Verses 27–31
Introduction
These verses refer back to and continue what came before the story of the Companions of the Cave—that is, how the Prophet was overwhelmed with grief and sorrow because of those people who did not believe in the Book that was revealed to him and rejected his call to the truth. This was followed by God consoling him that this abode is one of trial and tribulation; whatever is on it (the earth) is an embellishment for it, which God will turn into bare ground without herbage. The Prophet should not be distressed because they did not respond to his call or believe in the Book.
Instead, he should be patient along with the believers who are poor and who never cease to call upon their Lord. He should not pay attention to the idle, wealthy unbelievers who take pride in their worldly embellishments which will turn back into bare ground without herbage. He need do no more than invite them to their Lord. Whoever wants to believe, will believe; and whoever wants to reject him, will reject him—the Prophet has no responsibility over that. They do not believe to please the Prophet or disbelieve to upset him; rather [they act] because of the punishment or reward—the one they are facing—that God has prepared for them.
Commentary
وَٱتۡلُ مَآ أُوحِيَ إِلَيۡكَ مِن كِتَابِ رَبِّكَۖ لَا مُبَدِّلَ لِكَلِمَٰتِهِۦ وَلَن تَجِدَ مِن دُونِهِۦ مُلۡتَحَدٗا
(18:27) And recite what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord, there is none who can alter His words; and you shall not find any refuge besides Him.
Majmaʿ al-bayān says that laḥada ilayhi and iltaḥada both mean “he inclined toward.” Thus a multaḥad (lit. “a place of leaning”—meaning, a refuge) is a noun of place derived from iltiḥād meaning “inclining.” The “Book of your Lord” (kitāb rabbik) refers to the Qur’an or the Guarded Tablet (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ); the latter is more appropriate in the context of (the clause), there is none who can alter His words. . .
As mentioned above, this refers back to what came before the story, so it is most appropriate that the clause, and recite, should be understood to be connected to the clause, surely We have made whatever is on the earth. . .It means: “Do not kill yourself with grief over them and recite what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord because there is no one who can alter His words, for they are true and firm, and because you will not find any refuge to turn to besides Him.”
Thus it is clear that both, there is none who can alter His words, and, you shall not find any refuge besides Him, act to provide an explanation, and are two proofs of the matter in the clause, and recite. This may be (the reason) God addressed the Prophet alone in the clause, and you shall not find, even though it is a rule which applies to everyone—that there will not be a refuge besides God for anyone.
It may mean that you will not find a refuge besides Him because you are a Messenger and there is no refuge for a Messenger except with the one who sent him [God]. Based on this explanation, it would be most appropriate for the clause, there is none who can alter His words, to be a single proof, meaning, and recite to them these verses containing the divine command to propagate because they are divine communications and His words do not change and you are a Messenger—therefore you have no recourse but to turn to your Sender and deliver His message. This explanation is supported by His words elsewhere: Say: Surely no one can protect me against God, nor can I find besides Him any place of refuge: (It is) only a delivering (of communications) from God and His messages; and whoever disobeys God and His Messenger surely he shall have the fire of hell to abide therein for a long time ().
وَٱصۡبِرۡ نَفۡسَكَ مَعَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَدۡعُونَ رَبَّهُم بِٱلۡغَدَوٰةِ وَٱلۡعَشِيِّ يُرِيدُونَ وَجۡهَهُۥۖ وَلَا تَعۡدُ عَيۡنَاكَ عَنۡهُمۡ تُرِيدُ زِينَةَ ٱلۡحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنۡيَاۖ وَلَا تُطِعۡ مَنۡ أَغۡفَلۡنَا قَلۡبَهُۥ عَن ذِكۡرِنَا وَٱتَّبَعَ هَوَىٰهُ وَكَانَ أَمۡرُهُۥ فُرُطٗا ٢٨
(18:28) And keep yourself patient [by being] with those who call upon their Lord in the morning and the evening, seeking His countenance. And let not your eyes pass beyond them, desiring adornments of the worldly life, and do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows his desire and whose affair is ever [in] neglect.
Al-Rāghib says:
“Ṣabr means restraint in straitness. Ṣabartu al-dābba means I restrained the beast without fodder and ṣabart fulānan means I detained so-and-so in a prison with no possibility of escape for him. Ṣabr means restraining oneself from what both reason and religious law dictate one should restrain oneself from.”
Something’s wajh is what it turns toward you and faces you. The root meaning of wajh is the part of the body (that is, the face of a human being). His Face is His most beautiful names, His supreme attributes through which those turning toward Him turn, those calling to Him call, and those worshiping Him worship. He said: And God’s are the best names, therefore call on Him thereby . . . ().
As for His essence, there is no way to reach it. People only betake themselves to it and aspire it because He is God, Lord, high, mighty, has mercy and pleasure, as well as all the other names and attributes He has.
If God’s goodwill, desired by someone praying to Him, means His attributes pertaining to His actions—such as His mercy, pleasure, His bestowal of favor and grace, he only wants it to be applied to him and to cover and clothe him in a way—making him the object of mercy, pleasing to Him and a recipient of His favor. If he means His attributes which do not pertain to His actions, such as His knowledge, power, magnificence, and might, he only intends to achieve nearness to Him through these supreme attributes. If you like, say that he wants to put himself where the divine attribute dictates he should be—that is, that he take a humble and wretched stance in the face of His power, magnificence, and might and takes the stance of an ignorant, powerless, weak one in the face of His knowledge, omnipotence, power, and so on. So take note of this.
Thus the problem with what some say becomes clear—that wajh means “pleasure” and “pleasing obedience” metaphorically because someone who is pleased with another gets nearer to him whereas someone who is angry with another turns away from him, or that wajh means the essence based on an omitted, implied mudaf, or, that wajh means tawajjuh, that is, they want to turn to Him (al-tawajjuh ilayh) and achieve nearness to Him.
Calling on their Lord morning and evening means calling continuously and consistently all the time because continuity is achieved by repetition, morning after evening and evening after morning, by feel, so it is metonymy.
It is claimed that calling morning and evening means praying at the beginning and end of the day, or, alternatively, the obligatory daily prayers, but the problem with this interpretation is obvious.
And let not your eyes pass beyond them, desiring the adornments of the worldy life: Al-Rāghib explicitly states that the root meaning of ʿadw is passing. This is the meaning which runs into all its derivatives and places where it is used. Al-Qāmūs says:
“One says ʿadā l-amr or ʿadā ʿan al-amr, meaning he passed from the thing and left it. Thus, lā taʿdu ʿaynāka ʿanhum, means: ‘Do not let your eyes pass them and miss them while you desire the adornments of this world’s life.’”
However, some say that the meaning of passing is only made transitive with ʿan to convey a sense of missing something. That is why al-Zamakhsharī says:
“lā taʿdu ʿaynāka has ʿadā incorporating a meaning of missing something and going right over it, as when you say: ‘His eye went right over him or his eye missed him, if it hurtles toward him but does not fix on him.’ Otherwise, it would have been necessary to say: wa lā taʿduhum ʿaynāk.”
And do not follow him whose heart We have made unmindful to Our remembrance . . .: Making his heart unmindful means imposing unmindfulness on it, making it forget the remembrance of God as a punishment, because they had stubbornly opposed the truth, so God made them go astray by making them unmindful to remembrance of Him. What He says about people in this situation is like what we will discuss under the verse: Surely We have placed veils over their hearts lest they should understand it and a heaviness in their ears; and if you call them to the guidance, they will not ever follow the right course in that case. ()
This is not a justification for anyone who says that the verse is one of the proofs of His forcing people to be unbelievers and to disobey Him, because being forced as a punishment does not contradict freedom of choice—what does contradict it is being forced initially, but the verse is an instance of the former.
There is no need for contrived interpretation, such as saying that “whose heart We have made unmindful” means “We exposed them to unmindfulness”; “We caught him out when he was unmindful”; “We linked him to unmindfulness”; or that ighfāl means making it ghufl (undesignated or unmarked), that is, “We made his heart unmarked by the characteristic of believers’ hearts and did not mark it with the mark of believers by which the angels would have been able to recognize it.”
The problem with all these interpretations will be obvious to the reader.
And he follows his desires and his case is one in which due bounds are exceeded: Majmaʿ al-bayān says:
“Furuṭ means exceeding what is right and departing from it. It comes from what people say: afraṭa ifraṭān when someone is extravagant.”
Following one’s desire and being extravagant is one of the effects of unmindfulness of the heart. Hence joining the two phrases with a conjunction to “We made unmindful” is like joining an explanatory phrase introduced by a conjunction.
وَقُلِ ٱلۡحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكُمۡۖ فَمَن شَآءَ فَلۡيُؤۡمِن وَمَن شَآءَ فَلۡيَكۡفُرۡۚ إِنَّآ أَعۡتَدۡنَا لِلظَّٰلِمِينَ نَارًا أَحَاطَ بِهِمۡ سُرَادِقُهَاۚ وَإِن يَسۡتَغِيثُواْ يُغَاثُواْ بِمَآءٖ كَٱلۡمُهۡلِ يَشۡوِي ٱلۡوُجُوهَۚ بِئۡسَ ٱلشَّرَابُ وَسَآءَتۡ مُرۡتَفَقًا ٢٩
(18:29) And say: The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills—let him believe; and whoever wills—let him disbelieve. Indeed, We have prepared for the wrongdoers a fire whose walls will surround them. And if they call for relief, they will be relieved with water like murky oil, which scalds [their] faces. Wretched is the drink, and evil is the resting place.
This is conjoined to what the verse, And recite what has been revealed to you . . .as well as, And withhold yourself . . .were conjoined to. Thus the context is one of multiple roles for the Prophet vis à vis their not believing in what had been revealed to him and their persistence at it. It means: “Do not feel sad about them but instead recite what has been revealed to you, withhold yourself with those poor believers and tell the unbelievers: ‘The truth is from your Lord.’ Do no more than that—so let him who please believe, and let him who please disbelieve. Their believing is of no benefit to Us, nor does their not believing do Us any harm. Punishment and reward is up to them. They can choose what they like—We have prepared such-and-such for the iniquitous and such-and-such for believers who do good.”
Thus it is clear that it is the Prophet who is being addressed (in the words), “so whoever wills—let him believe; and whoever wills—let him disbelieve”. It is not part of the direct speech within the direct speech so no attention should be paid to what some say—that the phrase is the tail end of what he is being commanded to tell them.
It is also clear that the clause, Indeed, We have prepared for the wrongdoers a fire, gives the reason for their being given a choice between believing and not believing—supposedly it is a choice they are being given but in reality it is a threat. It means: “We forbade you from being overwhelmed with sorrow over them and commanded you to content yourself with propagating and persuading them just by saying: The truth is from your Lord. We have not sought to insist or pester because We have prepared consequences for their accepting or declining this invitation. What We have prepared suffices as an incentive or deterrent and there is no need for any more than that. It is up to them to choose for themselves which of the two positions they wish.”
Indeed, We have prepared for the wrongdoers a fire whose walls will surround them; and if they call for relief, they will be relieved with water like murky oil, which scalds [their] faces; wretched is the drink, and evil is the resting place: Majmaʿ al-bayān says:
“Surādiq means an encampment encircling what is inside it. Alternatively, it is said that surādiq is a cover wound round the encampment. Muhl is coagulated oil. Alternatively it is said to be molten brass. Murtafaq means somewhere to rest one’s elbow (mirfaq). One says irtafaqa to mean he rested on his elbow.”
One says of something that is well-cooked shawā or yashwī (meaning, he broiled it or he is broiling it) when it is well-done.
Substituting iniquity/wrongdoing (ẓulm) for disbelief (kufr) in (the sentence), surely We have prepared for the iniquitous/wrongdoers (li-l-ẓālimīn), as opposed to li-l-kafirīn (the disbelievers), indicates that the aforementioned consequence is for those who are genuinely iniquitous. They are defined in (the verse): Who hinder (people) from God’s way and seek to make it crooked, and they are disbelievers in the hereafter (). The rest is clear.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ إِنَّا لَا نُضِيعُ أَجْرَ مَنْ أَحْسَنَ عَمَلًا ٣٠
(18:30) Surely (as for) those who believe and do good, We do not waste the reward of him who does a good work
This explains the reward for the believers for their having believed and done good. The only reason He says, We do not waste, and not “We have prepared such-and-such for them” is to show the special attention and thanks given to them.
The clause, do not waste (lā nudiʿ), is the predicate of “We” (innā). In fact, it is an instance of putting the cause in the place of the effect. The implied meaning is: “We will let those who believe and do good have the full share of their reward because they have done good, and We will not waste the reward of anyone who does a good work.”
Since in this verse punishment is deemed to be a consequence of iniquity and reward is in contrast for believing and doing good, we can infer from that, that there is no reward for believing without doing good. On the contrary, the verse may even give the impression that [believing without doing good] counts as iniquity.
أُوْلَٰٓئِكَ لَهُمۡ جَنَّٰتُ عَدۡنٖ تَجۡرِي مِن تَحۡتِهِمُ ٱلۡأَنۡهَٰرُ يُحَلَّوۡنَ فِيهَا مِنۡ أَسَاوِرَ مِن ذَهَبٖ وَيَلۡبَسُونَ ثِيَابًا خُضۡرٗا مِّن سُندُسٖ وَإِسۡتَبۡرَقٖ مُّتَّكِِٔينَ فِيهَا عَلَى ٱلۡأَرَآئِكِۚ نِعۡمَ ٱلثَّوَابُ وَحَسُنَتۡ مُرۡتَفَقٗا ٣١
(18:31) These it is for whom are gardens of perpetuity beneath which rivers flow, ornaments shall be given to them therein of bracelets of gold, and they shall wear green robes of fine silk and thick silk brocade interwoven with gold, reclining therein on raised couches; excellent the recompense and goodly the resting place.
ʿAdn means perpetuity and so jannātu ʿadnin means gardens of perpetuity. It is said that asāwir is the plural of aswira, which in turn is the plural of siwār with a kasra under the sīn meaning bracelet. Al-Rāghib says that it is an Arabicized Persian word, the etymological source of which is dastvāreh. Sundus means fine silk whereas istabraq means thick silk. Arāʾik is the plural of arīka, which is a couch. The meaning of the verse is clear.
Examining Narrations
- In al-Durr al-manthūr, Ibn Mardawayh cites via Juwaybir from al-Ḍaḥḥāk from Ibn ʿAbbās about the verse, And do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance:
It was revealed about Umayya b. Khalaf. That is because he sought to enjoin the Prophet to do something God hated—cast out the poor and favor the elite of Mecca. Thereafter, God revealed, And do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance—meaning whose heart We have sealed from Our remembrance—that is, monotheism. “And he follows his low desires” means polytheism. “And his case is one in which due bounds are exceeded” means exceeding due bounds with regard to God’s commandment and ignorance of God.
- Ibn Mardawayh, Abū Nuʿaym in al-Ḥilya, and al-Bayhaqī in Shuʿab al-īmān all cite Salmān as saying:
[With regard to] Those “whose hearts were made to incline” ʿUyayna b. Badr and al-Aqraʿ b. Ḥābis—came to God’s Messenger and said: “O Messenger of God, if only you would sit at the head of that gathering and deny entry to that lot and their smelly outer garments,” by whom they meant Salman, Abū Dharr, and the poor Muslims who wore woollen outer garments, “we would sit with you, talk to you, and learn from you.” Thereafter, God revealed, And recite what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord. . . surely We have prepared for the iniquitous a fire, threatening them with Hellfire.
Author’s comment: Al-Qummī narrates something similar in his exegesis. However, he only mentions ʿUyayna b. al-Ḥaṣīn b. al-Ḥudhayfah b. Badr al-Fazzāri. The narration means that the two verses would have to be Medinan. In the same vein there are other narrations containing a similar story but the context of the verses does not support them.
- It is narrated in Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, regarding the words of God, And keep yourself patient [by being] with those who call on their Lord morning and evening, that Abū Jaʿfar and Abū ʿAbdillāh (Imam al-Bāqir and Imam al-Ṣādiq) said:
He means by that the prayer.
- It is narrated on the authority of ʿĀṣim al-Kūzī from Abū ʿAbdillāh (Imam al-Ṣādiq):
I heard him say about God’s words, “So let him who please believe, and let him who please disbelieve”, that it is a threat (Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī).
- Al-Kafi, Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, and other sources relate from Abū Hamza from Abū Jaʿfar that the words of God, And say: The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills—let him believe; and whoever wills—let him disbelieve, is about allegiance (wilāya) toward ʿAlī.
Author’s comment: This is applicability (jary).
- Aḥmad [b. Ḥanbal], ʿAbd b. Ḥamīd, al-Tirmidhī, Abū Yaʿlā b. Jarīr, Ibn Abī Ḥātim b. Ḥibbān, al-Ḥākim (who also declares this narration to be authentic), Ibn Mardawayh, and al-Bayhaqī in Shuʿab al-īmān relate that Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī said that the Prophet said regarding [the clause], water like murky oil (bi māʾin ka-l-muhl): “It is like the dregs of oil; when one draws near it, the skin from one’s face falls into it (al-Durr al-manthūr).”
- Tafsīr al-Qummī says about [the clause], water like murky oil (bi māʾin ka-l-muhl) that he (one of the Imams) said: “Muhl is what remains in the dregs of oil.”
- It is narrated in Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī from ʿAbdullāh b. Sinān from Abū ʿAbdullāh:
“The son of Adam was created hollow. He has to have food and drink. He said, And if they call for relief, they will be relieved with water like murky oil, which scalds [their] faces.”
The phrase al-Muʾallaf qulūbihim refers to former enemies of Islam who were given money or gifts to soften their hearts. (Ed.) ↩︎