In the name of God, the Merciful, the Beneficent

"Get down, both of you, and be out of it;" He said, "each of you shall be an enemy to the other. When guidance shall come to you from Me, he who follows My guidance will not go astray, nor will he suffer misery; but he who turns away from My message shall have a straitened life and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Resurrection."

"Lord," he will say, "why have You raised me up blind, while I was endowed with sight?"

He will reply: "Thus it is: Our revelations were brought to you, but you were oblivious to them. So today shall you be consigned to oblivion."

For thus shall We reward him who transgresses and does not believe in his Lord’s revelations. Indeed the suffering in the life to come shall be most severe and most enduring.

Can they not see how many generations We have destroyed before their time? They walk about in the very places where they dwelt. In this there are signs for men of wisdom.

Now, were it not for a Word from your Lord, already gone forth setting a term, the decree (of their destruction) would have come to pass.

(Ta Ha: 20: 123-129)

We dwelt earlier on the widely different destinies of those who follow divine guidance and those who turn their backs on it. The first group are certain not to go astray or feel any misery. Although life is full of misery, God protects from it those people who refrain from doing what God has forbidden. Hence, they are free of all the worry, confusion and vacillation between unhappy choices. Thus, they go through life with a reassurance that compensates them for the paradise they have lost, until they return to it on the Day of Resurrection.

"But he who turns away from My message shall have a straitened life and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Resurrection." When human life severs its links with God, depriving itself of His abundant grace, it becomes straitened, even though it may be materially affluent. It is a type of stress that is attendant on being isolated from God and the reassurance of His mercy. It is a stress that demonstrates itself in worry, doubt and confusion; holding tight to what one owns and fear of unexpected loss; coveting all sorts of comfort and pleasure; nurturing aspirations and ambitions, etc. People do not feel true reassurance except when they place their trust in God, holding tight to their bond with Him. The reassurance generated by faith in God adds much to life’s dimensions in length, breadth, depth and expanse. Without such reassurance, life becomes a continuous misery far harder than what man suffers through poverty and deprivation.

"We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Resurrection." This is the same type of going astray as the one he went through in the life of this world. It comes by way of recompense for his turning away from God’s message in this first life. Hence, he asks: "Lord, why have You raised me up blind, while I was endowed with sight?"

The answer is soon forthcoming: "Thus it is: Our revelations were brought to you, but you were oblivious to them. So today shall you be consigned to oblivion. For thus shall We reward him who transgresses and does not believe in his Lord’s revelations. Indeed the suffering in the life to come shall be most severe and most enduring."

Anyone who turns his back on God’s message certainly transgresses. He walks away on the guidance brought to him by God’s Messenger when it is the richest blessing and the most valuable resource. He transgresses as he turns his sight to objects it was not meant to look at, but remains oblivious to God’s revelations. It is not surprising that he lives a straitened life. Moreover, on the Day of Resurrection he will be raised up blind.

We note here how the wording and the images drawn give complementary and contrasting scenes: the fall from heaven is followed by misery and going astray. It contrasts with the return to heaven where one is free of all misery. A life of ease contrasts with a straitened life, and guidance contrasts with blindness.

All this comes by way of comment on the story of Adam, which is the story of all mankind. It starts and ends in heaven, as we saw much earlier in Surah 7, The Heights. However the scenes here are different as fits the general emphasis in each Surah.

As this topic of the Surah is over, it takes us along to look at how earlier communities met their fate, which is much closer to us than the Day of Judgment. Moreover, we can see their destruction and what is left of them with our eyes, while we cannot see the resurrection. "Can they not see how many generations We have destroyed before their time? They walk about in the very places where they dwelt. In this there are signs for men of wisdom. Now, were it not for a Word from your Lord, already gone forth setting a term, the decree (of their destruction) would have come to pass."

When we look with our eyes and minds at the fate of earlier communities; when we look closely at the lands were they lived and prospered; when we imagine their dwellings and how they became empty with no one living in them; when we stretch our imagination to see them walking through their land, going here and there, moving along, taking rest, looking up to their future, dealing with their worries; - when we imagine all this and then open our eyes to see nothing but emptiness, we realize that we are at the edge of a precipice that threatens to engulf us like it did with earlier communities. We know that the great power that overwhelmed the earlier generations is able to overwhelm the present ones as well. We understand then the meaning of the warning given to us, because the lesson is there for us to see.

How come, then, that those people do not recognize divine guidance when the fate of the earlier generations provides every guiding indication to people with minds to use: "In this there are signs for men of wisdom."

Divine wisdom has willed that God will not eliminate them by a calamity that befalls them in this present world. This is the reason why they do not meet a similar fate. This is a situation God has decreed, giving them a respite up to a term appointed for them. Otherwise they would have been punished for their rejection of the truth: "Now, were it not for a Word from your Lord, already gone forth setting a term, the decree (of their destruction) would have come to pass."

We will conclude our commentary on this Surah next week, God willing.