Period of Revelation
The subject matter and the style bear full resemblance with the Suras of the middle
Makkan period and this is supported by traditions as well. According to Ibn Abbas and
Jabir bin Zaid
First the Sura AshShuaraawas sent down
then the Sura An Naml and then Al-Qasas.
Theme and Topics
The Sura consists of two discourses
the first from the beginning of the Sura to the end of verse 58
and the second from verse 59 to the end of the Sura. The theme of the first discourse is
that only those people can benefit from the guidance of the Quran and become worthy
of the good promises made in it
who accept the realities which this Book presents as the basic realities of the universe
and then follow up their belief with obedience and submission in their practical lives as
well. But the greatest hindrance for man to follow this way is the denial of the Hereafter.
For it makes him irresponsible
selfish and given to worldly life
which in turn makes it impossible for him to submit himself before God and to accept
the moral restrictions on his lusts and desires. After this introduction three types of
character have been presented. The first type Is characterised by Pharoah and the
chiefs of Thamud and the rebels of the people of Lot
who were all heedless of the accountability of the Hereafter and had consequently
become the slaves of the world. These people did not believe even after seeing the
miracles. Rather they turned against those who invited them to goodness and piety.
They persisted in their evil ways which are held in abhorrence by every sensible
person. They did not heed the admonition even until a moment before they were
overtaken by the scourge of Allah. The second type of character is of the Prophet
Solomon (peace be upon him)
who had been blessed by God with wealth and kingdom and grandeur to an extent
undreamt of by the chiefs of the disbelievers of Makkah. But
since he regarded himself as answerable before God and had the feeling that whatever
he had was only due to Allah's bounty
he had adopted the attitude of obediance before Him and there was no tinge of vanity
in his character. The third type is of the queen of Sheba
who ruled over a most wealthy and well known people in the history of Arabia. She
possessed all those means of life
which could cause a person to become vain and conceited. Her wealth and
possessions far exceeded the wealth and posses- sions of the Quraish. Then she
professed shirk
which was not only an ancestral way of life with her
but she had to follow it in order to maintain her position as a ruler. Therefore
it was much more difficult for her to give up shirkand adopt the way of tauhidthan it
could be for a common mushrik. But when the Truth became evident to her
nothing could stop her from accepting it. Her deviation was
in fact
due to her being born and brought up in a polytheistic environment and not because of
her being a slave to her lusts and desires. Her conscience was not devoid of the sense
of accountability before God. In the second discourse
at the outset
attention has been drawn to some of the most glaring and visible realities of the
universe
and the disbelievers of Makkah have been asked one question after the other to the
effect : "Do these realities testify to the creed of shirkwhich you are following
or to the truth of tauhidto which the Qur'an invites you?" After this the real malady of the
disbelievers has been pointed out
saying
The thing which has blinded them and made them insensitive to every glaring reality is
their denial of the Hereafter. This same thing has rendered every matter and affair of
life non-serious for them. For
when according to them
everything has to become dust ultimately
and the whole struggle of life is purposeless and without an object before it
the truth and falsehood are equal and alike. Therefore
the question whether one's system of life is based on the right or wrong foundations
becomes meaningless for him.
But the discourse
as outlined above
is not meant to dissuade the Prophet and the Muslims from calling the obdurate and
heedless people to the way of tauhid; it is
in fact
intended to arouse them from their slumber. That is why in vv. 67-93 certain things have
been said repeatedly in order to produce in the people a sense of the Hereafter, to warn
them of the consequences of being heedless of it, and to convince them of its coining,
like an eye witness of something, who convinces the other person of it, who has not
seen it.
In conclusion, the real invitation of the Quran that is, the invitation to serve One Allah
alone, has been presented in a concise but forceful manner, and the people warned
that accepting it would be to their own advantage and rejecting it to their own
disadvantage. For if they deferred their faith until they saw those Signs of God after the
appearance of which they would be left with no choice but to believe and submit, they
should bear in mind the fact that that would be the time of judgement and believing then
would be of no avail.
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