Am khalaqoo assamawati wal-arda bal la yooqinoon (surah Tur: 36)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(52:36) Or is it they who created the heavens and the earth? No; the truth is that they lack sure faith. *28

Am khalaqus samaawaati wal ard; bal laa yooqinoon

*28) The questions asked before this were meant to make the disbelievers of Makkah realize that whatever they were saying to belie the Prophet Muhammad's claim to prophet hood was highly irrational. Now in this verse the question put before them is: "What is that in the message of the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace) which you find so embarrassing for yourselves? He just says that Allah is your Creator and you should only serve Him. Why are you annoyed at it? Are you your own creators? Or, has this vast Universe been created by you? If neither of these is true, and you admit that your Creator as well as the Creator of the Universe is Allah alone, why do you then feel angry with the person who tells you that Allah alone is worthy of your service and worship? What you should actually feel angry about is that you worship him who is not your Creator instead of Him Who is your real Creator. You admit with the tongue that Allah alone is your Creator as well as of the whole Universe, but if you really had faith in this, you would not have so maligned the person who was calling you to Allah's service . This was such a pungent and stinging question that it shook the polytheistic faith to the root. Bukhari and Muslim have related that after the Battle of Badr, Jubair bin Mut`im came to Madinah to negotiate release of the Quraish prisoners of war on behalf of the people of Makkah. The Holy Prophet at that time was leading the Maghrib Prayer, and he recited this Surah at-Tur in it. Mut`im himself has stated that when the Holy Prophet reached this place, his heart seemed to be leaving his breast. One main reason of his embracing Islam afterwards was that Islam had taken root in his heart on hearing these very verses on that day.