In the Shade of the Qur'an by Sayyid Qutb

In this new wave, the sūrah puts the idolaters’ nature face to face with God’s might; indeed, it puts them face to face with their own nature when it confronts the prospect of being smitten by God’s might. What happens to human nature when it is overwhelmed by the terrible prospects ahead? It is certain to shed all its burdens, whether of false concepts or false deities, and turn to its true Lord, whom it knows well. It appeals to Him alone for help to be saved from the impending doom.

The sūrah takes the idolaters by the hand to show them how earlier communities were destroyed. Along the way, it describes how God’s law and His will operate. It makes clear how, after those earlier communities had rejected God’s messengers and denied their messages, they were set one test after another, sometimes with hardship and misfortune, and sometimes with comfort and affluence. They were given chance after chance to wake up from their deep slumber. When they had had all their chances, remained oblivious to trials and hardship, and were deluded by the comforts and pleasures they enjoyed, God’s will came into operation. Punishment overtook them suddenly: “Thus the last remnant of the wrongdoing people was wiped out.

All praise is due to God, the Lord of all the worlds.” (Verse 45)

Just as this scene that violently shakes people’s hearts begins to disappear, a new scene shows them exposed to God’s might. Their hearing and sight are taken away and their hearts are sealed off. They cannot find a deity other than God to replace their faculties of hearing, seeing and comprehension.

Against the background of these two awesome scenes, they are told about the role of the messengers who are sent to give good news and to warn. That is all they are required to do. They do not bring any miraculous events, or respond to suggestions and requests. They simply convey the messages entrusted to them. Some people believe and do well, and, as a result, they are safe, experiencing no fear or grief.

Others deny the messengers and turn away, and, in consequence, they are exposed to punishment. The choice is open to all: either to believe or disbelieve. The end result is made clear.

Say: If God’s punishment befalls you or the Hour comes upon you, can you see yourselves calling upon anyone other than God? [Answer me] if you are truthful! No, on Him alone you will call, whereupon He will, if He so wills, remove the ill which caused you to call on Him; and you will have forgotten all those you associate as partners with Him. (Verses 40-1)

Here we have one of the various methods the Qur’ān employs to address human nature in order to present to it the Islamic faith. We have already seen how the Qur’ān draws people’s attentions to the elaborate system of life and the multitude of living creatures, and how God’s knowledge is total, flawless, absolute. Here, the Qur’ānic address makes use of God’s power and how human nature reacts when it reflects on any aspect of God’s might, shaking off all traces of idolatry. Thus, human nature regains its freedom and tears off what used to prevent it from acquiring proper knowledge of its Lord and believing in His oneness: “Say: If God’s punishment befalls you or the Hour comes upon you, can you see yourselves calling upon anyone other than God? [Answer me] if you are truthful!” (Verse 40)

Human nature is, thus, put face to face with the possibility of total destruction which may come as punishment in this life, or with the totally unexpected arrival of the Last Hour. Once human nature is made to visualize this eventuality, it responds positively to the truth. God knows that such a positive response remains latent within it. Human nature is shaken as it must own up to the truth it knows. God puts the question to the unbelievers, demanding a verbal answer to express their true, natural feelings: “can you see yourselves calling upon anyone other than God? [Answer me] if you are truthful!” (Verse 40)

The sūrah then states the true answer which corresponds to their natural feelings, although they may not give it verbal expression: “No, on Him alone you will call, whereupon He will, if He so wills, remove the ill which caused you to call on Him; and you will have forgotten all those you associate as partners with Him.” (Verse 41)

Thus, all thoughts of idolatry are forgotten. The fearful prospect lays human nature bare, and thus it turns to God alone for security. Its knowledge of the true Lord is deeply rooted within it. Idolatrous beliefs are no more than a superficial, thin covering that beclouds human nature through external factors. When human nature is shaken by this fearful prospect, this covering falls off and the truth comes to the surface. Thus, man’s natural reactions operate and he turns to His Lord, praying to be spared that fate to which it has no answer.

Within this description of the natural human reaction to the prospect of God’s punishment, we are told of God’s response. He may, if He so pleases, respond to their supplication and remove what they fear. His will is free, unrestrained. It is His choice whether to respond to them or not and whether to remove the ill they fear in full or in part. In this, the only operative factors are His knowledge, wisdom and will.

Having outlined the attitude of human nature towards idolatry, into which it sinks as a result of deviation from the right path, it is pertinent to ask about its attitude towards atheism and the denial of God’s existence altogether. As I have said on several occasions, I have serious doubts that those who profess to be atheists, completely denying the existence of God, truly believe what they say. I doubt that anyone created by God can sink so deep into ignorance as to obliterate totally the distinctive mark of the hand that originated him, when he continues to have within him the same mark reflected in every one of his cells. Atheism is simply the result of long suffering at the hands of the Church, and the brutal struggle against it. The Church resorted to oppressive practices and denied natural human impulses at the same time as churchmen indulged in deviant pleasures.

That long history of suffering, endured for centuries by Europe, was responsible for pushing the Europeans into their professed atheism, simply to flee from their tormentors. Besides, Jewish forces have exploited this historical legacy to tempt the Christians away from their faith so that they spread immorality and its attendant misery among them. This facilitates what the Zionist Jews see as the manipulation of the `asses’, to use the expression as contained within the Talmud and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It would have been impossible for those evil forces to achieve any of this, or to drive people to atheism, without the exploitation which occurred during that grim period of European history.

These tireless efforts have been given their most striking picture in the efforts of Communism, itself a Jewish invention. Despite all the work of the Soviet Communists, over more than half a century, using all the state suppressive agencies, to spread atheism, the Russian people themselves continue to indicate that deep at heart they yearn to have a faith based on belief in God. Stalin himself, described by his successor Khrushchev as exceedingly brutal, was forced into a period of truce in his fight against the Church. This was during the Second World War when Stalin was forced to release the Russian Archbishop. The war left him no option but to admit that faith in God was deeply entrenched in human nature. His own view and that of the few atheists wielding power with him was of little account.

The Jews have tried, with the help of the `asses’ from among the Christians they used, to spread atheism among the nations which professed to follow the Islamic faith. Although Islam was considerably weakened among the people of the Muslim world, their attempt, pioneered by Kemal Ataturk, the hero of Turkey, could achieve very little despite all the praise and glory they heaped on it and its hero. Numerous books have been written in praise of this leading experience. More recently, they have tried to benefit from the lessons of the Ataturk experience. They no longer give any new experience an atheistic colour. Indeed, they give it an Islamic banner so that it does not represent a shock to human nature as was the case with Ataturk’s experience. However, they put under that banner everything they want of immorality, promiscuity and all that filth, as well as all the machinery which works to destroy the proper human element in the Muslim world.

The fact remains that human nature recognises its Lord well and submits to Him declaring its belief in His oneness. Should it fall for a while under a covering that screens facts and prevents it from seeing them, all that covering will fall off once human nature is shaken by a calamity. It regains its vision and returns to its Lord, humble, submissive, believing. All the schemes of the enemies of faith require no more than a clear declaration of the truth, and they will soon collapse. Human nature thus returns to faith. Evil will not have total mastery while there remains on the face of this earth people who will make this declaration. By the grace of God, there will always remain people to make this declaration of the truth, no matter how the advocates of falsehood try to wipe them out.

Indeed We sent messengers before your time to other nations, and visited them with misfortune and hardship so that they might humble themselves. If only, when the misfortune decreed by Us befell them, they humbled themselves! Rather, their hearts were hardened and Satan made their deeds seem goodly to them. Then, when they had clean forgotten what they had been reminded of We threw open to them the gates of all good things, until just when they were rejoicing in what they had been granted, We suddenly took them to task; and they were plunged into utter despair. Thus the last remnant of the wrongdoing people was wiped out. All praise is due to God, the Lord of all the worlds. (Verses 42-5)

These verses place before our eyes an historical example of how people expose themselves to God’s might and what happens to them in consequence. God gives them one chance after another and issues them with successive reminders, but they still forget. If the trials they encounter do not persuade them to turn to God and implore Him, and if His grace which they enjoy does not prompt them to be grateful and to guard against evil, then their nature has become irremediably corrupt and their lives are no longer worth extending. God’s punishment befalls them and their world is destroyed: “Indeed We sent messengers before your time to other nations, and visited them with misfortune and hardship so that they might humble themselves. If only, when the misfortune decreed by Us befell them, they humbled themselves! Rather, their hearts were hardened and Satan made their deeds seem goodly to them.” (Verses 42-3)

Human history has known many such nations and the Qur’ān gives us accounts of them which date back to periods long before recorded history. Such history is new and it contains only a small portion of human history on earth. Short as it is, this history recorded by human beings is full of misrepresentation and falsehood. It is also marked by its inability to take full account of all factors which influence the movement of human history. Some of these lie deep in the human soul, while others remain beyond the realm of what is perceptible by man. Only some of these factors are made visible, but these are nevertheless not identified or interpreted properly or correctly. Indeed, people cannot distinguish the false from the true in these factors.

For any human being to claim that he has full knowledge of human history, can interpret it ‘scientifically’ and is able to predict its inevitable future events is to say the greatest lie a human being may utter. Nevertheless, some people do make such claims. What is even more amazing is that some people believe such claims. Had the claimant said that he is mainly relating what he ‘expects’ to happen, not what is ‘inevitable’, his claim may be reasonable. When a liar finds people gullible enough to believe him, he will certainly invent lies to tell them.

God certainly tells the truth. He also knows what happened and the reasons that led to it. Out of His grace, He tells His servants some aspects of the working of His law and how His will operates, so that they may take heed. They are, thus, placed in a position of knowing the interaction of inner factors and manifest reasons that have led to the events of history. They can then have a realistic expectation of what will happen in accordance with God’s law which God has revealed to them and which never changes.

In these verses we have a full outline of an example that has repeated itself several times: communities that have received God’s messengers but rejected their messages.

God then tested them with hardship and tribulation that involved their lives, properties and general situations. Such hardship and tribulation obviously fell short of the punishment of total destruction to which reference is made in the preceding verse.

The Qur’ān mentions a specific example of these communities and the tribulations visited upon them in the account it gives of Pharaoh and his people: “Most certainly did We afflict Pharaoh’s people with drought and poor harvests, so that they might take heed.

But whenever something good came their way, they would say, `This is but our due’; and whenever affliction befell them, they would blame their evil fortune on Moses and those who followed him. Surely, their ill fortune had been decreed by God, though most of them did not know it. They said [to Moses]: ‘Whatever sign you may produce before us in order to cast a spell on us, we will not believe in you.’ So We plagued them with floods, locusts, lice, frogs, and blood: clear signs all; but they continued in their arrogance, for they were evil-doing folk.” (7: 130-3)

This is just one of numerous examples to which this Qur’ānic verse refers. God visited these people with hardship and tribulation so that they might awaken to the truth. He wanted them to examine their situation. The hardship might have prompted them to appeal to God in all humility, and might have helped them to get rid of their arrogance and to pray with open, sincere hearts. Had they done so, God would certainly have opened the gates of His mercy to them. But they did not turn back to God. The hardship did not soften their hearts, open their minds and help them rid themselves of their stubbornness. Satan continued to portray their erring ways to them as fair and appealing:

“Their hearts were hardened and Satan made their deeds seem goodly to them.” (Verse 43)

When hardship fails to make a human being turn to God for help, that person’s heart is certainly hardened. Its natural receptive quality is no longer functioning. It does not feel the compunction which normally brings life back to hearts and makes them fully receptive. God puts His servants through a test of hardship. He who is alive will be awakened by it and it is he who returns to his Lord. The hardship is, thus, an act of mercy which God has committed Himself to bestow on His servants.

He who is dead will benefit nothing by it. Indeed, it leaves him without any excuse for his attitude. He is made more miserable by it since it serves as an introduction to God’s punishment.

The communities whose history God relates to His Messenger and his followers have benefited nothing by the trials to which they were put. They made no appeal to God. They did not mend their erring ways but persisted with their rejection of the truth, which Satan portrayed to them as good and proper. God then allowed them a respite and gave them provisions in plenty: “Then, when they had clean forgotten what they had been reminded of We threw open to them the gates of all good things, until just when they were rejoicing in what they had been granted, We suddenly took them to task; and they were plunged into utter despair.” (Verse 44)

People may be tested with a life of plenty just as they may be tested with hardship.

Indeed, God may test both His obedient servants and those who are disobedient, either with abundance or with hardship. The test of abundance is even harder and more difficult to endure. A believer who is tested with hardship perseveres and shows his steadfastness, and when he is tested with abundance, he is grateful to his Lord. Thus, whatever happens to him, the result is certainly good. The Prophet says:

“Wonderful is the lot of a believer. Whatever may happen brings him good. This applies to no one other than a believer, because when good fortune comes his way, he is grateful and that is good for him. When misfortune befalls him, he endures patiently and that is good for him.” (Related by Muslim.)

Those communities who rejected God’s messengers and whose histories are given in the Qur’ān were on a different course. They were reminded of the proper attitude but they ignored it. When their destruction was inevitable, God visited them with hardship and tribulation so that they would awaken and mend their ways, but they did not. He then put them to the test of abundance. The Qur’ān gives us a very vivid description of how they were put to that test: “We threw open to them the gates of all good things.” (Verse 44) All provisions, luxuries and power are shown here flowing like unhindered floods. They come to them without any need for them to put in even the smallest of effort.

We have here a wonderful scene depicting a state full of life in the inimitable style of the Qur’ān. “We threw open to them the gates of all good things, until just when they were rejoicing in what they had been granted.” (Verse 44) They enjoyed abundance of provisions and endless luxuries, but showed no gratitude to God for the grace He had bestowed on them. All they cared for was to indulge in the pleasures of this world, leaving no room in their lives for higher concerns. This corruption of their hearts and morals was followed by a corruption of their systems, and this naturally led to corruption being the mark of their lives. That was enough to trigger God’s law which never fails: “We suddenly took them to task; and they were plunged into utter despair.” (Verse 44)

God’s punishment befell them when they were fully drunk with the pleasures of this life. They were left confused, hopeless, unable to think where to turn. They were destroyed: “Thus the last remnant of the wrongdoing people was wiped out.” (Verse 45)

The Arabic text refers to the very last one of each of these communities. If this one was wiped out then everyone else faced the same destiny. The phrase, `the wrongdoing people’, means here those who associated partners with God. This is a frequently used expression in the Qur’ān referring to idolatry as wrongdoing and idolaters as wrongdoers.

“All praise is due to God, the Lord of all the worlds.” (Verse 45) This comes by way of commenting on the destruction of the people who did wrong, or rather those who associated partners with God, after they were put to different tests. Can we think of any blessing greater than the eradication of the wrongdoers from the face of the earth or imagine an act of grace shown to God’s servants better than such a purge? Praise, then, must be offered to God for this blessing.

God allowed this law to operate for the people of Noah, Hūd, Şālih, Lot, as well as the followers of Pharaoh, the Greeks, the Romans and many others. Beyond the rise of each of these civilizations and their decline and destruction lies this secret destiny and the operation of God’s law. This is the proper and true interpretation of the events of history known to us.

These communities attained standards of civilization, power and affluence which were equal, if not in certain respects superior, to what is enjoyed today by the mighty communities of the world, intoxicated as they are with their power. Their might deceives those who do not know God’s law that operates tests of hardship and abundance. These communities cannot even imagine that God is simply putting them to a test. As they look at them, other communities may be dazzled with the great power and affluence they enjoy. They think that God has given these communities everything when they refuse to worship Him, rebel against His authority, claim His attributes for themselves, spread corruption on earth and deal unjustly with people after they have usurped God’s authority.

When I was in the United States,11 I could see with my own eyes, the practical manifestation of this Qur’ānic statement: “Then, when they had clean forgotten what they had been reminded of We threw open to them the gates of all good things.” (Verse 44) The scene portrayed in this verse of provisions flowing unchecked cannot be seen anywhere on earth as clearly as it can be seen there. I also witnessed the arrogance of these people, imparted to them by their wealth. They behaved as if that abundance was always exclusive to the white man. I saw them treating coloured people, especially those who were Muslim, with hateful arrogance and much brutality. Their conceit surpassed by far that of the Nazis of whom the Jews have made a symbol of arrogance.

As I witnessed all this, I used to remember this Qur’ānic verse, expecting God’s law to come into operation. Indeed, I could see it coming to catch people unaware:

“Until just when they were rejoicing in what they had been granted, We suddenly took them to task; and they were plunged into utter despair. Thus the last remnant of the wrongdoing people was wiped out. All praise is due to God, the Lord of all-worlds.” (Verses 44-5)

After the Prophet Muĥammad’s mission, God suspended the punishment of total destruction. However, other types of punishment remain in force. Mankind today, particularly those nations enjoying abundance, experience different types of punishment, in spite of their affluence.

The psychological problems, spiritual vacuum, sexual perversion and immorality suffered by these communities today almost negate the effects of the great productivity and affluence they enjoy. They impart to the lives of these communities an air of worry, stress and total misery. In addition, we hear every now and then about political scandals when state secrets are sold in return for enjoying pleasures or indulging in perversion. These are simply the forerunners that herald unfailing punishment.

This is only the beginning. The Prophet certainly tells the truth as he says: “When you see that God has given a person plenty of what he likes in this world, despite his sinful practices, know that it is only a temptation and a test.” He then quoted the Qur’ānic verse: “Then, when they had clean forgotten what they had been reminded of We threw open to them the gates of all good things, until just when they were rejoicing in what they had been granted, We suddenly took them to task; and they were plunged into utter despair.” (Related by Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ĥātim.)

It is necessary to point out that God’s law of destroying falsehood and evil requires that the truth be established on earth in the shape of a community. When this happens, God causes the truth to overwhelm falsehood and it is, thus, totally destroyed. The advocates of the truth must never sit idle, waiting for God’s law to operate, without putting in any effort. If they do this, then they disqualify themselves as advocates of the truth. The truth can only be represented by a community that exerts all its efforts to implement God’s law and overpower those who claim for themselves God’s attributes and authority. This is the most basic element of the truth.

“Had it not been for the fact that God repels one group of people by another, the earth would have been utterly corrupted.” (2: 251)

As the sūrah moves on, it puts those who associate partners with God face to face with His might and how it may strike them personally, taking away their hearing and eyesight and sealing their hearts. They are defenceless against it, and they can find no deity other than God to return what God may take away from them. The scene depicted here is very vivid, showing them their total powerlessness against God’s might. It also paints for them the stark reality of those partners they associate with God when they have to face a truly grave situation. The scene shakes them violently. God, the Creator of human nature knows how far it is affected by this scene and the truth it describes. Human nature realizes that God is able to take away people’s hearing and sight and seal their hearts. None of these organs can then function at all. Should He do this, there is no other deity to reverse what He has done.

As this scene sends a shiver into people’s hearts, it shows how hollow and erroneous the concept of idolatry is. The sūrah wonders at those who are shown different, wide-ranging and multi-faceted signs, beckoning them to faith, and yet still they turn away. Here, their attitude is painted in the image of a camel which has a particular disease in its legs, causing it to limp outwardly as it walks. The scene was familiar to the Arabs who were the first to be addressed by the Qur’ān. It fills us with a feeling of contempt for those who turn away: “See how varied and multifaceted We make Our signs, and yet they turn away!” (Verse 46)

They are hardly allowed to take their breath before they are put face to face with another possibility that may well not be far away from them. They are shown their own destruction as they are indeed the wrongdoers, a term which is often used interchangeably with those who associate partners with God. The scene here paints the destruction of the wrongdoers when they are taken unawares or when God’s punishment is inflicted on them in open daylight: “Say: Do but consider, if God’s punishment befalls you suddenly or in a perceptible manner, would any but the wrongdoing folk be destroyed?” (Verse 47)

Divine punishment may come in any form and in any situation. Whether it comes suddenly when least expected or it comes gradually, in broad daylight when they are fully prepared, total destruction would be the lot of the wrongdoing folk, a description often used in the Qur’ān to refer to the idolaters. This punishment will be visited on them alone. They cannot protect themselves against it whether it comes suddenly or openly, for they are too weak to repel it. Nor can any of the partners they associate with God spare them this punishment, because those partners are among God’s servants who are equally weak and powerless.

The sūrah raises this prospect before them, so that they may take the necessary steps to avoid it before it happens. Limitless is God in His glory: He knows that this prospect touches certain cords within human nature which know and truly fear what it entails.

When this passage of warning has reached its peak, having portrayed several scenes, making inspiring comments on each of them and giving serious warnings which have their effect on people’s hearts, it is concluded with a statement outlining the task of God’s messengers. Their communities demand supernatural miracles but their duty is merely to convey a message, bringing happy news and giving stern warnings. They have no say in people’s fate, which is determined by the attitudes people choose to adopt for themselves: “We send Our messengers only as bearers of good news and as warners. Those who believe and act righteously shall have nothing to fear, nor shall they grieve. But those that deny Our revelations shall be afflicted with suffering as a result of their sinful deeds.” (Verses 48-9)

This faith of Islam began by preparing mankind for a stage of maturity which would enable it to use fully God’s great gift. With such usage people recognise and understand the truth which the Qur’ān reveals and to which it directs human intellect. Numerous signs pointing to this truth are present everywhere in the universe, as well as in the different stages of life and in every aspect of creation.

To attain such maturity requires a complete departure from the stage of physical miracles which confront those who deny the truth with what forces them to submit.

Instead, the human intellect is directed to observe the final touches of what God creates in the whole universe. These are indeed miraculous, but they are permanent miracles upon which the whole universe is founded. The human mind is addressed with a superb book revealed by God, which is absolutely miraculous in its style, method and the social set-up it aims to create. This set-up remains unique, with nothing similar having ever existed previously or since.

For the human intellect to be familiar with this new high level which the departure from physical miracles represents, man has undergone careful education and instruction. This was necessary for man to begin to read the open book of the universe with his mind, under divine guidance and according to Qur’ānic directives and the Prophet’s teachings. Such reading should combine positive realism with the recognition of what lies beyond the realm of human perception. It should steer away from those abstract concepts that characterise a part of Greek and Christian philosophies, as well as the materialistic concepts which pervaded parts of Greek philosophy as well as Indian, Egyptian, Buddhist and Magian philosophies. Needless to say, it also required the discarding of naïve materialism characterized by some ignorant Arabian beliefs.

Part of that education was represented by the definition of the task of God’s Messenger and the nature of his role with regard to the divine message. The Messenger is a human being to whom God assigned the task of giving happy news as well as warnings. When he had completed that, his task was fulfilled and the response was left to human beings to determine. God’s will operates through this response and the reward or punishment is determined on its basis. He who believes and does good works need not worry about what he may encounter, or grieve over what he might have done. If he has slipped, he will be forgiven. If he has done well, he will be rewarded for it. But those who deny the signs the Prophet has brought, and to which their attention has been drawn, will have to be punished for their disbelief, or for “their sinful deeds”, to use the relevant reference in this passage. We should remember that the Qur’ān often uses the terms `wrongdoing’ and `sinful deeds’ to denote associating partners with God and total disbelief.

The result is a plain concept, which has no complication or ambiguity, and a clear outline of the Prophet’s task and his terms of reference. According to this concept, all attributes of Godhead are given to God alone. Everything happens by God’s will. But within that framework, man is given freedom of action and is required to account for what he chooses. The divergent destinies of God’s obedient servants and those who disobey Him are described in perfect clarity. All legends and arbitrary concepts that have prevailed in jāhiliyyah societies about the role of the Messenger are shown to be false. All this helps elevate mankind to maturity without letting it drift into the maze of abstract philosophies and futile arguments which continue to waste the energy of the human mind for generation after generation.