Verses 52–60
This is the conclusion of the sūrah, and it brings the discourse full-circle, as it returns to what was being discussed at its outset, namely the Meccan polytheists’ denial of the promised resurrection and the different things they impute about messengership, before warning them of the Promised Day.
Commentary
كَذَٰلِكَ مَا أَتَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا قَالُوا سَاحِرٌ أَوْ مَجْنُونٌ ٥٢
(51:52) So it was that there did not come to those who were before them any Messenger but they said, “A magician,” or “A crazy man!”
So it was (kadhālik) means this summarizes what has been said before about their denials, and the different opinions they would give.
…there did not come to those who were before explains the similarity between the polytheists of Mecca and the peoples who were destroyed before them.
أَتَوَاصَوْا بِهِ ۚ بَلْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ طَاغُونَ ٥٣
(51:53) Did they enjoin this upon one another (tawāṣaw bihi)?! Rather they were a rebellious lot.
Tawāsī means for a group of people to enjoin one another to a matter, and this refers to what they would say about the messengers. This is a rhetorical question expressing amazement. In other words: “Did these peoples enjoin one another—did the earlier ones enjoin the latter ones—to say such things? No, rather they are a rebellious lot who were motivated to say this by their rebelliousness.”
فَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ فَمَا أَنْتَ بِمَلُومٍ ٤
(51:54) So turn away from them, for you will not be blameworthy.
This verse draws a conclusion (with so…) based on their rebelliousness, arrogance and obstinate rejection. It means to say: “If this is the situation and their only response to your preaching is to accuse you of being a magician or a madman, and your efforts do nothing except to increase their stubbornness, then turn away from them and do not argue with them about the truth. No one will blame you for that as you have shown them every proof.”
وَذَكِّرْ فَإِنَّ الذِّكْرَىٰ تَنْفَعُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ٥٥
(51:55) And admonish, for admonition indeed benefits the faithful.
After commanding the Prophet to turn away from the polytheists and avoid arguing with them, God commands him to admonish. This means: “Keep reminding and admonishing as you did before, for admonition benefits the faithful, unlike disputation and debate with those rebellious ones, which does not benefit them in the slightest and only increases their disbelief.”
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ ٥٦
(51:56) I did not create the jinn and the humans except that they may worship Me (li yaʿbudūni).
This verse is a transition (iltifāt) from dialogue to monologue. The aforementioned actions that are attributed to God—such as creation, appointing messengers and sending down punishment—all can be achieved through intermediaries such as the angels and other forms of cause and effect. This is unlike the original purpose (gharaḍ) of creation, for this is something that belongs only to God, and nobody shares in this with Him.
…except that they may worship Me is an exception of a negation (istithnā min al-nafī) which makes clear beyond all doubt that the act of creation has a purpose and that purpose is worship. This means that the goal of creation is for them to be worshippers, not for God to be worshipped, as God said: except that they may worship Me. He did not say: “except that I might be worshipped by them.” This is because any goal, whatever it may be, is something that necessarily completes its possessor and addresses some need he has. However, God is without deficiency or need such that something else could complete Him or address this need.
From another perspective, an action which does not help its doer in reaching some goal is pointless (laghw) and foolish. From this we deduce that in His action, God has a purpose which is Himself—there is no goal beyond Him—and that this action has a purpose which returns to the action itself. This is a perfection (kamāl) that belongs to the act, not to its doer. In short, worship (ʿibādah) is the purpose of the human being’s creation, and the perfection that results from it is worship itself and its beneficial effects such as mercy, forgiveness and so on. And if worship had a purpose such as the knowledge (maʿrifah) and dedication to God that results from it, then this would be the ultimate goal, and worship would be the intermediate goal for that higher goal.
Poser: The lām in li yaʿbudūni signifies a purpose, this goes against the verse: but they continue to differ, except those on whom your Lord has mercy—and for this He created them (), and the verse: Certainly We have created for hell many of the jinn and humans (). The apparent meaning of the first verse is that the purpose of the creative act was disagreement (ikhtilāf), while the second verse suggests that the purpose was to send many of the jinn and humans to hell. This means we cannot say with certainly that this lām signifies the purpose (gharaḍ) for creation but rather it merely signifies its goal (ghāyah).
Reply: As for the first verse, this actually says they were created for mercy (raḥmah) rather than disagreement. As for the second verse, the lām in it is also to signify the purpose of their creation, but this is a secondary purpose (gharaḍ tabaʿī) rather than their primary purpose. And we discussed this at length earlier in this commentary when we dealt with these verses.
Poser: If the lām in li yaʿbudūni were to signify a purpose, then this makes worship (ʿibādah) the purpose that God desired to achieve through the creative act. Now it is impossible that God’s design should be thwarted and yet we see clearly that many men and jinn do not worship Him. This is the best indication that the lām in the verse is not supposed to signify a purpose; rather, “worship” means a cosmic worship (ʿibādah takwīniyyah)—namely, they worship Him through their existence—as when God says: There is not a thing but celebrates His praise ().
Alternatively, it could be said that this verse means He created them in a form that was suitable to worship Him by giving them free-will, intellect and capacity. Here this potentiality is spoken of as an actuality (fiʿliyyah) in a common figure of speech—just as one might say that “oxen were made to plough” or “houses were made to live in” even though not every ox ploughs a field and not every house has an inhabitant.
Reply: This problematic [interpretation] assumes that the definite article in the jinn and the humans is used to refer to every single member of the species (istighrāq), in which case if some individuals fail to fulfil their purpose, the entire design is thwarted. However, it appears that the definite article here is used to refer to the species (jins) in general rather than all of its members, in which case the purpose of worshipped is fulfilled even if some but not all members of the species perform it, and this is not affected by those individuals who do not. Yes, if not one member of the species worships God then His design has been thwarted, but as long as at least one member of the species is worshipping Him, this purpose is still fulfilled. And God has a purpose for the species just as He has a purpose for each individual person.
As for the interpretation which says worship here refers to the cosmic variety, the fact is that all created things perform this function, and there are no grounds for restricting it to the jinn and the humans as this verse does. This is in addition to the fact that this verse is intended to rebuke the faithless for abandoning the worship that God has enjoined upon them and to threaten them for denying the Resurrection, Judgement and Recompense, which is itself connected to volitional worship (ʿibādah tashrīʿiyyah) rather than cosmic worship (ʿibādah takwīniyyah).
The other interpretation says that worship refers to the capacity to worship. This means that the goal of creation is for the jinn and humans to have the ability to worship God or to be worthy recipients of God’s religious ordinances. However, this is weakened by the fact that one only seeks the capacity to do something in order that this capacity be realized in practice. So if the goal of creating the jinn and the humans was that they might have the capacity to worship or to receive God’s religious commands and prohibitions, then the primary goal is for them to worship in actuality, and the capacity for them to worship is only a goal insofar as it serves as a preliminary to achieving this. In other words, saying that worship means the capacity to worship is tantamount to acknowledging that the original and essential purpose of creation is worship in actuality. This means that if there exists a valid objection to the jinn and humans being created for actual worship, this interpretation does not help us to avoid it.
So the correct understanding is that the definite article in the jinn and the humans means the species as a whole rather than its individual members (al-jins dūn al-istighrāq), and the meaning of worship is worship itself rather than the capacity to worship. And even if the latter was meant, then their worship in potentia is only an intermediary goal, with the utmost goal being their worship in actualitas. And worship in actualitas, meaning the actions God’s servant performs with his limbs, such as standing, bowing and prostrating in prayer, is itself an intermediary goal for another, namely approaching God’s Presence in the utter humility of servitude and poverty of bondage as opposed to His absolute might and needlessness, as we might glean from the verse: Say, “What store my Lord would set by you were it not for your supplication?” (), where “worship” is substituted with “supplication.”
The essence of worship is that the servant places himself in a position of abasement and servitude, and turns his countenance toward the station of his Lord. This is what they mean when they say that “worship” (ʿibādah) means “knowledge” (maʿrifah); it means the knowledge that comes from worship.
So the essence of worship is the highest goal of the creative act—that the servant should turn away from everything else, even from his own self, and remember his Lord.
This is what pondering on the words I did not create the jinn and the humans except that they may worship Me suggests. Perhaps the jinn are mentioned before the humans because they were created before them, as God says in the verse: and We created the jinn earlier out of a piercing fire (). And worship is the purpose of the act, meaning it brings perfection to the act rather than its doer, as we have already said.
From the use of clauses of negation and exception in this verse, we can also deduce that God shows no special concern (ʿināyah) for those who do not worship Him, as the verse says: Say, “What store my Lord would set by you were it not for your supplication?” ()
مَا أُرِيدُ مِنْهُمْ مِنْ رِزْقٍ وَمَا أُرِيدُ أَنْ يُطْعِمُونِ ٥٧
(51:57) I desire no provision from them, nor do I desire that they should feed Me.
To feed (iṭʿām) means to provide someone with food to eat, as God says in other verses: …and provides me with food and drink () and who has fed them from hunger ().
Here, feeding is mentioned after “provision” (rizq) as mentioning something specific after something general, indicating a special concern for this kind of provision. This is because food is one of the most common needs of humans and other creatures and the most base, as it is preceded by hunger and accompanied by excretion.
It is said that provision means “provision for My servants” so that the verse means: “I do not desire that they provide for my servants whom I provide for, nor do I want them to feed Me.”
It is also said that the meaning of feed is to offer food to Him in the same manner as a slave offers food to his master or a servant to his employer, in which case the meaning of provision is to obtain the provision itself, while feed means to offer what they have obtained. This renders the verse: “I do not desire any provision that they have obtained, nor do I desire that they should offer me anything to eat.”
إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الرَّزَّاقُ ذُو الْقُوَّةِ الْمَتِينُ ٥٨
(51:58) Indeed it is God who is the All-provider (razzāq), Powerful (dhū al-quwwah), All-strong (matīn).
This explains the reason why I desire no provision from them… and the transition in this verse from the first-person (“I”) to the third-person (“He”) is to link this explanation to the Majestic Name (Allāh) from which all things begin and to which all things return. It is as if to say: “I do not desire any provision from them because it is I who provides for all as I am Allāh!”
The name razzāq—which is a noun of magnification (ism al-mubālaghah)—is used to show that even if God is the sole provider (rāziq), because of the countless beings whom He provides for, He is the razzāq (“the All-provider”). So this verse is similar to one which we have encountered already: and I am not tyrannical (ẓullām) to the servants (), where ẓullām appears as a noun of magnification to signify abundance.
Dhū al-quwwah is one of God’s names with the meaning of al-qawiyy, but this is more forceful than al-qawiyy, and matīn is another of his names with the same meaning as al-qawiyy. These three names appear together to indicate that God alone controls provision and that there is nothing that can prevent His provision from reaching its recipients, no matter how many they might be.
فَإِنَّ لِلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا ذَنُوبًا مِثْلَ ذَنُوبِ أَصْحَابِهِمْ فَلَا يَسْتَعْجِلُونِ ٥٩
(51:59) So indeed the lot (dhanūb) of those who do wrong will be like the lot of their counterparts. So let them not hasten Me.
Dhanūb means a portion (naṣīb), and to hasten means to goad someone into acting with haste, and the fa (“so”) at the beginning of the verse signifies that it follows logically from the above verse I did not create the jinn and the humans except that they may worship Me.
With this in mind, the verse means: So if these wrongdoers do not worship God then He will have no concern for them, nor will any felicity from Him encompass them, for they have a share of punishment like that of their counterparts from previous nations that were destroyed. So let them not demand that I hasten their punishment or ask: “When will this promise be if you are truthful?” or “When will be the Day of Recompense?”
This verse transitions from speaking in the third-person to speaking in the first-person. This shifts the tone from that of the verse Indeed it is God who is the All-provider… back to that of the verses before it, beginning with: I did not create the jinn and the humans… is to show that this verse is drawing a conclusion from them.
فَوَيْلٌ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ يَوْمِهِمُ الَّذِي يُوعَدُونَ ٦٠
(51:60) So woe to the faithless for the day they are promised!
The fa at the beginning of this verse indicates that it follows logically from the previous one (So indeed the lot of those who do wrong…) and calls attention to the fact that they will receive their share on the Day of Resurrection, even if He might grant them a share of it beforehand, as it is a day which contains only woe and destruction for them. It is their promised day.
And by substituting the phrase those who do wrong (al-ladhīna ẓalamū) with the faithless (al-ladhīna kafarū), the verse shows that the wrongdoing (ẓulm) of the former is none other than faithlessness (kufr).
Examining Narrations
- In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, it is narrated from Mujāhid that ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib came out wearing a turban and wrapped in a shirt and said about the verse So turn away from them, for you will not be blameworthy ():
When the Prophet was told: So turn away from them…, there was not one of us save that he was certain that he would be destroyed. But then the verse was revealed: And admonish, for admonition indeed benefits the faithful (), and we were relieved because it meant: “Admonish those of your people who believe, for admonition benefits them.” This is narrated from al-Kalbī.
Author’s comments: This narration is also found in al-Durr al-Manthūr, and words to this effect are narrated by Ibn Rāhuwayh and Ibn Mardawayh from him.
- In al-Tawḥīd it is narrated from Ibn Abī ʿUmayr:
I asked Abū al-Ḥasan Mūsā b. Jaʿfar [Imām al-Kāẓim]: “What is the meaning of the saying of God’s Messenger: ‘Strive, for the purpose of everything comes easily to it’?”
He told me: “God created the jinn and humans to worship Him; He did not create them to disobey Him. That is the meaning of the verse: I did not create the jinn and the humans except that they may worship Me (). So the purpose of each thing comes easily to it. So woe to those who prefer blindness to guidance!”
- In ʿIlal it is narrated from Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Imām al-Ṣādiq]:
Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī came out to his companions and said: “God only created the servants to know Him, and when they knew Him they would worship Him, and when they worshipped Him, this would free them from worshipping anything else.”
- And in the same source from Abū Baṣīr:
I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Imām al-Ṣādiq] about the verse: I did not create the jinn and the humans except that they may worship Me, and he said: “He created them to enjoin worship upon them.”
Author’s comments: A similar narration is narrated in Tafsīr al-Qummī implicitly and with an incomplete chain. And what we have said previously about this verse elucidates the meaning of these narrations, namely that there is a series of purposes to creation: moral duty (taklīf), worship (ʿibādah), and knowledge (maʿrifah).
- In Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, it is narrated from Yaʿqūb b. Saʿīd:
I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Imām al-Ṣādiq] about the meaning of the verse I did not create the jinn and the humans except that they may worship Me.
He told me: “He created them for worship.”
Then I asked him about the verse: but they continue to differ, except those on whom your Lord has mercy—and that is why He created them ().
He told me: “This came down after that.”
Author’s comments: This means But they continue to differ came after I did not create. By this he intends that the former has abrogated the latter. In Tafsīr al-Qummī we read in another narration that this verse is abrogated by But they continue to differ. However, the meaning of abrogation (naskh) here is that of clarification (naskh al-bayān) and the removal of ambiguity, not naskh in the technical legal sense. And this sense of naskh frequently appears in their speech, as we have already alluded to in our discussion of For any verse that We abrogate or remove from their memories… ().
And this means that the ultimate goal of creation is the special kind of divine mercy that is realised through worship, and that is the unique felicity of knowledge of the divine.
- And in Tahdhīb it is narrated from Sudayr:
I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh: “What must a man do when seeking provision?”
He said: “If you have opened your door and opened your palm, then you have done as you must.”
This means that God created the human being to reward him, and this reward devolves to the human being who benefits from it—God has no need of it. As for God’s purpose in all this, it is His own exalted Essence; He only created because He is God. [From the author] ↩︎
See Eng. vol. 16 under verse . [Pub.] ↩︎