Surah Al-Anfal, Ayah 54

Allah affirms His perfect justice and fairness in His decisions, for He decided that He will not change a bounty that He has granted someone, except on account of an evil that they committed. Allah said in another Ayah,

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّى يُغَيِّرُواْ مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ وَإِذَآ أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ سُوءًا فَلاَ مَرَدَّ لَهُ وَمَا لَهُمْ مِّن دُونِهِ مِن وَالٍ

(Verily, Allah will not change the (good) condition of a people as long as they do not change their state (of goodness) themselves. But when Allah wills a people's punishment, there can be no turning it back, and they will find besides Him no protector.) 13:11

Allah said next,

كَدَأْبِ ءَالِ فِرْعَوْنَ

(Similar to the behavior of the people of Fir`awn,) meaning, He punished Fir`awn and his kind, those who denied His Ayat. Allah destroyed them because of their sins, and took away the favors that He granted them, such as gardens, springs, plants, treasures and pleasant dwellings, as well as all of the delights that they enjoyed. Allah did not wrong them, but it is they who wronged themselves.

Commentary

The words used in the first of the verses cited above are almost the same as have appeared a verse earlier in: كَدَأْبِ آلِ فِرْ‌عَوْنَ ۙ وَالَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ ۚ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِ رَ‌بِّهِمْ فَأَهْلَكْنَاهُم بِذُنُوبِهِمْ ' (Their way is) like the way of the people of Pharaoh and of those before them - 52.' But, the purpose behind these two statements differs in both. The purpose in the first verse (52) was to state that the disbelief of those people became the cause of their punishment while, in the present verse (54), the purpose is to state that, according to the common law of Allah Ta` ala - when the blessings of Allah Ta` ala descend upon a people and they fail to recognize their worth and value and refuse to bow down before Him - then, His blessings are transformed into misfortunes and punishments. When the people of Pharaoh and the peoples before them failed to appreciate the blessings of Allah Ta` ala as due, blessings were taken away from them and they were seized 'by punishment instead. Apart from this difference in purpose, changes have also been introduced in words used at some places which serve to release particular hints in the text. For example, in the first verse (52), the words used were: كَفَرُ‌وا بِآيَاتِ اللَّـهِ (They disbelieved the signs of Allah) while here, the words used are: بِآيَاتِ رَ‌بِّهِمْ the signs of their Lord - 54). Thus, by mentioning the attribute: رَبّ (Rabb: Lord) instead of the name, 'Allah,' hint was given that these people were terribly unjust and insensate against truth, people who would just go ahead and start belying the signs of the very Being who was their Rabb رَبّ (sustainer, nourisher, cherisher) under whose blessings they all, from their dawn of existence to their present condition, have been brought up.

In addition to that, in the first verse (52), said there was: فَأَخَذَهُمُ اللَّـهُ بِذُنُوبِهِمْ (so, Allah seized them for their sins) while what has been said here is: فَأَهْلَكْنَاهُم بِذُنُوبِهِمْ (so, We destroyed them for their sins - 54). This explains the brevity in the first statement because, in the first verse, mentioned there was their being seized in punishment which could take different forms. May be, they are overtaken by misfortunes with-in their lifetime on this earth, or that their very existence in eliminated outright. In the present verse (54), by saying: أَهْلَكْنَاهُم (We destroyed them), it was made clear that the punishment all those peoples deserved was the punishment of death, therefore, they were destroyed. The destruction of every set of such people took different forms. Since the Pharaoh from among them claimed godhood and his people attested to his claim, therefore, he was mentioned particularly: وَأَغْرَ‌قْنَا آلَ فِرْ‌عَوْنَ (and drowned the people of Pharaoh - 54). As for the forms in which destruction came upon other peoples, it has not been described here. However, details pertaining to these too have appeared in other verses where it has been said that some of them were overrun by an earthquake, some others were made to sink into the earth, or transformed into animals, or seized by wind storms - and finally, came the punishment for the disbelievers of Makkah at the hands of Muslims in the battle of Badr.

The granting of God’s bounty depends upon eligibility for entitlement to such bounty. At the national or community level, bounty is commensurate with the worth of the individuals making up the larger entity. Collective bounty or blessings are given according to the status of a community assessed at the level of its individuals. This means that if a group wants to have God’s collective grace, it should bend its entire energies to the improvement of the inner selves of its individuals. Similarly, if a community finds that collective bounties are taken away from it, instead of running after the bounties themselves, it should pursue its individuals, because of the fact that it is due to deterioration in individuals that it is deprived of bounties, and only on the reformation of individuals can it have God’s grace restored. When a community adopts the way of tyranny instead of justice and the way of arrogance instead of modesty, then a pronouncement of Truth is made before it so that it is given a warning. This declaration, in view of its perfect clarity, is a sign from God. Accepting it amounts to accepting God, just as its rejection amounts to rejection of God. When the call of God reveals itself to the extent of a sign (ayah), and appears before people, and still they reject it, they necessarily become liable for punishment. Though the beginning of this punishment starts in this world, the punishment of the world is far more lenient than the punishment that man is going to face after death. The beatings of the angels, humiliation before all the creatures, burning in the fire of hell—all these stages are so terrible that one cannot even imagine them in the present conditions. When a man adopts the ways of tyranny and arrogance, he receives at first a warning. When he does not learn a lesson from it, he is finally struck down by the severe punishment of God.