In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Beneficent
When the unbelievers see you, they make you the target of their mockery, saying (to one another), "Is this the one who speaks against your gods?" Yet they are the ones who, at the mention of the Most Gracious, are quick to deny Him.
Man is a creature of haste. I shall show you My signs: do not, then, ask Me to hurry them on. They say: "When is this promise to be fulfilled, if what you say be true?"
If only the unbelievers knew (that there will come) a time when they will not be able to shield their faces and their backs from the fire; a time when they will find no support. Indeed, it will come upon them of a sudden, and will stupefy them. They will be unable to avert it, nor will they be allowed any respite.
Other messengers were derided before your time; but those who scoffed at them were (in the end) overwhelmed by the very thing that they derided. 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.
(The Prophets: 21: 36-42)
So far the Surah has taken us on a long journey, showing us some of the laws of nature that operate in the universe, the rules that govern groups advocating God’s message, people’s fate, and the destruction of past communities. Now it picks up the point mentioned at the beginning of the Surah concerning the way the unbelievers received God’s messenger and the revelations he was given, the mockery they hurled on him and their persistence with their disbelief.
The Surah follows this by pointing out that, by nature, man is hasty, and a manifestation of this haste is the fact that unbelievers would hasten God’s punishment. Hence, it warns them against such haste and makes it clear to them that they must refrain from mocking the Prophet if they wish to avoid the consequences of such mockery. It paints for them a scene showing how those who wield power in this life find their authority dwindling, and another scene showing some aspects of the suffering in the hereafter meted out to persistent unbelievers.
This new passage is concluded with emphasizing the accuracy of the reckoning in the hereafter and the suitability of the reward given on the Day of Judgment. Thus, the reckoning and the reward are linked to the rules operating in the universe, human nature and human life.
"When the unbelievers see you, they make you the target of their mockery, saying (to one another), ‘Is this the one who speaks against your gods?’ Yet they are the ones who, at the mention of the Most Gracious, are quick to deny Him." The unbelievers deny the very existence of God, the Most Gracious, who has created the universe and set the rules that operate in it and sustain its existence. They object to the fact that God’s messenger, Muhammad (peace be upon him), speaks out to show that their deities, the inanimate idols, are useless, while they themselves rudely deny God, the most merciful. How singular!
They hurl abuse and mockery on God’s messenger, saying that it is unacceptable that he should criticize their idol worship. They say to one another: "Is this the one who speaks against your gods?" But they, creatures of God as they are, find nothing wrong with their arrogance that leads them to deny God’s existence and reject the Qur’an He has revealed to them. The irony in their attitude exposes to the full the far-reaching corruption that has affected their nature and impaired their judgment.
What is more is that they try to hasten the punishment against which the Prophet warns them. For, by nature, man is hasty: "Man is a creature of haste. I shall show you My signs: do not, then, ask Me to hurry them on. They say: ‘When is this promise to be fulfilled, if what you say be true?’"
"Man is a creature of haste." Haste is present in man’s very nature and constitution. He always stretches his eyes to what lies ahead, beyond the present moment, aiming to grasp it with his own hand. He wants to achieve, the moment it flashes in his mind, all that may occur to him to be desirable. He wants to see all that is promised to him, even though it may be to his detriment. Such is man’s nature, unless he establishes a firm relationship with God which gives him strength and reassurance. He will then trust to God’s wisdom, leaving His will to run its course without hastening events. For faith combines trust with patience and reassurance.
Those unbelievers hastened God’s punishment, wondering when was the promise of punishment in the hereafter, as well as in this life, would be fulfilled. The Qur’an paints here for them a scene of the suffering in the hereafter, while warning them against a similar punishment to that which befell some earlier communities which rejected the faith: "If only the unbelievers knew (that there will come) a time when they will not be able to shield their faces and their backs from the fire; a time when they will find no support. Indeed, it will come upon them of a sudden, and will stupefy them. They will be unable to avert it, nor will they be allowed any respite. Other messengers were derided before your time; but those who scoffed at them were (in the end) overwhelmed by the very thing that they derided."
If the unbelievers would only know what would happen, they would have changed their attitude completely. They would have certainly stopped all their mockery and hastening of what was bound to come. Let them, then, see what was bound to come. There they are surrounded by the fire on all sides. We visualize their frantic moves, described implicitly in the verse, to protect their faces and their backs against the fire, but their attempt is futile.
It is as if the fire has engulfed them on all sides, so that they can neither keep it away from them, nor retreat to protect themselves. Nor is it possible for them to have an even short respite.
That the punishment comes all of a sudden is only the response for their hastening it. They used to say time after time: "When is this promise to be fulfilled, if what you say be true?" The answer is that it comes all of a sudden, perplexing their minds and paralyzing their will. Thus they are unable to either think or act, and they cannot have a period of grace to mend their ways.
This applies to the punishment in the hereafter. As for this world’s punishment, it has certainly befell communities before them which, like them, ridiculed God’s messengers. Just like those communities were unable to ward off a punishment that wiped them out altogether, they are even less able to avert a suffering of defeat, killing, and falling captive. They are warned that they must not deride God’s messenger, in order to protect themselves against the punishment that befalls those who ridicule prophets. Such fate and punishment is bound to come, because it is part of God’s law which is bound to take effect, as the destruction of earlier communities, guilty of the same, proves.
Or is it that they have someone other than God who protects them by night and day, to ensure that they will suffer no punishment either in this life or in the life to come? "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." It is God who watches over every soul by night and day. He is the Most Gracious, and infinite mercy is His great attribute. Other than Him there is no one to watch over or protect anyone. Ask them, then, if they know anyone else to protect them.
It is a rhetoric question, rebuking them for their turning away from God when it is He who watches over them at all times: "Yet, from the remembrance of their Lord do they stubbornly turn away."
We will continue this discussion next week, God willing.
