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قُتِلَ الۡاِنۡسَانُ مَاۤ اَكۡفَرَهٗؕ ﴿80:17﴾ مِنۡ اَىِّ شَىۡءٍ خَلَقَهٗؕ ﴿80:18﴾ مِنۡ نُّطۡفَةٍؕ خَلَقَهٗ فَقَدَّرَهٗ ۙ ﴿80:19﴾ ثُمَّ السَّبِيۡلَ يَسَّرَهٗۙ ﴿80:20﴾ثُمَّ اَمَاتَهٗ فَاَقۡبَرَهٗۙ ﴿80:21﴾ ثُمَّ اِذَا شَآءَ اَنۡشَرَهٗؕ ﴿80:22﴾ كَلَّا لَـمَّا يَقۡضِ مَاۤ اَمَرَهٗؕ﴿80:23﴾ فَلۡيَنۡظُرِ الۡاِنۡسَانُ اِلٰى طَعَامِهٖۤۙ﴿80:24﴾ اَنَّا صَبَبۡنَا الۡمَآءَ صَبًّا ۙ ﴿80:25﴾ ثُمَّ شَقَقۡنَا الۡاَرۡضَ شَقًّا ۙ ﴿80:26﴾ فَاَنۡۢبَتۡنَا فِيۡهَا حَبًّا ۙ ﴿80:27﴾ وَّ عِنَبًا وَّقَضۡبًا ۙ ﴿80:28﴾ وَّزَيۡتُوۡنًا وَّنَخۡلًا ؕ ﴿80:29﴾ وَحَدَآئِقَ غُلۡبًا ۙ ﴿80:30﴾وَّفَاكِهَةً وَّاَبًّا ۙ ﴿80:31﴾ مَّتَاعًا لَّـكُمۡ وَلِاَنۡعَامِكُمۡؕ ﴿80:32﴾
(80:17) Accursed8 be man!9, 10 How stubbornly he denies the Truth. (80:18) Out of what did Allah create him? (80:19) Out of a sperm-drop11 did He create him and then determined a measure for him,12 (80:20) and then made the course of life easy for him,13 (80:21) then He caused him to die and brought him to the grave,14 (80:22) and then, whenever He wishes, He will raise him back to life.15 (80:23) Nay, but man did not fulfil what Allah had enjoined upon him.16 (80:24) So let man just consider his food:17 (80:25) We poured water, pouring it in great abundance,18 (80:26) and cleaved the earth, cleaving it asunder;19 (80:27) then caused the grain to grow out of it, (80:28) together with grapes and vegetables, (80:29) and olives and palms, (80:30) and dense orchards, (80:31) and fruits and pastures – (80:32) all this as a provision for you and your cattle.20
Notes
8. From here the rebuke turns directly against the disbelievers, who were treating the message of the truth with scant attention. Before this, from the beginning of the Surah to verse 16, the address though apparently directed to the Prophet (peace be upon him), was actually meant to reprimand the disbelievers, as if to say: O Prophet (peace be upon him), why are you ignoring a seeker after truth and paying all your attention to those who are worthless from your mission’s point of view? They do not deserve that a great Prophet like you should present a sublime thing like the Quran before them.
9. At all such places in the Quran, man does not imply every individual of the human race but the people whose evil traits of character are intended to be censured. At some places the word man is used because the evil traits are found in most of human beings, and at others for the reason that if the particular people are pin-pointed for censure, it engenders stubbornness. Therefore, admonition is given in general terms so as to be more effective. (For further explanation, see(E.N. 65 of Surah HaMim As- Sajdah); (E.N. 75 of Surah Ash-Shura).
10. Another meaning can also be: What caused him to be inclined to kufr? Or, in other words: On what strength does he commit kufr. Kufr here means denial of the truth as well as ingratitude for the favors of one’s benefactor and also rebellious attitude against one’s Creator, Provider and Master.
11. That is, let him first consider out of what he was created, where he was nourished and developed, by what way he came into the world, and from what helpless state he began his life in the world. Why does he forget his such beginning and becomes involved in conceit and haughtiness and why does he feel so puffed up as to resist his Creator and stand before Him as an adversary? (The same theme has been expressed in( Surah YaSeen, Ayats 77-78).
12. That is, he was yet developing and taking shape in his mother’s womb when his destiny was set for him. It was determined what would be his sex, his color, his size; the extent and volume of his body, the extent to which his limbs would be sound or unsound, his appearance and voice, the degree of physical strength and mental endowments, what would be the land, the family, the conditions and environments in which he would take birth, develop and be molded into a specific person, what would be the hereditary influences and effects of the surroundings and the role and impact of his own self in the make-up of his personality, the part he would play in his life of the world, and how long he would be allowed to function on the earth. He cannot swerve even a hair-breadth from his destiny, nor can effect the slightest alteration in it. Then, how strange is his daring and stubbornness! He commits disbelief of the Creator before Whose destiny he is so helpless and powerless.
13. That is, He created all those means and provisions in the world, which he could utilize, otherwise all the capabilities of his body and mind would have remained useless, had not the Creator provided the means and created the possibilities on the earth to employ them. Furthermore, the Creator also gave him the opportunity to choose and adopt for himself whichever of the ways, good or evil, of gratitude or ingratitude, of obedience or disobedience that he pleased. He opened up both the ways before him and made each way smooth and easy so that he could follow any way that he liked.
14. That is, not only in the matter of birth and destiny but also in the matter of death he is absolutely helpless before his Creator. Neither can he take birth by his choice nor die by his choice, nor can defer his death even by a moment. He dies precisely at the appointed time, in the appointed place, under the appointed circumstances that have been decreed for his death, and he is deposited in the type of grave destined for him whether it is the belly of the earth, the depths of the sea, a bonfire or the stomach of a beast. Nothing to say of the man. The whole world together cannot change the Creator’s decree in respect of any person.
15. That is, he does not either have the power to refuse to rise up when the Creator may will to resurrect him after death. When he was first created, he was not consulted: he was not asked whether he wanted to be created or not. Even if he had refused, he would have been created. Likewise, his resurrection is also not dependent upon his will and assent that he may rise from death if he so likes, or refuse to rise if he does not like. In this matter, he is also absolutely helpless before the Creator’s will. Whenever He wills, He will resurrect him, and he will have to rise whether he likes it or not.
16. He commanded him: Implies the duty that Allah has enjoined on every man in the form of natural guidance as well as the duty to which man’s own existence and every particle of the universe, from the earth to the heavens, and every manifestation of divine power are pointing, and also that duty which Allah has conveyed in every age through His Prophets and Books and disseminated through the righteous people of every period. (For explanation, see(E.N. 5 of Surah Ad-Dahr). In the present context the object is to express the meaning that on the basis of the truths stated in the above verses, it was man’s duty to have obeyed his Creator, but, contrary to this, he adopted the way of disobedience and did not fulfill the demand of his being His creature.
17. That is, let him consider the food, which he regards as an ordinary thing, how it is created. Had God not provided the means for it, it was not in the power of man himself to have created the food on the earth in any way.
18. This refers to rainwater. Water vapors are raised in vast quantities from the oceans by the heat of the sun, then they are turned into thick clouds, then the winds blow and spread them over different parts of the earth, then because of the coolness in the upper atmosphere the vapors turn back to water and fall as rain in every area in a particular measure. The water not only falls as rain directly on the earth but also collects underground in the shape of wells and fountains, flows in the form of rivers and streams, freezes on the mountains as snow and melts and flows into rivers in other seasons as well than the rainy season. Has man himself made all these arrangements? Had his Creator not arranged this for his sustenance, could man survive on the earth.
19. Then We split the earth in clefts: Implies cleaving it in a way that the seeds, or seed-stones, or vegetable seedlings that man sows or plants in it, or which are deposited in it by winds or birds, or by some other means, should sprout up. Man can do nothing more than to dig the soil, or plough it, and bury in it the seeds that God has already created. Beyond this everything is done by God. It is He Who has created the seeds of countless species of vegetable; it is He Who has endowed these seeds with the quality that when they are sown in the soil, they should sprout up and from every seed, vegetable of its own particular species should grow. Again it is He Who has created in the earth the capability that in combination with water it should break open the seeds and develop and nourish every species of vegetable with the kind of food suitable for it. Had God not created the seeds with these qualities and the upper layers of the earth with these capabilities, man could not by himself have arranged any kind of food on the earth.
20. That is, a means of sustenance not only for you but also for those animals from which you obtain items of food like meat, fat, milk, butter, etc. and which also perform countless other services for your living. You benefit by all this and yet you disbelieve in God Whose provisions sustain you.
Messages from Quran 