As-salaam wa-alaikum, brothers and sisters.
Summary
Today’s selection concludes Surah 13, Ar-Ra’d or The Thunder, verses 38-43. These verses discuss the Messengers of God and the powers they do and don’t possess. When God commands, there is no reversing it, for God is the Master of all planning.
Tafseer for this selection concerns the lives and families of the Prophets in verse 38 and the structure of Makkan society and its eventual conversion in verse 41.
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Verses
Bis-millahi ar-rahman, ar-raheem.
In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful.We have sent forth other Messengers before you and given them wives and children and it was never in the power of a Messenger to show any miracle without the sanction of Allah. For each period there was a Book:[38] Allah abrogates and confirms what He pleases – with Him is the Master Copy of the Book.[39] O Muhammad! Whether We let you see, within your lifetime, a part of what We threaten them with or cause you to die before We smite them, your mission is only to deliver the Message and it is for Us to take accountability.[40] Do they not see that We are gradually reducing the land in their control through curtailing its borders? When Allah commands, there is none to reverse His command and He is swift in taking accountability.[41] Those unbelievers who have passed before them also devised plots; but Allah is the Master of all planning. He knows the actions of every soul. Soon the unbelievers will come to know who will get the home of paradise in the hereafter.[42] The unbelievers say: “You are no Messenger.” Say: “Allah is all-sufficient witness between me and you, and so are those who have knowledge of the Book.”[43] 13:[38-43]
Ameen.
Tafseer
On the families of the Prophets in verse 38:
All the Prophets of whom we have any detailed knowledge, except one, had wives and children. The exception is Jesus, the son of Mary. But his life was incomplete: his ministry barely lasted three years; his mission was limited and he was not called upon to deal with the many-sided problems that arise in a highly organized society or State. We pay equal respect to him because he was a Messenger of God; but that is not to say that his Message covers the same universal ground as that of Prophet Muhammad. There is no reproach for a normal human being if he lives a normal human life; there is glory if he beautifies it and sets a nobler example of virtue than other men, as did Prophet Muhammad.
On Makkan society and its conversion in verse 41:
In the Prophet’s ministry at Makkah, the most stiff-necked opposition came from the seat and centre of power in Makkah. The humbler people – the fringe of Makkan society – came in readily, as also did some tribes around Makkah. After the Hijrah, there was a hard struggle between Makkah and Madinah, and at last the bloodless conquest of Makkah in 8 A.H. made the pagan structure finally collapse, though it had already been sapped to its foundations. So, generally, Truth finds easiest entrance through the humble and lowly and not in the beginning at the headquarters of power; but in the fullness of time, it makes its way everywhere with irresistible force.
This concludes today’s episode of the 17 Verses Podcast. I hope that this selection has helped increase your understanding of the holy Qur’an just a little bit.
Thank you and be well.