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 19 and 20 of Surah Ankabut:

أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا كَيْفَ يُبْدِئُ اللَّـهُ الْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُ ۚ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّـهِ يَسِيرٌ

قُلْ سِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَانظُرُوا كَيْفَ بَدَأَ الْخَلْقَ ۚ ثُمَّ اللَّـهُ يُنشِئُ النَّشْأَةَ الْآخِرَةَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

“Have they not regarded how Allah originates the creation? Then He will bring it back. That is indeed easy for Allah.”

“Say, ‘Travel over the land and then observe how He has originated the creation.’ Then Allah shall bring about the genesis of the Hereafter. Indeed Allah has power over all things.”

Last week we focused on the dialogue of Prophet Abraham with the disbelievers in which he called on them to stop worshipping idols or asking them for sustenance, since they are nothing but the creation of their own hands and warped minds, with no power over anything. The ayahs that we now recited to you ask mankind to ponder on the world of creation, and how the One and Only God has originated it. The disbelievers addressed here are not only those of the ancient times, but the modern disbelievers as well, who may not worship idols and might be atheists, without any belief in the Day of Resurrection after the end of the mortal world. These ayahs are stimulation for the mind and mean to say that since Allah is the Creator, it is easy for Him to restore to original form all minute forms of creation after their destruction. The ayahs call upon mankind to travel around the world and observe the genesis of creation, in order to realize that the One and Only Creator has power over all and everything.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. The holy Qur’an invites mankind to think and ponder over the world of creation in order to understand how God has originated each and everything.

2. Creation is the manifestation of the Infinite Knowledge and Power of God in giving life and death to creatures.

3. Islam calls for traveling to different places in order study the world of nature and discover the facts, for better cognizance of the Majesty of God.

4. Since God is the Creator, it is easy for Him to recreate and restore everything to its original form, shape, and size, and this explains the logic of the Day of Resurrection.

Now we read ayahs 21 and 22 of Surah Ankabut:

يُعَذِّبُ مَن يَشَاءُ وَيَرْحَمُ مَن يَشَاءُ ۖ وَإِلَيْهِ تُقْلَبُونَ

وَمَا أَنتُم بِمُعْجِزِينَ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِي السَّمَاءِ ۖ وَمَا لَكُم مِّن دُونِ اللَّـهِ مِن وَلِيٍّ وَلَا نَصِيرٍ

“He will punish whomever He wishes and have mercy on whomever He wishes, and to Him you will be returned.”

“You cannot thwart Him on the earth or in the sky, nor do you have besides Allah any guardian or any helper.”

On the Day of Resurrection, man will reap the harvest of what he/she sowed in life, whether good or bad, and this explains the logic behind reward and punishment. The All-Merciful Lord is the Supreme Judge from Whom nothing is concealed, nor can man deny whatever he had committed. None can escape divine justice, but this does not mean that God is stern and punishes or rewards indiscriminately. No, such a thought is against the concept of Divine Justice. The Loving Creator, Who forgives our faults, provided we repent and reform during the respite given in life, will certainly reward those that turned to Him in humbleness with the eternal bliss of paradise, while the fate of the intransigent disbelievers will be perpetual loss, since they refused to believe in Him while alive and indulged in sins and oppression. In this regard, ayah number 22 means to say that there is no helper or guardian for those who had denied His existence or associated partners to Him, and none can thwart Him anywhere – neither on the earth or in the sky, even if scientific powers enable them to conquer outer space, because the whole universe is nothing but God’s creation.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. The Qur’an speaks of reward and punishment in order to help us mold our life as per the commandments of God, by studying the precedents set by the pious and pondering on the terrible fate of the disbelievers and oppressors.

2. God’s Will is based on Divine Justice and there is not even an iota of oppression in whatever out Loving Creator does.

3. Not even science and technology and powers of creation and destruction that humans acquire, can stand before God’s Will, since it is He Who is the Creator of the entire universe, including us and our thoughts and intentions.

Now we read ayah 23 of Surah Ankabut:

وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِآيَاتِ اللَّـهِ وَلِقَائِهِ أُولَـٰئِكَ يَئِسُوا مِن رَّحْمَتِي وَأُولَـٰئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

“Those who deny the signs of Allah and the encounter with Him, they have despaired of My mercy, and for such there is a painful punishment.”

This ayah refers to those miserable persons who have become so entrapped in the deceit of the Satan that they have lost hope in God’s mercy by becoming deniers of the Day of Resurrections, and this is indeed a cardinal sin. The ayahs of the holy Qur’an warns us against such indulgence and aim to recreate hope in our minds and souls in order to correct our beliefs, because on the Day of Resurrection, there is painful punishment for the disbelievers.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. Divine mercy is all-encompassing and everyone can benefit from it, but disbelief closes the doors of hope and salvation.

2. The only group deprived of the God’s all-encompassing mercy are the disbelievers.

FK/AS/ME