Surah Al-A'raf, Ayah 39

People of the Fire will dispute and curse Each Other Allahmentioned what He will say to those who associate others withHim, invent lies about Him, and reject His Ayat,

ادْخُلُواْ فِى أُمَمٍ

(Enter you in the company of nations), who are your likes and similar to you in conduct,

قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ

(Who passed away before you) from the earlier disbelieving nations,

مِّن الْجِنِّ وَالإِنْسِ فِى النَّارِ

(Of men and Jinn, into the Fire.) Allah said next,

كُلَّمَا دَخَلَتْ أُمَّةٌ لَّعَنَتْ أُخْتَهَا

(Every time a new nation enters, it curses its sister nation (that went before)) Al-Khalil (Prophet Ibrahim), peace be upon him, said,

ثُمَّ يَوْمَ الْقِيَـمَةِ يَكْفُرُ بَعْضُكُمْ بِبَعْضٍ

("But on the Day of Resurrection, you shall deny each other) 29:25. Also, Allah said,

The first and the second verse both mentioned two crimes committed by disbelievers. They took Halal as Haram and made the Haram become Halal for themselves by themselves. The third verse (34) describes their sad end and the punishment they would have in the Hereafter. It was said:

وَلِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلٌ ۖ فَإِذَا جَاءَ أَجَلُهُمْ لَا يَسْتَأْخِرُ‌ونَ سَاعَةً ۖ وَلَا يَسْتَقْدِمُونَ

(And for every people there is an appointed time. So, when their appointed time comes, they will not be late for a moment, nor will they go before).

In other words, what is being said here is that those committing excesses who, despite their contumacy, are basking in the sunshine of the blessings of Allah Ta` ala, and do not seem to be anywhere close to being punished, they should not lose sight of the customary practice of Allah that He, in His infinite mercy, keeps granting a long leash to sinners so that they would somehow stop doing what they do. But, the term of this leash and the time of this respite stands determined in the ultimate knowledge of Allah Ta` ala. When that time comes, it just comes - neither too late nor too soon. Thus, criminals are caught in punishment. At times, the punishment descends right here in this world - and if, the punishment does not visit them here, it waits to receive them soon after their death.

In this verse ‘community’(ummah) means those leaders who misguide and ‘fellow community’ (ukht) means the misguided general public. In the Hereafter when the wrong-thinking leaders and their misguided followers from the general public are cast into Hell, this will present a great lesson-giving scene. In the world they posed as each other’s well-wishers and as being ready to make sacrifices for each other. Such leaders used to respect each and every wish of the general public and the general public made heroes of their leaders. But, when they are trapped in the fire of Hell, all the artificial veils will drop from their eyes. Then everybody will be seen in his true colours. The followers will say to their leaders, ‘May you be accursed! How terrible was your leadership which showed us false spectacles and thereafter thrust us into such horrible affliction!’ In reply to this, the leaders will say, ‘You wanted a religion to your liking and finding such a religion with us, you rushed towards us. Otherwise, during that very period there were such servants of God as were calling you towards the path of real success. You heard their call, but did not pay attention to them.’ The leaders will tell their followers, ‘You are in no way better than us. We established leadership in pursuance of our desires, and you followed us for the sake of your desires. So, in point of fact, both of us are in the same position. So, here you will be liable to receive the same punishment as has been laid down for us in accordance with our deeds.’ The followers will tell God that the leaders had misled them and as such the latter should be given double the punishment that they received. The reply will be that the leaders were already being given double punishment but that they did not know it. The fact is that in Hell whatever punishment is given to anybody will be felt to be so severe that he will think that nobody else is in such terrible agony. Everyone will feel himself the worst afflicted. In the world self-interested leaders and self-interested followers are inter-linked in strong bonds of friendship. Each group expresses fine opinions about the other, and each finds words for the good of the other. But, in the Hereafter the one group will hate the other. Each will try to push the other towards the direst of fates.