Read the Quran Chapter 15 English

15:1-5
The freedom enjoyed by man will last only for the duration of the period of testing. This is a very critical issue. If a man seriously thinks this problem over, he will feel that the period which is going to end tomorrow has, as it were, ended today itself. This thought will shake him terribly. But man lives his life in ‘today’. He does not pay attention to ‘tomorrow’. Reality lies exposed before him, but he remains engrossed in wishful thinking. He seeks out some imaginary supports of his own devising and thinks that they will help him on the Day of Judgement. But such wishful thinking will not come to his rescue when the period of testing is over and God’s angels come to take him away from the world of trial to the world of retribution. At a time like this, he starts remembering the occasions when he had tried to reject a genuine argument by mouthing false words; when he had ignored the voice of his conscience and followed the desires of the self; when purely out of self-interest he had ignored the divine preacher of truth, in spite of seeing glimpses of God in him. When he sees that no device of his has been of any avail, he will say, ‘Alas! I should not have done what I have done! I should have adopted the way of one who surrenders to the Truth instead of the way of one who rejects the Truth.’
15:6
The Quran.

15:7-8
The addressees of the Prophet Muhammad suspected him of being mad. What was the reason for this? The reason for this was his declaration that he was a representative of God; that one who accepted his word would be successful, while one who did not would remain a failure. But the addressees themselves actually perceived things to be just the opposite. They were of the view that the prevalent system had bestowed the position of leadership on them. On the contrary, the Prophet, due to his being a preacher of an unconventional religion, was a stranger and a man without a status in the prevalent system. Because of these apparent shortcomings, the addressees were emboldened to say that he (the Prophet) appeared to them to be a madman. They said, ‘God has given us all kinds of worldly glories, yet still you say that success lies with you and your supporters.’ But such thinking was caused by a difference in perception. The addressees regarded whatever was material in their possession as ‘rewards’, though all of these things were simply a means of trial, given to all and sundry on a temporary basis. They also used to say, ‘You claim that the angels of God come to you. Then why are these angels not visible to us?’ This comment too was due to a difference of point of view. An angel who comes to a prophet is the angel of revelation. He brings God’s words to the prophet. Besides this angel there are other angels of God who come to the people in order to uncover the reality to them. But they come after the process of conveying the truth to the people is over. And when they come, it is the time for judgement and not the time for calling people to the faith.
15:9
The Quran.

15:10-15
God’s prophets were scoffed at in every age. The reason for this was that people judged their worth as representatives of God by self-devised, imaginary standards. The contemporary prophets did not appear to match up to the said standards, and so were dismissed as objects of ridicule. In order to discover a new reality, it is necessary for a man to think with an open mind and be prepared to form an opinion purely on the basis of facts. Those who reject the truth do so mostly because the truth appears to them strange in relation to their own familiar standards. Over a long period of time those familiar standards permeate their hearts to such an extent that it becomes impossible for them to think of accepting alternatives. Till the last moment they are unable to emerge from the sphere familiar to them and recognize the truth. The result of this attitude in communities was that the people belonging to them, in spite of being shown miracles, did not embrace the faith. Once they judged a prophet to be an ordinary man, basing their opinion on purely material factors, the person so judged could never be anything more than ordinary in their eyes. Even if he performed supernatural feats in front of them, their ideas were so rooted in the earlier traditions that he went on seeming unimportant, and so they would hold that his feats were just magic or some optical illusion and not a proof of his being a representative of God.
15:16
This does not refer simply to the wonderful appearance of the sky at night. There are innumerable stars spread out in the universe, grouped in clusters, called constellations. Our own constellation is called the ‘Milky Way.’ During the night, when the atmosphere is free of clouds, dust, etc., when one stands on open ground and casts a glance at the sky, the array of twinkling stars in the vastness of the heavens is so wonderfully glorious that, on seeing it, man becomes overwhelmed by the feeling of God’s greatness and majesty. Those who used to tell the Prophet he should show an angel descending from heaven were asked, ‘Is the scene of the stars in the sky shown to you every day not enough to awaken your consciousness and is it not enough to melt your hearts? Must you then demand further miracles?’

15:17-18
Satan too has been allowed to settle along with human beings on the earth. Here, he enjoys full freedom to go wherever he likes. But in God’s world beyond this earth, insurmountable hindrances have been placed in the path of Satan, so that he is unable to go beyond a certain limit.

15:19-20
When initially deep seas and oceans were created on the earth, high hills emerged at various places on the earth in order to balance them. After this, vegetation and animals came into existence and flourished in profusion, each one of them having a great capacity to grow. But it is clear that there is a fixed measure for everything. Everything goes on growing but, at a certain limit, it stops; it is not able to go on any further. For instance, plants and trees have such an immense capacity for reproducing themselves that if one plant were allowed to grow in accordance with its internal capacity and without any restriction, within a few years that same plant would be seen covering the whole surface of the earth and there would be no room for anything else. But it is clear that there is a powerful Organizer, Who has control over everything. The same is true of animals. They too, have an unlimited capacity for procreation, but the number of offspring produced by each stops after reaching a certain limit. Similarly, the animals have the capacity to grow in size, but only to a certain degree. If a tiny fly were allowed to grow without restriction, it would be equal in size to an elephant. But natural control restricts its size to a certain limit. If the growth of these things was not restricted to certain limits, the life of man on this earth would be impossible. Human beings require innumerable things for their sustenance and for civilization to develop. All these things have been made available on earth in exact accord with human needs. The provision for all these things and the assurance of their continued existence is of God’s devising. If we were required to provide sustenance for ourselves, we would find it well-nigh impossible to do so.

15:21-22
The principle of keeping within limits is inherent in all the things of the universe. The wind, although sometimes developing into a gale or a tornado, never exceeds certain limits. Except for minor variations due to its elliptical orbit, the distance of the earth from the sun remains constant. If the earth were to move further away, it would become frozen like ice. If it were to come nearer the sun, it would become like a burning oven. The pull of gravity remains at the most suitable level. Had the size of the earth been double, its gravitational pull would have increased so much that man would have found it difficult to walk on the earth, as his weight would have pulled him down. And had the size of the earth been half of what it is now, its gravitational pull would have decreased to such an extent that man and his dwellings would have become too light to have any stability. This is the condition of all those things amongst which man lives. There are fixed parameters for everything: natural phenomena go neither above nor below fixed limits. The life of man and all living things on earth depend on water. From the underground reservoirs of water to the clouds spread throughout the atmosphere, the system of providing water is so complex and functions on such a large scale that its establishment could never be within the powers of man. This wonderful and gigantic arrangement is continuously maintained by God in exact accordance with human needs. The human being is an extremely delicate creature. Any difference in atmospheric pressure and composition would be enough to upset his existence. The atmosphere, in spite of having innumerable possibilities, is stable as regards its particular composition and pressure which are suitable for a creature like a human being. This balance and this proportion could not have been accidental. Certainly, this is so thanks to the earth’s most Majestic Creator and Sustainer. In view of this, one who does not accept God, or believes God to have partners, merely proves his own lack of reason and not the unreasonableness of the concept of the one God.

15:23-25
The settling of human beings in the world and then their being taken away from here are events which occur at the behest of God. Had this been dependent on the will of man, he could never have come here and after coming here, he would never have gone on to the world of the Hereafter. This also proves that before the creation of human beings, heaven and earth belonged to God and thereafter they will also belong to God. There are innumerable things on earth, but everything has its own individuality. Everything performs the special role assigned to it. This proves that the Creator of the earth has knowledge of each and every thing. He has allocated a particular function to everything, so much so that the thumb impression of one man is different from that of any other man. For such a Powerful and Knowledgeable Being (that is, God) it is not difficult to keep every man’s reckoning separately and deal with him in exactly the way he deserves to be treated.

15:26-27
The existence of man is a combination of two things—one is body and the other is soul. The body is totally made up of materials of the earth. The analysis of the body shows that it consists of the same elements that are commonly known as water and earth. In other words, as far as the body is concerned, man is the name of a completely lifeless and unaware existence. But when God infuses a soul into it through His Will, this very body suddenly becomes the possessor of such capacities as are not found in any other creation in the known universe. The other creatures here on earth are known as ‘jinn’. The jinn, rivals of human beings, are made out of fire. They are fiery creatures, and just as the earth keeps itself away from the fiery sun, so that it should not burn out, similarly, man should keep himself away from the jinn, otherwise they will scorch him in the spheres of morality and religion.

15:28-34
Satan’s ostensible reason for not prostrating himself was that a human being was lower in status than he. But, in fact, the real reason was Satan’s own inferiority complex. He resented it that all creatures were not made to honour him by prostrating themselves before him, as they did before Adam, considering that he had been created before Adam, a human being, whom he considered inferior to himself. He could not agree to pay homage to an undeserving being. It is this type of pride and envy which are collectively at the root of all evils. In the present world such circumstances confront man again and again. One who does not become envious on such occasions has, in effect, followed the example of the angels and one who becomes a victim of envy has, in effect, followed Satan.

15:35-38
The turn of events after the creation of the first human made Satan the permanent enemy of humanity. Now, till Doomsday, man is within the range of Satan’s evil. It is imperative that man should be vigilant against the fraudulence of Satan. It is in this present world that the decision is taken about both a man’s success and his failure.

15:39-40
An opportunity was presented to Satan to take a test and he failed in it. Now the best course would have been to admit his failure. Instead of that he levelled allegations against God, that whatever He had done was meant to misguide him. He wanted to blame God for that which had proved his own weakness. To blame others for one’s defeat amounts to following this characteristic of Satan. The reason given by Satan for refusing to prostrate himself before a human being was that the human being was made from earth, while he (Satan) had been made from fire. There is no particular reason to believe that fire is superior to earth. But according to Satan’s way of thinking, earth became contemptible and fire became a thing of a higher grade. This is known as glorification (taz’in). This is a psychological error and not a rational stand. Instead of admitting his mistake, Satan decided that he would make others commit the same mistake; that he would make all human beings suffer from that psychological weakness of which he himself was a victim. Satan said that he would misguide all except the selected servants of God. And who are these selected servants of God? They are those who have adopted the straight path commanded by God, that is, the path of submission. In other words, Satan would not be successful in leading astray those men and women who have realised their real position, that is, a position of total helplessness in comparison to that of the All-Powerful God.

15:41-44
According to Mujahid, Hassan and Qatada, the meaning of ‘straight path’ is reported to be the ‘way of Truth’, which leads towards God and ends there. (Tafsir ibn Kathir). If a man adopts the path of polytheism, that path will not let him reach God but will lead towards the supposed partners of God. If he adopts the way of arrogance, his goal will be his own self. If he leads an unrestricted life, he will wander aimlessly hither and thither; his journey never leading to God. But if a man makes God his entire centre of attention and, considering Him everything, lives his life focused on God, it is quite natural that his journey should carry him towards God and that finally he should reach God. God is All-Powerful and man is totally powerless. So there can be only one true relationship between God and His subject and that is one of man’s subordination. Adopting the way of subordination to God is the means of establishing a perfect relationship with God, and Satan has no power over one who has done so. One who does not do so develops a relationship with Satan. Then he follows the suggestions of Satan, to such an extent that he reaches that very place where Satan is finally destined to arrive. Hell, which is the final destination of Satan and his companions, consists of seven stages. Ikrama says seven gates means seven stages. (Tafsir ibn Kathir). People consigned to Hell will be divided into seven big groups according to their different deeds and, on that basis, they will find a place in one of the seven sections of hell.

15:45-50
The life of Paradise will be a life without fear. Only those who were mindful of God in this world will be considered eligible for this life. The fear of God in the present world is the price of a life without fear in the Hereafter. Mutual ill-will is of two types: one is due to arrogance and the other is due to misunderstanding. Engendering ill-will or enmity out of sheer arrogance is the greatest social evil. The people of the Faith should put an end to it in this very world itself. Those who do not do so incur the risk of Hell in the Hereafter. The type of ill-will which occurs due to misunderstanding, sometimes comes to an end, but sometimes, in spite of sincerity on both sides, continues till the very end. This second type of ill-will will completely end in the Hereafter, because the Hereafter is the world where realities are laid completely bare. When all the realities are unveiled before a sincere man, he will have no further reason to entertain feelings of ill-will against his brother. The life of Paradise is so aesthetic and refined that one cannot imagine it in the present world. However, the pleasures and luxuries of the present world are a preliminary introduction to the ensuing world of pleasures and luxuries. When this introduction to Paradise is so pleasing, one can imagine how pleasing Paradise itself is going to be. A man may accumulate all kinds of pleasure-giving things and luxuries in the world; but even then, various kinds of unpleasantness make all his accumulation meaningless. Paradise, however, is a place where pleasures and luxuries will be free of all unpleasantness. It is recorded in a tradition of the Prophet Muhammad that the people of Paradise will be told, ‘Now, you will always be healthy and will never be ill; now, you will be alive for ever and will never die; now you will always be young and you will never grow old; now you will always be here and you will never have to leave this place.’

15:51-56
Angels visited Abraham in the shape of human beings. In an exchange of questions and answers, they said that they had come with the command of God. What was this command for which the angels had come to Abraham? This was the good news of an extra-ordinary reward which could not be expected under ordinary circumstances. When God wants to confer an extraordinary benefit on man, He sends His special angel to him in order to accomplish the task. Angels of this kind come to prophets as well as to ordinary mortals. The difference is that when a prophet is visited by angels, he sees them and consciously grasps that those are angels, but ordinary men do not have this kind of certain knowledge or consciousness. However, the close proximity of angels may evoke unusual feelings in him. Such feelings can convey hints of the fact that at that time he is possibly in the company of the special angels sent by God.

15:57-60
Abraham was living in Palestine along the coast of the Dead Sea. His nephew, Lot, lived nearby. He preached the word of God to the people settled in this area, but they were not willing to reform themselves. Their arrogance went on increasing, so much so that God decided that they should be destroyed. These angels had come to carry out God’s will. Probably nobody, except for a few family members of Lot, had embraced the Faith at his instance. It is very difficult for those who are not members of the missionary’s household to accept him, because, for them, so many psychological impediments come in the way. However, for his own blood relations, such impediments do not exist. So, they rally the more easily to his cause. This is what happened in the case of Lot. Probably, only his daughters embraced the Faith in response to his call. The special relationship which children have with their father inclines them to listen to his call. These girls were therefore saved along with Lot. But, his wife could not become a believer from the bottom of her heart. So she was killed along with other guilty persons. In the Law of God, no concession is given to anybody.

15:61-66
It was one command with which the angels had gone to Abraham. It was another command with which they reached Lot. The first command was in the shape of a special gift from God and the second one was in the shape of God’s special punishment. Those angels had come to Lot in the shape of human beings. Their task was to carry into effect God’s verdict upon the prophet’s rejectors. According to the angels’ advice, Lot along with other people of the Faith, left the town in the darkness of the night. Thereafter, in the early morning the whole area was devastated by the explosions of a severe earthquake. All the deniers were summarily killed. Where did this devastation take place? It took place in this very world which they had considered their own world; in which all appeared to them their comrades and supporters. That very plan which a man considered his key to success becomes an instrument of destruction for him, if God so commands. That very palace of which a man is so proud is turned into a ruin, like a heap of debris descending upon him.

15:67-69
The angels who went to the town of Lot’s community took the shape of extremely handsome youths. This was like the last examination paper to test this community which was steeped in debauchery. In their overweening arrogance, they made a rush towards these youths with the intention of molesting them, as usual. But they did not know that those they looked upon as charming youths were, in fact, the angels of punishment who had come only to leave them disgraced and dishonoured.

15:70-71
This means that ‘here are the young girls of the city for you to marry’. When Lot saw that, in spite of his opposition, the rogues were rushing upon his guests, he said, ‘For God’s sake! Please don’t dishonour me in the eyes of my guests. If at all you want to do something, here are the daughters of the community. You can marry any of them you like.’

15:72-77
Why did the community of Lot go beyond all limits of arrogance? The reason for this was that they saw this matter in relation to Lot. Since they were more powerful than Lot, they thought that they could do anything they liked and there was nobody to prevent them. Had they seen this matter in relation to God, the situation would have been just the opposite. Then they would have come to know that their arrogance was absolutely ridiculous, because nobody has any standing before the power of God. As a consequence, early in the morning, they were struck by a severe storm of thunder and lightning. At the command of God, the winds started showering pebbles on the towns of Lot’s community (Sodom and Gomorrah). In a very short time, the whole community was destroyed. There is a lesson in this event for those who give it serious consideration, i.e. in this world one’s dealings in reality are with God and not with human beings. If a man realises this fact, all his arrogance will come to an end.

15:78-84
The people of the Wood, or al-Aykah, refers to the community of Shu‘ayb. The real name of this community was ‘Banu Madyan’ (the children of Madyan). These people were settled in the area presently known as Tabuk. The people of Hijr refers to the community of Thamud to whom Salih was sent as a prophet. This area was located to the north of Madinah. The arrogance of the people of al-Aykah not only made them polytheists but also pushed them into committing the worst moral crimes. When, in spite of Shu‘ayb’s admonition, they did not mend their ways, God commanded the earth. Thereafter, the earth which had been a cradle of comfort and luxury for them became a cradle of punishment. The community of Thamud were experts in the art of stone-carving. They had cut into the hills and had turned them into lovely dwellings. They thought that they had made complete provision for their safety. When they ignored the call of God, He gave a command and their magnificent dwellings turned into magnificent graves.

15:85-86
The study of heaven and earth reveals that the entire system is marked throughout by wisdom. Here everything is as it should be. In this entire system, only human beings set themselves up against reality. This contradiction between human beings and the universe implies that it must come to an end. From this point of view, belief in the Day of Judgement is absolutely rational and logical, because nothing other than the Day of Judgement can eliminate this contradiction. Graciously overlooking or turning away from others’ improper behaviour is an essential part of the preacher’s task in spreading the word of God. That is, when the addressee of his call starts some irrelevant discussion or picks a quarrel, politely ignoring him instead of answering him is the best policy. Without adopting this principle, the propagation of the word of God cannot be effectively performed.

15:87-93
The ‘seven oft-repeated verses’ refers to the first chapter of the Quran. It is the essence of the whole Quran, and the rest of the Quran is an elaboration upon it. Undoubtedly, the Quran is the greatest gift of God. Its being a book of guidance offers the guarantee of success in the Hereafter to its believers and its being the last book makes it essential that it should necessarily overcome its opponents, because if it does not prevail, it cannot exist as the last book. The preacher of God’s word should not be despondent over those who have not embraced the Faith, but should be satisfied looking at those who have embraced the Faith and devote his full attention to making them contented and giving them training. Fragmenting the Quran (the scriptures) means fragmenting the Torah. The ancient Jews had divided their holy scriptures into two parts. They used to leave out those teachings that went against the desires of the self, while those that were consistent with the wishes of the self were welcomed by them. The first type of verses were kept only as holy relics but were disregarded. Because these verses did not find favour with them, they did not propagate them, whereas they gave wide publicity to the other type of verses which were in consonance with their desires. In other words, they had made the Book of God subservient to their self-interest, instead of it being a means to encourage human beings to obey the commands of God. There are two ways of finding a thing. One is to find its parts and the other is to find it in its totality. When a man recognises a tree in its totality, he says: ‘This is a tree.’ But if he does not recognise it in its totality, he will mention its trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit. He will not be able to utter that one word, on uttering which different parts become rooted in one root and take the shape of one unit. The same is true of God’s Book. There are many different commandments in God’s Book. At the same time it has its totality and its central point. Those who are engrossed in God’s Book will find God’s Book in its totality. On the contrary, when those who are engrossed in themselves see God’s Book, it appears to them only as a collection of miscellaneous commandments. From these they pick and choose a part which suits their taste and condition and start laying stress upon it, as if only that was what mattered most. When the roots of a tree are watered, the water reaches all of their parts. Similarly, if the central aspect of God’s Book is revivified, the moment this happens, all the remaining parts come necessarily to life. As opposed to this, if some parts are selected to the exclusion of all others and much emphasis is laid on them, there can be a great deal of outward fanfare about this, but the real revival of religion does not take place, because its core features have been ignored. And the revival can take place only by reviving its central point.

15:94-99
In the present world, every man has been given the liberty to say or do as he likes. So, when the preacher starts urging his hearers to bow to God, many meaningless points are raised. People bring up different types of irrelevant issues to confuse the preacher (da‘i). On such occasions, it is necessary, for the preacher to turn away without taking any notice. If, on such occasions, he starts picking quarrels with people, he will not be able in any positive way to perform the tasks relating to his divine call of Truth. There is only one positive way for the preacher of Truth to follow and that is not to become involved with the mischief makers, but to announce in full detail the Truth as revealed to him. He should entrust to God every matter for which he himself has not enough strength to tackle. When the unfavourable conditions of the world trouble him, he should divert his attention towards the Hereafter. When the heedlessness of human beings annoys him, he should occupy himself with the remembrance of God. The way of a true preacher of God’s word, when he is overcome by woeful conditions, is to devote himself body and soul to God. Whatever he cannot get from human beings, he tries to obtain from God. He derives satisfaction or consolation from standing before God in prayer (salat). The burden on his heart is lightened by the shedding of tears. By engaging himself in whispers with God, he feels that he has gained whatever he wanted to gain.