46. Al-Ahqaf /The Sand Dunes

I/We begin by the Blessed Name of Allah

The Immensely Merciful to all, The Infinitely Compassionate to everyone.

46:01
a. Ha. Mim.

46:02
a. The sending down of this Book – The Divine Qur’an - is from Allah.
b. The Almighty, The All-Wise.

46:03
a. WE did not create the celestial realm and the terrestrial world and whatever is between them, except for a purpose and for a specified time.
b. Yet those who disbelieve continue turning away from what they are warned about – coming of The Time of Final Judgment.

46:04
a. Say O The Prophet:
b. ‘Consider those who call on other entities apart from Allah.
c. Show me what part of the terrestrial world they have created?
d. Or do they have any partnership in the creation and maintenance of the celestial realm?
e. Bring me any form of a Scripture that came to you before this Qur’an, or any tradition of
Divine knowledge, if you are truthful.’

46:05
a. And who could be more astray/misguided than the one who calls on other entities apart from Allah-
b. those who will not respond to him even until the Time of Resurrection,
c. while they are not even aware of their being called on?

46:06
a. And when people are gathered together for the Final Judgment they – their worshipful entities - will become hostile to those who worshiped them,
b. and they are going to deny all acts of their worship.

46:07
a. But whenever OUR Messages in The Qur’an are recited to them in all their clarity,
b. those who disbelieve say of the Truth that has reached them:
c. ‘This is a plain deception!’

46:08
a. Or they allege:
b. ‘He has forged it!?’
c. Say to them:
d. Assuming that ‘I have forged this Qur’an, and thus I am guilty of a punishable sin, then you will not be able to protect me from Allah’s Punishment if HE chooses to punish me.
e. HE knows best what you are talking about – Divine descent of The Qur’an.
f. HE is Sufficient as a Witness between me and you.
g. And, of course, HE is The Ever-Forgiving to the one who repents, The Ever-Merciful’ so HE does not hasten to punish you.

46:09
a. Proclaim O The Prophet!
b. ‘I am not any different from the other Messengers so why should you deny me?
c. As also I do not know what will happen to me or to you in this world.
d. I am only following what is revealed on to me by way of The Qur’an.
e. And I am only a plain Warner.’

46:10
a. Say O The Prophet!
b. ‘Consider the consequence if this Qur’an is from Allah, and you purposely disbelieve it,
c. even though a witness from Descendants of Jacob has already testified to a book to be revealed similar to it - The Torah, and believed in it while you spurn it and react with arrogance.
d. Truly, Allah does not guide the unfair/wrongdoing people.

46:11
a. And those who disbelieve say of those who believe:
b. ‘If there were anything good in this Qur’an, then they would not have preceded us to it’ - in accepting it.
c. And since they have not taken guidance from it,
d. they allege:
e. ‘This is the same old falsehood!’

46:12
a. And yet long before this Qur’an was revealed was the Scripture of Moses – The Torah - as a guide and a mercy for Descendants of Jacob.
b. And now here is this Book – The Qur’an - reaffirming the truth in the prophecies of the earlier Scriptures though in the Arabic language -
c. so as to warn those who have transgressed since then, and
d. to give good news to those who will be doing good by adhering to it.

46:13
a. Indeed, those who say:
b. ‘Our Rabb - The Lord is Allah!’
c. Then they stand firm in their declaration,
d. they will be rewarded with a life wherein they will have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve
for their declaration.

46:14
a. They are going to be the inhabitants of the Paradise,
b. therein to remain forever – never to leave, never to die,
c. a reward for what they used to do in their worldly life.

46:15
a. And WE have enjoined on human being - daughters as well as sons - to be kind and dutiful
to his parents.
b. His mother bore him with difficulty, and gave birth to him with difficulty, pain, and hardship -
c. and his bearing and suckling/weaning took a full thirty lunar months for his mother -
d. until, when he reaches his maturity in terms of physical, intellectual, and reasoning capability, and attains forty years of age, he says:
e. O ‘My Rabb - The Lord!
f. Enable me to be grateful to YOU for the blessings to me and to my parents,
g. and embed righteousness in me such that it pleases YOU,
h. and make my descendants good for me.
i. Indeed, I turn to YOU in sincere repentance and guidance.
j. And, truly, I am of those submitting themselves’ exclusively to YOU in obedience as a Muslim.

46:16
a. These are the ones from whom WE will accept the best of their deeds, speech, and dealings,
and
b. overlook their impieties and bad deeds and even disregard them.
c. They will be among the People destined for Paradise.
d. This is a true promise which they were promised in their worldly life.

46:17
a. As for the one who says to his parents in disgust:
b. ‘Uff to both of you!
c. I am fed up with both of you!
d. Are you trying to convince me that I will be resurrected to another dimension of existence and held accountable while so many generations have passed away before me and so far not a single person has been resurrected?’
e. His both parents call on Allah for help in guiding their child, they say to him:
f. ‘Woe to you our son!
g. Believe in the Hereafter!
h. Allah’s Promise is certainly true!’
i. Yet he would insist and say:
j. ‘This is nothing but fictional tales of the past!’

46:18
a. They will be the ones against whom the Word/Verdict of Punishment would be justified,
and
b. they will be included in the communities of jinn and humankind which have already passed away before them.
c. Surely they all were losers.

46:19
a. Everyone – believers as well as disbelievers - will be ranked in accordance with their deeds, and dealings in their worldly life,

b. so that Allah’s Promise gets fulfilled and so that HE may pay them in full for their deeds
and dealings, and
c. they will not be treated unfairly.

46:20
a. And imagine The Time when those who disbelieve will be brought to the Fire and told:
b. ‘You squandered your good things given to you in your worldly life, and enjoyed them to the full without considering the Hereafter.
c. And you have already taken the reward of all your good deeds in the worldly life.
d. So today you are going to be paid with a punishment of humiliation,
e. for you were arrogant in the world without any right, and
f. because you acted wickedly.’

46:21
a. And remember Hud - brethren of the tribe of Ad, as he warned his people living among the sand dunes -
b. though other Warners had come and gone before him and after him too - saying:
c. ‘Do not submit to anyone and anything in worship other than Allah!
d. Failing which I seriously fear for you the punishment of a dreadful time.’

46:22
a. They said:
b. ‘Have you come to us to lure us away from our worshipful entities?
c. We will continue their worship and you can bring us the punishment that you are threatening us with, if you are of the truthful.’

46:23
a. Hud said:
b. ‘The knowledge of when the punishment will come is only with Allah.
c. And I am only conveying to you the Message that I have been assigned with -
d. even though I can see you are an insolent people’ who react out of ignorance.

46:24
a. Then as the events unfolded they saw a dense cloud approaching their valleys, they exclaimed with joy:
b. ‘This is a cloud bringing us the much-needed rain!’
c. Hud said:
d. No! This is not a rain-laden cloud
e. ‘This is rather what you have been seeking to hurry –
f. a terrible wind storm - a hurricane - carrying agonizing suffering,’

46:25
a. ‘destroying everything by the Command of its Rabb - The Lord.’
b. And so there was nothing left to be seen, except for their ruined dwellings.
c. This is how WE pay back the people who are criminals - guilty of disbelief and a life full of sin.

46:26
a. In fact, WE had empowered them - the tribe of `Ad – in ways that WE have not empowered you, and,
b. WE gave them the faculties of hearing, vision and hearts/minds.

c. Yet their faculties of hearing, vision and hearts did not help them in any way – to hear the truth, see the truth and live with the truth - as they continued denying the Messages of Allah, and
d. thus they were besieged by what they used to ridicule - the punishment.

46:27
a. And, indeed, WE destroyed the habitations that once flourished around you - the likes of Thamud, ‘Ad and the People of Lot,
b. while WE had conveyed the Messages to them in different ways so that they may repent and return to the Right Path.

46:28
a. So why did those entities whom they worshiped in place of Allah - as a means of drawing closer to Allah - not help them and averted the punishment?
b. Instead they abandoned them.
c. Such was the end of their falsehood and all false beliefs they had fabricated.

46:29
a. And remember when WE directed a small group of jinn to you - O The Prophet - to listen to the recital of The Qur’an.
b. When they were in its presence of listening, they said to one another:
c. ‘Be silent’ and listen!
d. Then when it was finished, they returned to their people, as warners.

46:30
a. Thus they - group of jinn - addressed:
b. ‘O Our Community People!
c. In fact we have been listening to the recital of a Book which has been sent down after Moses, confirming the Divine origin of and the truths that are still contained by what was before it.
d. It guides to the truth, and
e. it guides to the Right Path.’

46:31
a. Preaching continued:
b. ‘O Our Community People!
c. Respond positively to the one who calls you to Allah - The Prophet, and
d. believe in him and the truth of his mission.
e. Thus HE may forgive you some of your impieties and sinful trespasses, and
f. save you from a painful punishment.’

46:32
a. ‘But whoever will not respond positively to the one who calls to Allah, can never escape
Allah’s Power of persecution and control anywhere on the earth,
b. nor shall there be any protector for him other than HIM to ward off the punishment.
c. Then such people will have clearly gone far astray.’

46:33
a. Do they not realize that it is, indeed, Allah WHO created the celestial realm and the terrestrial world, and did not tire creating them, has the power to give life to the dead in a new dimension of existence?

b. Yes, indeed!
c. Indeed, HE Manifests Sovereignty over all existence.

46:34
a. And imagine The Time when those who disbelieve will be brought to the Fire and asked:
b. ‘Is this not the reality/truth?’
c. They will say,
d. ‘Yes indeed!
e. By our Rabb’ - The Lord this is the reality!
f. HE will say to them:
g. ‘So now taste the punishment for having denied’ and belied this reality.

46:35
a. So O The Prophet!
b. Be steadfast and endure just as other the Messengers of firm resolve before you had been steadfast.
c. And do not seek to hurry the destructive punishment for them as did Noah.
d. The Time when they will see the reality of what they had been warned about, it will seem to them as if they had not stayed in the life of this World except merely for an hour of a day.
e. So convey the message:
f. ‘Will any be destroyed except for a people who would have been wicked?’
g. No, not at all.