54:43 Al-Qamar (The Moon)

{ أَكُفَّارُكُمْ خَيْرٌ مِنْ أُولَئِكُمْ } أي: هؤلاء الذين كذبوا أفضل الرسل، خير من أولئك المكذبين، الذين ذكر الله هلاكهم وما جرى عليهم؟ فإن كانوا خيرا منهم، أمكن أن ينجوا من العذاب، ولم يصبهم ما أصاب أولئك الأشرار، وليس الأمر كذلك، فإنهم إن لم يكونوا شرا منهم، فليسوا بخير منهم، { أَمْ لَكُمْ بَرَاءَةٌ فِي الزُّبُرِ } أي: أم أعطاكم الله عهدا وميثاقا في الكتب التي أنزلها على الأنبياء، فتعتقدون حينئذ أنكم الناجون بإخبار الله ووعده؟ وهذا غير واقع، بل غير ممكن عقلا وشرعا، أن تكتب براءتهم في الكتب الإلهية المتضمنة للعدل والحكمة، فليس من الحكمة نجاة أمثال هؤلاء المعاندين المكذبين، لأفضل الرسل وأكرمهم على الله، فلم يبق إلا أن يكون بهم قوة ينتصرون بها،

ثم قال تعالى "أكفاركم" أي أيها المشركون من كفار قريش "خير من أولئكم" يعني من الذين تقدم ذكرهم ممن أهلكوا بسبب تكذيبهم الرسل وكفرهم بالكتب أأنتم خير من أولئكم؟ "أم لكم براءة في الزبر" أي أم معكم من الله براءة أن لا ينالكم عذاب ولا نكال؟.

The Story of Fir`awn and His People

Allah the Exalted narrates to us the story of Fir`awn and his people. A Messenger came to them from Allah, Musa supported by his brother Harun. Their Messengers delivered good news if they believe, and a warning if they rejected the Message. Allah supported Musa and Harun with tremendous miracles and great signs, but Fir`awn and his people rejected all of them. Allah took them the way the All-Mighty, the All-Capable would; He destroyed them all leaving none surviving to tell the story of what happened to them. Advising and Threatening the Quraysh Allah said,

أَكُفَّـرُكُمْ

(Are your disbelievers) meaning, `O idolators of the Quraysh,'

خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أُوْلَـئِكُمْ

(better than these) meaning better than the nations that were mentioned here, who were destroyed on account of their disbelief in the Messengers and rejecting the Scriptures. `Are you better than these'

أَمْ لَكُم بَرَآءَةٌ فِى الزُّبُرِ

(Or have you immunity in the Divine Scriptures), `do you have immunity from Allah that the torment and punishment will not touch you' Allah said about the Quraysh,

أَمْ يَقُولُونَ نَحْنُ جَمِيعٌ مُّنتَصِرٌ

(Or say they: "We are a great multitude, victorious") stating that they believed they will support each other and their great gathering will avail them against those who intend to harm them. Allah the Exalted responded,

سَيُهْزَمُ الْجَمْعُ وَيُوَلُّونَ الدُّبُرَ

(Their multitude will be put to flight, and they will show their backs.) affirming that their gathering shall scatter, and they shall be defeated. Al-Bukhari recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, "The Prophet , while in a dome-shaped tent on the day of the battle of Badr, said,

«أَنْشُدُكَ عَهْدَكَ وَوَعْدَكَ، اللْهُمَّ إِنْ شِئْتَ لَمْ تُعْبَدْ بَعْدَ الْيَوْمِ فِي الْأَرْضِ أَبَدًا»

(O Allah! I ask you for the fulfillment of Your covenant and promise. O Allah! If You wish (to destroy the believers), You will never be worshipped on the earth after today.) Abu Bakr caught him by the hand and said, `This is sufficient, O Allah's Messenger! You have sufficiently asked and petitioned Allah.' The Prophet was clad in his armor at that time and went out, saying,

سَيُهْزَمُ الْجَمْعُ وَيُوَلُّونَ الدُّبُرَ - بَلِ السَّاعَةُ مَوْعِدُهُمْ وَالسَّاعَةُ أَدْهَى وَأَمَرُّ

(Their multitude will be put to flight and they will show their backs. Nay, but the Hour is their appointed time and that Hour will be more grievous and more bitter.)" Al-Bukhari also recorded that Yusuf bin Mahak said, "I was with the Mother of the faithful, `A'ishah, when she said, `When I was still a young playful girl in Makkah, this Ayah was revealed to Muhammad ﷺ,

بَلِ السَّاعَةُ مَوْعِدُهُمْ وَالسَّاعَةُ أَدْهَى وَأَمَرُّ

(Nay, but the Hour is their appointed time and that Hour will be more grievous and more bitter.)" This is the abridged narration that Al-Bukhari collected, but he also collected a longer narration of it in the Book of the Virtues of the Qur'an. Muslim did not collect this Hadith.

إِنَّ الْمُجْرِمِينَ فِى ضَلَـلٍ وَسُعُرٍ - يَوْمَ يُسْحَبُونَ فِى النَّارِ عَلَى وُجُوهِهِمْ ذُوقُواْ مَسَّ سَقَرَ

Are your disbelievers O Quraysh better than those? mentioned beginning from the people of Noah to those of Pharaoh which is why they have not been chastised? Or have you O disbelievers of Quraysh been granted some immunity from chastisement in the Scriptures? the Books? the interrogative in both instances is meant as a denial in other words it is not so.

Lexicological analysis

The word زُبُر zubur (in verse 43) is the plural of zabur, which stands for any written book. It specifically refers to the Scripture that was revealed to Prophet Dawud (علیہ السلام) .

أَدْهَىٰ وَأَمَرُّ‌ (...more calamitous and more bitter...54:46). The word adha means more or most calamitous. The word amarr is derived from murr which originally means 'bitter'. By extension anything 'difficult' or 'painful' is also referred to as amarr and murr. In the phrase فِي ضَلَالٍ وَسُعُرٍ‌ fi dalalin wa su'ur, dalal, as is known, means 'error' or 'deviation' and the word su'ur in the present context means the 'Hell-Fire1.' In the phrase ashya'akum, (verse 51) ashya` is the plural of shi'ah, and it means a 'follower', that is, those who follow their pattern of life.

(1). This is according to one interpretation. The other meaning of the word is 'madness' and the translation in the text is based on this meaning. (Muhammad Taqi Usmani

In the phrase مَقْعَدِ صِدْقٍ maq` adi-sidqin, the word maq'ad means 'seat' and the word sidq means 'truth' and implies the 'seat of truth' where there will be no idle and obscene talks.