Tafsir

هُوَ الَّذِى جَعَلَكُمْ خَلَـئِفَ فِى الاٌّرْضِ(He it is Who has made you successors generations after generations in the earth,) meaning, all people succeed one another, generation after generation. This is like the Ayah:وَيَجْعَلُكُمْ حُلَفَآءَ الاٌّرْضِ(and makes you inheritors of the earth, generations after generations) (27:62).فَمَن كَفَرَ فَعَلَيْهِ كُفْرُهُ(so whosoever disbelieves, on him will be his disbelief.) means, he and no one else will have to bear the consequences of that.وَلاَ يَزِيدُ الْكَـفِرِينَ كُفْرُهُمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ إِلاَّ مَقْتاً(And the disbelief of the disbelievers adds nothing but hatred of their Lord.) means, the longer they persist in their disbelief, the more Allah hates them, and the longer they persist in it, the more they and their families will lose on the Day of Resurrection. This is in contrast to the believers, for the longer they live and do good deeds, the higher their status in Paradise will be, the greater their reward, and the more beloved they will be to their Creator.

Commentary

The word: خَلَائِفَ (khala'if) in verse 39: هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَكُمْ خَلَائِفَ فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ (He is the One who has made you successors (of the past generations) in the earth.) is the plural of: خَلِیفَہ (khalifah) which means deputy or vice-regent. The general sense is that Allah Ta’ ala has let human beings have lands and houses that keep passing on from one to the other. In this phenomena, there is a great lesson - turn to Allah. Then, the statement could also be taken to have been addressed to the ummah of the Holy Prophet t saying, 'After past communities, We made you take their place with authority to make life better around you, so it is your duty that you learn your lesson from what happened to people earlier than you, and hence you, on your part, do not while away precious moments of your life in negligence.

الله هو الذي جعلكم -أيها الناس- يَخْلُف بعضكم بعضًا في الأرض، فمن جحد وحدانية الله منكم فعلى نفسه ضرره وكفره ولا يزيد الكافرين كفرهم عند ربهم إلا بغضًا وغضبًا، ولا يزيدهم كفرهم بالله إلا ضلالا وهلاكًا.

ثم قال : ( هو الذي جعلكم خلائف في الأرض ) أي : يخلف قوم لآخرين قبلهم ، وجيل لجيل قبلهم ، كما قال : ( ويجعلكم خلفاء الأرض ) [ النمل : 62 ] ( فمن كفر فعليه كفره ) أي : فإنما يعود وبال ذلك على نفسه دون غيره ، ( ولا يزيد الكافرين كفرهم عند ربهم إلا مقتا ) أي : كلما استمروا على كفرهم أبغضهم الله ، وكلما استمروا فيه خسروا أنفسهم وأهليهم يوم القيامة ، بخلاف المؤمنين فإنهم كلما طال عمر أحدهم وحسن عمله ، ارتفعت درجته ومنزلته في الجنة ، وزاد أجره وأحبه خالقه وبارئه رب العالمين ، [ فسبحان المقدر المدبر رب العالمين ] .