( وَلَوْ أَنَّ أَهْلَ الْقُرَىٰ آمَنُوا وَاتَّقَوْا) (And if only the people of the cities had believed and feared Allah): Allah (swt) makes two conditions; to believe in Allah (swt) and to fear Him (swt). What does each of them mean? Faith is what settles in the heart and is indorsed by actions, it is to believe that there is no God except Allah (swt), to believe in His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, and in the Hereafter; to believe decree both good or bad. When a person claims that he is a believer, then this faith needs to be translated into actions. We cannot claim to believe in Allah (swt) and that we love Him (swt) without being fearful of Him (swt).
To fear Allah (swt) means to make a protective barrier between one’s self and Allah’s (swt) Wrath, so we do not commit what Allah (swt) forbids and we adhere to His (swt) Commandments. This is what it means to fear Allah (swt). When Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about piety, he said: “It is to act according to the revelation”. In other words, to follow its commands. (O you who have believed): Faith without piety does not fulfil its true function. Our Prophet (saws) expanded the circle of faith when he said:
“Iman has over seventy branches – or over sixty branches – the uppermost of which is the declaration: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah’; and the least of which is the removal of harmful object from the road”[1]
Removing harmful objects off the road is a branch of faith in Allah (swt) because it indicates applying of Allah’s (swt) commandments and the orders of His (swt) Prophet (saws).
( لَفَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِم بَرَكَاتٍ مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ) (We would have opened upon them blessings from the heaven and the earth): Blessings coming from the sky, such as rain, and from the earth, such as plants. The reason the word (blessings) is used instead of (favors) is because (blessings) are a gift beyond measure. Similar to when Allah (swt) says:
كِتَابٌ أَنزَلْنَاهُ إِلَيْكَ مُبَارَكٌ
([This is] a blessed Book which We have revealed to you)
(Saad: 29)
This Book has limited number of pages and countable words, but everyone can profit from it from the time it was revealed and on to this day, and until Allah (swt) inherits the earth and all that above it.
“…nor can the scholars ever have enough of it, and it shall not become dull from reciting it much, and the amazement of it does not diminish.”[2]
Just as the Prophet (saws) said. Every day, we draw from its bestowments, it is a light that illuminates our path at all times. These are blessings upon blessings, a gift beyond measure.
( وَلَٰكِن كَذَّبُوا ) (but they denied [the messengers]): They did not believe, but rather denied the Messengers and the Books.
( فَأَخَذْنَاهُم بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ ) (so We seized them for what they were earning): They were not punished out of injustice, but because of what they earned with their deeds. Allah (swt) says:
وَأَن لَّيْسَ لِلْإِنسَانِ إِلَّا مَا سَعَىٰ (39) وَأَنَّ سَعْيَهُ سَوْفَ يُرَىٰ (40) ثُمَّ يُجْزَاهُ الْجَزَاءَ الْأَوْفَىٰ (41)
((39) And that there is not for man except that [good] for which he strives
(40) And that his effort is going to be seen –
(41) Then he will be recompensed for it with the fullest recompense) (An-Najm)
[1] Sahih Muslim, the Book of Faith, no. 35.
[2] Sunan At-TIrmidhi, the Book of Virtues of Quran, no. 2906.