6-91 And they honour not Allah with the honour due to Him, when they say: Allah has not revealed anything to a mortal. Say: Who revealed the Book which Moses brought, a light and a guidance to men — you make it into (scattered) papers, which you show and you conceal much? And you are taught that which neither you nor your fathers knew. Say: Allah. Then leave them sporting in their idle talk.
وَمَا قَدَرُواْ ٱللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدۡرِهِۦۤ إِذۡ قَالُواْ مَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ بَشَرٍ۬ مِّن شَىۡءٍ۬ۗ قُلۡ مَنۡ أَنزَلَ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبَ ٱلَّذِى جَآءَ بِهِۦ مُوسَىٰ نُورً۬ا وَهُدً۬ى لِّلنَّاسِۖ تَجۡعَلُونَهُ ۥ قَرَاطِيسَ تُبۡدُونَہَا وَتُخۡفُونَ كَثِيرً۬اۖ وَعُلِّمۡتُم مَّا لَمۡ تَعۡلَمُوٓاْ أَنتُمۡ وَلَآ ءَابَآؤُكُمۡۖ قُلِ ٱللَّهُۖ ثُمَّ ذَرۡهُمۡ فِى خَوۡضِہِمۡ يَلۡعَبُونَ (٩١)
6-91a: قَدَرُواْ ٱللَّهَ – The literal meaning of قَدۡر is to manifest the measure of a thing, and the meaning here is to recognize or identify (R). Some have taken the meaning as honor or to extoll greatly. The purpose is the same in various meanings.
قَرَاطِيسَ – It is the plural of قرطاس which means paper. The purport of تَجۡعَلُونَهُ ۥ قَرَاطِيسَ (you make it into papers) is that you take the Book and tear its pages into pieces.
Jews refusal of Holy Prophet’s prophethood: The topic of the last section is that the centrality of the religion of all prophets is Divine Unity. This is also so for the religion of the Holy Prophet. In addition, he incorporates in his person the perfection of all previous prophets. The refusal of the followers of the previous prophets to acknowledge the prophethood of the Holy Prophet is therefore astonishing. Nevertheless, they, the Ahle Kitab, not only decline to accept the prophethood of the Holy Prophet but also refuse that any revelation comes to a mortal now. By مَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّه is not meant that Allah has never revealed but only that Allah has not revealed anything now. They accept their shariah as revealed but do not accept any shariah after their own. Accordingly, Ibn Jarir cites Sadi as stating that the Jews said: مَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّه علیٰ محّمد شئ (Allah has not revealed anything to Muhammad). In response to this, attention is drawn to the Book of Moses in which there is a clear promise that a prophet in the likeness of Moses will be raised but along with this, it is stated that you, who call yourself his followers, your condition is such that you have torn your Book to pieces; you show a part but hide a large portion of it, that is you do not act upon it. The verse then states that as they have no answer to this, their refusal to accept the new shariah is without reason. The Holy Prophet is therefore commanded to say that Allah had revealed the Book of Moses and that this Book is now revealed in accordance with the prophecy in it. This is further substantiated in the next verse that this Book verifies the previous Books. So, how can they reject this Book? These verses were not revealed in Madinah although the address is to the Jews. In the last section also, there is a mention of Jews: إِن يَكۡفُرۡ بِہَا هَـٰٓؤُلَآءِ (Therefore if these disbelieve in it) (6:89), and earlier in this Chapter, it is said: Those whom We have given the Book recognize him as they recognize their sons (6:20). In the presence of these repeated addresses in a surah which is unanimously accepted as revealed in Makkah, the idea that the Jews or the Ahle Kitab are not addressed in the Makkan revelations cannot be accepted. Is Surah Bani Israel not Makkan which addresses Jews and is Surah Maryam not Makkan which addresses the Christians?
6-92 And this is a Blessed Book We have revealed, verifying that which is before it, and that thou mayest warn the mother of the towns and those around her. And those who believe in the Hereafter believe in it, and they keep a watch over their prayers.a
وَهَـٰذَا كِتَـٰبٌ أَنزَلۡنَـٰهُ مُبَارَكٌ۬ مُّصَدِّقُ ٱلَّذِى بَيۡنَ يَدَيۡهِ وَلِتُنذِرَ أُمَّ ٱلۡقُرَىٰ وَمَنۡ حَوۡلَهَاۚ وَٱلَّذِينَ يُؤۡمِنُونَ بِٱلۡأَخِرَةِ يُؤۡمِنُونَ بِهِۦۖ وَهُمۡ عَلَىٰ صَلَاتِہِمۡ يُحَافِظُونَ (٩٢)
6-92a: مُبَارَكٌ۬ – The literal meaning of بَرۡك is for a thing to become incumbent, and بَرَکة means some goodness from Allah to get firmly established in a thing. So, مُبَارَك is one who has such goodness in him (R). In other words, مُبَارَك is a goodness that has become incumbent and will never be cut off. The meaning of the recitation in darud: بارك علیٰ محمد is O Allah! Keep the eminence and excellence that You have granted to Muhammad established and eternal (LA). Ibn Abbas gives the meaning of بَرَکة as الکثرۃ فی کل خیر (abundance in every goodness and virtue). When the Quran is said to be مُبَارَك , the meaning is that it is a source of abundant and eternal blessings) (LA).
أُمَّ ٱلۡقُرَىٰ – It is the name of Makkah and it is so called because of a tradition that the entire earth was spread from under it (R), that is, it is the center of the earth. Its literal meaning is that it is the mother of all habitations and not just of Arabian habitations. It is called mother because it is the source of religious nutrition for the entire world and it is the direction in which people turn in prayer all over the world, that is it is the qibla for the whole world. Further, people gather towards it like children gather around their mother. Geographically it is in the center of the old world, and the new world is below it on the other side of the globe. So, the meaning that Imam Raghib has assigned is true in a literal sense as well. By أُمَّ ٱلۡقُرَىٰ here is meant its inhabitants.
مَنۡ حَوۡلَهَاۚ – When Makkah is the center of habitations, it is obvious that مَنۡ حَوۡلَهَاۚ is the rest of the world which is around it.
The excellence of the Quran over other revealed Books: Some other aspects of the excellence of the Quran are mentioned here. First, that it is مُبَارَك or blessed, meaning that its beneficence is everlasting unlike the previous Books whose blessings have terminated. The purport of calling the Quran as blessed while comparing it with the Torah, Gospel or any other scripture is that its blessings are eternal. Second, it authenticates the previous Books, and third, it is sent for the whole world as is obvious from أُمَّ ٱلۡقُرَىٰ وَمَنۡ حَوۡلَهَا (mother of the towns and those around her).
It is also made known that those who believe in the Hereafter cannot deny the Quran. Only those will reject it who are only devoted to this earthly life and are so engaged in worldly pursuits that they have no time to consider how to achieve human perfection which is the real purpose of belief in the Hereafter.
6-93 And who is more unjust than he who forges a lie against Allah, or says, Revelation has been granted to me; while nothing has been revealed to him; and he who says: I can reveal the like of that which Allah has revealed?a And if thou couldst see when the wrongdoers are in the agonies of death and the angels stretch forth their hands, (saying): Yield up your souls. This day you are awarded a chastisement of disgrace because you spoke against Allah other than truth, and (because) you scorned His messages.b
وَمَنۡ أَظۡلَمُ مِمَّنِ ٱفۡتَرَىٰ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًا أَوۡ قَالَ أُوحِىَ إِلَىَّ وَلَمۡ يُوحَ إِلَيۡهِ شَىۡءٌ۬ وَمَن قَالَ سَأُنزِلُ مِثۡلَ مَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُۗ وَلَوۡ تَرَىٰٓ إِذِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ فِى غَمَرَٲتِ ٱلۡمَوۡتِ وَٱلۡمَلَـٰٓٮِٕكَةُ بَاسِطُوٓاْ أَيۡدِيهِمۡ أَخۡرِجُوٓاْ أَنفُسَڪُمُۖ ٱلۡيَوۡمَ تُجۡزَوۡنَ عَذَابَ ٱلۡهُونِ بِمَا كُنتُمۡ تَقُولُونَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ غَيۡرَ ٱلۡحَقِّ وَكُنتُمۡ عَنۡ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ تَسۡتَكۡبِرُونَ (٩٣)
6-93a: Different opponents of the Holy Prophet: This is a list of the different stances of the Holy Prophet’s opponents. Some had polytheistic tenets in their articles of faith and some like Christians attributed a false doctrine to God. All this constitutes forging a lie against Allah. Some opponents of the Holy Prophet made false claims of being prophets or of receiving revelation or of being soothsayers. Some, like Nadr ibn Al Harith, said that they could write the like of the revelation in the Quran. In another place, their saying is given as: لَوۡ نَشَآءُ لَقُلۡنَا مِثۡلَ هَـٰذَآ (If we wished we could say the like of it) (8:31). Some commentators have narrated a hadith here about Abd Allah ibn Saad ibn Abi al-Sarah, a scribe of the Holy Prophet. When the Holy Prophet was dictating to him the revelation from Surah Al-Muminun: وَلَقَدۡ خَلَقۡنَا ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ مِن سُلَـٰلَةٍ۬ مِّن طِينٍ۬ ….. ثُمَّ أَنشَأۡنَـٰهُ خَلۡقًا ءَاخَرَۚ (And certainly We created man of an extract of clay….then We cause it to grow into another creation) (23:12-14), Abd Allah was so amazed at this description that he cried out: فَتَبَارَكَ ٱللَّهُ أَحۡسَنُ ٱلۡخَـٰلِقِينَ (So blessed be Allah, the Best of Creators) and these were the very words that followed the above cited revelation. This caused him to lose confidence in the authenticity of revelation and he apostatized. However, this narration is untrustworthy.
6-93b: غَمَرَٲتِ – The literal meaning of غمر is to remove the effect of something and غَمۡرۃ is a large amount of water that fully covers its place of rest. Derived from this is the use of غمرۃ to mean ignorance, as in: ٱلَّذِينَ هُمۡ فِى غَمۡرَةٍ۬ سَاهُونَ (Who are in an abyss, neglectful) (51:11) and فَذَرۡهُمۡ فِى غَمۡرَتِهِمۡ (So leave them in their ignorance) (23:54). The agony of death is also called غمرات (R).
أَخۡرِجُوٓاْ أَنفُسَڪُمُۖ (Yield up your soul) – This is not a command but only a mention of the harshness of death because the disbelievers love the worldly life greatly and are so regretful of the time they wasted that they do not want that their soul to be taken. A Muslim does not grieve at the time of death because he is hopeful of a meeting with Allah.
6-94 And certainly you have come to Us one by one as We created you at first, and you have left behind your backs what We gave you. And We see not with you your intercessors about whom you asserted that they were (Allah’s) associates in respect to you. Certainly the ties between you are now cut off and that which you asserted has failed you.a
وَلَقَدۡ جِئۡتُمُونَا فُرَٲدَىٰ كَمَا خَلَقۡنَـٰكُمۡ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ۬ وَتَرَكۡتُم مَّا خَوَّلۡنَـٰكُمۡ وَرَآءَ ظُهُورِڪُمۡۖ وَمَا نَرَىٰ مَعَكُمۡ شُفَعَآءَكُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ زَعَمۡتُمۡ أَنَّہُمۡ فِيكُمۡ شُرَكَـٰٓؤُاْۚ لَقَد تَّقَطَّعَ بَيۡنَكُمۡ وَضَلَّ عَنڪُم مَّا كُنتُمۡ تَزۡعُمُونَ (٩٤)
6-94a: فُرَٲدَى – It is the plural of فریدا and فَرۡد , and فَرۡد is one with whom no outsider meets, as in رَبِّ لَا تَذَرۡنِى فَرۡدً۬ا (My Lord! Leave me not alone) (21:89).
خوّلنا – خَوَل means property or possessions, and تخویل means grant of these things which need to be looked after (R).
تَّقَطَّعَ بَيۡنَكُمۡ – It can be translated both as: وقع التقطع بینکم (severance took place between you) and تقطع وصلکم بینکم (the ties that existed between you are cut off).
The information imparted here is that the final responsibility is individual. The wealth and property in pursuance of which one abandons God is all left behind and one will be all alone without any companion when the reckoning comes. The ties between the leaders and followers will be severed and those for whose benefit one committed evil acts will not be along to help.
Bayan-ul-Quran 