Al Shu‘arā’

وَاتَّقُوا الَّذِي أَمَدَّكُم بِمَا تَعْلَمُونَ

أَمَدَّكُم بِأَنْعَامٍ وَبَنِينَ

وَجَنَّاتٍ وَعُيُونٍ

إِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ

132. “And be in awe of Him Who has succoured you with what you know.”
133. “He has succoured you with cattle and Children,”
134. “And gardens and springs.”
135. “Verily I fear for you the chastisement of a Great Day.”

Piety is the best way of being gratitude to Allah. Everybody knows how much the grace of Allah has been bestowed on him. If there is not any receptivity and competency in a person, the admonition of prophets is not effective. The third part of the statement of Hud is referred to in these verses. He explains the divine blessings to the servants so that, in this way, he can stimulate the sense of thank giving; in them, haply they return toward Allah.

In this concern, he (as) uses the method of ‘epitome and expansion’ which is very helpful for making the discussions pleasant. At first, addressing them, he says:

You ought to be in awe of the Lord Who constantly and regularly gave the bounties you know in abundance to you. Then, after this short statement, he explains it in detail, and he says:

On one hand, He bestowed on you some material capitals, a great part of which, at that time in particular, was cattle, and, on the other hand, He gave you enough human power that you can protect, maintain and bring them up. This meaning has been repeated in different verses of the Qur’an that at the time of numerating the material bounties, it first refers to properties and then it mentions the human power that is the protector, guardian and fosterer of the properties.

This seems a natural sequence, and it does not mean that properties are more significant than children. In Surah Al-‘Isra’, No. 17, verse 6 Allah says:

Then, the Qur’an adds:

This means Allah gave you green gardens and fountains full of flowing water, and, thus, He enriched your life both from the point of human power and agriculture, horticulture, breeding live-stock, and the means of transportation, in such a way that you did not feel any deficiency or inconvenience in your life. But what happened that you forgot the Bestower of all these bounties; every day and night you sat at the table of His blessings but you did not recognize Him.

Then he states the last stage of his words and threatens and warns them with the Divine retribution, when he says:

It will be a Day when you will see by your own eyes the consequence of those cruelties, injustice, pride, arrogance, worshipping low desires, sexuality, and alienation with Allah. The Qur’anic phrase /yaumin ‘azim/ (a Great Day) is usually applied for the Hereafter Day which is great from any dimension, but it has sometimes used in the verses of the Qur’an for the harsh and terrible days that some nations had, as the story of Shu‘ayb, mentioned in this very Surah, we are informed that Allah punished the people of Shu‘ayb (with the lightning emerged from the piece of cloud) after they showed obstinacy for accepting the truth, and that day was a great day.

It says:

Therefore, the phrase /yaumin ‘azim/ mentioned in this verse may refer to the day when the arrogant ones of the ‘Ad People encountered the painful punishment of instructive wind. The evidence of this meaning is the statement of their retribution in a few verses later. It may also refer to the retribution of Hereafter Day, or to both of those chastisements whose day is very great.

A Tradition

The Messenger of Allah (S) said:

“He who tortures people in the world severely, will have the worst punishment: among people with Allah on the Hereafter Day.” ⁴