Surah al-Kahf - Verses 99-end of surah

[Yusuf Mullan]

Relationship


Towards the end of Dhul Qarnain's story, his statement was quoted which indicated upon the perishing nature of the wall and which alluded to the Yajooj Majooj breaking free. In the upcoming verses, Haq Ta'aala mentions the specific circumstances associated to the time of this breaking free and (in a general sense) the perishing of the Dunya itself, followed by its re-creation. Furthermore, the subsequent reward and punishment, and the matters and deeds which are the cause for such reward and punishment are mentioned briefly.


Thus, specific perishing led to the mention of universal perishing, which led to subsequent remaining. This in turn led to the mention of reward and punishment, which led to mentioning the catalysts of both reward and punishment; each subsequent theme strongly related to the previous.


Perishing and Remaining, Reward and Punishment on the Day of Judgment


On that day wherein the promised time for this wall's collapse will have arrived and Yajooj and Majooj will have broken free, We will let them loose, surging like waves within one another. This will be on account of their huge number and because of emerging all at once; and this will occur shortly before the establishment of Judgment-Day. Then after a few days, the preparations for the establishment of the Hour will begin. Hence, The Trumpet will be blown once, resulting in the destruction of the entire world. Then The Trumpet will be blown a second time, by which all will be brought back to life. Then We will gather them all, one by one to the plain of resurrection; and We will present the Hell-fire on that day to the disbelievers, upon whose eyes lay veils (in the worldly life) from my remembrance (meaning from seeing and understanding the true faith); and just as they would not see the truth, similarly they were also not capable of hearing it. That is to say, they had no intention at all to perceive the Truth. Therefore, since it is established that kufr is worthy of such an intense warning, what, do these disbelievers still think that they should take my servants (meaning those who are under my ownership and control, either voluntarily or involuntarily) in exclusion to me as their protectors (meaning objects of worship and helpers), which is clearly kufr and shirk. That is to say, even after coming to know of kufr being a cause for punishment, they still choose to disbelieve. Let them do as they please. Regardless of that, We have prepared for the entertainment of the disbelievers The Hellfire. Entertainment was said sarcastically.


If they are proud upon their deeds, misconceiving them to be righteous, and on account of them they consider themselves protected from punishment and entitled to salvation, then in that regard say to them, Shall we not tell you of such people who in terms of deeds will be in total loss? They are the ones whose ready and done efforts in the worldly life, which they did concerning righteous deeds, will be waisted in the afterlife; and due to ignorance they are still under the impression that they are doing good.


In the upcoming verse, the individuals to whom this applies are mentioned with such wording that additionally alludes to the reason of their efforts being waisted. Thereafter, the cancellation of their deeds is explicitly re-stated by way of conclusion. They are those who disbelieve in the verses of their Lord (meaning divine scriptures) and meeting him on Judgment-Day. So, for this reason, all their good deeds have become null. Hence, We will not establish on the Day of Judgement for them (meaning for their good deeds) any weight. Rather, that will be their punishment which was mentioned above i.e., the Hellfire for the simple reason that they disbelieved, as was also understood above that the consequence of kufr is the Hellfire; and from the branches of this kufr is also that they made a joke out of my verses and messengers. In contrast to them, what follows is the state of the believers:


Certainly those who bring faith and perform righteous deeds, for their hospitality will be the gardens of Al-Firdaws (meaning Paradise) wherein they will reside forever. Neither will anyone drive them out from there, nor from there will they desire any relocation.


Relationship


Earlier, we saw punishment-worthiness upon rejecting Tawheed in “afahasib...”, and upon rejecting messengership in “waittakhadho aayaati wa rusuli...”. Likewise, in “inna alladhina aamanoo...” we saw promise of reward upon believing and obeying.


In the upcoming verses, “qul law kaana albahr...” establishes tawheed and “qul innamaa ana bashar...” establishes messengership. Similarly, “faman kaana yarjoo...” establishes the believer's reward by way of denotation (mantooqan), and the disbeliever's punishment by way of connotation (mafhooman). Upon this the Surah completes. This very theme was also present in the beginning of the Surah, as can be revealed by pondering on the verses.


Say to them with regards to the words and expressions of your Lord which indicate upon divine attributes of perfection, if in order to write the sayings of my Lord (meaning the said words and expressions) the sea was to become in place of ink and in this manner the writing process was to begin, then before the sayings of my Lord exhaust, that sea would deplete and the sayings would not be encompassed, even if we were to bring the like of that sea another in assistance; even then, the sayings would not exhaust and that second sea would also deplete. Therefore, his words are infinite and the same can not be said about any fabricated deity. For this reason, worship and Lordship specifically belong to him. Also say to them, You, who confront me with rejection, keep in mind that I do not claim something impossible or far-fetched. Rather I am but a human like you. I acknowledge this and do not claim to be an angel etc. which would cause alienation. The only revelation that comes to me is that your true focus of worship is only one entity worthy of worship. Therefore, neither is revelation itself strange in the least, nor is the revealed theme any cause for alienation. Rather, Tawheed itself is proven through rational proofs.


So, since Tawheed and messengership are established, whoever longs to meet his Lord, then while considering me to be a Prophet and in accordance to my Shari'a, let him keep performing righteous deeds and not associate anyone in the worship of his Lord. That is to say, let him adopt the beliefs of Tawheed and Risala, as they are the universal prerequisites for salvation itself and continue performing righteous deeds, as this is the dominant prerequisite for perfect salvation. Within the rubric of shirk is also included hidden shirk (riyaa) according to the Hadith. Therefore, in relation to this component, this would specific mention following a generalization.


Benefit


Part of divine attributes of perfection is perfection of divine knowledge. Therefore, the infinite nature of divine knowledge is also understood from the above. This serves as a reply to what the Jews said that our knowledge is abundant, which they uttered upon hearing the verse which consisted of the response related to the nature of the ruh; “wamaa uteetum min al-ilm ilaa qaleelan” [kadha fil lubaab wallahu alam bi al-sawaab] That is to say, in comparison to divine knowledge, everything is less.