Towards Understanding the Qur'an. Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi
Al-An[am
(Livestock)
(Makkan Period)
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.
(1) All praise is due for Allah alone, Who created the heavens and the earth, and brought into being light and darkness, and yet those who have rejected the call of the Truth ascribe others to be equals to their Lord. (2) He it is Who has created you out of clay, and then decreed a term (of life), and has also appointed another term, a term determined with Him.1 Yet you are in doubt! (3) And He it is Who is the One True God in the heavens and the earth. He knows your deeds – both secret and open – and knows fully whatever good or evil you do.
1 This alludes to the Hour of Judgement when all human beings, regardless of the time in which they lived, will be brought back to life and summoned to render their account before their Lord.
256
Al-An[am 6: 4–7
(4) Yet every time a Sign of their Lord comes to them, they run away from it, (5) and thus they gave the lie to the Truth that has now come to them. Soon they will come upon some news concerning what they had mocked at.2 (6) Have they not seen how many a people We have destroyed before them? People whom We had made more powerful in the earth than you are and upon whom We had showered abundant rains, from the heavens and at whose feet We caused the rivers to flow? And then (when they behaved ungratefully) We destroyed them for their sins, and raised other peoples in their place.
(7) (O Messenger), had We sent down to you a book in- scribed on parchment, and had they even touched it with their own hands, the unbelievers would still have said: “This is nothing but plain magic.” ▶
2 The allusion here is to the Migration (Hijrah) and the numerous victories destined to follow it in quick succession. When this allusion was made, the unbelievers could not have guessed what kind of news they would receive, and even the Muslims could not have imagined the developments that were about to unfold.
257
Al-An[am 6: 8–12
(8) They also say: “Why has no angel been sent down to this Prophet?”3 Had We sent down an angel, the matter would surely have long been decided and no respite would have been granted them. (9) Had We appointed an angel, We would have sent him down in the form of a man – and thus We would have caused them the same doubt which they now entertain.
(10) And indeed before your time, (O Muhammad), many a Messenger has been scoffed at; but those who mocked at them were encompassed by the Truth they had scoffed at. (11) Say: “Go about journeying the earth, and behold the end of those who gave the lie (to the Truth).”