Surah Al-Insan

The theme of this Surah is to inform man of his true position in the world and to tell him that if he understood his true position rightly and adopted the attitude of gratefulness, he would meet with such and such good end and if he adopted the way of disbelief, he would meet with such and such evil ends. In the longer Surahs of the Qur’an this same theme has been presented at length, but a special characteristic of the style of the earliest Surahs revealed at Makkah is that the subjects dealt with at length in the later period, “have been presented in a brief but highly effective way in this period in such concise, elegant sentences as may automatically be preserved in the memory of the hearers.”

In this Surah, first of all man has been reminded that there was a time when he was nothing; then a humble beginning of him was made with a mixed drop of sperm and ovum of which even his mother was not aware; even she did not know that he had been conceived nor anyone else seeing the microscopic cell could say that it was a man, who in future would become the best of creation on the earth. After this, man has been warned, as to say: “Beginning your creation in this way We have developed and shaped you into what you are today in order to test and try you in the world. That is why, unlike other creatures, you were made intelligent and sensible and were shown both the way of gratitude and the way of ingratitude clearly so that you may show, in the interval that you have been granted here for work, whether you have emerged as a grateful servant from the test or an unbelieving, ungrateful wretch!” Then, just in one sentence, it has been stated decisively what will be the fate to be met with in the Hereafter by those who emerged as unbelievers from this test.

After this, in v. 5-22 continuously, the blessings with which those who do full justice to servitude in the world, will be favoured, have been mentioned in full detail. In these verses, not only have their best rewards been mentioned but they have also been told briefly what are the acts on the basis of which they would become worthy of those rewards. Another special characteristic of the earliest Surahs revealed at Makkah is that besides introducing in them briefly the fundamental beliefs and concepts of Islam, here and there, those moral qualities and virtuous acts have been mentioned, which are praiseworthy according to Islam and also those evils of deed and morality of which Islam strives to cleanse human life. These two things have not been mentioned with a view to show what good or evil result is entailed by them in the transitory life of the world, but they have been mentioned only to point out what enduring results they will produce in the eternal and everlasting life of the Hereafter, irrespective of whether an evil quality may prove useful or a good quality may prove harmful in the world.

This is the subject matter of the first section (v. 1-22). In the second section, addressing the Prophet ﷺ, three things have been stated: first, that “it is in fact We Ourself Who are revealing this Qur’an gradually to you, and this is intended to inform the disbelievers, not you, that the Qur’an is not being fabricated by Muhammad ﷺbut it is “We Who are revealing it, and it is Our Own wisdom which requires that We should reveal it piece by piece and not all at once.” Second, the Prophet ﷺhas been told: “No matter how long it may take for the decree of your Lord to be enforced and no matter what afflictions may befall you in the meantime, in any case you should continue to perform your mission of Apostleship patiently and not to yield to the pressure tactics of any of these wicked and unbelieving people.” The third thing he has been told is: “Remember Allah day and night, perform the Prayer and spend your nights in the worship of Allah, for it is these things which sustain and strengthen those who call to Allah in the face of iniquity and disbelief.” Then in one single sentence, the actual cause of the disbelievers’ wrong attitude has been stated: they have forgotten the Hereafter and are enamoured of the world. In the second sentence, they have been warned to the effect: “You have not come into being by yourself: We have created you. You have not made these broad shoulders and strong sturdy hands and feet for yourselves, it is We Who made these for you; and it so lies in Our power to treat you as We please. We can distort your figures, We can destroy you and replace you by some other nation. We can cause you to die and can recreate you in whatever form we like.”

In conclusion, it has been said, This is an admonition: whoever wills may accept it and take a path to his Lord. But man’s own will and desire is not everything in the world. No one’s will and desire can be fulfilled unless Allah (also) so wills. Allah’s willing is not haphazard: whatever He wills, He wills it on the basis of His knowledge and wisdom. He admits into His mercy whomever He regards as worthy of His mercy on the basis of His knowledge and wisdom and He has prepared a painful torment for those whom He finds unjust and wicked.