• The Respite Allowed To The Disbelievers

• A Challenge To Those Who Disbelieve In The Qur’an, To Bring At Least Something Similar To It

• The Disbelievers Shall Be Punished In This World And In The Hereafter

• To Glorify God At Night And At Dawn

At-Tur Verses 29 - 49

فَذَكِّرْ فَمَا أَنْتَ بِنِعْمَتِ رَبِّكَ بِكَاهِنٍ وَلَا مَجْنُونٍ

“So thou remind on (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!) for thou, by the grace1of thy Lord (on thee), art neither a soothsayer, nor a mad man” (52:29)

أَمْ يَقُولُونَ شَاعِرٌ نَتَرَبَّصُ بِهِ رَيْبَ الْمَنُونِ

“Or say they (about thee O’ Our Apostle!) ‘A poet (is he)! Let us wait2for him3some fatal adversity4(drawn) by time!’” (52:30)

قُلْ تَرَبَّصُوا فَإِنِّي مَعَكُمْ مِنَ الْمُتَرَبِّصِينَ

“Say thou (O’ Our Apostle Muhammad!). “Wait ye, and verily I too with you am of those who wait’5“ (52:31)

أَمْ تَأْمُرُهُمْ أَحْلَامُهُمْ بِهَٰذَا أَمْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ طَاغُونَ

“Or is it that bid them their deliberations, to do this, or are they an inordinate6people?” (52:32)

أَمْ يَقُولُونَ تَقَوَّلَهُ بَلْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ

“Or say they (that): ‘He7hath forged it (the Qur’an)? Nay! they believe not8‘” (52:33)

فَلْيَأْتُوا بِحَدِيثٍ مِثْلِهِ إِنْ كَانُوا صَادِقِينَ

“Let them then bring a dis-course like unto it, if they be truthful9“ (52:34)

أَمْ خُلِقُوا مِنْ غَيْرِ شَيْءٍ أَمْ هُمُ الْخَالِقُونَ

“Or were they created by nothing? Or are they themselves the creators?10“ (52:35)

أَمْ خَلَقُوا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بَلْ لَا يُوقِنُونَ

“Or created they the heavens and the earth? Nay! they have no certainty11” (52:36)

أَمْ عِنْدَهُمْ خَزَائِنُ رَبِّكَ أَمْ هُمُ الْمُصَيْطِرُونَ

“Or with them are the treasures of thy Lord, Or hold they the absolute authority?” (52:37)

أَمْ لَهُمْ سُلَّمٌ يَسْتَمِعُونَ فِيهِ فَلْيَأْتِ مُسْتَمِعُهُمْ بِسُلْطَانٍ مُبِينٍ

“Or for them is a ladder by which they can (climb up into the heaven and) listen (to the angels)? Then let the listener of theirs bring a proof manifest” (52:38)

أَمْ لَهُ الْبَنَاتُ وَلَكُمُ الْبَنُونَ

“Or for Him are daughters and for ye sons?12” (52:39)

أَمْ تَسْأَلُهُمْ أَجْرًا فَهُمْ مِنْ مَغْرَمٍ مُثْقَلُونَ

“Or thou asketh of them any recompense, that they are burdened with the weight of debt?13” (52:40)

أَمْ عِنْدَهُمُ الْغَيْبُ فَهُمْ يَكْتُبُونَ

“Or with them is the unseen that they write it down?14“ (52:41)

أَمْ يُرِيدُونَ كَيْدًا فَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا هُمُ الْمَكِيدُونَ

“Or intend they to lay15snares for thee? But those who disbelieve are themselves the snared ones” (52:42)

أَمْ لَهُمْ إِلَٰهٌ غَيْرُ اللَّهِ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ

“Or for them is a god other than God? Hallowed is God from what they associate16(with Him)” (52:43)

وَإِنْ يَرَوْا كِسْفًا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ سَاقِطًا يَقُولُوا سَحَابٌ مَرْكُومٌ

“And if they see a portion of the heaven coming down, they would say: ‘(they are) clouds piled up17‘” (52:44)

فَذَرْهُمْ حَتَّىٰ يُلَاقُوا يَوْمَهُمُ الَّذِي فِيهِ يُصْعَقُونَ

“Leave them then until they encounter the Day of theirs where-in they shall be smitten18(with terror) to swoon19“ (52:45)

يَوْمَ لَا يُغْنِي عَنْهُمْ كَيْدُهُمْ شَيْئًا وَلَا هُمْ يُنْصَرُونَ

“A day wherein their devices shall avail them not aught, nor shall they be helped” (52:46)

وَإِنَّ لِلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا عَذَابًا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

“And verily for those who did injustice there shall be a chastisement besides that, but most of them know it not” (52:47)

وَاصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ فَإِنَّكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا وَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ حِينَ تَقُومُ

“And wait thou patiently for the command of thy Lord, for verily thou art before Our20eyes, and celebrate thou the praise of thy Lord when thou risest21“ (52:48)

وَمِنَ اللَّيْلِ فَسَبِّحْهُ وَإِدْبَارَ النُّجُومِ

“And in the night too, celebrate thou His Glory and at the setting of the stars” (52:49)

Commentary

Verse 34

Of all the religious scriptures of the world which claim to be heavenly or sacred in any other way, the Holy Qur’an is the only Scripture which has repeatedly challenged its disbelievers to bring a part of its kind and about 1400 years have elapsed and yet none could reply to it. This is one of the living miracles of the Holy Qur’an that its text is inimitable, even from the literary aspect of its beauty and superiority and none could corrupt it nor effect any change in its arrangement22.

Verse 35

The disbelievers are asked that if they believed, that they had been created without a Creator or without any purpose.

This lays the fundamental axiom which is one of the and scientific propositions are based - that an effect of a phenomenon or by itself (A.P.).

Verse 38

Or is it that they have any ladder to get into basic foundations on which all philosophic cannot come into being out of nothing heaven to know the secrets23.

This applies to those who claim that besides the logical method of the approach to the moral, social and theological problems, they have special ways of direct communion or direct touch with the divine sources. Claims of such nature have no value unless it is supported by clear and irrefutable evidence, such as miracles (A.P.).

Verse 49

About spending a part of the night in prayer, see Verses 17:78-79. And at the setting of the stars, see Verse 113:1.

• 1. Bounty.
• 2. What the people said.
• 3. The Holy Prophet.
• 4. Death.
• 5. Refer to Verses 9:15 and 9:52.
• 6. Rebels.
• 7. The Holy Prophet.
• 8. Refer to Verses 69:41-47.
• 9. Refer to Verses 2:23; 10:38; 11:13.
• 10. See note on the Existence of God in the introduction.
• 11. Firmness of belief.
• 12. Refer to Verses 16:57; 43:16.
• 13. Refer to Verse 68:46.
• 14. Refer to Verse 68:47.
• 15. Scheming.
• 16. Creating equals to Him - False Gods - Worshipping angels as the daughters and Jesus as the Son of God.
• 17. Refer to Verse 26:187.
• 18. With Thunderbolt.
• 19. Refer to Verse 39:68.
• 20. Purview.
• 21. Thus, every act of the Holy Prophet will be the view of the Lord. Refer to Verses 50:39-40.
• 22. See Verses 2:23; 10:38; 11:13; 17:88.
• 23. See Verses 6:35; 15:18; 37:8; 67:5, 72:8.