The Bee
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[16:36]
And indeed, within every community have We raised up an apostle [entrusted with this message]: "Worship God, and shun the powers of evil!"
And among those [past generations] were people whom God graced with His guidance, just as there was among them [many a one] who inevitably fell prey to grievous error: go, then, about the earth and behold what happened in the end to those who gave the lie to the truth!

---

* v.36 : Or “at every period,” since the term ummah has this significance as well. In its wider sense, it may also be taken here to denote “civilization,” thus comprising a human group as well as a period of time. * For this rendering of the term at-tāghūt, see sūrah 2, note 250. It is to be borne in mind that, in Qur’anic terminology, “worship of God” invariably implies the concept of man’s sense of responsibility before Him: hence, the above commandment comprises, in the most concise formulation imaginable, the sum-total of all ethical injunctions and prohibitions, and is the basis and source of all morality as well as the one unchanging message inherent in every true religion.
* I.e., who availed themselves of the guidance offered by Him to all human beings.
* Lit., “upon whom error came to be inevitably established (haqqa ‘alayhi)” or “against whom [a verdict of] error became inevitable”: i.e., one whose heart “God has sealed” in consequence of his persistent, conscious refusal to submit to His guidance (see sūrah 2, note 7, as well as sūrah 14, note 4).