In the fifth verse explains the meaning of the topic in another manner. It is said, “Say, “Who delivers you from the dread of the darkness of the land and the sea.”
Your false gods vanish in these hardships and you beseech the One God to save you from these dangers and darkness and you would be sincere to Him.
May be speaking about the worldly darkness or it may be speaking about the ocean storms and hurricanes from the land because they are both very dangers and terrifying. It may be speaking about the fear of the beasts of the land and the sea. And it may further mean that includes all these as suggested by the exegetes. (1)
There is an assumption that this verse may be speaking about the worldly darkness as well as the darkness with the soul and both are terrifying for man. It should be noted that such hardships are generally faced in voyages and the verse mentions this.
The arrangement of the words “ When you call Him in humility” is very pleasant because “humility” denotes supplication and total subservience (2) “secretly” here means praying in the heart or in a covert manner and it may be possible that it may be referring to both as the two conditions of any particular person. He beseeches God when the darkness of the hardships comes upon him and even when totally submerged under the Waves of tribulations. When the knife is at his throat he blurts out what he feels deeply in his heart and he beseeches God with all the humility that he can muster.
It is also possible that this humility and secret prayers may be describing the conditions of separate groups, some people invoke god loudly and some in their hearts because they may be feeling shy of invoking Him overtly or may be feeling shy to expose themselves in front of people who know them as idolaters. Contrary to their earlier stand they are now beseeching the One God (not the false ones) and asking for help.
In such trying conditions the polytheists revert to their natural inclination (Of worshipping the One God) and the light of monotheism shines forth in their hearts and eyes. They remove all others from their hearts except God. They now believe that these idols are worthless and the way to the betterment of life is only through monotheism.
People in such situations commit themselves to a covenant with God, beseech and pray to Him saying “ If we saves us from these hardships and gives us comfort through His grace then will be forever grateful and obliged to Him.
But when they come out from the abyss of hardships most of them forget their covenant. The verse later says, “God delivers you from them, and from every distress” but “, yet again you associate others with Him.”(3)
As we know from the verse before this was the general condition of the polytheists, but there was one group among them that had the capacity to accept the truth and when this group reforms and reverts to the natural recognition of God then discards polytheism and believes in the One God.
We conclude from the verses cited above that Qura’n does not term natural only the recognition of God but stresses that it should include the belief in monotheism or the Oneness of God. This nature of his is subdued to social norms and wrong ideas together with erroneous education and so it waits for the time when these things are removed to help it revert to its natural belief.
This is why Qura’n points towards the most sensitive moments of a person’s life so that the tribulations can remove the screens and what remain are man and his nature, man and his conscience. In such situations man beseeches only Him and turns away from others. It is clear to him that Gods Oneness is pulsating in his soul. We have already discussed in detail in the beginning of this volume under the caption of Nature and the Recognition of God.