Tafsir of Surah Al-Anbiya' - Verse 34

No One has been granted Immortality in this World

وَمَا جَعَلْنَا لِبَشَرٍ مِّن قَبْلِكَ

(And We granted not to any human being immortality before you;) means, O Muhammad.

الْخُلْدَ

(immortality) means, in this world. On the contrary,

كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ - وَيَبْقَى وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الْجَلْـلِ وَالإِكْرَامِ

(Whatsoever is on it (the earth) will perish. And the Face of your Lord full of majesty and honor will remain forever.) 55:26-27.

أَفَإِيْن مِّتَّ

(then if you die) means, O Muhammad,

فَهُمُ الْخَـلِدُونَ

(would they live forever) means, they hope that they will live forever after you, but that will not happen; everything will pass away. So Allah says:

كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَآئِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ

(Everyone is going to taste death,)

وَنَبْلُوكُم بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً

(and We shall test you with evil and with good by way of trial. ) Meaning, "We shall test you, sometimes with difficulties and sometimes with ease, to see who will give thanks and who will be ungrateful, who will have patience and who will despair." `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported from Ibn `Abbas:

وَنَبْلُوكُم

(and We shall test you) means, We will test you,

بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً

(with evil and with good by way of trial.) means, with difficulties and with times of prosperity, with health and sickness, with richness and poverty, with lawful and unlawful, obedience and sin, with guidance and misguidance.

وَإِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ

(And to Us you will be returned.) means, and We will requite you according to your deeds.

Commentary

وَمَا جَعَلْنَا لِبَشَرٍ‌ مِّن قَبْلِكَ الْخُلْدَ (And We did not assign immortality to any human (even) before you. - 21:34) The preceding verses give a strong and logical rebuttal of the unfounded and exaggerated beliefs of the infidels and polytheists to the effect that Sayyidna Masih and Sayyidna ` Uzair (علیہما السلام) are the associates of God or that Masih and the Angels are God's children. Unable to come up with a satisfactory answer to the rational and logical arguments given by the Qur'an, the infidels of Makkah were in despair and wished for the death of the Holy Prophet ﷺٍ. This has been mentioned in some other verses also, like e.g. نَّتَرَ‌بَّصُ بِهِ رَ‌يْبَ الْمَنُونِ (52:30). In this verse (34) Allah Ta` ala has given two answers to their pitiable wish. One, that even if the Holy Prophet ﷺ died early how would it help them? If they thought that they could use the death of the Holy Prophet ﷺ as an argument against his prophethood, they were very much mistaken, because all the other Prophets (علیہم السلام) whose prophethood they themselves had accepted, also died when their time came. Thus, if the death of their own prophets did not alter their position as prophets, how could the death of the Holy Prophet ﷺ change his position? Secondly, if their purpose in wishing for his early death was only to appease their frustration, then they should have known that death is universal, and everybody has to die sooner or later.

اگر بمرد عدو جأٰے شادمانی نیست کہ زندگانیء مانیز جاودانی نیست

If an enemy dies, it is not to be rejoiced, because our own life is not eternal.

Those who were opponents of the Prophet Muhammad in Makkah were more affluent and powerful in terms of material resources. They enjoyed respect and positions of superiority in the society of those days. According to them, this difference meant that they were on the right path and the Prophet Muhammad on the wrong path. But an excess or paucity of worldly effects bears no relation to superiority or inferiority, being purely for the purpose of trial. It is a trial imposed at the behest of God. If, after acquiring worldly resources, a man thinks highly of himself, he is as if proving himself unworthy of this blessing. The result will be that after death, in the life hereafter, he will be totally deprived of his riches. The people of Makkah were engaged in strenuous efforts to defeat the Prophet Muhammad, to the extent that they wanted to eliminate him somehow in order to nip his mission in the bud. God says that those who conspired against the Prophet had forgotten the fact that those who dug a grave for others, have ultimately to enter the grave themselves. Then, after death, when they faced their Real Lord, what would they do?