Surah Yunus (Jonah) 10 : 59

Overview (Verses 59 - 60)
 
God’s Grace and People’s Ingratitude
 
Having highlighted God’s bounty and grace, represented by His revelations and the guidance and cure they provide, the sūrah now speaks of people’s practices that are at variance with God’s guidance.
 
These are nothing less than an assault on God’s authority whereby He makes things lawful or unlawful. Say: ‘Do but consider all the means of sustenance that God has bestowed on you! Some of it you then made unlawful, and some lawful.’ Say: ‘Has God given you leave to do so, or do you fabricate lies against God?’ But what will they think, those who invent lies against God, on the Day of Resurrection? God is truly bountiful to mankind, but most of them are ungrateful. (Verses 59-60)
 
The Prophet is instructed to ask them about the sustenance God has given them, especially in light of the fact that everything they have has been bestowed on them by Him. All this they should use in accordance with what He has legislated. Instead, though, they use it as they desire. Furthermore, without sanction from God, they make some of it lawful and some unlawful. In effect, an enactment of legislation, which is a manifestation of sovereignty. Yet sovereignty belongs to God alone. Hence they do what God has not given them permission to do. “Say: ‘Has God given you leave to do so, or do you fabricate lies against God?’” (Verse 59)
 
This issue is frequently raised in the Qur’ān, because, next to believing in God’s oneness, it is the most important issue.
 
Indeed it is the main aspect of translating belief into reality. To acknowledge that God is the One who creates and sustains entails that He is the One to be worshipped and the One who determines all matters relating to human life. These include the means of sustenance God has provided. The unbelievers in Arabia acknowledged God as the Creator and the Provider of sustenance,-as do some who call themselves Muslims today. Like these latter-day self-styled Muslims, those unbelievers also gave themselves the authority to prohibit part of what God gave them and to make others lawful. In this way then the Qur’ān paints them as both contrary and idolaters. The same description applies to all who are guilty of such contradiction, no matter what labels they give themselves. Islam is not a title that people attach to their names; it is a belief with practical implications.
 
Also like today’s self-styled Muslims, the pagan Arabs used to claim that they had God’s sanction for their actions, or what they even described as God’s law. In Sūrah 6, Cattle, God mentions some of their claim: “They say: ‘Such cattle and crops are forbidden. None may eat of them save those whom we permit’ — so they falsely claim. Other cattle they declare to be forbidden to burden their backs; and there are cattle over which they do not pronounce God’s name, inventing [in all this] a lie against Him. He will surely requite them for their inventions.” (6: 138) As is clear from this verse, they used to falsely claim that God wants this and not that, just as some Muslims today claim that what they legislate is God’s own law.
 
God puts the whole issue clearly in front of them. He asks what they think His attitude will be like on the Day of Judgement when they make these false claims against Him: “But what will they think, those who invent lies against God, on the Day of Resurrection?” (Verse 60) This verse refers to all those who are guilty of fabrication against God. What do such people think their destiny will be on the Day of Judgement? It is a question to test even the most stubborn and hardened of unbelievers.
 
A Cure for Hearts
 
“God is truly bountiful to mankind, but most of them are ungrateful.” (Verse 60) God is always bountiful to mankind. He has placed on earth and in the universe the means of man’s material sustenance. He has further given man the ability to know its sources as well as the natural laws that affect those sources, and to know how to enrich its variety of shapes and forms through analysis and synthesis. Indeed everything in the universe and every talent and potential people have is provided by God. Moreover, His bounty is epitomized in the code of living He has laid down, providing guidance for mankind and a cure for anything that may trouble their hearts and minds. When they implement this, they tap their highest potential and follow a way that brings about the best in the life of this world and in the life to come. They establish harmony between their human life and the life of the universe around them.
 
But most people do not show any gratitude for God’s bounty. Instead they digress from His code, and ascribe partners to Him. This leads to their distress and misery, because they make no use of what God has revealed as a cure for what may trouble their hearts.
 
This is a profound truism. The Qur’ān is a cure for people’s hearts in every connotation of the word ‘cure’. It penetrates into people’s hearts and minds just like a cure penetrates into a body weakened by illness. It makes its way through with its powerful rhythm and instructions which alert the natural human receptive mechanism, to open up and respond. It also penetrates into people’s minds with its laws and regulations which guarantee the minimum conflict between groups and communities. It generates reassurance that justice will be done, that goodness will triumph and that the end will be good. Furthermore, it embraces numerous meanings and connotations that no human expression can imply. Yet they are all made clear in this remarkable verse.
 
Most people do not show any gratitude. They remain ungrateful although God is aware of everything, whether apparent or hidden. Nothing in the heavens or on earth escapes His knowledge. This is added here in order to awaken people’s hearts and consciousness. It is followed by reassurance to the Prophet and his followers of God’s care: the unbelievers who associate partners with God will not be able to cause them any harm.