Volume 10 Surah 12 - 15 - Enjoy Islam

Ibrahīm (Abraham) | GRACE AND GRATITUDE
God’s favours and blessings. He also announced what God had promised them: “If
you are grateful, I shall certainly give you more; but if you are ungrateful, then My
punishment shall be severe indeed.” (Verse 7) He then related to them the history of
prophets with communities who refused to believe them. In fact he began this
narrative, but immediately disappeared to let the sūrah relate it with magnificent
theatre, culminating in the scene where the unbelievers listen to Satan giving them a
memorable lesson, which comes too late to be of any benefit.
Now the sūrah turns to the unbelievers among the Prophet Muĥammad’s
community, who have been given a long reel showing the great episodes of history.
These people have indeed been blessed with many favours granted to them by God.
One such major favour is the fact that God sent them a messenger to bring them out
of darkness into light, and to call on them to repent so that they might receive His
forgiveness. But they reject God’s blessings, and deny His message. The second part
of the sūrah starts then with an expression of amazement at such people who lead
their communities to destruction, just like those before them who led their followers
to hell.
It goes on to portray some of the aspects of God’s favours in one of the greatest
scenes of the universe. It then provides an example of thanksgiving by Abraham.
This example follows a clear order to the believers to offer prayers and be kind to
people as an aspect of thanksgiving. They must do so before a day comes when
wealth can no longer grow and no buying or selling can take place. As for the
unbelievers, they are not just forgotten. They are given respite until a day comes
when eyes are opened wide. God’s promise to His messengers will inevitably be
fulfilled, no matter what the unbelievers scheme against them. All this indicates that
the second part of the sūrah is in full harmony with the first, one complementing the
other.
Bartering away God’s Blessings
This passage begins with drawing attention to a highly singular state of affairs:
“Have you not seen those who have exchanged God’s blessings for unbelief and landed their
people in the House of Perdition, hell, which they will have to endure? How vile a place to
settle in! They set up false deities as equal to God, and so they lead people to stray from His
path. Say: ‘Enjoy yourselves [in this life], for you will surely end up in hell.’“ (Verses 28-30)
These are people who have been granted God’s blessings in the form of a prophet
sent to call on them to believe in God, and to lead them along the way to God’s
forgiveness of their sins, and to a heavenly destiny. Yet they abandon all this and
choose instead a state of unbelief. These, the Prophet is told, are the chiefs of his own
people who follow the same practice as the elders or the chiefs of most communities.
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