al-Quran | Page 404 | Juz 21 | Surah 29 Ayat 64 – 69 | Sheikh Muhammad Siddiq al-Minshawi المنشاوي

Tafsir: The real reason for a man going astray is that he is so completely engrossed in the glamour and problems of the world that he cannot rise above them and think independently. In order to arrive at the Truth, one has to raise oneself above external and superficial appearances. Most of the people cannot do so, and that is why they do not find the Truth. In the world, time and again, man has experiences which remind him of his helplessness. At that time all his conditioning fall away from him and the real and natural man in him is awakened. But as soon as conditions return again to normal, he becomes as neglectful and arrogant as before. Among these crucial experiences is that of a voyage, which is mentioned in the verse. Man should know that the chance to exercise freedom is given to him during this life for only a few days. After death, he will have to face a completely new world with a completely different set of problems. The Sacred House of Makkah, i.e. the Kabah, is a wonderful gift of Almighty God. God fills the hearts of people with awe whenever they see it, so that even the overbearing and arrogant drop their evil ways on reaching there. This sanctity of the Kabah was one of the signs of God’s power. It called for people to open their hearts to God. But what the worshippers of falsehood did was to ascribe God’s attributes to entities other than God and wrongly divert people’s instinct of devotion towards them. But even worse, when the Prophet Muhammad advised them to renounce the imaginary gods and bow down before the one real God, they became hostile to him. In such an atmosphere the loss suffered by the believers in the world is more than made up for by the rewards bestowed on them by God. Distancing themselves from material comforts, they come closer to the state of spiritual experience. The outward glitter of things is no longer in view, but the inner realities of things are laid bare to them.