36:48 Yaseen (Yaseen)

{ وَيَقُولُونَ } على وجه التكذيب والاستعجال: { مَتَى هَذَا الْوَعْدُ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ } قال اللّه تعالى: لا يستبعدوا ذلك، فإنه [عن] قريب

يخبر تعالى عن استبعاد الكفرة لقيام الساعة في قولهم "متى هذا الوعد" "يستعجل بها الذين لا يؤمنون بها".

The Disbelievers thought that the Day of Resurrection would never come to pass

Allah tells us how the disbelievers thought that the Day of Resurrection would never come to pass, as they said:

مَتَى هَـذَا الْوَعْدُ

("When will this promise be fulfilled...")

يَسْتَعْجِلُ بِهَا الَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهَا

(Those who believe not therein seek to hasten it) (42:18). Allah says:

مَا يَنظُرُونَ إِلاَّ صَيْحَةً وَحِدَةً تَأُخُذُهُمْ وَهُمْ يَخِصِّمُونَ

(They await only but a single Sayhah which will seize them while they are disputing!) meaning, they are only waiting for a single shout which -- and Allah knows best -- will be the trumpet blast of terror when the Trumpet will be blown while the people are in their marketplaces and places of work, arguing and disputing as they usually do. While in this state, Allah will command Israfil to blow into the Trumpet, so he will sound a long note and there will be no one left on the face of the earth except he will tilt his head to listen to the sound coming from heaven. Then the people who are alive will be driven to the gathering place by a fire which will surround them on all sides. Allah says:

فَلاَ يَسْتَطِيعُونَ تَوْصِيَةً

(Then they will not be able to make bequest, ) meaning, with regard to their possessions, because the matter is more serious than that,

وَلاَ إِلَى أَهْلِهِمْ يَرْجِعُونَ

(nor they will return to their family.) Numerous Hadiths and reports have been narrated about this, which we have mentioned elsewhere. After this there will be the Trumpet blast which will cause everyone who is alive to die, besides the One Who is Ever Living, Eternal. Then after that the trumpet blast of the resurrection will be sounded.

And they say ‘When will this promise of resurrection be fulfilled if you are being truthful?’ therein.

Commentary

In the previous verses, through a description of Divine manifestations of power and wisdom in the creation of the heavens and the earth, people were invited to recognize their creator and believe that He alone is worthy of worship and, on the acceptance of this invitation, a promise of everlasting blessings was made along with a warning of severe punishment on its rejection. In the present verses and in the verses following these, there is a description of the disbelieving people of Makkah who were their direct addressees and who remained unmoved and unaffected either when persuaded to do something reward worthy, or when warned against some likely punishment.

In this connection, two dialogues between believers and disbelievers have been narrated. Believers invite them to fear the punishment of Allah that can come before them even in this mortal world while, after their death, it has to come to them in the Hereafter after all. If they, it is said to them, were to believe in fear of this punishment, it would be better for them. But, the disbelievers show their aversion despite having heard all that. This aversion of theirs has not been expressly mentioned here in the words of the Qur'an, because the 'I` rad' or aversion mentioned in the next verse automatically proves their aversion here too. And in accordance with the rule of syntax, the apodosis or principal clause of the condition:إِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ (idha gila lahum: When it is said to them) remains elided. The word of the next verse (46) bear witness to this elision, that is, whenever a verse or sign from their Lord comes to them, they show nothing but their aversion to it. (And that is why the words "they pay no heed" are added in brackets in the translation of this verse above.)

The wisdom behind some people receiving their sustenance indirectly

In the second dialogue, believers exhort the disbelievers to help the poor and needy and feed the hungry and prompt them to give to the destitute from what Allah had given to them. In their sarcastic response, the disbelievers say: You say that Allah is the provider and sustainer of the entire creation, yet He did not give them anything. Why should we? As for your words of advice to us that we should provide for them, this is nothing but that you have gone astray. Do you want to make us their Razzaq: Provider? These disbelievers too confessed that Allah Ta’ ala was the Provider as in the Qur'an: وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُم مَّن نَّزَّلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَحْيَا بِهِ الْأَرْ‌ضَ مِن بَعْدِ مَوْتِهَا لَيَقُولُنَّ اللَّـهُ (And if you ask them "as to who sends down water from the sky, then revives the land with it, they will certainly say, "Allah". - Al-Ankabut, 29:63)

This tells us that they too regarded Allah Ta’ ala as the ultimate Razzaq or Provider, but when in confrontation with believers, they sarcastically remarked: When Allah is the Razzaq, the Provider, let Him provide for them too - why should we? This was as if these dim-witted people thought that giving in the way of Allah and providing for the poor was contrary to Allah's attribute in being the Master-Provider of all sustenance! They just did not understand that as the absolute Giver and Provider, He has His own wise law operating in this world. By giving to one person, He makes that person a conduit for others and thus gives them indirectly - although, he is perfectly and certainly capable of having everyone's sustenance delivered personally and directly, as is the case with animals and insects where everyone in that kingdom receives sustenance directly. There is no one rich and no one, poor. No one gives to anyone. Everyone dines from nature's own food spread. But, human beings are different. It is to make their system of social living just and to inculcate in them the spirit of mutual help and cooperation, that He makes some of them the medium of delivering sustenance to some others, so that the one who spends gets its reward, and the one who receives becomes grateful to the giver. The reason is that this whole phenomenon of mutual human cooperation and help on which depends the entire functional order of the world can survive only when one person needs the other. A poor person needs the money a rich person has, and a rich person needs the labor of a poor person. Neither of the two is free of the need for the other - and a little reflection would reveal that nobody is doing a favor to anybody. Whatever a person gives to the other person gives, in the ultimate analysis, in one's own interest and for one's own good.

Now, there remains the question: On which basis, did the believers ask the disbelievers to spend in the way of Allah, particularly when they simply did not have the very faith in Allah and, as the jurists maintain, they were no addressees of the subsidiary injunctions of the Shari` ah? The answer to that is clear. When the believers said that, they had no intention to have disbelievers implement some religious injunction, it was said on the basis of the accepted norm of human good will, sympathy and gentleness.