Surah Al-Anbya, Ayah 45

How the Idolators are deceived by their long and luxurious Lives in this World, and the Explanation of the Truth

Allah explains that they have been deceived and misled by the luxuries that they enjoy in this world and the long life that they have been given, so they believe that they are following something good. Then Allah warns them:

أَفَلاَ يَرَوْنَ أَنَّا نَأْتِى الاٌّرْضَ نَنقُصُهَا مِنْ أَطْرَافِهَآ

(See they not that We gradually reduce the land (in their control) from its outlying borders) This is like the Ayah:

وَلَقَدْ أَهْلَكْنَا مَا حَوْلَكُمْ مِّنَ الْقُرَى وَصَرَّفْنَا الاٌّيَـتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ

(And indeed We have destroyed towns round about you, and We have shown the Ayat in various ways that they might return.) 46:27 Al-Hasan Al-Basri said: "This means the victory of Islam over disbelief." The meaning is: Do they not learn a lesson from the fact that Allah supported those (believers) against their enemies, He destroyed the disbelieving nations and the evil-doing townships, and He saved His believing servants So Allah says:

Haste is undesirable

خُلِقَ الْإِنسَانُ مِنْ عَجَلٍ (Man is made of haste. - 21:37). عَجَل ('ajal) means haste or hurry. The word is used in situations when one desires things to happen before their time, and this trait is bad by its very nature. In another place also the word is used to denote human weakness. For instance وَكَانَ الْإِنسَانُ عَجُولًا i.e. Man is prone to haste - 17:11, meaning that he is very impatient. When Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) went to the mount Tur in a hurry leaving his people behind, he was censured by Allah Ta` ala.

Prophets (علیہم السلام) and the devout people who try to excel each other in the performance of righteous deeds have been commended and their zeal to do good deeds does not constitute haste and hurry because they do not try to do these deeds before their time. In fact they do the deeds on time, but try to excel each other in quantity and quality.

In ancient times, the people of Makkah were considered leaders of the Arab world. This leadership was God’s gift to them, but it only gave rise to false pride and egoism. So, when the Truth was declared through the Prophet Muhammad, they refused to accept it on account of their egoistic mentality. Such was the position of Islam in Makkah. But, among the people of other places who did not suffer from similar psychological complications, the truth of Islam was spreading. In Makkah, Islam was rejected, but in other places, Islam was being adopted by the tribesmen. The large-scale adoption of Islam by the people of Madinah had finally made it clear that the sphere of leadership of the people in Makkah was continually contracting. But those who suffer from a superiority complex do not learn a lesson from any warning, however open that might be.