اَوَ لَمْ Did not یَرَوْا they see اَنَّا that We نَاْتِی come الْاَرْضَ (to) the land نَنْقُصُهَا reducing it مِنْ from اَطْرَافِهَا ؕ its borders وَ اللّٰهُ And Allah یَحْكُمُ judges لَا (there is) no مُعَقِّبَ adjuster لِحُكْمِهٖ ؕ (of) His Judgment وَ هُوَ And He سَرِیْعُ (is) Swift الْحِسَابِ (in) the reckoning وَ قَدْ And certainly مَكَرَ plotted الَّذِیْنَ those who مِنْ (were) from قَبْلِهِمْ before them فَلِلّٰهِ but for Allah الْمَكْرُ (is) the plot جَمِیْعًا ؕ all یَعْلَمُ He knows مَا what تَكْسِبُ earns كُلُّ every نَفْسٍ ؕ soul وَ سَیَعْلَمُ and will know الْكُفّٰرُ the disbelievers لِمَنْ for whom عُقْبَی (is) the final الدَّارِ the home 13. Ar-Ra'd Page 255 وَ یَقُوْلُ And say الَّذِیْنَ those who كَفَرُوْا disbelieve لَسْتَ You are not مُرْسَلًا ؕ a Messenger قُلْ Say كَفٰی Sufficient بِاللّٰهِ (is) Allah شَهِیْدًۢا (as) a Witness بَیْنِیْ between me وَ بَیْنَكُمْ ۙ and between you وَ مَنْ and whoever عِنْدَهٗ [he] has عِلْمُ knowledge الْكِتٰبِ۠ (of) the Book
(13:41) Do they not see that We are advancing in the land, diminishing it by its borders on all sides?60 Allah judges, and no one has the power to reverse His judgement. He is swift in reckoning.
(13:42) Those who lived before them also devised many a plot,61 but the master plot rests with Allah. He knows what everyone does. The deniers of the truth will soon come to know whose end is good.
(13:43) The unbelievers claim that you have not been sent by Allah. Tell them: "Allah is sufficient as a witness between me and you; and so also do those who know the Scriptures."62
60. The opponents are reminded that Islam’s influence was spreading to every nook and cranny of Arabia. This naturally meant the shrinking of the unbelievers’ influence and growing pressure upon them. Did these not indicate that they were heading towards their doom? What God says here, viz. ‘We are advancing in land’, is a very subtle and refined way of indicating the direction of the change which was then taking place. Since Islam is from God, Who supports the propounders of that message, the spread of Islam has been characterized as the advance of God Himself.
61. There is nothing new in the fact that the unbelievers had resorted to lies, deception and repressive measures to thwart the voice of truth. In the past, people who wanted to achieve that purpose had resorted to more or less the same measures.
62. Everyone who has any knowledge of the scriptures will testify to the fact that the teaching of the Prophet (peace be on him) is exactly the same as that of the earlier Prophets.