46:28 Al-Ahqaf (The Dunes)

فلما لم يؤمنوا أخذهم الله أخذ عزيز مقتدر ولم تنفعهم آلهتهم التي يدعون من دون الله من شيء ولهذا قال هنا: { فَلَوْلَا نَصَرَهُمُ الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ قُرْبَانًا آلِهَةً } أي: يتقربون إليهم ويتألهونهم لرجاء نفعهم.{ بَلْ ضَلُّوا عَنْهُمْ } فلم يجيبوهم ولا دفعوا عنهم، { وَذَلِكَ إِفْكُهُمْ وَمَا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ } من الكذب الذي يمنون به أنفسهم حيث يزعمون أنهم على الحق وأن أعمالهم ستنفعهم فضلت وبطلت.

"فلولا نصرهم الذين اتخذوا من دون الله قربانا آلهة" أي فهل نصروهم عند احتياجهم إليهم؟ بل ضلوا عنهم أي بل ذهبوا عنهم أحوج ما كانوا إليهم "وذلك إفكهم" أي كذبهم "وما كانوا يفترون" أي وافتراؤهم في اتخاذهم إياهم آلهة وقد خابوا وخسروا في عبادتهم لها واعتمادهم عليها والله أعلم.

وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُمْ سَمْعاً وَأَبْصَـراً وَأَفْئِدَةً فَمَآ أَغْنَى عَنْهُمْ سَمْعُهُمْ وَلاَ أَبْصَـرُهُمْ وَلاَ أَفْئِدَتُهُمْ مِّن شَىْءٍ إِذْ كَانُواْ يَجْحَدُونَ بِـَايَـتِ اللَّهِ وَحَاقَ بِهم مَّا كَانُواْ بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ

(We also gave them hearing, vision, and hearts. But their hearing, vision, and hearts availed them nothing when they used to deny Allah's signs, and they were completely encircled by that which they used to ridicule!) meaning, they were encircled by the torment and exemplary punishment that they denied and whose occurrence they doubted. This means, you listeners must beware of being like them lest a punishment similar to theirs strikes you in this life and the Hereafter. Allah then says,

وَلَقَدْ أَهْلَكْنَا مَا حَوْلَكُمْ مِّنَ الْقُرَى

(And indeed We have destroyed towns round about you, ) This is addressed to the people of Makkah. Allah destroyed the nations who disbelieved in the Messengers who lived around Makkah, such as `Ad who were at Al-Ahqaf in Hadramawt near Yemen, Thamud whose dwellings were between Makkah and Ash-Sham (Greater Syria), Saba' who were in Yemen, the people of Madyan who were on the route and passage to Ghazzah (Western Palestine), and the people of Lut who dwelt by the lake (the Dead Sea) which they used to pass by (on the way to Jordan) as well. Allah then says,

وَصَرَّفْنَا الاٌّيَـتِ

(and We have shown (them) the signs in various ways) meaning, `We explained and clarified them.'

لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَفَلَوْلاَ نَصَرَهُمُ الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُواْ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ قُرْبَاناً ءَالِهَةَ

(so that perhaps they might return. As for those whom they had taken for gods besides Allah, as the means of approach to Him, why then did they not aid them) meaning, did they help them when they were in the greatest need for them

بَلْ ضَلُّواْ عَنْهُمْ

(but they vanished completely from them.) Rather, they completely left them alone when they needed them the most.

وَذَلِكَ إِفْكُهُمْ

(And that was their falsehood, ) meaning, their lie.

وَمَا كَانُواْ يَفْتَرُونَ

(and what they were fabricating.) which means that they fabricated lies by taking them as gods, and they lost and failed in their worship of them and their reliance upon them -- and Allah knows best.

So why did they not help them by averting from them the chastisement those whom they had chosen besides God that is to say other than Him as a means of nearness through whom they may secure nearness to God to be gods? alongside Him and these are the idols the first object of ittakhadhū ‘they had chosen’ is the omitted pronoun referred to by the relative clause alladhīna ‘those who …’ and it is hum ‘they’; qurbānan ‘nearness’ is the second object with ālihatan ‘gods’ as its substitution. Nay but they forsook them when the chastisement came down on them and that that is to say that choosing of theirs of idols as gods as a means of nearness to God was their lie and what they used to invent — the lies they used to speak mā ‘what’ either relates to the verbal action ‘their lying’ or it indicates a relative clause with the referential pronoun omitted this being fīhi ‘about’.

{ 1} The reference here is to the towns of Thamud and the people of Sayyidna Lut (علیہ السلام) that were in the way of the people of Arabia while they travelled to Syria. The people of ` Ad were in Yemen, towards South from Makkah, while the towns of Thamud and those of Sayyidna Lut (علیہ السلام) were towards North, hence the words, "around you"

Commentary

These verses are to remind the infidels of the severe punishments faced by earlier people who rejected the messengers sent to them. Special reference is made to ` Ad, the people of Sayyidna Hud (علیہ السلام) who has been described as their 'brother', firstly because he belonged to their tribe, and secondly because he was their well-wisher as a brother. Since this nation lived in valleys surrounded by long, curved sand dunes, called in Arabic Ahqaf , special reference is made to these dunes, so that one could find out their places, if he so wishes when traveling to their localities. It is mentioned in verse 22 that they themselves demanded Allah's punishment to be brought upon them. Then verse 24 states that the punishment was sent to them in the form of a cloud that appeared to be benign, and therefore they were happy to see it in the hope that it would bring rain to them, but in fact it contained the divine punishment in the form of a violent wind that destroyed everything, leaving nothing except their empty homes that remained as a sign for those who might learn a lesson. The detailed account of the story of ` Ad and Thamud has already been given in Surah Hud (11:50) for which volume 4, page 643 of this book may be consulted. Mention of these events in these verses is in the form of a brief reference, and in verse 26 the infidels of Makkah are reminded that those nations were much more powerful and well-established than the people of Makkah. Still, their power and strength was of no use to them against Allah's punishment. Moreover, verse 28 points out that the false gods believed by them to be their patrons could not save them from the torment they faced, because they were coined only by their false imagination, having no real existence at all.