Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 10 Yunus, Ayat 41-53

وَاِنۡ كَذَّبُوۡكَ فَقُلْ لِّىۡ عَمَلِىۡ وَلَـكُمۡ عَمَلُكُمۡ​ۚ اَنۡـتُمۡ بَرِيۡٓـُٔوۡنَ مِمَّاۤ اَعۡمَلُ وَاَنَا بَرِىۡٓءٌ مِّمَّا تَعۡمَلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿10:41﴾ وَمِنۡهُمۡ مَّنۡ يَّسۡتَمِعُوۡنَ اِلَيۡكَ​ؕ اَفَاَنۡتَ تُسۡمِعُ الصُّمَّ وَلَوۡ كَانُوۡا لَا يَعۡقِلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿10:42﴾ وَمِنۡهُمۡ مَّنۡ يَّنۡظُرُ اِلَيۡكَ​ ؕ اَفَاَنۡتَ تَهۡدِى الۡعُمۡىَ وَ لَوۡ كَانُوۡا لَا يُبۡصِرُوۡنَ‏ ﴿10:43﴾ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ لَا يَظۡلِمُ النَّاسَ شَيۡـئًا وَّلٰـكِنَّ النَّاسَ اَنۡفُسَهُمۡ يَظۡلِمُوۡنَ‏ ﴿10:44﴾ وَيَوۡمَ يَحۡشُرُهُمۡ كَاَنۡ لَّمۡ يَلۡبَثُوۡۤا اِلَّا سَاعَةً مِّنَ النَّهَارِ يَتَعَارَفُوۡنَ بَيۡنَهُمۡ​ؕ قَدۡ خَسِرَ الَّذِيۡنَ كَذَّبُوۡا بِلِقَآءِ اللّٰهِ وَمَا كَانُوۡا مُهۡتَدِيۡنَ‏ ﴿10:45﴾ وَاِمَّا نُرِيَـنَّكَ بَعۡضَ الَّذِىۡ نَعِدُهُمۡ اَوۡ نَـتَوَفَّيَنَّكَ فَاِلَيۡنَا مَرۡجِعُهُمۡ ثُمَّ اللّٰهُ شَهِيۡدٌ عَلٰى مَا يَفۡعَلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿10:46﴾ وَلِكُلِّ اُمَّةٍ رَّسُوۡلٌ​ ۚ فَاِذَا جَآءَ رَسُوۡلُهُمۡ قُضِىَ بَيۡنَهُمۡ بِالۡقِسۡطِ وَهُمۡ لَا يُظۡلَمُوۡنَ‏ ﴿10:47﴾ وَيَقُوۡلُوۡنَ مَتٰى هٰذَا الۡوَعۡدُ اِنۡ كُنۡتُمۡ صٰدِقِيۡنَ‏ ﴿10:48﴾ قُلْ لَّاۤ اَمۡلِكُ لِنَفۡسِىۡ ضَرًّا وَّلَا نَفۡعًا اِلَّا مَا شَآءَ اللّٰهُؕ لِكُلِّ اُمَّةٍ اَجَلٌ​ؕ اِذَا جَآءَ اَجَلُهُمۡ فَلَا يَسۡتَـاخِرُوۡنَ سَاعَةً​ وَّلَا يَسۡتَقۡدِمُوۡنَ‏ ﴿10:49﴾ قُلۡ اَرَءَيۡتُمۡ اِنۡ اَتٰٮكُمۡ عَذَابُهٗ بَيَاتًا اَوۡ نَهَارًا مَّاذَا يَسۡتَعۡجِلُ مِنۡهُ الۡمُجۡرِمُوۡنَ‏ ﴿10:50﴾ اَثُمَّ اِذَا مَا وَقَعَ اٰمَنۡتُمۡ بِهٖؕ اٰۤلْـٴٰـنَ وَقَدۡ كُنۡتُمۡ بِهٖ تَسۡتَعۡجِلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿10:51﴾ ثُمَّ قِيۡلَ لِلَّذِيۡنَ ظَلَمُوۡا ذُوۡقُوۡا عَذَابَ الۡخُـلۡدِ​ۚ هَلۡ تُجۡزَوۡنَ اِلَّا بِمَا كُنۡتُمۡ تَكۡسِبُوۡنَ‏ ﴿10:52﴾ وَيَسۡتَنۡۢبِـُٔوۡنَكَ اَحَقٌّ هُوَ​ ؕ قُلۡ اِىۡ وَرَبِّىۡۤ اِنَّهٗ لَحَقٌّ ​ؕ وَمَاۤ اَنۡتُمۡ بِمُعۡجِزِيۡنَ‏ ﴿10:53﴾

(10:41) And if they reject you as false, tell them: 'My deeds are for myself and your deeds for yourselves. You will not be held responsible for my deeds, nor I for your deeds.49 (10:42) Of them some seem to give heed to you; will you, then, make the deaf hear even though they understand nothing?50 (10:43) And of them some look towards you; will you, then, guide the blind, even though they can see nothing?51 (10:44) Surely Allah does not wrong men; they rather wrong themselves.52 (10:45) (But today they are oblivious of everything except enjoyment of worldly life.) And on the Day when He will muster all men together, they will feel as though they had been in the world no more than an hour of the day to get acquainted with one another.53 (It will then become evident that) those who called the lie to meeting with Allah54 were utter losers and were not rightly-directed. (10:46) Whether We let you see (during your lifetime) some of the chastisement with which We threaten them, or We call you unto Us (before the chastisement strikes them), in any case they are bound to return to Us. Allah is witness to all what they do. (10:47) A Messenger is sent to every people;55 and when their Messenger comes, the fate of that people is decided with full justice; they are subjected to no wrong.56 (10:48) They say:'If what you promise is true, when will this threat be fulfilled?' (10:49) Tell them: 'I have no power to harm or benefit even myself, except what Allah may will.57 There is an appointed term for every people; and when the end of their term comes, neither can they put it off for an hour, nor can they bring it an hour before.58 (10:50) Tell them: 'Did you consider (what you would do) were His chastisement to fall upon you suddenly by night or by day? So why are the culprits seeking to hasten its coming? (10:51) Is it only when this chastisement has actually overtaken you that you will believe in it? (And when the chastisement will surprise you), you will try to get away from it, although it is you who had sought to hasten its coming.' (10:52) The wrong-doers will then be told: 'Suffer now the abiding chastisement. How else can you be rewarded except according to your deeds?' (10:53) They ask you if what you say is true? Tell them: 'Yes, by my Lord, this is altogether true, and you have no power to prevent the chastisement from befalling.'

Notes

49. This is to say, I don’t want to enter into useless discussions and disputes with you on this score. If I am an impostor, I alone shall bear the consequences for it; and if you are rejecting the truth, you are not doing any harm to me but only to yourselves.

50. Though this and the succeeding verse have been addressed to the Prophet (peace be upon him), these are meant to reprove those people who were not paying attention to the Message. For they only heard the sounds of the words he spoke to them, just as the animals hear the sound of the words, but pay no attention to understand what is said to them. This was because they were prejudiced against him and had already decided that they would not acknowledge anything, however, reasonable that may be, if it went against the creeds and ways they had inherited, and against their own desires, lusts, and interests. Likewise those people who live like animals hear the sounds of his words, but pay no attention to their meaning for they are not interested in anything other than eating, drinking and making merry. They are so engaged in and intoxicated with the gratification of their lusts that they never bother to find out whether what they are doing is right or wrong. All such people are deaf to the Message, though they might have ears for other things.

51. Here again they may be likened to animals which see with their eyes but cannot perceive anything beyond what appears on the surface. Likewise those people saw the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions, but did not perceive their pure life for they did not have the true vision to see the wonderful change that was coming in the lives of those who had listened to and accepted the Message.

As has been pointed out in (E.N. 50), though these verses were addressed to the Prophet (peace be upon him), they were really meant to reprove and admonish the disbelievers in a subtle manner so as to arouse their dormant faculties of hearing and seeing and open these for the reception and acceptance of the rational and sympathetic Message. In order to understand the wisdom of this indirect method of admonition, let us take the example of two righteous friends. One of them who lived among corrupt people did his very best to convey the righteous message both by precept and by practice. He set the model of the highest moral conduct and character before them, and urged them in a sincere and sympathetic manner to consider their own moral condition, and admonished them in a very sincere and rational manner to make them realize that they were living in a very corrupt moral state, and advised them to adopt the right way of life. But none of them would pay any attention to his admonition nor learn any lesson from his pure life. Suppose his friend came there at that time and said: Why are you giving advice to these deaf people and showing the way to these blind ones, who have no ears for good things and no eyes for the right way? It is obvious that these words would not have been uttered by way of dissuading the first friend from doing his reform work but for arousing the dormant faculties of the corrupt people by this subtle indirect method.

52. “Allah does not wrong mankind” because He gives them ears to hear, eyes to see and hearts to feel and ponder, and everything that is required to enable them to discriminate between right and wrong, truth and falsehood. But it is “But mankind wrong themselves” by refusing to make the right and proper use of their faculties and by following their lusts and enjoying the things of this world. Naturally this has made their eyes so blind and their ears so deaf and their hearts so dead that they are incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong, good and bad, for their conscience has also become dead.

53. That is, when they will enter the Hereafter and contrast its eternal life with the transitory life they lived in this world, they will realize that their past life was nothing in comparison with the eternal future life of the Hereafter. Then they will see clearly that it was a big folly to spoil the eternal life for the sake of transitory joys and paltry gains of the world.

54. They were losers because they forgot that one day they would have to present themselves before Allah and as a result of this disbelief they committed evil deeds.

55. Here the word ummat does not merely mean a nation or a community but includes all those people whom the message of a Messenger reaches after his appointment, even though he may not be alive among them. More than this: as long as his teachings remain intact and within the reach of everyone to ascertain what they really are, all such people will be treated and judged as his ummat and their cases decided with justice in accordance with (Ayat 47). According to this standard, all the people of the world are the ummat of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and will remain so, as long as the Quran continues to be published in its original and complete form as today. That is why it has not been said, “There is a Messenger in every ummat” but “There is a Messenger for every ummat.”

56. That is, when the message of a Messenger reaches a people, they should know that henceforth they are on trial and that no excuse would be accepted that they were ignorant of it. Then judgment is passed on them with scrupulous justice. Those, who accept the message and mend their way in accordance with it, are declared to be worthy of Allah’s blessings, and those who reject it are doomed to a torment that may be inflicted both in this world and in the next world or only in the Hereafter.

57. This is to say, I never said that I will sit in judgment on you and inflict torment on those who do not believe in me. Therefore, I am not in a position to tell when the threat will be made good. As the threat has been held out by Allah, He will pass His judgment on you when He wills, and in whatever way He wills, for everything depends on His will.

58. That is, Allah passes His judgment on individuals and communities after the expiry of the term that He Himself has set and He alone knows how long it lasts for a community. He is not hasty in giving rewards or punishments. When He sends His Messenger to deliver His Message, He allows sufficient time to each individual and to each community to consider it and ponder over it and mend his (or its) way, during the appointed term. The period of the term may extend to centuries in the case of a community and He knows best how long it should be.

When that term, which is based on justice, expires, and that person or community does not repent of its rebellious conduct, then Allah passes His judgment. When the time of the judgment comes, it is neither advanced nor delayed even by a single hour.