Overall meaning : Allah commands the faithful to uphold and observe all the laws of Islam and warns them against showing obedience to Satan, stating that he an outright enemy to them, and if they do obey him, he will surely lead them to utter destruction. If they stumble into error, he further warns, and deliberately oppose the laws and teachings of Islam and act contrary to them, thereby straying from the plain truth, they should know that nothing will prevent Allah from inflicting punishment on them; for He is capable of subjugating whomever He wills with His mighty power and punishing whomever He wills by virtue of His absolute wisdom.
Disapproving of those who slip into error and reject Prophet Muhammad’s message after the manifest signs have come to them, Allah Almighty warns that this act of theirs is tantamount to their awaiting the appointment for their own destruction, when the Lord, Glorified and Exalted be, will come on the Day of Judgement in the shadows of the clouds, and the angels will also come, so that He will judge them with His absolute justice, repay them for their unbelief and bring absolute ruin upon them.
Then Almighty Allah instructs His Prophet, Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to ask the Jews, by way of reproof and exhortation, about the numerous clear signs and proofs and the great miracles He had given them, all affirming and testifying to the truth their prophets and messengers brought them. However, they stubbornly rejected the truth and turned away from these signs. He then warns that those who choose unbelief instead of the blessing of Islam after it has reached them will suffer a severe punishment.
For the unbelievers, Allah states, the life of this world is decked with all manner of temptations and is painted in glowing colours, and so they content themselves with it and do not look beyond it, preferring it to the bliss in the hereafter. Worse still, they make fun of the believers for turning away from the worldly life and its splendour, utterly heedless of the fact that the real difference between them will be clearly manifested in the hereafter: those who do what Allah commands and avoid what he forbids will rank above them as they will be admitted into Paradise where they will enjoy whatever they desire; as for the unbelievers, they will be far below them in Hell, in perpetual torment and for all eternity. Allah will provide the righteous with His abundant bounty in Paradise without measure.
Since Adam, peace be upon him, Allah Almighty tells us, people had been united by one religion, namely Islam, and continued in this state for ten consecutive centuries, then they differed and disputed about religion, so much so that they started worshipping idols. Consequently, Allah sent prophets, the first of whom was Noah, peace be upon him, exhorting them to renounce unbelief, giving those who obeyed them the good news of eternal bliss and warning those who disobeyed them of punishment in Hell. With these prophets He sent down books with the truth, comprising truthful news and just commands, to decide between people regarding all their differences and to help them discern truth from falsehood and distinguish between right and wrong, so that people would have no excuse before Allah after having sent them messengers and books to convey His message to them. Although these books were revealed to bring those who had differed about religion into harmony, these people insisted on following their own direction without Allah’s guidance and, as a result, they also differed about them after learning beyond a shadow of a doubt that they contained nothing but the truth. They only disputed among themselves as a result of unjustly transgressing against themselves, but Allah guided the believers to the right path and helped them steadfastly adhere to the truth, which was contained in the Prophet’s Books. Allah Almighty Allah guides whomever He wills of His servants to the clear, straight path.
Then, addressing the faithful, Allah explains that they should not consider the way to Paradise free of difficulties and obstacles, but rather a rough and thorny path, fraught with obstacles, calamities and all types of trials and tribulations, stating that they will be afflicted with hardships as were the nations before them: the past nations, He points out, endured extreme poverty and hunger, suffered considerable distress, were afflicted with various ailments and their enemies subjected them to all manner of fear and apprehension, to the point that the messengers and those who believed along with them wondered when Allah’s help would come so they could have their hardships and sufferings alleviated. Allah Almighty assures His faithful servants that His help will inevitably come very soon.