In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

After explaining who would succeed in the test of this worldly life and get rewarded, and who would fail therein and get punished, the Qur’aan addresses the entire mankind and throws them a challenge. This is the subject matter of Verses 21 to 24 of the 2nd Chapter of the Qur’aan. Let us study these Verses now.

Verse 2:21

Translation: O mankind! Worship your Lord Who has created you all and all those who lived before you, so that you become pious.

Commentary: To worship is to surrender oneself completely to the Will of the Master and obey His commands. And Allah (or call Him by any other good name) is the lone Master of mankind. Worshipping Him is the only way to become pious and get salvation from inevitable doom!

Verse 2:22

Translation: (Worship your Lord) Who made the earth suitable for you to live on and made the sky a (furnishing) canopy. And Who sends down water from the sky and then brings out therewith – from the produce – sustenance for you. Do not then knowingly install false rivals to Allah!

Commentary: What a devastatingly incontrovertible appeal – that too – from the Creator to the created!!

Verse 2:23

Translation: And if you are in doubt concerning what We have sent down unto Our Devotee, then come up with a Chapter like one thereof and call your witnesses – other than Allah – for your aid if you be truthful.

Commentary: This is an open divine challenge for those who entertain doubts in the divine authorship of the Qur’aan. The Book elsewhere gives a hint of what the challenge means: “Do they not then ponder over the Qur’aan? Had it been from someone other than Allah, they would surely have found therein many a contradiction.” [Q: 4:82]

Verse 2:24