The 8th verse gives us the words of those who came to the Messenger after the call had been given for Jihad and made lame excuses so that he would lawfully permit them to abstain from it.

They wanted to be absolved of this duty and also avoid any sin.

The Qura’n says that those who believe in the Day of Judgment will never ask you to be excused from going to Jihad with their lives and wealth but will eagerly proceed towards the battle field. Can you ask to be excused from you ultimate fate?

The Book then adds: “The excuses are made by those who do not believe in God and the Day of Judgment. Their hearts are filled with doubts and they are lost bewildered in their doubts.

Verse 44 of Surah Tauba says: “Those who believe in God and the Last day do not ask leave of you from striving with their wealth and lives and God knows who is pious.”

This is not restricted to Jihad but those who believe in the Day of Judgment are resolute in their determination about their responsibilities and are firm about fulfilling them. But those without belief or with weak faith especially the hypocrites all ways try to avoid their responsibilities through excuses and yet be absolved of sin according to the divine laws. This is a great distinction between the people with certitude and the hypocrites who camouflage themselves.

 The 9th verse speaks about those who are hard with the orphans and do not feed the needy and who also deny the Day of Judgment. It is said:

“Do you see the one who denies the Judgment, such a person is the one who rebukes the orphans”

The word “Yado-o” is derived from the word “Da’a”. It means to push some one firmly with anger. The word “Yahuzzu” is derived from “Hazzu” which means to instigate others. Since both these words have been used as verbs in the verse so they denote permanency. The word “Ta’am” derived from “It’am” means to feed.

The “Fa” in Fazalik denotes cause and is a clear proof that the fountainhead of sins is the disbelief in the Day of Judgment.

They not only deprive the orphans but also push them away with anger and force. They not only do not help the needy but ask others not to help also and they go to the extent of creating obstacles in the way of those who desire to do good deeds because they are not afraid of the fate of their bad ones.

They do not believe in God’s justice, and rewards ands punishments. They see nothing but the pleasures of this limited life so they love it and are oblivious to all good things.

The word “Arayaita” derived from “rouyat’ may speak about witnessing something through the eyes or through the hearts. Both the meanings are covered when God says: “If you do not recognize the deniers of the Day of Judgment yet they have visible signs and one is their cold attitude and mercilessness towards the orphans and the second is their neglect of the needy. You can recognize them through their evil deeds and you can discover them because of their disbelief in resurrection.

The commentators have given various explanations for the revelation of these verses. It is said that they were revealed for Abu Sufiyan. He used to slaughter two camels every week but only for himself and his relatives. One day a hungry orphan came to him and asked him for something but Abu Sufiyan pushed him away with his staff.”

Fakhruddin Razi has quoted Mawardi that this verse was revealed about Abu Jahal. He had an orphan ward. One day that orphan came naked before Abu Jahal and asked him for some money from his trust but he rebuked the orphan and pushed him away. The leaders of the Quraysh told the orphan, “Ask Mohammad to intervene on your behalf with Abu Jahal” They wanted to make fun. But the child unmindful of their intention went to the Last Messenger and asked him to help. The Messenger had the habit of never returning the seeker empty handed so he went with the child to Abu Jahal. He was surprised. He welcomed the Messenger and gave a lot of money to the orphan.

 The Quraysh leaders rebuked him for what he did and said, “have you started to love Mohammad?’ He answered “ By God it is not so, I do not love him but I saw such arms beside him that I became afraid that he would kill me if I did not obey.” (2)

The verse speaks about the effect the belief in resurrection has over human deeds.

The 10th verse speaks about the belief in the life after death and the accounting on the Day of Judgment and the effect on human deeds. It says:

““But man wishes to do evil before him; he asks “When is the day of resurrection?”

How is it possible that a person believes that God has created all the stars and heavenly bodies in the galaxies yet disbelieves that He can renew the life of the dead?

The purpose of his denial is something else; he wishes to be free to commit all kinds of injustice and lustful deeds. He wants to deceive his conscience and so he creates excuses. He wishes that barrier placed before evil due to the belief in the Day of Judgment should be broken. This was not so only in the olden days but is true today also. One of the causes for the favor of materialism and the denial of resurrection is that we want to avoid responsibilities, breaking the divine laws and deceiving the human conscience.

The word “Insaan” is this verse refers to the man depicted in the begining of Surah Dahr. The man who is the denier of the Day of Judgment and believes that God is unable to gather or to renew the life in the decayed bones. According to Al Mizan here man has been termed as a name is an admonishment about how he can adopt such a path after being a human being. (3)

The words Yuridu and Yafjura denote an eternal condition that this selfish and conceited person wants to keeps his evil ways continuous.

The word “Fujoor” is derived from “Fajr” which means the rending asunder of something and it is used here since sins rend asunder the religious ways. (4)

The word Imam denotes the forward direction and opposite is “Amam” or the follower since man is always attentive to the leader. This is why the word has been used here for the word “Am” means effort.

But here it refers to the future of life and according to some is the about existence and has been used as such.(5) It denotes that the greedy and sinful person denies the Day of Judgment so that he can sin all his life.

Though some people have explained “Amam” as the Day of Judgment it seems very far fetched because it is neither compatible with the word “Fujoor” nor does it connect to the verse.

1. Amirul Muminin Ali ibn Abi Talib says Zann can be of two kinds, that with doubt and that with certitude. Whatever has been depicted in the Qura’n about The Day of Judgment is the one with certitude and whatever has been said about the world is the one with doubt. (Nurus Saqlain vol.5 page 528 Hadith 6). Raghib says that Zann is used for both the meanings.

2. Tafsir Kabeer vol.32 page 111; Tafsir Ruhul Bayan vol.10 page 522

3. Tafsir Al Mizan vol. 20 page 190

4. Mafuradat of Raghib

5. Tafsir Ruhul Bayan vol. 1 page 245 and Al Mizan vol. 20 page 190