Surah al-An`am (The Cattle) 6 : 92

Explanatory Note

The surah now speaks of the new Book, the Qur’an, whose revelation the unbelievers continue to deny. They are told that it is only a stage in a continuing chain. It is no new invention, but only one of the books God has revealed to His chosen messengers.

That God should send messengers and give them revelations and scriptures is one of the laws He has set in this world. The new Book is blessed indeed, as God describes. It is blessed in its origin, since God has given it His blessings when He revealed it. It is also blessed in its destination, as it is engraved on Muhammad’s pure, large and noble heart. Furthermore, it is blessed in its size and contents. Compared to voluminous works written by human beings, it comprises a small number of pages; but its inspiration, impact, directives and meaning are far superior to those contained in scores of those books, each one of which is several times its size. A person who has been preoccupied with the art of expression and dealt with the relationship between words and meanings is better able to appreciate the fact that the Qur’an, with its unique style, is blessed. It is simply impossible that human beings could express all the meanings, concepts and inspiration of the Qur’an in a work which is a great many times its size. Many a single verse includes the meanings, facts and concepts that make it quotable in a variety of situations and for numerous purposes. This is a unique quality of the Qur’an which has no parallel in the works of human beings. The Qur’an is also blessed in its effect. It addresses human nature and man as a whole, in a way which is remarkable, direct and gentle. It puts its facts before human nature in every direction, taking care of all its aspects. Its effect on it cannot be matched by the effect of anything else. The fact remains that it enjoys the authority of God. No other speech enjoys a similar authority.

We are constrained to go any further in describing the blessings of this Book. Whatever we say remains far short of the fact that God Himself describes it as a blessed Book. This is indeed the truth.

The next quality of the Qur’an mentioned in this verse is that it confirms “what came before it”. It confirms all that has been revealed by God in its original, undistorted form. This confirmation is based on the fact that all those revelations established the basic truth about the question of faith. Apart from this, God has given every nation its own code and constitution within the framework of the basic belief in Him. 

"Those who believe in the life to come do believe in it, and they are ever-mindful of their prayers.” It is true that those who believe in the life to come, when people will have to account for their deeds and be rewarded or punished for them, also believe that God will no doubt send to mankind a messenger to convey to them His revelations. They have no problem in believing in this messenger. Indeed, they are inclined to believe in him. Because they believe in the life to come and in the Qur’an, they are always mindful of their prayer, so that they continue to maintain a close link with God and continue to demonstrate their obedience to Him. This is, then, all a part of human nature. When we believe in the hereafter, we accept that this Book, the Qur’an, is revealed by God and we are keen to obey Him in order to enhance our closeness with Him. We need only to look at different types of human beings to be sure that all this is absolutely true.