Hud 11:10
Hud · Juz 12 · Page 222
وَلَئِنۡ أَذَقۡنَٰهُ نَعۡمَآءَ بَعۡدَ ضَرَّآءَ مَسَّتۡهُ لَيَقُولَنَّ ذَهَبَ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتُ عَنِّيٓۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَفَرِحٞ فَخُورٌ ١٠
But if We give him a taste of favor after hardship has touched him, he will surely say, "Bad times have left me." Indeed, he is exultant and boastful -
Tafsir · in English
Ma'arif al-Qur'an
Detailed · A modern classic, with rulings and practical points.
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Commentary on 11:9–10
Commentary
In the verses appearing above, it has been confirmed that the Holy Prophet ﷺ 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 suffering, 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 impression 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.
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.
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11:6
۞ وَمَا مِن دَآبَّةٖ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ إِلَّا عَلَى ٱللَّهِ رِزۡقُهَا وَيَعۡلَمُ مُسۡتَقَرَّهَا وَمُسۡتَوۡدَعَهَاۚ كُلّٞ فِي كِتَٰبٖ مُّبِينٖ ٦
And there is no creature on earth but that upon Allāh is its provision, and He knows its place of dwelling and place of storage.1 All is in a clear register.
1 translator’s note
- Before birth and after death. ↩
11:7
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِي خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٖ وَكَانَ عَرۡشُهُۥ عَلَى ٱلۡمَآءِ لِيَبۡلُوَكُمۡ أَيُّكُمۡ أَحۡسَنُ عَمَلٗاۗ وَلَئِن قُلۡتَ إِنَّكُم مَّبۡعُوثُونَ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ ٱلۡمَوۡتِ لَيَقُولَنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓاْ إِنۡ هَٰذَآ إِلَّا سِحۡرٞ مُّبِينٞ ٧
And it is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days - and His Throne had been upon water - that He might test you as to which of you is best in deed. But if you say, "Indeed, you are resurrected after death," those who disbelieve will surely say, "This is not but obvious magic."
11:8
وَلَئِنۡ أَخَّرۡنَا عَنۡهُمُ ٱلۡعَذَابَ إِلَىٰٓ أُمَّةٖ مَّعۡدُودَةٖ لَّيَقُولُنَّ مَا يَحۡبِسُهُۥٓۗ أَلَا يَوۡمَ يَأۡتِيهِمۡ لَيۡسَ مَصۡرُوفًا عَنۡهُمۡ وَحَاقَ بِهِم مَّا كَانُواْ بِهِۦ يَسۡتَهۡزِءُونَ ٨
And if We hold back from them the punishment for a limited time, they will surely say,1 "What detains it?" Unquestionably, on the Day it comes to them, it will not be averted from them, and they will be enveloped by what they used to ridicule.
1 translator’s note
- In ridicule and disbelief. ↩
11:9
وَلَئِنۡ أَذَقۡنَا ٱلۡإِنسَٰنَ مِنَّا رَحۡمَةٗ ثُمَّ نَزَعۡنَٰهَا مِنۡهُ إِنَّهُۥ لَيَـُٔوسٞ كَفُورٞ ٩
And if We give man a taste of mercy from Us and then We withdraw it from him, indeed, he is despairing and ungrateful.
11:10
وَلَئِنۡ أَذَقۡنَٰهُ نَعۡمَآءَ بَعۡدَ ضَرَّآءَ مَسَّتۡهُ لَيَقُولَنَّ ذَهَبَ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتُ عَنِّيٓۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَفَرِحٞ فَخُورٌ ١٠
But if We give him a taste of favor after hardship has touched him, he will surely say, "Bad times have left me." Indeed, he is exultant and boastful -
11:11
إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ صَبَرُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ أُوْلَٰٓئِكَ لَهُم مَّغۡفِرَةٞ وَأَجۡرٞ كَبِيرٞ ١١
Except for those who are patient and do righteous deeds; those will have forgiveness and great reward.
11:12
فَلَعَلَّكَ تَارِكُۢ بَعۡضَ مَا يُوحَىٰٓ إِلَيۡكَ وَضَآئِقُۢ بِهِۦ صَدۡرُكَ أَن يَقُولُواْ لَوۡلَآ أُنزِلَ عَلَيۡهِ كَنزٌ أَوۡ جَآءَ مَعَهُۥ مَلَكٌۚ إِنَّمَآ أَنتَ نَذِيرٞۚ وَٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيۡءٖ وَكِيلٌ ١٢
Then would you possibly leave [out] some of what is revealed to you,1 or is your breast constrained by it because they say, "Why has there not been sent down to him a treasure or come with him an angel?" But you are only a warner. And Allāh is Disposer of all things.
1 translator’s note
- Knowing of the Prophet's difficulties, Allāh (subḥānahu wa taʿālā) urges him to patience, certain that he would not fail to convey the message in its entirety. ↩