Tazkirul Quran, Qur’an 23:75–77
The Believers (Al-Mu’minun)
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
English text; the translator is not named in the archive’s data.
Translation
(75) Even if We showed them mercy and relieved them of their afflictions, they would still persist in their transgression, wandering blindly. (76) We seized them with the punishment, but they did not surrender to their Lord, nor will they humble themselves (77) until We open before them a gate of harsh punishment and then they will be dumbfounded.
Commentary
(a) In the Makkan period of Islam when the Quraysh rejected the Prophet Muhammad, God imposed famine conditions on the people of Makkah for several years. In accordance with God’s scheme of things, when a community adopts an arrogant attitude and does not accept good advice, He administers a warning punishment to that community in order to soften their hearts and make them pay attention to the Truth.
But, events show that man does not learn lessons either from good or adverse conditions. The purpose of both ease and adversity is that man should turn towards God. But, man thinks that the coming of good times is the result of his own talents, while he attributes hard times to the turn of events. In this way he fails to learn a lesson from either set of conditions.
Man remains heedless in this way until it is time for God’s final verdict. At that time, he is wonderstruck that what he had considered unimportant and ignored, was the greatest and most important reality of this world.