النص المفهرس

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Surah Hud : 11 : 1 - 5
Ta'ala. It is said: Qui f, G22 Ví (that you worship none but Allah). It
means that among things stated in these verses the most important
and foremost is that no one else should be worshipped except the One
Allah.
After that, it was said: إِنَّنِى لَكُمْ مِّنْهُ نَذِيرٌ وَبَشِي (Surely, I am for you a war-
ner from Him, and a bearer of glad tidings). It means that the noble
messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم has been commanded to tell the whole
world through these verses that he was for them a carrier of warning
(against disobedience) and a bearer of glad tidings (of blessings in this
life and in the life to come) from Allah.
The word: „i (nadh ir) is usually taken to mean a person who puts
the fear of something into someone's heart. But, this word is not used
to denote a fear-generating enemy or beast or others that harm. In-
stead of that, nadhir is applied to a person who, out of his love and af-
fection to someone, warns him against and saves him from some harm-
ful things. These could be things that harm in this world and might as
well could be those that bring harm in the Hereafter.
Out of the instructions given in these verses of the Qur'an, the sec-
وَآَنِ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ ثُمَّ تُوُجُوا إِلَيْهِ : ond one appears in the third verse in the words
(and that you seek forgiveness from your Lord). It means that, in these
verses of firm and established meaning, Allah Ta'ala has also instruct-
ed His servants to ask for forgiveness and pardon from their Lord, and
make their Taubah before Him. Forgiveness (maghfirah) relates to
past sins and Taubah (repentance) relates to the resolve of not going
near these anymore. And, in reality, a correct and true Taubah is no
more than being ashamed of past sins, praying to Allah that they be
forgiven and resolving firmly that they would not be repeated in fu-
ture. Therefore, some righteous elders have said that seeking forgive-
ness from Allah only verbally - without having made a firm resolution,
and the necessary arrangements to implement it, in order to remain
safe from future sins - is the Taubah (repentance) of liars (al-
kadhdh abin). (Qurtubi) Or, as it was said poetically:
معصيت راخنده مى آيد بر استغفار ما
'Sin laughs at my style of seeking forgiveness'
or that such repentance is itself worth being repented.
After that, glad tidings of the finest fruits of success in Dunya and

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Surah Hud : 11 : 1 - 5
'Akhirah have been given to those who repent and seek forgiveness by
saying : ◌ُمْتِعُكُمُ مَّتَاعًا حَسَنًا التّى أَجَلٍ مُّسََى (He will, then, provide you with good
things to enjoy for a given time). It means that those who genuinely
seek forgiveness for their past sins and firmly resolve to abstain from
these in future and do what it takes to implement their resolution,
then, not only that their error will be forgiven, they would also be
blessed with a good life. And it is obvious that 'life' here carries a gen-
eral sense that includes life in the mortal world as well as the life in
the Hereafter. It is about such people that the Qur'an has said else-
where : ◌ٌلَنْحْبِيَّنَّهُ حَيوةً طَيِّبَة (We shall certainly give them good and pure life -
16:97). According to the investigations of the majority of commentators,
both the lives of Dunya and 'Akhirah are included in the sense of this
verse as well. This has been further clarified in Surah Nuh. The ad-
مُسِلِ السَّمَآءَ عَلَيْكُمُ مِّدُرَارًا :dress is to the seekers of forgiveness. It was said
-It means: (if you were to seek for ◌َُّدِدُكُمْ بِآَمُوَالٍ تَبَنِيْنَ وَيَجُعَلْ لَّكُمُ حَثْتٍ وَيَجُعَلُ لَّكُمْ انْهُرًا
giveness from Allah genuinely), Allah Ta'ala shall send the sky show-
ering over you (the rains of His mercy) and bless you with wealth and
children and make for you gardens and bring for you rivers - 71:11). It
is obvious that the mercy of rains and the blessings of wealth and chil-
dren relate to the life of the present world.
That is why most of the commentators have taken the expression
És Et (good things to enjoy) to mean the worldly enjoyments. Accord-
ing to them the sense is that, 'Allah Ta'ala shall bless you with extend-
ed sustenance and easy modalities of comfort and protect you from ca-
lamities and punishments - as a result of the forgiveness you seek and
the repentance you show. And since this worldly life must end some
day, the enjoyment of its comforts cannot become eternal under the
law of nature. Therefore, by adding the caveat: إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى (for a given
time), it has been stressed that the 'good things to enjoy' in the present
world will be available up to a particular time, that is, the time of
death. On the final count, death will eliminate all these things.
But, soon after this 'death,' the life of the other world will begin,
and there too, eternal comforts will be available to those who repent
and seek forgiveness.
And Sahl ibn 'Abdullah رحمه الله تعالى said, 'The meaning of 'good
things to enjoy' is that one's attention bypasses the created and re-
mains fixed on the Creator.' Some other men of Allah have said, "The

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Surah Hud : 11 : 1 - 5
reality of 'good things to enjoy' is that one remains content with what
is available and worries not for what is not.' In other words, one
should be satisfied with as much as is within easy reach in this world
and should not eat his heart out for what he does not have.
Of the glad tidings given to those who repent and seek forgiveness,
the second appears in the following words:ًوَيُؤْتِ كُلَّ ذِيُ فَضْلٍ فَضْلَه (and bestow
His added grace on everyone of excellence). Here, the first Las (fadl: ex-
cellence) refers to one's good deed, while the second 'fadl' denotes Di-
vine grace or bounty, that is, the Paradise. Put simply, the sense is
that Allah Ta'ala shall bless every doer of good deed with His grace,
that is, Paradise.
A promise was made of Good Life, both in Dunya and Akhirah, in
the first sentence, and of everlasting blessings of Paradise, in the sec-
ond. After that, it was said: ◌ِفَإِنْ تَوَلَّهُ فَإِنٌِّ أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمُ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ كَبِيُر (And if you
turn away, then, I fear for you the punishment of a great day). That is:
'If you turn away from the good counsel given to you, fail to seek for-
giveness for your past sins, and fail to remain safe against sins in the
future, then, there is a strong likelihood that you will be seized by the
punishment of a great day'. It refers to the day of Qiyamah for it would
be a day of one thousand years and, also in terms of what ominous
things would transpire in it, it will be the gravest.
In the fifth verse, the theme has been emphasized further. Let man
do what he elects to. Let him live the way he fancies. But, ultimately,
once dead, man has to return to Him and He is powerful over every-
thing. It is not at all difficult for Him to have each particle man is
made of reassembled after he is dead and becomes dust and see to it
that there rises the man he was, all over again.
The sixth verse carries a refutation of what the hypocrites and the
disbelievers do. They try to camouflage their hostility, and their antag-
onistic activism against the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, as deftly as
they could. Their hearts blaze with malice and enmity but they main-
tain a cool front, find all sorts of covers to hide their true identity and
intention and surmise that no one would find out who they were really
and what they were doing actually. But, the truth of the matter is that
Allah Ta'ala knows it all, that which they let come out in the open and
that which they conceal behind all sorts of clothes, covers and cur-
tains : ◌ِإنََّ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُوُر because, 'He is All Aware of [even] what lies in the

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Surah Hud : 11 : 6 - 8
hearts.'
Verses 6 - 8
وَمَا مِنْ دَابَّةٍ فِى الْأَرْضِ إِلَّ عَلَى اللَّهِ رِزْقُهَا وَيَعْلَمُ
مُسْتَقَرَّهَا وَمُسْتَوْدَعَهَاء كُلٌّ فِىْ كِتْبٍ تُّبِيْنِ ﴿٦﴾ وَهُوَ الَّذِئى
خَلَقَ السَّمُوتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِىْ سِتَّةِ آَيَّامٍ وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الَّءِ
لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ آَتُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا، وَلَبِنْ قُلْتَ إِنَّكُمْ تَبْعُوْنُوْنَ مِنْ:
بَعْدِ الْمُؤَتِ لَيَقُوْلَنَّ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُؤْا إِنْ هَذَا إِلَّ سِكُرَّمُّبِيْنٌ ﴿٧)
وَلَِنْ آَخَّرْنَا عَنْهُمُ الْعَذَابَ إِلَّى أُمَّةٍ مَعُدُوُدَةٍ لَّيَقُوُلُنَّ
مَايَحْبِسُهُ؛ آَلَا يَوْمَ يَأْتِيْهِمْ لَيْسَ مَصْرُوُفًّا عَنْهُمْ وَحَاقَ بِهِمْ
مَّا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهُزِءُ ونَ ﴿٨﴾
And there is no creature on earth whose sustenance is
not on Allah. And He knows its permanent and its tem-
porary place. Everything is in a clear book. [6]
And He is the One who created the heavens and the
earth in six days and His throne was on water so that
He might test you as to who among you is better in
deed. And if you say, "you shall be raised after death,"
the disbelievers will surely say, "This is nothing but
sheer magic." [7]
And if We defer the punishment for them for a certain
time, they shall say, "What is holding it back?" Beware,
the day it visits them, it shall not be turned back from
them and they shall be besieged by what they used to
ridicule. [8]
Commentary
Mentioned in the previous verse was the all-encompassing knowl-
edge of Allah Ta'ala from whom nothing is hidden, nothing from the ti-
niest particle of the universe down to the secrets of the hearts. It is in
consonance with it that the first verse (6) mentions a great favor be-
stowed on human beings - that Allah Ta'ala has Himself taken the re-
sponsibility of providing their sustenance. Then, this is not restricted
to human beings alone. It extends to every living form that walks over

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Surah Hud : 11 : 6 - 8
the earth. Its sustenance reaches it where it lives or goes to. That be-
ing the state of affairs, the intentions and efforts of disbelievers and
hypocrites to hide things from Allah Ta'ala are nothing but ignorance
and senselessness. Then, taken in a general sense, it would include all
beasts, birds, insects and all animals of the land and the sea. To inten-
sify this generality, the word: (min) has been added and the text
reads: ¿ is; u; (and there is no creature). Dabbah is any creature that
moves on earth. Birds are also included there because their nests are
also located somewhere on the land. That creatures living in water
have also a connection with the surface of the earth is no secret. Allah
Ta'ala has taken the responsibility of providing sustenance for all
these life forms and has put it in words which give the impression of a
duty imposed on someone. It was said: 43, Il _í: (its sustenance is on
Allah). It is obvious that there is no power that could put a liability on
Allah Ta'ala. What really happened is that Allah Ta'ala himself has
made this promise out of his grace and mercy. But, this promise comes
from One who is True and Merciful. There is no probability of things
happening otherwise, counter to the promise. This is a matter of certi-
tude. It is to express this element of certitude that the word: Le ('ala:
on) has been introduced at this place - a word used to describe duties,
although, Allah Ta'ala takes no orders from anyone, nor is He respon-
sible for something as obligated or necessary.
Lexically, 3;, rizq (sustenance, provision or livelihood) means some-
thing from which a creature procures its food and through which the
body grows and the soul survives.
According to the lexical meaning of the word 'rizq', it is not neces-
sary that whoever has it should also be its owner - because, rizq is giv-
en to all animals, but they are not its owners. They are not cut out for
ownership. Similarly, infants are not the owners of their rizq, but it is
given to them.
In terms of this general sense of rizq, 'Ulama' have said that rizq
could be halal (lawful) and it could also be haram (unlawful), because
for a person who eats up what belongs to the other person, that prop-
erty, no doubt, becomes his food, but so it becomes only unlawfully.
Had this person not used unfair means blinded by his greed, he would
have received the halal (lawful) rizq reserved and appointed for him.

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Surah Hud : 11 : 6 - 8
Removal of a doubt against the Divine Responsibility of Rizq
A question arises at this stage. When Allah Ta'ala has taken the re-
sponsibility of providing food for every creature, why is it that there
are many animals and human beings who die of hunger and thirst for
the reason that they do not get food or water? The 'Ulama' have given
several answers.
One possible answer is that the responsibility of rizq is there until
comes the appointed time, that is, until comes the end of the years of
life. When these years are over, one has to die, pass away from this
world, the common causes of which are diseases, or accidents like
burning, drowning, injury and wounds. Similarly, there could also be
the reason that the rizq for the incumbent was stopped and which
caused death.
Imam al-Qurțubi, under his comments on this verse, has mentioned
an event related to Abu Musa, Abu Malik and some others from their
tribe of Banu al-Ash'ar. When these people reached the blessed city of
Madinah after their Hijrah, the wherewithal of their journey was all
صلى اللّه عليه وسلم used up. They sent one of their men to the Holy Prophet
in the hope that he would make some arrangement for their meals.
When this person reached his door, he heard the Holy Prophet J .
And there is no) وَمَا مِنْ دَابَّةٍ فِى الْأَرْضِ إِلَّ عَلَى اللَّهِ رِزْقُهَا : reciting the verse عليه وسلم
creature on earth whose sustenance is not on Allah - 6). Hearing this
verse, the person, thought that Allah has Himself taken the responsi-
bility of providing rizq for all life forms, human or non-human, then,
we Ash'arites too would not be any worse than the animals in the sight
of Allah. He shall, most certainly, give us our rizq. With this thought
in his mind, he turned from the door and left. He simply said nothing
to the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم about why he was there. After having
returned to his tribe, he said, 'Rejoice, my friends. The help of Allah is
coming for you.' His Ash'ari companions took his words in a different
sense. They thought that their emissary sent to the Holy Prophet
lu dde AnI was talking about the success of his visit and that the Holy
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had promised to make arrangements for what
they needed. Naturally, they found the news good and felt satisfied.
Hardly had they sat down when they saw two men bringing a trench-
er, a large wooden tray, full of meat and bread. The carriers gave all
this food to the Ash'arites who ate it to their fill. When food was still

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Surah Hud : 11 : 6 - 8
left, they thought it would be nice to send the rest of the food to the
Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم so that he could use it as he deemed fit.
They had two of their men carry this food to the Holy Prophet .
Later they all presented themselves before the Holy Prophet Jul L.
du ble and told him, 'Ya Rasulallah, the food you sent was very nice
and very delicious.' He said, 'As for me, I never sent any food.'
Then, they told him the whole story that they had sent one of their
men to him, the reply that he gave led them to believe that the food
was sent by him. Hearing this, the Holy Prophet صلى اللّه عليه وسلم said, 'not
by me, this was sent by the Most Sacred Being who has taken the re-
sponsibility of providing rizq to every living creature.'
According to some Hadith reports, when Sayyidna Musa WILL
reached the Mount of Tur in search of fire, what he found there was
not fire but Divine light. He was made a prophet and asked to go to
Egypt so that the Pharaoh and his people could be brought on the
right path. At that hour, it occurred to him that he had left his wife in
a wilderness all alone - who would take care of her? To remove this
scruple from his heart, Allah Ta'ala asked Sayyidna Musa WI que to
strike his rod at the rock in front of him. When he did what he was
asked to do, the rock split and out came yet another rock. He was
asked to strike his rod at that too. He did that, the rock split and out
came the third rock from it. He was asked to strike his rod at that too.
It split and coming out from it he saw a creature holding a green leaf
in his mouth.
No doubt, Sayyidna Musa WJI de believed in the perfect power of
Allah Ta'ala even before, but what one sees with one's eyes has an ef-
fect of its own. So, when Sayyidna Musa WI ale saw this, he took off
for Egypt right from that spot. He did not even stop to tell his wife
that he had been commanded to leave for Egypt and that he was going
there.
Rizq for All: The Divine System is Unique
After having made the promise in this verse that Allah Ta'ala has
taken the responsibility of providing the rizq of every living creature,
things have not been left at that. Instead, to put human beings further
at ease, it was said: وَيَعْلَمُ مُسْتَقَرَّهَا وَمُسْتَؤْدَعَهَا (and He knows its permanent
and its temporary place - 6). Different explanations of the words: A.

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Surah Hud : 11 : 6 - 8
(mustaqarr) and sus (mustawda') have been reported but, lexically,
what Tafsir al-Kashshaf carries is the closest. It says that mustaqarr is
the place someone makes a permanent residence, or home; and mus-
tawda' is a place where one stays temporarily to take care of some-
thing (as it appears in the translation of the text).
The sense being driven home is that the responsibility of Allah
Ta'ala should not be taken on the analogy of responsibilities as as-
sumed by peoples and governments of the world of our experience.
Here in this world, let us assume that there is a person or institution
that would take the responsibility of delivering your 'rizq' to you. In
that case, if you were going somewhere, you would inform that individ-
ual or institution that you were leaving your permanent place to go
somewhere else. Then, you will have to give a firm itinerary that you
will be living in such and such city or village, from such and such date
to such and such date, and that you wanted your provider to deliver
your rizq there! But, when things are 'on Allah' and under His respon-
sibility, you do not have to take even this much of trouble because He
knows when you move and He knows when you do not and He knows
what you are doing in this or that state. He knows where you live per-
manently and He knows where you live temporarily. He needs no ap-
plication, or advice or address to take care of your rizq. It is just deliv-
ered wherever you are.
In view of the all-encompassing knowledge and perfect power of Al-
lah Ta'ala, only His will would have been sufficient to make everything
come out right - without the need to maintain a log book or master file
of work done. But, the only analogy weak man has is the analogy of
the system he is used to, therefore, he could have apprehensions of
possible errors and omissions. So, for his peace of mind, it was said: 35
s & (Everything is in a clear book). This 'clear book' means the
Preserved Tablet (al-lawh al-mahfuz) which has a universal coverage
with full details of the sustenance, age, deed and things like that and
which are entrusted with concerned angels as and when needed.
As narrated by Sayyidna 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ate Algo, and report-
ed in the Sahih of Muslim, the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, 'Allah
Ta'ala had written the destinies of all His creation fifty thousand years
even before the creation of the heavens and the earth.'
A lengthy Hadith narrated by Sayyidna 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud Ji ,

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Surah Hud : 11 : 6 - 8
ue, appearing in al-Bukhari and Muslim, reports the saying of the Holy
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم which is summarized as follows: 'Man goes
through different stages before his birth. When the parts of his body
are formed completely, Allah Ta'ala commands an angel who writes
down four things about him. One: Deeds he will do. Two: Years of life.
Even recorded there is the month, day, minute and breath count.
Three: Death: Where would he die and where would he be buried?
Four: Rizq: How much is his sustenance and how and where does it
have to reach him?' (And that it stands written in the Preserved Tab-
let (al-lawh al-mahfuz) even before the creation of the heavens and the
earth is not contrary to this).
Another manifestation of the all-encompassing knowledge and per-
fect power of Allah Ta'ala has been mentioned in the second verse (7) -
'And He is the One who created the heavens and the earth in six days
and (before creating these) His throne was on water.'
This tells us that water was created before the creation of the
heavens and the earth. As for the elaboration of the creation of the
heavens and the earth in six days, it has appeared in Surah Ha Mim
as-Sajdah (also called Surah Fusilat). There it has been said that the
earth was created in two days, mountains, river streams, trees and
means for the sustenance and survival of living creatures in two days,
then, the seven heavens in two days - 41:9-12).
According to Tafsir Mazhari, heavens mean everything high and
above and the earth means down and below. Day is the measure of
time which, after the creation of the heavens and the earth, is from
sunrise to sunset - although, at the time of the creation of the heavens
and the earth, neither did the sun exist nor its rising and setting.
It was also within the perfect power of Allah Ta'ala to create all
these things in the flash of a moment but, in His infinite wisdom, He
has made the system of this world gradual which is suitable for hu-
man temperament.
The purpose of the creation of the heavens and the earth has been
identified at the end of the verse by saying: لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَبُّكُمْ أَحْسَنٌ عَمَلًا (So that He
might test you as to who among you is better in deed).
This tells us that the creation of the heavens and the earth was not
the main purpose. The fact is that these were created for human be-

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Surah Hud : 11 : 6 - 8
ings who act right, do better and, along with it, also make the best use
of what has been placed therein to run their lives. Finally, it is expect-
ed of them that they would ponder over these and would not miss to
recognize their Master and Lord (the Malik, the Rabb).
The outcome is that human beings are the real purpose of the crea-
tion of the heavens and the earth. However, human beings are not all
alike. Among them there are those who believe and have faith. Then,
even among the later, there is someone, a man or a woman, who is the
best in deeds. And it goes without saying that, among the progeny of
Sayyidna Adam WJILJe, the best in deeds is our Rasul, on him the
blessing of Allah, and peace. Therefore, it is correct to say that the real
purpose of creating the entire universe is to bless it with the generous
presence of the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم (serving as a model right
through the Last Day). (Mazhari)
There is something we should also take note of. Allah Ta'ala said:
Sure guBÍ (who among you is better in deed). He has said nothing about
the number of deeds. From here we learn that Allah Ta'ala favors the
quality of deed more than He does the abundance or profusion or fre-
quency of good deeds such as, Salah, Sawm, Tilawah of Qur'an and
Dhikr of Allah. This beauty or excellence of deeds has been expressed
through the word: s.l (ihsan) in Hadith. Essentially, it means the do-
ing of a deed for the good pleasure of Allah alone with no worldly mo-
tive attached to it. Then, it is also necessary to do it in a way that is
liked in the sight of Allah. This way has been demonstrated by the
Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم through his conduct and he has made it nec-
essary for his community to follow his Sunnah. In a nutshell, we can
say that a little done with total sincerity and according to Sunnah is
better than a lot more done with none, or less of the two.
Described in the seventh verse is the condition of those who denied
that there was to be a Last Day and a Hereafter. Like chronic deniers
of the truth, when they do not understand (or do not want to under-
stand) something, they would dismiss it as nothing but magic.
In the eighth verse, an answer has been given to people who doubt-
ed the warnings of punishment given by prophets, peace be on them.
Not willing to believe them, they used to ask them if they were true,
and if they were, why the punishment they warned them of would not
come?

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Surah Hud : 11 : 9 - 14
Verses 9 - 14
وَلَبِنْ آذَقْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ مِنَّا رَحْمَةً ثُمَّ نَزَعُنُهُا مِنْهٌُ إِنَّهُ لَكُوْسِّ
كَفُورٌ ﴿٩﴾ وَلَبِنْ آذَقُّنْهُ نَعْمَاءَ بَعْدَ ضَرَاءَ مَسَّنْهُ لَيَقُوْلَنَّ ذَهَبَ
السَّاتُ عَنِِّىءُ إِنَّهُ لَفَرٌِ فَخُُرٌ ﴿١) إِلَّ الَّذِيْنَ صَبَرُوا
وَعَمِلُوا الصُّلِحْتِ + أُولَئِكَ لَهُمُ مَّغْفِرَةٌ وَأَجُ كَبِيٌْ ﴿١١﴾
فَلَعَلَّكَ تَارِكُ بَعْضَ مَايُؤْخَى إِلَيْكَ وَضَابِقٌ بِهِ صَدُكَ آَنْ
◌َتَّقُؤْلُوْا لَوْلَا أُنْزِلَ عَلَيْهِ كَثْرٌ أَوْجَاءَ مَعَهْ مَلَكٌ ﴿ إِنَّ أَنْتَ نَذِيُرٌ،
وَاللهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ وَكِيُلٌ ﴿١٢) آَمْ يَقُؤْلُوْنَ افْتَرْسُهُ ﴿ قُلْ
فَاتُوْا بِعَشْرِ سُوَرٍ مِثْلِهٍ مُفْتَرَيْتٍ وَادْعُوا مَنِ اسْتَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ
دُوُنِ اللَّهِ إِنْ كُنُهُمْ صُدِقِيْنَ ﴿١٣﴾ فَإِلَّمْ يَسْتَجِئْبُوْا لَكُمْ
فَاعْلَهُمُوا اتَّا أُنْزِلَ بِعِلْمِ اللهِ وَأَنْ لَّ إِلهَ إِلَّهُوَّ فَهَلْ آَنْتُمْ
مُسْلِمُوْنَ ﴿١٤)
And if We give man a taste of mercy from Us and then
take it away from him, he is then utterly desperate, un-
grateful. [9]
And if We give him a taste of comfort after he has suf-
fered from some hardship, he shall say, "Evils have
gone away from me." He is, then, over-exulting, arro-
gant, [10] except those who are patient and do good
deeds. Those are the people for whom there is forgive-
ness and a great reward. [11]
It is then expected of you that you will abandon some
of what is being revealed to you and that your heart
will be straitened thereby, because they say, "Why has
a treasure not been sent down to him or an angel not
come with him?" You are but a warner. And Allah takes
care of everything. [12]
What? Do they say that he has fabricated it? Say, "Then
bring ten surahs like it, fabricated. And call whomsoev-
er you can, other than Allah, if you are true." [13]
So, if they do not respond to you, then be sure that it
has been sent down with the knowledge of Allah and

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Surah Hud : 11 : 9 - 14
that there is no god but He. So, do you submit? [14]
Commentary
In the verses appearing above, it has been confirmed that the Holy
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is a Messenger of Allah and an answer has been
given to those who engineer doubts about it. At the beginning, in the
first three verses (9-11), an instinctively bad human habit has been
mentioned with an instruction to Muslims that they should stay away
from it.
That man is naturally fickle-minded and haste-prone, and that he
tends to be consumed by his immediate condition and puts all concerns
of the past and future out of his mind, has been described in the first
two verses (9,10). It has been said: 'If We let man taste a blessing and
then take it back, he loses courage and hope and turns ungrateful.
And if We let him taste a blessing after he has suffered from some
hardship, he forgets all about his suffering and starts bragging and
boasting.
In other words, man is given to hurry things, takes the present as
everything, does not bother to refer to the past or show concern for the
future, therefore, a suffering after a blessing makes him lose hope and
slide into ungratefulness. He never thinks that Allah who blessed him
first could bless him again. Similarly, if one gets comfort after suffer-
ing, then he, rather than recall his past suffering, turn to Allah and be
grateful to Him, starts waxing more proud and arrogant. In that state,
he forgets his past and goes about thinking that Allah's blessings were
his right, he has to have these, and that he remains under the impres-
sion that this was how he would continue for the rest of his life. So
heedless he becomes that it just does not occur to him that the way the
days of suffering did not continue any more, the same thing could hap-
pen to the days of comfort and they too could vanish.
Such is the state of human worship of the present and so tragic is
the penchant for forgetting the past and the present that a power-
hungry man would not even blink to raise the edifice of his power on
the blood and dust of another man of power. Always looking up, he
would never look down to recall that this had been the fate of the man
of power before him. Sad ends and ill fates make no effect on him for
power in the present tastes good.

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Surah Hud : 11 : 9 - 14
When people start worshipping the present and elect to remain
drunk with the state they are in, that is high time for Books of Allah
and His Messengers to come. When they do, they bring the lesson-
oriented events of the past into sharp focus for heedless man to see
things in this perspective and have a little concern for what would
happen to them in the future. The lesson they teach is: Ponder over
the changing conditions of the universe you are in and get to know the
power working behind these - great sermonizers from the Lord!
A perfect believer, in fact, a perfect human being is one who is able
to perceive the hidden Power behind every change, revolution, sorrow
and comfort, ignore their transitory phases, dismiss their material
causes as the sole explanation. The mark of an intelligent person is
that he looks at the originator or causer of causes more than he would
look at causes, and it is with Him alone that he would relate to as
firmly as possible.
In order to make such perfect models of humanity distinct from
those having common human temperament, it was said in the third
verse (11):ِإِلَّ الَّذِيْنَ صَبَرُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصُّلِحُت (except those who are patient and do
good deeds). It means that people exempted from this common human
frailty have two qualities: Sabr (patience) and al-'Amal as-Salih (good
deeds).
The word: . (sabr) is used to convey a much wider range of mean-
ings in the Arabic language, much wider than conveyed by its transla-
tion as 'patience' in English. The real meaning of sabr is to tie, check,
stop or hold back. In the terminology of the Qur'an and Sunnah, to
hold the desiring human self back from going for the impermissible is
Şabr. Therefore, the sense of Sabr (patience) includes abstention from
all sins and doings counter to the dictates of the Shari'ah and al-'Amal
aş-Salih (good deeds) covers all that is obligatory (fard), necessary
(wajib), Sunnah and recommended (mustahabb). The verse now comes
to mean that there are people who will not be affected by common hu-
man weaknesses. This will happen because they would have faith in
Allah and they would fear the reckoning of the Last Day of Qiyamah.
They will abstain from everything disliked by Allah and His Rasul and
race towards every deed that brings their pleasure.
At the end of this very verse, also identified there is the recom-
pense of these perfect human beings:ْأُولَئِكَ لَهُمْ مَغْفِرَةٌ وَاجٌ حَبي (Those are the

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Surah Hud : 11 : 9 - 14
people for whom there is forgiveness and a great reward - 11)
At this place, it should be noted that the Holy Qur'an uses the
word: Usl (adhaqna: We give them a taste of) for blessing and suffering
both. By this device, it was indicated that real blessing and suffering is
that of the Hereafter. Neither is the comfort of the mortal world the
whole of it, nor is its suffering the whole of it. Instead of that, it should
be taken at the level of tasting and sampling so that human beings
could have some idea of the blessings and sufferings of the Hereafter.
Therefore, neither are the comforts of this world something to be hap-
py about unnecessarily, nor are its sufferings something to grieve
about too much. If you were to think, this whole world is, to borrow a
commercial term, only a showroom of the Hereafter with sample dis-
plays of comfort and suffering.
The fourth verse (12) has been revealed about a particular event.
What happened was that the Mushriks of Makkah placed a host of de-
mands before the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. One of these was, 'our
idols have been maligned in this Qur'an, therefore, we cannot believe
in it. So, you should either bring some other Qur'an, or improve it by
making alterations in it: Ein z shi ell (Bring a Qur'an other than
this, or change it - Yunus, 10:15)'. (Al-Baghawi, Mazhari)
Another demand they came up with was, 'we are to believe in your
prophesy only when some treasure, like the treasures of the kings of
the world, is sent down for you and which you dole out to everyone
around. Or that some angel descends from the heavens and hangs out
with you everywhere testifying that you were a Messenger of Allah in
all certainty.'
The Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم felt the pinch of these absurd, even
disrespectfully audacious demands in his heart. The reason was that
he was mercy for all the worlds. It was not possible for him to leave
them to their fate and take out the hope that they might someday be-
lieve from his heart. Nor was it possible for him to fulfill their absurd
demands. To begin with, these demands were based on bland irration-
ality. If idols, idol-worship and things like that are not called what
they are, what would become of right guidance and how would it be
done? And then this brain wave of demanding a treasure from a
prophet was a loud miss-match with his mission. They had simply tak-
en the station of a prophet on the analogy of the status of a king. Simi-

610
Surah Hud : 11 : 9 - 14
larly, it is not the practice of Allah Ta'ala that He would create condi-
tions under which people were materially compelled to start professing
the Faith. Otherwise, the whole world is within His power and control.
Who could dare profess a belief, and act according to it, against the
will of Allah Ta'ala? But, it is in His infinite wisdom that He has made
this world a place of test. No material means are used here to compel
people to do something good or to abstain from something bad. Cer-
tainly, what is done here is through Scriptures and Apostles. Lines are
drawn between virtue and vice. Good and bad are separated. The out-
come of each is explained. That is how people are invited and exhorted
to do what is right and abstain from what is evil. And if some angel
were to be miraculously attached to a prophet to attest to the veracity
of his word, it would have posed problems. When no one believed it, he
would have faced cash punishment on the spot. In that case, this
would have been a modality of compelling people to believe. This kind
of belief would have not been believing without seeing which is the es-
sence of belief and faith, nor would there be any choice left for man to
make which is the essence of his deed. As for the demands of those
people, they were, no doubt, absurd and audacious. But, there is an-
other aspect to it. The very act of making such demands proved that
these people were grossly unaware of the status and reality of a mes-
senger and prophet of Allah. They saw no difference between Allah
and His Messenger. They even took the messenger to be absolutely
powerful like Allah, therefore, they demanded that he should do for
them what could not be done by anyone other than Allah.
In brief, when the Holy Prophet صلى اللّه عليه وسلم became very sad be-
cause of such demands, this verse was revealed to comfort him and to
revitalize his thinking. Addressing him first, it was said: Would you -
surrendering to the pressure of these people - leave out some part of
the Qur'an, sent by Allah, which they do not like, such as a part where
it talks about the utter helplessness of idols? Would you, then, still be
disturbed in the face of such demands? The introduction of the state-
ment in verse 12 with the word: w (la'allaka: Is it then expected of
you) does not mean that something like that could be expected of him
actually. Instead, the purpose is to establish that he was free from
such things. He would not leave out any part of the Qur'an in consider-
ation of their insistence, nor does he have to be sad, concerned and
straitened over their demands. The reason is that he has been sent

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Surah Hud : 11 : 9 - 14
from Allah as nadh ir, as one who warns people against what is harm-
ful for them, then, Allah takes care of the rest for He is powerful over
everything. Nadh ir has been mentioned here particularly because
those being addressed were kafirs, and kafirs deserve nothing but
warning against the consequences of their deeds. Otherwise, the Holy
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is not simply nadhir, one who warns, he is bashir
too, one who announces glad tidings for people who do good deeds. In
addition to what has been said here about the mission of a nadhir, we
should understand that, in reality, nadhir is a person who warns out of
love and affection against what is evil and harmful. Therefore, in a
way, the sense of bashir, a giver of glad tidings, is included in the
sense of nadh ir, a giver of warning.
In the cited verses, the Mushriks had demanded the kind of mira-
cles they chose. Verses that follow tell them that they already have a
miracle, the miracle of the Qur'an shown at the hands of the Holy
Prophet صلى اللّه عليه وسلم before them, a miracle even they could not deny.
Now if they were demanding these miracles honestly, only to deter-
mine the veracity of the messenger of Allah, then, their demand
stands accepted (and the miracle is on). And if this demand is simply
to gratify their hostility, the showing of miracles demanded by them
would remain redundant, for who could expect from such hostile peo-
ple that they would embrace Islam, even after having seen those mira-
cles. So, the essential point is that the Holy Qur'an is a clear miracle
that cannot be denied.
A refutation of the false doubts engineered by Mushriks and Kafirs
in it has been made in the next two verses (13,14): These people say
that the Prophet of Islam has himself made up the Qur'an - it is no
book of Allah.
In answer, it was said: If you really think so, that Muhammad
que All can make a Qur'an like this, all by himself, then, you too, bet-
ter come up with only ten Surahs like that. And it is not necessary ei-
ther that these ten Surahs have to be made by any one person. In-
stead, let everyone in the world join forces and come up with it. And
when they fail to make even ten Surahs, then, the Holy Prophet J.
duy ule was to tell them: Now the reality stands out loud and clear, for
had this Qur'an been the word of some human being, other human be-
ings could have also been able to make something like this. And that

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Surah Hud : 11 : 15 -17
they all fail to do so is a strong proof of the fact that this Qur'an has
been revealed only with the knowledge of Allah in which there is no
room for the least increase or decrease and that it is beyond human
power.
At this place, the Holy Qur'an has said that they should come up
with ten Surahs like it. And in another verse it was also said: "Then,
bring a Surah the like of this - al-Baqarah, 2:23.'
The reason is that they were first asked to bring ten Surahs. They
failed to do so. Then, to make their inability look more pronounced, it
was said in the verse of Surah al-Baqarah quoted above: If you take
the Qur'an to be a word of man, then, you too, bring no more than just
one Surah being the like of it. But, despite this challenge of the Qur'an,
made so easy for them, they could do nothing. It stood proved that the
Holy Qur'an was a miracle, and the Word of Allah without any doubt.
Therefore, at the end, it was said: 32,2 ja, that is, 'would you now
believe and obey, or would you prefer to remain heedless as before?'
Verses 15 - 17
مَنُ كَانَ يُرِيْدُ الْحُيُوَةَ الدُّنْيَا وَزِيْنَتَهَا نُوَّفِّ إِلَيْهِمْ أَعْمَالَهُمْ
فِيْهَا وَهُمْ فِيْهَا لَا يُبْخَصُنَ ﴿١٥) أُوُلِِّكَ الَّذِيْنَ لَيْسَ لَهُمْ فِى
الْآخِرَةِ إِلَّ النَّارُمِنَ وَحَبِطَ مَاصَنَعُوْا فِيْهَا وَبَطَلَ مَا كَانُوْا
يَعْمَلُونَ ﴿١٦) أَفَمَنُ كَانَ عَلى بَيِّنَةٍ مِنْ رَّبِّهُ وَيَتْلُوُهُ شَاهِدٌ
مِّنُهُ وَمِنُ قَبْلِهِ كِتُبُ مُؤْسَى إِمَامًا وَرَحْمَةً، أُوَلَبِكَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ ﴾
وَمَنْ يَكْفُرُبِهٍ مِنَ الْآَحْزَابٍ فَالنَّارُ مَوْعِدُهْ فَلَاتَكُ فِى مِرْبَةٍ
مِنْهُ إِنَّهُ الْحَقِّ مِنْ رَّبِّكَ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَأَيُؤُمِنُونَ ﴿١٧)
Those who have been intending (to achieve) the world-
ly life and its beauty, We shall fully recompense them
herein for their acts, and herein they shall not be given
less. [15] Those are the people for whom there is nothing
in the Hereafter except fire. And nullified is what they
have worked herein and void is what they have been
doing. [16]
So, what about the one who is on a clear path, and
there comes after it evidence from within and, before

613
Surah Hud : 11 : 15 - 17
it, the Book of Musa, a guide and a mercy? Such people
believe in it. And whoever of the groups disbelieves it,
then, Fire is his promised place. So, do not be in doubt
about it. Surely, it is the truth from your Lord but most
of people do not believe. [17]
Commentary
When warnings of punishment were given to opponents of Islam,
they referred to the charities they contributed to and the social welfare
work they did. With this testimonial of good deeds in their hands, why
would they be punished? It is interesting that, in our time too, there
are a lot of unaware Muslims who seem to be suffering from the same
doubt. They look at disbelieving non-Muslims who impart a good im-
age of their outward deeds and morals, are active in social work, give
out in charities, and make roads, bridges, hospitals, free drinking wa-
ter counters. This view leads them to hold the opinion that they were
better than Muslims. This has been answered in the first (15) of the
three verses cited above.
In gist, the answer is that every deed, in order to be accepted as a
source of salvation in the Hereafter, must fulfill the first condition of
absolute sincerity - that this deed should have been done for the sake
of Allah. And the only valid way of doing it for Allah is that it is done
in accordance with the way taught and shown in practice by His Mes-
senger. A person who simply does not believe in Allah and His Mes-
senger is a person the sum total of whose deeds and morals is a skele-
ton without soul. It may look handsome (even slim) but because it has
no soul or spirit, it has no weight or effect in the home of the Here-
after. Yes, the contribution of such a person in the mortal world has
benefited people. At least in terms of its outward form, what he had
done was good, therefore, Allah, the Lord Almighty has, in considera-
tion of His supreme equity and justice, not allowed this deed to go to
waste totally. Instead, things were arranged in terms of the objectives
the doers of these deeds had before them. If they had worked for recog-
nition in society or an image as philanthropist, man of charity, good-
will or distinction, or had simply aspired for health and material
wealth and comfort, Allah Ta'ala lets them have all this right here in
this world. They had no concept of the Hereafter. They had never
cared to think of salvation there, nor their deeds, being without the es-
sential spirit, could have qualified them to become deserving of it.

614
Surah Hud : 11 : 15 - 17
Therefore, no return waits for them there, against their deeds, while
the added burden of disbelief and disobedience will keep them in Hell.
This was a gist of what was said in the first verse. Now, we can have a
look at some of the words used there.
It was said that a person who kept striving for the life of this world
and its embellishments gets from Allah the full return for his or her
deeds right here in this world. For them, nothing is cut short in Dun-
ya. These are the kind of men and women for whom there is nothing in
Akhirah (Hereafter), except the Hell.
It is noteworthy at this point that the expression opted for in the
Qur'an is: 2233 34 (those who have been intending) which bypasses
something brief like: 361 34 (those who wanted). The Qur'anic expression
denotes continuity and carries the sense of 'kept striving for' as trans-
lated a little earlier. This tells us that it is the condition of people who
never wanted to have anything out of what they did but the good of
this world. They just never bothered to worry about what would hap-
pen in the life to come. As for the person who feels concerned about the
Hereafter and does what would bring salvation there and, along with
it aims and plans to have his share from the world, then, it is not in-
cluded in the purview of this verse.
Is this verse related to kafirs or Muslims or to both Muslims and
kafirs? Major authorities in Tafsir differ about it.
The words in the last sentence of the verse - for whom there is
nothing in the Hereafter except the fire of Hell - seem to suggest that
it is related to kafirs, because a Muslim, no matter how sinning, would
ultimately go to Paradise after having undergone the punishment of
sins. Therefore, Dahhak and other commentators have interpreted it
as related to kafirs only.
Some commentators have said that it refers to Muslims who,
through their good deeds, aim to acquire only the comfort, wealth and
recognition from this worldly life. In other words, they do their good
deeds with the sole intention of having comfort and recognition in the
world they live in. And the sentence we are talking about would thus
mean that, until they undergo the punishment of their evil deeds, they
would have nothing except the fire of Hell.
However, the weightier and clearer approach is to take this verse

615
Surah Hud : 11 : 15 - 17
as relating to people who do their good deeds only with the intention of
acquiring worldly benefits, such as wealth, health and recognition.
Those who do so may be kafirs or disbelievers who do not believe in the
Hereafter from the very outset. Or, they may be Muslims who believe
in the Hereafter theoretically but do not apply their belief to what they
do practically. In fact, they would keep all concerns of their life exclu-
sively attached to worldly benefits and interests. From among the ear-
ly commentators, Mujahid, Maimun ibn Mihran and Sayyidna
Murawiyah رضى اللّه عنه have gone by this view.
This meaning is also supported by the well-known Hadith of the
Holy Prophet ◌ِإِنَّ الْأَعُمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ: مَار (Actions are [judged] according to Inten-
tions). What one intends to have by his action gets exactly that.
Whoever intends to have Dunya (worldly benefits) gets Dunya. Whoev-
er intends to have Akhirah gets Akhirah. Whoever intends to have both
gets both. That all actions depend on intention is a principle approved
of in every community and religion. (Qurțubi)
Therefore, says a Hadith, those who devoted themselves to acts of
worship in the mortal world to look respectable before others will be
brought forth on the day of Qiyamah. It would be said to them: 'you
said your prayers, gave in charity, fought in Jihad, recited the Qur'an,
but you did all that with the intention that you should be known as
devotees to prayers, givers in charity, veteran warriors of Jihad and
great reciters of Qur'an. Now you have had what you wanted to have.
The honors you were looking for have already come to you in the mor-
tal world. Now, there is no return for your deeds here. And these peo-
ple will be the first to be thrown into the Hell.'
While reporting this Hadith, Sayyidna Abu Hurairah JI
مَنْ كَانَ مُرُمُ الْحَيَوةَ الدُّنيا وَزِينَتَهَا: broke into tears and said, 'the verse of the Qur'an
(Those who have been intending (to achieve) the worldly life and its
beauty - 15) confirms this Hadith.
Şahin Muslim reports on the authority of Sayyidna Anas Le Jn ,
that the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, 'Allah Ta'ala does no injustice
to anyone. For the good deed a believer does, he gets some return for it
in the mortal world while gets the real reward in the Hereafter. As for
a kafir (since he does not bother about what would happen to him in
the Hereafter), his account is cleared within his life in the mortal
world. The return for his good deeds, if any, is given to him in the form