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allāha rabbakum wa-rabba ʾābāʾikumu l-ʾawwalīna
Allah, your Lord and Lord of your forefathers?,’
— Ali Quli Qarai
37Aṣ-ṢāffātالصافاتVerse 126 of 182
Those who set the Ranks37. Aṣ-Ṣāffātالصافات
al-Ṣaffāt
The Ranged Ones
MeccanVerse 126 of 182
Surah As-Saffat – Verses 126-129
126. “Allah is your Lord and the Lord of fathers of old.”
127. “But they belied him, therefore they shall certainly be brought (to Hell).”
128. “Except for Allah’s sincere servants;”
129. “And We left (praise) for him among the later generations.”
The comparison of an idol and Allah makes any conscience awake, Elyas seriously reprimanded this idol worshipping nation, and reminded them that they had left the Lord Who is their Lord and the Lord of their fathers. He told them He had been the Owner and Lord of all of them, and any blessing they had was from Him, and solution of any problem is possible by His Might, and besides Him, there is neither any source of goodness and favour nor any remover of vice and impediment.
It seems that, similar to the idol worshippers of the time of the Prophet of Islam (S), the idol worshippers of the time of Elyas, in order to justify their own deed, relied on the tradition of their ancestors, and in answer to them, Elyas says:
The application of the Arabic word /rabb/ is the best motive for contemplation and thinking, since the most important matter in a man’s life is this fact that he knows from the side of whom he has been created and now who is his authorized one, his lord, and his benefactor. In the next verse the Qur’an implies that this obstinate and self-loving group of people did not hearken to the reasonable advices and clear guidance of this Divine great prophet and they belied him.
The verse says:
So, Allah has stated their punishment in a short sentence where the Qur’an continues saying:
In Hereafter, they will be called in the Divine court of Justice and then brought into the chastisement of the Hell where they will receive the retribution of their ugly and evil deeds. The third verse indicates that a small group of people, who were sincere, pure and righteous, believed in Elyas, and in order that their right would not be wasted. The verse immediately after it says:
And in the fourth verse, Allah says:
Later generations will never forget the utmost efforts of these great prophets in guarding the line of Monotheism and growing the seed of faith, and their remembrance and their school of thought will be alive as long as the world exists.