Al-Hajj 22:46

The Consequences for the Disbelievers

Here Allah consoles His Prophet Muhammad ﷺ for the disbelief of those among his people who opposed him.

وَإِن يُكَذِّبُوكَ فَقَدْ كَذَّبَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍ

(And if they deny you, so did deny before them the people of Nuh) until His saying,

وَكُذِّبَ مُوسَى

(and denied was Musa.) means, despite all the clear signs and evidence that they brought.

فَأمْلَيْتُ لِلْكَـفِرِينَ

(But I granted respite to the disbelievers for a while,) means, `I delayed and postponed.'

ثُمَّ أَخَذْتُهُمْ فَكَيْفَ كَانَ نَكِيرِ

(then I seized them, and how (terrible) was My punishment!) means, `how great was My vengeance against them and My punishment of them!' In the Two Sahihs it is reported from Abu Musa that the Prophet said:

«إِنَّ اللهَ لَيُمْلِي لِلظَّالِمِ حَتَّى إِذَا أَخَذَهُ لَمْ يُفْلِتْه»

(Allah lets the wrongdoer carry on until, when He seizes him, He will never let him go.) Then he recited:

وَكَذلِكَ أَخْذُ رَبِّكَ إِذَا أَخَذَ الْقُرَى وَهِىَ ظَـلِمَةٌ إِنَّ أَخْذَهُ أَلِيمٌ شَدِيدٌ

(Such is the punishment of your Lord when He seizes the towns while they are doing wrong. Verily, His punishment is painful (and) severe.) 11:102 Then Allah says:

فَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَـهَا

(And many a township did We destroy)

وَهِىَ ظَـلِمَةٌ

(while they were given wrongdoing,) meaning, they were rejecting their Messengers.

فَهِىَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَى عُرُوشِهَا

(so that it lie in ruins,) Ad-Dahhak said, "Leveled to their roofs," i.e., their houses and cities were destroyed.

وَبِئْرٍ مُّعَطَّلَةٍ

(and (many) a deserted well) means, they draw no water from it, and no one comes to it, after it had been frequented often by crowds of people.

وَقَصْرٍ مَّشِيدٍ

(and a castle Mashid!) `Ikrimah said, "This means whitened with plaster." Something similar was narrated from `Ali bin Abi Talib, Mujahid, `Ata', Sa`id bin Jubayr, Abu Al-Mulayh and Ad-Dahhak. Others said that it means high and impenetrable fortresses. All of these suggestions are close in meaning and do not contradict one another, for this sturdy construction and great height did not help their occupants or afford them any protection when the punishment of Allah came upon them, as He says:

أَيْنَمَا تَكُونُواْ يُدْرِككُّمُ الْمَوْتُ وَلَوْ كُنتُمْ فِى بُرُوجٍ مُّشَيَّدَةٍ

("Wheresoever you may be, death will overtake you even if you are in Buruj Mushayyadah!") 4:78

أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُواْ فِى الاٌّرْضِ

(Have they not traveled through the land,) means, have they not traveled in the physical sense and also used their minds to ponder That is sufficient, as Ibn Abi Ad-Dunya said in his book At-Tafakkur wal-I`tibar, "Some of the wise people said, `Give life to your heart with lessons, illuminate it with thought, kill it with asceticism, strengthen it with certain faith, remind it of its mortality, make it aware of the calamities of this world, warn it of the disasters that life may bring, show it how things may suddenly change with the passing of days, tell it the stories of the people of the past, and remind it what happened to those who came before."' Walk through their ruins, see what they did and what became of them, meaning, look at the punishments and divine wrath that struck the nations of the past who belied,

فَتَكُونَ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ يَعْقِلُونَ بِهَآ أَوْ ءَاذَانٌ يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَا

(and have they hearts wherewith to understand and ears wherewith to hear) meaning, let them learn a lesson from that.

فَإِنَّهَا لاَ تَعْمَى الاٌّبْصَـرُ وَلَـكِن تَعْمَى الْقُلُوبُ الَّتِى فِى الصُّدُورِ

(Verily, it is not the eyes that grow blind, but it is the hearts which are in the breasts that grow blind.) means, the blind person is not the one whose eyes cannot see, but rather the one who has no insight. Even if the physical eyes are sound, they still cannot learn the lesson.

Commentary

Travels undertaken to acquire insight into things and to learn lessons from the past is one of the religious objectives

أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُ‌وا فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ فَتَكُونَ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ (Have they not, then, travelled on earth so that they should have hearts - 22:46) This verse encourages travel, provided the person travelling keeps his eyes wide open and imbibes in his mind the lessons of history. The phrase فَتَكُونَ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ (so that they should have hearts - 22:46) suggests that a person can gain wisdom and intelligence by a careful study of the history of bygone times and an account of people who inhabited this world in different ages. Every event of history holds a lesson for a person who has insight and who does not regard history as a mere record of episodes and occurrences. Ibn Abi Hatim has written in his book اَلتَفَکّر quoting Malik Ibn Dinar (رح) that Allah Ta’ ala commanded Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) to wear shoes made of iron and to hold in his hand a staff made of iron and travel around the earth until his shoes would be worn out and his staff broken down. (Ruh-Ma ani). If this narration is true, then naturally it means to acquire knowledge and lessons from the past.