Surah Yunus (10) — Ayah 39

(Ayah 39) ➊ { بَلْ كَذَّبُوْا بِمَا لَمْ يُحِيْطُوْا بِعِلْمِهٖ :} That is, these people who are denying the Quran and are not believing in it, the only reason for their denial is that they have neither fully understood it nor tried to comprehend its meanings and subjects. Their foundation is ignorance, stubbornness, and blind following of their forefathers. They simply saw that the Quran refutes their inherited beliefs and ideas, so they immediately rejected it. Otherwise, the fact that the Quran contains statements of such realities that are beyond their understanding and which they cannot grasp in depth, cannot in any way be a reason for denial. The fault lies in their understanding, not in the Quran. (Ruh al-Ma'ani, Kabir) The same is the case with those people who, caught up in the cycle of following their elders and imams, reject Sahih hadith, whereas if they pondered over these Sahih ahadith and tried to understand them, they could never reject a Sahih hadith.

➋ {وَ لَمَّا يَاْتِهِمْ تَاْوِيْلُهٗ:} That is, if there is any basis for their denial of the Quran, it is that they are unable to understand its interpretation and explanation, and the unseen matters contained in the Quran have not occurred before their eyes. Otherwise, if they reflected and waited for the occurrence of those matters which have been foretold in the Noble Quran, their denial would automatically disappear. (Ruh al-Ma'ani) Regarding {’’ وَ لَمَّا يَاْتِهِمْ تَاْوِيْلُهٗ ‘‘}, Shah Abdul Qadir (may Allah have mercy on him) says: "That is, the promise in this Quran has not yet become manifest." (Muwaddih)

➌ { فَانْظُرْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الظّٰلِمِيْنَ:} That is, all those wrongdoers were destroyed. He said: «{ فَكُلًّا اَخَذْنَا بِذَنْۢبِهٖ فَمِنْهُمْ مَّنْ اَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِ حَاصِبًا وَ مِنْهُمْ مَّنْ اَخَذَتْهُ الصَّيْحَةُ وَ مِنْهُمْ مَّنْ خَسَفْنَا بِهِ الْاَرْضَ وَ مِنْهُمْ مَّنْ اَغْرَقْنَا وَ مَا كَانَ اللّٰهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ وَ لٰكِنْ كَانُوْۤا اَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُوْنَ }» [ العنکبوت : ۴۰ ] "So We seized each one for his sin, then among them were some on whom We sent a storm of stones, and among them were some who were seized by the blast, and among them were some whom We caused the earth to swallow, and among them were some whom We drowned. And Allah was not to wrong them, but they themselves used to wrong themselves." In the same way, these people are also preparing for their own destruction and ruin.

39. 1 That is, without pondering over the Quran and reflecting on its meanings, they insisted on denying it.

39. 2 That is, the full truth and reality of the past events and future possibilities that the Quran has mentioned have not yet become clear to them, yet they began to deny it; or another meaning is that they denied the Quran without giving it due contemplation, whereas if they had truly reflected upon it and considered those matters which indicate its being the word of Allah, then surely the doors of understanding and meanings would have opened for them. In this case, the meaning of "ta'wil" will be: the secrets, knowledge, subtleties, and meanings of the Noble Quran becoming clear.

39. 3 This is a warning and rebuke to those disbelievers and polytheists, that just as previous nations before you denied the signs of Allah, so see what their end was. If you do not refrain from denying it, your end will not be any different from theirs.

39. Rather, they have denied that which they could not comprehend with their knowledge, even though its final outcome [56] has not yet come to them. Those before them also denied in the same way; so see what was the end of the wrongdoers.

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Internal and External Proofs of the Quran Being from Allah:

To reject something, two types of evidence are required: one is external testimony or testimonies, and the other is internal testimony or testimonies. The negation of external testimony is in such a way that no objector has ever seen anyone coming to you to teach you the Quran, nor have you ever gone to anyone to learn the Quran, nor was this work carried out through correspondence or messengers. The negation of internal testimonies is in such a way that whatever news or prophecy the Quran gave was never proven false; rather, it was always proven correct in terms of history and occurrence. These two reasons can be considered scholarly or certain. Other than these, there can be no reasonable cause on the basis of which the Quran can be rejected.

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The Meaning of Ta'wil and Its Examples:

Ta'wil refers to the time when a given news comes to pass; then, when that news actually occurs, at that time everyone fully understands it, even if before that, due to ignorance or forgetfulness, the meaning of that verse was not understood. There are many such examples in the Quran, of which only one example is mentioned here. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ departed from this mortal world, this shock was so overwhelming for the Companions that some lost their senses. Let alone others, even a wise and prudent Companion like Sayyiduna Umar ؓ stood up and began to address the people, saying, "Whoever says that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has passed away, I will cut off his head." At that moment, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiq ؓ arrived and addressed the people, reciting this verse:
﴿وَمَا مُحَمَّدٌ اِلَّا رَسُوْلٌ ۚ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ ۭ اَفَا۟يِٕنْ مَّاتَ اَوْ قُتِلَ انْقَلَبْتُمْ عَلٰٓي اَعْقَابِكُمْ﴾
"(i.e., Muhammad ﷺ is only a Messenger; messengers have passed away before him. If he dies or is killed, will you then turn back on your heels?)" The Companions say that when Abu Bakr Siddiq ؓ recited this verse, it seemed as if this verse had been revealed that very day. Then, whoever you saw was reciting this very verse. Although this verse had been revealed long before, and the Companions had recited it hundreds of times, its meaning became clear only when he actually passed away. The above example relates to forgetfulness, and examples of ignorance are all those scientific theories that conflict with revelation, such as: How did the universe begin? How was Adam created? How did the earth, sun, and moon come into existence? What will be the end of the universe? The theories that astronomers have established regarding these matters are based merely on conjecture and estimation, and their knowledge is also limited, whereas revelation is a certain thing, which has been revealed by such an All-Knowing and All-Seeing Being whose knowledge is unlimited. There are also some matters for which the time of ta'wil has arrived, and science has bowed its head in submission before revelation. For example, the sun was considered stationary, but today it is considered to be in motion. Today, it is also being accepted that all human voices are preserved in the atmosphere, and also that the effects of a person's actions are imprinted on his body. This is exactly what the Quran has stated in these words: that the angels record all of a person's deeds, and with Us is a complete record of it.