Overview (Verses 50 - 52)

Divine Justice for All
 
At this juncture the sūrah portrays a scene of God’s direct intervention in the battle. We see the angels acting on God’s instructions and by His permission, reproaching the unbelievers and meting out punishment to them. They gather their souls in a very harsh manner and dole out to them the sort of treatment that befits their arrogance and conceit. Even in the most difficult of times they remind them of their evil deeds and tell them of their inevitable destiny. There is no injustice in what they are about to suffer. It is only what they deserve. When this scene is painted, the sūrah follows it by a statement making clear that punishing the unbelievers for their misdeeds is a constant law that God has set into operation: “Like Pharaoh’s people and those who lived before them.” (Verses 52 and 54) “This is because God would never alter the favours He bestows on a community unless they change what is in their hearts.” (Verse 53)
 
It is according to this law that He took Pharaoh and his people to task, and according to it He takes to task any person or community guilty of the same type of action: “If you could but see how the angels gather up the souls of the unbelievers. They strike them on their faces and their backs and [say]: ‘Taste the punishment of burning, in return for what your own hands have committed. Never does God do any injustice to His servants.’ Like Pharaoh’s people and those who lived before them, they denied God’s revelations; so God took them to task for their sins. God is mighty, severe in retribution. This is because God would never alter the favours He bestows on a community unless they change what is in their hearts. God hears all and knows all. Like Pharaoh’s people and those who lived before them, they disbelieved in their Lord’s revelations; so We destroyed them for their sins, as We caused Pharaoh’s people to drown. They were wrongdoers all.” (Verses 50-54)
 
The first two of these verses may be intended to refer to what the unbelievers were made to suffer at the Battle of Badr when the angels took part in the fighting carrying out God’s orders. He had issued to them an express order: “Strike, then, their necks and strike off their every fingertip. This is because they have defied God and His Messenger. Whoever defies God and His Messenger [will find out that] God is severe in retribution.” (Verses 12-13) When we commented on this statement, we mentioned that we do not know how the angels strike the necks of human beings or how they strike off their fingertips. However, our ignorance of how this is done should not tempt us to try to give this statement any meaning other than its apparent one, which makes it clear that there was an order from God to the angels to strike. We know that the angels “do not disobey God in whatever He commands them, but always do whatever they are bidden to do.” (66: 6) In this case these two verses serve as a reminder of what the angels did on the day of Badr and an explanation of what they actually did to the unbelievers.
 
These two verses, however, may also be taken as a reference to a continuing situation that applies whenever the angels gather the souls of unbelievers. In this case the opening phrase, “if you could but see”, may be understood as an address to anyone with eyes to see. This type of address is used frequently to direct attention to certain matters that need to be contemplated.
 
Whichever possibility we take, the Qur’ānic statement portrays a fearful picture of the unbelievers as the angels gather their souls, adding humiliation to their misery and combining physical suffering with death: “If you could but see how the angels gather up the souls of the unbelievers. They strike them on their faces and their backs.” (Verse 50) The mode of expression then changes from that of reporting to an address: “Taste the punishment of burning.” This serves to bring the scene alive as though it is happening now in front of our eyes. We almost see the fire of hell and how it burns fiercely. The unbelievers are severely reproached as they are pushed into it: “[this is] in return for what your own hands have committed.” (Verse 51) It is all a fitting recompense. You deserve it all on account of what you have done: “Never does God do any injustice to His servants.” (Verse 51)
 
This statement and the scene of the punishment of burning it portrays raise the question: is it a warning the angels give to the unbelievers pointing out to them what they are going to suffer and showing it as if it is taking place now? Or do they actually suffer the punishment of burning as soon as their souls are gathered by the angels? Both situations are possible. There is no reason to preclude either. We do not wish to add anything further because this is again something that belongs to the world that lies beyond human perception. It is known only to God. As for us, we only need to believe that it will definitely take place. Indeed there is nothing to stop it happening. But when will that be? The answer is known only to God whose knowledge is absolute, encompassing the universe and all that it contains.
 
The sūrah then states a fundamental fact that is relevant to this scene. The infliction of suffering and humiliation on the unbelievers is a permanent law that does not change. It was set into operation a long time ago and it continues to operate without fail: “Like Pharaoh’s people and those who lived before them, they denied God’s revelations; so God took them to task for their sins. God is mighty, severe in retribution.” (Verse 52) God does not determine the fate of human beings haphazardly or on the basis of sudden whims. Their fate follows a law that is meant to apply at all times. What happened to those unbelievers at Badr is likely to happen to them at all times. The same type of thing happened to Pharaoh’s people and to other communities before them, because “they denied God’s revelations; so God took them to task for their sins.”(Verse 52) They could not protect themselves against His punishment: “God is mighty, severe in retribution.” (Verse 52)