Ghafir 40:64–85

The earth has been endowed with countless physical resources. This has enabled human beings to build their civilization in the world. Similarly, the atmosphere which envelopes the earth has such favourable arrangements, in which slightest of disturbance would make the whole system of human life go topsy-turvy. Then, the sublime constitution of man makes him the most superior creature in the world. So, who can be worthy of man’s devotion and worship except the Creator who has created it all?

This verse invokes a true subject of God to ‘call upon Him, giving Him sincere devotion’. It means that any form of obeisance and worship should be for the One and only God.

These verses point to the phenomena of nature which exist so that man may reflect. In other words, these phenomena exist so that man may give them deep consideration and may uncover their hidden meaning. The conversion of lifeless matter into living objects; the development of the human being in a gradual manner; man’s passing through the stages of youth to old age; death of man, sometimes in old age and sometimes at a young age are events that introduce us to the various attributes of the Creator. It is revealed by these events that the Being who brought this universe into existence is the All Powerful and Wise God. He is Supreme and Dominant. If man learns a real lesson from these facts, he will spontaneously opine that it is the one and only God who deserves to be worshipped. This picture of the Universe implicitly contradicts all the false gods set up by man instead of the real God.

Who were the ones who were happy with untruth and indulged in false pride? These were men who held great stature in their times. They attained some worldly elevation, which alongwith their material possessions made them arrogant and vain. Their success in worldly matters had developed in them a false impression that they were the ones who had attained success, though in actual fact they were the truly deprived people. As the high ranking men of a society become the rejecters of the Truth, the common people also follow them and start denying the Truth. In these verses, a scene of the world Hereafter has been described, when these people will be cast into Hell to be punished for their arrogant behaviour. Their overweening pride would have ultimately dragged them to such low levels that they will find no way to uplift themselves from their position.

God has made a promise that He will help the preachers of Truth and defeat its opponents. But the fulfilment of this promise takes place after the adoption of the way of patience. The preacher has to put up with the harassment and provocative behaviour of the other party unilaterally, until, in accordance with God’s methods, the time for the fulfilment of His promise arrives. The real punishment of the opponents of the Truth is that which is awarded to them in the Hereafter. However, in the present world also, they are given a foretaste of what is to come, although this is not necessarily done in every case.

Events in the lives of the previous prophets have been described in the Quran, not as historical records, but by way of admonition. So, these descriptions of prophets in the Quran are restricted to whatever is deemed necessary (by God) for the purpose of admonition. The real mission of a prophet is only to convey the message of God to the people, with all due respect to the requirements of propriety. As far as miracles are concerned, it is entirely at God’s discretion whether they are demonstrated or not. Miracles were shown mostly to communities who were destined by God to be destroyed on account of their arrogance. So, as a last measure, by way of fulfilling the conditions of fully conveying the divine message fortified by reasoned arguments, they were also shown miracles . But the case of the community of the last Prophet of God was different. A major part of this community was finally destined to be believers. They were the people who were potentially capable of becoming the first group in history who admitted the Truth simply on the strength of arguments and, in exercise of their free will, surrendered themselves to it.

Man needs many things for the upkeep of his existence and the development of human civilization, such as food, mounts, different types of industries, means of transportation etc. All these things exist in plenty in the present world. God has created the physical world in such a way that it is subservient and capable of being used by man for meeting his requirements. All these things are, so to say, signs from God. Though this declaration is in indirect language, it is in man’s interest to understand it, because when God resorts to direct communication, it will mark the end of the period allowed for the performance of good or bad deeds and not the beginning.

Knowledge is of two kinds. One is that which enables human beings to make worldly progress. The other is that which shows the path leading to success in the Hereafter. Those who possess worldly knowledge immediately receive the substantial benefits of this knowledge in the shape of worldly progress. Whereas the result of the knowledge of the Hereafter is not immediately visible in a tangible form. That is why the possessor of this knowledge comes to be degraded by worldly people. This difference creates a superiority complex in those who are in possession of worldly knowledge. So, when prophets appeared among such people, they considered themselves superior and the prophets inferior. So much so, that they started ridiculing the prophets. But God caused them to be destroyed in spite of all their powers and superior development. Now their remains are to be found either in the form of ruins lying above or interred deep in the earth. In this way, God Almighty has set a historical example for human beings—that the secret of permanent success lies in the knowledge of the Hereafter and not in worldly knowledge. The prophets were initially rejected by their communities. The prophets had all the force of argument on their side, but these communities were not prepared to accept their credo. Finally, God made them aware of the reality in the language of punishment. Only then did they bow down before the truth. But this was of no avail, because only that admission of truth is desirable and useful which is arrived at on the basis of arguments. Any such admission which is made after seeing the divine punishment is worthless.