Surah Al-Hajj (22) — Ayah 42

(Ayah 42 to 44) ➊ At the beginning of { وَ اِنْ يُّكَذِّبُوْكَ …:}, the conjunction "waw" is connected to an omitted sentence, and that omitted sentence along with this mentioned sentence both summarize the encouragement and warning contained in the previous verses. That sentence is: {’’ فَاِنْ آمِنُوْا بِكَ مَكَّنَّاهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَ إِنْ يُّكَذِّبُوْكَ أَخَذْتُهُمْ‘‘} "So if they (after hearing all this) believe in you, We will grant them authority in the land, and if they deny you, I will seize them." The first sentence is left to the understanding of the listener and thus omitted, and {’’ وَ اِنْ يُّكَذِّبُوْكَ ‘‘} is connected to it. (Biqā‘ī) In the Noble Qur’an, at some places, sentences similar to this omitted sentence are also mentioned, for example: « فَاِنْ اٰمَنُوْا بِمِثْلِ مَاۤ اٰمَنْتُمْ بِهٖ فَقَدِ اهْتَدَوْا وَ اِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَاِنَّمَا هُمْ فِيْ شِقَاقٍ» [ البقرۃ : ۱۳۷ ] "Then if they believe in the same as you have believed in, then surely they are guided, and if they turn away, then they are only in opposition." And He said: « فَاِنْ اَسْلَمُوْا فَقَدِ اهْتَدَوْا وَ اِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَاِنَّمَا عَلَيْكَ الْبَلٰغُ » [ آل عمران : ۲۰ ] "So if they submit, then surely they are guided, and if they turn away, then upon you is only the duty of conveying." And He said: « قُلْ اَطِيْعُوا اللّٰهَ وَ اَطِيْعُوا الرَّسُوْلَ فَاِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَاِنَّمَا عَلَيْهِ مَا حُمِّلَ وَ عَلَيْكُمْ مَّا حُمِّلْتُمْ وَ اِنْ تُطِيْعُوْهُ تَهْتَدُوْا » [ النور : ۵۴ ] "Say, Obey Allah and obey the Messenger, but if you turn away, then upon him is only what he is burdened with, and upon you is what you are burdened with, and if you obey him, you will be guided."

{’’ وَ اِنْ يُّكَذِّبُوْكَ …‘‘} This sentence Allah, Exalted is He, said to console His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and to remove his grief, meaning: If they deny you, I will seize them, no matter how much strength they possess. I have seized before them nations who were far greater than them in age, stature, strength and might, wealth and possessions, filth and impurity, and power and authority. When they did not desist, I seized them, and they could not escape My grasp. So what power do these disbelievers of Makkah have? Therefore, do not be grieved. Before you, the people of Nuh (peace be upon him) denied, whose lifespans were the longest among all people and whose authority was extremely strong; and ‘Ad, who were very tall and extremely strong in stature, the like of whom was never created after them; and Thamud, who carved out strong and lofty buildings in the plains and mountains; and the people of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), who had reached the extreme in oppression and arrogance; and the filthy and impure people of Lut (peace be upon him); and the people of Madyan, who had amassed treasures of wealth earned through unlawful means.

➋ {وَ كُذِّبَ مُوْسٰى:} Since Musa (peace be upon him) was given such miracles visible to all people, which had never been given to anyone before, denial of him was extremely unlikely. Therefore, Allah, Exalted is He, changed the style of speech, and also because all the previously mentioned prophets’ peoples had denied them, whereas the people of Musa (peace be upon him), Bani Isra’il, except for a few, did not deny him. Only the people of Pharaoh, the Copts, denied him. As for the disobedience of Bani Isra’il, it was not because they considered Musa (peace be upon him) a liar, but due to the evil deeds and wretched nature of that people.

➌ { فَاَمْلَيْتُ لِلْكٰفِرِيْنَ ثُمَّ اَخَذْتُهُمْ :} In this, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Muslims are given comfort and reassurance that I have also given respite to the disbelievers of Makkah in the same way. Now permission for battle has been granted. If they believe, then good; otherwise, My seizure is also prepared for them in the form of the onslaught of the Muhajirun and Ansar.

➍ The "ra" in { فَكَيْفَ كَانَ نَكِيْرِ: ’’ نَكِيْرِ ‘‘} has a kasrah underneath, because originally it was {’’ نَكِيْرِيْ‘‘}, "My punishment." The "ya" has been omitted for lightness and to match the endings of the verses (such as {كَفُوْرٍ ، عَزِيْزٌ ، الْاُمُوْرِ ، مَشِيْدٍ ، الصُّدُوْرِ}, etc.). The details of the punishments that befell them are in Surah Al-‘Ankabut, where 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; among them were those upon whom We sent a storm of stones, and among them were those who were seized by the blast, and among them were those whom We caused the earth to swallow, and among them were those whom We drowned. And Allah was not to wrong them, but they wronged themselves."