In the name of God, the Merciful, the Beneficent
Closer to people draws their reckoning, yet they continue to blithely turn away. Whenever there comes to them any new reminder from their Lord, they listen to it but take it in jest; their hearts set on pleasure. Yet, concealing their inner thoughts, the wrongdoers say to one another: ‘Is this man anything but a mortal like yourselves? Will you, then, follow his sorcery with your eyes open?
(The Prophets: 21: 1-3)
This Surah, which is a Makkan revelation, flows in four distinctive rounds. The first starts with a powerful opening that makes strong beats to shake people’s hearts and alert them to the danger they will shortly face, while they remain oblivious to it: "Closer to people draws their reckoning, yet they continue to blithely turn away." Another shake follows closely, as the Surah draws a scene of the fate suffered by earlier communities for turning their backs on God’s messages, leading a life of wrongdoing: "How many a community that persisted in evildoing have We dashed into fragments, and raised another people in its stead." Both the message of Islam and the system that governs the universe are based on truth and seriousness, which are here linked to the faith based on God’s oneness and to the phenomena operating in the universe. The Surah also links all that with the unity of the Creator who is in control of all things, the unity of the divine message and faith, the unity of the source of life, its end and destiny.
The second round turns to the unbelievers who were facing God’s messenger with ridicule while the matter he speaks to them about is very serious. Everything around them calls for close attention and alertness. They call for their punishment to be hastened, when it is close at hand. At this point the Surah portrays a scene of the Day of Judgment, drawing their attentions to what had befallen those before them who ridiculed God’s messengers and their messages. It tells them very clearly that they have no protection against God’s punishment. It calls on them to reflect on God’s power as He shrinks the Earth from its edges, reducing its area. Should they so reflect, they may wake up to what awaits them after having been long oblivious to it, because of God’s favors they have been long enjoying.
This round is concluded with a directive to the Prophet to outline his task: "Say: I only warn you on the strength of divine revelation." He also alerts them to the danger to which they expose themselves by being so oblivious: "But the deaf will not hearken to this call, however often they are warned." The result is that they will continue to pay no attention to what is presented to them until they are called to account on the Day of Judgment.
The third round provides a review of the single community of believers who followed God’s prophets. This review reflects the unity of the message and the faith. It also portrays the grace God bestows on His righteous servants and His punishment of those who deny the truth.
In the fourth and final round, the eventual destiny is described in an eventful scene of the Day of Judgment. The Surah closes with a strong beat, a clear warning before leaving the unbelievers to their inevitable doom.
We begin now to look at the first round. "Closer to people draws their reckoning, yet they continue to blithely turn away. Whenever there comes to them any new reminder from their Lord, they listen to it but take it in jest; their hearts set on pleasure. Yet, concealing their inner thoughts, the wrongdoers say to one another: ‘Is this man anything but a mortal like yourselves? Will you, then, follow his sorcery with your eyes open?"
This is a very powerful opening that shakes the careless who are preoccupied with the petty concerns of this world while the reckoning is getting ever closer to them. Signs and indicators are given to them while they continue to turn their backs on divine guidance. The situation is serious indeed, yet they are totally unaware of its seriousness. Whenever they receive a new Qur’anic warning, they respond with ridicule, persisting in their playful negligence. Their hearts can only attend to their own pleasure. It should be pointed out here that in Qur’anic usage, the term, ‘heart,’ is synonymous with mind as it refers to the faculty of contemplation, reflection and thinking.
This is a picture of hearts that know no seriousness, jesting in the most serious situation, and trifling with what is sacred. The reminder given to them here originates with ‘their Lord’, yet they listen to it in jest, showing no respect whatsoever. A soul that knows no seriousness, respect or sacredness ends up in a condition of barren triviality which makes it unsuitable for the fulfillment of any task of merit. Its life seems to be devoid of respect, cheap. A spirit which cares little or nothing for what is held as sacred is a sick spirit. Carelessness is the opposite of endurance. The latter is a serious effort indicating strength, while the former indicates insensitivity.
Those people described in these verses of the Qur’an were responding with jest to Qur’anic revelations that are meant to be a constitution to be implemented in human life, and a code for human dealings. They are warned of the imminent reckoning, but they choose to remain oblivious to it. Such people are seen at all times. Whenever a person’s spirit is devoid of seriousness and respect, it ends up into such a sick state which makes life a matter of jest, without any serious purpose.
By contrast, the believers received this Surah with due seriousness that made them care little for this world. In his biographical notes on Amir ibn Rabeeah, Al-Amidi says that he once received a bedouin guest and was typically very hospitable to him. Some time later, the bedouin called on him after having received a plot of land. He said to him, ‘The Prophet has given me a valley in a nearby place of the Arab land. I would like to give you a piece of it to be yours to bequeath to your heirs.’ Amir said: ‘I have no need for your gift, because today a Surah has been revealed which leaves us oblivious to all concerns of this life. It is the Surah that starts with, ‘Closer to people draws their reckoning, yet they continue to blithely turn away.’
This is the marked difference between a living heart which interacts with what it receives and a dead one which covers its lifelessness with a shroud of jest and play. The latter type does not respond to reminders because it is devoid of the elements of life.
"Yet, concealing their inner thoughts," they plot among themselves and encourage one another in adopting an attitude that denies God’s message. In reference to God’s messenger (peace be upon him), "the wrongdoers say to one another: ‘Is this man anything but a mortal like yourselves? Will you, then, follow his sorcery with your eyes open?"
Dead as their hearts were, they could not but be shaken by the Qur’an. Hence they try to resist its influence with false excuses.
They whisper to one another that Muhammad is a man, and wonder how could they believe a message preached by a human being like them. They allege that what he says was plain magic, and ask how could they surrender themselves to sorcery when they have eyes to look.
This is their situation, and we will know how the Prophet has been ordered to respond to them next week, God willing.