50. This question has been posed as a proof of the main theme of the Surah. It is meant to remove their misconception of success, welfare and prosperity, which the disbelievers had formed to delude themselves. According to them, the one, who enjoyed the good things of life and wielded power and influence in the society, had attained success. On the other hand, the he who was deprived of these things was a failure. This misconception had involved them in another serious misunderstanding. They thought that the one who had attained success was in the right, and the beloved of Allah. Otherwise, how could he have attained all the successes? On the contrary, the one who was apparently deprived of these things was surely wrong in his creed and erroneous in his deeds, and was under the wrath of God (or gods). As this misconception is one of the greatest deviations of the materialists, the Quran has stated it and refuted it in different ways at different places and made the reality plain. For instance, see (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayats 126, 212); (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayat 32); (Surah At- Taubah, Ayats 55, 69, 85); (Surah Yunus, Ayat 17); (Surah Houd, Ayats 3, 27-31, 38-39); (Surah Ar-Rad, Ayat 26); (Surah Al-Kahf, Ayats 28, 32-43, 103-105); (Surah Maryam, Ayats 77-80); (Surah Ta-Ha, Ayats 131-132); (Surah Al-Anbiya, Ayat 44) along with the relevant E.Ns. In order to remove the above mentioned misconceptions one should keep in view the following.
(1) Success is a far higher thing than the material prosperity and the transitory success of an individual, community or nation.
(2) It is absolutely wrong to consider prosperity and success as a criterion of truth and falsehood.
(3) It should be noted well that this world is a place of test and trial and not a place of reward and retribution. It is true that even in this world, sometimes there is some punishment or reward, but it is on a very limited scale and even in this, there is an aspect of the test. Therefore it is an utter folly to consider material success and prosperity to be a proof that the recipient is in the right and so the beloved of the Lord, and vice versa. Moreover, the tests and trials of individuals and communities are of many varieties and a seeker after truth must understand at the outset that the worldly success or failure of the people is not the result of ultimate reward or punishment and cannot be regarded as the criterion for the right or wrong creed, morals and actions and a sign of being the beloved of God or otherwise.
(4) One must have a firm belief that truth and righteousness will ultimately gain victory over falsehood and wickedness. As regards to the criterion of truth and falsehood and right and wrong, one must judge this in the light of revelations and teachings of the Messengers, because common sense confirms the same, and it is also supported by the general conception which mankind has always had of good and evil.
(5) As a corollary of the above, it would have become clear that according to the Quran (and this is confirmed by common sense), the conception of reward and punishment should also be different from the common one. For instance, if a wicked person or community is enjoying prosperity, it is not a reward of its evil deeds but a harder test for it and it is not a blessing but the wrath of Allah. It means that Allah has decided to punish the prosperous people with a severe scourge. On the other hand, if the righteous people are suffering from hardships and afflictions, it is not a punishment from Allah but a blessing in disguise to pass them through the fire to remove impurity, if any, from the pure gold. If this hard trial is a blessing for the righteous people, it is a test for the wicked people to give them a severe punishment for the persecution of the former.
51. That is, they do not live a carefree life devoid of the fear of God. They live in awe of Him and are fully conscious that He oversees and watches them in all their motives and actions and they are thus deterred from thinking and doing evil.
52. Signs here means both divine revelations to the Prophets and the signs found in man’s own self and in the universe around him. To believe in the verses of the Book is to affirm them, and to believe in the signs of human self and the universe is to affirm the realities which they point to.
53. Though belief in the revelations itself ingrains the doctrine of Tauhid in the hearts, yet the believers have been warned to guard against shirk. This is because, in spite of believing in the revelations, man is inclined to commit shirk in one form or the other, for instance, in exaggerating the teachings of the Prophets and righteous people, supplicating and serving others than Allah, etc.
54. This verse (60) may be elaborated like this: They serve their Lord and try their best to obey Him and do righteous deeds, but all along they remain humble in their hearts and are not puffed up with the pride of their piety. Nay, in spite of all their good deeds, their hearts are always filled with awe that they shall have to render an account to their Lord, and they are not sure whether they will come out successful in the judgment of their Lord or not. A concrete interpretation of this verse is afforded by Umar. Although he served his Allah in a way that was exemplary, yet he was so afraid of accountability to Him that he is reported to have said before death: I shall consider it a favor, if I am neither rewarded nor punished in the Hereafter. Hasan Basri has expressed the same thing in a beautiful manner: A believer obeys Allah and is yet fearful of Him, and a hypocrite disobeys Allah and is yet fearless of Him.