Surah 64: At-Taghabun
The Holy Qur’an with English Translation and Commentary (Five Volume Commentary)
[a]In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful.
[a] See 1:1.
[b]Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth glorifies Allah; His is the kingdom and His is the praise, and He has power over all things.[4254]
[b] 17:45; 24:42; 59:25; 61:2; 62:2.
[4254] Commentary:
Every creature by discharging its allotted task punctually and regularly and thus fulfilling the object for which it has been created, declares God to be free from every defect, imperfection or impurity and to be its Master, Creator and Controller. See also 57:2.
It is He Who has created you, but some of you are disbelievers and some of you are believers; and Allah sees what you do.[4255]
[4255] Commentary:
God has provided to all men adequate powers and opportunities for moral and spiritual development but some of them, by their failure to make proper use of those opportunities, practically refuse to acknowledge God’s beneficence and disobey His laws and commandments, while others by employing them in the service of their fellow beings succeed in winning His pleasure.
He created the heavens and the earth with truth, and He shaped you[c] and made your shapes beautiful, and to Him is the ultimate return.[4256]
[c] 3:7; 7:12.
[4256] Commentary:
The universe is governed and controlled by fixed natural laws and man is not the victim of chance, but being the crown and acme of the whole creation he has been endowed with such powers and faculties as are suited to his position as God’s vicegerent on earth: and because of these powers he will have to render to God an account of his deeds and actions.
He knows whatever is in the heavens and the earth, and He knows what you conceal and what you disclose[a]; and Allah knows well that which is hidden in the breasts.[4257]
[a] 2:78; 16:20; 27:26.
[4257] Commentary:
As man has to render an account of his actions to God, he must realise that God being the Creator and Controller of the universe, nothing is hidden from Him or can escape His notice. It is therefore futile on man’s part to think that he can avoid or escape responsibility for his actions.
[b]Has not the story reached you of those who disbelieved before? So they tasted the evil consequences of their conduct, and they had a painful punishment.[4258]
[b] 40:22-23.
[4258] Commentary:
See next verse.
That was because their Messengers came to them with manifest Signs, but they said, ‘Shall mere mortals guide us?’ So they disbelieved and turned away, but Allah had no need of them; and Allah is Self-Sufficient, Worthy of all praise.[4259]
[4259] Commentary:
As man has been endowed with great faculties of head and heart and as he has to render an account of his deeds in the life hereafter, God sent His Messengers to guide him to the goal of his life. But man, in his ingratitude and conceit, defies and opposes Divine Messengers, thereby incurring Divine punishment.
Those who disbelieve assert that they will not be raised up.[a] Say, ‘Yea, by my Lord, you shall surely be raised up; then shall you surely be informed of what you did. And that is easy for Allah.’[4260]
[4260] Commentary:
Does man think (the verse seems to say) that there is no future life or that he has been endowed with great powers, attributes and faculties for nothing, or, does he imagine that he can escape responsibility for his actions? He is sadly mistaken if he so imagines. There is a life after death wherein "shall you surely be informed of what you did."
[a] 36:79-80; 46:18; 50:4.
Believe, therefore, in Allah and His Messenger, and in the Light which We have sent down.[b] And Allah is Well-Aware of all that you do.[4261]
[b] 4:175; 7:158.
[4261] Commentary:
النور (the Light) may mean, the light of revelation, or the wisdom, spiritual enlightenment and insight, and divine knowledge and discernment, with which the Holy Prophet was specially gifted.
The day when He shall gather you, on the Day of Gathering, that will be the day of mutual loss and gain. And whoso believes in Allah and acts righteously—He will remove from them the evil consequences of their deeds[c] and He will make them enter Gardens through which streams flow, to abide therein for ever. That is the supreme triumph.[4262]
[c] 8:30; 48:6; 66:9.
[4262] Important Words:
التغابن (mutual gain and loss) is derived from غبن. They say غبنه i.e. he deprived, cheated or made him suffer loss in selling or overcame him in buying and selling. غبن رأیه (ghabina) means, he was or became deficient in his opinion or judgement. غبن الشیء means, he was unmindful or neglectful of the thing. In view of the root meaning of the word, the expression یوم التغابن has been variously interpreted as: (1) The Day of mutual gain and loss i.e. when believers will know what they had gained and disbelievers what they had lost. (2) The Day of the Manifestation of Loss i.e. people will realize how far they had been deficient in the discharge of their duties to God and man and thus their loss will become manifest. (3) The Day when the inmates of Paradise will over-reach the inmates of Hell by the state of enjoyment in which the former will be and the punishment which the latter will experience. (4) The Day when believers will attribute defect or deficiency to the lack of wisdom of disbelievers in that they had preferred disbelief to belief (Lane, Mufradat & Aqrab).
[a]But as to those who disbelieve and reject Our Signs, these shall be the inmates of the Fire, wherein they shall abide; and an evil destination it is!
[a] 2:40; 7:37; 22:58; 30:17; 78:29.
There befalls not any affliction but by the leave of Allah.[b] And whosoever believes in Allah—He guides his heart aright. And Allah knows all things well.[4263]
[b] 4:79.
[4263] Commentary:
God controls the universe according to certain laws. When man contravenes any of these laws, he involves himself in trouble. But as God is the Creator of all natural laws and man’s affliction is due to the contravention of one or other of these laws or to one of God’s special decrees, the trouble may be said to have emanated from Him or to have come into being by His leave.