Anwar Al-Quran

Verses 18–26

45. Al-Jaathiya · Crouching

Makkan37 verses

ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَٰكَ عَلَىٰ شَرِيعَةٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْأَمْرِ فَٱتَّبِعْهَا وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَآءَ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

45:18Then We set you upon a clear course of the Law; so follow it, and do not follow the desires of those who do not know.*

إِنَّهُمْ لَن يُغْنُوا۟ عَنكَ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ شَيْـًۭٔا ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَآءُ بَعْضٍۢ ۖ وَٱللَّهُ وَلِىُّ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ

45:19Indeed they will not avail you in any way against Allah. Indeed the wrongdoers are allies of one another, but Allah is the ally of the Godwary.

هَٰذَا بَصَٰٓئِرُ لِلنَّاسِ وَهُدًۭى وَرَحْمَةٌۭ لِّقَوْمٍۢ يُوقِنُونَ

45:20These are eye-openers for mankind, and guidance and mercy for a people who have certainty.

أَمْ حَسِبَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱجْتَرَحُوا۟ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ أَن نَّجْعَلَهُمْ كَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ سَوَآءًۭ مَّحْيَاهُمْ وَمَمَاتُهُمْ ۚ سَآءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ

45:21Do those who have perpetrated misdeeds suppose that We shall treat them like those who have faith and do righteous deeds, their life and death being equal? Evil is the judgement that they make!

وَخَلَقَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ بِٱلْحَقِّ وَلِتُجْزَىٰ كُلُّ نَفْسٍۭ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ

45:22Allah created the heavens and the earth with consummate wisdom, so that every soul may be requited for what it has earned, and they will not be wronged.

أَفَرَءَيْتَ مَنِ ٱتَّخَذَ إِلَٰهَهُۥ هَوَىٰهُ وَأَضَلَّهُ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ عِلْمٍۢ وَخَتَمَ عَلَىٰ سَمْعِهِۦ وَقَلْبِهِۦ وَجَعَلَ عَلَىٰ بَصَرِهِۦ غِشَٰوَةًۭ فَمَن يَهْدِيهِ مِنۢ بَعْدِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ

45:23Have you seen him who has taken his desire to be his god and whom Allah has led astray knowingly, set a seal upon his hearing and heart, and put a blindfold on his sight? So who will guide him after Allah [has consigned him to error]? Will you not then take admonition?1

وَقَالُوا۟ مَا هِىَ إِلَّا حَيَاتُنَا ٱلدُّنْيَا نَمُوتُ وَنَحْيَا وَمَا يُهْلِكُنَآ إِلَّا ٱلدَّهْرُ ۚ وَمَا لَهُم بِذَٰلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ ۖ إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ

45:24They say, ‘There is nothing but the life of this world: we live and we die, and nothing but time destroys us.’ But they do not have any knowledge of that, and they only make conjectures.

وَإِذَا تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَٰتُنَا بَيِّنَٰتٍۢ مَّا كَانَ حُجَّتَهُمْ إِلَّآ أَن قَالُوا۟ ٱئْتُوا۟ بِـَٔابَآئِنَآ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰدِقِينَ

45:25When Our manifest signs are recited to them, their only argument is to say, ‘Bring our fathers back [to life], if you are truthful.’2

قُلِ ٱللَّهُ يُحْيِيكُمْ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يَجْمَعُكُمْ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

45:26Say, ‘It is Allah who gives you life, then He makes you die. Then He will gather you on the Day of Resurrection, in which there is no doubt. But most people do not know.’

Tafsir

Commentary on this passage

Verse 18

1.In Arabic, the word Shariat is used for riverside and Islam named it Islamic jurisprudence so that it is clarified that just as a thirsty man quenches his thirst by water Islamic jurisprudence satisfies the thirst of knowledge. The basis of Islamic jurisprudence is on the commands of Allah and it is not connected with ones desires. One who is restricted to Islamic jurisprudence never cares for desires of society and follows the commands of Allah. Here there is no mention of the desires of illiterate people because an Apostle or one subservient to Islamic jurisprudence can follow the learned people. On the contrary it means that religious leaders cannot demand this way. And who demands in this way, he is an ignorant, and not intelligent.

Verse 22

2.The contradiction of this idea is that irreligious people think according to the worldly life that religious, irreligious and ignorant all are equal. On the contrary religious are better than irreligious persons. The detail of contradiction is that reckoning of the hereafter has been left behind. The last decision will be there and there alone. The great argument of the need of the Doomsday is that decision will not be taken in the world. Here the irreligious and faithless persons enjoy themselves. Therefore Doomsday is needed where irreligious people will be punished and the religious enjoy.

Verse 23

3.There are very few people who are devoted to Allah and have not considered the desires as God. Such people are found out of the circle of religion and also within it. On the other hand there are some people who lay down their lives. Surely they are desirous people. They decided to lay down their lives in the satisfaction of their desires and are not concerned with the commands of Allah. As if instead of offering the desire they are offering desirously and deprived from the honour of martyrdom. In Islam laws are actually made to prevent the worldly desires and give such standard to people that they tum against their desires and name it whatever they like. Some people try changing the religious law change it according to their like or dislike. And then taking the decision from other scholar fulfil their desires. This is only a specimen of taking their desires as their deities. Otherwise the standard of conformation is very thin and also the standard of its changing is fixed. Anything cannot be included in the limit of obedience and prayer. May Allah protect everybody from the evil of his own soul.

Footnotes

Explanations of words and phrases in these verses

  1. Benefit

    The 18th ayat proves that there are two ways of spending the life. Shariat and desires. The basis of Shariat is divine law and the basis of desires is ignorance. Now man is free either to choose the path of Shariat or ignorance. Insight and guidance demand that he should choose the way of reason.

  2. Benefit

    Selfish desires are such calamities that enslave man. The same desire is the inner centre of Shaitan and it is the claimant of opposing Allah. It results in deviation and destruction in the Hereafter.

  3. 1

    It should be clear that on various places in the Quran, deviation is said to be from Allah and on the basis of this many Muslims have considered themselves helpless and transferred the responsibility of their good and bad deeds to Allah. Although Allah has kept a standard at every point which clearly shows that this misguidance is due to his personal character. And it is not related to Allah because He has not forcibly prevented man. He has left him free just as mentioned in the ayat before that man makes his desires his deities. After that misguidance is mentioned. So that it becomes clear that this deviation is due to this character and Allah has nothing to do with it.

  4. 2

    It is really like a child demands somethin8 before its time arrives. The Prophet (s.a.) is telling them of the rising of the dead in Qiyamat and these people were demanding to raise them immediately. As if they are ignorant of the imagination of Qiyamat and they consider it a life which is not connected to the Accounting.