10. Yunus Page 211 وَ اِذَاۤ And when اَذَقْنَا We let [the] mankind taste النَّاسَ We let [the] mankind taste رَحْمَةً mercy مِّنْۢ after بَعْدِ after ضَرَّآءَ adversity مَسَّتْهُمْ has touched them اِذَا behold لَهُمْ They have مَّكْرٌ a plot فِیْۤ against اٰیَاتِنَا ؕ Our Verses قُلِ Say اللّٰهُ Allah اَسْرَعُ (is) more swift مَكْرًا ؕ (in) planning اِنَّ Indeed رُسُلَنَا Our Messengers یَكْتُبُوْنَ write down مَا what تَمْكُرُوْنَ you plot هُوَ He الَّذِیْ (is) the One Who یُسَیِّرُكُمْ enables you to travel فِی in الْبَرِّ the land وَ الْبَحْرِ ؕ and the sea حَتّٰۤی until اِذَا when كُنْتُمْ you are فِی in الْفُلْكِ ۚ the ships وَ جَرَیْنَ and they sail بِهِمْ with them بِرِیْحٍ with a wind طَیِّبَةٍ good وَّ فَرِحُوْا and they rejoice بِهَا therein جَآءَتْهَا comes to it رِیْحٌ a wind عَاصِفٌ stormy وَّ جَآءَهُمُ and comes to them الْمَوْجُ the waves مِنْ from كُلِّ every مَكَانٍ place وَّ ظَنُّوْۤا and they assume اَنَّهُمْ that they اُحِیْطَ are surrounded بِهِمْ ۙ with them دَعَوُا They call اللّٰهَ Allah مُخْلِصِیْنَ sincerely لَهُ to Him الدِّیْنَ ۚ۬ (in) the religion لَىِٕنْ (saying) If اَنْجَیْتَنَا You save us مِنْ from هٰذِهٖ this لَنَكُوْنَنَّ surely we will be مِنَ among الشّٰكِرِیْنَ the thankful فَلَمَّاۤ But when اَنْجٰىهُمْ He saved them اِذَا behold هُمْ They یَبْغُوْنَ rebel فِی in الْاَرْضِ the earth بِغَیْرِ without الْحَقِّ ؕ [the] right یٰۤاَیُّهَا O mankind النَّاسُ O mankind اِنَّمَا Only بَغْیُكُمْ your rebellion عَلٰۤی (is) against اَنْفُسِكُمْ ۙ yourselves مَّتَاعَ (the) enjoyment الْحَیٰوةِ (of) the life الدُّنْیَا ؗ (of) the world ثُمَّ Then اِلَیْنَا to Us مَرْجِعُكُمْ (is) your return فَنُنَبِّئُكُمْ and We will inform you بِمَا of what كُنْتُمْ you used (to) تَعْمَلُوْنَ do اِنَّمَا Only مَثَلُ (the) example الْحَیٰوةِ (of) the life الدُّنْیَا (of) the world كَمَآءٍ (is) like (the) water اَنْزَلْنٰهُ which We sent down مِنَ from السَّمَآءِ the sky فَاخْتَلَطَ so absorbs بِهٖ [with] it نَبَاتُ (the) plants الْاَرْضِ (of) the earth مِمَّا from which یَاْكُلُ eat النَّاسُ the men وَ الْاَنْعَامُ ؕ and the cattle حَتّٰۤی until اِذَاۤ when اَخَذَتِ takes الْاَرْضُ the earth زُخْرُفَهَا its adornment وَ ازَّیَّنَتْ and is beautified وَ ظَنَّ and think اَهْلُهَاۤ its people اَنَّهُمْ that they قٰدِرُوْنَ have the power عَلَیْهَاۤ ۙ over it اَتٰىهَاۤ comes (to) it اَمْرُنَا Our command لَیْلًا (by) night اَوْ or نَهَارًا (by) day فَجَعَلْنٰهَا and We make it حَصِیْدًا a harvest clean-mown كَاَنْ as if لَّمْ not تَغْنَ it had flourished بِالْاَمْسِ ؕ yesterday كَذٰلِكَ Thus نُفَصِّلُ We explain الْاٰیٰتِ the Signs لِقَوْمٍ for a people یَّتَفَكَّرُوْنَ who reflect وَ اللّٰهُ And Allah یَدْعُوْۤا calls اِلٰی to دَارِ (the) Home السَّلٰمِ ؕ (of) the Peace وَ یَهْدِیْ and guides مَنْ whom یَّشَآءُ He wills اِلٰی to صِرَاطٍ (the) straight path مُّسْتَقِیْمٍ (the) straight path 10. Yunus Page 212 لِلَّذِیْنَ For those who اَحْسَنُوا do good الْحُسْنٰی (is) the best وَ زِیَادَةٌ ؕ and more وَ لَا And not یَرْهَقُ (will) cover وُجُوْهَهُمْ their faces قَتَرٌ dust وَّ لَا and not ذِلَّةٌ ؕ humiliation اُولٰٓىِٕكَ Those اَصْحٰبُ (are the) companions الْجَنَّةِ ۚ (of) Paradise هُمْ they فِیْهَا in it خٰلِدُوْنَ (will) abide forever وَ الَّذِیْنَ And those who كَسَبُوا earned السَّیِّاٰتِ the evil deeds جَزَآءُ (the) recompense سَیِّئَةٍۭ (of) an evil deed بِمِثْلِهَا ۙ (is) like it وَ تَرْهَقُهُمْ and (will) cover them ذِلَّةٌ ؕ humiliation مَا They will not have لَهُمْ They will not have مِّنَ from اللّٰهِ Allah مِنْ any عَاصمٍ ۚ defender كَاَنَّمَاۤ As if اُغْشِیَتْ had been covered وُجُوْهُهُمْ their faces قِطَعًا (with) pieces مِّنَ from الَّیْلِ the darkness (of) night مُظْلِمًا ؕ the darkness (of) night اُولٰٓىِٕكَ Those اَصْحٰبُ (are the) companions النَّارِ ۚ (of) the Fire هُمْ they فِیْهَا in it خٰلِدُوْنَ (will) abide forever وَ یَوْمَ And (the) Day نَحْشُرُهُمْ We will gather them جَمِیْعًا all together ثُمَّ then نَقُوْلُ We will say لِلَّذِیْنَ to those who اَشْرَكُوْا associate partners (with Allah) مَكَانَكُمْ (Remain in) your place اَنْتُمْ you وَ شُرَكَآؤُكُمْ ۚ and your partners فَزَیَّلْنَا Then We will separate بَیْنَهُمْ [between] them وَ قَالَ and (will) say شُرَكَآؤُهُمْ their partners مَّا Not كُنْتُمْ you used (to) اِیَّانَا worship us تَعْبُدُوْنَ worship us فَكَفٰی So sufficient بِاللّٰهِ (is) Allah شَهِیْدًۢا (as) a witness بَیْنَنَا between us وَ بَیْنَكُمْ and between you اِنْ that كُنَّا we were عَنْ of عِبَادَتِكُمْ your worship لَغٰفِلِیْنَ certainly unaware هُنَالِكَ There تَبْلُوْا will be put to trial كُلُّ every نَفْسٍ soul مَّاۤ (for) what اَسْلَفَتْ it did previously وَ رُدُّوْۤا and they will be returned اِلَی to اللّٰهِ Allah مَوْلٰىهُمُ their Lord الْحَقِّ the true وَ ضَلَّ and will be lost عَنْهُمْ from them مَّا what كَانُوْا they used (to) یَفْتَرُوْنَ۠ invent
(10:21) No sooner than We bestow mercy on a people after hardship has hit them than they begin to scheme against Our signs.29 Tell them: 'Allah is swifter in scheming. Our angels are recording all your intriguing.30
(10:22) He it is Who enables you to journey through the land and the sea. And so it happens that when you have boarded the ships and they set sail with a favourable wind, and the passengers rejoice at the pleasant voyage, then suddenly a fierce gale appears, and wave upon wave surges upon them from every side, and people believe that they are surrounded from all directions, and all of them cry out to Allah in full sincerity of faith: 'If You deliver us from this we shall surely be thankful.31
(10:23) But no sooner than He delivers them than they go about committing excesses on the earth, acting unjustly. Men ! The excesses you commit will be of harm only to yourselves, (Enjoy, if you will) the fleeting pleasure of this world; in me end you shall all return to Us, and then We shall tell you what you did.
(10:24) The example of the life of this world (which has enamoured you into becoming heedless to Our signs) is that of water that We sent down from the heaven which causes the vegetation of the earth, which sustains men and cattle, to grow luxuriantly. But when the earth took on its golden raiment and became well adorned and the owners believed that they had full control over their lands Our command came upon them by night or by day, and We convened it into a stubble, as though it had not blossomed yesterday. Thus do We expound the signs for a people who reflect.
(10:25) (You are being lured by this ephemeral world) although Allah calls you to the abode of peace32 and guides whomsoever He wills to a straightway.
(10:26) For those who do good there is good reward and more besides;33 neither gloom nor humiliation shall cover their faces. They are the people of the Garden and in it they shall abide.
(10:27) Those who do evil deeds, the recompense of an evil deed is its like,34 and humiliation shall spread over them and there will be none to protect them from Allah. Darkness will cover their faces as though they were veiled with the dark blackness of night.35 These are the people of the Fire and in it they shall abide.
(10:28) And the Day when We shall muster them all together, We shall say to those who associated others with Allah in His divinity: 'Keep to your places - you and those whom you associated with Allah.' Then We shall remove the veil of foreignness separating them.36 Those whom they had associated with Allah will say. 'It was not us that you worshipped.
(10:29) Allah's witness suffices between you and us that (even if you worshipped us) we were totally unaware of your worshipping us.37
(10:30) Thereupon everyone shall taste the recompense of his past deeds. All shall be sent back to Allah, their true Lord, and then all the falsehoods they had fabricated will have forsaken them.
29. This again alludes to the famine which was referred to earlier in verses 11-12 of the present surah. The unbelievers are virtually being told that it did not be hove them to ask for any miraculous sign. For, not long ago they had suffered from a famine during which they had abjured faith in those very deities whom they had earlier considered their intercessors with God. They had seen with their own eyes how their cherished deities had failed them. They had clearly seen the extent of the supernatural powers of those very deities at whose altars they made offerings and sacrifices in the firm belief that their prayers would be answered and their wishes realized. They had seen — and that too in the recent past — that none of those deities had any power; that all power in fact lay with God alone.
It was because of this experience that they had begun to address all their prayers to God alone. Was all this not enough of a sign to convince the unbelievers about the truth of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him)? And yet, despite clear signs, the unbelievers waxed arrogant. No sooner was the famine over and they were blessed with outpourings of rain which put an end to their misery than they reverted to their unbelief. They also sought to offer a wide variety of fanciful explanations about why the famine had hit them and why they were subsequently delivered from it. They resorted to all this in order that they might rationalize their adherence to polytheistic beliefs and practices and evade believing in the One True God. Quite obviously what good can any miraculous sign be to those who had corrupted. their conscience so thoroughly?
30. It needs to be clearly understood as to what is meant by attributing ‘scheming’ to God in the present verse. It simply means that if the unbelievers refuse to accept the truth and to alter their conduct accordingly, God will still grant them the respite to go about their rebellious ways. God will also lavish upon them the means of subsistence and other bounties as long as they live. All this will keep them in a state of intoxication. However, whatever they do during their state of intoxication will be imperceptibly recorded by the angels of God: All this will go on till the very last moments of their lives and then they will be seized by death and will be asked to render an account of their deeds.
31. This particular ‘sign’ which testifies to the truth of belief in the One True God is innate in human nature and hence can be witnessed by all.
However, as long as the means of self-indulgence are plentiful, man tends to forget God and exults in his worldly enjoyment. But as soon as the means which have led him to his worldly efflorescence are gone, even the most die-hard polytheists and atheists begin to appreciate this innate sign testifying that there indeed is a God Who has His firm grip over the universe, and that it is the One True God Alone Who is all-powerful and Who holds sway over all that exists. (For details see Towards Understanding the Quran’, vol. Il, al-An ‘am6, n. 29, pp. 231-3 — Ed.)
32. God calls man to the path which would ensure for him his entry into the. “Abode of Peace’ in the Hereafter. The expression Dar al-Salam which literally means the ‘Abode of Peace’, stands for Paradise, whose inhabitants shall be secure against every calamity, loss, sorrow or suffering.
33. Apart from rewarding human beings in proportion to the good deeds that they have done, God also confers upon them, out of His sheer grace and bounty, a reward which is far in excess of their good deeds.
34, The manner in which the evil ones will be treated is quite different from the way in which the righteous will be treated. As we have seen, the reward of the righteous will be far in excess of their good deeds. However, so far as the evil-doers are concerned, their punishment will be strictly in proportion to the evil they have committed, not even an -jota more than that. (For further elaboration see al-Nahl 16, n. 109a.)
35. This refers to the darkness and gloom that covers the faces of the criminals after they have been seized and after they have lost all hope of escaping God’s punishment.
36. The words of the Qur’anic text are. Some Qur’an commentators have interpreted these words to signify that God will sunder the relationship that has come to exist in the worldly life between false deities and their polytheistic devotees with the result that one will not show any solicitude to the other. But such an interpretation is not consistent with the Arabic literary usage. According to Arabic usage, the words suggest that God will cause the one to become distinct from the other. It is this sense which is reflected in our translation. We shall remove the veil of strangeness from among them’.
What is meant by this is that false deities and their devotees will confront each other, and it will become quite clear as to what distinguishes one group from the other. The polytheists will come to know those they considered to be their gods, and the false deities will also come to know those who had worshipped them.
37, This shows how the false gods will react to their worshippers. Angels who had been declared gods and goddesses and therefore, worshipped, the jinn, the spirits, the forefathers of yore, the Prophets, and the saints and martyrs who were considered to share with God some of His attributes, will all disavow their devotees. They will tell the latter in quite plain terms that they were not even aware that they were being worshipped; that even if they had been prayed to, called upon or cried out to, or had had offerings or sacrifices made in their name, or who had had reverence, adoration, prostration, rituals or ceremonies performed out of devotion for them, none of these had ever reached them.