23:115 Al-Muminoon (The Believers)

أي: { أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ } أيها الخلق { أَنَّمَا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ عَبَثًا } أي: سدى وباطلا، تأكلون وتشربون وتمرحون، وتتمتعون بلذات الدنيا، ونترككم لا نأمركم، و[لا] ننهاكم ولا نثيبكم، ولا نعاقبكم؟ ولهذا قال: { وَأَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنَا لَا تُرْجَعُونَ } لا يخطر هذا ببالكم

وقوله تعالى " أفحسبتم أنما خلقناكم عبثا " أي أفظننتم أنكم مخلوقون عبثا بلا قصد ولا إرادة منكم ولا حكمة لنا وقيل للعبث أي لتلعبوا وتعبثوا كما خلقت البهائم لا ثواب لها ولا عقاب وإنما خلقناكم للعبادة وإقامة أوامر الله عز وجل " وأنكم إلينا لا ترجعون " أي لا تعودون في الدار الآخرة كما قال تعالى " أيحسب الإنسان أن يترك سدى " يعني هملا.

Allah tells them how much they wasted in their short lives in this world by failing to obey Allah and worship Him Alone.

If they had been patient during their short stay in this world, they would have attained victory just like His pious close friends.

قَـلَ كَمْ لَبِثْتُمْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ عَدَدَ سِنِينَ

(He will say: "What number of years did you stay on earth") means, how long did you stay in this world

قَالُواْ لَبِثْنَا يَوْماً أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ فَاسْأَلِ الْعَآدِّينَ

(They will say: "We stayed a day or part of a day. Ask of those who keep account.") meaning, those who keep the records.

قَالَ إِن لَّبِثْتُمْ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً

(He will say: "You stayed not but a little...") meaning, it was only a short time, no matter how you look at it.

لَّوْ أَنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

(if you had only known!) means, you would not have preferred the transient to the eternal, and treated yourself in this bad way, and earned the wrath of Allah in this short period. If you had patiently obeyed Allah and worshipped Him as the believers did, you would have attained victory just as they did.

Allah did not create His Servants in vain

أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّمَا خَلَقْنَـكُمْ عَبَثاً

(Did you think that We had created you in play,) means, `did you think that you were created in vain, with no purpose, with nothing required of you and no wisdom on Our part' Or it was said that "in play" meant to play and amuse yourselves, like the animals were created, who have no reward or punishment. But you were created to worship Allah and carry out His commands.

وَأَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنَا لاَ تُرْجَعُونَ

(and that you would not be brought back to Us) means, that you would not be brought back to the Hereafter. This is like the Ayah:

أَيَحْسَبُ الإِنسَـنُ أَن يُتْرَكَ سُدًى

(Does man think that he will be left neglected) 75:36

فَتَعَـلَى اللَّهُ الْمَلِكُ الْحَقُّ

(So Exalted be Allah, the True King.) means, sanctified be He above the idea that he should create anything in vain, for He is the True King Who is far above doing such a thing.

لاَ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ رَبُّ الْعَرْشِ الْكَرِيمِ

(None has the right to be worshipped but He, the Lord of Al-`Arsh Al-Karim!) The Throne is mentioned because it is the highest point of all creation, and it is described as Karim, meaning beautiful in appearance and splendid in form, as Allah says elsewhere:

أَنبَتْنَا فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍ كَرِيمٍ

(every good kind We cause to grow therein) 26:7.

Did you suppose that We created you aimlessly and not for an underlying reason and that you would not be returned to Us?’ read active tarji‘ūna ‘you would not return’ or passive turja‘ūna ‘you would not be returned’ Nay! But it was so that We might enthral you with commands and prohibitions where after you would be returned to Us for Us to requite you accordingly And I did not create the jinn and mankind except that they may worship Me Q. 5156.

وَلَا تُكَلِّمُونِ (Do not speak to Me - 23:108). According to Hasan al-Basri (رح) these will be the last words of the people who are cast in hell and in reply Allah will say, "Do not speak to Me." After this they will not be able to speak like human beings, but will make animal sounds to each other. Baihaqi and others have quoted Muhammad Ibn Ka` b as saying that the Qur'an mentions five requests made by the people condemned to hell. Out of the five, replies were furnished to four, but in reply to the fifth Allah commanded them not to speak to Him. Thus these are the last words to be uttered by them after which they will not be able to speak. (Mazhari)

What, did you reckon that We created you aimlessly and that you would not be returned to Us? Abū Bakr WāsiṬī recited this verse and said, “He made manifest the colors and created the creatures to make manifest His existence, for had He not created, it would not be recognized that He exists; and to make manifest the perfection of His knowledge and power through the manifestation of His acts soundly arranged by wisdom; and to make manifest the signs of friendship on the friends and the signs of wretchedness on the wretched.” He is saying, “The majestic and perfectly powerful Lord, in His majesty and exaltedness and His perfect power, brought the engendered beings and newly arrived things into existence. Thereby they would know His Being, recognize His lordhood, and find evidence of His perfect knowledge and power from His artisanry. In keeping with His knowledge of them, He made ap- parent the mark of friendship on the friends and inscribed enmity on the enemies. He brought them from the concealment of nonexistence into existence in keeping with the knowledge, known in the Beginningless, that He would create creation. He wanted to make His creation come to be in exact correspondence with His knowledge.” David the prophet said in his whispered prayer, “O God, O endless Majesty described by the attribute of perfection and qualified by the description of unneediness! You have no need for anything and You subsist in Your own description. You require nobody and You take help and aid from no one. Why did You create these creatures? What wisdom is there in their existence?” The answer came, “'I was a hidden treasure, and I loved to be recognized.' I was a concealed treasure and no one knew or recognized Me. I wanted to be known and I loved to be recognized.” “I loved to be recognized” is an allusion to the fact that recognition is built on love. Wherever there is love, there is recognition, and wherever there is no love, there is no recognition. The great ones of the religion and the Tariqah have said, “No one recognizes Him save those to whom He has made Himself recognized, no one voices His tawḤīd save those to whom He has shown His tawḤīd, and no one describes Him save those to whose secret cores He has disclosed Himself.