115 Allah said: Surely I will send it down to you, but whoever disbelieves afterwards from among you, I will chastise him with a chastisement with which I will not chastise anyone among the nations.
SECTION 16: False Doctrines introduced after Jesus’ Death
116 And when Allah will say: O Jesus, son of Mary, didst thou say to men, Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah? He will say: Glory be to Thee! it was not for me to say what I had no right to (say). If I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it. Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I know not what is in Thy mind. Surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen.
117 I said to them naught save as Thou didst command me: Serve Allah, my Lord and your Lord; and I was a witness of them so long as I was among them, but when Thou didst cause me to die Thou wast the Watcher over them. And Thou art Witness of all things.
118 If Thou chastise them, surely they are Thy servants; and if Thou protect them, surely Thou art the Mighty, the Wise.
119 Allah will say: This is a day when their truth will profit the truthful ones. For them are Gardens wherein flow rivers abiding therein forever. Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Allah. That is the mighty achievement.
120 Allah’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and whatever is in them; and He is Possessor of power over all things.
Chapter 6
Al-An‘am: The Cattle
(Revealed at Makkah: 20 sections; 165 verses)
The name of this chapter is taken from the mention of cattle in connection with certain superstitions and idolatrous practices of the Arabs, the abolition of which was needed to establish the doctrine of Divine Unity in all its purity. The object of Islam was not simply to preach Unity, but to make it the basis of a Muslim’s practical life, and so to uproot all idolatrous practices.
The last chapter deals towards its close with the Christian doctrine of the deification of Jesus, and hence this chapter is introduced to deal at length with the doctrine of Divine Unity and its ultimate triumph, not only over idolatry, but over all kinds of polytheism. The Prophet had preached this noble doctrine for twelve whole years, without apparently causing any great change in the national idol-worship of the people. To an outward observer, therefore, the cause of the Prophet seemed an utter failure, yet so marvellous was his faith in the ultimate triumph of Divine Unity that no obstacle, no apparent failure, had shaken it in the least, and the words with which this chapter opens were uttered with unshakable confidence in the ultimate triumph of his cause, as if he had never received the least check in his onward course, and as though the goal was not only within sight, but close at hand.
Opening with a forcible declaration of the ultimate triumph of Divine Unity, and referring to the greatness of His mercy in the second section, the doctrine of Unity being always combined with the doctrine of the unique mercy of the Diving Being, it refers in the third to the polytheists’ own evidence against their polytheism. The rejection of this great truth and its consequences are then stated in the fourth and fifth sections, mentioning incidentally the reward of believers in the sixth section. In the two succeeding sections the Divine judgment is declared to be imminent. The ninth, while calling attention to the necessity of submission to the Divine Being — the pith of Abraham’s religion — mentions the arguments by which Abraham, that great Patriarch who may be said to be the father of monotheism, convinced his countrymen of the futility of the worship of any object other than Allah. The tenth section mentions the names of seventeen other prophets who preached the Unity of the Divine Being, and the Holy Prophet is enjoined to follow in their footsteps. The eleventh section draws attention to the truth of the Divine revelation of the Qur’an, which was now the bearer of that noble message of Divine Unity to mankind, and the next speaks of the ultimate triumph of that message. The thirteenth section states that this triumph would be brought about by a gradual progress, and the fourteenth refers to the polytheists’ opposition. The plans adopted by the chief opponents are then hinted at in the fifteenth, and their failure prophesied in the sixteenth section, which deals with some of the evils of idolatry. The next two refer to the polytheists’ self-imposed superstitious restrictions against the use of the flesh of certain animals, and the prohibited foods. The guiding rules of life are then briefly stated in the nineteenth section, while the chapter is closed by drawing attention to the great goal before the faithful; because, undoubtedly, the doctrine of Unity raised the ideal of human life to a very high standard.
The whole of this chapter was revealed in one portion (I‘Ab-Rz). It is generally considered to belong to the last year of the Holy Prophet’s life at Makkah.
SECTION 1: Ultimate Triumph of Divine Unity
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
1 Praise be to Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, and made darkness and light. Yet those who disbelieve set up equals to their Lord.
2 He it is Who created you from clay, then He decreed a term. And there is a term named with Him; still you doubt.
3 And He is Allah in the heavens and in the earth. He knows your secret (thoughts) and your open (words), and He knows what you earn.
4 And there comes not to them any message of the messages of their Lord but they turn away from it.
5 So they rejected the truth when it came to them, but soon will come to them the news of that which they mocked.
6 See they not how many a generation We destroyed before them, whom We had established in the earth as We have not established you, and We sent the clouds pouring abundant rain on them, and We made the rivers flow beneath them? Then We destroyed them for their sins, and raised up after them another generation.
7 And if We had sent down to thee a writing on paper, then they had touched it with their hands, those who disbelieve would have said: This is nothing but clear enchantment.
8 And they say: Why has not an angel been sent down to him? And if We send down an angel, the matter would be decided and then they would not be respited.
9 And if We had made him an angel, We would certainly have made him a man, and (thus) made confused to them what they confuse.
10 And certainly messengers before thee were derided, but that which they derided encompassed those of them who scoffed.
SECTION 2: Greatness of Divine Mercy
11 Say: Travel in the land, then see what was the end of the rejectors.
12 Say: To whom belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth? Say: To Allah. He has ordained mercy on Himself. He will certainly gather you on the Resurrection day — there is no doubt about it. Those who have lost their souls will not believe.
13 And to Him belongs whatever dwells in the night and the day. And He is the Hearing, the Knowing.
14 Say: Shall I take for a friend other than Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, and He feeds and is not fed? Say: I am commanded to be the first of those who submit. And be thou not of the polytheists.
15 Say: Surely I fear, if I disobey my Lord, the chastisement of a grievous day.
16 He from whom it is averted on that day, Allah indeed has had mercy on him. And this is a manifest achievement.
17 And if Allah touch thee with affliction, there is none to remove it but He. And if He touch thee with good, He is Possessor of power over all things.
18 And He is the Supreme, above His servants. And He is the Wise, the Aware.
19 Say: What thing is the weightiest in testimony? Say: Allah is witness between you and me. And this Qur’an has been revealed to me that with it I may warn