The Qur’ān (15:1-5) states: “Alif. Lām. Rā. These are the ayat of the Book, a clear discourse. Little do those who disbelieve wish that they were Muslims. Let them eat and enjoy themselves, and let their hopes beguile them. For they will surely come to know [the truth]. Never have We destroyed any community unless divine revelations have been made known to it. No community can ever forestall its term, nor can they delay it.”
The opening passage speaks about the nature of the book which the unbelievers reject as a fabrication, adding a threat that they will soon witness a day when they wish they had submitted themselves to Allah. It tells them about that day having a fixed time, and that is the reason for its delay. It mentions the challenges they make and how they demand that angels be brought to them. It threatens them by stating that when Allah sends down angels to unbelievers, He destroys them altogether. The real reason for their unbelieving attitude is certainly not for lack of evidence, but rather due to their entrenched stubbornness.
“Alif. Lām. Rā. These are the ayat of the Book, a clear discourse.” (Ayah 1) The three separate letters with which this surah starts and similar ones that occur at the beginning of some Qur’ānic surahs make up the book, i.e. the Qur’ān. They are available to all. They make the sublime ayat, which are inimitable in composition and argument. People who do not believe in the revelation of this inimitable book, and describe the Qur’ān as fabricated when it is very clear in its import, will come to see a day when they will dearly wish that they had adopted a totally different attitude. They will wish that they had been believers and that their behaviour was in line with the teachings of religion. “Little do those who disbelieve wish that they were Muslims.” (Ayah 2) They may wish so but that will be when no wish is of use. In fact, “little do those who disbelieve wish”. The way this is expressed implies a threat and a touch of contempt. It also implies encouragement to make use of the available opportunity and submit to Allah before it is too late. For if the chance is lost and the day comes when they wish they had submitted themselves to Allah and accepted Islam, their wishes will be of no avail.
This is followed by another implicit threat: “Let them eat and enjoy themselves, and let their hopes beguile them. For they will surely come to know [the truth].” (Ayah 3) Leave them to their carnal desires, eating and enjoying, without reflection, contemplation or thought to what is around them. Leave them with their deluding hopes and deceiving temptations, while life passes away and the opportunity is lost. They think that nothing can stop them from obtaining what they hope for, and that they have to face no reckoning and will be held to no account. This image of enticing hopes is drawn from real human life. Hope always tempts and woos us to the extent that we overlook Allah’s existence, fate and the certainty of death. We forget that there is a duty to be fulfilled and a prohibition to be observed. We go even further to forget Allah altogether and forget that we have to die and then be resurrected in order to account for our deeds. This beguiling or mesmerising hope is a fatal one, and it is to this hope that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is commanded to leave them. “For they will surely come to know the truth,” but then it will be too late for such knowledge to be of any benefit to them. The command given to the Prophet ﷺ implies a threat to them, as well as a strong call aiming to wake them up so that they could see their hope for what it is: a beguiling hope that causes them to overlook their inevitable fate.
But the laws Allah has set in operation for the world and for human life will continue along their respective courses. The end of each nation will come at the time appointed by Allah. Then it is the practices of each community that determine how these laws and how Allah’s order will operate: “Never have We destroyed any community unless divine revelations have been made known to it. No community can ever forestall its term, nor can they delay it.” (Ayat 4-5) Therefore, they must not be deluded by the fact that Allah’s punishment has not taken them. Allah’s law will take its well-marked course and operate as Allah wants it to operate. As for them, they will certainly come to know.
That clear book and appointed term are given by Allah to every nation and community so that they will do their work. What they do in this life determines their fate in the hereafter. When a community believes in Allah does good deeds, allows human life to proceed and prosper, and implements justice then Allah will extend its life until it deviates from these rules and becomes devoid of all goodness. That determines the end of its life, either with total loss and ruin, or with a temporary general weakness. We observe that there are communities which do not believe or do any good deeds or implement justice, but they continue to thrive and prosper. But this is nothing but delusion. Such communities must have a fair residue of goodness, even if it is limited to building a good life on earth, dealing justly among its own citizens and taking measures to ensure material prosperity within their own territories. They owe their continued existence to this residue of goodness. When it is exhausted, they face their inevitable destiny. Allah’s law will always operate, and every community has its time: “No community can ever forestall its term, nor can they delay it.” (Ayah 5)
To conclude, making eating and drinking the real occupation and aim of life, and keeping glued to long-drawn material plans while surrounded by countless things of worldly comfort, and becoming totally heedless to death, is something which can be done only by the disbelievers. The reason is that they do not believe in the life to come, and the accounting of deeds there, and the reward and punishment for it. Then, we must also not occupy ourselves in the making of wasteful or unnecessary plans and projections, as hobby or compulsion. Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said: “Four things are signs of being unfortunate: (1) Not being able to shed tears (that is, not being in tears when ashamed of acts of negligence and sin); (2) and hard-heartedness; (3) fanciful hopes and plans for the future; (4) and the greed for worldly things”. (Qurtubi) And the expression “and let their hopes beguile them” means the ‘making of long-drawn plans with engrossing love, and the greed for the material without any concern for death and the hereafter – Akhirah.’ (Qurtubi).