Women (Al-Nisa’) النساء 131–134
131
وَللّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الأَرْضِ وَلَقَدْ وَصَّيْنَا الَّذِينَ أُوتُواْ الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ أَنِ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَإِن تَكْفُرُواْ فَإِنَّ لِلّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الأَرْضِ وَكَانَ اللّهُ غَنِيًّا حَمِيدًا
All that the heavens and the earth contain belongs to God. We have commanded those who were given the Scripture before you, and We command you to fear God. If you deny Him, know that all that the heavens and the earth contain belongs to God. God is self-sufficient and praiseworthy.
132
وَلِلّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الأَرْضِ وَكَفَى بِاللّهِ وَكِيلاً
All that the heavens and the earth contain belongs to God; and none is as worthy of trust as God.
133
إِن يَشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُمْ أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ وَيَأْتِ بِآخَرِينَ وَكَانَ اللّهُ عَلَى ذَلِكَ قَدِيرًا
If He wanted, He could remove you altogether and replace you with other people: He has the full power to do so.
134
مَّن كَانَ يُرِيدُ ثَوَابَ الدُّنْيَا فَعِندَ اللّهِ ثَوَابُ الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةِ وَكَانَ اللّهُ سَمِيعًا بَصِيرًا
If one desires the rewards of this world [let him remember that] with God are the rewards of [both] this world and the life to come: and God is indeed all hearing,all seeing.
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
(a) The virtuous life that a believer is expected to live is possible only when he has become a God-worshipper in his very heart and soul. Discovering God as the Lord of the universe; fearing and trusting God alone; diverting one’s full attention to the Hereafter—these are the things which enable man to lead a godly life, as desired by God, in this world. This is the life which will make him successful in the life to come. That is why these were the things most focussed on in the teachings of the prophets. ( a) The present world is a world of trial. Here everyone is being tested to find out who is good and who is bad. To serve this purpose the present world has been built to provide for every kind of freedom. In this world one even has the liberty to label one’s misdeeds as good deeds. Here people have every opportunity to be involved in all kinds of sinful acts, yet pass themselves off as pious people. Here people find beautiful words to justify themselves. Here it is possible to refute an open truth and find a beautiful explanation to justify its denial. Here it is possible for one to build his life on honour-seeking, popularity, hoarding, self-interest, expediency, self-glorification, and yet succeed in convincing others that he is engaged in the genuine cause of truth. Here it is possible for a person to exploit God’s religion for the achievement of his worldly and material purposes, and yet continue to flourish in this world. Here it is possible to abandon what is lawful in favour of what is unlawful; to take the path of tyranny instead of justice, and yet go scot free. In all these instances, if man wanted, he could bind himself either to truth and justice or to injustice and haughtiness. The truth is that, of all the aspects of man’s relationship with God, what is of most importance is whether man fears God or not. Because it is fear of God which enables the individual to lead a responsible life. Without the fear of God, there is nothing to check one from following the path of evil. This is particularly true in a world where evil can be couched in beautiful words to mislead the people; in a world where great personal advancement can be achieved on the basis of injustice; where every tyrant finds fine words to hide his tyranny.