13.

Sura Ra’d (or Thunder)

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

These are the Verses of the Book which has been revealed to you (O
Muhammad), in truth from your Lord. But most men reject it. God is the One
Who has raised the heavens without an support and He is firmly established on
the Throne of Authority. To His Law are subjected the sun and the moon, each
one running in its own orbit for a fixed period. He is the One Who regulates
all the affairs and explains His Signs clearly so as the man believes his
ultimate presence before his Lord. He has spread out the earth for the
mankind, fixed on it firm mountains, with rivers flowing on it, producing
thereon various varieties of fruits, with their reproductive apparatus; and the
alteration of Day and Night. Behold! In these things are Signs for those who
have understanding in them. Further, on earth are diverse tracts, the gardens of
vines, corn fields, palm trees with various tastes. In all these are the Signs for
those who have certain understanding. How strange it is that they do not
understand the resurrection on the Day of Recokning! These are the people
who reject their Lord. They will be the companions of fire and will dwell
therein with yokes round their necks. They hasten and ask for punishment!
They do not know that before them many exemplary punishments were
decreed on the unbelievers. Verily, your Lord is full of mercy but also strict in
punishment to the wrong-doers. The Unbelievers say why a Sign has not been
sent down to the Prophet. But (O Muhammad), you are a warner and a guide
to every people (it is itself a Sign for those who understand).

It is He Who knows what every female will bear and the duration of
carrying the load. He has designed the proportions of every thing and knows
the seen and the unseen. He is The Great, Most High. It matters not to Him, if
anyone conceals his speech or declares it openly or one speaks truth or lies or
hide by night or walk in the day – all are under God’s watch and ward. His
grace encompasses every one, and again and again protects him, if he will
only take the protection, from harm and evil. If in his folly he thinks he can
secretly take some pleasure or profit, he is wrong for recording angels record
all his thoughts and deeds. God is not intended on punishment. He created
man virtues and pure; gave him intelligence, knowledge and all kinds of
physical requirements and pleasures. If, in spite of all this, man distorts his
own will and goes against God’s will, yet God’s forgiveness is open to him if
he will take it. But when punishment comes, there is no turning it back. None
of the things which he relied upon – other than God – can possibly protect
him. It is He who raises up the water-filled clouds and shows you the
lightening generated amids the clouds – for some it is fear but for others it is a
hope. Nay, thunder itself, which may frighten men, is but a tame and
beneficent force before Him, declaring His praises, like the rest of creation.
And the angels, feel reverence and awe even as they praise His holy name.
Who is puny man, to call God in question? For Him alone is due prayer. To
those whom they call upon besides God do not hear them. It is their imbecility
or futility. Worship and prayer are justified only the One True God. Whatever
beings there are in the heavens and the earth do postrate themselves to God –
acknowledging subjection – with good will, so do their shadows mornings and
evenings. Ask them (O Muhammad): Who is the Lord and Sustainer of the
Worlds? It is God, – and yet you worship other gods? Know, no one can be
equal to Him, any more than darkness is equal to light, – your other gods have
created nothing by which you can be misled? No indeed; He is the only
Creator, the One and Supreme. He sends down the rain, so that valleys flow
accordeing to its measure. In the physical world, water is pure and beneficial.
But froth and scum will gather according to local conditions. As the floods
will carry off the scum and purify the water, so will the flood of God’s
spiritual mercy carry away our spiritual scum. The froth may make a great
show on the surface, but it will not last. So will there be frothy knowledge,
which will disappear, but God’s Truth will endure. A metal ore is full of
different impurities, but the heat will separate the metal from its impurities.
The pure metal is then used for different purposes by the mankind. So the fire
of God’s test, either by adversity or by affluence, will search out the true metal
in us and reject the dross. It will show us what is valuable or what is useful,
from all sorts of scum and vanity. Those who answered to the call of their
Lord, will be in perfect happiness. The rejectors of the Truth, even if they offer
whatever is on the earth or the heavens, they can not be spared from the
Penalty of the Inferno.

The seeing and the blind are not equal: Nor are those blessed with
Faith and those without. The former: seek God, establish regular prayers,
spend in charity, turn off evil with their goodness and are righteous in their
affairs; – are the persons who will attain peace and blessedness in their hearts,
and a final abode of eternal rest and happiness in the Gardens. They will be
among their righteous parents and children and the angels will welcome them
with the salutation of “peace”. While the latter, unfaithful, unrighteous are the
cursed ones. For them awaits a terribe home in the Hereafter. God is the
Sustainer and Cherisher of all His creatures according to His sweet Will: to
some He grants it in abundance; to others He gives it in strict measure. Life of
the world is a passing phase. In itself it is less important than the Hereafter.

They ask you (O Muhammad) for the sign from your Lord. Verily God
leaves those to stray, whom He will; but guides those who turn to Him in
patience. For those who believe and are righteous in their affairs, on them is
God’s blessedness. There is a beautiful abode for their eternal stay with Him.
You (O Muhammad), came later in time than other prophets to complete their
Message and universalize Religion, and recite to them what has been revealed
to you from your Lord. Yet they reject their Lord, the Most Gracious. Say to
them, that He is your Lord! – there is no god but He! – on Him is my trust – to
Him is your return. Everything is possible and in God’s power. His Plan is
beneficient and all embracing. But it is not for His creatures to dictate Him, or
demand what He should do, or how He should do it. The Command is with
God in all things. The Believers know His Omnipotence, and they also know
that will order His world for the best. Let not the Unbelievers think that if they
seem to prosper for a time, that is the end of the matter. They are warned: their
ill deeds must carry evil consequences for them all the time; their homes, their
places of resort, the circles in which they move, will also be haunted by their
ill deeds; and the ultimate Disaster, the Final Reckoning, must come, for God
never fails in His promise.

The mokery of God’s apostles by the unbelievers is an age-old

practice. But truth has it’s own time to show – the requital of God – His
punishment is terrible. Will the Lord let the Unbelievers without punishment?
Let them (O Muhammad), to name their false gods, and they will find that
they are nothing but only names! There is no reality behind them, whereas
God is the One Great Reality. He penetrates everything through and through,
and knows all things. Do they dare to tell Him of something on earth that He
does not know? Or is it just a trick or a show of words? For them is a penalty
in this world, but much harder awaits them in the Hereafter; and they will have
no defenders to help them against God. The end of the righteous are the
Gardens of bliss and eternal enjoyment. Whereas the end of the Unbelievers is
the perpetual Fire. The people of the previous revelations, who study the new
Revelation in Arabic without prejudice, find in it confirmation of their own
Revelations; and the Muslims – rejoice at receiving the fresh Revelation – the
Qur-an. But among them are some sections of people who receive partially
God’s Truth and reject the portions which is against their believes and desires.
Surely, god’s Command is Universal, – to worship and serve Him. It is an
invitation to all to share in its blessings to the humankind. It came from the
Lord to Whom will be your return. The Qur-an is in Arabic language. There
should be no difficulty in understanding its percepts and using it in judging of
right or wrong in all the human matters. Its teaching is universal; therefore no
one should give preference to his own vain fancies against this authoritative
declaration.

Before you (O Muhammad), God did send a number of apostles to the

people for their guidance and had their wives and children. It was not on the
part of an apostle to show a sign of God, except as God Himself commanded
so. For each period of time a Book was revealed for God’s Commandments
and with Him alone is the Mother of the Book (the original foundation of all
revelation; the Essence of God’s Will and Law. Whether your Lord (O
Muhammad) to see something of that which God has promised for them, or
make you to die (before its happening), your assignment is but to convey the
Message, Ours the Reckoning. Do they not realize, how God is reducing their
control over their land? There is non to reverse His Command: And He is swift
in calling to account. The unbelievers before them also devised plans against
their apostles. But God is the Master Planner of them all; and soon the
Unbelievers will come to know their end. They reject you (O Muhammad) as
apostle to them, – say to them that God is enough as a witness between
yourself and them and that all the knowledge comes from God; – Qur-an also
bears a witness to you (being an apostle).