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Holy
Quran Section
> English
Translation and Commentary of the Holy Quran by
Maulana Muhammad Ali (Table of
Contents)
>
Chapter
57 (Al-Hadid-
Iron)
> Section 2 (Verses 11 to 19) Section/Ruku 2
[Verses 11 to 19]: Light and life given by the
Prophet: 1. Translation: 12 On that day thou wilt see the faithful men and the faithful women, their light gleaming before them and on their right hand.a Good news for you this day! — Gardens wherein rivers flow, to abide therein! That is the grand achievement. 13 On the day when the hypocrites, men and women, will say to those who believe: Wait for us, that we may borrow from your light. It will be said: Turn back and seek a light. Then a wall, with a door in it, will be raised between them. Within it shall be mercy, and outside of it chastisement.a 14 They will cry out to them: Were we not with you? They will say: Yea, but you caused yourselves to fall into temptation, and you waiteda and doubted, and vain desires deceived you, till the threatened punishmentb of Allah came, and the arch-deceiver deceived you about Allah. 15 So this day no ransom will be accepted from you, nor from those who disbelieved. Your abode is the Fire; it is your patrona and evil is the resort. 16 Has not the time yet come for the believers that their hearts should be humble for the remembrance of Allah and the Truth that is revealed, and (that) they should not be like those who were given the Book before, but time was prolonged for them, so their hearts hardened.a And most of them are transgressors. 17 Know that Allah gives life to the earth after its death.a Indeed, We have made the signs clear for you that you may understand. 18 The men who give in charity and the women who give in charity and set apart for Allah a goodly portion, it will be doubled for them, and theirs is a generous reward. 19 And those who believe in Allah and His messengers, they are the truthful and the faithful ones with their Lord. They have their reward and their light. And those who disbelieve and reject Our messages, they are the inmates of hell. 2.
Commentary: 13a. Although the hypocrites remained mixed with the believers for a time, yet separation was brought about even in this life towards the close of the Prophet’s life. As the Resurrection will bring hidden things to light, the hypocrites will find themselves devoid of light, because they did not possess the light of faith in this life. [Back to verse 13] 14a. The hypocrites hoped that the Muslims would be annihilated by their powerful opponents. [Back to verse 14] 14b. Amr Allah here signifies the threatened punishment of Allah (LL). [Back to verse 14] 15a. The Fire is here called a maula, or a friend or patron, of the disbelievers, thus showing that it is for their good that they will have to undergo the suffering of fire. In fact, hell is elsewhere also represented to be a place or a state which will ultimately lead to the purification of man, as .re purifies gold of dross. Those who do not prepare themselves in this life for a life after death, will have to be purified in the next life, so that they may be fit to make the spiritual progress necessary for a heavenly life. The process of purification, which is in other words hell, is thus a necessary stage in the spiritual perfection of those who do not avail themselves of the opportunity granted to them in this life. The keenness of the torments of that other life is due to the keener perception of the soul, which is the necessary result of its separation from the earthly vessel. Bliss and torment therefore grow equally keener in that life. [Back to verse 15] 16a. Commenting on this verse, IJ quotes an earlier authority to the effect that the first thing that will be taken away from the people is khushu‘ or humbleness of heart. It is clear that this verse speaks of the Muslims of a later age, for it compares their case to those who were given the scriptures before them and then a long time having passed over them, their hearts hardened. It is therefore the later generations of the Muslims that are addressed in these words. They are reminded that after the passing of a long time, they will fall off from the high standard of the earlier generations, and their hearts will be hardened like the hearts of the earlier people. [Back to verse 16] 17a. Having spoken of the falling off of the Muslims of a later age, the good news is here announced that, after that, the dead earth will be generated with a new life, the life spiritual. The next verse then goes on to add that it will be through the sacrifices of a part of them that the Muslim nation will again be raised to eminence. These verses are a clear prophetic description of the present condition of Islam. A generous reward is promised to those who make these sacrifices, in the concluding words of v. 18. [Back to verse 17]
Holy
Quran Section
> English
Translation and Commentary of the Holy Quran by
Maulana Muhammad Ali (Table of
Contents)
>
Chapter
57 (Al-Hadid-
Iron)
> Section 2 (Verses 11 to 19)
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