The Cattle (Al-An‘am)
Verses 63-67 GROUP_217 6.63-67
63
قُلْ مَن يُنَجِّيكُم مِّن ظُلُمَاتِ الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ تَدْعُونَهُ تَضَرُّعاً وَخُفْيَةً لَّئِنْ أَنجَانَا مِنْ هَـذِهِ لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ
Say, ‘Who is it who delivers you from the dark depths of land and sea when you call out to Him humbly and in secret, saying, “If He rescues us from this, we shall most certainly be among the grateful.”?’
64
قُلِ اللّهُ يُنَجِّيكُم مِّنْهَا وَمِن كُلِّ كَرْبٍ ثُمَّ أَنتُمْ تُشْرِكُونَ
Say, ‘It is God who delivers you from it and from every other distress, yet you associate partners with Him.’
65
قُلْ هُوَ الْقَادِرُ عَلَى أَن يَبْعَثَ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابًا مِّن فَوْقِكُمْ أَوْ مِن تَحْتِ أَرْجُلِكُمْ أَوْ يَلْبِسَكُمْ شِيَعاً وَيُذِيقَ بَعْضَكُم بَأْسَ بَعْضٍ انظُرْ كَيْفَ نُصَرِّفُ الآيَاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَفْقَهُونَ
Say, ‘He has the power to send punishment on you from above your heads or from beneath your feet, or to divide you in sects and make you taste one another’s violence.’ See how We explain Our revelations in various ways, so that they may understand.
66
وَكَذَّبَ بِهِ قَوْمُكَ وَهُوَ الْحَقُّ قُل لَّسْتُ عَلَيْكُم بِوَكِيلٍ
Your people have rejected the message We have sent through you, though it is the truth. Say ‘I am not your keeper.
67
لِّكُلِّ نَبَإٍ مُّسْتَقَرٌّ وَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ
Every prophecy has its fixed time to be fulfilled: and soon you will come to know.’
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) No other living creature in this world faces so many troubles as human beings do. This is so, because man is intended to be subjected to adverse conditions so that all artificial, unreal thoughts are driven out of his mind, and he is able to see his own true nature. The fact is that whenever a man confronts any major trouble, he starts single-mindedly calling upon God. At that time, all the man-made veils are swept away from his mind. He comes to realise that in this world man is completely humble and helpless, and it is God alone who has all the power. But as soon as his troubles are eased, he reverts to his usual neglect and recklessness and becomes the same man as he was earlier. (b) Basically, polytheism (shirk) is the reposing of one’s faith in some entity other than God, while monotheism is directing of man’s entire faith solely towards God. One form of polytheism is that which involves worship of deities and of other phenomena. But exhibiting ingratitude instead of gratitude is also ‘shirk’. The more common form of shirk is that whereby a man makes a deity of himself; he starts having faith only in himself. When a man proves to be vain, it is as if he has faith in his efforts alone. When a man considers his earnings as actually having been generated by him, he in fact has faith only in his own talents. When a man overlooks another’s right, he thinks that nobody can inflict any punishment on him for doing so. When a man dares to oppress another, he thinks that he has full powers over the wronged person and there is nobody to prevent him from doing whatever he likes to him. All these are forms of vanity and pride. And pride is—before God— the worst type of shirk, because indulging in this amounts to placing oneself in the position of God.