Verses 40–47
This is the second section of the four in which God draws an argument based on the actions which are His sole purview (or, you might say, by the Divine Names related to these actions). This is firstly in order to invalidate the existence of any partners for Him and to negate the lordship and divinity of these alleged partners and, secondly, to prove the coming of the Resurrection.
Commentary
اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ ثُمَّ رَزَقَكُمْ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُحْيِيكُمْ ۖ هَلْ مِنْ شُرَكَائِكُمْ مَنْ يَفْعَلُ مِنْ ذَٰلِكُمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ ۚ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ٤٠
(30:40) It is Allah who created you and then He provided for you, then He makes you die, then He will bring you to life. Is there anyone among your partners who does anything of that kind? Immaculate is He and exalted above any partners that they ascribe!
Allah is the subject of the first sentence and who created you… is its predicate. Equally, …who does… is the subject of the next sentence. It is preceded by its predicate, among your partners. The question is rhetorical with the meaning of a denial. There are other analyses of the composition of this verse.
The verse means: God is the one who is given such and such attributes, which belong to the attributes of divinity and lordship. Are there any amongst the deities you have invented who can do these things—creation, provision, bringing death or giving life? If none of them can, then it is God who is your deity and your lord. There is no god except Him.
Perhaps the reason why God repeatedly mentions creation alongside provision, bringing death and giving life in the context of these arguments (as we have seen) is to show that provision is inseparable from creation. That is to say that some parts of creation in relation to other parts whose existence they sustain are called “provision” (rizq). Therefore, provision is—in reality—a kind of creation and He who creates the creation is He who provides the provision.
So they cannot argue that one of their gods is the provider or the one who gives life or the one who brings death, that another looks after human affairs, that another brings good and still another brings evil, while still agreeing that it is God alone who creates and originates all things. They cannot argue this because it is obvious (based on the above) that provision is creation as are all other functions; none of these are separable from creation. Therefore, all of these must—like creation itself—belong to Him and this leaves nothing for them to claim as the dominion of their gods.
Then God declares Himself free from the partners—Immaculate is He and exalted above any partners that they ascribe!
ظَهَرَ الْفَسَادُ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِي النَّاسِ لِيُذِيقَهُمْ بَعْضَ الَّذِي عَمِلُوا لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ ٤١
(30:41) Corruption has appeared in land and sea because of the doings of the people’s hands, that He may make them taste something of what they have done, so that they may come back.
The apparent meaning of this verse is general and not specific to any particular time, place or situation. Here, land and sea are used in their everyday sense, encompassing the entire surface of the earth.
Corruption (fasād) refers to all the hardships and tribulations that have appeared all over the surface of the earth, including earthquakes, droughts, famines, epidemics, wars, raids and insecurity. In short, this is whatever spoils the proper natural order of the world, whether this is ascribed to human free-will or not. All of that is corruption that has appeared on land and sea which disrupts the harmony of human existence.
Because of the doings of the people’s hands…: Meaning because of the deeds they have done such as associating partners with God or committing sins, as we have already discussed in our commentary on the verse if the people of the towns had been faithful and Godwary, We would have opened to them blessings from the heaven and the earth (). We have also said, in our earlier discussions on prophethood, that there is a direct correlation between people’s deeds and cosmic events whereby one is influenced by the virtue or corruption of the other.
That He may make them taste [li yudhīqahum] something of what they have done: The lām here is purposive, meaning that whatever corruption appeared was in order that God might make them taste the consequences of some of their evil deeds; in fact so that He might make them taste the very essence of what they have done which appears in the form of evil consequences. This is only some (baʿḍ) of what they have done because God, out of His mercy, forgives some too. See the verse: Whatever affliction that may visit you is because of what your hands have earned, and He excuses much ().
The verse is speaking of the worldly consequences of these actions, rather than the otherworldly consequences in the Hereafter. There is no evidence to suggest that this verse means that they are being made to taste the worldly consequences in the here-and-now while the otherworldly consequences are being delayed for the Day of Judgement, as this would make the implicit meaning of the phrase: “In order that He might make them taste some of the recompense for what they have done” while the actual implicit meaning is: “In order that He might take them taste the recompense of some of what they have done.” This is because the reason why we would need such an implicit possessive construct (that is, “the recompense”) is that what returns to them of their evil deeds in the form of corruption is the recompense of their deeds rather than the deeds themselves, therefore what they are being made to taste is the recompense of some of what they have done rather than some of the recompense of what they have done.
…so that they may come back—in other words, He makes them taste this in the hope that they will come back from their idolatry and sinning to belief in divine unity and obedience.
This verse is connected to the one before insofar as the latter argued for divine unity and declared Him above their association (shirk), while this verse highlights the corruption in the land that results from association—which is a grave sin (maʿṣiya)—and their being made to taste the evil consequences of their actions.
There are other strange interpretations proposed for this verse. Some have said that land refers to the land of Mecca; others that land means the desolate wasteland which has no rivers, while sea means every village that sits on the banks of a great river; others say that land means the deserts and the places inhabited by nomadic tribes while the sea means the coastal regions and the cities that are situated beside the sea and rivers; others say that land means the barren wilderness while sea means the fertile and verdant regions; still others say that there is a omitted possessive construct that would render the meaning “in land and the cities of the sea.” Perhaps the reason for such readings are the traditions that say the verse relates to a drought that afflicted Mecca as the result of a supplication by the Prophet against the Quraysh when they went to extremes in their disbelief and persisted in their obstinacy; these commentators wished to make the verse fit the occasion of revelation and, in doing so, engaged in the kind of tortuous interpretations you see above.
Some have said that corruption in land refers to when the son of Adam killed his brother, and in …sea refers to when the king in the story of Khiḍr seized every ship unjustly. However, the weakness of this interpretation is plain to see.
قُلْ سِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَانْظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلُ ۚ كَانَ أَكْثَرُهُمْ مُشْرِكِينَ ٤٢
(30:42) Say: Travel over the land and then observe how was the fate of those who were before, most of whom were polytheists.
This verse bids the Prophet to tell them to travel across the land and look at the ruins left by those who came before them; their houses are rubble, their traces have faded and their people have vanished as a result of various calamities and misfortunes. Most of them were people who associated partners with God, so God made them taste some of what they had done in order that they might take a lesson and return to belief in divine unity. Therefore, this verse serves as external evidence for the idea expressed in the previous one.
فَأَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ الْقَيِّمِ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يَأْتِيَ يَوْمٌ لَا مَرَدَّ لَهُ مِنَ اللَّهِ ۖ يَوْمَئِذٍ يَصَّدَّعُونَ٤٣
(30:43) So set your heart on the upright religion, before there comes a day irrevocable from Allah. On that day they shall be split.
This draws a conclusion from the previous verses, namely: Associating partners with God and rejecting the truth led to this outcome, with these consequences for those who followed this path, so set your heart on the upright religion.
…before there comes a day irrevocable (lā maradd lah) from Allah is connected to the phrase So set…
Maradd is an m-infinitive (maṣdar mīmī) meaning “to repel” and used in the sense of “something that repels.” In other words, there is nothing that can repel this day sent by God. This, of course, is the Day of Resurrection.
On that day they shall be split [yaṣṣaddaʿūn]—yaṣṣaddaʿūn was originally yataṣaddaʿūn (before being altered by the rules of pronunciation). Taṣadduʿ means “for the parts of a container to be broken” but came to be used for all kinds of splitting—so it has been said. Here, some have said it means they will be split between paradise and hell. Others have said it means that they will be separated so that each individual stands alone, per the verse: The day mankind will be like scattered moths (). Both readings have merit, but perhaps the former is closer to the apparent meaning, as we shall see below.
مَنْ كَفَرَ فَعَلَيْهِ كُفْرُهُ ۖ وَمَنْ عَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلِأَنْفُسِهِمْ يَمْهَدُونَ ٤٤
(30:44) Whoever is faithless shall face his faithlessness, and those who act righteously only prepare for their own souls.
It appears that this verse is meant to explain the split mentioned in the previous verse. Whoever is faithless shall face his faithlessness means he shall face the consequences of his faithlessness (assuming the existence of an implicit possessive construct) or even his faithlessness itself which shall transform into a blaze in which he shall dwell forever. This is one of the two groups of the split.
…and those who act righteously only prepare for their own souls (li anfusihim yamhadūn): “To prepare” (mahd) a mattress means to unroll it and spread it flat. The other group of the split consists of those who believe and do good deeds. Here, the consequent proposition (that is, only prepare…) appears in the plural based on the meaning (maʿnā) of its antecedent, while in the sentence (Whoever is faithless…) the consequent proposition appears in the singular in order to correspond to the word (lafẓ) of its antecedent. Here, the Qur’an only mentions good deeds without mentioning faith (īmān) because good deeds only prosper with faith, as mentioned in the previous verse.
Therefore, the meaning is: Those who do righteous deeds—having believed—are unfurling their means of life and subsistence in the Hereafter.
لِيَجْزِيَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ ۚ إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْكَافِرِينَ٤٥
(30:45) that He may reward (li yajziya) those who have faith and do righteous deeds out of His grace. Indeed He does not love the faithless.
Al-Rāghib says that “to reward” (jazāʾ) means “to enrich and suffice.”
Elsewhere, God says: No soul shall compensate for another (). And He says: A father shall not atone for his child, nor the child shall atone for its father ().
Jazāʾ in the sense of “sufficing” (kifāya) also conveys a sense of reciprocity, namely to reciprocate good with good and evil with evil. One might say: “I requited x with x.”
When God says that He may reward those who have faith and do righteous deeds out of His grace, the lām in li yajziya signifies purpose (ghāya). There is also no contradiction between God saying that he is rewarding those who have faith and saying that this is done out of His grace (min faḍlih), which implies that this is not something they have earned. This because they and whatever deeds they do belong completely to God. They do not possess anything of their own selves to deserve a reward thereby! After all, how can a slave deserve anything from his owner? So, whatever He rewards them with is actually a grace (faḍl) which is unearned.
In spite of this fact, God—out of His grace and mercy—considers them the owners of their own deeds even while He is their real owner, and gives them a due which they have earned as a result. In doing so, He makes whatever they obtain of paradise and nearness to Him a recompense for their deeds. But even this due that He has made for them is a kind of grace!
The source of this is God’s love and affection for them, because when they love their Lord they set their hearts upon the upright religion and follow God’s Messenger when he summons them to it. As a result, God loves them too: Say: If you love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins, and Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful ().
This is why the verse counts the reward and recompense given to them by God as something given in return and reciprocity for something they have done. But it simultaneously counts it as something He has given them out of His grace because even this reciprocity is a kind of grace from Him that stems from His love for them, as the verse intimates with the coda: Indeed He does not love the faithless.
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ يُرْسِلَ الرِّيَاحَ مُبَشِّرَاتٍ وَلِيُذِيقَكُمْ مِنْ رَحْمَتِهِ وَلِتَجْرِيَ الْفُلْكُ بِأَمْرِهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُوا مِنْ فَضْلِهِ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ٤٦
(30:46) And of His signs is that He sends the winds as bearers of good news and to let you taste of His mercy, and that the ships may sail by His command, and that you may seek of His grace, and so that you may give thanks.
The winds are described as bearers of good news (mubashshirāt) because they bring good news of rain by blowing before it falls.
To let you taste of His mercy is joined (in ʿaṭf) to the position (mawḍiʿ) of mubashshirāt in the sentence, as both convey a sense of purpose. The meaning being: “He sends the winds to bring you good news and to let you taste of His mercy.” To “taste of His mercy” means to receive various kinds of blessings as a result of the blowing winds, such as the pollination of trees, the cleansing of the air and others, all of which are contained in the unrestricted meaning of this sentence.
And that the ships might sail by His command means “because of the currents of the wind.”
And that you may seek of His grace means “that you might seek of His sustenance (rizq),” which is an aspect of His grace.
And so that you may give thanks [laʿallakum tashkurūn] represents the spiritual purpose of this phenomenon, while the purposes mentioned before were all visible. Giving thanks (shukr) means using a blessing in a way that bespeaks the Source of this blessing, through verbal praise of the Source that mentions His act of blessing, and, ultimately, by worshiping Him. That is why this clause is introduced by the subjunctive particle laʿalla (rather than the purposive lām of the previous clauses), as this suggests a wish or desire that this should be the case, while it is possible that such spiritual purposes remain unfulfilled.
وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ رُسُلًا إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِمْ فَجَاءُوهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَانْتَقَمْنَا مِنَ الَّذِينَ أَجْرَمُوا ۖ وَكَانَ حَقًّا عَلَيْنَا نَصْرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ٤٧
(30:47) Certainly We sent apostles to their people before you, and they brought them manifest proofs. Then We took vengeance upon those who were guilty (alladhīna ajramū), and it was a must for Us to help the faithful.
Al-Rāghib says:
Jarm literally means to cut a fruit from a tree… ajrama means for a tree to suffer this act, in the same way that athmara means for it to produce fruit, or atmara means for it to produce dates, or albana means for a cow or a goat to produce milk. Arjama is used metaphorically for whenever someone does something unpleasant; it is almost never used in day-to-day speech for a praiseworthy outcome.
This verse is an aside (muʿtariḍa) whose context appears to be explaining that the faithful are owed something by their Lord, namely to help them in this world and the next and to take vengeance upon those who were guilty. This is a right that God has given them over Himself. One should not imagine that this entails God being compelled or ordered around by someone else!
Then We took vengeance (fa intaqmnā) upon those who were guilty: The fāʾ here is implicative (fāʾ faṣīḥah), in other words “some of them believed and some were guilty, then We took vengeance upon those who were guilty.”
And it was a must for Us to help the faithful: That is, by saving them from punishment and destroying their enemies. This verse implies that taking vengeance on the guilty was done on behalf of the faithful and that this was a kind of help (naṣr).
Examining Narrations
- About the verse Corruption has appeared in land and sea because of the doings of the people’s hands (), Tafsīr al-Qummī says: “In land” (fi al-birr) means the ruin of the animals when there is no rain, and the same is true regarding the death of the beasts of the sea.
- Imam al-Ṣādiq said: “The life of the animals on land depends on rain. When there are no rains, then corruption appears in the land and sea. This happens because of an abundance of sinning.”
Author’s comments: This interpretation is a case of applying the verse to an external referent (al-jary).
- Once Imam al-Ṣādiq was asked about the verse Say: Travel over the land and then observe how was the fate of those who were before…(). He said: It means consider the Qur’an and see what the outcome was of those who came before you.
- Concerning the verse …and whoever acts righteously only prepare for their own souls (), relates from Imam al-Ṣādiq said: Righteous deeds will surely reach paradise before their doer and will prepare his place there in the same way as a servant goes ahead and prepares his mattress for his master.
- God’s Messenger said: “There is no man who defends the honor of his brother save that it is God’s duty to defend him from the fires of hell on the Day of Judgement.” Then he recited: And it was a must for Us to help the faithful.
These details seem more obvious in the English because of the presence of the copula “is” which is lacking in Arabic. If the sentence is analyzed differently then the placement of these copulas will change to reflect this. (Trans.) ↩︎
An “implicative fāʾ” is one that expresses an implicit clause in speech. In this case, the Qur’an says God sent prophets to people with manifest proofs, and it is implied by the next clause on vengeance that some of the people believed while others were guilty. (Trans.) ↩︎
Tafsīr al-Qummī. ↩︎
Al-Kāfī, via its chain of narration, on the authority of Abū al-Rabīʿ al-Shāmī. ↩︎
Majmaʿ al-Bayān, on the authority of Manṣūr b. Ḥāzim. ↩︎
Majmaʿ al-Bayān, on the authority of Umm al-Dardāʾ. This is also narrated in al-Durr al-Manthūr, on the authority of Ibn Abī Ḥātam, al-Ṭabarānī and Ibn Mardawayh on the authority of Abū al-Dardāʾ. ↩︎