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Cf. ii. 286 and n. 339.
The record speaks clearly, and shows exactly what each soul has done and thought, and what is due to it in justice. The worst will receive full justice. The best will receive far more than their due: xxviii. 84.
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This passage obviously connects with the last sentence of verse {56} - "Nay, but they do not perceive [their error!''-and. hence, refers to the people spoken of in verse {54} as being "lost in their ignorance" (fi ghamratihim ).
Namely, actions and dogmatic assertions which utterly contradict the teachings of the very apostles whom they claim to follow, like ascribing divine qualities to beings other than God, worshipping saints, or rejecting divine revelations which do not accord with their own likes and dislikes or with their customary mode of thinking.
This refers to the believers’ good deeds mentioned in 23:57-62.
This is said of the Unbelievers who rejected Faith and rejoiced in the vanities of this world. In spite of the proclamation of Truth, they are doubtful of the future Life and Judgment.
In addition to their rejection of Faith, they have against them positive deeds of wrong-doing, from which, on account of their contempt of the Light from Allah, they will not desist until they are sharply pulled up for punishment: and then repentance will be too late!
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See surah {17}, note [22]. The particular reference, in this context, to people "who [at present] are lost in the pursuit of pleasures" contains an allusion to verse {55} above (see my explanation in note [32], especially the last sentence). The "taking to task through suffering" spoken of here may refer to the Day of Judgment or - as in 17:16 - to the inevitable social ruin which, in the long run, wrong beliefs and actions bring with themselves in this world.
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This is the meaning implied in the auxiliary verb kanat. preceded by the particle qad.
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Lit., "as one who keeps awake at night" (samiran). In combination with the phrase kuntum...tahjurun, this expression indicates the pursuit of endless, fruitless discussions divorced from all reality, or a mere play with words leading nowhere. (See also 31:6 and the corresponding note [4].)
Samir: one who remains awake by night, one who passes the night in talk or in the recital of stories of romances, a favourite amusement of the Days of Ignorance.
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Implying that the message of the Qur'an is but a continuation of all the divine messages ever revealed to man.
If they ponder over the matter, they will find that Allah's Message to humanity is as old as Adam. It is good for all ages. It never grows old, and it is never new.
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I.e., they hate to admit the truth: the reason being - as the sequence shows - that the world-view propounded by the Qur'an is not in accord with their own likes and dislikes or preconceived notions.
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I.e., the reality of all creation.
I.e., if the universe - and, especially, human life - had been as devoid of meaning and purpose as they imagine, nothing could have endured, and everything would have long since perished in chaos.
For this rendering of the term dhikr, see note [13] on 21:10 .
Their desire that the universe has more than one God. See 21:22.
Allah is All-Wise and All-Good, and His architecture of the universe is on a perfect Plan. If these poor, low, selfish, ignorant creatures were to plan it according to their hearts' desires, it would be a dreadful world, full of confusion and corruption.
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The terms kharj and kharaj which occur in the above verse are more or less synonymous, both of them denoting "recompense". According to Zamakhshari, however, there is a slight difference between these two expressions, kharj being more restricted in its meaning than kharaj: hence, the first has been rendered as "worldly recompense" and the second as "recompense" without any restrictive definition, implying that a recompense from God is unlimited, relating both.
This is the last of the questions, beginning with xxiii. 68 above, showing the absurdity of the position taken up by the Unbelievers. (1) The Message of Allah is as old as humanity: why do they fight shy of it? (2) They have known their Prophet to be true and righteous: why do they deny him? (3) Is it madness to bring the bitter Truth before them? (4) Does the Prophet ask any worldly reward from them? If not, why do they reject his unselfish efforts for their own good?
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Sc., "as it inevitably befalls all human beings": an oblique allusion to the fact that human life is never free from distress.
This refers to famine which affected the pagans of Mecca.
The reference is to a very severe famine felt in Makkah, which was attributed by the Unbelievers to the presence of the holy Prophet among them and his preaching against their gods. As this is a Makkan Sura, the famine referred to must be that described by Ibn Kathir as having occured in the 8th year of the Mission, say about four years before the Hijra. There was also a post-Hijra famine, which is referred to by Bukhari, but that was a later event.
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