Verses 1–6
بِسۡمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate
This chapter of the Qur’an discusses the arrogance of the disbelievers and their recourse to disputations based on falsehood in order to invalidate the truth to which they were being called. This is the reason why the chapter returns to the subject of the disputation time and again:
No one disputes the signs of Allah except the faithless. So do not be misled by their bustle in the towns (40:3).
Those who dispute the signs of Allah without any authority that may have come to them are greatly outrageous (40:35).
Have you not regarded those who dispute the signs of Allah, where they are being led away? (40:69).
This chapter responds to their arrogant disputation by recounting the fate that God caused to befall the nations who denied His signs before them and the humiliating punishment that He has prepared for them by mentioning some of what will happen to them in the Hereafter.
At the same time, it refutes their false claims by presenting arguments for God’s unity in lordship and divinity. It also enjoins the Prophet to be steadfast while promising divine assistance to him and the faithful, and bids him proclaim to the disbelievers that he has submitted to his Lord and that he will never forsake His worship, so that they despair of overcoming him.
It is clear that the chapter is Meccan in its entirety, both from the connectedness of its verses and the nature of its content, and claims that some of it was revealed in Medina have no merit, as we shall discuss below.
Commentary
حم ١ تَنْزِيلُ الْكِتَابِ مِنَ اللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ ٢
(40:1–2) Ḥāʾ, Mīm: The sending down of the Book is from Allah, the All-mighty, the All-knowing,
‘Sending down’ (tanzīl) here is an infinitive used in the sense of a passive participle (maṣdar bi maʿnā l-mafʿūl), and it is in a possessive construct with the Book as an adjective is joined to a noun. Hence, the meaning is: This Book is sent down by God.
The verse specifically mentions the two divine attributes of the All-mighty, the All-knowing. Some say this is to call attention to the Qur’ans miraculous inimitability and astounding knowledge it contains, which would stretch the capacity of human comprehension. Others have said these attributes were chosen for stylistic reasons.
However, the most appropriate theory is that the chapter is speaking about the disbelievers obstinate rejection of the truth and their disputing God’s signs falsely because of their ignorance. What is more, they have mistaken this ignorance for knowledge and taken pride in it, as we read at the end of the chapter: When their messengers brought them manifest proofs, they exulted in the knowledge they possessed (). This is akin to what Pharaoh told his people about Moses: Indeed I fear that he will change your religion, or bring forth corruption in the land (), and what he subsequently told them: I just point out to you what I see to be advisable, and I guide you only to the way of rectitude ().
The discourse of this chapter begins by highlighting that this Book has been sent down to them from One whose might is infinite and whom none can overpower (and who, therefore, has nothing to fear from their arrogance and haughtiness that rests on their own delusions), and whose knowledge is absolute and uncontaminated by ignorance or error (so their false arguments do nothing against the truth He has sent down and explained with conclusive evidence).
This reading is supported by the following verse, which reads: forgiver of sins and acceptor of repentance ().
غَافِرِ الذَّنْبِ وَقَابِلِ التَّوْبِ شَدِيدِ الْعِقَابِ ذِي الطَّوْلِ ۖ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ إِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ ٣
(40:3) forgiver of sins and acceptor of repentance, severe in retribution, all-bountiful, there is no Allah except Him, toward Him is the destination.
The active participle (forgiver, ghāfir; and acceptor, qābil) is used in the phrase forgiver of sins and acceptor of repentance to show that this is something continuous and ongoing from God; after all, forgiveness and the acceptance of repentance are both divine attributes of action (ṣifāt fiʿliyya), God is forever forgiving one sin after another and accepting one repentance after another.
Note that the conjunction and is only used for forgiver of sins and acceptor of repentance but not for severe in retribution. This is because forgiving sins and accepting repentance, taken together, resemble a single divine attribute that is associated with God’s sinful servants; sometimes God forgives them because of their repentance, and other times He forgives them for other reasons, such as intercession.
Retribution (ʿiqāb) means to seize someone as a consequence of their sins. Al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī writes: The Arabic words ʿuqb and ʿuqbā (‘end’, ‘outcome’) are always used in the sense of ‘reward’ (thawāb), as in the verses: He is the best in rewarding and the best in requiting (), and For such will be the requital of the abode (). The Arabic word ʿāqiba (‘outcome’ or ‘fate’) can be used for reward, as in and the outcome will be in favour of the Allahwary (), or it can be used for a punishment, as in Then the fate of those who committed misdeeds (), or the verse: So the fate of both is that they will be in the Fire (). Of course, this could also be an ironic usage of ʿāqiba to signify the opposite of its literal meaning. At the same time, ʿuqūba, muʿāqaba, and ʿiqāb (all meaning ‘penalty’) are only used to denote punishments.
Therefore, severe in retribution (shadīd al-ʿiqāb) is equivalent in meaning to the divine name, Endowed with Vengeance (dhū al-intiqām), which is one of God’s Most-Beautiful Names. It relates to God’s aspect as a punisher, while attributes such as the Oft-forgiving (al-ghafūr) and the Most merciful (al-raḥīm) relate to His aspect of mercy.
All-bountiful (al-ṭawl), according to Majmaʿ al-bayān, refers to blessings which endure for a lengthy duration for the one who receives them. Possessed of Enduring Bounty (dhū al-ṭawl) is one of God’s Most-Beautiful Names which signifies Him being a source of blessings. However, this is more specific than the Bestower of Blessings (al-Munʿim) because the latter also encompasses blessings of shorter duration.
The Qur’an mentions these four divine names: Forgiver of sins and acceptor of repentance, severe in retribution, and all-bountiful after the divine name of all-knowing (al-ʿalīm). This is to show that He sent down this Book, which contains His true call, based on His knowledge, which rests on the foundations of the meanings of these four names.
This is because while the human world collectively receives God’s enduring bounties and human beings enjoy His never-ceasing blessings throughout their lives in this world, they are divided with regards to the Hereafter into two branches: those who will be felicitous in the next life and those who will be miserable. God knows every detail of His creation—how can He not, when He created it and directs it? When He describes Himself as the forgiver of sins and acceptor of repentance, this means that He forgives those who are ready for forgiveness and He accepts the repentance of those who turn to Him penitently. Equally, when He describes Himself as severe in retribution, He means that He will punish those who deserve it.
This means that He guides people to the path of felicity, as He says: and indeed to Us belong the world and the Hereafter (), and With Allah rests guidance to the straight path ().
This is in order to separate mankind into two groups and distinguish the felicitous from the wretched and the guided from the astray, in order to have mercy on the former and punish the latter.
So the sending down of the Book from God, the All-mighty, the All-knowing is based on His all-encompassing knowledge of His creatures, namely that they are in need of a call (daʿwa) to guide some people and to lead others astray through their rejection of it, in order that He might forgive one group for their sins and punish the others for theirs. They also need a divine message to help them organise their lives in this world, so they benefit from His generosity and blessings in both this life and in the next.
This is the status of His Book, which He has sent down with His knowledge unadulterated by ignorance on the basis of the truth unmixed with falsehood. What right do those who know nothing but the appearances of this world have to dispute using falsehood in order to rebut the truth?
This divine concern for knowledge that we have mentioned is also visible in the prayer of the angels asking for forgiveness for the faithful, which God quotes in the verse: Our Lord! You comprehend all things in mercy and knowledge. So forgive those who repent and follow Your way ().
Returning to the verse under discussion, there is no Allah except Him, toward Him is the destination invokes the formula of divine unity (there is no Allah except Him) to explain why it is obligatory to only worship Him and thereby avoid invalidating the religious call the Book represents. When the verse says that He is everyone’s destination, this is a reference to the Resurrection, and this shows that this is the primary reason to call them to believe in the Book and to follow its teachings. This is because belief in the Day of Reckoning gives rise to fear and hope; fear of punishment and hope of reward, which are two of the key reasons for someone to worship God.
مَا يُجَادِلُ فِي آيَاتِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَلَا يَغْرُرْكَ تَقَلُّبُهُمْ فِي الْبِلَادِ٤
(40:4) No one disputes the signs of Allah except the faithless. So do not be misled by their bustle in the towns.
So far, this chapter has mentioned that the Book was sent down by God and presented a conclusive demonstration of its truthfulness, which derives from His divine attributes enumerated in the two verses. These, in turn, indicate that He sent it down on His peerless knowledge, which is uncontaminated by ignorance, and based on the truth, which is not invalidated by falsehood. Having laid this out above, the chapter now turns to address the subject those who oppose His truthful proofs through recourse to false arguments. It indicates that they are the people who will be punished in the Hereafter; they will neither be forgotten nor neglected, for just as the Book was sent down to forgive sins and accept repentance, it was also sent down to punish the guilty. Therefore, the Prophet should not let their obstinacy grieve him or their worldly condition deceive him as regards their ultimate fate.
God said: No one disputes the signs of Allah. He did not say: No one disputes it or disputes the Qur’an to show that their argument concerns the truth to which those signs point in their function as signs. And even though the one with whom they argue is the Prophet, this is because he is the one who calls them to the truth that those signs signify. They argue in order to reject the truth rather than to defend it. Therefore, when the subsequent verses speak about arguing and disputation, this refers to argumentation using falsehood to refute the truth.
Therefore, the meaning of disputing the signs of God means arguing in order to invalidate and refute them, which is something morally repugnant. This is not in the same category as arguing in defence of the truth. How could it be when God Himself commands His prophet to argue in the best possible manner: and dispute with them in a manner that is best ()?
When God says: …except the faithless… based on the context, the apparent meaning of ‘the faithless’ (alladhīna kafarū) here is those in whose hearts faithlessness has become deeply rooted such that there is no hope of removing it. That is why God uses the particle of negation mā instead of lā in No one disputes… (mā yujādil). Equally, so do not be misled by their bustle in the towns shows that the referents of this verse are the disbelievers who are contemporary with the Prophet, even if they were not necessarily inhabitants of Mecca.
Their bustle in the towns means their moving through the different stages of their lives, from one divine blessing to another, whether health, comfort, or ease. The verse tells the Prophet not to be deceived by their bustle in the towns; this means that he should not be misled by their outward state into thinking that they had outmaneuvered God or shown Him to be impotent.
كَذَّبَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍ وَالْأَحْزَابُ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ ۖ وَهَمَّتْ كُلُّ أُمَّةٍ بِرَسُولِهِمْ لِيَأْخُذُوهُ ۖ وَجَادَلُوا بِالْبَاطِلِ لِيُدْحِضُوا بِهِ الْحَقَّ فَأَخَذْتُهُمْ ۖ فَكَيْفَ كَانَ عِقَابِ ٥
(40:5) The people of Noah denied before them and the factions after them. Every nation attempted to lay hands on their messenger, and disputed erroneously to refute the truth. Then I seized them; so how was My retribution?!
This verse is a response to a thought that might occur to someone that they had been arrogant and disputed God’s signs, but nothing happened to them and that they were the first to do this.
In response, God says that previous nations like the people of Noah and the factions that came after them, like ʿĀd, Thamūd, Lots people, and others who came before them had all done the same as they did: They denied God’s signs, argued against them using falsehood, and attacked God’s messengers, but then the punishment descended on them. In the same manner, the disbelievers have been sentenced to divine punishment. So, their belief that they had outmaneuvered the will of God through their behavior is utterly false.
So the passage, the people of Noah denied before them and the factions after them, is to refute that supposition they may have entertained, which is why it does not begin with a conjunction to link it to the phrase before.
Every nation attempted to lay hands on their messenger… means that they intended to seize the messenger God had sent to them to either kill him, expel him, or do some other harm to him, as God recounts in the stories of the prophets.
…and disputed erroneously to refute the truth [and reject it.] Then I seized them…: Meaning: I punished them. Notice that there is a shift from the third person to God referring to Himself in the first-person here, which shows that the fate they will suffer for their arrogance and rebelliousness is dependent upon God alone, such that no one else can intervene between Him and them to help them or intercede on their behalf: …so your Lord poured on them lashes of punishment. Indeed your Lord is in ambush ().
When God says, so how was My retribution?! this is to call to the listeners mind to what they already know about how those people were punished so that they comprehend the severity of God’s punishment as recounted in the stories that God has recounted about them.
وَكَذَٰلِكَ حَقَّتْ كَلِمَتُ رَبِّكَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّهُمْ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ ٦
(40:6) That is how the word of your Lord became due concerning the faithless, that they shall be inmates of the Fire.
Based on the context, that refers to the previous verses description of God seizing them and punishing them. The faithless in this verse refers to all past disbelievers. As a whole, this means in the same way that God seized the deniers and punished them in this world, His word has become due against all of the disbelievers for the punishment of the Hereafter, including the disbelievers amongst your own people.
Some have said that the faithless here refers to the disbelievers of Mecca, but neither the context nor the comparison in the verse draws support for such a reading.
God used the expression ‘the word of your Lord’ (kalimatu rabbik) rather than My word (kalimatī) in order to reassure the Prophet of His assistance by showing him that the pillar that he relies upon for support is strong and powerful.