Surah Fussilat (41): Read Online and Download - English Translation

Commentary

The basic purpose of these verses is to warn the people of Makkah that if, even after seeing the manifest proofs of the Oneness of Allah, they do not accept the call of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، they may face a punishment like the earlier people of ` Ad and Thamud had faced. In this context, a brief account of what happened to these people has been given. The people of Makkah are also reminded that their punishment on the Day of Judgment will be much more severe, and they will not be able to escape it, because even the organs of their body will testify against them. And in this context, some events of that Day are mentioned.

فَأَرْ‌سَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِ‌يحًا صَرْ‌صَرً‌ا (So, We let loose a wild wind on them - 41:16) This is the explanation of what was mentioned as ` calamity of ` Ad and Thamud' in the earlier verse. The Arabic word used in the text is sa` igah. It originally means ` something that renders one unconscious. That is why the thunderbolt is also called sa'iqah, and unforeseen calamity and disaster is also called sa` iqah. The storm which entrapped the people of ` Ad was also a 'sa'iqah', and has been mentioned in the present verse as ` wild wind' which was a wild tempest of extremely high speed and had piercing sound. (Qurtubi)

Mentioning the details of this tempest, Dahhak has said that rains had been totally stopped from them by Allah Almighty for three years, and dry tempestuous winds kept on blousing all the time, and for eight days and seven nights, they had continuous extremely severe windstorm. Some narrations have it that this event took place in the end of month of Shawwal, commenced on a Wednesday and kept on till the next Wednesday. Whenever any nation has been subjected to a scourge, it has happened on a Wednesday. (Qurtubi, Mazhari)

Sayyidna Jabir Ibn ` Abdullah ؓ has stated that when Allah Almighty wants the welfare of a nation, He orders rain to fall on them, and stops very fast winds from blousing over them, whereas when a nation is to face a misfortune, rain is withheld from them, and strong winds start blousing frequently.

فِي أَيَّامٍ نَّحِسَاتٍ (in unlucky days....41:16). It is established by the principles of Islam and ahadith of the Holy Prophet ﷺ that no day or night is in itself unlucky or ill-omened. The days of the windstorm over the people of ` Ad have been called ` unlucky' because those days had become ill-omened for them due to their misdeeds. It does not necessarily mean that those days were ill-omened for everybody. (Mazhari and Bayan-ul-Qur’ an). The detailed investigation as to whether anything can be ill-omened by its nature can be seen in the author's book Ahkam-ul-Qur'an Vol. 5 in Arabic)

فَهُمْ يُوزَعُونَ (So they will be kept under control…...41:19) The original word used in the text is ` Yuza’ un' which is derived from waz' which means ` to stop', ` to prevent'. Most of the learned exegetes have explained it in the sense that when people of Hell, who will be numerous, will be taken forward to the field of hashr and the place of reckoning, the people in the front will be halted for a while, so that the people in the rear also catch up with them. This will be done to avoid indiscipline. (It is this interpretation of the verse on the basis of which it is translated as ` kept under control' ) And some exegetes have translated ` Yuza’ un' as ` pushed' which means that they would be driven towards the place of reckoning by being pushed. (Qurtubi)