Surah al-An`am (The Cattle) 6 : 4

وَمَا تَأْتِيهِم مِّنْ ءَايَةٍ مِّنْ ءَايَٰتِ رَبِّهِمْ إِلَّا كَانُوا۟ عَنْهَا مُعْرِضِينَ

Translations

 
 Muhsin Khan
 Pickthall
 Yusuf Ali
Quran Project
And no sign comes to them from the signs of their Lord except that they turn away therefrom.

1. Lessons/Guidance/Reflections/Gems

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Explanatory Note

It is clear that turning away from the truth is an obstinate position taken by the unbelievers, and this in the face of all the evidence pointing to its error. They do not lack signs and pointers which guide people to faith, nor do they lack evidence to prove the truth of the message and the genuine honesty of the Messenger conveying it, nor do they lack evidence of Godhead. These are the basic concepts they are called upon to accept. All they lack is the will to respond to clear evidence, overcome irrational stubbornness and reflect on the truth presented to them: “Whenever a revelation comes to them from their Lord, they [who are unbelievers] turn their back upon it.” Such deliberate obstinacy against all evidence and clear signs needs the threat of severe punishment to jolt them out of their attitude, remove the barriers of their conceit and reawaken their natural responses. 

2. Linguistic Analysis

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Frequency of Root words in this Ayat used in this Surah *


3. Surah Overview

4. Miscellaneous Information

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5. Connected/Related Ayat

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6. Frequency of the word

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7. Period of Revelation

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According to Ibn Abbas, the whole of the Surah was revealed at one sitting at Makkah [during the night]. Asma bint Yazid says, ‘During the revelation of this Surah the Prophet was riding on a she-camel and I was holding her nose-string. The she-camel began to feel the weight so heavily that it seemed as if her bones would break under it.’ We also learn from other narrations that it was revealed during the last year before the migration (Hijrah) and that the Prophet dictated the whole of the Surah the same night that it was revealed. [Mawdudi]

8. Reasons for Revelation

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After determining the period of its revelation it is easier to visualize the background of the Surah. Twelve years had passed since the Prophet had been inviting the people to Islam. The antagonism and persecution by the Quraysh had become most savage and brutal and the majority of the Muslims had to migrate to Abyssinia. Additionally, the two great supporters of the Prophet, Abu Talib and his wife Khadijah were no longer there to help him, so he was deprived of all worldly support. In spite of this he carried on his mission. As a result of this all the good people of Makkah and the surrounding clans gradually began to accept Islam but there the community as a whole was still bent on obstinacy and rejection. Therefore if anyone showed an inclination towards Islam they were subjected to taunts and derision, physical violence and social boycott.

It was in these dark circumstances that a ray of hope gleamed from Yathrib, where Islam began to spread freely by the efforts of some influential people of the tribes of Aws and Khazraj, who had embraced Islam at Makkah. At that time, none but God knew the great hidden potential in this.

To a casual observer it appeared as if Islam was a weak movement, with no material backing, except for some limited support from the Prophet's own family and a few poor followers. Obviously the latter could not give much help because they themselves were being persecuted.

9. Relevant Hadith

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10. Wiki Forum

Comments in this section are statements made by general users – these are not necessarily explanations of the Ayah – rather a place to share personal thoughts and stories…

11. Tafsir Zone

 

Overview (Verses 4 - 6)

Social Attitudes and the Decline of Nations
 
Whenever a revelation comes to them from their Lord, they [who are unbelievers] turn their back upon it. Thus they have denied the truth now that it has come to them. In time, they shall have full information about that which they used to deride. Do they not see how many a generation We have destroyed before them — people whom We had made more powerful in the land than We have made you, and for whom We sent down abundant water from the sky, and made rivers flow at their feet? Yet We destroyed them for their sins, and raised up another generation in their place. (Verses 4-6)
 
It is clear that turning away from the truth is an obstinate position taken by the unbelievers, and this in the face of all the evidence pointing to its error. They do not lack signs and pointers which guide people to faith, nor do they lack evidence to prove the truth of the message and the genuine honesty of the Messenger conveying it, nor do they lack evidence of Godhead. These are the basic concepts they are called upon to accept. All they lack is the will to respond to clear evidence, overcome irrational stubbornness and reflect on the truth presented to them: “Whenever a revelation comes to them from their Lord, they [who are unbelievers] turn their back upon it.” (Verse 4) Such deliberate obstinacy against all evidence and clear signs needs the threat of severe punishment to jolt them out of their attitude, remove the barriers of their conceit and reawaken their natural responses: “Thus they have denied the truth now that it has come to them. In time, they shall have full information about that which they used to deride.” (Verse 5)
 
The truth has come to them from the Creator of the heavens and the earth, who has brought into being darkness and light and created man out of clay. It is He alone who is God in the heavens and on earth, and who has full knowledge of all that people keep secret or do openly, as well as all that they earn. What has come to them from Him is the truth, and they have rejected it, insisting on describing it as false, turning away from Divine revelations and deriding the call to faith. Hence, they are told to watch for the true information which is certain to come to them concerning that which they used to scorn. This is a general threat given without any details of its nature or timing. Thus, they are kept in suspense, waiting, expecting at every moment to receive what they are threatened with of unspecified suffering.
 
Their attentions and minds are drawn to the calamities that befell past nations which, like them, rejected the truth. They even had some knowledge of those nations and what happened to them in the remains of the people of `Ād of al-Aĥqāf and Thamūd of al-Ĥijr. The Arabs of Makkah used to pass by these remains when they went on their winter and summer journeys to Yemen and Syria respectively. They also passed by the destroyed towns of the Prophet Lot’s people, Sodom and Gomorrah, and were aware of the tales that were in circulation concerning what happened to those people. They should, therefore, reflect on these peoples’ fate: “Do they not see how many a generation We have destroyed before them — people whom We had made more powerful in the land than We have made you, and for whom We sent down abundant water from the sky, and made rivers flow at their feet? Yet We destroyed them for their sins, and raised up another generation in their place.” (Verse 6)
 
Those earlier generations were well established in the land and given power which was much greater than that enjoyed by the Quraysh, the first people addressed by the Qur’ān. God also sent them rain which brought into their lives fertility, growth and abundance. But they disobeyed their Lord and were subsequently destroyed by Him. God then raised up another generation to take over and wield power. No matter how powerful a community may be, God can easily inflict severe punishment on them. When those people were destroyed, the earth did not feel their absence since another generation was raised in their place. Life continued as if nothing had happened.
 
People tend to overlook this fact when they are prosperous. They forget that it is God who gives them power in order to test them to determine how faithful they are to their pledges to worship Him alone and to follow His guidance. Will they honour their covenant with the One who has placed them in charge of His earth, or will they create false deities for themselves which usurp the rights and attributes of Godhead and treat what has been entrusted to their charge as their own property? Very often people tend to overlook this fact, and consequently deviate from the terms of their covenant with God that has placed them in charge of the earth. They, therefore, abandon the way of living God has laid down for them, unaware initially of the consequences to which they expose themselves. Corruption gradually creeps into their lives and they move further away from divine guidance. This continues until they reach such a stage that the threats outlined by God are inevitably put into effect. Doom may take different processes: God may eliminate some people altogether, inflicting on them suffering that engulfs them from above or springs from beneath their feet. At other times, God may punish them with famine, a heavy death toll and poor harvests. Both types of punishment were inflicted on different nations. God may, alternatively, cause some of them to endure the might of others until trust can no longer exist between them, and they are considerably weakened. God may give power over them to some of His servants, who may or may not abide by God’s code, this to weaken their forces and uproot them from the land in which they exercised their power. Life continues in this cycle. It is a happy person who realises that it is a manifestation of God’s laws in operation and that it is all a test. He is then true to his part of his covenant with God. By contrast, it is a miserable person who overlooks this fact and deludes himself with thoughts that he has been able to acquire strength and prosperity by his own knowledge or methods, or by mere coincidence.
 
People are often deceived when they see a despotic ruler, a corrupt or atheist person enjoying power on earth, able to escape punishment. But people are hasty. They see only the beginning or the middle of the route but not its end to which such person arrives at the appropriate time. We can see examples of it in how ancient generations who defied God and His messengers were destroyed. In the Qur’ān, our attention is drawn to their fates so that we realise that the end is not what we see at a particular point in time. The statement, “We destroyed them for their sins”, is often repeated in the Qur’ān in a variety of ways. Such repetition aims to establish a certain fact and to clarify a part of the Islamic interpretation of historical events. It shows that sins do destroy sinners and that it is God who brings about their destruction. This is a law which remains in operation although an individual or a generation may not see it within their own limited life span. It simply engulfs nations when they allow sins to become an essential part of their lifestyle.
 
As we have said, this statement gives us a glimpse of the Islamic interpretation of history, because the destruction of past nations and their replacement with new generations are due in part to the effect of sin on the constitution of nations. They create a condition which inevitably leads to destruction, either through a sudden calamity that God causes to befall them as used to happen in ancient history, or through natural, progressive decline which weakens nations as they wander aimlessly in a sinful maze.
 
In relatively recent history, we have enough examples of the effects on nations of uncontrolled indulgences, permissiveness, promiscuity and treating women as little more than sexual objects. The collapse of the Greek and Roman Empires provide such examples, but we can also discern the beginning of the decline of nations that still seem to enjoy power and affluence such as France and Britain.
 
A materialistic interpretation of history gives this aspect no room whatsoever, because it does not recognise the moral aspect of life or the religious foundations on which it is based. It is, thus, forced into accepting some laughable justifications of events in human history which have their very foundations in the religious and moral aspects of human life.
 
On the other hand, comprehensive, serious and realistic as it is, the Islamic interpretation of history gives the material aspect its due importance while recognising other influential factors that are denied by others who stubbornly refuse to acknowledge all the facts of life. With the Islamic interpretation, we visualise God’s will operating behind all that takes place in the universe. We see how consciousness, feelings, beliefs and concepts do change within man and do influence human behaviour. This interpretation does not overlook any single factor of God’s law which regulates life in general.


12. External Links

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