Appearance
Verses 104–109
These verses draw the chapter to a close, expounding a variety of themes, and pointing broadly to monotheism, the Resurrection, and prophethood. They enjoin the Prophet to follow the Qurʾan and be steadfast in awaiting God’s judgment between him and his community.
قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ فِي شَكٍّ مِنْ دِينِي فَلَا أَعْبُدُ الَّذِينَ تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ وَلَٰكِنْ أَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ الَّذِي يَتَوَفَّاكُمْ ۖ وَأُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ١٠٤
(10:104) Say, ‘O people! if you are in doubt about my religion (dīn), then I do not worship those whom you worship besides Allah. Rather I worship only Allah, who causes you to die, and I have been commanded to be among the faithful,
We have already explained more than once that dīn (‘religion’) denotes the practice one follows in life to attain happiness therein. It also suggests the meaning of obedience, as in the verse, and dedicate their religion to Allah (). Sometimes, the word dīn is also used in the sense of ‘recompense’ (jazāʾ).
When He commands the Prophet to say, if you are in doubt about my religion, this means: ‘If you are in doubt about the path that I follow steadfastly. A person doubts the religion of another person only in the sense of whether the latter is steadfastly upon it, namely will he remain on that path and continue to follow it to its end? The idolaters had hoped for the Prophet to abandon his religion, and they occasionally hoped to divert him from it, so that they could escape his call to monotheism and the rejection of idol-worship.
Therefore, the meaning of this part of the verse is: ‘if you are in doubt whether I truly believe in and what I call towards and whether I am steadfast on it, or if you have doubts about my religion and what it is and you did not grasp the principles on which it is based, then I will make a clear statement about it, and that is that I do not worship your gods but I worship God alone.’
When He says, rather I worship only Allah, who causes you to die, God singles out His attribute of causing death for mention because the idolaters used to worship their gods because they believed they needed these gods to repel harm and bring benefit. Death is something that everyone knows will certainly befall them, and it belongs solely to God. Therefore, if they really feel the need to be safe from harm, they must worship God Almighty.
More than that, when God highlights the fact that it is He who causes creatures to die, this has the suggestion of a veiled threat to them, because the earlier verses of this chapter clearly promised that they would suffer punishment, and the death of the idolaters is the appointed time of their punishment. This is supported by the fact that rather I worship only Allah, who causes you to die, is followed by the phrase, and I have been commanded to be among the faithful. This is because the salvation of the faithful from punishment is part of the promise that God has given them in the two previous verses: Do they await anything except the like of the days of those who passed away before them … Then We shall deliver Our apostles and those who have faith. Thus it is a must for Us to deliver the faithful.
Therefore, the meaning of this part of the verse is: ‘Know with certainty that I do not worship your gods. Rather, I worship God, who has promised to punish those of you who deny Him and promised to deliver the believers from harm, and He has commanded me to be among them just as He has commanded me to turn aside from the worship of false gods.
وَأَنْ أَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفًا وَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ١٠٥
(10:105) and that: ‘‘Set your countenance upon the religion, as a hanif, and never be one of the polytheists.
This is part of what the Prophet is commanded to say in the previous verse, Say, ‘O people! if you are in doubt about my religion …, following on from and I have been commanded to be among the faithful… (that is, ‘I have been commanded to be among the faithful, and commanded “Set your countenance upon the religion, as a hanif …”’). We have already discussed the meaning of setting one’s countenance upon the religion previously.
وَلَا تَدْعُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لَا يَنْفَعُكَ وَلَا يَضُرُّكَ ۖ فَإِنْ فَعَلْتَ فَإِنَّكَ إِذًا مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ ١٠٦
(10:106) Nor invoke besides Allah that which neither benefits you nor can do you any harm. For if you do so, then you will indeed be among the wrongdoers.’’’
This is another prohibition against idol-worship after the previous one, and it explains that polytheism causes a person to be counted amongst the wrongdoers and, therefore, deserving of what God has promised them.
One of the subtleties of expression found in these verses is that when God mentioned invocation, He said, that which neither benefits you nor can do you any harm, but when He mentioned worship, He said, those whom you worship besides Allah (). This is because worship naturally endows the object of worship with senses and a mind in the mind of the worshipper. Hence, it is appropriate to refer to it with something like ‘those’ (alladhīna), which is used for beings with knowledge and intellect. By contrast, even though the same should be true of invocation because it is a form of worship, God refers to the objects of invocation as ‘that’ (mā), which is more befitting for an inanimate object. This is because one might imagine that something with knowledge and intellect is capable of bringing benefit or inflicting harm. Therefore, God refers to the objects of invocation with the word ‘that’ to indicate that they are inanimate and cannot be conceived of as causing either benefit or harm.
In the expression itself, by which I mean His saying: that which neither benefits you nor can do you any harm, God also provides a rationale for the prohibition of calling upon beings other than God.
وَإِنْ يَمْسَسْكَ اللَّهُ بِضُرٍّ فَلَا كَاشِفَ لَهُ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ وَإِنْ يُرِدْكَ بِخَيْرٍ فَلَا رَادَّ لِفَضْلِهِ ۚ يُصِيبُ بِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ ۚ وَهُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ ١٠٧
(10:107) Should Allah visit you with some distress, there is no one to remove it except Him; and should He desire any good for you, none can stand in the way of His grace: He grants it to whomever He wishes of His servants, and He is the All-forgiving, the All-merciful.
This is a conditional statement, and it is a continuation of the explanation in the previous verse. The meaning is: ‘Do not call upon things other than God that can neither benefit nor harm you. In the event that God afflicts you with any adversity, no one can remove it but Him, and no one can repel the good He intends for you but Him, so He is the Dominant over all others, bestowing good upon His servants by His will and desire, and yet He is also Forgiving and Merciful, forgiving His servants’ sins and showing them mercy. The fact that God is attributed with these noble qualities and the all others are devoid of them necessitates that He be worshipped and called upon exclusively.
قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ قَدْ جَاءَكُمُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ ۖ فَمَنِ اهْتَدَىٰ فَإِنَّمَا يَهْتَدِي لِنَفْسِهِ ۖ وَمَنْ ضَلَّ فَإِنَّمَا يَضِلُّ عَلَيْهَا ۖ وَمَا أَنَا عَلَيْكُمْ بِوَكِيلٍ١٠٨
(10:108) Say, ‘O mankind! The truth has already come to you from your Lord. Whoever is guided, is guided only for his own soul, and whoever goes astray, goes astray only to its detriment, and it is not my business to watch over you.’
‘The truth’ is the Qurʾan or the teachings it contains. This verse informs them that they are free to choose for themselves, without depriving them of choice, by explaining a reality, which is that the truth which has come to them is from His decree that whoever is guided to it, then they are guided and its benefit returns to them, and whoever strays from it, then they stray and their harm is upon themselves. So, they are free to choose for themselves what they like of benefit or harm, and the Prophet is not their guardian to avert from them what is against them. Thus, the verse implies the necessity of being guided to the truth, for in it lies their benefit.
وَاتَّبِعْ مَا يُوحَىٰ إِلَيْكَ وَاصْبِرْ حَتَّىٰ يَحْكُمَ اللَّهُ ۚ وَهُوَ خَيْرُ الْحَاكِمِينَ ١٠٩
(10:109) And follow that which is revealed to you, and be patient until Allah issues judgment, and He is the best of judges.
This verse commands the Prophet to follow what has been revealed to him and to be patient with whatever hardships and trials he encounters over the course of following this revelation. It promises that God Almighty will judge between him and the people, and He will not judge except in a way that will bring him joy. Thus, the verse includes a command to him to remain steadfast in his calling to the truth, consolation for the suffering he endures while doing so, and a promise to him that there will be a good end in store for him.
The verse concludes (the Chapter) by invoking God’s judgment, and it is this that the majority of the verses in this chapter intend to explain.