Verses 7–15
This set of verses follow those that came before them in context and tone.
Commentary
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنْ تَنْصُرُوا اللَّهَ يَنْصُرْكُمْ وَيُثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَكُمْ ٧
(47:7) O you who have faith! If you help God, He will help you and make your feet steady.
This verse encourages the faithful to struggle and promises them divine assistance should they help God. To “help God” means that they struggle in God’s way by fighting for the sake of God to support His religion and raise the word of truth, rather than for the sake of seizing power in the land, winning booty or demonstrating their bravery or prowess.
God helping them means that He will bring about the necessary conditions for their victory over their enemies, such as casting fear into the hearts of the faithless, turning the misfortunes of the faithful against them, and giving composure to the faithful and inspiring them with bravery. Read in this way, appending and make your feet steady to He will help you represents a conjunction of a specific clause following a general one. The reason why He singles out for mention make your feet steady—which alludes to bravery and morale—is because it is one of the most apparent reasons for victory.
وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَتَعْسًا لَهُمْ وَأَضَلَّ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ٨
(47:8) As for the faithless, their lot will be to fall, and He will make their works go astray.
God mentions what He will do with the faithless after mentioning what He will do with the faithful who help Him in order to draw a comparison between their respective conditions.
To fall (taʿs) means to fall flat on one’s face and remain in that condition, as opposed to getting up after falling on one’s face. So their lot will be to fall means that they will fall flat on their faces, and this reads like an invocation against them, as when God says God assail them! Where do they stray?! () and Perish man! How ungrateful is he! (). However it can also be read as foretelling that they will fall and that all their efforts will be fruitless by way of allusion, for a person is most helpless when he is lying flat on his face.
ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَرِهُوا مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأَحْبَطَ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ٩
(47:9) That is because they loathed what God has sent down, so He made their works fail.
What God has sent down means the Qur’an, the teachings and the laws which God has sent down to His Prophet whom He has commanded people to obey, so they loathed it and disdained to follow him. This verse explains the reason for what is mentioned in the verse before it, and its meaning is clear.
أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَيَنْظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ ۚ دَمَّرَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ ۖ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ أَمْثَالُهَا ١٠
(47:10) Have they not travelled over the land so that they may observe how was the fate of those who were before them? God destroyed them, and likenesses of it await the faithless.
When this verse says that God destroyed them (dammar allāhu ʿalayhim), this means that He caused them to perish (ihlāk). However, to cause someone to perish refers only to his own life, his family, his home and his possessions. Destruction (tadmīr) is said to be more intense in its meaning. It in likenesses of it refers to the punishment indicated at the beginning of the verse. The faithless means those who disbelieve in the Prophet.
This renders the meaning: “And those who disbelieve in you—O Muḥammad!—shall suffer a similar fate!” They are promised likenesses (plural) even though they can only suffer one such fate because they stand exposed and vulnerable to many different worldly and otherworldly punishments, even if only one of these will ultimately befall them. However the verse could also be referring to all the faithless, not just those who disbelieved in the Prophet, in which case this sentence should be read as God setting down a general rule.
ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ مَوْلَى الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَأَنَّ الْكَافِرِينَ لَا مَوْلَىٰ لَهُمْ ١١
(47:11) That is because God is the protector of the faithful, and because the faithless have no protector.
Here, the demonstrative that refers to what has been discussed in the above verses; the divine assistance of the faithful, the failure of the faithless and the evil fate that awaits them. No heed should be paid to those who say that is used to affirm the punishment or fate of previous nations for them, or to those who say that it refers to the divine assistance of the faithful. This is because the actual content of the verse deals with the condition of both groups, faithful and faithless, together.
Protector (mawlā) is a mīm verbal noun which suggests an adjectival meaning; it is used in the sense of walī. This is why the word mawlā is used for a slave’s master and owner, because he has the authority (wilāyah) to intervene in his slave’s affairs. It is also used for a helper because he also intervenes in the affairs of the one who receives his help by strengthening and supporting him. God is the sovereign who looks after the affairs of His creation on the path of generation and manages it however He wishes. God says: You do not have besides Him any guardian or intercessor (). Elsewhere, He says: …and they will be returned to God, their real master… (). God is a mawlā because He looks after the affairs of His servants on the path to felicity, guiding them to happiness and paradise, granting them success in doing righteous deeds and giving them assistance against their enemies. This kind of mastery (mawlawiyyah) is only for the faithful, because they alone are within the compass of servanthood (ʿubūdiyyah) and follow what their Lord wants from them, while the faithless do not.
The faithful have a protector (walī) and master (mawlā), namely God: That is because God is the protector of the faithful (), and God says elsewhere: God is the Guardian of the faithful… (). As for the faithless, they have taken idols or the deities of those idols as protectors; according to them, these deities are their guardians. Based on their claim, God says out of derision: As for the faithless, their patrons are the Rebels (). But based on the reality of the situation, God denies that they have any guardian whatsoever: …and because the faithless have no protector (). Then God denies their guardianship whatsoever, whether in creation or legislation by saying: Have they taken guardians besides Him? It is God who is the Guardian (), and: These are but names which you have coined—you and your fathers ().
So the meaning of the verse is: God will help the faithful and steady their feet, and abandon the faithless, send their works and their fate astray. This is only because God is the protector of the faithful and their master, while the faithless have no protector to help them, guide their actions or save them from their fate.
Based on the above, we can see the obvious weakness in what is said: Protector in the verse means a helper rather than a master; otherwise, this would contradict God’s saying: and they will be returned to God, their real master (). The weakness of this argument is clear.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُدْخِلُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ ۖ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يَتَمَتَّعُونَ وَيَأْكُلُونَ كَمَا تَأْكُلُ الْأَنْعَامُ وَالنَّارُ مَثْوًى لَهُمْ ١٢
(47:12) Indeed God will admit those who have faith and do righteous deeds into gardens with streams running in them. As for the faithless, they enjoy and eat just like the cattle eat, and the Fire will be their abode.
This continues the comparison between the two groups and demonstrates the effect of God’s guardianship (wilāyah) of the faithful and the absence thereof for the faithless on their ultimate fates in the Hereafter. In short, the faithful will enter paradise as a result while the faithless will reside in hellfire.
The source of this has been highlighted in the discourse when each of the two groups are described with what befits their ultimate condition; He refers to the qualities of the faithful by saying: those who have faith and do righteous deeds, while He refers to the qualities of the faithless by saying: As for the faithless, they enjoy and eat just like the cattle eat…. From these two descriptions we see clearly the contrast between the two groups; the faithful are rightly-guided in their worldly lives, having found the truth, believed in God and done righteous deeds. The faithful follow the path of right-guidance and perform their human moral duties. Meanwhile, the faithless have no concern with finding the truth, nor do their hearts feel any connection to their human moral duties; their only concern is their appetites and lusts which they enjoy in this short worldly life of theirs. They eat as cattle eat; they have no hope or ambition except to consume.
So one group—namely the faithful—are under God’s guardianship; they follow the path their Lord wishes them to follow and He guides them to it. This is why He will admit them to the gardens of paradise beneath which rivers flow in the Hereafter. Meanwhile the other group—the faithless—God has left them to their own devices, which is why their refuge and abode will be the Fire.
God says that He Himself will admit the faithful to paradise but does not say that He will admit the faithless to hell only because the former involves discharging His duty of guardianship to the faithful that we mentioned above; God has a special concern (ʿināyah) for His friends (awliyāʾ). As for those who are detached from His guardianship, He does not care which valley they end up in.
وَكَأَيِّنْ مِنْ قَرْيَةٍ هِيَ أَشَدُّ قُوَّةً مِنْ قَرْيَتِكَ الَّتِي أَخْرَجَتْكَ أَهْلَكْنَاهُمْ فَلَا نَاصِرَ لَهُمْ ١٣
(47:13) How many a town there has been which was more powerful than your town which expelled you, whom We have destroyed, and they had no helper.
By a town, God means its inhabitants as indicated by the phrase whom We have destroyed (ahlaknāhum). And your town which expelled you is Mecca.
This verse is meant to strengthen the heart of the Prophet, threaten the inhabitants of Mecca and deride their condition; God has destroyed many towns, all of which were more powerful than their own and ultimately these towns had no one to help them against Him!
أَفَمَنْ كَانَ عَلَىٰ بَيِّنَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَمَنْ زُيِّنَ لَهُ سُوءُ عَمَلِهِ وَاتَّبَعُوا أَهْوَاءَهُمْ١٤
(47:14) Is he who stands on a manifest proof from his Lord like someone to whom the evil of his conduct is made to seem decorous, and who follow their desires?
This verse falls within the context of comparing the condition of the faithful and the faithless, which indicates that he who stands on a manifest proof from his Lord refers to the faithful. Standing on a manifest proof (bayyinah) from their Lord means that they are following a proof from their Lord that gives them certainty (yaqīn) in what they believe. This means a logical argument. In other words, they only follow a definitive proof, as befits any human being whose habit is to use his intellect and follow the truth.
As for the faithless, they are infatuated by their evil actions, which have been made to seem decorous by Satan and which are connected to their low desires (ahwāʾ), so they do evil deeds. What a difference there is between these two groups!
مَثَلُ الْجَنَّةِ الَّتِي وُعِدَ الْمُتَّقُونَ ۖ فِيهَا أَنْهَارٌ مِنْ مَاءٍ غَيْرِ آسِنٍ وَأَنْهَارٌ مِنْ لَبَنٍ لَمْ يَتَغَيَّرْ طَعْمُهُ وَأَنْهَارٌ مِنْ خَمْرٍ لَذَّةٍ لِلشَّارِبِينَ وَأَنْهَارٌ مِنْ عَسَلٍ مُصَفًّى ۖ وَلَهُمْ فِيهَا مِنْ كُلِّ الثَّمَرَاتِ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ ۖ كَمَنْ هُوَ خَالِدٌ فِي النَّارِ وَسُقُوا مَاءً حَمِيمًا فَقَطَّعَ أَمْعَاءَهُمْ ١٥
(47:15) A similitude of the paradise promised to the Godwary: therein are streams of unstaling water, and streams of milk unchanging in flavour, and streams of wine delicious to the drinkers, and streams of purified honey; there will be for them every kind of fruit in it, and forgiveness from their Lord. Like those who abide in the Fire and are given to drink boiling water which cuts up their bowels?
This verse distinguishes the two groups based on the ultimate outcome of their affairs. In fact, this explains what God meant when He said: Indeed God will admit those who have faith… (). So this verse can be read as expanding upon that one.
A similitude of the paradise promised to the Godwary… It has been said that similitude (mathal) means description. In other words, “a description of the paradise to which God has promised to admit the Godwary.” Perhaps we can also read similitude in its conventional sense and from this glean that paradise is too lofty and magnificent to be encapsulated by any human description or defined by mortal language. This means that whatever similitudes we read here are merely to help our limited minds come to an approximate understanding of the nature of paradise, as suggested by the verse: No one knows what has been kept hidden for them of comfort ().
Here, the phrase from the previous verse those who have faith and do righteous deeds () has been interchanged with the Godwary (muttaqūn). This is like mentioning the cause in place of its effect, as Godwariness (taqwā) requires one to believe in God and do righteous deeds.
…therein are streams of unstaling water… Meaning streams that never change through length of time.
…and streams of milk unchanging in flavour…—unlike the milk of this world.
…and streams of wine, delicious to the drinkers… Meaning which the drinkers will find delicious; here delicious (ladhdha) is either a feminine adjective for wine, or it is a verbal noun being used as an adjective for hyperbole, or a verbal noun in an implicit construct state—that is, “containing deliciousness for the drinkers.”
…and streams of purified honey: It means honey that is free from wax, froth, dross or any of the impurities that affect honey in this world.
…there will be for them all fruits in it… The plural fruits is used to signify generality.
…and forgiveness from their Lord: With forgiveness, all of their sins will be removed from them; their lives in the Hereafter will be unspoiled and unsullied. Saying from their Lord alludes to God’s all-enveloping mercy, compassion and kindness.
Like those who abide in the Fire… This is a comparison, one of whose sides has been left implicit. In other words: “Are those who enter paradise whose similitude is such like those who are consigned to hell where their drink is scalding water which cuts up their bowels and innards when they drink it?” And they only drink this water while detesting it; …and are given to drink boiling water which cuts up their bowels?
It is said: Like those who abide in the Fire is an exposition of the previous verse …like someone to whom the evil of his conduct is made to seem decorous… (). And this reading is as you see it.
Examining Narrations
- In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, about the verse: That is because they loathed what God has sent down, so He made their works fail (), it is narrated that Abū Jaʿfar [Imām al-Bāqir] said:
They loathed what God has sent down concerning the status of ʿAlī.
- Therein we also read that regarding …like someone to whom the evil of his conduct is made to seem decorous… (), it is said:
They are the hypocrites (munāfiqūn). This is narrated from Abū Jaʿfar [Imām al-Bāqir] as well.
Author’s comments: It is possible that these two narrations are in accordance with the meanings of the verses.
- In Tafsīr al-Qummī, concerning the verse Like those who abide in the Fire and are given to drink boiling water which cuts up their bowels? (), we read:
Whoever is in the paradise described in this verse is not like those who are in hell, just as the enemy of God is not like His friend.
This is because the direct object of the verb is the masculine plural pronoun hum, which is only used for intelligent beings. Had God been referring to the town itself, He would have used the feminine singular plural (hā). [Trans.] ↩︎
That is, “Streams of wine, deliciousness itself for the drinkers” [Trans.] ↩︎