In the name of God, the Merciful, the Beneficent

Say: ‘Who could protect you, by night or by day, from the Most-Gracious?’ Yet, from the remembrance of their Lord do they stubbornly turn away.

Do they have gods other than Us to protect them? Those (alleged deities) are not even able to succor themselves, nor can they be given company by Us.

We have allowed these, and their fathers, to enjoy the good things of life for a great length of time. Can they not see that We gradually reduce the land from its outlying borders? Is it they, then, who will triumph?

Say: ‘I do but warn you on the strength of divine revelation!’ But the deaf cannot hear this call, however often they are warned.

Yet, if but a breath of your Lord’s punishment touches them, they are sure to cry, ‘Oh, woe betide us! We were wrongdoers indeed.’

We shall set up just scales on the Day of Resurrection, so that no human being shall be wronged in the least. If there be but the weight of a mustard seed, We shall bring it (to account). Sufficient are We for reckoning. (The Prophets: 21: 42-47)

We concluded our commentary last week pointing out that the question in the first verse in this passage is a rhetoric one. They have none other God to watch over them, for He it is who watches over every soul at all times. The fact is that they stubbornly turn away from the remembrance of their Lord.

The same question is put to them again in a different form: "Do they have gods other than Us to protect them?" Could these gods be the ones who watch over, and protect, them? This cannot be, because those alleged deities "are not even able to succor themselves," let alone be able to support and protect anyone else. "Nor can they be given company by Us," to derive strength from being on the side of God Almighty. This is the sort of strength Moses and Aaron derived when their Lord said to them: "Do not fear; for I am with you: I hear all and sea all." (20: 46)

Those false deities have no power of their own, and they do not have any access to God’s power. As such, they are utterly helpless.

This sarcastic argument exposes the absurdity of the unbelievers’ beliefs and its lack of proof. Hence, the Surah stops arguing with them, but adds a moving touch which they feel in their hearts. It directs them to reflect on God’s might as He folds the earth underneath triumphant armies. Thus the earth shrinks so that they are confined to a limited space on it, after they have wielded much power and authority. "We have allowed these, and their fathers, to enjoy the good things of life for a great length of time. Can they not see that We gradually reduce the land from its outlying borders? Is it they, then, who will triumph?"

What has corrupted their nature, then, is that long enjoyment of the good things of life. It is luxury which corrupts the heart and stifles the senses. It leads to the weakening of awareness of God and inability to contemplate the signs He has placed in the universe, pointing to Him. This is a different kind of test God sets for human beings, making affluence the very means of this test. If a person allows himself to drift away from God, and forgets that He is the source of all the blessings he enjoys, then he is bound to fail this test.

Thus, the Surah works on their hearts as it shows them the scene that occurs everyday somewhere on earth. States that have had power begin to lose their grip and weaken. Their area soon shrinks and they are split into small states after having formed great empires. They were once strong and triumphant; now they are weak and defeated. They had great armies and plenty of resources; now their armies are weak and their resources meager.

In its inimitable style, the Qur’an shows God’s hand as it folds up the vast space, makes outer borders cave in, and reduces distance in a splendid scene that combines fine movement and awesome feelings. It then asks rhetorically: "Is it they, then, who will triumph?" Is it that what happens to others does not apply to them?

At the height of this awesome scene, which leaves hearts trembling, the Prophet is instructed to give the final warning: "Say: ‘I do but warn you on the strength of divine revelation!’ But the deaf cannot hear this call, however often they are warned." Let them, then, beware lest they should be the deaf who do not hear! It is the deaf who will suffer the fate of having the earth being shrunk beneath them, and the hand of the Almighty smashing their power, doing away with them and their luxuries.

The Surah continues its discourse making a profound effect on people’s hearts. It describes those very unbelievers as they begin to suffer God’s punishment: "Yet, if but a breath of your Lord’s punishment touches them, they are sure to cry, ‘Oh, woe betide us! We were wrongdoers indeed.’" In Arabic, the word used for ‘breath’ in this verse is normally associated with mercy and grace, but it is used here in the context of suffering so as to imply that even the slightest breath of God’s punishment is sufficient to make them start their ready confession. Alas, confession is of no use now. Earlier in the Surah we had a scene showing past communities smitten by God’s might and crying out with the same appeals: "They said: ‘Woe betide us! We were indeed wrongdoers!’ And that cry of theirs did not cease until We caused them to become like a field mown down, still and silent as ashes."

It is, then, a confession that comes too late. It is far better for them to listen to the warnings contained in God’s revelations when they still have time to act, before they are touched by a breath of suffering.

The present passage concludes with a final scene from the Day of Reckoning: "We shall set up just scales on the Day of Resurrection, so that no human being shall be wronged in the least. If there be but the weight of a mustard seed, We shall bring it (to account). Sufficient are We for reckoning." The example of a mustard seed is used here to indicate the smallest and lightest thing our eyes can see. Yet not even a mustard seed is overlooked or ignored. The scales that are used are so accurate that a single mustard seed makes a difference.

Let people, then, reflect on what they put forward for that day. Let hearts be attentive to the warnings, and let those who turn their backs or indulge in ridicule be warned: they may be able to evade punishment in this life, but how can they be spared on Judgment Day when the scales are so accurate and the reckoning takes every little seed’s worth into account?

Thus the accurate scales of the hereafter, the unfailing laws of the universe, the rules applicable to advocates of the faith and the laws of human nature converge in perfect harmony, operated by the hand of the Almighty. This testifies to the truth of God’s oneness, the theme that pervades the whole Surah.

Next week we begin a new passage in this Surah, God willing.