540

﴿52﴾ بَلْ يُرِيدُ كُلُّ امْرِئٍ مِّنْهُمْ أَن يُؤْتَي صُحُفاً مُنَشَّرَةً
﴿53﴾ كَلَّا بَل لاَّ يَخَافُونَ الْآخِرَةَ
﴿54﴾ كَلَّا إِنَّهُ تَذْكِرَةٌ
﴿55﴾ فَمَن شَاءَ ذَكَرَهُ

52. Nay, everyone of them desires that he should receive separate letters [from God Almighty].
53. Nay! But it [The Qur’an] is but a reminder [to them].
54. But whoever desires may find admonitions in it,
55. So whoever desires may receive admonitions!

Exegesis

The blessed Verses in question say that notwithstanding their dire ignorance, they are so arrogant that they expect to receive separate letters from God Almighty. The Arabic nominal form suhuf is the plural of sahīfa implying a page which is turned over. The same theme is to be found elsewhere in the Holy Qur’an: "And even then we will put no faith in your ascension until you bring down for us an epistle that we would read" (17:93); "We shall not believe until we receive the like of that which the Messengers of Allah had received" (6:124).

Therefore, each of them expected to be an Arch-prophet and some Book be revealed unto them by God Almighty from the heaven. The point is that even if such Book had been revealed unto them, they would not have surely believed. According to some traditions, Abū Jahl and some other people from Quraysh said: "O Muhammad! We will not believe in you unless you bring us some Book from the heaven opening with: 'From God, the Lord of the worlds to so and so son of so and so' clearly specifying that

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we believe in you."[1]

Thus, the following blessed Verse further says that it is not like what they say, since the Heavenly Book being revealed unto them and the like of which are nothing but pretexts. They truly do not fear the Hereafter. Had they been afraid of the torments in the Hereafter, they would not have resorted to such pretexts, denial of the Prophetic Call of Allah’s Messenger (SAW), and derision of Divine Verses and the number of the angels of torment in the Hereafter. The consequences of belief in the Hereafter and their effects in refraining from committing sins and purification from different kinds of grave sins are clearly reflected herein. The truth is that belief in the Day of Resurrection and the recompense of deeds lead to spiritual growth such that the arrogant, the irresponsible, and the wrong doing may turn into committed, God fearing, humble, and just people.

The blessed Verses 54 and 55 once again emphasize that what they imagine concerning the Holy Qur’an is untrue. The Holy Qur’an is a Reminder and whoever desires may find admonitions in it. The Qur’an is the Guide unto the Straight Path and provides man with insight and sun light, such that man may find his path unto Truth.