وَتَجعَلونَ رِزقَكُم أَنَّكُم تُكَذِّبونَ
And make your share of it your denial?
EXEGESIS
Rizq (sustenance, provision) has a general encompassing meaning that is not limited to material sustenance or monetary income. It is anything that sustains one’s existence and strength. The sustenance of any being corresponds to its type of existence and its activities that are to be fuelled. It then follows that just as the sustenance of the angels consists of the praise and glorification of God, the sustenance of the disbelievers is their denial and refusal against the truth. That is what sustains their being and supports their wicked identity and actions.
There are a few possible meanings for this verse, of which more than one could be true: 1. The Quran is a rizq of God to you, but you treat it with denial. 2. You have constantly denied and defied this book, as if you have chosen denial and disbelief as your career and means of livelihood. You have developed a habit of denying this book due to not having an inner thirst for truth and guidance. 3. You deny the Quran lest you should lose your social status and superiority which has been a source of wealth and sustenance for you. Thus, you are choosing the denial of the truth as your means of sustenance. 4. As you are so interested in your material livelihood (rizq) and are eager to earn it, you should realise that you also have a spiritual share and sustenance that you should not neglect. In fact, that is your real rizq, for that is what ensures your eternal life and livelihood.
It has been narrated from Imam Ali (a) that he recited the verse as, ‘And [you] make your gratitude of it your denial’ and said: ‘This is the recitation of the Messenger of God (s).’ A similar narration has been reported from Imam al-Ṣādiq (a). If this attribution is true, it should be taken as an interpretation of the verse, and the statement, ‘This is the recitation of the Messenger of God’ means ‘This is what the Messenger of God meant in his recitation’. Thus, the disbelievers are being blamed for two things: 1. Taking the Quran lightly. 2. Being ungrateful to God’s bounties in general, or to the bounty of the Quran in particular.
EXPOSITION
When the disbelievers found the Prophet so persistent on his mission and call, they offered him to make alterations to the Quran (10:15), to make it easier, and give them exemptions: They are eager that you should be pliable, so that they [too] may be pliable [towards you] (68:9). However, one cannot go against the truth and the principles on the account of pliancy and lenience (see chapter 109). Do not follow their desires. Beware of them lest they should beguile you from part of what Allah has sent down to you (5:49). He is told to be steadfast, just as he has been commanded, and not to follow their desires (42:15).
Thus, these verses show surprise at those who were exposed to the sun but then they defiantly chose to shut their eyes and turn their backs to it: How would you be faithless while the signs of Allah are recited to you? (3:101); And who is a greater wrongdoer than him who fabricates falsehoods against Allah, while he is being summoned to Islam? And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing lot (61:7).
The biggest of the losers is none but the bat;
Against the sun it wants to combat!
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
There are many narrations and historical accounts concerning the circumstance and context of revelation of these verses. They all report that once, after a rain, some people attributed the rain to a certain star which was thought to be the source of rain. Then these verses, from verse 75 were revealed, rejecting those who deemed the stars as the source of their sustenance and rain. By this attribution, they were effectively denying the real source of their sustenance. The same attitude and mentality is found elsewhere in the Quran, where it describes how the people entreat God with sincerity at times of hardship, but when He gives them ease and blessing they ungratefully associate others with Him in His bounties (6:63-64, 7:189-190, 16:53-55).
Based on these accounts, these verses can be connected to verses 63-73, which concern the real source and means of blessings. They can also be connected to the following verses that talk about the real controller of death. However, what makes these narrations very weak and implausible is that they make the verses that talk about the Quran (verses 77-80) irrelevant and incongruous. What makes these narrations even less credible is that they implicate that these verses were revealed in Medina, and some of them explicitly specify the name of the military campaign and expedition in which these verses were revealed. Perhaps a middle course is to say that these verses may have been recited in those circumstances as an answer to what had occurred. Thus, these narrations describe some instances and applications of these verses, but not their original and primary context of revelation.
[1] Sadra, 7/117-118.
[2] Kashif, 7/234; Mizan, 19/138; Furqan, 28/108.
[3] Murtaza Alidina, series of lectures on the exegesis of Sūrat al-Wāqiʿah, available at <http://www.dartabligh.org >.
[4] Razi, 29/434.
[5] Nahj, sermon 83.
[6] Zamakhshari, 4/469.
[7] Daqaiq, 13/55.
[8] Rūmī, Mathnawī, vol. 3, line 3622.
[9] Suyuti, 6/162-164; Qurtubi, 18/229; Tabari, 27/120; Alusi, 14/156-157; Qummi, 2/340; Bukhari, 2/23.
[10] Alusi, 14/156-158.