In the Shade of the Qur'an by Sayyid Qutb

The first passage touched people’s hearts by telling them about their existence, how they are all created from a single soul and how its mate was also created from it.

It told them about the creation of animals in pairs, and how man is created in three depths of darkness inside the mother’s belly. It touched on how God’s hand gave them their human characteristics and their ability to grow and develop.

Now the sūrah touches their hearts again as it shows them their conditions in times of hardship and times of ease. It shows them how they boast and how, in their weakness, they swing from one condition to another. They are consistent only when they maintain their bond with God and humble themselves before Him. They will then know the truth and know their way. They will also then be able to benefit from their human characteristics.

When man suffers affliction, he cries out to his Lord, turning to Him for help; but once He bestows upon him a favour by His grace, he forgets what he cried and prayed for earlier, and claims that others are equal to God, thus leading others astray from His path. Say [to him]: Enjoy yourself a while in your disbelief; for you are one of those destined to the fire.’ (Verse 8)

Human nature appears naked when man suffers affliction. Masks are torn off, covers are removed and disillusionment disappears. At this point, human nature turns to its Lord alone knowing that only He can remove affliction. It realizes that all its claims about God having partners are false.

When affliction is gone and man finds himself enjoying an abundance of God’s favours, he again burdens his nature with heaps of false influences. He forgets his earnest pleas to God during the time of his affliction, choosing now to overlook his acknowledgement of God’s oneness and that it is He alone who can relieve his hardship. He forgets all this and begins to claim that others are equal to God. These alleged equals may be deities man worships just like in the early days of jāhiliyyah, or they may be in the shape of values, persons, or situations to which he gives in his consciousness a share of what belongs exclusively to God. We see this in many of the jāhiliyyah situations we encounter everywhere. Thus man may worship his desires, inclinations, hopes, fears, wealth, children, rulers and chiefs in the same way as he worships God or even in greater devotion. In fact, he may love them more than he loves God. Polytheism can take different forms, some of which are subtle. People may not think of these as polytheism because they do not take the familiar form of acknowledging multiple deities; yet they are essentially polytheistic.

The result is to go astray, moving away from God’s way which has one form, namely, acknowledging His oneness and addressing worship and love to Him alone.

Believing in God does nor admit any partnership in man’s heart, be that a partnership of wealth, children, home country, land, friend or relative. Should such a partnership be found in man’s heart, it means acknowledging some beings as equal to God. Thus it allows a brief enjoyment in this life and ends in the fire of hell: “Say Ito him]: Enjoy yourself for a while in your disbelief for you are one of those destined to the fire.” (Verse 8) Every enjoyment in this life is small no matter how long it endures.

Furthermore, anyone’s span of life is brief no matter to what old age he attains.

Indeed, the life of the entire human race on this earth is merely a brief enjoyment when compared to God’s days.

Juxtaposed with this depressing picture of man is another showing him standing in awe, remembering God in all situations, pleasant or distressing. He goes through his life on earth without ever losing consciousness of the Day of Judgement. He always looks up to his Lord, hoping for His grace. It is from such a bond with God that true knowledge emerges, providing full awareness of the truth:

How about one who devoutly worships God during the hours of the night prostrating himself or standing in prayer, ever mindful of the life to come, and hoping for his Lord’s mercy? Say: ‘Can those who know and those who do not know be deemed equal?’ Only those who are endowed with insight will take heed. (Verse 9)

All the elements provided here, sincere devotion, the dread of what may happen in the life to come, the hope for God’s grace, the purity of heart that opens the locks that prevent understanding, giving our hearts the blessing of clear perception all draw a bright picture which is the opposite of the one drawn in the previous verse.

Hence, it is necessary to draw the comparison: “Can those who know and those who do not know he deemed equal?” (Verse 9) True knowledge is that which understands the truth and opens one’s mind to the need to be in touch with the fundamental truths in the universe. True knowledge is not a host of pieces of information that clutter the mind without leading to any understanding of the fundamentals of existence.

The way to true knowledge and enlightened information then is devout worship, a sensitive heart, being mindful of the life to come, entertaining strong hopes of benefiting from God’s mercy and of being conscious of God. Those who limit themselves to individual experiences and superficial vision are no more than collectors of information. They will never attain the rank of people with knowledge.

“Only those who are endowed with insight will take heed.” (Verse 9)

The sūrah then addresses the believers, requiring them to remain God-fearing and to ensure that they always do good. They should use their life on earth, short as it is, as a means to earn everlasting reward in the life to come:

Say: [Thus speaks God] You servants of Mine who believe! Fear your Lord! Those who do good in this world will have a good reward. Wide is God’s earth. Those who are patient in adversity will be given their reward in full, beyond reckoning. (10)

It is important to note here how the Arabic text is phrased. The words between brackets, ‘thus speaks God’, are not in the text. They are added to remove confusion.

The text should originally read: “Say to My servants,” but the Prophet is made to address them, because an address alerts the addressees and makes them more aware of what is to come. When the Prophet addresses them, he does not call them as his servants, because they are God’s servants, not his. This means that he is addressing them in God’s name, making the address from God directly to them. The Prophet is merely the means by which the address is given.

“Say: [Thus speaks God:] You servants of Mine who believe! Fear your Lord” (Verse 10)

To fear God means to have a sensitive heart and to look up to Him cautiously and with apprehension, hope, wary lest one should incur His displeasure and keen to earn His pleasure. It is seen in the bright picture drawn in the previous verse of a devout worshipper, full of humility.

“Those who do good in this world will have a good reward.” (Verse 10) What a great reward: a good deed in this present life, which is short and flimsy, is repaid with something good in the life to come, which is everlasting. This is certainly an act of God’s grace. He knows man’s weakness and small effort, so He repays him generously and takes care of him.

“Wide is God’s earth.” (Verse 10) Your love of your land where you have relatives and friends should not prevent you from seeking a different abode if your own area is hostile to your faith and you cannot do well there. To stick to your place of habitat in such a case could present an opening for Satan. It could become a form of attributing equals to God, even though it might not be felt in this way. This is a fine point indicating that polytheism can subtly creep into our hearts. It is given within the context of belief in God’s oneness and fearing Him. It should he seen as evidence of the source of the Qur’ān. No one can deal in this way with the human heart except the One who created it and knows what has an effect on it and how.

God, the Creator of mankind, knows that leaving one’s land is hard. It involves abandoning one’s relatives and the people with whom one has close ties, leaving the place where one can easily find work and earn a living, to go to a new place where one is a stranger. This is not an easy thing for anyone. Hence, the sūrah refers here to patience in adversity and how it is generously rewarded by God: “Those who are patient in adversity will be given their reward in full, beyond reckoning.” (Verse 10) Thus, God’s servants feel His care and are touched as they see that when they have to undertake something hard God turns to them with care and grace. He opens for them what compensates for land, country, family and relatives, giving them a reward without count.

All praise is due to God who knows all that affects a human heart and is fully aware of every thought that finds its way into his mind.