Surah an-Nahl (The Bee ) 16 : 33

Explanatory Note

At the end of this scene with its two aspects of death and resurrection, the sūrah queries what the idolaters of the Quraysh are waiting for? Are they waiting for the angels to gather their souls, or for God’s command to resurrect them? For this is what happens to them on death and then on the day when resurrection takes place by God’s command. Yet they have a clear lesson in what happened to earlier communities. They have been shown two images delineating what happens to both parties:

Are they [who disbelieve] awaiting anything but for the angels to appear before them, or for your Lord’s command to come? Those before them did the same. It was not God who wronged them, but it was they who wronged themselves. The evil consequences of their misdeeds overtook them, and they were overwhelmed by the very thing they used to deride. (Verses 33-34)

The attitude of human beings is amazing. They see what happened to people of earlier generations who followed the same course they follow. But they do not take heed. They do not believe that what happened to earlier communities can happen to them. They do not realize that the laws of nature operate in accordance with a well defined pattern, and that premises lead to their natural conclusions, actions receive their just reward, and God’s law will not be suspended to appease anyone.

“It was not God who wronged them, but it was they who wronged themselves.” (Verse 33) God has given them the freedom of thought and choice. He has shown them all His signs placed in the universe around them and within their own souls, warning them against the consequences of their actions. He then left them to choose, and to bear the consequences of their own doings in accordance with His laws. Thus He has not wronged them in any way. Their fate is a case of action rebounding on the perpetrator.