The Light of the Holy Qur'an Interpretation of Sura Al-fatir

Commentary : Verse 39

(39) هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَكُمْ خَلآَئِفَ فِي الأَرْضِ فَمَن كَفَرَ فَعَلَيْهِ كُفْرُهُ وَلاَ يَزِيدُ الْكَافِرِينَ كُفْرُهُمْ عِندَ رَبّـِهِمْ إِلاَّ مَقْتاً وَلاَ يَزِيدُ الْكَافِرِينَ كُفْرُهُمْ إِلاَّ خَسَاراً

39.“He is the One Who appointed you viceroys in the earth, so whoever disbelieves, his disbelief shall be against him, and their unbelief does not increase the infidels with their Lord in anything except hatred; and their unbelief does not increase the infidels but loss.”

Commentary:

Stating the dangers of sins is a factor to restrain the sinner from committing it.

Following the discussions which were upon the previous verses about the fate of infidels and polytheists, in the verse under discussion they are called to account in another way, and the nullification of their style has been made manifest by some clear proofs. It says:

“He is the One Who appointed you viceroys in the earth, …”

The Arabic word /xala-’if/, whether it means the viceroys and vicegerents of Allah on the earth or it means the vicegerents of the former nations, (though the second meaning seems more appropriate here), indicates to the utmost grace of Allah upon human beings for whom He has provided all of the facilities of living.

Allah (s.w.t.) has given wisdom, understanding, thought, and intelligence to man. He has bestowed kinds of bodily powers on him. He has filled the surface of the earth with different sorts of bounties, and He has taught man the way of using these facilities. Yet, how has man forgotten his main benefactor and refers to the superstitions and artificial objects of worship?

In fact, this sentence is the statement of ‘the Unity of Lordship’ which itself is a clear proof over ‘the Unity of worship’.

This sentence, however, is a warning unto all human beings that they should know that their course is not eternal and everlasting. In the same way that they became the vicegerents of the former nations, after a few days these people will also pass away and some others will succeed them. Therefore they must be careful what they do in their short lifetime. They must consider their future fate, and that what kind of record will they leave in the history of the world from them? That is why the verse immediately says:

“… so whoever disbelieves, his disbelief shall be against him, and their unbelief does not increase the infidels with their Lord in anything except hatred; …”

However, their disbelief does not add to them except loss. It continues saying:

“… and their unbelief does not increase the infidels but loss.”

In fact, the last two sentences are as a commentary upon the sentence: “… whoever disbelieves, his disbelief shall be against him, …”, because this sentence implicitly says that the infidelity of a person results a loss upon him. Then the Qur’a-n brings two kinds of reasoning for this subject.

The first is that disbelief and infidelity with their Lord, Who is the giver of all bounties, does not result aught save Divine Wrath and punishment.

The other is that, besides the Divine Wrath, this infidelity does not give anything to them except loss. They lose their lifetime and the capital of their own existence and take wretchedness, degradation, and darkness for it. What a loss is greater than this?

And either of these two proofs is enough for condemning this incorrect style.

The repetition of the Arabic term /la-yazi-d/ (does not increase), which is in present tense, is an indication to the continuation of action and points to this fact that man is naturally looking for increase and excess. If he paves the path of Monotheism, he will have the increase of happiness and perfection, but if he paves the path of disbelief, he will obtain the increase of Wrath of Allah and loss.

Commentary : Verse 40

(40) قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ شُرَكَآءَكُمُ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ أَرُونِي مَاذَا خَلَقُوا مِنَ الأَرْضِ أَمْ لَهُمْ شِرْكٌ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ أَمْ ءَاتَيْنَاهُمْ كِتَاباً فَهُمْ عَلَي بَيّـِنَتٍ مّـِنْهُ بَلْ إِن يَعِدُ الظَّالِمُونَ بَعْضُهُم بَعْضاً اِلاَّ غُرُوراً

40.“Say: ‘Have you seen your associates on whom you call, apart from Allah? Show me what they have created in the earth; or have they a partnership in (the creation of) the heavens? Or have We given them a Book so that they follow a clear argument from it? Nay, the unjust promise each other nothing but delusions.”

Commentary:

Islam is a logical religion. It awakens conscience of people by asking questions.

The Prophet of Islam (p.b.u.h.) had a duty to speak with the opponents of Islam.

This verse is another decisive answer to the polytheists. It tells them that if a person follows something, or loves it, he must have a reasonable reasoning from intellect for it, or a reasoning from conclusive tradition, but you have neither of these two, and you have no support save delusion and pride. The verse says:

“Say: ‘Have you seen your associates on whom you call, apart from Allah? Show me what they have created in the earth; or have they a partnership in (the creation of) the heavens? …”

Yet, what is the reason of the polytheists’ worship? The act of being object of worship is a secondary thing to creative power. Now that you know that the creator of the heavens and the earth is only Allah, and there will be no object of worship except Him, because the Unity of divinity is always a reason upon the Unity of worship.

Now that it was proved that there is no intellectual reasoning for your claim, do you have any reasoning from tradition with you?

Or do you have a heavenly Book for it? The verse says:

“… Or have We given them a Book so that they follow a clear argument from it? …”

No, they have no clear proof from the Divine Books with them. Therefore, their capital for it is nothing save guile and delusion. In this regard, the verse says:

“… Nay, the unjust promise each other nothing but delusions.”

In other words, if the idolaters, and other polytheists of any kind and group, claim that the idols have a kind of power on the earth to provide their needs, they should deliver an example of their earthly creation.

And if they believe that these idols are the manifestation of the angels and heavenly sacred beings, as it was the belief of a group of them, they must show their participation in creation of the heavens.

And if they believe that these are not some partners in the creation, and only the rank of intercession has been given to them, as some of the polytheists believed, they must bring a proof from the heavenly Book for proving this claim.

Now that they have none of these proofs, then they are some unjust deceivers who tell each other false words.

It is notable that the purpose of ‘the earth and the heavens’ here is the entire creations on the earth and in the heavens, and the application of the word creation due to the earth and having a partnership in the creation of the heavens, points to this fact that ‘the partnership in the heavens’ should be by the way of creation.

And, the application of the Arabic word /kita-ban/, in an indefinite form and also concerned to Allah, is a hint to the fact that there is the least reasoning for their claim in neither of the heavenly Books.

The Arabic word /bayyinah/ points to this fact that the clear reasoning can be found in heavenly Books.

The application of the Qur’a-nic plural word /za-limu-n/ (the unjust) is another emphasis on this meaning that ‘polytheism’ is a clear ‘injustice’.

The application of ‘the promises of delusion’ is a hint to this fact that the polytheists used to take these superstitions and delusions from each other in the form of some hollow vain promises, and some of them transfer them to some others in the form of gossips and baseless imitations.