Verses 79–85
The chapter returns once again to discuss the signs of divine unity and call on its audience to ponder the fates of those past nations who were destroyed and reflect on how God interacted with them: He sent them messengers, then He judged between their messengers and themselves, and this led to the loss of those who disbelieved. It is at this point that the chapter draws to a close.
Commentary
اللَّهُ الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَنْعَامَ لِتَرْكَبُوا مِنْهَا وَمِنْهَا تَأْكُلُونَ ٧٩ وَلَكُمْ فِيهَا مَنَافِعُ وَلِتَبْلُغُوا عَلَيْهَا حَاجَةً فِي صُدُورِكُمْ وَعَلَيْهَا وَعَلَى الْفُلْكِ تُحْمَلُونَ ٨٠
(40:79–80) It is Allah who made the cattle for you that you may ride some of them, and some of them you eat; and there are uses in them for you, and that over them you may satisfy any need that is in your breasts, and you are carried on them and on ships.
Here, God calls attention to the things that God has provided for the benefit of human beings in their lives and how He looks after their affairs. Of them is used here to signify some of them. Cattle refers to camels, cows, and sheep. Some scholars have said that this verse refers specifically to the camel.
…who made the cattle for you that you may ride some of them, and some of them you eat: made (jaʿl) here may refer either to God having created them or to His placing them at the disposal of human beings. Therefore, the full meaning is: God created cattle for you—or placed them at your disposal—and the purpose of this was so that you could ride some of them—such as camels—and you could eat others—such as camels, cows, and sheep.
When God says, and there are uses in them for you, this includes all the products that can be taken from them, such as milk, wool, fur, hair, hide, and others. …and that over them you may satisfy any need that is in your breasts refers to the fact that they were made in order to help you reach your goal by riding on their backs. The need that is in your breasts means travelling from one place to another for a variety of reasons.
…and you are carried on them and on ships—highlights that humans can traverse land and sea using mounts and ships.
وَيُرِيكُمْ آيَاتِهِ فَأَيَّ آيَاتِ اللَّهِ تُنْكِرُونَ ٨١
(40:81) He shows you His signs. So which of the signs of Allah do you deny?
We have already discussed the meaning of God showing people His signs in our commentary at the beginning of this chapter. However, it seems that this sentence is not repeated for its own sake, but in order to serve as a preliminary for the rebuke that follows: So which of the signs of Allah do you deny? In other words, God has shown you these signs manifestly and visibly, but you deny them in such a way as to deny God’s oneness.
أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَيَنْظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ ۚ كَانُوا أَكْثَرَ مِنْهُمْ وَأَشَدَّ قُوَّةً وَآثَارًا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَمَا أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ ٨٢
(40:82) So, have they not travelled over the land so that they may observe how was the fate of those who were before them? They were more numerous than them and were greater in power and with respect to the effects in the land. But what they used to earn did not avail them.
This is another rebuke that calls on them to reflect on what became of others like them in past nations and how God’s Judgment befell them. A similar verse appears at the beginning of the chapter (), but the purpose of the first verse is to warn them that God will seize all of them for their sins, because His messengers came to them but they rejected them. That is why God says in that verse: But then Allah seized them for their sins. However, the purpose of the present verse is to tell them that what they have earned in this world will not avail them, nor will what the knowledge they rejoice in keep them safe from God’s punishment, nor will their repentance or regret for what they have done be of any use when it descends.
The verse begins with ‘So…’ (fa…) to signal the shift from addressing them directly in the second person (you) to speaking about them in the third person (they). It is as if this verse is meant to follow on from So which of the signs of Allah do you deny? So that, after blaming them and censuring them for denying God’s signs in the previous verse, God ceases to address them and turns to His prophet instead, showing that He is no longer speaking to them directly. He says: His verses are clear and manifest and cannot be denied, and this includes His signs in the traces of past nations that tell their stories. So, if the idolaters have travelled in the land and seen these signs, then why do they not reflect on them? For, if they did, it would be clear to them that even though past nations were stronger than they are—in both quantity and quality—the knowledge and power they exulted in did not avail them anything against God.
فَلَمَّا جَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَرِحُوا بِمَا عِنْدَهُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ وَحَاقَ بِهِمْ مَا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ ٨٣
(40:83) When their messengers brought them manifest proofs, they exulted in the knowledge they possessed, and they were besieged by what they used to deride.
The seven third-person masculine plural pronouns (they, their, and them) that appear in this verse refer to those who came before the Prophet’s people. The knowledge they possessed means that their hearts and minds were occupied with the vanities of this world and the arts of governance through which they had attained their successes and gained their enjoyments therein. God considers this a kind of knowledge (ʿilm) but says that this is all that they knew: They know just an outward aspect of the life of the world, but they are oblivious of the Hereafter (), and So avoid those who turn away from Our remembrance and desire nothing but the life of the world. That is the ultimate reach of their knowledge ().
When God says that they exulted in the knowledge they possessed, He means that they were extremely impressed by the outward knowledge and expertise they had acquired, and it was their fascination with this knowledge that distracted them from the true wisdom that the divine messengers brought them and led them to deride and belittle it. That is why, after describing their exultation, God adds: and they were besieged by what they used to deride.
There are other opinions about the meaning of they exulted in the knowledge they possessed. For example, some commentators say that it refers to their false beliefs and erroneous opinions, which God only refers to as ‘knowledge’ (ʿilm) derisively. They exulted in it while dismissing the knowledge of the divine messengers by comparison. However, as you can see, this is a theory without evidence in the verse itself.
Other commentators have suggested that the meaning of knowledge here is the philosophical knowledge of the Greeks and the Materialists (Dahriyyūn) who, when they heard of revelation and the teachings of prophethood, belittled the knowledge of the prophets while gloating about what they possessed. However, this reading suffers from the same absence of evidence as the previous one. Also, neither of these meanings appears to apply to the nations whose stories the Qur’an recounts, such as the peoples of Noah, ʿĀd, Thamūd, Abraham, Lot, Jethro, and others.
Some scholars have argued that the real meaning of the verse is that when their messengers came to them with manifest proofs, they did not exult in the knowledge they had brought them but rather in the ignorance they already had. Then, the verse calls this ignorance knowledge in order to deride them, so it says: They exulted in the knowledge they possessed. In addition to being a rather tortuous and unlikely reading of the verse, it also suffers from the same absence of evidence we saw with the previous two.
Other scholars still have suggested that the they in they exulted refers to the disbelievers, while the they in the knowledge they possessed refers to the messengers. In other words, the disbelievers exulted in the knowledge that the messengers possessed, meaning that they mocked and derided them for it. However, if this is what was meant, there should have been a clearer distinction made concerning the parties to whom the pronouns are referring. Furthermore, the word exultation (faraḥ) is not synonymous with mockery and derision (istihzāʾ) and there is no contextual indication that this is what was meant by it. Therefore, this reading should be discounted.
Some commentators have said that the two they pronouns of they exulted in the knowledge they possessed refer to the messengers. This in the sense that, when the messengers came to their peoples and saw how steeped in ignorance, faithlessness, and obstinate denial they were, the messengers knew what fate awaited them, and so they rejoiced in the true knowledge they had be given and gave thanks to God for that.
However, the context and tone of the verse make clear that this passage is intended as an exposition of the condition of the faithless after the messengers came to them with clear proofs and how their faith would not benefit them after God’s impending punishment had become manifest. In what way could the messengers rejoicing because of the true knowledge they had been given be relevant to this? In addition to the above, this reading also leads to a confusion about the referents of the different instances of they in the verse.
فَلَمَّا رَأَوْا بَأْسَنَا قَالُوا آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَحْدَهُ وَكَفَرْنَا بِمَا كُنَّا بِهِ مُشْرِكِينَ ٨٤
(40:84) Then, when they sighted Our might, they said, We believe in Allah alone, and disavow what we used to take as His partners.
‘Might’ (baʾs) here refers to the severity of the divine punishment; the remainder of the verse is clear.
فَلَمْ يَكُ يَنْفَعُهُمْ إِيمَانُهُمْ لَمَّا رَأَوْا بَأْسَنَا ۖ سُنَّتَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي قَدْ خَلَتْ فِي عِبَادِهِ ۖ وَخَسِرَ هُنَالِكَ الْكَافِرُونَ ٨٥
(40:85) But their faith was of no benefit to them when they sighted Our punishment, Allah’s precedent which has passed among His servants, and it is thence that the faithless will be losers.
This is because their faith was not voluntary at that point—Allah’s precedent which has passed among His servants…—meaning it was the approach that God has followed in the past with His servants that he would not accept any repentance after the punishment was sighted—and it is thence that the faithless will be losers.