Tafsir of Surah Al-An'am - Verse 23

The Polythiests Shall be Questioned About the Shirk They Committed

About the polytheists, Allah said:

وَيَوْمَ نَحْشُرُهُمْ جَمِيعاً

(And on the Day when We shall gather them all together,) This is on the Day of Resurrection, when He will ask them about the idols and rivals that they worshipped instead of Him. Allah will say to them,

أَيْنَ شُرَكَآؤُكُمُ الَّذِينَ كُنتُمْ تَزْعُمُونَ

(Where are your partners (false deities) whom you used to assert (as partners in worship with Allah)) Allah said in Surat Al-Qasas,

وَيَوْمَ يُنَـدِيهِمْ فَيَقُولُ أَيْنَ شُرَكَآئِىَ الَّذِينَ كُنتُمْ تَزْعُمُونَ

(And (remember) the Day when He will call to them, and say, "Where are My (so-called) partners whom you used to assert") 28:62. Allah's statement,

ثُمَّ لَمْ تَكُنْ فِتْنَتُهُمْ

(There will then be (left) no Fitnah for them) means, argument. `Ata' Al-Khurasani said that,

ثُمَّ لَمْ تَكُنْ فِتْنَتُهُمْ

(There will then be (left) no Fitnah for them) in the face of the affliction that will be placed on them,

إِلاَّ أَن قَالُواْ وَاللَّهِ رَبِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِكِينَ

(but to say: "By Allah, our Lord, we were not those who joined others (in worship with Allah).") Allah said next,

انظُرْ كَيْفَ كَذَبُواْ عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ وَضَلَّ عَنْهُمْ مَّا كَانُواْ يَفْتَرُونَ

(Look! How they lie against themselves! But the (lie) which they invented will disappear from them.) which is similar to His other statement,

ثُمَّ قِيلَ لَهُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ تُشْرِكُونَ - مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ قَـالُواْ ضَـلُّواْ عَنَّا بَل لَّمْ نَكُنْ نَّدْعُواْ مِن قَبْلُ شَيْئاً كَذَلِكَ يُضِلُّ اللَّهُ الْكَـفِرِينَ

(Then it will be said to them: "Where are (all) those whom you used to join in worship as partners. Besides Allah" They will say, "They have vanished from us: Nay, we did not invoke (worship) anything before." Thus Allah leads astray the disbelievers.) 40:73-74

The Miserable Do Not Benefit from the Qur'an

Allah's statement,

وَمِنْهُمْ مَّن يَسْتَمِعُ إِلَيْكَ وَجَعَلْنَا عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ أَكِنَّةً أَن يَفْقَهُوهُ وَفِى ءَاذَانِهِمْ وَقْراً وَإِن يَرَوْاْ كُلَّ ءَايَةٍ لاَّ يُؤْمِنُواْ بِهَا

(And of them there are some who listen to you; but We have set veils on their hearts, so they understand it not, and deafness in their ears; if they see every one of the Ayat they will not believe therein;) means, they come to you, (O Muhammad ), so that they hear you recite the Qur'an, but its recitation does not benefit them, because Allah has set veils on their hearts, and so they do not understand the Qur'an,

وَفِى ءَاذَانِهِمْ وَقْرًا

(and (set) deafness in their ears;) that prevents them from hearing what benefits them. In another Ayah, Allah said;

وَمَثَلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ كَمَثَلِ الَّذِى يَنْعِقُ بِمَا لاَ يَسْمَعُ إِلاَّ دُعَآءً وَنِدَآءً

(And the example of those who disbelieve, is as that of him who shouts at one who hears nothing but calls and cries.) 2:171 Allah said next,

وَإِن يَرَوْاْ كُلَّ ءَايَةٍ لاَّ يُؤْمِنُواْ بِهَا

(if they see every one of the Ayat they will not believe therein;) meaning, they will not believe in any of the Ayat, proofs, clear evidences and signs they witness because they do not have sound comprehension or fair judgment. In another Ayah, Allah said,

وَلَوْ عَلِمَ اللَّهُ فِيهِمْ خَيْرًا لأَسْمَعَهُمْ

(Had Allah known of any good in them, He would indeed have made them listen.) 8:23 Allah said,

حَتَّى إِذَا جَآءُوكَ يُجَـدِلُونَكَ

(to the point that when they come to you to argue with you...) using falsehood against truth,

يَقُولُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ إِنْ هَـذَآ إِلاَّ أَسَـطِيرُ الاٌّوَّلِينَ

(those who disbelieve say: "These are nothing but tales of the men of old.") The disbelievers say, what you (O Muhammad ) brought us was taken from the books of those who were before us, meaning plagiarized,

وَهُمْ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ وَيَنْأَوْنَ عَنْهُ

(And they prevent others from him and they themselves keep away from him,) They discourage people from following the truth, believing in Muhammad ﷺ and obeying the Qur'an,

وَيَنْأَوْنَ عَنْهُ

(and they themselves keep away from him,) They thus combine both evil acts, for they neither benefit themselves, nor let others benefit from the Prophet . `Ali bin Abi Talhah said that Ibn `Abbas said that the Ayah,

وَهُمْ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ

(And they prevent others from him.) means, they hinder people from believing in Muhammad ﷺ. Muhammad bin Al-Hanafiyyah said, "The disbelievers of Quraysh used to refrain from meeting Muhammad and they discouraged people from coming to him." Similar was reported from Qatadah, Mujahid and Ad-Dahhak and several others.

وَإِن يُهْلِكُونَ إِلاَّ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ

(and (by doing so) they destroy not but themselves, yet they perceive (it) not.) They destroy themselves by committing this evil action, and its harm will only touch them. Yet, they do not perceive this fact!

In short, on this venue of the great trial, a long period of time will pass for the trial to begin, so much so, that these people will wish that reckoning comes so that they can be relieved from their state of uncertainty, no matter what happens in the end. It is to indicate this length of stay that, as indicated earlier, the word, ثُمَّ (then) was prefixed to ثُمَّ (then We shall say). Similarly, the answer given by the disbelievers mentioned in the second verse (23) also appears with the word, نَقُول ; (then), which indicates that they too will come up with their answer after having deliberated over it for a long period of time, in which they will say: وَاللَّـهِ رَ‌بِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِ‌كِينَ (By Allah, our Lord, we ascribed no partners to Allah). In this verse, their answer has been identified فِتنَہ 'fitnah' which could mean ` trial' or ` infatuation.' Both meanings can be taken here. In the first case, the answer given by the disbelievers becomes a trial by itself; while, in the second case, it would mean that these people were infatuated with idols and other self-made objects of worship, even made sacrifices for them, but all that infatuation was gone on this day when they had no choice but to declare their total disassociation from them.

There is something very astonishing in their answer. That was a nerve-shattering time with the day being the Day of Retribution with the awesome manifestations of the power and authority of their Lord all there, yet they had the courage to lie before their very Lord, and that too, with such shamelessness that they are swearing by His great name and saying that they were no disbelievers!

Most commentators explain this answer given by the disbelievers as something not based on foresight or hindsight. In fact, it was caused by the heat of surrounding awe and the loss of personal nerves, a condition in which one utters what is not intended. But, by giving some thought to the general happenings and conditions of the Day of Resurrection, it could be said that Allah Ta` ala had given them the freedom to say things as they used to say in their life of the mortal world so that everyone present on the Day of Resurrection could see their full profile and get to know that these people did not stop at disbelief and polytheism, but that they were also unmatched as liars, for they would not desist from lying at least on an occasion so horrifying. Another verse of the Qur'an (Surah Al-Mujdalah): فَيَحْلِفُونَ لَهُ كَمَا يَحْلِفُونَ لَكُمْ (then they will swear to Him as they swear to you - 58:18) gives a hint in this direction which means that very much in the manner they swear falsely before Muslims, they would not hesitate in swearing as falsely before the Lord of all the worlds Himself.

When these people have become sworn deniers of their Shirk and Kufr (attribution of partners to Allah and disbelief) on the day of Resurrection, that will be the time when Allah, in His absolute power, will have their mouths sealed with silence. His command will then go to the limbs of their bodies - ` now, you speak as witnesses to everything they did' - then, will come the proof that their own hands and feet and eyes and ears were all some kind of secret service agents who had been with them all along. They will tell, and tell everything they did. About that, it has been said in Surah Yasin: الْيَوْمَ نَخْتِمُ عَلَىٰ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَتُكَلِّمُنَا أَيْدِيهِمْ وَتَشْهَدُ أَرْ‌جُلُهُم بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ ﴿65﴾ (That Day shall We set a seal on their mouths. But their hands will speak to Us, and their feet bear witness, to all that they did - 36:65). After having witnessed this demonstration of unimaginable power, no one will, then, dare conceal anything or lie about it.

At another place in the Holy Qur'an, it is said: وَلَا يَكْتُمُونَ اللَّـهَ حَدِيثًا (And they shall not conceal anything from Allah - 4:42). Explaining its meaning, this is what Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ had said: That is, they would first lie as much as they could, even swear falsely, but once their own hands and feet shall testify against them, they will not have the courage to say anything wrong after that.

So, we see that a wrong-doer shall be given full freedom to put his statement on record in the court of the Judge of judges. If he chooses to lie, as he did in his mortal life, his right to do that will not be snatched away from him - because Allah will Himself, in His absolute power, demolish the facade of his lie through the testimony of his own body parts.

This is why telling lies after death will not work. Think of an entrance examination or an admission test. After death, man's first test will be given by angels, مُنکَر Munkar and نَکِیر Nakir. Says the Hadith: When Munkar and Nakir will ask a Kafir (disbeliever): مَن رَّبُّکَ وَما دِینِکَ (Who is your Lord and what is your religion?), the Kafir will say: 4'bri bu (Oh 0, I do not know). In contrast a true Muslim will answer by saying: رَبِّی اللہ وَ دِینِیَ الاسلام

(Allah is my Lord and Islam is my religion). It appears no one will have the courage to lie in this test, otherwise a Kafir could have given the same answer as was given by a Muslim. The reason is that the test will be taken by angels who do not have the knowledge of the unseen, nor are they capable of making hands and feet give witness. If man had the choice of lying there, the angels would have simply acted in accordance with the answer given, but this would have disturbed the system. This is contrary to the test of the day of Resurrection where questions will be asked and answers given before Al-mighty Allah which means that no lie will work there even if resorted to.

Tafsir al-Bahr al-Muhit and Mazheri report from some elders that the people denying their Shirk on oaths will be those who did not openly declare a created being to be God or His deputy, but as for their deed, they had assigned all powers of Godhood to His created beings, and from them sought answers to their needs, in their name they would make offerings, and from them they would ask sustenance, health, children and everything they wished to have. These people did not consider themselves as Mushriks. Therefore, on the day of Resurrection they would swear to it that they were not Mushriks. Ultimately, Allah Almighty will expose their disgrace.

Another question which arises in this verse is about what has been said in some verses of the Qur'an - that Allah Almighty will not speak to the disbelievers and sinners - while, the present verse seems to be indicating clearly that such address will come to pass.

The answer is that such address or speech will not be in the form of honouring them or accepting their prayers. As for the negation of an address based on admonition, that is not intended in this verse. It could also be said that the address mentioned in this verse may be through the angels. As for the verse where Divine speech or address has been negated, it refers to an indirect address.

Reality is a familiar thing for man, because it is part of man’s own nature and it speaks the same silent language throughout the universe. This was truer of the Jews and the Christians, because their Prophets and their scriptures had clearly heralded the advent of the last of the Prophets and the Quran. So, for them to know about this was as good as knowing their own sons. In spite of things being so clear, why do people not accept the Truth? It is because of the fear of some immediate loss. The cost of acceptance of the Truth is that man has to pull himself down from a high status; he has to come out of the sphere of conformism and give up ready-made advantages. When a man is not ready to make these sacrifices, he does not accept the Truth, and for the sake of instant gain, he pushes himself into a position of eternal loss. If he has a false sense of satisfaction with the stand he has taken, it is because in this world of trial he is always successful in finding explanations and justifications in his support; he readily finds the words to reject arguments in favour of the Truth—so much so that he feels free to wilfully misinterpret truth and claim that the ‘real Truth’ is that which he has adopted. Whenever a man makes entities other than God the centre of his attention, a magical halo gradually forms around them. He indulges in such wishful thinking as gives him the illusion that he has a firm hold of a very strong support. But, on the Day of Judgement, when all the veils are torn asunder, and when he sees that all the supports except that of God were absolutely false, he will have no alternative but to contradict his own statements. In other words, such people at that time will become witnesses against their own falsity. In the Hereafter they will become the rejecters of those very things of which they had been proud of being attached to. The edifice of false beliefs and explanations they had constructed will be so totally destroyed that it will seem never to have existed.