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ʾa-kuffārukum khayrun min ʾulāʾikum ʾam lakum barāʾatun fī z-zuburi
Are your faithless better than those? Have you [been granted] [some sort of] immunity in the scriptures?
— Ali Quli Qarai
54Al-QamarالقمرVerse 43 of 55
The Moon54. Al-Qamarالقمر
al-Qamar
The Moon
MeccanVerse 43 of 55
Surah al-Qamar - Verses 43-44
43. Are your disbelievers better than these? Or have you immunity in the Divine Scriptures?
44. Or they say: "We are a great multitude backing each other and no might may conquer us."
After recounting the accounts of the ancients and the torments and chastisements of disobedient sinful peoples, the blessed Verses in question address Meccan polytheists asking them: "Are you disbelievers better than those of the ancients? Is there immunity and quarter for you in Divinely revealed Scriptures? Is there any difference between you and the peoples of Pharaoh, Lot (as), and Thamud? They were afflicted with tempests, earthquakes, and lightning owing to their disbelief, disobedience, wrong-doing and sinfulness.
Why do you imagine that you will not suffer the same fate? Are you better than them or your disobedience, animosity, and disbelief less than theirs? Why do you think that you are immune from Divine Torment? Do you have a quarter attested in Divine Scriptures? Such claim is indubitably untrue and you have no evidence to prove it.” According to the second blessed Verse, they say that they are a great united multitude who take vengeance upon their enemies and conquering them. The Arabic word jami‘ in this blessed Verse is applied to a community who possess mighty and proceed toward a goal.
The word muntasir lays further emphasis on the same meaning since it denotes triumphant and taking vengeance. It would be of interest to note that the preceding blessed Verse was in the form of address, but the blessed Verse in question and the following ones speak about disbelievers in the third person which connotes a kind of humility, namely they do not deserve to be addressed by God Almighty any further. In short, if they claim to possess such might, it is groundless, since the peoples of Pharaoh, Thamud, ‘Ad, and the like of them were mightier than them, but they could not resist in the least against Divine Torment dispersing them like a violent tempest blowing onto hay, let alone such insignificant and desperate people.