Ar-Room (The Romans)

7. “They know (only) the appearance of the life of this world and they are heedless of the Hereafter.”

Being in the love of the materials of the world causes the negligence from Hereafter.

The world itself is not bad, but negligence from Hereafter is bad. This holy verse implies that these shortsighted people see only the outward of the life in this world but they are unaware of the hereafter and the end of the affairs.

It says:

“They know (only) the appearance of the life of this world and they are heedless of the Hereafter.”

Common people are only aware of the life of the world, and they have also sufficed to the outward of this life. A collection of amusements, some temporary pleasures, and vain imaginations have formed their understanding from the life of this world. The pride and negligence, which is hidden in this understanding, is not concealed to anyone.

If they only knew the inward and innate of the life of this world, too, it was enough for the recognition of the Hereafter, because enough care in this temporary life shows that it is a ring from a long circle of affairs and it is a stage out of a great and long way.

As the care upon the life of an embryo in its term shows that the final aim is not only this short life by itself, but it is a preliminary stage for a later vast life. Yes they see only the appearance of this life and are heedless of its content, its concepts, and what is in its inside.

It is interesting that here by the repetition of the Arabic pronoun /hum/ (they) the Holy Qur’an points to this fact that the people themselves are the cause of this negligence and heedlessness. It is just like that someone tells us “You neglected me from this thing”; and in answer to him we say: “You yourself neglected”. That is, you yourself were the cause of negligence.

At the end, one of the ways of proving the miracle of the Qur’an is the prediction of the Qur’an, one of which is clearly mentioned in these very verses. Through a few verses and with kinds of emphasis, the Qur’an informs of a great victory in a few later years for a defeated army and introduces it as a promise of Allah which never fails.

From one side, the Holy Qur’an predicts the reality of the victory itself, by saying:

“…but they, after being defeated, will soon be victorious.”1

From another side, it informs of another victory for the Muslims against the pagans simultaneous with it.

And, from the third side, the noble Qur’an declares that this event will happen in a few future years.

In the fourth side, with two emphases, the Qur’an confirms the decisiveness of the promise of Allah:

“(This victory is) Allah’s promise! Allah does not fail His promise…”2

The history indicates that it was before nine years that these two events happened: the Romans won a new separate war against Iranians, and at the same time the Muslims, by the peace of Hudaybiyyah (and according to a tradition in the Battle of Badr), obtained a considerable victory against the enemies.

Principally, the thought of a godly and faithful person is very different from that of a materialist or a polytheist.

A believer, according to his Monotheistic belief, thinks of the world as the creation of Allah, the Wise, the Aware, Whose all deeds are done accurately and regularly. For this reason, he believes that the world is a collection of some exact secrets and mysteries. Nothing is simple in this world. All the words of this Book are expressive and meaningful.

This Monotheistic belief tells him not to simply pass by any event and any matter, because the simplest problems may be the most complicated ones.

He always observes the depth of the things of this world and does not suffice to the appearance of the world. He has learnt this lesson in the school of monotheism.

He considers a great aim for the world and he sees all things inside the circle of that aim; while an ordinary faithless person considers the world as a collection of events which have no aim, and he does not think but about its outward.

In principle, he does not consider any innate and depth for it. Is it possible that we consider a depth and magnificence for a book which contains of only some lines that a little child have created on its pages with his own hand without having any aim?

According to some of the great scientists of the natural science, all those scientists who have contemplated about the system of the world have a sort of religious thought.