34:31 Saba (Sheba)

لما ذكر تعالى أن ميعاد المستعجلين بالعذاب, لا بد من وقوعه عند حلول أجله، ذكر هنا حالهم في ذلك اليوم, وأنك لو رأيت حالهم إذا وقفوا عند ربهم, واجتمع الرؤساء والأتباع في الكفر والضلال, لرأيت أمرا عظيما وهولا جسيما، ورأيت كيف يتراجع, ويرجع بعضهم إلى بعض القول، فـ { يَقُولُ الَّذِينَ اسْتُضْعِفُوا } وهم الأتباع { لِلَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُوا } وهم القادة: { لَوْلَا أَنْتُمْ لَكُنَّا مُؤْمِنِينَ } ولكنكم حُلْتُم بيننا وبين الإيمان, وزينتم لنا الكفر[ان], فتبعناكم على ذلك، ومقصودهم بذلك أن يكون العذاب على الرؤساء دونهم.

يخبر تعالى عن تمادي الكفار في طغيانهم وعنادهم وإصرارهم على عدم الإيمان بالقرآن وبما أخبر به من أمر المعاد ولهذا قال تعالى " وقال الذين كفروا لن نؤمن بهذا القرآن ولا بالذي بين يديه " قال الله عز وجل متهددا لهم ومتوعدا ومخبرا عن مواقفهم الذليلة بين يديه في حال تخاصمهم وتحاجهم " يرجع بعضهم إلى بعض القول يقول الذين استضعفوا " وهم الأتباع " للذين استكبروا " منهم وهم قادتهم وسادتهم " لولا أنتم لكنا مؤمنين " أي لولا أنتم تصدونا لكنا اتبعنا الرسل وآمنا بما جاءونا به فقال لهم القادة والسادة وهم الذين استكبروا " أنحن صددناكم عن الهدى بعد إذ جاءكم " ؟ أي نحن ما فعلنا بكم أكثر من أنا دعوناكم فاتبعتمونا من غير دليل ولا برهان وخالفتم الأدلة والبراهين والحجج التي جاءت بهم الرسل لشهوتكم واختياركم لذلك ولهذا قالوا.

How the Disbelievers have agreed in this World to deny the Truth,and how They will dispute with One Another on the Day ofResurrection

Allah tells us about the excessive wrongdoing and stubbornness of the disbelievers, and their insistence on not believing in the Holy Qur'an and what it tells them about the Resurrection. Allah says:

وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ لَن نُّؤْمِنَ بِهَـذَا الْقُرْءَانِ وَلاَ بِالَّذِى بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ

(And those who disbelieve say: "We believe not in this Qur'an nor in that which was before it.") Allah threatens them and warns them of the humiliating position they will be in before Him, arguing and disputing with one another:

يَرْجِعُ بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَى بَعْضٍ الْقَوْلَ يَقُولُ الَّذِينَ اسْتُضْعِفُواْ

(how they will cast the (blaming) word one to another! Those who were deemed weak) this refers to the followers --

لِلَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُواْ

to those who were arrogant -- this refers to the leaders and masters --

لَوْلاَ أَنتُمْ لَكُنَّا مُؤْمِنِينَ

(Had it not been for you, we should certainly have been believers!) meaning, `if you had not stopped us, we would have followed the Messengers and believed in what they brought.' Their leaders and masters, those who were arrogant, will say to them:

أَنَحْنُ صَدَدنَـكُمْ عَنِ الْهُدَى بَعْدَ إِذْ جَآءَكُمْ

(Did we keep you back from guidance after it had come to you) meaning, `we did nothing more to you than to call you, and you followed us without any evidence or proof, and you went against the evidence and proof which the Messengers brought because of your own desires; it was your own choice.' They will say:

بَلْ كُنتُمْ مُّجْرِمِينَوَقَالَ الَّذِينَ اسْتُضْعِفُواْ لِلَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُواْ بَلْ مَكْرُ الَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ

("...Nay, but you were criminals." Those who were deemed weak will say to those who were arrogant: "Nay, but it was your plotting by night and day...") meaning, `you used to plot against us night and day, tempting us with promises and false hopes, and telling us that we were truly guided and that we were following something, but all of that was falsehood and manifest lies.' Qatadah and Ibn Zayd said:

بَلْ مَكْرُ الَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ

(Nay, but it was your plotting by night and day,) means, "You plotted by night and day." Malik narrated something similar from Zayd bin Aslam.

إِذْ تَأْمُرُونَنَآ أَن نَّكْفُرَ بِاللَّهِ وَنَجْعَلَ لَهُ أَندَاداً

(when you ordered us to disbelieve in Allah and set up rivals to Him!) means, `to set up gods as equal to Him, and you created doubts and confusion in our minds, and you fabricated far-fetched ideas with which to lead us astray.'

وَأَسَرُّواْ النَّدَامَةَ لَمَّا رَأَوُاْ الْعَذَابَ

(And each of them (parties) will conceal their own regrets, when they behold the torment.) means, both the leaders and the followers will feel regret for what they did previously.

وَجَعَلْنَا الاٌّغْلَـلَ فِى أَعْنَاقِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ

(And We shall put iron collars round the necks of those who disbelieved.) This is a chain which will tie their hands to their necks.

هَلْ يُجْزَوْنَ إِلاَّ مَا كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ

(Are they requited aught except what they used to do) means, they will be punished according to their deeds: the leaders will be punished according to what they did, and the followers will be punished according to what they did.

قَالَ لِكُلٍّ ضِعْفٌ وَلَـكِن لاَّ تَعْلَمُونَ

(He will say: "For each one there is double (torment), but you know not.") (7:38). Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

«إِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَمَّا سِيقَ إِلَيْهَا أَهْلُهَا تَلَقَّاهُمْ لَهَبُهَا، ثُمَّ لَفَحَتْهُمْ لَفْحَةً فَلَمْ يَبْقَ لَحْمٌ إِلَّا سَقَطَ عَلَى الْعُرْقُوب»

(When the people of Hell are driven towards it, it will meet them with its flames, then the Fire will burn their faces and the flesh will all fall to their hamstrings.)"

وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا فِى قَرْيَةٍ مِّن نَّذِيرٍ إِلاَّ قَالَ مُتْرَفُوهَآ إِنَّا بِمَآ أُرْسِلْتُمْ بِهِ كَـفِرُونَ - وَقَالُواْ نَحْنُ أَكْثَـرُ أَمْوَلاً وَأَوْلَـداً وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمُعَذَّبِينَ - قُلْ إِنَّ رَبِّى يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ وَيَقْدِرُ وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ - وَمَآ أَمْوَلُكُمْ وَلاَ أَوْلَـدُكُمْ بِالَّتِى تُقَرِّبُكُمْ عِندَنَا زُلْفَى إِلاَّ مَنْ ءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَـلِحاً فَأُوْلَـئِكَ لَهُمْ جَزَآءُ الضِّعْفِ بِمَا عَمِلُواْ وَهُمْ فِى الْغُرُفَـتِ ءَامِنُونَ - وَالَّذِينَ يَسْعَوْنَ فِى ءَايَـتِنَا مُعَـجِزِينَ أُوْلَـئِكَ فِى الْعَذَابِ مُحْضَرُونَ

And those who disbelieve from among the people of Mecca say ‘We will not believe in this Qur’ān nor in that which was revealed before it’ — in other words what preceded it such as the Torah and the Gospel both of which contain proofs of the Resurrection — because they reject the truth of this last. God exalted be He says of them But if you were to see O Muhammad (s) when the evildoers the disbelievers are brought to stand before their Lord bandying arguments against one another. Those who were oppressed — the followers — will say to those who were arrogant — the leaders ‘Had it not been for you barring us from faith we would have been believers’ in the Prophet.

Commentary

That Allah is One and that His power is absolute was the subject in previous verses. In the present verse, it is being said that the Holy Prophet ﷺ “ was sent as the Messenger of Allah to all peoples of the world who are there now or will come in the future.

The word: كَافَّةً (Kaaffah) in: كَافَّةً لِلنَاس Kaaffatal-lin-naas: for all peoples) is used in the sense of making something universal and inclusive of all without the exclusion of anyone from it. The grammatical arrangement of the text required saying: لِلنَاس (lin-naasi kaaffatan: for the people as a whole) because the word: (kaaffah: all) is grammatically a hal (adverb) relatable to the word نَاس (naas: people). But, in order to put a clear accent on the universality of the mission of the Last Rasul of Allah, the word: كَافَّةً (Kaaffah: all) was set to come earlier.

The mission of a messenger or prophet assigned to all prophets sent before the Holy Prophet ﷺ was restricted to some particular people and particular geographical area. It is the peculiarity of the Sayyidna Muhammad al-Mustafa ﷺ ، that his prophetic mission is common and open to all peoples of the world. In fact, it is not simply for human beings, but is so for the Jinns as well. And then, it is not just for those who were present during his blessed time, but is universally applicable to all human generations to come right up to the last day of Qiyamah. And this very fact of the continuity and survival of his mission as prophet and messenger demands that he has to be the Last and Final of the prophets and that no prophet is to come after his appearance. The reason is that another prophet is sent when the law and teachings of the one before him are distorted or altered. Thus, a second prophet is sent to reform the people and reinstate them according to Allah's pleasure. As for the Shari’ ah of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and that of His own Book, the Qur'an, right through the last day of Qiyamah, the responsibility of its protection has already been undertaken by Allah Ta’ ala Himself. Therefore, it will hold on and survive till Qiyamah in its original state and there would be no need for some other prophet to be sent.

According to a narration of Sayyidna Jabir ؓ appearing in the Sahihs of al-Bukhari and Muslim and elsewhere, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been reported to have said: 'I have been given five things that have not been given to anyone else before me: (1) That Allah Ta’ ala helped me by placing in my person such an awe as it is felt by the people from the distance of a month of travel. (2) That the whole earth has been declared to be a masjid and a purifier for me (in the religious codes of past prophets, their worship used to be performed only in particular places set up as houses of worship. Worship was not allowed outside their appointed prayer places, either in the open or inside homes. For the Muslim community, Allah Ta’ ala made the whole earth a masjid in the sense that Salah can be made everywhere - and in the absence of water not being available or its use being harmful, the dust of the earth was made tahur or purifier so that it could be used to make tayammum which becomes a valid alternate of wudu). (3) That property from the spoils has been made halal for me. Before me, it was not halal for any other community (among whom the rule was to assemble the war spoils collected from the disbelieving adversary and deposit it at an appointed place in the belief that some fire or lightening would descend from the heavens and burn it, and this act of burning would itself be the sign of the acceptance of their religious war. For the Muslim community, distributing the spoils in accordance with the rule enunciated by the Qur'an and spending it as needed was made permissible). (4) That I was given the station of the Great Intercession اِلشَّفَاعَت اَلکُبرَیٰ : ash-Shafa'ah al-Kubra) (that is, when no prophet would dare intercede on behalf of others on the fateful plains of the Resurrection [ al-hashr ], I shall, then, be given the opportunity to intercede). (5) That before me, every prophet was sent to his particular people - I have been sent as a prophet to all peoples of the world. (Ibn Kathir)