Overview (Verses 62 - 63)

Who Takes Care of Man?
 
Next, the sūrah tells them about themselves:
 
Or, who is it that responds to the one in distress when he calls out to Him, and who removes the ill, and makes you inherit the earth? Could there be any deity alongside God? Little do they reflect! (Verse 62)
 
As it tells them about their inner thoughts and real position, this verse speaks to peoples’ consciences. When a person finds himself in real distress, expecting little help from anywhere, he resorts to none other than God to remove his distress. This is especially so when the distress is too much to cope with; when the help one had been expecting from friends and relatives fails to materialize; when one looks around only to find oneself in a hopeless situation with no means of escape; when no power, not even one’s own, is able to do much to relieve one’s distress; when whatever one has prepared for hard times proves useless. In such a situation human nature wakes up and appeals to the only power that can provide help and support. Man then appeals to God, even though he had forgotten Him in times of ease and plenty.
 
It is only God, and none other, who responds to a person in distress and removes ill and hardship. It is God who restores security to such a person and removes all that has been afflicting him.
 
In times of ease and plenty people are oblivious of this fact. They try to find support and protection with some worldly power, flimsy as such may be. Yet when distress and hardship are too strong, their nature regains insight and they turn back to their Lord, seeking His forgiveness and support.
 
The Qur’ān directs stubborn opponents of faith to this fact that lies in their nature. It incorporates this with the indisputable facts of the universe, such as the creation of the heavens and earth, rain, plant growth, man’s firm abode on earth, the mountains, rivers and the barrier between river and sea water. That a person in distress appeals to God for help is also a fact of life which is no less true than any of these.
 
The sūrah continues to direct their feelings to realities in their life: “And makes you inherit the earth?” Who is it that allows people to take charge of the earth? It is God who initially placed mankind in charge of the earth, and then made them succeed one another, generation after generation. It is He who created them in accordance with laws of nature that allow their existence on earth, and granted them talents and abilities that prepare them for their great task of building life on earth. These laws make the earth what it is, providing them with a suitable abode, and produce harmony and complementarity in the whole universe so as to provide and maintain the balance that promotes life and ensures its continuity. Should any of the many existing conditions be disturbed, life on earth becomes impossible.
 
Besides, it is God who has determined life and death, to allow one generation to succeed another. Had earlier generations continued to live, the earth would be too small for them and their descendants. Life, civilization and thought would have become stale and slow, as the succession of generations promotes new thinking and experimenting. Had too many generations been allowed to live together, conflict and dispute would have increased exponentially.
 
All these are facts we find within the human soul, in the same way as the facts mentioned earlier exist in the universe. Who brought about their existence? “Could there be any deity alongside God?” (Verse 62) They certainly forget or choose to be oblivious. “Little do they reflect.” (Verse 62) Had man reflected on such facts, he would maintain his bond with God as it was originally. He would not have been oblivious of it, and he would never have associated partners with God.
 
The sūrah then refers to other indisputable facts that represent human life and activity on this planet:
 
Or, who is it that guides you in the midst of the deep darkness of land and sea, and sends forth the winds as heralds of His forthcoming grace? Could there be any deity alongside God? Sublimely exalted is God above anything they associate with Him. (Verse 63)
 
People, including the first community to be addressed by the Qur’ān, move along beaten tracks when they travel on land or by sea, and they try to discover the secrets of land and sea through experimentation. They are guided to their goals, but who guides them? Who has placed in them the powers of understanding and recognition? Who has enabled them to be guided by stars, other devices and landmarks? Who has established a link between their own nature and that of the universe, and between their powers and its secrets? Who has given their ears the ability to catch and recognize sound; and their eyes to receive light; their senses to perceive sensations? Who has given them the intelligent faculty we call “mind’ in order to benefit by what it receives, and to gather and build upon experience? “Could there be any deity alongside God?” (Verse 63)
 
“And who sends forth the winds as heralds of His forthcoming grace?” (Verse 63) Whatever may be said about the formation and causes of wind from scientific, atmospheric or geographical points of view, they remain part of the overall design of the universe. It is this design that allows the wind to travel, driving clouds from one place to another, promising rain which symbolizes God’s grace as it supports life. Who has made the world such that the winds bring tidings of forthcoming grace? “Could there be any deity alongside God? Sublimely exalted is God above anything they associate with Him.” (Verse 63)