Page 363
ʾin kāda la-yuḍillunā ʿan ʾālihatinā law-lā ʾan ṣabarnā ʿalayhā wa-sawfa yaʿlamūna ḥīna yarawna l-ʿadhāba man ʾaḍallu sabīlan
Indeed he was about to lead us astray from our gods, had we not stood firm by them.’ Soon they will know, when they sight the punishment, who is further astray from the [right] way.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-Furqan - Verse 42
42. “‘He would have led us astray from our gods if we had not been staunch to them!’ And soon they will know, when they see the chastisement, who is it that is most misled in path.”
Patience and resistance is not always a value and merit. Sometimes it is stubbornness and obstinacy such as resistance and patience in being misled and deviation. So the Qur’an mentions the rest of pagans’ words in this way:
But the Holy Qur’an answers them in some ways. It first answers this group of people, who were not logical, with, a striking sentence:
This doom may refer to the punishment of the Hereafter, as some commentators, such as Tabarsi in Majma‘ul-Bayan, say. Or it is the punishment of this world, such as the defeat in Badr war and such like, as Qurtabi in his famous commentary says. It also may refer to both of them. It is interesting that this group of misled people presented contradictory words. On one hand, they ridiculed the Prophet (S) and his call. They wanted to say that the claim of the Prophet (S) was so baseless that it did not deserve strict handling.
On the other hand, they believed that if they did not stick to the traditions and religion of their ancestors, it would be possible that the words of the holy Prophet (S) deviated them from it. This shows that they counted the Prophet’s words very effective, calculated, and serious. It is not impossible that those bewildered and obstinate people spoke so disturbingly. Moreover, it has been seen many times that when deniers of the Truth confront divine leaders’ logic, they use mockery as a technique for belittling them while innerly they do not have such a belief. And sometimes they count it serious and struggle with it by their soul and body.
Therefore Allah, the Mighty, says in this noble verse:
In another verse He says:
Somewhere else He says:
The Prophet (S) says:
“One who oppresses people more in this world, will be punished before Allah (s.w.t.) more severely and harshly than any other person on the day of Resurrection.” 7
Footnotes