67:23 Al-Mulk (The Sovereignty)

يقول تعالى - مبينًا أنه المعبود وحده، وداعيًا عباده إلى شكره، وإفراده بالعبادة-: { قُلْ هُوَ الَّذِي أَنْشَأَكُمْ } أي: أوجدكم من العدم، من غير معاون له ولا مظاهر، ولما أنشأكم، كمل لكم الوجود بالسمع والأبصار والأفئدة، التي هي أنفع أعضاء البدن وأكمل القوى الجسمانية، ولكنه مع هذا الإنعام { قَلِيلًا مَا تَشْكُرُونَ } الله، قليل منكم الشاكر، وقليل منكم الشكر.

وقوله تعالى "قل هو الذي أنشأكم" أي ابتدأ خلقكم بعد أن لم تكونوا شيئا مذكورا "وجعل لكم السمع والأبصار والأفئدة" أي العقول والإدراك "قليلا ما تشكرون" أي قلما تستعملون هذه القوى التي أنعم الله بها عليكم في طاعته وامتثال أوامره وترك زواجره.

No One will help You and No One can grant Sustenance except for Allah

Allah addresses the idolators who worship others besides Him, seeking help and sustenance from them. Allah rebukes them for what they believe, and He informs them that they will not attain that which they hope for. Allah says,

أَمَّنْ هَـذَا الَّذِى هُوَ جُندٌ لَّكُمْ يَنصُرُكُمْ مِّن دُونِ الرَّحْمَـنِ

(Who is it besides the Most Gracious that can be an army to you to help) imeaning, there is no protector or helper for you besides Him. This is the reason that Allah says,

إِنِ الْكَـفِرُونَ إِلاَّ فِى غُرُورٍ

(The disbelievers are in nothing but delusion.) Then Allah says,

أَمَّنْ هَـذَا الَّذِى يَرْزُقُكُمْ إِنْ أَمْسَكَ رِزْقَهُ

(Who is it that can provide for you if He should withhold His provision) meaning, who is it that can provide for you if Allah cuts off your sustenance There is no one who gives, withholds, creates, provides and helps other than Allah alone, Who has no partner. This proves that they know this, yet they still worship others besides Him. Thus, Allah says,

بَل لَّجُّواْ

(Nay, but they continue) meaning, they persist in their transgression, lying and misguidance.

فِى عُتُوٍّ وَنُفُورٍ

(to be in pride, and flee.) meaning, they continue in obstinance, arrogance and fleeing away from the truth. They do not listen to it nor do they follow it.

The Parable of the Disbeliever and the Believer

Then Allah says,

أَفَمَن يَمْشِى مُكِبّاً عَلَى وَجْهِهِ أَهْدَى أَمَّن يَمْشِى سَوِيّاً عَلَى صِرَطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ

(Is he who walks prone on his face, more rightly guided, or he who walks upright on a straight path) This is a parable which Allah made of the believer and the disbeliever. So the condition of the disbeliever is like one who walks prone on his face. This is like a person walking bent over on his face (with his head down) instead of walking upright. This person does not know where he is going or how. Rather, he is lost, astray and confused. Is this person more guided,

أَمَّن يَمْشِى سَوِيّاً

(or he who walks upright) meaning, he who stands erect.

عَلَى صِرَطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ

(on a straight path) meaning, this person who walks upright is on a clear path, and he is straight within himself while his path is straight as well. This is their likeness in this world, and their likeness will be the same in the Hereafter. So the believer will be gathered (on the Day of Judgement) walking upright upon the straight path and the vast and spacious Paradise will be opened up for him. However, the disbeliever will be gathered walking down on his face to the Hellfire.

احْشُرُواْ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ وَأَزْوَجَهُمْ وَمَا كَانُواْ يَعْبُدُونَ - مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ فَاهْدُوهُمْ إِلَى صِرَطِ الْجَحِيمِ

(Assemble those who did wrong, together with their companions and what they used to worship instead of Allah, and lead them on to the way of flaming Fire.) (37:22,23) "Companions" here means those like them. Imam Ahmad recorded from Anas bin Malik that it was said, "O Messenger of Allah! How will the people be gathered on their faces" So the Prophet replied,

«أَلَيْسَ الَّذِي أَمْشَاهُمْ عَلَى أَرْجُلِهِمْ قَادِرًا عَلَى أَنْ يُمْشِيَهُمْ عَلَى وُجُوهِهِم»

(Is not He who made them to walk on their legs able to make them walk on their faces") This Hadith is also recorded in the Two Sahihs.

Allah's Power to create and It being an Evidence of the Final Abode

Allah says,

قُلْ هُوَ الَّذِى أَنشَأَكُمْ

(Say it is He Who has created you,) meaning, He initiated your creation after you were not even a thing worth mentioning (i.e., nothing). Then He says,

وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْسَّمْعَ وَالاٌّبْصَـرَ وَالأَفْئِدَةَ

(and endowed you with hearing and seeing, and hearts.) meaning, intellects and powers of reasoning.

قَلِيلاً مَّا تَشْكُرُونَ

(Little thanks you give.) meaning, how little you use these abilities that Allah has blessed you with to obey Him, to act according to His commandments, and avoid His prohibitions.

قُلْ هُوَ الَّذِى ذَرَأَكُمْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ

(Say: "It is He Who has created you on the earth...") meaning, He has spread and distributed you all througout the various regions and areas of the earth with your differing languages, colors, shapes, appearances and forms.

وَإِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ

(and to Him shall you be gathered.) meaning, you all will come together after this separation and division. He will gather you all just as He separated you and He will bring you back again just as He originated you. Then while informing of the disbelievers who reject the final return, and doubt concerning its real occurrence, Allah said;

وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَى هَـذَا الْوَعْدُ إِن كُنتُمْ صَـدِقِينَ

(They say: "When will this promise come to pass if you are telling the truth") meaning, `when will this gathering after separation that you are informing us of, occur'

قُلْ إِنَّمَا الْعِلْمُ عِندَ اللَّهِ

(Say: "The knowledge is with Allah only...") meaning, `no one knows the time of the Day of Judgement exactly except Allah, but He has commanded me to inform you that it is real and it will definitely occur, so beware of it.'

وَإِنَّمَآ أَنَاْ نَذِيرٌ مُّبِينٌ

(and I am only a plain warner.) meaning, `I am only obligated to convey, and verily I have performed my duty (of conveying) towards you.' Then Allah says,

فَلَمَّا رَأَوْهُ زُلْفَةً سِيئَتْ وُجُوهُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ

(But when they will see it approaching, the faces of those who disbelieve will be sad and grievous.) means, when the Day of Judgement begins, and the disbelievers witness it, and they see that the matter has drawn close, because everything that is to occur will occur, even if it takes a long time. So, when what they denied occurs, it will grieve them because they will know what is awaiting them there (in Hell) of the worst evil. This means that it will surround them and Allah will command what they were not able to reckon or fully comprehend to come to them.

وَلَوْ أَنَّ لِلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ مَا فِى الاٌّرْضِ جَمِيعاً وَمِثْلَهُ مَعَهُ لاَفْتَدَوْاْ بِهِ مِن سُوءِ الْعَذَابِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَـمَةِ وَبَدَا لَهُمْ مِّنَ اللَّهِ مَا لَمْ يَكُونُواْ يَحْتَسِبُونَ - وَبَدَا لَهُمْ سَيِّئَاتُ مَا كَـسَبُواْ وَحَاقَ بِهِم مَّا كَانُواْ بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ

(and there will become apparent to them from Allah what they had not been reckoning. And the evils of that which they earned will become apparent to them, and that which they used to mock at will encircle them.) (39:47,48) This is why it will be said to them in order to scold and repri- mand them,

هَـذَا الَّذِى كُنتُم بِهِ تَدَّعُونَ

(This is what you were calling for!) meaning, that you were seeking to hasten.

Say ‘It is He Who created you and endowed you with hearing and sight and hearts. Little do you thank!’ mā tashkurūna mā is extra; the sentence itself is a new independent one informing of how extremely little they give thanks for these graces.

قُلْ هُوَ الَّذِي أَنشَأَكُمْ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ‌ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ ۖ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَشْكُرُ‌ونَ (Say, "He is the One who has originated you, and made for you the ears and the eyes and the hearts. How little you pay gratitude" ...67:23).

Specifying ears, eyes and Heart

Of all the human sense organs, only three are mentioned here on which depends knowledge and perception of the external world. Philosophers have identified five sources of knowledge and perception that are called 'five senses': to see, hear, smell, taste or feel something. Allah has equipped man with 'nose' to smell, with 'tongue' to taste, with 'ears' to hear and with 'eyes' to see; Allah has spread 'skin' throughout man's body to feel. But out of the five physical senses, only two have been mentioned, namely, ears and eyes, because man receives a very limited range of knowledge by smelling, tasting and feeling. Man depends for information largely on hearing and seeing. Of the two organs, his sense of hearing is mentioned first, because a careful analysis shows that most of the information gathered in human life is through hearing, not so much by seeing. The third organ mentioned specifically is the 'heart', because that is the centre of knowledge. Knowledge received through hearing and seeing depends on the human 'heart', unlike the theory of the philosophers and scientists who believe that the centre of knowledge is the human 'brain'.

After this, the non-believers are threatened with punishment. Towards the end of the Surah, a statement is once again repeated to remind them which purports to say: '0 you who live on the earth, dig wells and drink water from it to quench your thirst and grow plants and vegetation, do not forget that none of these things is your personal property. They are a Divine gift. He sent down water, and loaded it in the form of ice and reserved it on the peaks of mountains, so that it may not putrefy. Then He caused the congealed water to melt gradually and allow it to seep or soak into the earth through the pores or small interstices of the mountains and allowed a network of melted water to spread throughout the earth without any pipeline. Whenever man requires, he could dig a few meters deep into the earth from its upper surface to obtain water. This is a Divine gift. If He wills, He could send the water down into the depths of the earth, and it would not be accessible to anyone. This is the import of the following verse.