Commentary on Surah Hūd (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
[It is] Meccan
(1–4) “In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful. Alif-Lām-Rā. This is a Book whose verses have been perfected and then explained in detail, from One All-Wise, All-Aware. Worship none but Allah. Indeed, I am a warner and bearer of glad tidings to you from Him. Seek forgiveness from your Lord and then turn to Him in repentance. He will grant you goodly enjoyment until an appointed term and bestow His bounty upon every person of merit. But if you turn away, I fear for you the punishment of a mighty Day. To Allah is your return, and He has power over all things.”
Allah Most High says: This is a magnificent “Book” and a noble revelation. “Its verses have been perfected”; that is, they have been made precise and excellent. Its reports are truthful, its commands and prohibitions just, its wording eloquent, and its meanings splendid.
“They were then explained in detail”; that is, they were distinguished and elucidated with the highest degree of clarity, “from One All-Wise,” who places all things in their proper places and assigns them their appropriate stations, commanding and prohibiting only as His wisdom requires; “All-Aware,” fully acquainted with all that is outward and inward.
(2) Since its perfection and detailed exposition come from Allah, the All-Wise, All-Aware, one need ask no further about its greatness and majesty or its embodiment of perfect wisdom and boundless mercy. Allah sent down His Book solely so “that you worship none but Allah”; that is, so that the whole of religion may be devoted sincerely to Allah and none of His creation associated with Him.
“Indeed, I am to you,” O mankind, “from Him”—that is, from Allah, your Lord—“a warner” to whoever dares commit sins, warning of punishment in this world and the Hereafter, “and a bearer of glad tidings” to those who obey Allah, promising reward in this world and the Hereafter.
(3) “Seek forgiveness from your Lord” for the sins you have committed, “then turn to Him in repentance” for the remainder of your lives by returning to Him penitently and turning away from what Allah dislikes toward what He loves and is pleased with.
He then mentioned what follows from seeking forgiveness and repentance, saying: “He will grant you goodly enjoyment”; that is, He will give you from His provision that which you may enjoy and benefit from.
“Until an appointed term,” meaning until the time of your death. “And He will bestow” upon “every person of merit” among you “His bounty.” That is, from His bounty and beneficence, He will give those who do good and act righteously a reward for their goodness: the attainment of what they love and protection from what they dislike.
“But if you turn away” from that to which I have called you, rejecting it and perhaps even denying it, “then I fear for you the punishment of a mighty Day.” This is the Day of Resurrection, when Allah will gather the former and latter generations and recompense them according to their deeds: good with good and evil with evil.
The words, “and He has power over all things,” also serve as evidence that Allah will bring the dead to life. He has power over all things (1), and bringing the dead to life is one of those things. He has informed us that He will do so, and He is the most truthful of speakers. Thus, reason and revelation alike establish that it must occur.