Translation
If God were to rush to judgment and bring out the consequence of mankind’s evil acts, in a manner similar to how they rush to things they consider good for themselves, their doom [ajal] would have already been decreed and carried out. But God allows latitude to those who have no expectation of meeting God, to thoughtlessly wander around in their disobedience and reckless behavior and disbelief. 460
When adversities and difficult situations affect a person, he calls on God constantly and instinctively [lying, sitting or standing] but as soon as God removes such afflictions, he acts though he had never called on God for such afflictions that had touched them. Such is their condition who rationalize their thoughtlessness, and complacency in their evil conducts [musrifin]. 461
Certainly We [God] had removed generations in the past who refused to accept faith (and goodness) despite having Messengers who articulated guidance for them. This is how We [God] deal with people who persist in evils. We then followed you to become (Our) representatives [khalifa—see #20 in Vo. 1] on this earth so that We might assess how you act. 462
Interpretation
460 Mankind is more drawn to worldly goods and pleasures and shows an insatiable thirst and impatience for such things, as he considers these good for himself. He expects immediate benefit for such efforts, and God grants such worldly gains commensurate with effort irrespective of his faith or lack thereof. On the reverse, when mankind does evils—and such evils are clearly articulated in various revelations: (1) in the Qur’an in the forms of lying, cheating, injustice, anger, envy, physical harm, slavery and coercion, sexual exploitation, gender abuse, wastefulness, miserly, arrogance, false belief, polytheism, and so forth, (2) Christians have articulated seven deadly sins based on the Bible’s teaching, the sins of pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth, and greed, (3) the Ten Commandments in the Torah lay the early foundation of such evils and their remedies—if God were to deal with and punish such evils in the way mankind hunkers after what they consider good for themselves, then the consequences will have taken place immediately as well. But God in His infinite wisdom, mercy, and forgiveness provides room for learning from mistakes, from evil consequences that come about naturally, and from human distaste for such evils, and provides opportunities for other groups of people to rise to the occasion to counter such evils before God brings about the near term and final consequences as He sees fit.
461 These verses and several others in the Qur’an make us aware of our own condition and mental states as we deal with adversities in life and our lack of consistency in the way we acknowledge God’s presence in our life. At one level (see 89:14–20) when good things happen, we lay claim that this was due to our own effort, and when difficulty arises, we blame God or someone else. Here we are reminded that when humans face dire situations, such as difficult sickness, accidents, financial distress, or life-or-death situations, we immediate and instinctively bow to God and ask for His help. But when things get back to normal, we forget those moments and our momentary alignment with God and instead go on with life without active faith and without pursuing truth and justice in society.
462 This verse talks about the generational responsibility that is expected from each one of us and from each generation of mankind who comes to replace the generation before. Every Prophet reminded his generation to be mindful of this responsibility, and God in the Qur’an tells us that He will inquire about what we did in our own life and not about the lives of others, and in a similar manner they will be asked about their lives and not ours.
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REFLECTION
Being mindful of our human conditions and contradictions, our haste in seeking what we consider good, our hypocrisy in seeking God when we need Him but forgetting about Him when we are provided for and are secure, and our tendency to forget our own responsibilities and blame previous generations for ills in our societies or to burden our next generations with our failures to act and correct, are matters of serious debate and discussion, in which many of us wish not to participate and address.
ACTION
Let’s be mindful of these human conditions that we all are guilty of at one time or another, if not for our entire life to this day, and as the saying goes, it is never too late. As we read the revelations and experience life, we need to pay attention to such realities and adjust our activities and pursuits to make sure we can adequately demonstrate to God that we listened and we acted accordingly. This is our real challenge for this generation!
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Key Arabic Terms
135. Ajal: Doom, consequences, term, the course of actions and reaction (10:11)
136. Musrifin: Extravagant, prodigal (10:12)