Tazkirul Quran, Qur’an 39:55–61
The Crowds (Al-Zumar)
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
English text; the translator is not named in the archive’s data.
Translation
(55) Follow the best aspect of what is sent down to you from your Lord, before the scourge comes upon you unawares, (56) lest anyone should say, “Alas for me, for having neglected what is due to God, and having been one of those who scoffed!” (57) Or, “If only God had guided me, I would surely have joined the God-fearing.” (58) Or, he may say as he sees the punishment, “Would that I had a second chance, so that I could be among the doers of good.” (59) No indeed! My revelations did come to you, but you rejected them: you showed arrogance, and were among those who deny the truth.’ (60) On the Day of Resurrection you will see those who uttered falsehoods about God with their faces blackened. Is there not enough room in Hell for the arrogant? (61) But God will deliver them who feared Him to their place of salvation. No evil shall touch them, nor shall they grieve.
Commentary
(a) The discourse of God maintains in all its parts a consistent level of perfection, so that in the Quran, one cannot say that some verses are better than others. Nor can it be said about the Quran in comparison with other divine books that one book is better to the exclusion of all others.
The fact is that in the present world of trial, man has freedom of action. He has the option of accepting divine words in their proper sense or of taking them wrongly. He may pay full attention to the real purpose of a talk, or he may try to ferret out insignificant points from it and interpret them wrongly. Ridiculing the Divine words is the result of such misconstruction. Man takes a verse and derives a wrong meaning from it, and then on the basis of that self-devised meaning, starts to make a mockery of it
Man has kept himself hidden from reality, from what he really is. On account of false pride, he simply does not accept the Truth, but then talks glibly to give the impression that he is rejecting the Truth on the basis of principles. But, on the Day of Judgement, his face will reflect his inner condition. At that time his face will reveal that his rejection of the Truth was, in fact, the result of his false interpretation of divine words. Otherwise, the Truth was, in itself, very obvious and clear. At that time he will be full of regret, but regretting then will be of no avail.