Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 40 Ghafir, Ayat 79-85

اَللّٰهُ الَّذِىۡ جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الۡاَنۡعَامَ لِتَرۡكَبُوۡا مِنۡهَا وَمِنۡهَا تَاۡكُلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿40:79﴾ وَلَكُمۡ فِيۡهَا مَنَافِعُ وَ لِتَبۡلُغُوۡا عَلَيۡهَا حَاجَةً فِىۡ صُدُوۡرِكُمۡ وَعَلَيۡهَا وَعَلَى الۡفُلۡكِ تُحۡمَلُوۡنَؕ‏ ﴿40:80﴾ وَيُرِيۡكُمۡ اٰيٰتِهٖ ۖ  فَاَىَّ اٰيٰتِ اللّٰهِ تُنۡكِرُوۡنَ‏ ﴿40:81﴾ اَفَلَمۡ يَسِيۡرُوۡا فِى الۡاَرۡضِ فَيَنۡظُرُوۡا كَيۡفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الَّذِيۡنَ مِنۡ قَبۡلِهِمۡؕ كَانُوۡۤا اَكۡثَرَ مِنۡهُمۡ وَاَشَدَّ قُوَّةً وَّ اٰثَارًا فِى الۡاَرۡضِ فَمَاۤ اَغۡنٰى عَنۡهُمۡ مَّا كَانُوۡا يَكۡسِبُوۡنَ‏ ﴿40:82﴾ فَلَمَّا جَآءَتۡهُمۡ رُسُلُهُمۡ بِالۡبَيِّنٰتِ فَرِحُوۡا بِمَا عِنۡدَهُمۡ مِّنَ الۡعِلۡمِ وَحَاقَ بِهِمۡ مَّا كَانُوۡا بِهٖ يَسۡتَهۡزِءُوۡنَ‏ ﴿40:83﴾ فَلَمَّا رَاَوۡا بَاۡسَنَا قَالُوۡۤا اٰمَنَّا بِاللّٰهِ وَحۡدَهٗ وَكَفَرۡنَا بِمَا كُنَّا بِهٖ مُشۡرِكِيۡنَ‏ ﴿40:84﴾ فَلَمۡ يَكُ يَنۡفَعُهُمۡ اِيۡمَانُهُمۡ لَمَّا رَاَوۡا بَاۡسَنَا ؕ سُنَّتَ اللّٰهِ الَّتِىۡ قَدۡ خَلَتۡ فِىۡ عِبَادِهٖ​ۚ وَخَسِرَ هُنَالِكَ الۡكٰفِرُوۡنَ‏  ﴿40:85﴾

(40:79) Allah it is Who has made cattle for you so that you ride some of them and from some of them you derive food. (40:80) In them there are also other benefits for you, and through them you fulfil your heartfelt need (to reach places), and you are borne along upon them as upon the ships. (40:81) Allah shows His Signs to you; then which of Allah's Signs will you deny?110 (40:82) Did111 they not journey in the land that they may behold the end of those who had gone before them? They were more numerous and greater in strength and left behind more splendid traces in the land. Yet their attainments did not avail them. (40:83) When their Messengers came to them with Clear Signs, they arrogantly exulted in whatever knowledge they had.112 They were then encompassed by what they had mocked. (40:84) When they saw Our chastisement, they said: “We have come to believe in Allah, the Only One, and we reject all what we had associated (with Allah in His Divinity).” (40:85) But their believing after they had seen Our chastisement did not avail them. That has been Allah's Way concerning His servants.113 And the unbelievers courted utter loss, then and there.


Notes

110. It means this: If you are not demanding a miracle only for the sake of fun and amusement but want to have the satisfaction whether that to which Muhammad (peace be upon him) is inviting you (i.e. Tauhid and the Hereafter) is true or not, then God’s those signs which you are observing and experiencing at all times, are quite enough. For there remains no need for other signs when there are these signs to help you understand the truth. This is the third answer to their demand of the miracles. This answer also has been given at several places in the Quran and we have given detailed commentary on it. ( (See Surah Al-Anaam, Ayats 37-39); (Surah Younus, Ayat 101); (Surah Ar-Raad, Ayats 7- 13); (Surah Ash-Shuara, Ayats 4-9) and the E.Ns thereof).

The animals which serve man on the earth, especially the cow, ox, buffalo, sheep, goat, camel and horse, have been created with such nature by the Creator that they easily become man’s domestic pet servants and he uses them to fulfill countless of his needs. He rides on them, employs them for carrying loads and in agriculture, get milk from them which he drinks and also uses it for making curd, butter, oil, condensed milk, cheese and different sorts of confectioneries; eats their flesh, uses their fat, and puts to good uses their wool and hair and skin and intestines and bones, even their blood and dung. Is it not a manifest proof that the Creator of man has created these animals even before creating him in view of his countless needs, on a special pattern so that he may use them to advantage?

The three-fourths of the earth’s surface is under water and only one-fourth is dry land. In the dry parts also there are small and wide tracts of land which are separated by water. The spreading of human populations on the dry lands and the establishment of commercial and other relations between them could not be possible unless water and oceans and winds were made subject to such laws as would make navigation possible, and such materials were made available on the earth, which man could employ for building ships. Is it not an express sign that there is One God and only One All-Powerful, All-Merciful and All-Wise Lord, Who has made man and earth and water and oceans and winds and everything on the earth according to His own special scheme? Rather, if man only considers from the viewpoint of navigation, how the positions of the stars and regular movements of the planets are helpful in it, he will have the testimony that not only of the earth but of the heavens also that the Creator is the same One Bountiful Lord.

Then, consider also this: Can you in your right senses imagine that the All-Wise God, Who has given His countless things in the control of man and has granted him all these provisions for his well-being, will be, God forbid, so blind of the eye and so thoughtless as would never call man to account after giving him all this?

111. This is the conclusion to the discourse. While studying this please also keep in view( verses 4-5) and( verse 21) of this Surah.

112. That is, they took their philosophy and their science, their law, their secular sciences and their mythology and theology invented by their religious guides as the real knowledge, and regarded the Knowledge brought by the Prophets of Allah as worthless and therefore paid no heed to it.

113. “Allah’s established way”: the Law that repentance and faith are beneficial only till the time man is not seized by the torment of Allah or death. Believing or repenting after the torment has arrived or the signs of death have appeared, is not acceptable to Allah.