Surah An-Naml (27) — Ayah 69

(Ayah 69) ➊ { قُلْ سِيْرُوْا فِي الْاَرْضِ … :} This is the answer to the objection of the disbelievers: travel through the land and see what was the end of the criminals; you will come to know that what the prophets had promised these disobedient people was indeed fulfilled, and none of the prophets’ words turned out to be false. Now, what these prophets have said—that one day the Day of Resurrection will surely come, and on that day people will be rewarded for their good deeds and punished for their evil deeds—this statement of theirs also cannot be false.

➋ {فَانْظُرُوْا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُجْرِمِيْنَ:} The deniers of the Resurrection have been declared criminals, because the only thing that restrains a person from crime and injustice is certainty in the Hereafter. Without this, nothing can prevent a person from becoming a criminal. This is the way of Allah: when the crimes of the deniers of the Resurrection exceed all bounds, His mighty hand destroys them and delivers the world from their existence and their crimes, but their full recompense for their crimes will only be given to them in the Hereafter. If anyone escapes in this world, where will he escape in the Hereafter?

1. This is the answer to the statement of those disbelievers : look at the previous nations, did Allah's punishment not come upon them? This is proof of the truthfulness of the messengers. In the same way, whatever our Messenger says about the Day of Judgment and this life is certainly true.

69. Say, "Travel through the land and see how was the end of the criminals [74]."

[74]
The Question: Will We Be Raised Up? And the Answer: See the Fate of the Criminals — The Connection:

In these two verses, the statement of the disbelievers is quoted that after dying and turning to dust, the promise of being raised again was also made to our forefathers; people in the past also used to say such things, and even today the same things are being said, whereas none of those who died have ever come back to life. This is just a kind of fable in which there is no reality. And the answer to this statement of the disbelievers is being given: just travel through the land and see what was the fate of the criminals? Apparently, it seems that there is no connection between the statement of the disbelievers and its answer. However, there is a deep connection between this statement and its answer, and a great reality has been unveiled, and that is that all the nations that were destroyed by Allah’s punishment were all deniers of the Resurrection and life after death. And any person or nation that denies the Day of Judgment and the accountability of their deeds before Allah can never remain on the right path in life. Such a person lives in this world like an unbridled camel, adopting whatever action he sees as beneficial to himself, no matter how much harm it causes to others. Such people become accustomed to living a criminal life by committing corruption in the land, and it is Allah’s established practice to destroy such criminals so that others may be protected from their evil. The second lesson from these events is that this is not a single incident in human history; rather, countless historical evidences prove that the fate of those who denied the messengers and the Hereafter was destruction and ruin. From this, another reality becomes evident, which is that there exists such a powerful authority that prevents criminals from exceeding a certain limit and destroys them. This world is not a lawless place where anyone can do whatever he wishes and there is no one to hold him accountable. Then, when this experience has been established that criminals are inevitably punished for their deeds, the demand of this law of retribution is that those criminals who did not receive punishment in this world, or received much less punishment than their crimes, there should be another realm established for their accountability and punishment, in which all criminals are given the full punishment for their crimes. Destroying the criminals with punishment does not fulfill all the demands of justice; it only prevents them from committing further crimes. For the punishment of their crimes, the life of this world is very insufficient. Similarly, what did the oppressed who endured the tyranny of these criminals gain from their destruction? After all, those who endured oppression and hardships in the path of truth should also receive their reward. By reflecting on these matters, it becomes clearly evident that the establishment of the Hereafter is absolutely necessary to fulfill the demands of justice and fairness.