Surah Saba, Ayah 48

I do not ask for any Reward for conveying the Message

Allah commands His Messenger to say to the idolators:

مَا سَأَلْتُكُم مِّن أَجْرٍ فَهُوَ لَكُمْ

(Whatever wage I might have asked of you is yours.) meaning, `I do not want anything for conveying the Message of Allah to you, advising you and telling you to worship Allah.'

إِنْ أَجْرِىَ إِلاَّ عَلَى اللَّهِ

My wage is from Allah only, means, rather I will seek the reward for that with Allah.

وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ شَهِيدٍ

and He is a Witness over all things. means, He knows all things, and He knows everything about me and the manner in which I am conveying the Message to you, and He knows all about you.

Verse 48: إِنَّ رَ‌بِّي يَقْذِفُ بِالْحَقِّ عَلَّامُ الْغُيُوبِ (Say," My Lord sends forth the Truth. He is the Best-Knower of the Unseen." - 34:48) Say, "Truth has come, and falsehood (has vanished so as it) has no power to produce or reproduce (anything) ". It means that my Lord who is the Knower of the Unseen strikes out the false with a throw of the truth (as a result of which the false is destroyed, as it was said: فَإِذَا هُوَ زَاهِقٌ 'and there it is all gone'. Al-Anbiya', 21:18). Literally, the word: قَذَف (qadhf) means to hit by throwing. Here, the purpose is to highlight the truth as set against the false. Perhaps, there may be a wise consideration behind expressing this phenomenon through the word: یَقذِف (yaqdhifu: He throws), may be the purpose is to point out to the after effect of the truth prevailing over the false. It appears here in the form of a simile as the throwing of something heavy over something feeble that shatters into pieces. So it happens in the confrontation between truth and falsehood when the later lies shattered. Therefore, it was said next: وَمَا يُبْدِئُ الْبَاطِلُ وَمَا يُعِيدُ (and falsehood has vanished so as it has no power to produce or reproduce anything) that is, falsehood becomes so incapacitated in the face of truth that it can neither originate anything nor can it bring it back.

The contemporaries of the Prophet rejected his call of Truth, but this rejection was purely due to stubbornness and prejudice. Had they thought over the matter, either individually or collectively, with open minds, they would have discovered that their Prophet was not a madman. His earlier life would have testified to his seriousness. His sympathetic way would have shown that whenever he spoke, his words showed the deepest concern. His style of discourse, replete as it was with wisdom would have been sufficient evidence of its veracity. His working without demanding remuneration shows that he had undertaken this task only for God’s pleasure and not as a personal concern. Viewing him dispassionately, people would have come to know that his restlessness was not out of madness but because of the danger which he was required to warn against. But they were never serious about the call to accept the truth, and that being so, the above-mentioned facts, albeit so obviously true, did not impress them.