Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 99

The meaning is: even after the above discourse, did you still fail to understand where the real source of these people’s false thinking and false conduct lies, and where they stumbled and fell into this pit of misguidance? (It should be noted that “you” here is not addressed to the Prophet, peace be upon him, but to every person who reads or hears these verses.)

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 100

This is the real reason for their stumbling. Their refusal to accept the Qur’an and the teachings brought by Allah’s messengers, and their meeting Allah’s signs with quarrelsome argument instead of serious reflection — this is the fundamental cause that has led them astray and closed off every possibility of their coming to the straight path.

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 101

That is, when driven by intense thirst they ask for water, Hell’s attendants will drag them in chains to springs from which boiling water gushes forth. Then, once they have finished drinking there, they will drag them back again and thrust them into the fire of Hell.

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 102

That is: if they really shared in godhood, and you worshipped them in the hope that they would come to your aid in times of trouble, then why do they not come now to rescue you?

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 103

This does not mean that they did not practice polytheism in the world; rather, it means that it has now become clear to them that those they used to call upon in the world were nothing at all — mere nothings, lifeless things.

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 104

That is, you did not stop merely at following what was not true — you were so engrossed in this falsehood that when the truth was presented to you, you paid it no heed, and instead kept exulting in your devotion to falsehood.

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 105

That is, be patient with the words and actions of those who are confronting you with quarrelsome argument and trying to defeat you through base tactics.

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 106

That is, it is not necessary that We punish, in this very world and within your own lifetime, every person who has tried to harm you. Whether or not a person is punished here, he can in no way escape Our grasp — in death he must come to Us, and it is then that he will receive the full punishment for his deeds.

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 107

A new subject begins here. The disbelievers of Makkah used to tell the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) that they could not accept him as Allah’s messenger until he showed them the miracle of their own choosing. The following verses respond to this demand without explicitly quoting it. (For a few examples of the kind of miracles they used to demand, see Tafhim al-Qur’an, Volume 2, pp. 327, 498, 642; Volume 3, p. 445.)

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 108

That is, no prophet has ever shown a miracle of his own accord, nor was any prophet himself capable of producing a miracle. Whenever a miracle appeared through a prophet, it appeared only when Allah willed that a miracle be shown, through that prophet’s hand, to some denying nation. This is the first answer to the disbelievers’ demand.

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 109

That is, a miracle has never been shown as a form of entertainment — it is a decisive matter. Once it appears, if a nation still does not believe, it is then brought to its end. You are demanding a miracle purely out of a desire for spectacle, but you fail to realize that by persisting in this demand you are, in effect, inviting your own downfall. This is the second answer to the disbelievers’ demand, whose details have already been given in several places earlier in the Qur’an (see Volume 2, pp. 498, 510, 626; Volume 3, pp. 148–149, 445–446, 498–499).