then would isolate one verse from its context, tamper with another, misconstrue a word or a sentence and thus raise every sort of objection and would mislead the people, saying that the Prophet (peace be upon him) had said such and such a thing that day.

50. These words imply a severe threat. The All-Powerful Ruler’s saying that the acts of such and such a person are not hidden from Him by itself contains the meaning that he cannot escape their consequences.

51. A mighty Book: An unchanging Book, which cannot be defeated by tricks and cunning devices, which the worshipers of falsehood are employing against it. It has the force of the truth in it, the force of true knowledge, the force of argument and reason, the force of eloquence and style, the force of divinity of God who sent it, and the force of the personality of the Messenger who presented it. No one, therefore, can defeat it by falsehood and hollow propaganda.

52 “Falsehood . . . . from before it” means that none can succeed in proving anything wrong or any teaching false in the Quran by making a frontal attack on it; “nor from behind it” means that nothing can be discovered till Resurrection which may be opposed to the truths and realities presented by the Quran; no new science, if it is really a science, can be propounded, which may contradict the knowledge contained in the Quran; no new experiment or observation can be made to prove that the guidance given to man by the Quran in respect of the beliefs, morality, law, civilization or culture, and economic, social and political life is wrong. That which this Book has declared as the truth can never be proven to be falsehood and that which it has declared as falsehood can never be proven to be the truth. Furthermore, it also means that whether falsehood makes a frontal attack, or makes a surprise attack by deception, it cannot defeat the message which the Quran has brought. In spite of all sorts of open and secret machinations of the opponents the message will spread and none shall be able to defeat and frustrate it.

53. That is, it is all due to His clemency and forgiveness that although His Messengers were opposed, abused and persecuted yet He went on giving respite to their opponents for years and years on end.

54. This is the kind of the stubbornness that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was confronting. The disbelievers said: Muhammad (peace be upon him) is an Arab. Arabic is his mother tongue. How can one believe that the Arabic Quran that he presents has not been forged by himself but has been revealed to him by God? The Quran could be believed to be the revelation of God if he had started speaking fluently in a foreign language unknown to him, like Persian, Latin, or Greek. This argument of theirs has been refuted by Allah, saying: Now when the Quran has been sent down in their own tongue so that they may understand it, they raise the objection: Why has it been sent down to an Arab in Arabic? But if it had been sent down in a foreign tongue, these very people would have said: How strange! An Arab Messenger has been sent to the Arabs, but the revelations being sent to him are in a tongue which is neither understood by him nor by his people.

55. When a person is summoned from afar, he hears a voice but does not understand what is being said to him. This is a wonderful simile which fully depicts the psychology of the stubborn opponents. Naturally when you talk to a person who is free from prejudice, he will listen to you, will try to understand what you say, will accept it if it is reasonable, with an open mind. On the contrary, the person who is not only prejudiced against you but is also malicious and spiteful, will not at all listen to you however hard you may try to make him understand your viewpoint. In spite of hearing you all the time he will not understand at all what you had been saying.