Verses 14–19
The above verses mentioned the signs of God’s oneness, and subtly alluded to both the Resurrection and prophethood in the course of mentioning the sending down of the Book and the bringing back of those arrogant enough to deride it to be punished. Now, the sūrah turns to the promulgation of the Divine Code (sharīʿah) for the Prophet. It begins by adducing two premises that connect it to what has already been said so far. The first of these is inviting the faithful to overlook the condition of the faithless who do not expect God’s days, for God will requite them when they are held responsible for their deeds, whether virtuous or vicious. This is the reason for which God promulgated a divine code. The second premise is that sending down the Book, judgement and prophethood is not something unprecedented; God gave the Israelites the Book, judgement and prophethood too, and He gave them manifest signs that would have left no one in doubt about in God’s religion. But their scholars differed about it out of spite, and God will judge between them.
Then God turns to discuss the promulgation of the Divine Code for the Prophet and commands him to follow it while forbidding him from following the desires of the ignorant.
Commentary
قُلْ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يَغْفِرُوا لِلَّذِينَ لَا يَرْجُونَ أَيَّامَ اللَّهِ لِيَجْزِيَ قَوْمًا بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ ١٤
(45:14) Say to the faithful to forgive those who do not expect God’s days, that He may requite a people for what they used to earn.
Here, God commands His Prophet to bid the faithful to forgive the faithless. Here the imperative ighfirū (“forgive!”) has been replaced by yaghfirū (“to forgive”), in the same construction as we see in the verse: Tell My servants who have faith to maintain (yuqīmū) the prayer and to spend out of what We have provided them with ().
This verse was revealed in Mecca as it fits with the context of the previous verses which describe the condition of those who disdain God’s signs and mock them and threaten them with the severest of punishments. This is because when those who believed in the Prophet saw these people, the latter would go to extremes insulting them, belittling the Prophet and mocking God’s signs. The faithful could not stop themselves from trying to defend God’s Book and the one with whom He sent it, as well as calling on the faithless to give up their own religion and believe in the truth. This was in spite of the fact that the word of punishment had been proclaimed against them, as is clear from the previous verses. It is for this reason that God told His Prophet to bid them to forgive and excuse the faithless, and pay no attention to their condition, because the burden of their deeds will catch up with them, and they will be repaid what they have earned in full.
With this in mind, to forgive means to excuse and ignore them by not engaging in arguments with them. Who do not expect God’s days refers to those mentioned in the above verses, as they do not expect that there will be any days on which God will judge and hold authority, such as the day of a person’s death, barzakh, Resurrection or the days on which he punishes people by wiping them out in this world.
…that He may requite a people for what they used to earn explains the rationale for the command to forgive (or the command to command them to forgive). Its essence is that they should forgive them and pay no attention to them, for there is no need to confront them as God will repay in full what they used to earn. This makes the verse similar in meaning to the verses:
Leave Me with the deniers, the opulent, and give them a little respite. Indeed with Us are heavy fetters and a fierce fire…. ()
Then leave them to play around in their impious gossip. ()
So leave them to gossip and play until they encounter their day, which they are promised ()
So disregard them, and say, “Peace!” Soon they will know. ()
So this verse means: “Tell those who believe to excuse and forgive those who arrogantly deride God’s signs, who do not expect God’s days, so that God may repay them what they used to earn in full.” After all, the Day of Recompense is one of God’s days. In other words: “Let them excuse those who deny God’s days until they are requited for their deeds on one of these days!”
In …that He may requite a people…, God makes an explicit noun (a people) the object of a sentence instead of a pronoun (“them”), which would appear to be the more fitting expression. However, He has used a people in this way because it is indefinite and unqualified by any adjectives. This belittles their affair and shows He has no concern, as if they are a group of deniers whom He does not know or have any concern for.
From the above, it is plain to see that this verse connects those that come after it with those before it. This answers the problems raised and addressed by some commentators, and demonstrates the falsity of the different meanings they have offered for it. Anyone interested to know their opinions can refer to the lengthier works.
مَنْ عَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلِنَفْسِهِ ۖ وَمَنْ أَسَاءَ فَعَلَيْهَا ۖ ثُمَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمْ تُرْجَعُونَ١٥
(45:15) Whoever acts righteously, it is for his own soul, and whoever does evil, it is to its own detriment, then you will be brought back to your Lord.
This can be read as an explanation of the rationale for the above verse …that He may requite a people…, which is why this verse does not begin with and… or any indication that it is a new topic being discussed.
In short, it means: So that God will repay them for what they used to earn, for deeds do not just vanish or disappear without a trace. Rather, whoever acts righteously will benefit from it, and whoever does evil will come to harm because of it. Then you will go back to your Lord and He will repay you according to your deeds: good for good, evil for evil.
وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحُكْمَ وَالنُّبُوَّةَ وَرَزَقْنَاهُمْ مِنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَفَضَّلْنَاهُمْ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ ١٦
(45:16) Certainly We gave the Children of Israel the Book, judgement and prophethood and We provided them with all the good things, and We gave them an advantage over all the nations.
Having explained that deeds have good or bad effects that will come back to their doer, God wishes to call attention to the fact that He has given His Prophet a divine code. This is because it is God’s responsibility to guide His servants to that which contains their propriety and happiness. Elsewhere, He says: With God rests guidance to the straight path ().
He calls attention to this below, when He says: Then We set you upon a clear course of the Law. But he precedes this by speaking about the Israelites being given Book, judgement, and prophethood, as well as sustenance in the form of good things, and that they were blessed above all other nations and given manifest signs. This is to show that the sacred effusion of a divine code, prophethood, and scripture is not something new or unprecedented. Rather, this is a continuation of what was given to the Israelites, and this was within their sight and hearing.
Certainly We gave the Children of Israel the Book, judgement and prophethood.: The Book means the Torah, which consisted of the teachings of Moses. As for the Evangel, it did not contain a new divine code; its divine code was that of the Torah. As for the Psalms of David, it consists of supplications and invocations. It is possible that the Book refers to scripture in general; including the Torah, the Psalms, and the Evangel, as some have suggested. However, this is unlikely because the Qur’an only uses the work “book” (kitāb) for scriptures that contain a divine code (sharīʿah).
As it has been mentioned alongside the Book, judgement refers to the rulings and edicts of the Book that are the duties of people to enact. God recalls elsewhere: and He sent down with them the Book with the truth, that it may judge between the people concerning that about which they differed (). And about the Torah, He said: The prophets, who had submitted, judged by it for the Jews, and so did the rabbis and the scribes, as they were charged to preserve the Book of God (). So judgement is one of the corollaries of the Book (in the sense that it contains a divine code) just as prophethood is.
The meaning of prophethood is obvious, as God sent a multitude of prophets to the Israelites, of whom many accounts and stories are gathered in the Qur’an.
…and We provided them with all the good things: Meaning, a good provision: manna and quails.
…and We favoured them over the nations: If this refers to all nations, then this means they were given some advantages over them such as having so many prophets sent to them and the many clear miracles they performed for them. On the other hand, if this refers to the nations of their own times, then they were indeed favoured above them from all angles.
وَآتَيْنَاهُمْ بَيِّنَاتٍ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ ۖ فَمَا اخْتَلَفُوا إِلَّا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْعِلْمُ بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ ۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ يَقْضِي بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فِيمَا كَانُوا فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ١٧
(45:17) And We gave them manifest signs from the matter. But they did not differ except after knowledge had come to them, out of spite among themselves. Indeed your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that about which they used to differ:
Manifest signs means signs that remove all doubt and hesitation from the truth. This is attested to by the fact that to this God appends the phrase: But they did not differ except after knowledge had come to them.
It is said that matter (amr) refers to the matter of the Prophet and this means: We gave them manifest signs concerning the matter of the Prophet and clear indications of his truthfulness, such as his appearing in Mecca and emigrating to Yathrib, the support of the latter’s people and other such things that are mentioned in their books.
But they did not differ except after knowledge had come to them, out of spite among themselves: This shows that the religious disagreements that erupted between them and the mixing of falsehood with truth that took place after their prophets was not due to any doubt or ignorance, but rather it was caused by their scholars out of spite, and this spite was reciprocated amongst themselves.
Indeed your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that about which they used to differ: The verse goes on to say that their disagreements which have allowed falsehood to contaminate the truth will not be forgotten, but rather will have their effect; God will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection and recompense them as befits their behavior in this life.
ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَاكَ عَلَىٰ شَرِيعَةٍ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ فَاتَّبِعْهَا وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ١٨
(45:18) Then We set you upon a clear course of the matter; so follow it, and do not follow the desires of those who do not know.
This verse addresses the Prophet directly, but is also relevant to his community. A clear course (sharīʿah) means a path leading down to water, and the matter means the matter of religion. So this verse means: “After we gave the Israelites what we gave, we placed you upon a specific path in the matter of the divine religion” meaning the path of Islam, which God bestowed upon the Prophet and his community.
So follow it is a command to the Prophet to follow the religion as it has been revealed to him and not to follow the desires of the ignorant which contradict the divine religion. From this verse it is clear, first of all, that (contrary to what some have claimed), the Prophet was expected to follow the religion just like everyone else. Second of all, it is clear that every practical rule that does not rest on divine revelation or go back to it is one of the desires of the ignorant that is not based on sound knowledge.
إِنَّهُمْ لَنْ يُغْنُوا عَنْكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئًا ۚ وَإِنَّ الظَّالِمِينَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ وَاللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الْمُتَّقِينَ ١٩
(45:19) Indeed they will not avail you in any way against God. Indeed the wrongdoers are guardians of one another, but God is the guardian of the Godwary.
This explains why God forbids him from following the desires of those without knowledge; “to avail” a thing means to remove (fulfil) its needs. In short, God says that you have essential needs that only God can fulfil, the way to fulfil these is following His religion and nothing else. Those people who follow their own desires will not avail you anything or fulfil any of your needs, or they will be of no benefit to you whatsoever!
Indeed the wrongdoers are guardians of one another, but God is the guardian of the Godwary: The context suggests that this is another explanation for the above prohibition against following the desires of the ignorant. Here wrongdoers mean those people who follow their own wayward desires, while the Godwary are those who follow God’s religion.
This means that God is the guardian of those who follow His religion because they are the Godwary. He is not a guardian for those who follow the desires of the ignorant, rather they are guardians of one another. This is because wrongdoers are allies of one another. So follow God’s religion in order that He be your guardian and do not follow their desires in order that they be your guardians, for they will not avail you anything against God.
Calling those who follow a religion other than that of God wrongdoers agrees with the implications of the verse: May God’s curse be on the wrongdoers! Those who bar from the way of God, and seek to make it crooked, and disbelieve in the Hereafter. ()