29. That is, do not rest content with belief but follow it up with piety and fear of God. Act according to what Allah has enjoined and avoid what He has forbidden and live in the world fearing His accountability.

30. Good and well-being both of this world and of the Hereafter.

31. That is, if one city, territory or land has become difficult for the worshipers of Allah, they may emigrate to another place where they may not have to face any such hardship.

32. Those who brave all kinds of hardships and persecutions in following the way of God-worship and piety but do not abandon the way of the truth. This also includes those people who emigrate to other countries and experience hardships in the foreign land for the sake of religion and faith, and those also who continue to face every kind of temptation and calamity firmly and patiently in the land where they are being persecuted.

33. That is, my mission is not only to exhort others but also to practice what I preach to myself. First, I follow the way which I call others to follow.

34. Bankruptcy is loss of a person’s capital and failure of his business so that he is unable to pay his debts in full. This same metaphor Allah has used here for the disbelievers and polytheists, The sum total of whatever man has gotten in this worldly life, his intellect, body, powers, capabilities, means and opportunities is, in fact, the capital which he invests in the business of the worldly life. If a person invested all this capital on the hypothesis that there is no God, or that there are many gods, whose servant he is, and that he is not accountable to anyone, or that someone else will rescue him on Judgment Day, it would mean that he made a losing bargain and lost all his capital. This is his first loss. His second loss is that in everything that he did, on the basis of the wrong hypothesis, he went on wronging himself and many other men, and the coming generations and many other creatures of Allah, throughout his life. Thus, he got into countless debts, but has no money with which he may fully pay his debts. Over and above this, he has not only himself incurred this loss, but has caused the same loss to his children and near and dear ones and friends and fellow countrymen by his wrong education and training and wrong example. It is these three losses together which Allah has called khusran-i-mubin (utter bankruptcy) in this verse.

35. Taghut is from tughyan and means rebellion. If someone is called taghut (rebellion) instead of taghi (rebel), it would mean that he is a rebel incarnate. For example, if a person is called husn (beauty) instead of hasin (beautiful), it would mean that he has reached perfection in beauty. The deities other than Allah have been called taghut because it is rebellion to worship others besides Allah, but the one who has others worship him, is a rebel of the worst kind. (For further explanation, see (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayat 256), (Surah An-Nisa, Ayats 60, 76), (Surah An-Naml, Ayat 36) and the E.Ns thereof).

36. This verse can have two meanings:

(1) That they do not follow every voice but ponder over what every man says and accept only what is right and true.

(2) That they do not try to give a false meaning to what they hear but adopt its good and righteous aspects.

37. That is, the person who has made himself worthy of Allah’s punishment and about whom Allah has already decided that he will be punished.

38. The word yanaabi in the text is comprehensive and applies to all the three sources of water.

39. That is, a man of understanding learns this lesson from it that the life of this world and its adornments are all transitory. The end of every spring is autumn. The fate of every youth is weakness and death. And every rise has a fall. Therefore, this world is not something of which one should be charmed and enamored so as to forget God and the Hereafter and should conduct himself here in a manner as to ruin his Hereafter, only for the sake of enjoying the short lived pleasures of this world. Then a man of understanding also learns this lesson from these phenomena that the spring and autumn of this world are only under Allah’s control. Allah allows to grow and prosper whomsoever He wills and ruins and lays waste whomsoever He wills. Neither it is in anybody’s power to stop the growth of someone whom Allah wills to grow, nor has anyone the power to save him from destruction whom Allah wills to destroy.