وَ اِنْ And if كَذَّبُوْكَ they deny you فَقُلْ then say لِّیْ For me عَمَلِیْ (are) my deeds وَ لَكُمْ and for you عَمَلُكُمْ ۚ (are) your deeds اَنْتُمْ You بَرِیْٓـُٔوْنَ (are) disassociated مِمَّاۤ from what اَعْمَلُ I do وَ اَنَا and I am بَرِیْٓءٌ disassociated مِّمَّا from what تَعْمَلُوْنَ you do وَ مِنْهُمْ And among them مَّنْ (are some) who یَّسْتَمِعُوْنَ listen اِلَیْكَ ؕ to you اَفَاَنْتَ But (can) you تُسْمِعُ cause the deaf to hear الصُّمَّ cause the deaf to hear وَ لَوْ even though كَانُوْا they [were] لَا (do) not یَعْقِلُوْنَ use reason 10. Yunus Page 214 وَ مِنْهُمْ And among them مَّنْ (are some) who یَّنْظُرُ look اِلَیْكَ ؕ at you اَفَاَنْتَ But (can) you تَهْدِی guide الْعُمْیَ the blind وَ لَوْ even though كَانُوْا they [were] لَا (do) not یُبْصِرُوْنَ see اِنَّ Indeed اللّٰهَ Allah لَا (does) not یَظْلِمُ wrong النَّاسَ the people شَیْـًٔا (in) anything وَّ لٰكِنَّ but النَّاسَ the people اَنْفُسَهُمْ wrong themselves یَظْلِمُوْنَ wrong themselves وَ یَوْمَ And the Day یَحْشُرُهُمْ He will gather them كَاَنْ as if لَّمْ they had not remained یَلْبَثُوْۤا they had not remained اِلَّا except سَاعَةً an hour مِّنَ of النَّهَارِ the day یَتَعَارَفُوْنَ they will recognize each other بَیْنَهُمْ ؕ between them قَدْ Certainly خَسِرَ (will have) lost الَّذِیْنَ those who كَذَّبُوْا denied بِلِقَآءِ the meeting اللّٰهِ (with) Allah وَ مَا and not كَانُوْا they were مُهْتَدِیْنَ the guided ones وَ اِمَّا And whether نُرِیَنَّكَ We show you بَعْضَ some الَّذِیْ (of) that which نَعِدُهُمْ We promised them اَوْ or نَتَوَفَّیَنَّكَ We cause you to die فَاِلَیْنَا then to Us مَرْجِعُهُمْ (is) their return ثُمَّ then اللّٰهُ Allah شَهِیْدٌ (is) a Witness عَلٰی over مَا what یَفْعَلُوْنَ they do وَ لِكُلِّ And for every اُمَّةٍ nation رَّسُوْلٌ ۚ (is) a Messenger فَاِذَا So when جَآءَ comes رَسُوْلُهُمْ their Messenger قُضِیَ it will be judged بَیْنَهُمْ between them بِالْقِسْطِ in justice وَ هُمْ and they لَا (will) not یُظْلَمُوْنَ be wronged وَ یَقُوْلُوْنَ And they say مَتٰی When هٰذَا (will) this الْوَعْدُ the promise (be fulfilled) اِنْ if كُنْتُمْ you are صٰدِقِیْنَ truthful قُلْ Say لَّاۤ Not اَمْلِكُ I have power لِنَفْسِیْ for myself ضَرًّا (for) any harm وَّ لَا and not نَفْعًا (for) any profit اِلَّا except مَا what شَآءَ Allah wills اللّٰهُ ؕ Allah wills لِكُلِّ For every اُمَّةٍ nation اَجَلٌ ؕ (is) a term اِذَا When جَآءَ comes اَجَلُهُمْ their term فَلَا then not یَسْتَاْخِرُوْنَ they remain behind سَاعَةً an hour وَّ لَا and not یَسْتَقْدِمُوْنَ they can precede (it) قُلْ Say اَرَءَیْتُمْ Do you see اِنْ if اَتٰىكُمْ comes to you عَذَابُهٗ His punishment بَیَاتًا (by) night اَوْ or نَهَارًا (by) day مَّا ذَا what (portion) یَسْتَعْجِلُ of it would (wish to) hasten مِنْهُ of it would (wish to) hasten الْمُجْرِمُوْنَ the criminals اَثُمَّ Is (it) then اِذَا when مَا when وَقَعَ (it had) occurred اٰمَنْتُمْ you (will) believe بِهٖ ؕ in it آٰلْـٰٔنَ Now وَ قَدْ And certainly كُنْتُمْ you were بِهٖ seeking to hasten it تَسْتَعْجِلُوْنَ seeking to hasten it ثُمَّ Then قِیْلَ it will be said لِلَّذِیْنَ to those who ظَلَمُوْا wronged ذُوْقُوْا Taste عَذَابَ punishment الْخُلْدِ ۚ the everlasting هَلْ Are you (being) recompensed تُجْزَوْنَ Are you (being) recompensed اِلَّا except بِمَا for what كُنْتُمْ you used (to) تَكْسِبُوْنَ earn وَ یَسْتَنْۢبِـُٔوْنَكَ And they ask you to inform اَحَقٌّ Is it true هُوَ ؔؕ Is it true قُلْ Say اِیْ Yes وَ رَبِّیْۤ by my Lord اِنَّهٗ Indeed, it لَحَقٌّ ؔؕۚ (is) surely the truth وَ مَاۤ and not اَنْتُمْ you بِمُعْجِزِیْنَ۠ (can) escape (it)
(10:41) And if they reject you as false, tell them: 'My deeds are for myself and your deeds for yourselves. You will not be held responsible for my deeds, nor I for your deeds.49
(10:42) Of them some seem to give heed to you; will you, then, make the deaf hear even though they understand nothing?50
(10:43) And of them some look towards you; will you, then, guide the blind, even though they can see nothing?51
(10:44) Surely Allah does not wrong men; they rather wrong themselves.52
(10:45) (But today they are oblivious of everything except enjoyment of worldly life.) And on the Day when He will muster all men together, they will feel as though they had been in the world no more than an hour of the day to get acquainted with one another.53 (It will then become evident that) those who called the lie to meeting with Allah54 were utter losers and were not rightly-directed.
(10:46) Whether We let you see (during your lifetime) some of the chastisement with which We threaten them, or We call you unto Us (before the chastisement strikes them), in any case they are bound to return to Us. Allah is witness to all what they do.
(10:47) A Messenger is sent to every people;55 and when their Messenger comes, the fate of that people is decided with full justice; they are subjected to no wrong.56
(10:48) They say:'If what you promise is true, when will this threat be fulfilled?'
(10:49) Tell them: 'I have no power to harm or benefit even myself, except what Allah may will.57 There is an appointed term for every people; and when the end of their term comes, neither can they put it off for an hour, nor can they bring it an hour before.58
(10:50) Tell them: 'Did you consider (what you would do) were His chastisement to fall upon you suddenly by night or by day? So why are the culprits seeking to hasten its coming?
(10:51) Is it only when this chastisement has actually overtaken you that you will believe in it? (And when the chastisement will surprise you), you will try to get away from it, although it is you who had sought to hasten its coming.'
(10:52) The wrong-doers will then be told: 'Suffer now the abiding chastisement. How else can you be rewarded except according to your deeds?'
(10:53) They ask you if what you say is true? Tell them: 'Yes, by my Lord, this is altogether true, and you have no power to prevent the chastisement from befalling.'
49. Since every individual is himself accountable for his deeds, there is no point in engaging in unnecessary discussions which are often actuated by obduracy. For if the Prophet (peace be on him) was indeed inventing lies, he would bear the evil consequence of such an action. On the other hand, if his opponents were denying the truth, their action will not hurt the Prophet (peace be on him), but rather hurt themselves.
50. In its most elementary sense even animals are possessed of the faculty of hearing. But ‘hearing’ in its true sense is applicable only when the act of hearing is accompanied with the attention required to grasp the meaning of what one hears, and with the readiness to accept it if it is found reasonable.
Those who have fallen prey to prejudices, who have made up their minds that they will not hear, let alone accept anything, howsoever reasonable it might be, if it goes against their inherited beliefs and behavior-patterns, or is opposed to living a life of heedlessness, as the animals do, or who focus all their attention on the gratification of their palate, or who recklessly pursue their lusts in total disregard of all consideration of right and wrong may also be rightly characterized as incapable of hearing. Such people are not deaf of hearing, but their minds and hearts are certainly deaf to the truth.
51. The import of the statement is substantially the same as that made above. The limb called the ‘eye’ is of little service if it serves no other purpose than that of observation. For the eye, as an instrument of observation, is also _available to animals and they use it solely for that purpose. What is of true worth is the mental eye which ought to enable man to see not only that which is apparent and evident, but also that which is beyond that. If a man is not possessed of this mental eye — which is the true eye — then even though he might be able to observe in the literal sense of the word, he cannot be considered to be one who truly sees.
Both these verses are addressed to the Prophet (peace be on him). But it is to those whom he wanted to reform rather than directly to himself that the reproach was directed. Moreover, the purpose of the statement is not just to reproach. The pinching sarcasm which has been employed in the statement aims at awakening the slumbering humanity of people so that they may be able to take heed.
The manner of the discourse brings to mind the image of a righteous man who lives in the midst of a corrupt people. He is a man who maintains for himself extremely high standards of character and conduct. At the same time, he attempts, out of sincerity and goodwill, to awaken his fellow-beings to realize the low depths to which they have sunk. He also seeks to explain to them, out of sincere concern for them, how evil their ways of life are. And above all, he highlights for them the contours of the right way of life. But the people around him are such that they are neither inspired to righteousness by his practical and righteous example, nor do they pay any heed to his earnest counsel and admonition. The purpose of what has been said here, viz… will you, then, make the deaf hear even though they understand nothing?’ should be understood in the above context.
This statement resembles the remark of someone who, feeling disgusted when he finds his friend fails to make people hear his earnest exhortations, throws up his hands in exasperation and says: ‘Are you not wasting your time, my friend, trying to make the deaf hear, or trying to direct the blind to the right path? The ears that would make them listen to the voice of the truth are sealed; the eyes that could have made them perceive the truth have been blinded.’ The purpose of so saying is not to reproach that righteous person for his sincere exhortation nor to prevent him from making his efforts to reform people. What underlies this sharp remark is the faint hope that perhaps such people would be shaken out of their slumber.
52. God has generously endowed people with all that is needed to help them distinguish between truth and falsehood — ears, eyes, and hearts. But some people have become virtual slaves to their lusts and are utterly spellbound by the allurements of a worldly life. By so doing, they have caused their eyes to go blind, their ears to become deaf, and have perverted their hearts to such a degree that they have become bereft of the capacity to distinguish between what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong, and have debilitated their conscience to such a degree that it has ceased to have any effect on their lives.
53. A time will come when such people will, on the one hand, come face to face with the infinite life of the Hereafter, and on the other, they will look back at their past worldly life and realize how puny it was as compared to the life ahead. It is then that they will comprehend what folly they have committed by ruining their eternal future for the sake of ephemeral pleasures and benefits in this worldly life.
54. This refers to the unbelievers’ rejection that a time will come when everyone will have to stand before God for His judgement.
55. The Qur’anic expression ummah is not to be taken in the narrow sense in which the word ‘nation’ is used. The word ummah embraces all those who receive the message of a Messenger of God after his advent. Furthermore, this word embraces even those among whom no Messenger is physically alive, provided that they have received his message. All those who, after the advent of a Messenger, happen to live in an age when the teachings of that Messenger are extant or at least it is possible for people to know about what he had taught, constitute the ummah of that Messenger. Besides, all such people will be subject to the law mentioned here (see verse 47 and n. 56). In this respect all human beings who happen to live in the age which commences with the advent of Muhammad (peace be on him) onwards are his ummah and will continue to be so as long as the Qur’an is available in its pristine purity. Hence the verse does not say: ‘Among every people there is a Messenger.’ It rather says: “There is a Messenger for every people.’
56. When the message of a Messenger of God reaches a people the stage is set and they are left with no valid excuse for not believing. Everything has already been done to communicate the truth to these people and so all that remains is to wait for God’s decision to inflict His punishment upon them. And so far as God’s judgement is concerned, it is marked with absolute justice. All those who obey that Messenger and mend their behavior are deemed worthy of God’s mercy. On the contrary, those who reject his teaching are considered deserving of His punishment, depending on God’s will, both in this world and the Hereafter.
57. In response to the unbelievers’ query, the Prophet (peace be on him) makes it clear that he had never claimed that he himself would come forth with the judgement mentioned above, or that it lay in his power to afflict people with punishment. There was no point, therefore, in asking him when the final judgement against them would come to pass. The warning of punishment had been given by God rather than by the Messenger. Hence it lay only in God’s power to decide when His judgement should come to pass, and in which form God would execute His warning to punish unbelievers.
58. God does not act in haste in judging a people. He does not summarily punish or reward people the very moment they reject or accept a Messenger’s call. Instead, God grants a long respite both to individuals and to nations. He grants them plenty of time to reflect upon and understand the Message, and to mend their ways. Often the term fixed for this purpose spans several centuries.
For it is God Alone Who knows best what is the right term for a people.
However, once that term — which has been determined by God with full justice ~ is over, and the individual or nation concerned does not give up its rebellious attitude, God’s judgement is enforced. The time for the enforcement of such judgement can never come a moment before or after the time fixed for it by God.