Surah an-Nahl (The Bee ) 16 : 28

Overview (Verses 26 - 29)

A Wicked Campaign

Ibn Abī Ĥātim reports: “The elders of the Quraysh met for consultation. Some of them said: ‘Muĥammad is a man of fine argument. If he speaks to a man, he soon gets hold of him. Therefore, select some of your most honourable people, whose lines of ancestry are well known. Let them take their positions at every route into Makkah, at one or two day’s distance, so that they turn away anyone who comes to meet Muĥammad.’ People did just that. If any of them met a man sent by his people to find out about Muĥammad, he would introduce himself to him, telling him his position among his people. He would then offer to tell him about the Prophet, saying, ‘He is a liar who has been followed only by slaves and ignorant people, and those who are good for nothing. All wise men among his people have taken a clear stand against him.’ This would be enough to turn many people away. It is to this that God refers in the verse stating: “Whenever they are asked, ‘What has your Lord bestowed from on high?’ they say: Fables of the ancients!’” (Verse 24)

“On the other hand, if the man sent to find out about the Prophet is one to whom God has given insight, he would say: ‘I am certainly a bad intelligence gatherer if, having reached so close, I am to return now without meeting this man and listening to what he says in order to give my people a true picture of him.’ He would insist on going into Makkah, where he would meet the believers and where they would tell him that all that Muĥammad says is good and fine.”

This was a well orchestrated propaganda campaign mounted by the Quraysh against Islam. A similar campaign is organized in every generation by arrogant people who do not wish to submit to the truth despite all the evidence supporting it. Indeed the arrogant among the Quraysh were not the first to deny the truth or to scheme against it. The sūrah draws for them a picture of the fate suffered by schemers before them, and their destiny in the hereafter. It shows them what they endure from the moment their souls part with their bodies until they receive their punishment in the life to come. All this is depicted in vivid images, following the inimitable style of the Qur’ān:

Those who lived before them also schemed. But God struck their edifice at its foundation, and its roof fell in upon them from above, and suffering befell them from where they did not perceive. Then, on the Day of Resurrection He will cover them with ignominy, and say: ‘Where are those alleged partners of Mine concerning whom you have engaged in dispute?’ Those who are endowed with knowledge will say: ‘Ignominy and misery shall this day befall the unbelievers, those whom the angels have gathered in death while they are still wronging themselves.’ These will then offer their submission, saying: ‘We have done no wrong!’ [They will be answered]: ‘Yes, indeed. God has full knowledge of all that you were doing! Enter the gates of hell, where you shall abide.’ Evil indeed is the abode of the arrogant! (Verses 26-29) “Those who lived before them also schemed.” (Verse 26) The sūrah paints their scheming as though it was a building with foundations, corners, ceiling and roof, which implies that it was a massive and well designed plot. But nothing can stand up to God’s might: “But God struck their edifice at its foundation, and its roof fell in upon them from above.” (Verse 26) This paints a picture of total destruction, overtaking them from beneath their feet and above their heads. The foundations supporting the building collapse, and the roof falls down burying them. “And suffering befell them from where they did not perceive.” (Verse 26) Thus the building they very carefully constructed to provide them with shelter becomes their burial ground as they are overwhelmed from every direction. Little did they think that what they built for shelter would become the instrument of their own destruction.

The image we have here is one of complete destruction. This is the perfect irony directed at those who scheme and plot against God’s message, believing that their scheming is too strong and elaborate to ever be foiled. But God’s own scheming is far too weighty for them to oppose. This scene is often repeated. The Quraysh were not the first to take this stand, nor would they be the last. On the other hand, God’s message goes on along its clear way, no matter what the plotters devise. People turn around from time to time, and they see that highly effective scene portrayed by the Qur’ān: “But God struck their edifice at its foundation, and its roof fell in upon them from above, and suffering befell them from where they did not perceive.” (Verse 26)

All this takes place in the present life on earth. But there is something else beyond: “Then, on the Day of Resurrection He will cover them with ignominy, and say: ‘Where are those alleged partners of Mine concerning whom you have engaged in dispute?” (Verse 27) This is now a scene of the hereafter, where we see the plotters stand up in shame, and when their arrogance and scheming is no longer of any use to them. They stand in front of the One to whom all creation and all authority belong. He will rebuke them, asking: “Where are those alleged partners of Mine concerning whom you have engaged in dispute?” You were keen to dispute with My Messenger and his followers who acknowledged My oneness, claiming that your false deities were My partners. Where are they now?

In their shame and humiliation, they will remain silent. On the other hand, those endowed with knowledge, angels, messengers and true believers, whom God permits to speak, will say plainly and forcefully: “Ignominy and misery shall this day befall the unbelievers.” (Verse 27)

Now they are taken a step backwards, and described at the moment they face death. “Ignominy and misery shall this day befall the unbelievers, those whom the angels have gathered in death while they are still wronging themselves.” (Verses 27-28) The angels are gathering their souls which they themselves have wronged by depriving themselves of the light and reassurance of faith. By their own actions they have brought about their own ruin, and now they have to suffer punishment in hell.

The sūrah paints their position at the moment of their death, when they are still close to earth and to all the falsehood they asserted here, and all their evil scheming: “These will then offer their submission, saying: ‘We have done no wrong!’” (Verse 28) Those who used to revel in their arrogance are now submissive, unable to contend. They offer complete submission! But at the same time they lie. This may be an aspect of their plotting in this life as they submissively say: “We have done no wrong!”

Yet the answer comes to them straightaway from God who knows their true reality: “Yes, indeed. God has full knowledge of all that you were doing!” (Verse 28) There is no room now for lies or deception. They have to suffer the fate of all arrogant peoples who deny the truth: “Enter the gates of hell, where you shall abide. Evil indeed is the abode of the arrogant!” (Verse 29)