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﴿57﴾ وَقَالُوا إِن نَتَّبِعِ الْهُدَي مَعَكَ نُتَخَطَّفْ مِنْ أَرْضِنَآ أَوَلَمْ نُمَكّـِن لَهُمْ حَرَماً ءَامِناً يُجْبَي إِلَيْهِ ثَمَرَاتُ كُلّ‌ِ شَيْءٍ رِزْقاً مِن لَدُنَّا وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ

57. “ And they say: ‘If we follow the guidance with you, we shall be driven out from our land.’ Have We not settled them in a secure sanctuary to which fruits of everything are drawn, as a provision from Us? But most of them do not know.”

Commentary:

A group of the pagans of Mecca once told the Prophet of Islam (p.b.u.h.) that if they accepted Islam, very soon they would be sent away from their home and, being homeless, they would be vagrant from their own life and living.

This statement, of course, is uttered by those persons who count the Might of Allah naught and the power of ignorant Arabs great. This statement is uttered by those who are not still acquainted with the depth of favours and helps of Allah and they do not know how He assists His friends and how He causes His enemies to fail. So, in answer to them, the Qur’ān says:

The Lord Who set a dry saline land, which had no trees and plants, as a secure sanctuary, and attracted the hearts to it

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so strongly that the best products from different parts of the world are brought towards it, has clearly shown His Power. The One Who has proved such a Might and has provided security and those abundant bounties in this land and every one sees their effects and have enjoyed of them for many years, how He is not able to protect them from the attack of a group of idolatrous Arabs.

When they were in infidelity, they were enjoying of these two great bounties of Allah: security and the merits of life, how is it possible that Allah deprives them from these bounties after Islam? They must be strong-hearted, stand firm and believe in Islam since the Lord of Ka‘bah and Mecca (s.w.t.) is with them.

The Qur’ānic term /yujbā/ (are drawn) is mentioned in the Arabic formof simple present tense. It denotes the continuation of actionin both the present and future; and now, after fourteen centuries,we witnessthe conceptof this statement that all kinds ofmerits arecontinuously drawntoward this sacred land. Those who go to Mecca see by their eyes that how this dry, hot, grassless land is full of kinds of the best bounties, so that there may not this affluence, from all points of views, be found so easily in any place of the world.

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