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Surah Saad (Sad) Section 1 - The Utter Defeat Of The Clans Combined, Prophesied

  • Warning to the Disbelievers

  • The Disbelievers’ arguments

  • about the Qur’an and the Apostle

  • The utter defeat of the clans combined prophesied

Surah Saad (Sad) Verses 1 – 14

بِسْمِ ٱللّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the name of God the Beneficent the Merciful

صٓ وَٱلْقُرْءَانِ ذِى ٱلذِّكْرِ

Sad, (S) By the Qur’an (which) is full of admonition1(38:1)2

بَلِ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ فِى عِزَّةٍ وَشِقَاقٍ

Nay! those who disbelieve are (steeped) in self-exaltation and opposition. (38:2)

كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّن قَرْنٍ فَنَادَوا۟ وَّلَاتَ حِينَ مَنَاصٍ

How many We did destroy of the generations before them, and they cried while (there was no longer) the time to escape. (38:3)

وَعَجِبُوٓا۟ أَن جَآءَهُم مُّنذِرٌ مِّنْهُمْ وَقَالَ ٱلْكَـٰفِرُونَ هَـٰذَا سَـٰحِرٌ كَذَّابٌ

And they did wonder that came unto them a warner from among themselves, and said the disbelievers: “This is a sorcerer, a great liar.” (38:4)3

أَجَعَلَ ٱلْـَٔالِهَةَ إِلَـٰهًا وَٰحِدًا إِنَّ هَـٰذَا لَشَىْءٌ عُجَابٌ

“What! maketh he4the gods to be but one God? Verily this is a thing indeed strange!” (38:5)5

وَٱنطَلَقَ ٱلْمَلَأُ مِنْهُمْ أَنِ ٱمْشُوا۟ وَٱصْبِرُوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ ءَالِهَتِكُمْ إِنَّ هَـٰذَا لَشَىْءٌ يُرَادُ

And the chiefs from them get away (impatiently, exhorting the others saying): “Walk ye away hence and be steadfast unto your gods: verily this is (but) with something designed against us!” (38:6)6

مَا سَمِعْنَا بِهَـٰذَا فِى ٱلْمِلَّةِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ إِنْ هَـٰذَآ إِلَّا ٱخْتِلَـٰقٌ

“We heard not of this7in the former creed. This is nothing but an imposture:” (38:7)

أَءُنزِلَ عَلَيْهِ ٱلذِّكْرُ مِنۢ بَيْنِنَا بَلْ هُمْ فِى شَكٍّ مِّن ذِكْرِى بَل لَّمَّا يَذُوقُوا۟ عَذَابِ

“(What!) Hath the reminder been sent down (only) unto him8among us?” Nay! they are in doubt about My reminder, Nay! they have yet tasted not My chastisement! (38:8)

أَمْ عِندَهُمْ خَزَآئِنُ رَحْمَةِ رَبِّكَ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلْوَهَّابِ

Or is it that with them are the treasures of the mercy of thy Lord, the All-Mighty, the Greater Bestower? (38:9)

أَمْ لَهُم مُّلْكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فَلْيَرْتَقُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَسْبَـٰبِ

Or is it that unto them belongeth the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what is between them? Then let them ascend with means9(38:10)10

جُندٌ مَّا هُنَالِكَ مَهْزُومٌ مِّنَ ٱلْأَحْزَابِ

And what a mighty host of the clans shall here be routed.11(38:11)

كَذَّبَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍ وَعَادٌ وَفِرْعَوْنُ ذُو ٱلْأَوْتَادِ

And did belie before them the people of Noah, and ’Ad, and Pharaoh the lord, of stakes (of established authority), (38:12)12

وَثَمُودُ وَقَوْمُ لُوطٍ وَأَصْحَـٰبُ لْـَٔيْكَةِ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ ٱلْأَحْزَابُ

And Thamood and the people of Lot and the dwellers of the wood; these were the clans. (38:13)13

إِن كُلٌّ إِلَّا كَذَّبَ ٱلرُّسُلَ فَحَقَّ عِقَابِ

Not one (of them) but did belie the apostles (from Me) so just was (My) retribution. (38:14)14

Commentary

Verse 1

It must be remembered that we are warned against imaginary interpretation of the letter-symbols used in the Holy Qur’an.15

‘Zikr’ is one of the names of the Holy Qur’an and the Word means ‘Reminder.’ Some commentators say that ‘Sad’ is one of the hidden names of God.

But the Qur’an is called Reminder, Admonition and Guidance.

The sura as a whole, contains reminders about the chosen righteous servants of God. (A.P.).

Verse 2

The disbelievers are involved in false dignity, rebellious pride and self-exaltation, - dissensions among themselves resulting into separation even among their own selves.

Verse 3

Refers to the people who disbelieved the truth, when it was preached to them and who did not reflect and amend their faith and conduct and when respite was granted to them, i.e., they did avail of the respite to their profit and when the chastisement overtook them, they cried for help which was in vain. There was no way of escape left for them.

Verse 4

The people called the Apostle of God as a Threatening Sorcerer.

Verse 5

The disbelievers wondered at the Unity of God against their polytheistic belief in the many gods of their own imagination and fancy.

This is the main reason of Quraysh opposition that they did not want to give up the bureaucratic system of life which was the outcome of the idol worship or the idol worship was the outcome of the system. They did not like to give up idolatry and to surrender or submit to one authority. Here in the beginning of Islam they expressed their surprise and later on, when Islam established its theocratic form of Government in the person of the Holy Prophet as the Vicegerent of God, they said ‘Is there for us the authority to share?’ Ha lana min al-amr shay’. They thought they should have a share in the power and authority, to which God replied, “All authority vests with Him (God).” The same tendency was responsible for their not accepting Ali and the other Imams along with Qur’an as the supreme authority. (A.P.).

Verse 6

‘Shaiyun Yuraad’, i.e., thing designed.

Behind this doctrine there is some plan against us. (A.P.)

Verse 7

‘Ikhtilaq’, i.e., a fabricated tale.

People were so deeply sunk in idolatry and were so much intoxicated with pride and self-exaltation, that they called the Truth a made-up or a fabricated tale. The reference here is to the immediately preceding faith, i.e., Christianity, saying that unity being absent among the Christians themselves, is a clear proof of their having departed from the purely monotheistic religion preached by Jesus, having adopted the polytheistic Trinity which the pagans say that they did not find any trace of the Unity of God in it.

Such a unity - The Jews believed in their national god and the Christians besides Trinity, they allowed the image worship of the saints. (A.P.).

Verse 8

The people said that if any message from God had to be conveyed to them, why should it come to the orphan son of Abdullah, for it ought to have come to one of the rich ones, i.e., the chiefs among them.

The reply is also contained in the verse saying that the people had no clear or correct idea as to how God executes His Will. Apostleship or the agency or the medium of the divine guidance like the ‘Risalat’ apostleship or the ‘Imamat’ does not need any worldly pomp and show of wealth or possessions. It needs men of ideal purity of soul and body. It needs men of special spiritual excellence and purity of birth to manifest the divine attributes of knowledge, wisdom, forbearance, insight, strength, courage, authority and the excellence of personal character and conduct, nobility and fellow-feeling and the spirit of sacrifice and surrender in the way of the Lord. Such men are not made up by the acquisition of wealth or any worldly position but are conditioned and chosen by God Himself for the purpose.16

The greatest blunder in which the general public of the Muslims were involved was that they fell an easy victim to the complex of the superiority of any one and every one who held the political power. This idea in the minds of the lay-public of the people was originally created by the unqualified and selfish fortune hunters who gained the hold on the mind and the affairs of the public and thus successfully triumphed not only as the heads of the state but also as the leaders of the faith.

Thus, the divinely chosen and the heavenly commissioned guides, the Imams, who were the real custodians of the Word of God and its correct interpretation, were thrown out, totally neglected in a persecuted state of life banning the people even any approach to them and any one doing it was mercilessly punished. In spite of so much of suppression and persecution, the truth safely survived with these holy Imams and the Islam-Original (now identified as Shiasm) remained with the few sincere and faithful devotees of the holy Ahl Al-Bayt.

This is God’s reply - the doubt was not in the person but in the revelation itself. (A.P.).

Verse 9

If they have all the means, power and authority to set themselves up against the independent and Omnipotent authority of God about His choosing His own men for His mission, let them mount up into the heavens, and see if they could do it at all.

Verse 11

This is a prophecy saying that even when they would combine all the forces in the land, they could ally themselves with, they would suffer an absolute discomfiture and a total overthrow, miserably routed and crushed.17

This is a prophecy about the fate of the group of the Allies which were to be defeated very soon.18 (A.P.).

Verse 12

This is a reference to the fate of the previous people who disbelieved and rejected the truth. It is indirectly asked that should not the posterity of those who suffered before take a lesson from their ancestors.19

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