and to refrain from disobeying Allah. This struggle is more arduous than the struggle to earn a livelihood, especially when a person is tested by living in a deviant environment and becomes a stranger among its people. He will then find hardship both in struggling against his own soul and in dealing with others.
If someone asks, “Could the verse not encompass both meanings?”
The answer is: Yes. This is how one should proceed whenever a verse in the Noble Book admits two meanings that do not contradict one another: understand it as encompassing both, for the Quran is more comprehensive and wider in scope. If the two meanings contradict one another, however, determine which is stronger. For example, Allah Most High says:
“Divorced women shall wait by themselves for three qurū’.” [al-Baqarah: 228].
Qurū’ is the plural of qar’, with an a-vowel on the qāf. What, then, is a qar’? Some say that it is a menstrual period, while others say that it is a period of purity between menstrual cycles. Here the verse cannot be understood as encompassing both meanings, because they contradict one another. Instead, seek the evidence favoring one of the two views and adopt it.
In the present case, therefore, we say that “We have indeed created man in kabad” may properly encompass both meanings: that man possesses a fine and upright stature, and that he lives in kabad, grappling with difficult hardships.
“Does he think that no one has power over him?” That is, because of his sense of self and his own strength, man imagines that no one has power over him. At the height of his youth, strength, pride, and arrogance, he says, “No one can overpower me. I do whatever I please.” One example is the statement of Allah, Blessed and Exalted:
“As for ‘Ād, they acted arrogantly throughout the land without right and said, ‘Who is mightier than us in strength?’”
Allah Most High said:
“Did they not see that Allah, who created them, was mightier than them in strength?” [Fussilat: 15].
Thus, when a person is healthy and in the prime of his youth, he imagines that no one has power over him. He even imagines that the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, has no power over him. This undoubtedly applies to the disbeliever. The believer, however, knows that Allah has power over him and that He has power over all things, so he fears Him.
“He says”—that is, when man is wealthy and has been granted abundant provision, he also says, “I have squandered vast wealth,” meaning a great deal of wealth in pursuit of his desires and pleasures.