Interpretation of Sura al-Furqan - Verse 19
19." (Allah will say to the idolaters:) 'So they shall indeed belie you of what you say, so you shall not be able to avert (your penalty) nor (get) help, and whoever of you be unjust, We will cause him taste a great torment."
Commentary
A polytheist will be supported by no one in the Resurrection and cannot do any thing to rescue him. Thus, in this noble verse Allah addresses polytheists:
"(Allah will say): to the idolaters:) 'So they shall indeed belie you of what you say,..."
You said that they deviated you from the right path, but they count what you say as a lie.
And since the fact is such and they themselves committed their own deviation, therefore the verse says:
"... so you shall not be able to avert (your penalty) nor(get) help, and whoever of you be unjust, We will cause him taste a great torment."
Undoubtedly the Qur'anic word /zulm/ (oppression) has got an extensive concept. Though the subject of the verse is polytheism,which is one of the clear extensions of oppression, yet it does not abolish the generality of the concept of the verse. Meanwhile the purpose of 'deities' is whether humane deities such as Christ, or devil deities such as jinn or angels, each of which had been selected by a group of pagans for worshipping.
Since they have common sense and intellect, they can be questioned. So, in order to complete the argument and to prove the falsehood of the statement of the polytheists, saying that these invited us to worship them, they are asked whether this speech is right, and they explicitly reject the polytheists' statement. Some points:
1. The Motivation of Deviation from Monotheism
Deities counted the main factor of this group of pagans' deviation as luxurious life. They say: ".. but you did provide them and their fathers to enjoy until they forgot the Message and they were a people in perdition", (instead of knowing blessings and thanking You for them, they have forgotten You).
Verily comfortable life is, on one hand, causing those who can not take welfare, and also their faith is weak, to feel conceited, for when they are given a lot of blessings, they get too big for their boots and forget Allah. Even sometimes, like Pharaoh, they cry: "I am the Lord".
On the other hand, such persons want to be as much as possible free and to face no boundary in gratification of their desires. They want that limitations and restrictions such as lawfulness, unlawfulness, legality and illegality do not prevent them from achieving their aims, thus they do not want to obey any rule or law and to accept the Resurrection and Reckoning Day.
Also now there are not many adherents of Allah's religion and prophets' teachings among rich people, this is the poor people who are willful supporters and faithful friends of religion.
Of course, there are some exceptions in each group, but the majority members of each group are as we said.
Meanwhile the above verse does not only put emphasis on their own prosperity, but also it emphasizes their ancestors' prosperity, for when a child grows up in affluence and wealth, it is natural that he mostly discriminates against others and he will not easily get rid of his interestand comfortable life.
While sticking with Allah's commands and religion programs need sacrificing, sometimes migration, even holy war and martyrdom and sometimes accepting kinds of deprivations and refusing to surrender themselves to the enemy, which goes with temperament of rich people less, unless their personality is superior to their material life. If one day everything is good, they thank Allah, and if it is not good, they do not get upset and unsteady. In other words, they dominate their material life and they are not its servant and slave.
2. The Qur'anic word /bur/ is derived from the word /bawar/, which originally means severity of stagnation of something. Since severity of stagnation causes corruption, this word is also applied to mean corruption and then to mean destruction. Since a land, which has no tree, flower, and plant, is in fact corrupted and dead, it is called /ba'ir/ (fallow).
Therefore, the sentence "... and they were a people in perdition" refers to this matter that, because of luxurious life and forgetting Allah and Resurrection, this group has been corrupted and destructed. And, like a dried and fallow desert, the land of their heart gets empty of flowers of humane values and fruits of virtues and spiritual life.
Studying nations that are blessed with this world's goods and know nothing of Allah and other nations makes the vast meaning of this verse more clear that how they are wallowing in moral corruption, and humane virtues can no longer be found in weathered land of their entity.
Adapted from the book: "Interpretation of Sura al-Furqan" by: "Sayyid Kamal Faghih Imani and A Group of Scholars"