Welcome to our weekly programme “Path towards Enlightenment” in which we present you a fluent and easy to understand explanation of the ayahs of the holy Qur’an.

We start from where we left you last Friday and here are ayahs 55, 56 and 57 of Surah Roum:

وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ يُقْسِمُ الْمُجْرِمُونَ مَا لَبِثُوا غَيْرَ سَاعَةٍ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ كَانُوا يُؤْفَكُونَ

وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ وَالْإِيمَانَ لَقَدْ لَبِثْتُمْ فِي كِتَابِ اللَّـهِ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْبَعْثِ ۖ فَهَـٰذَا يَوْمُ الْبَعْثِ وَلَـٰكِنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

فَيَوْمَئِذٍ لَّا يَنفَعُ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مَعْذِرَتُهُمْ وَلَا هُمْ يُسْتَعْتَبُونَ

“And on the day when the Hour sets in the guilty will swear that they had remained only for an hour. That is how they were used to lying [in the world].”

“But those who were given knowledge and faith will say, ‘Certainly you remained in Allah’s Book until the Day of Resurrection. This is the Day of Resurrection, but you did not know.’”

“On that day the excuses of the wrongdoers will not benefit them, nor will they be asked to propitiate [Allah].”  

It is the habit of disbelievers and unrepentant sinners to deny the Day of Resurrection. According to these ayahs such people, even when they are raised to life after centuries or millenniums of being rotten bones, will not admit the truth. In other words, accustomed to perjure during the transient life of the mortal world, they will resort to the same sordid practice on Judgement Day as well. They will say that they had been asleep for some moments and have now woken up to see that what is happening is nothing but continuation of the world.

The next ayah says that those who have knowledge and faith will say: ‘Certainly you remained in Allah’s Book until the Day of Resurrection. This is the Day of Resurrection, but you did not know.’ This is the response of the aware believers to the words of unaware guilty who have no proper information about the situation of purgatory and Hereafter. The aware believers will tell the sinners that they are wrong and they have tarried after death in the purgatory until the Day of Hereafter and they are now witnessing the Day of Resurrection.

As is clear by the next ayah, when wrongdoers and oppressors realize that this is the Day of Resurrection, and they begin to feel the painful facts of the Hereafter, they will try to apologize and claim they repent their misdeeds, but their excuses will be of no use and will not benefit them. Thus human fate and the manner of a person’s presence in the Hereafter is in pledge of his own deed. Of course, repentance and apology are effective only in this world, but in the Hereafter such things are not useful. In some stages of the Day of Judgement, such sinners will not be allowed to apologize or even speak, since their mouths will be sealed, while their hands, feet, and limbs, as well as the land on which they have committed sins, will speak about their misdeeds. In some other stages their tongue will be relieved and they apologize, but it will not profit them.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. Disbelief and perpetual sinning without the thought of repentance and reform, drives a person towards doom, because of the crimes and corruption he/she has wrought in the society.
2. Knowledge and faith have reciprocal relationship. Real knowledge guides the believer toward firm faith, while faith invites the believer to acquire fruitful knowledge.  
3. Every human being is responsible for his/her fate in afterlife, and even in life, oppression, injustice and crimes bring about disgrace and destruction.
4. Repentance and apology for sins in the Court of the All-Merciful Lord is useful while alive in this mortal world, and is of no use on Judgement Day.  

Now we listen to ayahs 58 and 59 of Surah Roum:

وَلَقَدْ ضَرَبْنَا لِلنَّاسِ فِي هَـٰذَا الْقُرْآنِ مِن كُلِّ مَثَلٍ ۚ وَلَئِن جِئْتَهُم بِآيَةٍ لَّيَقُولَنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِنْ أَنتُمْ إِلَّا مُبْطِلُونَ

كَذَٰلِكَ يَطْبَعُ اللَّـهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

“Certainly we have drawn for mankind in this Qurʾan every [kind of] parable. Indeed if you bring them a sign, the faithless will surely say, ‘You are nothing but fabricators!”

“Thus does Allah seal the hearts of those who do not know.”

The holy Qur’an is the Book of Guidance and whatever is effective in guiding human beings has been mentioned in it, with warning for the wrongdoers to rectify their deeds, and tidings for the pious of the bliss of paradise. In other words, the holy Qur’an is a collection of instructive lessons, ethical matters, practical programmes and ideological affairs in a way that all possible methods for influencing in man’s thought and inviting them to the path of happiness have been used. Yet, there are some people that none of these issues affect their dark and black hearts. That is why any ayah or sign presented to them regarding the undeniable truth, will make these disbelievers dismiss facts and realities as some baseless affairs and fabrication.

The next ayah clearly states the reason of the opposition to truth of the faithless. It clearly implies that this impenetrability and limitless enmity against any reality is because they have lost their sense of recognition and comprehension as a result of multiplicity of sin and obstinacy, and thus they understand nothing at all. This is what is meant that Allah seals their hearts. It is exactly like the thieves who are imprisoned for the sake of justice, as a result of which they have deprived themselves of the blessing of freedom. Likewise, if disbelievers believe in the One and Only God, and if sinners repent of their misdeeds, the All-Merciful Lord forgives them, and vice-versa, if they insist on their sins and disbelief, it is they themselves who have locked their hearts in darkness and deprived their minds of positive thinking.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. The holy Qur’an, as the final revelation of God Almighty for all humanity, and is the supreme source of guidance for all mankind, and it presents parables to awaken our minds.
2. The disbelievers and unrepentant sinners, not only do not accept the truth but they consider it to be fabrication.
3. The punishment for the faithless is that their own deeds have deprived them of Divine Guidance.

Now we listen to ayah 60 of Surah Roum:

فَاصْبِرْ إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّـهِ حَقٌّ ۖ وَلَا يَسْتَخِفَّنَّكَ الَّذِينَ لَا يُوقِنُونَ

“So be patient! Allah’s promise is indeed true. And do not let yourself be upset by those who have no conviction.”

This is the last ayah Surah Roum, and it provides comfort to the Prophet of Islam and the true believers by saying that God’s Promise is indeed true, and soon they will be rewarded for their patience and steadfastness, no matter how severe is the harassment of the disbelievers. As it was said before, this Surah started with promise of the triumph of the true believers over the disbelievers, and its ends with the promise of victory, for which the main condition is patience and perseverance.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. The true believers should be firm and patient in the face of the evil and adversity of the faithless.
2. We should have faith in the Promise of God regarding the victory of righteous over the wrongful, and this is the source of tranquility and security.

That was the end of Surah Roum. Next week we will start our explanation of Surah Luqman. Thank you and goodbye.

AS/MG/SS