Az-Zumar (The Groups)

55. “And follow the best of that which is sent down to you from your Lord before the torment comes on you suddenly while you perceive not!”

The blessed Verse bids people to follow Qur’anic injunction since the best path is toward God Almighty and It is the most comprehensive and the most perfect of what is sent down unto man.

Following the two steps of repentance and submission to Divine Will, the Verse treats of the third step which is that of action:

“follow the best of that which is sent down to you from your Lord before the torment comes on you suddenly while you perceive not!”

Thus, there are three steps to take so as to attain to Divine Mercy:

1. Repentance, regret about committing sins, and turning to God Almighty.

2. Faith and submission to His Command.

3. Doing righteous good deeds. After taking these three steps, one shall certainly enter the boundless ocean of His Mercy despite the heavy burden of man’s sins.

What is intended by:

“follow the best of that which is sent down to you from your Lord?”

Exegets produce different possibilities the best of which sounds to be the one as per which Divine Injunctions are of diverse types: some call people to carrying out obligatory acts, some address recommended ones, and some include permissible ones.

Taking the hierarchy of acts into account one may notice that the best indicates selecting obligatory and recommended acts.

Some exegets take it as a reference to the Holy Qur’an among Divine Books, taking into consideration Verse 23 of the same Chapter (39) as per which the Holy Qur’an is the Best Statement (ahsan al-hadith):

“Allah has sent down the Best Statement, a Book, its parts resembling each other.”

However, the two interpretations are not inconsistent with each other.