21. Al-Anbya Page 323 وَ كَمْ And how many قَصَمْنَا We (have) shattered مِنْ of قَرْیَةٍ a town كَانَتْ (that) was ظَالِمَةً unjust وَّ اَنْشَاْنَا and We produced بَعْدَهَا after them قَوْمًا another people اٰخَرِیْنَ another people فَلَمَّاۤ Then when اَحَسُّوْا they perceived بَاْسَنَاۤ Our torment اِذَا behold هُمْ they مِّنْهَا from it یَرْكُضُوْنَؕ were fleeing لَا Flee not تَرْكُضُوْا Flee not وَ ارْجِعُوْۤا but return اِلٰی to مَاۤ what اُتْرِفْتُمْ you were given luxury فِیْهِ in it وَ مَسٰكِنِكُمْ and to your homes لَعَلَّكُمْ so that you may تُسْـَٔلُوْنَ be questioned قَالُوْا They said یٰوَیْلَنَاۤ O woe to us! اِنَّا Indeed [we] كُنَّا we were ظٰلِمِیْنَ wrongdoers فَمَا Then not زَالَتْ ceased تِّلْكَ [this] دَعْوٰىهُمْ their cry حَتّٰی until جَعَلْنٰهُمْ We made them حَصِیْدًا reaped خٰمِدِیْنَ extinct وَ مَا And not خَلَقْنَا We created السَّمَآءَ the heavens وَ الْاَرْضَ and the earth وَ مَا and what بَیْنَهُمَا (is) between them لٰعِبِیْنَ (for) playing لَوْ If اَرَدْنَاۤ We intended اَنْ that نَّتَّخِذَ We take لَهْوًا a pastime لَّاتَّخَذْنٰهُ surely We (could have) taken it مِنْ from لَّدُنَّاۤ ۖۗ Us اِنْ if كُنَّا We were فٰعِلِیْنَ doers بَلْ Nay نَقْذِفُ We hurl بِالْحَقِّ the truth عَلَی against الْبَاطِلِ [the] falsehood فَیَدْمَغُهٗ and it breaks its head فَاِذَا behold هُوَ it (is) زَاهِقٌ ؕ vanishing وَ لَكُمُ And for you الْوَیْلُ (is) destruction مِمَّا for what تَصِفُوْنَ you ascribe وَ لَهٗ And to Him (belongs) مَنْ whoever فِی (is) in السَّمٰوٰتِ the heavens وَ الْاَرْضِ ؕ and the earth وَ مَنْ And (those) who عِنْدَهٗ (are) near Him لَا not یَسْتَكْبِرُوْنَ they are arrogant عَنْ to عِبَادَتِهٖ worship Him وَ لَا and not یَسْتَحْسِرُوْنَۚ they tire یُسَبِّحُوْنَ They glorify (Him) الَّیْلَ [the] night وَ النَّهَارَ and [the] day لَا not یَفْتُرُوْنَ they slacken اَمِ Or اتَّخَذُوْۤا (have) they taken اٰلِهَةً gods مِّنَ from الْاَرْضِ the earth هُمْ they یُنْشِرُوْنَ raise (the dead) لَوْ If كَانَ (there) were فِیْهِمَاۤ in both of them اٰلِهَةٌ gods اِلَّا besides اللّٰهُ Allah لَفَسَدَتَا ۚ surely they (would) have been ruined فَسُبْحٰنَ So glorified اللّٰهِ (is) Allah رَبِّ Lord الْعَرْشِ (of) the Throne عَمَّا (above) what یَصِفُوْنَ they attribute لَا Not یُسْـَٔلُ He (can) be questioned عَمَّا about what یَفْعَلُ He does وَ هُمْ but they یُسْـَٔلُوْنَ will be questioned اَمِ Or اتَّخَذُوْا (have) they taken مِنْ besides Him دُوْنِهٖۤ besides Him اٰلِهَةً ؕ gods قُلْ Say هَاتُوْا Bring بُرْهَانَكُمْ ۚ your proof هٰذَا This ذِكْرُ (is) a Reminder مَنْ (for those) who مَّعِیَ (are) with me وَ ذِكْرُ and a Reminder مَنْ (for those) who قَبْلِیْ ؕ (were) before me بَلْ But اَكْثَرُهُمْ most of them لَا (do) not یَعْلَمُوْنَ ۙ know الْحَقَّ the truth فَهُمْ so they مُّعْرِضُوْنَ (are) averse 21. Al-Anbya Page 324 وَ مَاۤ And not اَرْسَلْنَا We sent مِنْ before you قَبْلِكَ before you مِنْ any رَّسُوْلٍ Messenger اِلَّا but نُوْحِیْۤ We reveal(ed) اِلَیْهِ to him اَنَّهٗ that [He] لَاۤ (There is) no اِلٰهَ god اِلَّاۤ except اَنَا Me فَاعْبُدُوْنِ so worship Me وَ قَالُوا And they say اتَّخَذَ Has taken الرَّحْمٰنُ the Most Gracious وَلَدًا a son سُبْحٰنَهٗ ؕ Glorified is He! بَلْ Nay عِبَادٌ (they are) slaves مُّكْرَمُوْنَۙ honored لَا Not یَسْبِقُوْنَهٗ they (can) precede Him بِالْقَوْلِ in word وَ هُمْ and they بِاَمْرِهٖ by His command یَعْمَلُوْنَ act یَعْلَمُ He knows مَا what بَیْنَ (is) before them اَیْدِیْهِمْ (is) before them وَ مَا and what خَلْفَهُمْ (is) behind them وَ لَا and not یَشْفَعُوْنَ ۙ they (can) intercede اِلَّا except لِمَنِ for whom ارْتَضٰی He approves وَ هُمْ And they مِّنْ from خَشْیَتِهٖ fear of Him مُشْفِقُوْنَ stand in awe وَ مَنْ And whoever یَّقُلْ says مِنْهُمْ of them اِنِّیْۤ Indeed, I am اِلٰهٌ a god مِّنْ besides Him دُوْنِهٖ besides Him فَذٰلِكَ Then that نَجْزِیْهِ We will recompense جَهَنَّمَ ؕ (with) Hell كَذٰلِكَ Thus نَجْزِی We recompense الظّٰلِمِیْنَ۠ the wrongdoers
(21:11) How many a wrong-doing town did We shatter and then raise up another people.
(21:12) Then, when they perceived Our chastisement13 they took to their heels and fled.
(21:13) (They were told): "Flee not, but return to your comforts and to your dwellings. You are likely to be questioned."14
(21:14) They said: "Woe to us; surely we were wrong-doers."
(21:15) They did not cease to cry this until We reduced them to stubble, still and silent.
(21:16) We did not create in sport the heavens and the earth and all that lies between the two.15
(21:17) Had it been Our will to find a pastime, We would have found one near at hand; if at all We were inclined to do so.16
(21:18) Nay, We hurl the Truth at falsehood so that the Truth crushes falsehood, and lo! it vanishes. Woe to you for what you utter!17
(21:19) To Him18 belongs whosoever dwells in the heavens and on earth. Those (angels) that are with Him19 neither disdain to serve Him out of pride, nor do they weary of it.20
(21:20) They glorify Him night and day, without flagging.
(21:21) Have they taken earthly gods who are such that they raise up the dead to life?21
(21:22) Had there been any gods in the heavens and the earth apart from Allah, the order of both the heavens and the earth would have gone to ruins.22 Glory be to Allah, the Lord of the Throne,23 Who is far above their false descriptions of Him.
(21:23) None shall question Him about what He does, but they shall be questioned.
(21:24) Have they taken gods other than Him? Say, (O Muhammad): "Bring forth your proof! Here is the Book with admonition for those of my time and there are also scriptures with admonition for people before me."24 But most people do not know the Truth, and have, therefore, turned away from it.25
(21:25) Never did We send any Messenger before you to whom We did not reveal: "There is no god but Me. So serve Me alone."
(21:26) They say: "The Most Compassionate Lord has taken to Himself a son."26 Glory be to Him! Those whom they so designate are only His honoured servants.
(21:27) They do not outstrip Him in speech and only act as He commands.
(21:28) He knows whatever is before them and whatsoever is remote from them and they do not intercede except for him, intercession on whose behalf pleases Him, and they stand constantly in awe of Him.27
(21:29) And if anyone of them were to claim: "Indeed I am a god apart from Him," We shall recompense both with Hell. Thus do We recompense the wrong-doers.
13. That is, when God’s punishment drew near so the unbelievers would clearly realize they were on the verge of doom.
14. This verse is rich in meaning and may be interpreted variously. It may, for instance, be taken to mean that the unbelievers are being urged to look carefully at the punishment so that they can describe it to others in the future.
According to a variant view, they are being told: ‘Revert to your life of pomp and ceremony for maybe your courtiers will still stand in awe of you and ask you for your orders. Maintain your councils and committees, for the world may possibly approach you, seeking to benefit from your wise counsels.’
15. This observation applies to the unbelievers’ entire way of life which thus far prevented them from heeding the Prophet’s call. They believe that man has been left free to live and do as he likes, and that none will be called to account for the same; all man has is his brief term of life which he can spend as he likes and thereafter he perishes. They did not believe there was any possibility of a Next Life where people will be rewarded or punished. All in all, this amounted to saying that the entire universe was created without serious purpose, that it was no more than sport and play for the unbelievers. It is ideas such as these which made people indifferent to the call of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him).
16. Had God intended creation to be merely for sport, surely, He Himself would have engaged in it. In which case, He would certainly not have brought into being a creature endowed with feeling, consciousness and a sense of responsibility. Nor would God have placed him in a state whereby he is engaged in a constant tug-of-war between right and wrong. God could have done much better if the purpose was merely to entertain Himself! God did not create this world to serve as a coliseum, to offer thrilling spectacles of blood sports where the spectators clap deliriously at the sight of humans being torn to pieces by ferocious beasts.
17. God is far from being a magician; nor does it be hove Him to demonstrate tricks. God’s world is indeed a serious place where evil and falsehood cannot endure. Whenever falsehood raises its head, it inevitably comes into conflict with the truth; a conflict that eventually leads to the extirpation of falsehood. If one considers this world merely as an arena for sport and entertainment, or as a platform for working out false premises, one will end up destroying one’s own self. The study of human history, remember, is extremely instructive. All those nations which considered the world to be nothing more than amusing theatre, or an opportunity for self-indulgence, or who embraced other false doctrines in place of the truth expounded by the Prophets, have again and again been led to their doom. How unwise it is, then, for people to deride those who tender sincere advice, and then when they come face to face with God’s scourge, they cry: ‘Woe to us; surely we were wrong-doers’ (verse 14),
18. This marks the beginning of that part of the discourse which focuses on affirming the Oneness of God and refuting the association of others with Him in His divinity. This fundamental issue lay at the core of the dispute between the Prophet (peace be on him) and the Makkan polytheists. The advice now given to the unbelievers being something more than what they were just told.
They were told earlier that the universe in which they lived was not based on play and jest. On the contrary, it was a serious and purposeful order which is based on the truth. Hence, whenever falsehood clashes with the truth, it disintegrates into a multitude of fragments. The basic fact about the universe is that its Creator, Master and Lord is the One True God: It is not the case, as some believe, that the universe is the joint dominion of several gods, or that there is one predominantly supreme God with a variety of smaller gods sharing the authority of that Supreme God. There is only One True God.
19. This is a reference to the angels whom the polytheists of Arabia worshipped, mistaking them for God’s offspring or associating them with Him in His divinity.
20. Angels do not find it unpalatable at all to serve God. Serving Him is not a drudgery which they carry out with a heavy heart and which eventually wearies them. The actual words are the word istihsar signifying extreme fatigue and weariness. Here, the purpose is to denote the fatigue and weariness caused by doing something that is disagreeable.
21. The word used here is the verbal form of inshar, which means to raise something lifeless to life. It is generally employed in the Qur’an to denote life after death. Aside from: this, it also literally means to infuse life into a lifeless object. Considering the context of the present verse, we believe that it has been used here in this very sense. The thrust of the statement is that none of the beings which people made into gods, as objects of worship, is capable of infusing life into a lifeless object. Now since only God has this power —a fact which even the polytheists acknowledged— what justification is there for holding any others to be God?
22. This is a simple but, at the same time, very profound argument. The point is so simple that even a Bedouin, a simple villager and a man of meanest intelligence can easily grasp it. Even an ordinary household cannot function smoothly if it has two heads, not even for a few days. How much more so is this true for the universe? For, the entire universe, right from the deep layers of the earth to the farthest planets, is subject to a mammoth law. The order of the universe cannot endure even for a moment unless there is perfect balance, harmony and co-ordination, tying its limitless objects and innumerable forces into a unified system. And all this is inconceivable unless there is a set of immutable laws which compels these objects to work together in perfect unison.
If the universe were under the hegemony of several independent sovereigns, how could a unified set of regulations prevail in it? The very existence of an ordered system implies that it has no more than one sovereign who controls it.
The wide range of laws which control the universe are indicative of the fact that sovereignty, rather than being diffused, is concentrated in the One Supreme Being. (For further details see Bani Isra’il 17, n. 47, al-Mu'minun 23, n. 85.)
23. ‘Lord of the Throne’ means the Lord and Sovereign of the entire universe.
24. The two arguments cited above were rational. Now a third argument is introduced; an argument that is based on authoritative texts. The present argument contends that the unbelievers cannot produce even a shred of evidence from any Scripture, regardless of the country, nation and Prophet upon whom it was bestowed, which even remotely suggests that there is any god other than the One True God, or that anyone other than Him deserves to be served and worshipped. That being the case, what kind of religion have they fabricated, for it neither conforms to the dictates of reason nor can be corroborated by the Scriptures?
25. If the unbelievers turn away from the teaching of the Prophet (peace be on him), such an attitude is obviously based on ignorance rather than knowledge. Since the unbelievers are ignorant of the truth, they have no inclination to heed those who expound the truth to them.
26. Once again the same angels, who according to the belief of the polytheists of Arabia were God’s daughters, are mentioned. This becomes quite evident from the discourse that follows. (See also n. 19 above — Ed.)
27. The Arabian polytheists used to worship angels for two reasons. First, they believed them to be God’s offspring. Second, they wanted to ingratiate themselves with them by means of worship so that they might intercede for them with God: ‘They say: ‘‘These are our intercessors with God’’ (Yunus 10: 18). ‘But those who take for protectors’ others than God say: ‘‘We only serve them in order that they may bring us nearer to God” (al-Zumar 39: 3). The verses of this surah show that both reasons, however, are false.
It is also worth remembering that while refuting such polytheistic beliefs about intercession, the Qur’an also emphasizes that those who are regarded as intercessors do not have knowledge of the unseen whereas God knows everything, both that which is evident to them as well as that which is hidden.
This makes the unbelievers question whether they are justified in investing those people with the absolute and unconditional power of intercession when those same people are not even aware of the whole record of those in whose favor they intend to intercede. The right to intercede, whether by angels, Prophets or saints, is subject to the condition that God alone permits them to intercede on someone else’s behalf. No one is entitled to intercede of his own accord: all is contingent upon God’s permission. Since it is God’s exclusive prerogative to hear and accept a plea on someone else’s behalf, or indeed not to do so, there is no reason for people to bow down in humility before anyone. For all creatures, including those who may be allowed to intercede, are powerless before God. (For further details see Ta Ha 20, nn. 85-6.)