Verses 26–45
In the previous verses, the discourse reached the point where the idolaters reject the Prophet without any valid reason and cling to the practice of idolatry in blind imitation of their forefathers without any evidence. It follows this by turning to the story of Abraham. In it, we see that Abraham rejected precisely this kind of blind imitation, which was practiced by his father and his people. He disassociated himself from what they worshipped besides God and tried to lead them to the guidance of his Lord who originated everything.
Thereafter, it describes how God provided the Prophet’s own people with blessings and their ingratitude by rejecting God’s Book and falsely imputing it and the Messenger who brought it. Then it mentions the consequences of turning away from God’s remembrance; things which ultimately lead to misery and loss. God then tells the Prophet that he cannot make them to believe if they do not want to, before threatening them with punishment. Finally, he tells the Prophet to hold fast to the Qur’an and says that it is a reminder for him and his people about which they will be questioned, and that it contains the religion of true Divine Unity which is the same religion as was followed by the Prophets who came before him.
Commentary
وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ لِأَبِيهِ وَقَوْمِهِ إِنَّنِي بَرَاءٌ مِمَّا تَعْبُدُونَ ٢٦
(43:26) When Abraham said to his father and his people, “I repudiate what you worship….”
Here, God uses the verbal noun (barāʾun) for repudiate rather than the active participle (barīʾun), so the literal meaning is “I am a repudiation of what you worship.” He uses this for hyperbole, just as when we say “Zayd is fairness” to mean that Zayd is a fair person.
The verse shows that Abraham repudiated everything that his father and his people would worship besides God, whether idols or heavenly bodies. Based on the accounts contained in other sūrahs of the Qur’an, such as al-Anʿām, al-Anbiyāʾ and al-Shuʿarāʾ, this was after he had challenged his people’s idolatry and they had invoked the practice of their forefathers.
In context, the verse means: “And tell your people [O Muḥammad!] about when Abraham repudiated the gods of his father and his people that they worshipped in blind imitation of their forefathers without any evidence, and he alone reflected on truth.”
إِلَّا الَّذِي فَطَرَنِي فَإِنَّهُ سَيَهْدِينِ ٢٧
(43:27) “…excepting Him who originated me; indeed He will guide me.”
In other words, “except for the one who brought me into existence, and that is God.” The ascription of origination (fiṭr) to God alludes to the proof of His lordship and divinity, as the act of bringing things into being is inseparable from looking after the affairs of those originated beings. Therefore, the One who originated everything must also be the Lord who manages everything, and therefore He alone is worthy of worship.
…indeed He will guide me: Meaning: “He will guide me to the truth which I seek.” It is also said that this means: “…to the path to Paradise.”
And this sentence highlights another special quality of lordship, namely guiding people to the true path which they must follow. This is because leading people towards perfection is the fulfilment of managing their affairs, so the Lord who manages everything must guide everything towards its ultimate purpose and felicity. God says: Our Lord is He who gave everything its creation and then guided it (). And He says: With God rests guidance to the straight path (). So turning towards God through Divine Unity in worship entails Divine Guidance as a consequence, as God says: As for those who strive for Us, We shall surely guide them in Our ways ().
The exception in excepting Him who originated me is a disjunctive exception, as the idolaters do not really worship God, as we have already seen. Some commentators have said it is a conjunctive exception and that the idolaters would say “God is our Lord” even though they only worshipped idols, as you have seen.
وَجَعَلَهَا كَلِمَةً بَاقِيَةً فِي عَقِبِهِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ ٢٨
(43:28) And He made it a lasting word among his posterity so that they may come back.
It appears that the doer of the verb He made… is God, and its object—based on what has been said—is the statement of repudiation uttered by Abraham, which has the same meaning as the Profession of Divine Unity (kalimat al-tawḥīd) in the shahādah, as the words “There is no god but God” negate all gods besides God, rather than negating all Gods and then affirming God. This is apparent from the verse itself, so there is no need for the torturous interpretations some commentators have offered to the effect that the it which is the object of the verb refers to the Profession of Divine Unity, which is already known from Abraham’s statement.
The meaning of his “posterity” (ʿaqib) are his descendants. The phrase so that they may come back means: So that they may come back from worshipping deities besides God and worship Him alone. In other words, so that some of them—those who worship other gods—may return to worship God through the invitation of others—those who worship Him alone. From this it appears that the meaning of a lasting word amongst his posterity means that there would always be monotheists amongst his descendants. Perhaps this is in response to Abraham’s supplication, when he entreated God: My Lord! Make this city a sanctuary, and save me and my children from worshiping idols. ().
It is said that the doer of the verb …He made… is Abraham, as he made this word lasting amongst his descendants in the hope that they would return to it. In this case, making it a lasting word amongst them means enjoining them to adhere to it, as God recounts: Abraham enjoined this [creed] upon his children, and [so did] Jacob, [saying], “My children! God has indeed chosen this religion for you; so never die except as muslims.” ()
However, you will already be well aware that enjoining (waṣiyyah) his children to adhere to the Profession of Divine Unity cannot be called making it a lasting word amongst his posterity. Even if you can say that is basically what God means here, it is not the same as making it so.
It is also said that this means that God made the Imamate a lasting word amongst Abraham’s descendants, and we shall discuss this in our discussion of the narrations below, God-willing.
So the apparent meaning of the verse is that this word shall endure amongst Abraham’s descendants until the Day of Resurrection.
بَلْ مَتَّعْتُ هَٰؤُلَاءِ وَآبَاءَهُمْ حَتَّىٰ جَاءَهُمُ الْحَقُّ وَرَسُولٌ مُبِينٌ ٢٩
(43:29) Rather I provided for these and their fathers until there came to them the truth and a manifest Messenger.
Rather contrary to what the previous verse suggested, they have not turned away from idolatry to the path of Divine Unity, as was hoped. So instead, I have provided for those of your people and their forefathers and they enjoyed my blessings until there came to them the truth and a manifest Messenger.
Perhaps the reason why God changes to speaking in the first-person singular (“I”) here is to stress the magnitude of their offence, and to show that their ingratitude, disbelief, and accusations of sorcery are—in reality—directed against none other than God Himself.
Here, the truth refers to the Qur’an and the manifest Messenger is Muḥammad.
وَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمُ الْحَقُّ قَالُوا هَٰذَا سِحْرٌ وَإِنَّا بِهِ كَافِرُونَ ٣٠
(43:30) But when the truth came to them, they said, “This is magic, and we indeed disbelieve in it.”
This is their imputing the truth that came to them in the form of the Qur’an, which necessarily entails their imputing the character of the Messenger who brought it. And the same applies to their statement below: Why was not this Qur’an sent down….
وَقَالُوا لَوْلَا نُزِّلَ هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنُ عَلَىٰ رَجُلٍ مِنَ الْقَرْيَتَيْنِ عَظِيمٍ ٣١
(43:31) And they said, “Why was not this Qur’an sent down to some great man from the two cities?”
By the two cities (qaryatayn), they mean Mecca and Ṭāʾif. And by great—based on the context—they mean someone with wealth and status which are considered the marks of nobility and rank amongst the children of this world. And of course, when they say some great man from the two cities, they mean a great man from either of the two cities. And “either” is omitted for the sake of brevity.
By this they mean that the position of divine messengership is a position of great nobility which should only belong to a person of noble stature and authority amongst his people. In their eyes, the Prophet was an upstart without wealth or status. In other words, if the Qur’an was a revelation sent down by God, then why did it not come down to a great man from Mecca or Ṭāʾif who enjoyed wealth and status?
In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, we read:
By “a great man from either of the two cities”, they were referring to al-Walīd b. al-Mughīrah from Mecca and Abū Masʿūd ʿUrwa b. Masʿūd al-Thaqafī from Ṭāʾif.” This is narrated from Qatādah. It is said: “They meant ʿUtba b. Abī Rabīʿah from Mecca and Ibn ʿAbd Yālīl from Ṭāʾif.” This is according to Mujāhid. And it is said: “They meant al-Walīd b. al-Mughīrah from Mecca and Ḥabīb b. ʿUmar al-Thaqafī from Ṭāʾif.” This is from Ibn ʿAbbās.
The truth is that all of these opinions are commentators applying the verse to various candidates. But the apparent meaning of the verse is that they spoke in generalities, but they had one of these grandees from either of the two cities in mind when they did.
أَهُمْ يَقْسِمُونَ رَحْمَتَ رَبِّكَ ۚ نَحْنُ قَسَمْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَعِيشَتَهُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۚ وَرَفَعْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَاتٍ لِيَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُهُمْ بَعْضًا سُخْرِيًّا ۗ وَرَحْمَتُ رَبِّكَ خَيْرٌ مِمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ ٣٢
(43:32) Is it they who dispense the mercy of your Lord? It is We who have dispensed among them their livelihood in the present life and raised some of them above others in rank, so that some may take others into service, and your Lord’s mercy is better than what they amass.
Looking at the context, mercy (raḥmah) refers to prophethood (nubuwwah).
Livelihood (maʿīshah) is derived from the Arabic word for “life” (ʿaysh). According to Rāghib, ʿaysh means specifically the animal sense of living. This is a more particularized meaning than ḥayāt, which also means “life”, as this kind of life can be ascribed to animals, angels and even God. “Livelihood” (maʿīshah) refers to the means by which one goes on living.
He also says that taskhīr means to drive someone towards a particular goal by force, and sakhrī means one who is forced thus and becomes disposed to His will.
This verse and the two that immediately follow should be read as responses to the idolaters saying Why was not this Qur’an sent down to some great man from the two cities? In short, the verses that this is an arbitrary judgement which should be a source of surprise, as how is it that these people make judgements about things that do not belong to them? This livelihood that they depend upon in this worldly life is a mercy from Us, which we do not consider as having any value because it is just a temporary provision that we divide amongst them. And even this is their control and their will, so how can they apportion prophethood, which is an even greater blessing because it is the key to eternal human happiness and everlasting success, and give it to whomever they wish or deny it to whomever they wish?
Is it they who dispense the mercy of your Lord?: This is a rhetorical question that serves as a rebuke. There is a transition of address in the mercy of your [sing.] Lord, as God says this rather than “Our mercy” to signify that the Prophet alone has been selected through God’s lordship for prophethood. In other words, this means: They do not own prophethood, which is a mercy that belongs only to God. So they have no right to deny it to you and give it to whomever they please!
It is We who have dispensed among them their livelihood in the present life: An explanation of the reason for the rebuke in the previous sentence; namely that they cannot even divide up those trivial things beneath prophethood, such as their livelihood in this world, so We divided it between them. So how can they possibly divide up something more important, whose value is immeasurable—i.e. prophethood, which is a mercy that belongs only to your Lord?
The proof that human livelihoods are not in peoples’ hands is the difference between wealth and poverty, health and illness, numbers of children and any other form of sustenance; that things are used up without being replenished; and that no one can attain everything he desires. If this were in the hands of people, then no one would lack anything. In fact, no one person would differ from another. So the differences between people are the clearest evidence that sustenance is divided according to God’s will rather than that of human beings.
The human will and human actions are just two incomplete causes (asbāb nāqiṣah) for attaining the desired outcome, namely sustenance (rizq). Moreover, beyond these are innumerable material causes that are beyond the control of human being, which must all be in alignment for him to attain his goal. And these causes are only in the hand of God, to whom all causes ultimately return.
This is with regards to money. As for status (jāh), this too is apportioned by God. It depends on specific traits that elevate the rank of the human being in society and enable him to render other people subservient to his aims. These are traits such as cleverness, cunning, bravery, determination, ambition, abundant wealth, or a strong family; none of this can be attained except by God’s doing. That is what God means when He says and raised some of them above others in rank, so that some may take others into service. So from this verse we understand that the one who distributes livelihood and status amongst people is none other than God.
…and your Lord’s mercy is better than what they amass: In other words, prophethood is better than wealth, so how can they claim to control its distribution when they cannot even control the distribution of wealth amongst themselves?
And raised some of them above others in rank could also be read as explaining it is We who have dispensed among them their livelihood in the present life. This elucidates the distribution of livelihood amongst them by elucidating the reasons for its unequal distribution in human society as follows: Man’s needs in his worldly existence are so many that he cannot possibly satisfy them all in isolation. This compels him to form a community with other individuals, seeking first and foremost to use them for his own ends, but secondly seeking mutual cooperation and support. We have discussed this at length in our study of prophethood.
Ultimately, this leads to a barter economy through a primitive kind of specialization, in that everyone is given more than what they need for some of their desires, but not enough for others. What happens is that they take what they are lacking from others in exchange for what others need, so one person who has control over more water than he deeds will trade that water in return for another person’s surplus of foodstuff. This means that each person will strive using whatever he alone has to acquire whatever he needs, which in turn means that each person needs other people for his provisions for life, making use of them and being of use to them. So a baker will need a water-bearer’s product and vice versa, so they will cooperate through exchange; a worker is used for his labour by an employer, while an employer is used for his wealth by a labourer. In this way, each member of society is used by others because of what he has, and he uses them in the same way, whether directly or indirectly. And each individual is elevated above others by whatever he alone possesses to differing degrees, depending on the level of demand for it.
Based on the above reading, livelihood means whatever is needed for living, whether wealth and status, or just wealth, and whatever follows from that. This is supported by the verse’s coda: and your Lord’s mercy is better than what they amass as what they amass refers to wealth and whatever other necessities of living they amass as a consequence.
وَلَوْلَا أَنْ يَكُونَ النَّاسُ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً لَجَعَلْنَا لِمَنْ يَكْفُرُ بِالرَّحْمَٰنِ لِبُيُوتِهِمْ سُقُفًا مِنْ فِضَّةٍ وَمَعَارِجَ عَلَيْهَا يَظْهَرُونَ ٣٣
(43:33) Were it not that mankind would then be one community, We would have surely made for those who defy the All-beneficent silver roofs for their houses and flights by which they ascend,
This verse and those following it explain that provisions of this world such as wealth and beauty hold no inherent value or worth in God’s eyes.
Some commentators say that by mankind being one community, God means that they would all be alike in disbelieving in Him if they saw that all of the world’s ornaments belonged to the faithless while the believer had nothing at all. Flights (maʿārij) means “staircases”.
In this case, the meaning of this verse reads: Were it not that everyone would disbelieve together when they saw that the affluence of the faithless and the deprivation of the faithful, we would have given whoever disbelieves in the All-Merciful houses with silver roofs and flights of stairs upon which they could raise themselves above others.
Mankind being one community could also refer to everyone being equal when it came to the means of attaining a livelihood, without any distinction between the faithful and the faithless. In which case, if someone strives for sustenance and the means are ready for him, he will obtain it whether he believes in God or not. Equally, if someone strives but the means are not ready for him, he will be deprived of it whether he believes in God or not.
In which case, this means: “Were it not for the fact that We wanted people to be equal with regards to the means by which they could win the ornaments of this world, irrespective of whether they believed or not, then We would have surely made for those who defy…” etc.
وَلِبُيُوتِهِمْ أَبْوَابًا وَسُرُرًا عَلَيْهَا يَتَّكِئُونَ ٣٤ وَزُخْرُفًا ۚ وَإِنْ كُلُّ ذَٰلِكَ لَمَّا مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۚ وَالْآخِرَةُ عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ ٣٥
(43:34–35) and doors for their houses and couches on which they recline; and ornaments; yet (inna) all of that is but (lammā) the wares of the life of this world, and the Hereafter near your Lord is for the Godwary.
Doors and couches are left indefinite for aggrandizement.
Ornaments means either gold or adornments in general. In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, we read:
Ornaments (zukhruf) means the perfection of a thing’s beauty, and it is used for gold because of this meaning. A thing is also “ornamented” if it is made pleasant or adorned with decoration, and the word is used to refer to engravings and illustrations because of this meaning. In a tradition, we read that the Prophet did not enter the Kaʿbah [after the conquest of Mecca] before he called for all the ornaments to be removed, then [after they were removed] he went towards the door.
The rest should be clear.
…yet (inna) all of that is but (lammā) the wares of the life of this world, and the Hereafter near your Lord is for the Godwary: Yet… is for negation and …but… here is for an exception. In other words: Whatever trinkets have been mentioned above are naught but the ephemeral and fleeting wares of the life of this world—they shall not last.
…and the Hereafter near your Lord is for the Godwary—because the Hereafter is mentioned in the context of life (ḥayāt), it can only refer to a felicitous Hereafter, insofar as the life of a wretched Hereafter is not considered life at all.
This means: The felicitous afterlife is reserved for the Godwary (muttaqīn) by God’s command and decree. This specification to some extent supports the interpretation we mentioned above about mankind becoming a single community in this world.
وَمَنْ يَعْشُ عَنْ ذِكْرِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ نُقَيِّضْ لَهُ شَيْطَانًا فَهُوَ لَهُ قَرِينٌ ٣٦
(43:36) Whoever turns a blind eye (yaʿshu) to the remembrance of the All-beneficent, We assign him a devil who remains his companion.
“To turn a blind eye” (yaʿshu) literally means for someone to feign blindness while there is nothing wrong with his sight. “To assign” means to appoint or to bring one thing to another; “he assigned it to him” means he brought it to him.
Having mentioned the Godwary and said that the Hereafter near their Lord belongs to them, God contrasts this with the fate of those who are averse to the Truth and turn a blind eye to the remembrance of the All-beneficent. He begins by pointing to the beginning of their affair—their neglect of God’s remembrance—before saying that this yields them to companion devils who will accompany them and misguide them until they reach the punishment of the Hereafter with them.
So Whoever turns a blind eye to the remembrance of the All-beneficent, We assign him a devil… means that whoever disregards the remembrance of the All-beneficent and gives it no attention, We bring a devil to him. God articulates this in another location in the Qur’an when He says: Have you not regarded that We unleash the devils upon the faithless to urge them impetuously? (). God joins remembrance to the All-beneficent (al-raḥmān) in order to show that remembering God (dhikr) is a mercy (raḥmah).
…who remains his companion means he accompanies him everywhere and does not separate from him.
وَإِنَّهُمْ لَيَصُدُّونَهُمْ عَنِ السَّبِيلِ وَيَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ مُهْتَدُونَ ٣٧
(43:37) Indeed they bar them from the way while they suppose that they are guided.
The first they in this verse refers to the devils, while the remainder of them/they refers to those who turn a blind eye to God’s remembrance. God uses the plural here because it refers to the collective of whoever turns a blind eye… above. “To bar” means to divert, and the way (sabīl) here means the way which the remembrance of God calls people towards, namely the Religion of Divine Unity.
So this verse means: The devils divert those who turn a blind eye to God’s remembrance from the right path, while the latter—those who turn a blind eye—think that they are guided towards the Truth themselves.
The fact that they think they are guided to the Truth while they are actually barred from its way is the result of them being assigned a companion devil and falling under Satan’s sway (wilāyat al-shayṭān). The human being, by his basic nature, is innately inclined towards the Truth and recognizing it when it is put in front of him. However, if it is put in front of him but he turns away because of his desires and keeps on this path, then God seals his heart, blinds his sight, and assigns him a companion devil. When this happens, he no longer sees the truth even if it stares him in the face. Instead, he thinks the truth he seeks only lies in the falsehood that Satan invites him towards. So he thinks he is guided while he is astray; he imagines he has found the truth, while all he has is falsehood.
This is the veil that God mentions being cast over them in this world but that shall be torn from them on the Day of Resurrection. God says: Those whose eyes were blindfolded to My remembrance and who could not hear… Say, “Shall we inform you about the biggest losers in regard to works? Those whose endeavour goes awry in the life of the world, while they suppose they are doing good.” ()
And one of the things that will be said to him on the Day of Resurrection, while his companion devil is still with him, is: “You were certainly oblivious of this. We have removed your veil from you, and so your sight is acute today”… His companion will say, “Our Lord! I did not make him a rebel, but he was in extreme error” ().
حَتَّىٰ إِذَا جَاءَنَا قَالَ يَا لَيْتَ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَكَ بُعْدَ الْمَشْرِقَيْنِ فَبِئْسَ الْقَرِينُ٣٨
(43:38) Until when he comes to Us, he will say, “I wish there had been between me and you the distance between the east and west! What an evil companion [are you]!”
Until… marks the end of the activity described in the previous verse: …they bar them… and …while they suppose… In other words, it means: “Their companion devils will continue leading them astray and they will keep thinking that they are guided, until one of them comes to Us.”
Comes to Us refers to the Resurrection, and the doer (he) of the verbs comes and says goes back to Whoever turns a blind eye… because it refers to each individual person.
Here, God uses mashriqayn (lit. “the two easts”) to mean the east and west and the word “east” is used refer to them both [to allow God to include both in a single dual word, as this is more succinct than al-mashriq wa al-maghrib].
This makes the meaning of the verse: They continue to be barred from God’s way and turn a blind eye to His remembrance, thinking that they are guided, until one of them comes to Us with his companion devil. Then his own error and the punishment that results will become clear to him. Whereat he will say to his companion devil, distressed by his company: “I wish there had been between me and you the distance between the east and the west, for you are a terrible companion!”
From the tone of the verse, we can discern that these people will be afflicted with the company of these companion devils as a punishment in addition to the punishment of Hell. This is why they wish to be far from them, and focus on them while neglecting all other punishments.
وَلَنْ يَنْفَعَكُمُ الْيَوْمَ إِذْ ظَلَمْتُمْ أَنَّكُمْ فِي الْعَذَابِ مُشْتَرِكُونَ ٣٩
(43:39) “Today it will be of no avail to you [pl.], as you did wrong, that you will share in the punishment.”
It appears that this verse is joined to the description of their condition that precedes it. Today, of course, refers to the Day of Judgement, and when God says that you will share in the punishment, this is the subject of the verb it will be of no avail to you. God uses the plural form of address (kum) to include all of those who turned a blind eye to remembrance and their companion devils together. As you did wrong… takes a position of explaining the reason for this.
This means—and God knows best—that because some of you corrupted others and put them to trial in this world, perhaps you are consoled by the fact that perhaps they will suffer the same punishment as you; perhaps you think this will grant you some relief. However, the fact that your companion devils share your punishment will avail you nothing on the Day of Resurrection. And that is because their being with you in the punishment of Hell is itself another form of punishment!
Some commentators have also said that the subject of the verb it will be of no avail to you is the words I wish there had been between me and you…. They say that as you did wrong means: “Because you wronged yourselves in this world by following these devils into faithlessness and sin.” And …that you will share in the punishment explains why this wish will be of no avail. In other words, the verse says: “It does you no good to wish they were far away from you, because both you and your companion devils deserve to be punished.”
However, there is a conflict here. This proposed reading takes as you did wrong as one explanation for why this wish will be of no avail before taking that you will share in the punishment as another. But the two do not match when read in this way; if this wish will not avail you because you did wrong then it only befits the ones who committed the sins to be punished, not that they should share the punishment with those whom they followed.
Other commentators have said it means that just because both parties share the punishment this will not in any way lighten or reduce it, because each of you and your companion devils will receive a complete share of the same punishment, not a single share divided between you.
However this does not match with the reasons mentioned for this being of no avail. Even though this idea might be true in itself, there is no indication of it in this verse or its wider context.
Others still have suggested that it means: Your being punished together will not avail you in the same way that it benefits two people to share worldly hardships because they can help one another in bearing its weight, and divide its worry between themselves. This is because both you and your companion will be given a punishment beyond your capacity to bear.
The same criticism as above applies to this reading. As does the fact that this notion of “availing” does not even come to their mind in this situation in order that God should expend words negating it.
أَفَأَنْتَ تُسْمِعُ الصُّمَّ أَوْ تَهْدِي الْعُمْيَ وَمَنْ كَانَ فِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ ٤٠
(43:40) Can you, then, make the deaf hear or guide the blind and someone who is in manifest error?
So far, God has mentioned that He assigns companion devils to these people and inverts their perceptions to the extent that they see error as guidance and become incapable of knowing the truth. From this, he moves logically to tell His Prophet that these people are deaf and blind and that he does not have the power to make them hear the words of truth or guide them to the right path. Therefore, he should not strain himself to invite them to the truth, nor grieve when they turn away. So this is asked as a rhetorical question. The rest is clear.
فَإِمَّا نَذْهَبَنَّ بِكَ فَإِنَّا مِنْهُمْ مُنْتَقِمُونَ ٤١ أَوْ نُرِيَنَّكَ الَّذِي وَعَدْنَاهُمْ فَإِنَّا عَلَيْهِمْ مُقْتَدِرُونَ ٤٢
(43:41–42) Either We shall take you away—for We will indeed take vengeance on them—or We shall show you what We have promised them, for indeed We have power over them.
To take the Prophet away means to cause him to pass away before taking vengeance on them. It is also said: It means to remove him from amongst them.
For We will indeed take vengeance on them means “we will do this without doubt.”
Showing the Prophet what He has promised them means to take vengeance on them before the Prophet passes away or while he is still amongst them.
We have power over them means Our power looms above them.
At the opening of the verse either We shall take you away…, the verb (nadhhabanna) has the nūn of emphasis (nūn al-taʾkīd appended to it). And the meaning of the verse is: “We shall exact vengeance on them whether after you pass away or before it without doubt.”
فَاسْتَمْسِكْ بِالَّذِي أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ ۖ إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ ٤٣
(43:43) So hold fast to what has been revealed to you. Indeed you are on a straight path.
This appears to follow logically from everything that has been said above, beginning with the fact that the reminder has been sent down through revelation and prophethood in accordance with the Divine Custom; that the Book He revealed to his Prophet is true; that He is a manifest messenger whose preaching will only be answered by those who are Godwary; that the only ones who turn away from him will be those who keep company with devils; and that he has nothing to gain from their belief or disbelief, but that God will surely exact vengeance upon them.
All of this affirms the importance of holding fast to the Book which has been revealed to him, for he is upon a straight path.
وَإِنَّهُ لَذِكْرٌ لَكَ وَلِقَوْمِكَ ۖ وَسَوْفَ تُسْأَلُونَ ٤٤
(43:44) Indeed it is a remembrance for you and for your people, and soon you will be questioned.
It appears that the remembrance here refers to God’s remembrance, and this is a theme that recurs throughout the sūrah. For you and for your people is for specification (ikhtiṣāṣ) with the meaning that the duties it contains are directed towards them. This is in part supported by the coda …and soon you [pl.] will be questioned, meaning on the Day of Resurrection.
Most commentators say that the meaning of remembrance (dhikr) here is the honour that comes with being remembered. So the meaning becomes: It is indeed a great honour for you and for your people amongst the Arabs to be remembered by this amongst all nations.
وَاسْأَلْ مَنْ أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ مِنْ رُسُلِنَا أَجَعَلْنَا مِنْ دُونِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ آلِهَةً يُعْبَدُونَ ٤٥
(43:45) Ask those of Our Messengers We have sent before you: Did We set up any gods besides the All-beneficent to be worshipped?
It is said: By asking the Messengers here, God means to ask their communities and the scholars of their religion, as when God says: So if you are in doubt about what We have sent down to you, ask those who read the Book before you (). The implication of this is obviously that what is being asked of them is exactly what their Messengers brought, not whatever they bring from their own selves.
It is said: This means to ask the People of the Two Books—the Torah and the Evangel—for even if they disbelieve, the argument is supported by their unanimous agreement. This is addressed to the Prophet [because the command is singular], but the duty [to ask] is for his community.
However, the implausibility of both interpretations is not hard to see. The second is even more unlikely for restricting this to the People of the Book without any specification being apparent in the verse.
It is said: The verse is one of the things the Prophet was told during the Night Ascension, namely that he should ask the spirits of the Prophets when he gathers with them whether they brought any religion besides the Religion of Divine Unity.
And more than one narration has come down with this interpretation from the Imams of the Prophet’s Household, and we shall present them to you in the study of narrations below, God-willing.
Examining Narrations
- In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, about God’s saying And He made it a lasting word among his posterity (), it is related [from Imām al-Ṣādiq]:
The lasting word amongst his posterity refers to the Imamate until the Day of Recompense—from Abū ʿAbd Allāh.
Author’s comments: There are other narrations to this effect and in some it is used allegorically to demonstrate that the Imamate continues in the line of Ḥusayn.
A study of the narrations shows that this reading rests on the assumption that the pronoun it in He made it refers to the guidance mentioned in His saying He will guide me (). As we have already seen in the interpretation of the verse I am making you the Imam of mankind (), one of the duties of the Imam is to guide mankind in the domain of their actions in the sense of driving them towards God through their guidance, as well as leading them to the highest degrees of proximity to God and showing each person his proper place based on his behaviour. For while the true guidance lies with God, it is attributed to the Imam in a secondary or accidental sense.
So the actuality of guidance (hidāyah), which descends from God to mankind, first encompasses him and then overflows from him to other creatures. He has complete guidance, and everyone else has a level beneath this. So what Abraham refers to in the verse He will guide me is only pure guidance (hidāyah muṭlaqah) which applies to the most complete level of guidance which is the sole preserve of the Imam, hence this guidance is the Imamate, which God has made a lasting word amongst his posterity.
- In al-Iḥtijāj, from al-ʿAskarī, it is related from his father [Imam al-Hādī]:
God’s Messenger was sitting in the courtyard of the Kaʿbah one day, when ʿAbd Allāh b. Umayyah al-Makhzūmī said to him: “Had God wanted to send a messenger to us, He would have chosen the most magnificent of us in wealth, and the best of us in condition. Would He not send this Qur’an—which you claim God sends to you and which He charges you to deliver as His messenger—to a great man from the two cities? Either al-Walīd b. Mughīrah in Mecca, or ʿUrwah b. Masʿūd al-Thaqafī in Ṭāʾif!”
Then he quoted a lengthy response from God’s Messenger to the effect of what is said in the verses, and said:
That is God’s saying: And they said, “Why was not this Qur’an sent down to some great man from the two cities?” Is it they who dispense the mercy of your Lord?—O Muḥammad!—It is We who have dispensed among them their livelihood in the present life. So He made some of us need others; he made this person need that person’s wealth, and he made that person need this person’s commodity, and that person this person’s labour. You see, even the most splendid kings and fabulously wealthy of men have need of the poorest of the poor in some way; either some commodity he has that they do not; some work he is suitable for that the king cannot do for himself; or some knowledge or wisdom this poor person has that the king can learn from him. So the poor person needs the rich king’s money, and the king needs this poor person’s knowledge, learning, or opinion.
In this situation, the king cannot say: “Why was I not given my wealth with that beggar’s knowledge?” Nor can the poor person say: “Why was I not given my learning and knowledge, and whatever talents I have, with the wealth of that rich king?” Then God says: and [We] raised some of them above others in rank, so that some may take others into service—O Muḥammad!—and your Lord’s mercy is better than what they amass. Meaning the wealth of the world that those people amass.
- In al-Kāfī, in a chain of narration going to Saʿīd b. al-Musayyib:
I asked ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn [Imām al-Sajjād] about God’s saying: Were it not that mankind would then be one community….
He responded: “By that he means the community of Muḥammad, to all follow a single religion and be disbelievers. We would have surely made for those who defy the All-beneficent….”
- In Tafsīr al-Qummī, in a chain of narration from Yaḥyā b. Saʿīd, from Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Imām al-Ṣādiq]:
Either We shall take you away…—O Muḥammad! From Mecca to Medina. We will either drive you there, and We will take revenge from them with ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib.
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, ʿAbd al-Razzāq b. Ḥamīd, Ibn Jarīr, and al-Ḥākim relate, and al-Ḥākim authenticates, a tradition from Qatādah about the verse Either We shall take you away—for We will indeed take vengeance on them… :
Anas said: “God’s Messenger left but the calamity remained. God did not show His Prophet anything he disliked in his community until He took his soul. There was no prophet before him save that they saw punishment befall their community. Instead, your Prophet saw what would become of his community after him, and from then on he was not seen laughing or joyous until his soul was taken.”
Author’s comments: A tradition to the same effect is narrated from him, as well as from ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and others, through different routes of narration.
- On this topic, Ibn Mardawayh relates by way of Muḥammad b. Marwān al-Kalbī from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh, from the Prophet, concerning the verse Either We shall take you away—for We will indeed take vengeance on them…:
This was revealed about ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, that he will take vengeance on the pledge-breakers and wrong doers after me.
Author’s comments: The apparent meaning of this narration, the one before it, and others with a similar meaning is that the threat in these two verses is directed to those Muslims (ahl al-qiblah) who deviate from the Truth rather than the disbelievers of the Quraysh.
- And in al-Iḥtijāj, in a lengthy tradition from the Commander of the Faithful [Imām ʿAlī], we read:
As for God’s saying: Ask those of Our Messengers We have sent before you… (), this is one of the proofs which God gave our Prophet, and thereby provided a conclusive argument for all His creatures. This is because, as God made him the seal of the Prophets and made him a messenger to all nations and all creeds, God chose him to ascend to the heavens on the Night Ascension (miʿrāj). On that night, He gathered all the Prophets for him so that he could know the message each of them had been sent with, and what commandments, signs and proofs they bore from God….
Author’s comments: Al-Qummī narrates a tradition to this effect in his Tafsīr with a chain of narrators from Abū al-Rabīʿ from Abū Jaʿfar in response to a question posed by Nāfiʿ b. Azraq. It is also narrated in al-Durr al-Manthūr with a chain from Saʿīd b. Jubayr, Ibn Jarīḥ, and Ibn Zayd.
See the discourse on prophethood in the section of the exegesis on (Volume 3 of the English translation). [Trans.] ↩︎
In other words, “The fact you will share in the punishment will be of no avail to you….” [Trans.] ↩︎
“Accidental” (bi al-ʿaraḍ) here means the philosophical notion of “accidental”, namely something that does not devolve from the essence of a thing. This should not be confused with the everyday usage of “accidental”, which implies something happening haphazardly or owing to a lack of care. [Trans.] ↩︎