Jonah (Yunus)
Verses 53-56 GROUP_386 10.53-56
53
وَيَسْتَنبِئُونَكَ أَحَقٌّ هُوَ قُلْ إِي وَرَبِّي إِنَّهُ لَحَقٌّ وَمَا أَنتُمْ بِمُعْجِزِينَ
They enquire of you if this will really happen. Tell them, ‘Yes, by my Lord. Most certainly it will happen, and you cannot avert it.’
54
وَلَوْ أَنَّ لِكُلِّ نَفْسٍ ظَلَمَتْ مَا فِي الأَرْضِ لاَفْتَدَتْ بِهِ وَأَسَرُّواْ النَّدَامَةَ لَمَّا رَأَوُاْ الْعَذَابَ وَقُضِيَ بَيْنَهُم بِالْقِسْطِ وَهُمْ لاَ يُظْلَمُونَ
If every wrongdoer possessed all that was on the earth, he would seek to ransom himself with it: when they see the punishment, they will repent in secret. But judgement will be passed upon them in all fairness, and they will not be wronged.
55
أَلا إِنَّ لِلّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ أَلاَ إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللّهِ حَقٌّ وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ
Assuredly, everything that is in the heavens and on the earth belongs to God. Assuredly, God’s promise is true. Yet most of them do not realize it.
56
هُوَ يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
He gives life and brings about death, and to Him you shall all return.
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Commentary
(a) The Prophet Muhammad told the Arab people that if they did not reform themselves, they would be set upon by the punishment of the Hereafter. In answer to that they started ridiculing his warning. This does not mean that they were not believers in the Hereafter. In fact, they were not disregarding the fact of the Hereafter itself, but rather dismissing the Prophet Muhammad’s warning as valueless. At that time the greatness of the Prophet Muhammad had not yet come to be recognised. In the eyes of his addressees, he appeared to be in the shape of an ‘ordinary’ human being. They failed to understand how they would be liable for God’s punishment on rejecting this ‘ordinary’ man’s words. They were doubtful of his being the representative of God and the Hereafter. This comparison was not between acceptance of the Hereafter and denial of the Hereafter but between the religion of a celebrated personality and the religion of an insignificant personality. They allied themselves with the established great ones of the past. They considered themselves to be following the religion of the recognised personalities. As against the recognised personalities of the past, when they saw their contemporary Prophet, he appeared to be an ordinary human being. They were not able to understand that their association with those great personalities would not be sufficient for their salvation and that it would be necessary for them to associate themselves with that person who was not apparently vested with greatness. This was the psychology which emboldened them to ridicule the Prophet Muhammad. (a) Man is a sensitive being. He cannot bear trouble. As long as he is not confronted with retribution, he ridicules the Truth; he spurns it with unconcern. But when the retribution of the Hereafter is before him, he will be stricken with such terror that everything will appear insignificant to him. Even if he possessed the wealth of the entire world and all the bounties of the world, all that will appear so valueless to him seeing the punishment before him that he will fervently desire that he should be relieved of that chastisement in exchange for all the bounties. But the issue in the Hereafter is not that of bargaining. It is the question of facing the consequences for the deeds performed. It is an essential part of God’s plan regarding life and death. It is the demand of Divine Justice that it should happen; and God’s omnipotence is the sure guarantee that it will take place. The seeming delay in the occurrence of this is only due to having to await that appointed hour, when the period of the present test will be over, and all human beings will be presented before God to face their final fate.