Verses 2–8
When speaking of the angels—who act as intermediaries in delivering the divine blessings to creation—the text speaks of blessings in a universal sense as emanating from God, the Exalted, and no one else. He is the sustainer (rāziq), and none shares that position with Him. Then it uses His position as the sustainer to argue for His lordship, followed by the resurrection. This is then used to argue for the truth of the promised resurrection, the punishment of the deniers, and the forgiveness of the righteous believers. These verses also express empathy for the Prophet.
Commentary
مَا يَفْتَحِ اللَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ مِن رَّحْمَةٍ فَلا مُمْسِكَ لَهَا وَمَا يُمْسِكْ فَلا مُرْسِلَ لَهُ مِن بَعْدِهِ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ ٢
(35:2) Whatsoever mercy Allah opens (yaftaḥ) unto mankind, none shall withhold. And whatsoever He withholds, none shall send thereafter. And He is the mighty, the wise.
This means that whenever God grants a blessing to someone—meaning sustenance (rizq)—no one else can block it. Similarly, whenever God keeps a blessing from someone, no one else can provide it. Basically, it is saying: “Whatever God sends to people, none shall withhold….”
Here, “open” (yaftaḥ) means “send”. This is shown by the use of “open” in the first clause and “send” (mursil, irsāl) in the second [as synonyms]. Repeatedly, the Qur’an describes God’s mercy as lying in stored-up treasures or coffers (khazāʾin), as in: Or do they control the stored-up treasures of the mercy of your Lord, the mighty, the giving? (); Say: If you held the coffers of the mercy of My Lord, you would be miserly with them, afraid to spend! ()
Thus, the word “open” is used instead of “send” [in the first clause of the verse] to indicate that God’s mercy is stored up in these treasuries or coffers which encompass humankind. [That is, God “opens” his mercy to people, whereas people might conceive of themselves as “sending” it to each other.] They can only access these coffers when they are opened for them; there is no other way in.
[In the next verse] sustenance (rizq) is described as a blessing arising from God’s mercy to demonstrate that blessings radiate from God due to His sheer mercy, not out of His own self-interest or so that He might elevate Himself.
And whatsoever He withholds, none shall send thereafter: This means that no one else can provide a blessing which God has put a stop to. Thereafter (min baʿdihi) hints that He is the first in obstructing something, just as He is the first in giving it.
He is the mighty, the wise: These two divine names declare the wisdom of what is said in the verse. He is mighty, for none can have the upper hand when He gives or withholds something. He is wise: He gives and withholds wisely, and for the sake of what is best. In short, none can give or withhold other than God, and giving and withholding are done with wisdom.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ هَلْ مِنْ خَالِقٍ غَيْرُ اللَّهِ يَرْزُقُكُم مِّنَ السَّمَاء وَالأَرْضِ لا إِلَهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ فَأَنَّى تُؤْفَكُونَ ٣
(35:3) O mankind! Remember Allah’s blessing upon you. Is there a creator other than Allah who provides for you from Heaven and earth? There is no god but He. So how are you deluded?
The previous verse established that only God can give and withhold, and that He has no partners in this. This verse uses that principle to demonstrate the oneness (tawḥīd) of God in His lordship (rubūbiyyah).
It argues that a godform can only be a worshipped deity if it has lordship—and this entails control over the management of humankind (and others). Who is it who holds in His hands the administration of these blessings, which wax and wane for people (and others)? Who is it who sustains them through these blessings? It is God, Exalted be He, without any of the other gods which they have taken for themselves. For it is He who created these blessings without any other deities, and the creation has perpetually been dependent on the administration [of these blessings]. So He—Exalted be He—is their god. There is no god but He, for He is their lord who administers their affairs through these blessings which come and go. He is a lord who administers [His creation] with these blessings because He is the one who created them, and He is also the creator of the system which dispenses these blessings.
From this, it is clear that people is directed at those people who worshipped idols or who assigned partners to God.
Remember (udhkurū) Allah’s blessing upon you: Remember (udhkurū, from dhikr) is used here as the antonym of “forget”, not as a verbal act [for instance, reciting the divine names as a form of dhikr].
Is there a creator other than Allah who provides for you (yarzuqukum) from heaven [or sky] and earth? Sustenance (rizq) is what prolongs existence. It originates from the sky, with its sun rays and rainfall and so on, and from the earth, with its greenery and animal life and so on.
With this, it becomes clear that there is a subtle argument in the text here. Mercy in the previous verse has been replaced with, first, blessing and, then, sustenance. Therefore, it seems as if the text should continue to read, “Do you have any sustainer other than God?” or “Do you have any bestower of blessings other than God?” or “Do you have any granter of mercy other than God?” However, instead, it says, “Do you have any creator other than God?” This is a second argument to forestall any objection from those who hold that God created the universe but appointed deities to administer it; therefore, they worship those deities. If the text had said, “Do you have any sustainer or bestower of blessings or granter of mercy other than God?”, they might have replied in the affirmative by saying that God had created and appointed their gods to sustain them. However, it is asking if they have any creator other than God. This implies that sustainer here really means “creator of sustenance”. They can only say no—they do not have a creator other than God who sustains them from the heaven and earth.
There is no god but He: This interjection declaring God’s oneness serves to glorify Him. It resembles: And they say that Allah has taken a son. Exalted be He! () In other words, nothing can be truly worshipped unless it is deserving of worship. And, the one who bestows blessings and sustenance upon them is no one other than God.
So how are you deluded? This is a reprimand stemming from the proofs that have just been given. In other words, it is saying, “If the matter is like this, and you confess to that, then how long will you shun truth for falsehood, and monotheism for polytheism?”
Exegetes have wrangled copiously over the grammatical nuances of this verse. Some of their points which are relevant to what we have discussed with respect to how the verse delivers a theological argument are as follows:
Min (of or from) is extraneous (zāʾidah) to express generality. [That is, is there any sort of creator other than God?]
The prepositional phrase other than Allah (ghayr Allāh) refers back to the word Creator (khāliq) since it comes after it. The same goes for sustains you (yarzuqukum).
Creator (min khāliq) is the subject of a sentence with an elided predicate, which would be exists.
There is no god but He! is an interjection, and the clause so how are you deluded? resumes the sentence.
وَإِن يُكَذِّبُوكَ فَقَدْ كُذِّبَتْ رُسُلٌ مِّن قَبْلِكَ وَإِلَى اللَّهِ تُرْجَعُ الأُمُورُ ٤
(35:4) If they deny you, the messengers before you were denied, and to Allah do all matters return.
These words empathize with the Prophet—meaning, “If they deny you after hearing these resplendent proofs, do not grieve, for this is nothing new. The messengers before you were also denied. Their peoples called them liars, and to God will the entire matter return. He will requite them in the way they deserve for denying the truth after it appeared. They cannot cause harm through their denial.”
From here, it is clear that there is an inversion of causality with respect to the sentence the messengers before you were denied. [That is, it would be expected to read something along the lines of “if they deny you, do not grieve”; however, “do not grieve” is implied, and “the messengers before you were denied” is in its place. Structurally, it acts as the cause of his grief, even though it was the people surrounding the Prophet who pained him.]
And to Allah do all matters return is linked by “and” to the messengers before you were denied.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ فَلا تَغُرَّنَّكُمُ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا وَلا يَغُرَّنَّكُم بِاللَّهِ الْغَرُورُ ٥
(35:5) O mankind! Allah’s promise is true, so do not let the life of this world deceive you, and do not let the archdeceiver deceive you about Allah.
This reminds mankind as a whole of the return [to God in the afterlife], just as the former verse reminded mankind of God’s oneness in his lordship and divinity.
The promise of Allah is true: Meaning that the promise to raise them from their graves and recompense them for their acts, good or ill. True (ḥaqq) means that it is a firm promise that will happen. This promise is elaborated on in: Those who belie [the truth] shall have severe punishment, and those who believe and work righteous deeds shall have forgiveness and a great reward. ()
Do not let the life of this world deceive you: This is a prohibition. Although it is framed as an address to this worldly life, it is in fact addressed to them. It means, “If the promise of God is true, do not be deceived by the life of this world. Do not throw yourselves into the adornments and pleasures of this world which chase the day of accounting from your mind. Do not lose yourselves in chasing after them and turning away from the truth.”
And do not let the archdeceiver deceive you about Allah: Archdeceiver (gharūr) is an intensified form of ghurūr (“deception”, “delusion”). It is used for someone or something which habitually goes to extremes in deception. According to exegetes, it appears to refer to Satan; this view is reinforced by the next verse, which begins with Satan is an enemy to you.
His deception about God entails first steering their eyes towards the manifestations of God’s forbearance and clemency, and then [away from] the manifestations of His trials, and the way He allows people to slide down a gradual decline and dig their own graves. They start to believe that busying themselves with this world, forgetting the hereafter, and turning away from the truth and the True [i.e. the divine] have no consequences or repercussions. They start to believe that whenever the children of this world are kept from their goals and throw themselves into forgetfulness of God and drown themselves in sins and disobedience, they earn a better living, are at ease among people, and enjoy power and position. It is then that Satan casts into their hearts the notion that honor lies only in worldly success and no one has any idea what lies beyond it. All that the prophets spoke of—the promised reward, the assured punishment, the resurrection, the accounting, the Garden, the Fire—is naught but superstition.
Therefore, the meaning behind Satan’s deceiving mankind is being deceived about how God will treat people with respect to their heedlessness and wrongdoing.
Perhaps, archdeceiver could also be construed as referring to how this glittering world entices human beings. Thus, and do not let the archdeceiver deceive you about Allah would reiterate the meaning of and do not let the life of this world deceive you, thereby emphasizing it.
إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ فَاتَّخِذُوهُ عَدُوًّا إِنَّمَا يَدْعُو حِزْبَهُ لِيَكُونُوا مِنْ أَصْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ ٦
(35:6) Satan is an enemy to you, so take him as an enemy. He only calls upon his party to be the inhabitants of the raging fire.
This explains why people are told not to be deceived by the arch-deceiver in the previous verse. Satan is an enemy because he has no aim other than to seduce people away from a happy life, here and in the hereafter. “Taking Satan as an enemy” means to stay away from those who follow his call towards falsehood and disobedience, which he insinuates through whispers and enticements, as explained in the latter part of the verse (He only calls upon his party…).
He only calls upon his party (ḥizbahu) to be (li-yakūnū) inhabitants of the raging fire (saʿīr): This provides a justification for what came before. Ḥizb (“party”) refers to a group of people united on one aim. The letter lām in li-yakūnū (“to be”) indicates that this verb is explanatory; that is, the ultimate goal of his call is for them to be inhabitants of the blazing fire. Saʿīr means “a raging fire”, and it is one of the names of Hell used in the Qur’an.
الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةٌ وَأَجْرٌ كَبِيرٌ ٧
(35:7) Those who reject [the truth] shall have severe punishment, and those who believe and work righteous deeds shall have forgiveness and a great reward.
This is the true promise which God has mentioned. Punishment (ʿadhāb) is in the indefinite form to emphasize that there are varying levels of punishment, in accordance with their varying levels of denial and corruption. So it is more appropriate here to be obscure [about the type of punishment]. The same is true for the latter part of the verse (forgiveness and reward).
أَفَمَن زُيِّنَ لَهُ سُوءُ عَمَلِهِ فَرَآهُ حَسَنًا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يُضِلُّ مَن يَشَاء وَيَهْدِي مَن يَشَاء فَلا تَذْهَبْ نَفْسُكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسَرَاتٍ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ ٨
(35:8) What of the one whose evil acts are made to seem fair to him, so that he thinks them beautiful? Allah leads astray whomever He wills, and guides whomever He wills. So do not let your soul chase after them in regret. Allah knows what they have wrought.
This affirms the dividing [of people] in the previous verse—meaning, the dividing of people into the deniers, who have severe punishment, and the believers who work righteous deeds, who have forgiveness and a great reward. The intent is to say that since these two groups are not the same, their afterlives shall not be the same.
What of the one whose evil acts are made to seem fair to him, so that he thinks them beautiful?: This is an introductory clause to a sentence whose concluding clause has been elided. The implied meaning is along the lines of, “Are they the same as those who are not like that?” The letter fāʾ (“so”) indicates that the sentence is intended as a consequence of the previous verse, and it is a rhetorical question with the implied answer being, “No, they are not the same!” The intent behind the one whose evil acts are made to seem fair to him is the one who denies the truth (i.e. the kāfir), and it implies that this brain has it all backwards. He does one thing and imagines it to be something else. It means, “The person whose evil acts are made to seem fair to him, so he thinks they are beautiful, is not the same as the person who is not like that and, rather, sees evil acts as evil.”
Allah leads astray whomever He wills, and guides whomever He wills: This explains why, in the previous verse, the two groups of people are not the same. That is, through His will, God leads astray the denier who sees foul as fair, and guides the believer who works righteously and sees foul as foul.
This misguidance does not happen at the beginning; rather, it happens as a consequence, and so there is no harm in ascribing it to God. [That is, it would not construe divine injustice.]
In short, the denier and the believer meet different ends for two reasons. The first is the divine promise of punishment or mercy in accordance with their divine guidance or misguidance. The second is with respect to divine guidance or misguidance in accordance with their viewpoint—seeing foul as fair versus seeing foul as foul and fair as fair.
So do not let your soul chase (lā tadhhab nafsuka) after them in regret (ḥasarātin): Ḥasarāt (“regret”) is the plural of ḥasrah, meaning “sadness and regret over what has eluded one”. It ends with the accusative grammatical marker -in because it expresses the reason why he might chase after them. “Letting your soul chase after them” means “destroying it on account of them due to sadness over their lack of belief”.
The sentence comes as a natural consequence to the division of people in the previous verse. It is saying, “Since, before God, people are in two groups—guided and misguided—do not make yourself suffer if they call you a liar or deny you. For God is the one who leads some people astray due to their denial and seeing evil as good. He knows what they do, and this matter is not confusing for Him. He will only treat them justly and recompense them justly.”
From here, it is clear that Allah knows what they have wrought explains the reason behind do not let your soul chase after them in regret. It would not befit the Messenger cast his own soul into undue suffering over them when they are the ones who have strayed and earned punishment. God is the one who has misguided them due to their acts, and He knows what they do.
The modern reader might keep in mind that in the pre-modern and, indeed, pre-digital era, it was necessary for a king to have a physical treasury in order to house a country’s wealth, and even a person’s wealth would be stored in physical form as coins, foodstuffs, linens, and the like. Such a metaphor would have been very natural throughout the vast majority of human history when wealth took on an embodied form; it is less immediate today, when much of our wealth is virtual. In any case, ʿAllāmah is explaining why the word “opens” is used instead of “sends” for God’s mercy, given that “send” might come across as more natural. [Trans.] ↩︎
There is a min in this verse which is not grammatically required for a complete sentence. That is, instead of saying is there any creator other than Allah, it says is there of/from any creator other than Allah (hal min khāliqin ghayr Allāh). [Trans.} ↩︎
The accusative feminine plural ends with -i instead of -a. [Trans.] ↩︎