Verses 21–37
The Qur’an now presents an argument for God’s singular lordship, followed by a discussion of His guidance of the rightly guided and His allowing those in error to lose their way, and a comparison between the two groups and their respective fates. This passage also shows what is meant by the guidance of the Qur’an.
Commentary
أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ أَنْزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَسَلَكَهُ يَنَابِيعَ فِي الْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ يُخْرِجُ بِهِ زَرْعًا مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَجْعَلُهُ حُطَامًا ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَذِكْرَىٰ لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ ٢١
(39:21) Have you not seen that Allah sends down water from the sky, then He conducts it through the ground as springs. Then with it He brings forth crops of diverse hues. Then they wither and you see them turn yellow. Then He turns them into chaff. There is indeed an admonition in that for those who possess intellect.
In Majmaʿ al-bayān, al-Ṭabrisī writes:
‘Yanābīʿ (springs) is the plural of yanbūʿ and denotes a place from which water issues forth, zarʿ (crops) signifies a plant that grows without a trunk, in contrast to shajar (tree), which refers to a plant with a trunk and branches, while nabāt (vegetation) encompasses both categories. When plants wither (yahīj) they dry out and become desiccated, while huṭam (debris) denotes pieces of hay and grass.’
He conducts the water through the ground as springs means that God causes it to flow into springs and watercourses in the earth that function like veins which carry it from one place to another. The remainder of the meaning should be clear and, as the reader can see, the verse is an argument for God’s sole lordship (rubūbiyya) of the cosmos.
أَفَمَنْ شَرَحَ اللَّهُ صَدْرَهُ لِلْإِسْلَامِ فَهُوَ عَلَىٰ نُورٍ مِنْ رَبِّهِ ۚ فَوَيْلٌ لِلْقَاسِيَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ مِنْ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ فِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ ٢٢
(39:22) Is someone whose breast Allah has opened to Islam so that he is upon a light from his Lord? So woe to those whose hearts have been hardened to the remembrance of Allah. They are in manifest error.
‘Remembrance of God’ (dhikr Allāh) here refers to the contents of the previous verse, which called attention to the sending down of water from the sky and the bringing forth of vegetation upon the earth, for this is a reminder for those who possess intellects. These, of course, are His Godwary servants, who we know from the earlier verses have been guided by God. In this verse we are told that they are not like other people, such as those who have gone astray, and the most obvious reason for this difference is that they are following a light from their Lord which allows them to perceive the truth and that their hearts are supple and not obstinate, so they are prepared to accept the best of the word when they encounter it.
The second part of the question, Is someone whose breast Allah has opened…, is implicit, but its meaning is indicated by the next part of the verse, So woe to those whose hearts have been hardened…—in other words, the full meaning of the question is Is someone whose breast Allah has opened… akin to one whose heart has been hardened? This, of course, is a rhetorical question whose import is to deny that the two are anything alike.
To open someone’s breast (sharḥ al-ṣadr) means to expand it so that it can encompass the words it receives. If someone’s breast is opened to Islam, which means to submit to the will of God, which is nothing but the truth, then this means that the person is such that they accept the truth when it is presented to them and do not reject it. However, it does not signify that they accept something without understanding or discernment. On the contrary, it means they accept it because they see that it is the truth and recognise it as good guidance. That is why the opening of the breast in this verse is followed by so that he is upon a light from his Lord. The use of the preposition upon (ʿalā) suggests an image of someone riding upon this light, travelling with it, and perceiving all the truth that he encounters with his expansive and open breast, which allows him to recognise it and distinguish between it and between falsehood. This is unlike the one who has strayed from the path, whose breast is too constrained to accept the truth and does not ride upon a light from his Lord to allow him to perceive it or distinguish it from other than it.
So woe to those whose hearts have been hardened to the remembrance of Allah… follows logically from the previous sentence, insofar as it shows that those with hardened hearts (and hardness of heart necessarily implies a contraction of the breast and the absence of any guiding light) do not ponder on God’s signs and, therefore, are not guided to the truth they point towards. That is why God terminates this verse with the coda: They are in manifest error.
Therefore, this verse provides a definition of guidance through its logical corollary, namely an openness of a person’s breast and their being placed upon a light from their Lord. Conversely, it also provides a definition of going astray through its logical corollary, namely having one’s heart hardened against the remembrance of God.
And we have already discussed the meaning of guidance in our commentary on the verse Whomever Allah desires to guide, He opens his breast to Islam… (), so refer to this [commentary] for more information.
اللَّهُ نَزَّلَ أَحْسَنَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابًا مُتَشَابِهًا مَثَانِيَ تَقْشَعِرُّ مِنْهُ جُلُودُ الَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُمْ ثُمَّ تَلِينُ جُلُودُهُمْ وَقُلُوبُهُمْ إِلَىٰ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُدَى اللَّهِ يَهْدِي بِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۚ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلِ اللَّهُ فَمَا لَهُ مِنْ هَادٍ ٢٣
(39:23) Allah has sent down the best of discourses, a scripture of similar motifs, whereat quiver the skins of those who fear their Lord, then their skins and hearts soften to Allah’s remembrance. That is Allah’s guidance, by which He guides whomever He wishes; and whomever Allah leads astray has no guide.
This verse acts almost as a summation in relation to the previous one, in that it relates to the meaning of guidance (hidāya), albeit as an explanation of the guidance of the Qur’an.
Allah has sent down the best of discourses…: This is the Qur’an, a discourse (ḥadīth) is a form of speech, as per the verse Let them bring a discourse like it () and the verse So what discourse will they believe after this? (), and it is the best speech because it contains the pure truth, which falsehood cannot approach from any direction, and it is a noble discourse.
…a scripture of similar motifs…: Mutashābih (similar) is used here in the sense that its different parts resemble one another, not in the sense that is the opposite of muḥkam (clear), namely ambiguous, as mutashābih in this sense is a description of some of the verses of the Qur’an, while this is a description of the text as a whole.
Mathānī (motifs) is the plural of mathniya (lit. folded), which signifies that some of its verses are attached to others, some of them refer to others, some of them clarify others, and some of them explain others. This is without there being any disagreement between them, such that none of them clash with one another or contradict one another. As God says elsewhere in the verse Do they not contemplate the Qur’an? Had it been from other than Allah, they would have surely found much discrepancy in it ().
…whereat quiver the skins of those who fear their Lord…—this phrase is in the position of an adjective (ṣifa) for scripture, rather than a new sentence. Iqshiʿrār (to quiver) means for the skin to contract with intensity out of fear, in response to seeing or hearing something frightening. But this only befalls the people mentioned in this verse because they perceive their position in relation to the tremendousness of their Lord, such that, when they hear His speech, their attention turns to His greatness and magnificence, their hearts are overwhelmed by fear, and their skins begin to tremble and quiver.
…then their skins and hearts soften to Allah’s remembrance: The verb talīn (soften) implies a sense of stillness and tranquillity, which is why it is made transitive here by the preposition ilā (to). This renders the meaning: Then their skins and their hearts find tranquillity in Allah’s remembrance and soften in order to receive it or …become softened to it in the sense of being at peace with it.
Notice that the previous sentence did not mention their hearts quivering alongside their skins, because the meaning of hearts here is their souls, and souls do not quiver, rather they feel fear.
That is Allah’s guidance, by which He guides whomever He wishes: In other words, the fact that their skins quiver upon hearing the Qur’an and then their skins and their hearts find tranquillity in God’s remembrance is guidance. This is yet another definition of guidance that defines it through its logical corollary.
…by which He guides whomever He wishes…: Meaning, He guides through His guidance whoever of His servants He wishes, and the ones He wishes to guide are those who have not lost their capacity to receive guidance or become distracted by impediments to guidance such as sinfulness and wrongdoing. The tone of the verse further indicates that guidance is something that God dispenses out of His grace (faḍl); there is nothing that makes it obligatory for Him to guide people or requires Him to do so.
Some commentators have said that the demonstrative pronoun dhalika (that) in That is Allah’s guidance refers to the Qur’an rather than the experience of those who fear their Lord and that these verses demonstrate that guidance is the function of God alone and that no one else has a share in this with Him. However, the truth is that these verses do not demonstrate any such thing, even if the assertion itself is true, namely that guidance originally belongs to God and it can only be said to belong to those whom He has chosen amongst His servants by extension; it is not something they have earned or deserved by their own actions. This is what can be grasped from the verses: Indeed it is the guidance of Allah which is the true guidance (); Indeed with Us rests guidance (); We made them leaders, guiding by Our command (); and And indeed you guide to a straight path ().
This shows that guidance (hidāya) in its totality belongs to God, whether this is the guidance He bestows directly or the guidance He bestows through divinely guided intermediaries chosen from amongst His creatures. Therefore, any creature of His that He allows to go astray, because He did not guide them either through an intermediary or without one, there is no guide for them. That is the meaning of the coda of this verse: and whomever Allah leads astray has no guide. This phrase will appear again in a few verses time, and it is repeated by God time and again throughout the entirety of the Qur’an.
أَفَمَنْ يَتَّقِي بِوَجْهِهِ سُوءَ الْعَذَابِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ۚ وَقِيلَ لِلظَّالِمِينَ ذُوقُوا مَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْسِبُونَ ٢٤
(39:24) What! Is someone who fends off with his face the terrible punishment on the Day of Resurrection? And the wrongdoers will be told, ‘Taste what you used to earn.’
This verse compares the people who will suffer punishment on the Day of Resurrection to those who will be kept safe from it; the former are those who went astray while the latter are those who followed God’s guidance. This is why this verse is placed immediately after the preceding one.
The verse opens with a rhetorical question—‘What! Is someone who…’—whose predicate is left implicit. Its full meaning is: ‘Is someone who fends off… the terrible punishment on the Day of Resurrection akin to one who is safe from it?’
The adverbial phrase on the Day of Resurrection qualifies the verb fends off, showing that on the Day of Judgment he will use his face to protect himself from the terrible punishment because his hand, with which he would have ordinarily protected himself from harm, is shackled to his neck—is such a person truly akin to one who is safe from punishment and to whom no harm will come? This is how some commentators have interpreted the verse.
Others have said that this interpretation of fends off with his face is incorrect, because the face is not a part of the body that can be used to protect oneself. Instead, this means that he uses all of himself in this world, or especially his countenance therein, to avoid the terrible punishment of the Day of Resurrection. Related to this, they say that the adverbial phrase on the Day of Resurrection does not qualify the verb fends off but the noun the terrible punishment. This interpretation reverses the meaning given above, such that the meaning becomes: ‘Is the one who protects himself from the terrible punishment of the Day of Resurrection by being Godwary in this world like someone who persists in disbelief?’ However, this reading is somewhat overwrought and unnatural.
And the wrongdoers will be told, ‘Taste what you used to earn’: They will be told this by the angels who watch over Hell. At first glance, it might have appeared more straightforward to use the pronoun they (as in ‘and they will be told’). However, the Qur’an uses the noun the wrongdoers (al-ẓālimīn) to highlight the reason for their punishment, namely their wrongdoing (ẓulm) in this world.
كَذَّبَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ فَأَتَاهُمُ الْعَذَابُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ ٢٥
(39:25) Those who were before them denied, whereat the punishment overtook them whence they were not aware.
In other words, it came at them from a direction they did not expect and thus they were taken by surprise and without warning, which is the worst way to be seized. This verse and those that follow it provide some details of the humiliating punishment that some of the disbelievers suffered in this world as an example to others like them.
فَأَذَاقَهُمُ اللَّهُ الْخِزْيَ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَلَعَذَابُ الْآخِرَةِ أَكْبَرُ ۚ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ ٢٦
(39:26) So Allah made them taste disgrace in the life of the world, and the punishment of the Hereafter will surely be greater, had they known.
Khizy (disgrace) signifies abasement and humiliation, which God made them taste through the different kinds of punishment he meted out to them, such as earthquakes, drowning, being swallowed by the earth, being seized by the cry, being transformed into animals, or being slain.
وَلَقَدْ ضَرَبْنَا لِلنَّاسِ فِي هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنِ مِنْ كُلِّ مَثَلٍ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ ٢٧
(39:27) Certainly we have drawn for mankind in this Qur’an every example, so that they may take admonition.
In other words, we have presented every kind of example to them so that they might awaken from their slumber, draw a lesson, and take admonition from it.
قُرْآنًا عَرَبِيًّا غَيْرَ ذِي عِوَجٍ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ ٢٨
(39:28) An Arabic Qur’an, without any deviousness, so that they may be Godwary.
ʿIwaj (deviousness) literally means to be crooked or bent. The phrase Qurʾānan ʿArabiyyan (an Arabic Qur’an) is in the accusative case (naṣb) to signify that it is the subject of praise or is being singled out for mention, in the sense of ‘I praise it as an Arabic Qur’an’ or ‘I single it out as an Arabic Qur’an.’ Alternatively, it may be in the accusative case because it is an adverbial phrase being used in the meaning of an adjectival one.
ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا رَجُلًا فِيهِ شُرَكَاءُ مُتَشَاكِسُونَ وَرَجُلًا سَلَمًا لِرَجُلٍ هَلْ يَسْتَوِيَانِ مَثَلًا ۚ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ۚ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ٢٩
(39:29) Allah draws an example: a man jointly owned by several contending masters, and a man belonging entirely to one man: are the two equal in comparison? All praise belongs to Allah! But most of them do not know.
Al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī says that shakis (translated here as ‘contending’) means to be of spiteful character, and the phrase shurakāʾ mutashākisūn (contending masters) signifies that they are contending with one another because of their spiteful character. On the other hand, salam (belonging entirely) means that no one else has a share in his property.
This is a parable that God draws for the idolater who worships many different lords and deities, all of whom claim a share in him and therefore dispute over him. One commands him to do what another forbids, and each one expects him to serve them to the exclusion of all others. On the other hand, the parable of the monotheist is someone who is in the service of but a single master and upon whom no one else has any claim. The monotheist can serve his master and do as he bids him without anyone else disputing this and thereby sowing confusion. The idolater, then, is the man who has many masters who contend with one another for his obedience, while the monotheist belongs entirely to a single master. The two are patently unequal in comparison, for the one who is in the service of a single master is assuredly in a better state than that of the one in the service of many.
This is a very simple parable that anyone could understand. However, it also contains a subtle hint to another verse of the Qur’an, Had there been gods in them other than Allah, they would surely have fallen apart (), and, in doing so, evokes its argument against a multiplicity of lords and deities.
The Qur’an then says, all praise belongs to Allah, because serving Him is better than serving any others besides Him. But most of them do not know the superiority of serving Him over serving all others, even though this should be self-evident to anyone with the slightest degree of insight.
إِنَّكَ مَيِّتٌ وَإِنَّهُمْ مَيِّتُونَ ٣٠ ثُمَّ إِنَّكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ عِنْدَ رَبِّكُمْ تَخْتَصِمُونَ ٣١
(39:30–31) You will surely die, and they will surely die too. Then on the Day of Resurrection you will indeed contend before your Lord.
The first verse prepares the ground for the message of the second one, namely that on the Day of Resurrection they will dispute in the presence of their Lord. The pronoun ‘you’ (kum) in you will indeed contend is addressed to the Prophet and his nation or specifically to the idolaters among them. According to al-Ṭabrisī in Majmaʿ al-bayān, ikhtiṣām (to contend) means that there are two parties, each of whom rejects the claims of the other.
Therefore, the meaning of these two verses is that the ultimate outcome for both you and for them is death, then you will all be brought into the presence of your Lord on the Day of Resurrection, whereat you will dispute with one another. And the Qur’an has already foretold what the Prophet will say: And the Messenger will say, ‘O my Lord! Indeed my people consigned this Qur’an to oblivion.’ ()
These two verses are also universal in terms of their wording, but the next four verses indicate that the contending they mention refers to what will transpire between the Prophet and the disbelievers from his nation on the Day of Resurrection.
فَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنْ كَذَبَ عَلَى اللَّهِ وَكَذَّبَ بِالصِّدْقِ إِذْ جَاءَهُ ۚ أَلَيْسَ فِي جَهَنَّمَ مَثْوًى لِلْكَافِرِينَ ٣٢
(39:32) So who is a greater wrongdoer than him who attributes a falsehood to Allah, and denies the truth when it reaches him? Is not the abode of the faithless in hell?
This verse and those following it are quick to mention what will be the outcome of this disputation on the Day of Resurrection, and they suggest that it will take a form of God’s Judgment between the parties. It is as if to say: ‘The verdict of God’s Judgment between you is already known now, and it is already known which of you will be saved and which of you will perish. The Judgment on that day will depend on whether you acted wrongfully or rightfully in this world. On the one hand, there is no greater wrongdoer than the disbeliever, while on the other the believer is Godwary and acts virtuously. Wrongdoing leads to hell, while acting virtuously leads to paradise.’ This is what the context and tone of the verse suggests.
So who is a greater wrongdoer than him who attributes a falsehood to Allah…? In other words, who invents a lie about Him by claiming that He has partners and associates. Note also that the seriousness of a wrong (ẓulm) is proportionate to the status of the one who is wronged. Therefore, given that God is greater and more tremendous than any other being, both the wrong done and the wrongdoer are greater than all others.
…and denies the truth when it reaches him? The meaning of ṣidq (truth) here is a true message, which is the divine religion brought by the Messenger, as indicated by the qualifier when it reaches him.
Is not the abode of the faithless in hell? Mathwā is a noun of place, denoting a home or resting-place. The question is rhetorical, signifying the affirmative, namely: Surely hell is the resting-place of those wrongdoers because of their arrogant rejection of the truth, which is tantamount to inventing lies about God, and denying the true message brought to them by the Prophet.
Therefore, based on the context, this verse is specific to the idolaters who were alive at the time of the Prophet or to the idolaters of his own people, but it also applies generally to whoever introduces an innovation (bidʿa) to or forsakes an established teaching (sunna) of the religion.
وَالَّذِي جَاءَ بِالصِّدْقِ وَصَدَّقَ بِهِ ۙ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُتَّقُونَ ٣٣
(39:33) He who brings the truth and he who confirms it: it is they who are the Godwary.
In this verse, bringing the truth refers to bringing the true religion, and confirming it refers to believing in it. He who brings it is, of course, the Prophet himself.
…is they who are the Godwary: Perhaps the plural pronoun (they) is used here, while the previous two were singular, because this refers to a group of people, namely each and every prophet who brought the true religion and believed in what they brought as well as each and every believer who believed in the true religion and called others to it, as calling others to the truth in word and in deed is part and parcel of following the Prophet, as per the verse: Say, ‘This is my way. I summon to Allah with insight—I and he who follows me’ ().
لَهُمْ مَا يَشَاءُونَ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ جَزَاءُ الْمُحْسِنِينَ ٣٤
(39:34) They will have whatever they wish near their Lord. That is the reward of the virtuous,
This is their reward with their Lord, namely that they shall have whatever they desire. This is because, in paradise, the mere act of wishing something will be a sufficient cause for a person to obtain it, no matter what it is. This is contrary to the life of this world, for obtaining any goal in this life depends upon—in addition to wanting it—multiple factors and causes, including one’s own efforts and seeking the help and assistance of others.
Therefore, this verse shows two things: First, that they will dwell in paradise in proximity to the Lord of the Worlds; second, that they shall have whatever they want in there. These two things together are the recompense of the Godwary, the ones who act virtuously in this world, and their virtuousness is the reason for them receiving the aforementioned reward, and this is why the verse says that is the reward of the virtuous, as opposed to that is their reward.
The apparent meaning of iḥsān (virtue or virtuousness) here is righteous deeds or true belief combined with good deeds. This shows that the confirmation mentioned in the previous verse is to affirm the true religion in word and in deed, as the Qur’an would not refer to someone who forsook any of the ordinances God revealed in it as someone who believed in it or confirmed it.
لِيُكَفِّرَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ أَسْوَأَ الَّذِي عَمِلُوا وَيَجْزِيَهُمْ أَجْرَهُمْ بِأَحْسَنِ الَّذِي كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ ٣٥
(39:35) so that Allah may absolve them of the worst of what they did, and pay them their reward by the best of what they used to do.
It is self-evident that if God will absolve them of the worst of what they did, He will absolve them of everything less than that as well. The meaning of the worst of what they did is acts such as idolatry or the major sins.
In Majmaʿ al-bayān, al-Ṭabrisī writes about this verse: ‘In other words, God will spare them the punishment for idolatry and the sins they committed previously because of their faith and virtuousness and their returning to God.’ This is a sound interpretation of the verse with regards to it encompassing all bad deeds, and the fact that it predicates this absolution on these sins being in the past and being followed by faith, virtuousness, and repentance. After all, the verse is explaining the effect of confirming the truth that came to them, namely the absolution of their sins as a result of this confirmation and a good reward in the Hereafter.
…and pay them their reward by the best of what they used to do: Some commentators have said this means that God will look at their deeds and grant them a reward that befits their best deeds, such that He will even reward them for their lesser good deeds with the reward of their best deeds. In this reading, the preposition bi (by) in bi aḥsan (by the best) is used in the sense of exchange, as one might say biʿtu hādhā bi hādhā (I will sell you x in exchange for y).
It could also be said that this verse means He will consider their deeds of the highest degree and elevate their degree in paradise accordingly, so that they will not miss out on any aspect of the reward for their highest deeds. However, this reading would not work if we were to apply it to His absolution of their evil deeds.
Other commentators have said that superlative noun forms of aswaʾ (worst) and aḥsan (best) that appear in this verse are used in the absolute sense, without considering what these deeds are better or worse than, for all acts of disobedience against God are worse and all acts of obedience to Him are better.
أَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِكَافٍ عَبْدَهُ ۖ وَيُخَوِّفُونَكَ بِالَّذِينَ مِنْ دُونِهِ ۚ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلِ اللَّهُ فَمَا لَهُ مِنْ هَادٍ ٣٦ وَمَنْ يَهْدِ اللَّهُ فَمَا لَهُ مِنْ مُضِلٍّ ۗ أَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِعَزِيزٍ ذِي انْتِقَامٍ ٣٧
(39:36-37) Does not Allah suffice His servant? They would frighten you of others than Him. Yet whomever Allah leads astray has no guide, and whomever Allah guides, there is no one who can lead him astray. Is not Allah an all-mighty avenger?
Based on the context, what is meant by others than Him here are their deities that they set up as partners besides God. His servant here refers to the one praised by God in the previous verses, and, as such, this includes the Prophet first and foremost.
The rhetorical question Does not Allah suffice…? is intended to be understood affirmatively, namely that He will suffice him. This also provides a guarantee of safety to the Prophet in response to the threats the idolaters make against invoking their deities, and it also alludes to a promise to suffice him that is made explicit in the verse: Allah shall suffice you against them, and He is the All-hearing, the All-knowing ().
Yet whomever Allah leads astray has no guide, and whomever Allah guides, there is no one who can lead him astray: This passage contains two statements whose meanings are reflections of one another, and which enshrine two universal cosmic principles. For this reason, even though the Qur’an could have used the pronoun He for God, it opts to mention Him by name.
Following the statement, Does not Allah suffice…? the Qur’an says, Yet whomever Allah leads astray… to show that those persons making threats against the Prophet will never be guided to true faith, and their efforts will never bear fruit; they will never achieve their ambitions or their goals with regard to the Prophet, for God will never let His Messenger go astray, as He has already guided him.
Is not Allah an all-mighty avenger? Another rhetorical question intended to be read affirmatively, in other words: Yes, He is. This is a clear explanation of why whomever Allah leads astray has no guide, for His might and His vengefulness decree that He should exact retribution against those who obstinately denied the truth and persisted in disbelief. Therefore, He leaves them astray and without a guide to guide them, because He is the Almighty whose will cannot be forestalled. And, likewise, if He guides one of His servants because of that servant’s Godwariness and virtuousness, none can ever lead him astray.
This explanation also shows that leading astray is attributed to God insofar as God will recompense and punish those who have gone astray, rather than insofar as He causes them to go astray, as we have discussed numerous times previously.
Examining Narrations
- In Rawḍat al-Wāʿiẓīn, al-Fattāl al-Nīshābūrī narrates that the Prophet recited the verse: Is someone whose breast Allah has opened to Islam so that he is upon a light from his Lord? and said: ‘Indeed the light, when it settles in the heart, expands it and opens it.’
The people asked: ‘O Messenger of God! Is there a sign by which this light can be identified?’ He said: ‘To shun the abode of delusion and turn towards the abode of everlasting life, and to prepare for death before it arrives.’
Author’s comments: This is also narrated by al-Suyūṭī in al-Durr al-manthūr from Ibn Mardawayh via ʿAbdallāh b. Masʿūd, and from al-Ḥākim al-Tirmidhī via ʿAbdallāh b. ʿUmar, and from Ibn Jarīr and others from Qatāda.
- And in Tafsīr al-Qummī, concerning the verse, Is someone whose breast Allah has opened to Islam (), he says: ‘This was revealed about the Commander of the Faithful.’
Author’s comments: The fact that this chapter of the Qur’an was revealed all at once is incompatible with this claim.
- In al-Durr al-manthūr, al-Suyūṭī narrates from Ibn Jarīr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that people said: ‘O Messenger of God, if only you spoke to us!’ Then the verse was revealed: Allah has sent down the best of discourses ().
Author’s comments: This narration is an application of the general meaning of the verse to a specific instance (taṭbīq).
- In Majmaʿ al-bayān, about the verse whereat quiver the skins of those who fear their Lord (), al-Ṭabrisī narrates from ʿAbbās b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib that the Prophet said: ‘When the skin of the servant quivers out of fear of God, his sins fall from him as dead leaves fall from a tree.’
- In al-Durr al-manthūr, concerning …an Arabic Qur’an, without any deviousness (), al-Suyūṭī narrates from al-Daylamī in Musnad al-firdaws, from Anas, from the Prophet: ‘It means uncreated.’
Author’s comments: The verse does not allow for the interpretation given in this narration, and we have already discussed the meaning of God’s speech (kalām) in our commentary on the verse: These are the apostles, some of whom We gave an advantage over others (2:353).
- In Majmaʿ al-bayān, concerning the verse, …and a man belonging entirely to one man… (), al-Ṭabrisī narrates al-Ḥākim Abū al-Qāsim al-Ḥasakānī via a chain of narrators from ʿAlī: ‘I am that man who belongs entirely to God’s Messenger.’
Author’s comments: al-ʿAyyāshī also narrates this via his own chain of narrators from Abū Khālid, from Abū Jaʿfar [Imām al-Bāqir], and this represents an extension of the verse’s meaning (jarī), but the example given is universal.
- Also in Majmaʿ al-bayān, concerning the verse, Then on the Day of Resurrection you will indeed contend before your Lord (), it is narrated from Ibn ʿUmar: ‘We believed this verse was about us and about the people of the Evangel and the Torah, so we said, “How shall we contend with one another when we have one prophet and one book?” Then we saw some of us strike others in the face with swords, and then we knew that it had been revealed about us.’
Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī said: ‘We used to say: “We have one Lord, one prophet, and one religion—so what is this dispute about?” Then, on the Day of Ṣiffīn, some of us fell upon others with swords, and we said: “Yes, this was revealed about us.”’
Author’s comments: The first tradition is narrated in al-Durr al-manthūr by various chains from Ibn ʿUmar, with differences in wording but the same meaning. It is also narrated from a number of compilers of ḥadīth compendia (jawāmiʿ) from Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī. A similar tradition is narrated via two routes from al-Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām. The second tradition is narrated from Saʿīd b. Manṣūr from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī.
These reports flatly contradict narrations to the effect that the Companions are all independent thinkers who are rewarded whether they arrive at the correct conclusions or stray into error.
- In Majmaʿ al-bayān, about the verse, He who brings the truth and he who confirms it (), it is said that the one who brought the truth is Muḥammad and the one who confirms it is ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, and this is narrated from the Imams of guidance from the Household of the Prophet.
Author’s comments: It is also narrated in al-Durr al-manthūr, from Ibn Mardawayh, from Abū Hurayra, and it appears that this is an extension of the verse’s meaning (jarī), based on the verse’s coda: It is they who are the Godwary.
And some narrate via their chains of narrators that the one who confirmed it was Abū Bakr, and this is also an application of the general meaning of the verse to a specific instance. It is also narrated: ‘The one who brought it was the Angel Gabriel, and the one who confirmed it was Muḥammad.’ This is also a case of applying a general verse to a specific instance, although in this case the context of the verse precludes such a reading, as this passage is constructed in praise of the Prophet, while the believers and the Angel Gabriel are not under discussion here.
Or, conforming in its various parts. Obviously, it refers to the fact that there is a consistency in the style of the Qur’an. (Ed.) ↩︎