In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate, Salaam and welcome to our weekly program "Path Towards Enlightenment" in which we present you a fluent and easy-to-understand explanation of the ayahs of the holy Qu’ran. We start from where we left you last Friday and here is ayah 45 the last ayah of Surah Fatir:

“Were Allah to take mankind to task because of what they have earned, He would not leave any living being on its back. But He respites them until a specified time, and when their time comes, Allah indeed sees best His servants.”

In continuation of the previous ayahs that we explained last week on on the deceit and trickery of the arrogant sinners and their evil fate, this ayah means to say: God the All-Merciful is the manifestation of patience, and will not punish wrongdoers immediately for their sins. The Lord Most High has given ample time and respite to His best of creation, the human race, to realize their faults, rectify their wrongs, to seek repentance in the Divine Court, and to reform themselves with the commitment of not repeating the sins. In this way they will be free from punishment. Repentance, however, will not be accepted when all signs of death are clear.    

This concluding ayah of Surah Fatir is proof of the love of God Almighty for His human beings, who unfortunately do not realize this divine grace and indulge in sins and disbelief. It means that punishment or reward is not predestined but depends on our actions, on the basis of the gifts of intellect, speech and free will, given to us. It is interesting to note that Surah Fatir ends with the tidings of divine grace, in the same manner as it had begun with the tidings of Mercy of Allah for mankind.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. One of the reasons for deferring the punishment of the sinners till the Day of Resurrection is to give respite for reflection upon actions and rectifying the wrongs, in order to avail of Divine Mercy.
2. It is also a grace for continuation of the process of procreation to increase humanity and save it from extinction.
3. God's patience is infinite, but this does not mean that we should continue to commit sins and crimes.
4. The fact that God Almighty gives us respite in this world does not mean that He is unaware of our acts, for; He is aware of all of our deeds.

With this we come to the end of Surah Fatir. Next week, Insha Allah we will start with Surah Ya Sin. God bless you and good-bye.

AS/MG