Verses 5–16

Chapter 11: Hūd · Printed edition: Volume 19, pp. 175–217

This section of verses recounts the words and deeds of the idolaters in response to the Prophet’s claim of receiving divine revelation and to the verses of the Qurʾan that were sent down to him, before responding to them with conclusive arguments.

For example, it mentions how they belittled God by asking, ‘What is keeping the punishment back from us?’ Or ‘why has no treasure been sent down to him?’, ‘Why has no angel been sent with him?’ and claiming, ‘He has fabricated the Qurʾan!’ These verses contain other insights besides these as well.

أَلَا إِنَّهُمْ يَثْنُونَ صُدُورَهُمْ لِيَسْتَخْفُوا مِنْهُ ۚ أَلَا حِينَ يَسْتَغْشُونَ ثِيَابَهُمْ يَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ ۚ إِنَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ ٥

(11:5) Look! They fold up (yathnūn) their breasts to hide from him (li-yastakhfū min-hu). Look! When they draw their cloaks over their heads, He knows whatever they keep secret and whatever they disclose. Indeed He knows best whatever is in the breasts.

The verb thanā (yathnūn, ‘fold up’) means to bend something back onto itself. In Majmaʿ al-bayān, al-Ṭabrisī writes:

‘The original meaning of thanā is ‘to attach’ (ʿaṭf). From this is derived the word ithnān (‘two’), because you have two of a thing when you join one to another; from this is also derived thanāʾ (‘praise’) because when you praise someone you attach positive qualities to them; from this is also derived istithnāʾ (‘exception’), because it means to attach one thing to another by removing it from it.’ He also says, ‘Istikhfāʾ (‘to hide’) means to try to conceal something. The same is true of istighshāʾ (‘to cover’).’

So when God says, They fold up their breasts to hide from it, this means that they turn their chests backwards and lower their heads to hide from the Book, meaning to keep themselves from hearing it when it is being recited. In reality, this means that they are trying to hide from the Prophet and avoid being in his presence when he is reciting the Qurʾan to them to convey its message, so that they do not have to respond to his arguments.

Look! When they draw their cloaks over their heads, He knows whatever they keep secret and whatever they disclose: This suggests that they used to cover their heads with their garments when hiding by folding their chests. God mentions this and informs them that He knows whatever they conceal and whatever they reveal at that time, so hiding does not avail them from listening to the Qurʾan and God knows them in their private and public lives.

Some commentators have said that what is meant by their wrapping themselves in their garments is their covering themselves in their homes at night when they lie in their beds to sleep, which is the most hidden and private state a person can be in. In this case, the meaning of the verse is: ‘They fold up their chests to hide from this Book when it is recited to them, but God knows them in private and in public and even in the most hidden state they can be in, which is when they cover themselves with their garments for sleep.’ And this reading of the verse is not without merit.

This is what the context implies about the meaning of the verse, and other meanings that do not match the context have also been proposed for it. For example, some have said that the pronoun ‘it’ in They fold up their breasts to hide from it refers back to God, or to the Prophet. Others have said that they fold up their breasts means ‘they fold up their hearts in disbelief.’ Still others have said it means ‘they fold up their hearts in enmity to the Prophet.’ However, these are all far-fetched meanings for the verse.

وَمَا مِنْ دَابَّةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ إِلَّا عَلَى اللَّهِ رِزْقُهَا وَيَعْلَمُ مُسْتَقَرَّهَا وَمُسْتَوْدَعَهَا ۚ كُلٌّ فِي كِتَابٍ مُبِينٍ ٦

(11:6) There is no animal (dābba) on the earth, but that its sustenance lies with Allah, and He knows its abode and its temporary place of lodging. Everything is in a manifest Book.

According to the Arabic lexicons, the term dābba (‘animal’) generally refers to anything that moves. However, the term is often used to refer to specific types of creatures. The context of the verse necessitates a more general interpretation, as the discourse is intended to demonstrate the vastness of God’s knowledge, as it follows on from His saying in the previous verse: When they draw their cloaks over their heads, He knows whatever they keep secret and whatever they disclose. Indeed He knows best whatever is in the breasts ().

This explanation, namely that God must provide for each and every creature, is intended to demonstrate the breadth of His knowledge, that encompasses each and every creature in all of its states of being. This, in turn, suggests that the phrase, He knows its abode and its temporary place of lodging is, in essence, an explanatory clause for His saying, its sustenance lies with Allah. Therefore, the meaning is that every creature on earth relies on God for sustenance, and they would not exist without it. God, the Exalted, knows and is aware of each creature’s condition, wherever it may be. If it resides in a fixed abode, like a whale in the water or a shellfish embedded in the earth, its provision is there. If it leaves its dwelling place and has a temporary place of lodging from which it will eventually return to the former, like a bird in the air, a traveller away from home, or an embryo in the womb, its provision is there. In summary, He, the Exalted, is aware of the condition of each and every creature on earth. And how could He not be, when He is responsible for their provision? The sustenance only reaches the recipient with the knowledge of the Provider of this sustenance about the recipient and His knowledge of the recipient’s permanent or temporary, stationary or transitory place of residence.

From this, it appears that what is meant by ‘abode’ (mustaqarr) and ‘temporary place of lodging’ (mustawdaʿ) is the place where the creature settles as long as it is a moving being on earth, living a worldly life, and the place where it dwells, then leaves, and departs from. However, what some interpreters have said is that what is meant by abode and mustaqarr are its places during its life and after its death, or that they refer to loins and wombs, or that they refer to its homes on earth when they actually exist and their existence as raw materials when they were only potentially existent. However, all of these meanings are far removed from the context of the verse, except if His saying, and He knows its abode and its temporary place of lodging, is considered an independent statement in its own right and not an explanation of what precedes it.

Interested readers can refer to our commentary on the verse, It is He who created you from a single soul, then there is the (enduring) abode and the place of temporary lodging (), which will shed further light on the meaning of the verse under discussion here.

As for His saying, … but that its sustenance lies with Allah …, this indicates that God is responsible for providing for His creatures. It is repeatedly many times in the Qurʾan that provision (rizq) is the sole purview of God and that it is something that the creatures can expect from Him. For example, He says: Who is it that may provide for you if He withholds His provision? (); Indeed it is Allah who is the All-provider, Powerful, All-strong (); And in the sky is your provision and what you are promised. By the Lord of the sky and the earth, it is indeed the truth, just as you speak ().

There is no problem in affirming that there is something due from God to others, since He is the one who has bound Himself to that obligation without anyone else’s intervention. There are many such parallels for this in the Qurʾan. For example, He says: He has made mercy incumbent upon Himself (); … and it was a must for Us to help the faithful ().

Rational contemplation supports this view, because sustenance is what maintains the existence of a living creature, and since its existence emanates from the bounty of His generosity, what it relies on for sustenance is from Him as well. And, since there is no partner with Him in creating it, there can be no partner with Him in what its existence depends on, meaning its sustenance (rizq).

We have already discussed the meaning of the phrase ‘manifest Book’ (kitāb mubīn) in our commentary on verses and , so let readers refer there.

وَهُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاءِ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا ۗ وَلَئِنْ قُلْتَ إِنَّكُمْ مَبْعُوثُونَ مِنْ بَعْدِ الْمَوْتِ لَيَقُولَنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِنْ هَٰذَا إِلَّا سِحْرٌ مُبِينٌ ٧

(11:7) It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days—and His Throne was upon the waters—that He may test you: which of you is best in conduct. Yet if you say, ‘You will indeed be raised up after death,’ the faithless will surely say, ‘This is nothing but plain magic.’

We will present the full account of the creation of the heavens and the earth based on the apparent meaning of the Qurʾan and the explanations of the Infallibles in our commentary on Sūrah Fuṣṣilat.

In short, the apparent meaning of the phrase, in six days, and the phrase, and His Throne was upon the waters, is that God’s description of the creation of the heavens (samāwāt—note that this word is plural) along with the earth in six days refers to the layers of the visible material creation that exist above our earth, as whatever is above something and overshadows it is a samāʾ for it—this is what scholars have said. And the concepts of ‘above’ and ‘below’ are always in relation to something else.

These are layers of the material creation that exist above our earth and envelop it. The earth is spherical in shape as suggested by His saying, Exalted is He: “He draws the night’s cover over the day, which pursues it swiftly ().

The first heaven (samāʾ) is the one adorned by the lamps of stars and planets; it is the layer that contains them or it is above them and is adorned by them, like a ceiling is adorned with lanterns and chandeliers. As for what is above this nearest heaven, there is nothing in His speech describing its characteristics other than what is in His saying, He created seven heavens in layers (), and His saying, Have you not seen how Allah has created seven heavens in layers, and has made therein the moon for a light, and the sun for a lamp (). This indicates that they are stacked one above the other.

In His description of their creation, God has said that these heavens were initially interwoven, and then He split them apart. They became scattered and disintegrated, then He gathered and stacked them. They were initially smoke, and He made them into heavens. See the verses: Have the faithless not regarded that the heavens and the earth were interwoven and We unravelled them, and We made every living thing out of water? Will they not then have faith? () Then He turned to the heaven, and it was smoke, and He said to it and to the earth, ‘Come! Willingly or unwillingly!’ They said, ‘We come heartily.’ Then He set them up as seven heavens in two days, and revealed in each heaven its ordinance ().

This indicates that the creation of the heavens was completed in two of the six days of creation. Now, the term ‘day’ (yawm) denotes a measurable unit of time, and it is not necessary for a ‘day’ in all circumstances and contexts to correspond to a day on earth, which is derived from one rotation of its axial motion. For example, one lunar day, as related to this Earth, is equivalent to approximately twenty-nine and a half days on Earth. The use of the term ‘day’ to denote a period of time is common in discourse.

Therefore, what this means is that God created the seven heavens in two periods of time. Similarly, about the Earth, He has said that He created the earth in two days… and ordained therein its means of sustenance in four days (). Therefore, in this verse, He tells us that the earth was created in two days, which are epochs or stages, and that He set up its sustenance in four days, which refers to the four seasons.

The conclusions we draw from these verses is, firstly, that the creation of the heavens and the earth as we see them today in their form and shape was not from absolute nothingness. Instead, they previously existed as an undifferentiated, compound, mass of material. Some parts of this matter were separated from others and made into the earth in two periods of time. The sky was initially smoke, which was separated and arranged into seven heavens, also within two periods of time.

Secondly, whatever living things we perceive are made from water. Therefore, water is the substance of life.

Given what we have explained, the meaning of the verse presently under discussion becomes clear. When He said, It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, the intended meaning of their creation is the gathering of their components, their division, and their splitting from whatever else was mixed with them from this undifferentiated matter. The original creation and fusion in the heavens and the earth were completed in two days each, leaving two remaining days of the six for the remainder of the creation.

As for when God says, and His Throne was upon the waters, this is an adverbial statement, meaning that, on the day of the creations of the heavens, His Throne was upon the waters. The fact that the Throne was upon the waters on that day is a metaphor for His Exalted Sovereignty being established upon this water, which is the substance of life. Therefore, the Throne of God is a symbol of His Sovereignty. Its establishment upon a location signifies the establishment of His Sovereignty over it. Similarly, His being upon the Throne implies encompassing Sovereignty and its management.

As for those who say that the intended meaning of the Throne (ʿarsh) is a structure, they derive this meaning from the verse, and the trellises that they erect (). However, this explanation does not make sense here.

... that He may test you (li-yabluwa-kum): which of you is best in conduct: The lām in li-yabluwa-kum is purposive. To test someone is to submit them to examination or trial. The phrase, which of you is best in conduct, expounds the nature of this test in the form of a question, meaning that He created the heavens and the earth in the form that He did for the purpose of testing you and distinguishing those who do good from those who do bad.

It is known that a test or trial is an action carried out for a purpose other than itself, namely to distinguish good from bad, virtuous from vicious, righteous from wicked. Equally, it is only necessary to distinguish good from bad because of the consequences they bear in terms of reward or punishment. Likewise, divine recompense is intended to fulfil God’s true promise. That is why we find Him mentioning each of these consequential matters as a purpose of creation. For example, regarding trials being the purpose of creation, He says: Indeed We have made whatever is on the earth an adornment for it that We may test them: which of them is best in conduct? ();

Regarding the discernment and distinction, He has said: … so that Allah may separate the bad ones from the good ();

While on the subject of divine recompense, He says: Allah created the heavens and the earth with reason, so that every soul may be requited for what it has earned, and they will not be wronged ();

Concerning the fulfilment of His promise, He says: We will bring it back as We began the first creation—a promise binding on Us. That indeed We will do ().

And other such verses. He says regarding worship being the purpose in the creation of the jinn and humans, I did not create the jinn and the humans except that they may worship Me ().

Now, considering righteous deeds or the virtuous human as the purpose of creation does not contradict the fact that creation encompasses other purposes as well. After all, man is truly one of those purposes. This is because the unity and connectivity governing the world allows for each type of being to be considered a purpose of creation. Since it is the result of the connection and the outcome of the general association between its constituent parts, it is possible to speak about each type of creation as the intended objective of the creation of the heavens and the earth, since the creation of these leads to its existence.

However, the human being is the most perfect and well-crafted of the material creations contained in the heavens and the earth. If he flourishes in terms of his knowledge and good deeds, he becomes the best and the highest in status and degree compared to all other creatures. Some creations, like the heavens, have been given a more powerful creation than him, as God has said. It is evident that the perfection of creation is its intended purpose when it includes the imperfect. Therefore, we consider the different stages of human existence from sperm, to fetus, to childhood, among others, as precursors to the existence of a healthy, flourishing human being, and so on.

Based on this, it becomes clear that the best individuals among humans, if there are those who are absolutely the best, are the true purpose behind the creation of the heavens and the earth. The wording of the verse also indicates this. For example, when He says, which of you is best in conduct, this implies that the aim is to distinguish who is best in deed from all others, regardless of whether they are virtuous or wicked. Thus, whoever’s deeds are better than the rest, whether the rest are virtuous and their deeds are merely inferior to his, or whether they are wicked, the distinguishing of the one who is best in deeds from all others is the intended purpose of creation. Therefore, this explains the significance of the ḥadīth qudsī, in which God addresses His Prophet, saying, ‘Were it not for you, I would not have created the firmament’ (law lā-ka lammā khalaqtu al-aflāk)—this is because he is the best of all creation.

In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, we read: ‘Al-Jubāʾī said: “The verse indicates that he existed before the creation of the heavens, the earth, and the angels. This is because there is no point in creating the throne upon the waters unless it provides some benefit to a morally accountable being capable of inferring from it, so there must be a living, morally accountable being at that time.” ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā, however, said: “There is nothing to say that informing the Qurʾan’s audience of the creation of the throne upon the waters would not benefit morally accountable beings and, thus, there is no need for what al-Jubāʾī has said.” This was the preferred view of Sayyid al-Murtaḍā.’

Author’s comment: Their assertions are based on the Muʿtazilī doctrine that God’s actions follow a purpose and aimed at producing good and beneficial results, even if that involves creating things to inform morally accountable beings about them, so that they may contemplate and believe in Him, hence accomplishing a benefit for them. In our previous discussions, we have already established that God Almighty is not governed by anything, nor is He influenced by anything other than Himself, be it a benefit or any other supposed concept, and that everything other than Him is created by Him and subject to His command, even if it is an objective existent reality. The decision belongs only to God, and God is the Creator of everything.

These aspects of goodness and benefit—which are what motivate us to act—exist in objective reality and affect us insofar as we are active agents in pursuit of a happy life. God, however, is far superior to that. These aspects of goodness and benefits are general rules derived from the cosmic order and the relations that exist between created entities. It is crucial to acknowledge that the universe and the order within it are His creation. It is quite impossible for a derived concept to precede the action from which it is derived then go beyond it and even surpass the agent who originated it.

As for the rationale given for the creation of the heavens and the earth in the verse, that He may test you: which of you is best in conduct, and its many parallels in the Qurʾan, they are rationales that are based on the benefits and advantages that derive from an action. God has informed us that His actions are never devoid of goodness, as He described Himself as the one who perfected everything that He created (). God is the epitome of goodness; there is no evil in Him, and there is no ugliness with Him. Therefore, nothing evil or ugly ever originates from Him.

The preceding discussion does not necessitate that the meaning of ‘good’ is ‘whatever emanates from God’ or ‘whatever He has commanded, even if reason finds it repugnant’, nor that ‘evil’ is ‘whatever does not emanate from Him’ or ‘whatever He has prohibited, even if reason finds it to be good and just.’ This claim is rejected by verses such as “Indeed Allah does not enjoin indecencies ().

Yet if you say, ‘You will indeed be raised up after death,’ the faithless will surely say, ‘This is nothing but plain magic’: Insofar as the previous statement, that He may test you, points to the Resurrection, this passage calls attention to the disbelievers’ response to the Prophet’s mention of the afterlife by accusing him of being a magician of speech.

The apparent meaning of the verse is that they, just as they dismissed the eloquence and rhetoric of the Qurʾan as magic, so too did they dismiss as magic the realities conveyed by the Qurʾan and the Prophet which their minds refused to accept, such as the teaching of resurrection after death. Therefore, this represents the extent to which they were willing to lie about the Qurʾan and the depths of their obstinacy and defiance towards truth, as they went beyond labelling its eloquent language as magic, to actually dismissing its truthful ideas as magic.

It is important to consider that ‘magic’ (siḥr) here might not mean literal magic in the sense of sorcery, but in the figurative sense of deception and obfuscation by presenting falsehood in the guise of truth. However, this reading does not align with the apparent meaning of God’s words in a similar context: Say, ‘In whose hand is the dominion of all things, and who shelters and no shelter can be provided from Him, if you know?’ They will say, ‘to Allah.’ Say, ‘Then how are you being deluded?’ ().

وَلَئِنْ أَخَّرْنَا عَنْهُمُ الْعَذَابَ إِلَىٰ أُمَّةٍ مَعْدُودَةٍ لَيَقُولُنَّ مَا يَحْبِسُهُ ۗ أَلَا يَوْمَ يَأْتِيهِمْ لَيْسَ مَصْرُوفًا عَنْهُمْ وَحَاقَ بِهِمْ مَا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ ٨

(11:8) And, surely, if We defer their punishment until a certain time, they will surely say, ‘What holds it back?’ Look! On the day it overtakes them it shall not be turned away from them, and they will be besieged by what they used to deride.

Note the use of particles of emphasis at the beginning of the verse. The meaning is: ‘I swear that if we delay the punishment these disbelievers deserve, they would mockingly say, “What is holding back this promised punishment from us, and why has it not descended upon us or afflicted us?”’

This shows that what they heard from God’s speech or the Prophet’s speech a threat of inescapable punishment, and if God delays this punishment as a mercy for them, they deride it and mock it, by asking, ‘What holds it back?’ This is supported by the following statement, Look! On the day it overtakes them it shall not be turned away from them, and they will be besieged by what they used to deride.

This supports the idea that Sūrah Hūd was revealed after Sūrah Yūnus, on account of the content of the latter, beginning with the verse, There is a messenger for every nation; so when their messenger comes, judgment is made between them with justice, and they are not wronged.

In the phrase, until a certain time (ilā umma maʿdūda), the term umma means ‘time’ (and not ‘nation’), as per the verse, Said the one of the two who had been delivered, remembering after a long time (baʿd umma) ().

Alternatively, umma could be used here in the sense of a group of people (meaning then, ‘for the sake of a specified nation’). God has promised to support this religion with a group of righteous people who would not allow anything to impair their faith. And when this happens, the believers will be able to follow the religion which God has approved for them. In this regard, He has said, Allah will soon bring a people whom He loves and who love Him, (who will be) humble towards the faithful, stern towards the faithless, waging jihad in the way of Allah, not fearing the blame of any blamer (); Allah has promised those of you who have faith and do righteous deeds that He will surely make them successors in the earth, just as He made those who were before them successors, and He will surely establish for them their religion which He has approved for them, and that He will surely change their state to security after their fear, while they worship Me, not ascribing any partners to Me ().

This interpretation is also acceptable.

Another reading of this verse is that umma here refers to a group of people who will be brought forth by God after these disbelievers, but they will persist in their denial of the truth, so God will punish them by eradicating them from the face of the earth, just as it happened to the people of Noah. Alternatively, umma could refer to the people who come after these disbelievers, and they will persist in disobeying God so that God brings down the Day of Judgement upon them.

However, both of these readings are unfounded, as they both rest on the assumption that the ones being punished are not the disbelievers who are mocking God and the Prophet, while the apparent meaning of God’s words, On the day it overtakes them it shall not be turned away from them, and they will be besieged by what they used to deride, indicates that those who will be punished are the ones who mocked God with their words, ‘What holds it back?’

On the day it overtakes them it shall not be turned away from them, and they will be besieged by what they used to deride: This serves the response to their mockery, What holds it back?’ And this mockery was their response to the threat of divine punishment. In short, what they are saying is: ‘If the punishment you threaten us with is genuine (and not a fabrication you have contrived), there would be no reason to hold it back, for we will not give up our disbelief nor turn aside from our religion. Therefore, there is no reason to delay it. On the contrary, you should be hastening to punish us! This shows that your threat is false.’

God responds to this by saying that the punishment will indeed befall them, and on that day, there will be no one who can deflect it. This torment, which they mock, will ultimately encompass them.

Based on what has been previously mentioned, it appears that the punishment they are threatened with is worldly; it will envelop them and descend upon them in addition to the torment of the Hereafter. Therefore, this verse and one before it each describe something that the disbelievers imagine in their ignorance. The previous verse mentions that when they are reminded of the Resurrection and warned about the punishment that awaits them on the Day of Judgement, they say: ‘This is nothing but plain magic.’ The present verse mentions that when God delays their punishment for a time and they are informed of this, they mockingly say: ‘What holds it back?’

وَلَئِنْ أَذَقْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ مِنَّا رَحْمَةً ثُمَّ نَزَعْنَاهَا مِنْهُ إِنَّهُ لَيَئُوسٌ كَفُورٌ ٩

(11:9) If We let man taste (adhaqnā) a mercy from Us, and then withdraw (nazaʿnā-hā) it from him, he becomes despondent (yaʾūs), ungrateful.

In Majmaʿ al-bayān, al-Ṭabrisī writes:

‘Taste (dhawq) means to put something into one’s mouth to ascertain its flavour. God refers to the granting of pleasures to human beings “tasting” because of how quickly they vanish like things that are tasted and then disappear. This is similar to the saying, “dreams of sleep are like a fleeting shadow.” To withdraw something (nazaʿ) means to pull something from its place, to be despondent. yaʾs, (from which yaʾūs is derived) means to be certain that something desired will not occur, the opposite of this is hope.’

In this verse, God substitutes mercy (raḥma) for blessings to show that the blessings He gives to humans are a form of mercy, which means to fulfil human needs without their having done anything to deserve this or without any obligation. Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘If we grant man something of the blessings that he enjoys and then We withdraw it, he becomes hopeless and his despair intensifies to the point where he believes it is impossible that it will ever be restored to him, and he becomes ungrateful for our blessings, as if he views those blessings as his inherent right and does not believe they belong to Us. So, humans are prone to despairing about what is taken from them and being ungrateful.’ Note that the term “man” is used in the verse, indicating the entire human race, to show that these characteristics is a trait of the human species.

وَلَئِنْ أَذَقْنَاهُ نَعْمَاءَ بَعْدَ ضَرَّاءَ مَسَّتْهُ لَيَقُولَنَّ ذَهَبَ السَّيِّئَاتُ عَنِّي ۚ إِنَّهُ لَفَرِحٌ فَخُورٌ ١٠

(11:10) And if We let him have a taste of blessings (naʿmāʾ) after adversities have befallen him, he will surely say, ‘All ills have left me.’ Indeed he becomes an exultant braggart,

Al-Ṭabrisī says in Majmaʿ al-bayān:

‘Blessings (naʿmāʾ) are favors whose effects are visible in the one who receives them, while adversities (darrāʾ) are visible sources of harm. This is because these two words are conjugated according to the same pattern as words such as hamrāʾ (‘red’) and ʿaynāʾ (‘verdent’), which concern outward and visible states. ‘Joy’ (faraḥ) and ‘delight’ (surūr) are similar in that they represent an openness of heart to what one enjoys, the opposite of which is sorrow… a braggart (fakhūr) is someone who frequently boasts and extols his own virtues, which is considered a negative trait when mentioned without any context because it implies behaving arrogantly towards those who do not deserve such treatment.’

In this context, the meaning of ‘ills’ (sayyiʾāt) is the calamities and disasters that afflict man, causing him distress. The meaning then is: ‘If We bless him with prosperity after adversity, he will certainly say, “My troubles have left me.”’ This implies a belief that those hardships and adversities will not return once they have disappeared, and will not befall him again after they have been lifted.

The phrase, indeed he becomes an exultant braggart, provides a rationale for his saying, ‘All ills have left me.’ This is because he exults and continues to exult as he tastes blessings after adversity. On the other hand, if he recognized that the blessings he enjoys might vanish and could not be counted on to remain, and that he doesn’t have control over them but someone else does, and that it’s possible for the ills he has experienced to return, he wouldn’t exult in this way. For there is no joy in transient and unsettled matters.

Moreover, he boasts about the blessings he has been given over others. However, a person cannot boast unless it is about an honor or virtue that they possess. So, it is because he sees his blessings as matters under his control, things that others cannot take from him, and that no one cannot bring back the ills he previously suffered, that he boasts and goes to extremes in boasting.

إِلَّا الَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ أُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ مَغْفِرَةٌ وَأَجْرٌ كَبِيرٌ ١١

(11:11) excepting those who are patient and do righteous deeds. For such there will be forgiveness and a great reward.

God points out the typical human reactions to hardship and disaster, which are despair and ingratitude, and to prosperity and blessings, which are joy and boasting. The implication is that humans have a short-sighted perspective, seeing only what is immediately before them and being bewildered by anything beyond that. If a blessing is taken from a person, he doesn’t believe it will ever return and forgets that it was from God, who has the power to restore it to him if He wills. If he remembered that all blessings were ultimately from God, this would encourage him to be steadfast in adversity and to turn his heart to God in hope and supplication. On the other hand, if a blessing is restored to him after he has been deprived of it, he believes that it is his rightful due, so he rejoices and boasts, failing to see God’s hand in it to give thanks to Him for it, and does not restrain his joy or cease extolling his own superiority over others.

However, God exempts a group of humans from this general pattern, describing them with the phrase, those who are patient and do righteous deeds, and then promises them a great reward with the phrase, For such there will be forgiveness and a great reward. This is because escaping from this blameworthy tendency is only possible for those who are steadfast in times of adversity—so that their distress does not drive them to despair and ingratitude—and who do good deeds—by thanking God for removing adversity and replacing it with blessings—and using His blessings in ways that please Him and benefit His creatures, so that feelings of self-sufficiency do not give way to joy and boasting.

These are the ones who are truly saved, their Lord will forgive them by erasing traces of the reprehensible tendency towards short-sightedness and replacing it with praiseworthy qualities, and they will have great forgiveness and reward from their Lord.

The verse provides evidence that patience combined with good deeds is inseparable from faith, as it promises these patient ones forgiveness and great reward, and forgiveness is not granted to idolaters. God says, Indeed Allah does not forgive that any partner should be ascribed to Him ().

The promise of forgiveness and a great reward, exactly as mentioned in this verse, is also given to the believers in the verse, There is a severe punishment for the faithless, but for those who have faith and do righteous deeds there will be forgiveness and a great reward (), and in the verse, Indeed for those who fear their Lord in secret there will be forgiveness and a great reward ().

The connection of these three verses with what precedes them is clear, as the discussion in the previous verses was leading up to the disbelief of the disbelievers, their mockery of the promise of Resurrection, and their responding to the threat of punishment with ridicule. God points out that they, in their natural state, do not believe that the blessings they have from God will ever come to an end due to the descent of punishment, nor will whatever miseries that have befallen them change into a pleasant life and the good enjoyments that God promised them at the beginning of the chapter.

فَلَعَلَّكَ تَارِكٌ بَعْضَ مَا يُوحَىٰ إِلَيْكَ وَضَائِقٌ بِهِ صَدْرُكَ أَنْ يَقُولُوا لَوْلَا أُنْزِلَ عَلَيْهِ كَنْزٌ أَوْ جَاءَ مَعَهُ مَلَكٌ ۚ إِنَّمَا أَنْتَ نَذِيرٌ ۚ وَاللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَكِيلٌ ١٢

(11:12) Lest you should disregard aught of what has been revealed to you, and be upset by it because they say, ‘Why has not a treasure been sent down to him, or not an angel accompany him?’ You are only a warner, and Allah is a trustee over all things.

Since the Prophet’s message is supported by the Qurʾan, clear signs, proofs, and decisive evidences, that no sane person could deny it and no human being with sense could reject or disbelieve in it, therefore, the Qurʾan’s account of the disbelief of the disbelievers and denial of the polytheists seems highly unlikely by nature. When an event is highly unlikely to occur, a person will often seek some explanation of why it has happened in order to avoid simply acknowledging that something improbable has come to pass.

This is the context in which the present verses must be understood. Taking into account what God has related about the disbelievers’ denial and the idolaters rejection of what the Prophet brought to them in terms of the clear truth and divine message that were revealed to him, along with the clear evidences and arguments that could not be denied or rejected, God considers the issue from several perspectives to provoke reflection. For example, He says in the present verse, Lest you should disregard aught of what has been revealed to you … and in the next one, Do they say, ‘He has fabricated it … ?’

It is as if to say: ‘It is highly improbable that you guide them to the manifest truth and they hear My words from you, and then they do not respond to your call and deny the truth after it has become clear to them. Perhaps you have omitted some of what is revealed to you and failed to invite them to it, and that is why they have confronted you with denial? Or do they claim that the Qurʾan is not the word of God, but rather it is a fabrication you have concocted in His name, and that is why they did not believe in it? If you have left out some of the revelation for fear that they might challenge you with the verses, remember, you are just a warner, and you have no control over what God wills. If they claim that it is a fabrication, then ask them to produce ten chapters like it, fabricated.’

From what has been previously discussed, it is evident that the tone of this verse is hypothetical, in light of the highly improbable nature of this outcome. In this case, every potential reason that might bring about the unlikely event is considered. This is analogous to the case of a king, some of whose weak subjects have rebelled against him. He sends one of his agents to call them to hear and obey and writes a letter that he commands his messenger to read to the rebels. The letter criticizes his subjects for their rebellion and arrogance, for daring to take up arms despite their weakness and abasement and his strength, authority, and honor. Then the king receives a report that they rejected his messenger and the message he brought. So, the king writes a second letter, and commands that it be read to them. The second letter says to the messenger, ‘perhaps you did not read my letter to them for fear that they might challenge you with something you cannot handle, or that they claim that the letter is not from me, but you have fabricated it. If the first is the case, you are just a messenger, and your only duty is to convey the message. If the second, then the letter is in my handwriting, written by my hand, sealed with my seal, and no one other than me can replicate that.’

Reflecting on this example shows that the tone conveyed by the second letter is one of improbability, and the purpose of mentioning the two possibilities—failing to deliver the full message and the claim of fabrication—is not to reprimand the messenger or give any serious consideration their claims of falsehood and trickery. Instead, these two possibilities are mentioned as a preliminary step to clarifying these doubts, namely that the messenger has no control over the matter in order to manipulate it, and there is no doubt or uncertainty in the message of the king.

Based on this reflection, it is obvious that when God says: Lest you should disregard aught of what has been revealed to you, and be upset because they say…, this doesn’t seriously suggest that the Prophet has failed to convey God’s message or that he should be reprimanded in any way. Nor is it intended to console him or soothe the feelings of sorrow or distress he experiences because of their disbelief and denial of the clear truth he has brought them. Instead, the speech is leading towards the words: You are only a warner, and Allah is a trustee over all things.

Some commentators have argued that the speech is intended to forbid the Prophet from feeling sorrow or distress due to the disbelief and denial of the idolaters, and that this prohibition is supposed to console him and give him peace of mind, similar to the verse: And do not grieve for them, nor be upset by their guile (), and the verse,: You are liable to imperil your life (out of distress) that they will not have faith. If We wish We will send down to them a sign from the sky before which their heads will remain bowed in humility (). However, this interpretation does not fit with the context of the verse.

It is also evident that His saying, Lest you should disregard …, and His saying, “Do they say, ‘He has fabricated it …?’ are two parts of a refutation and they are both connected together with what preceded them in the same way, as we have already mentioned.

The passage, Lest you should disregard aught of what has been revealed to you … says ‘aught’ (in other words, ‘some’) because the preceding verses confirm that the Prophet has conveyed the message in general. So perhaps, this verse suggests to the Prophet, you have left out some of what We have revealed to you in the Qurʾan, so you haven’t recited it to them, so the truth is not completely unveiled to them, because you did not want them confront you with the denial and rejection that they have confronted you with anyway. This is because one part of the Qurʾan clarifies another part, and one passage of it renders another more acceptable—the verses containing arguments clarify the verses containing claims, and verses of reward and punishment make people more likely to accept the truth through encouragement and warnings, while verses of stories and parables appeal to people’s psyches and soften their hearts.

As for the phrase, ‘and be upset by it because they say …’ (ḍāʾiq bihi ṣadruka an yaqūlū …, lit. ‘and your chest should tighten because they say…’), al-Ṭabrisī says in Majmaʿ al-bayān:

‘The word ḍāʾiq (‘tightened’—an active participle of the verb ḍāqa) here means the same as ‘tight’ (ḍayq—the infinitive of the same verb), but ḍāʾiq is used here for two reasons: first, because it is more fitting in the context, and second, because of the assonance between it and the Arabic word ‘disregard’ (tārik—as both words share the same pattern of conjugation).’

It appears that the pronoun ‘it’ in ‘by it’ (bihi) refers back to aught of what has been revealed to you. Although some commentators have suggested that the pronoun actually refers to their statement, Why has not a treasure been sent down to him…? or to the fact that they are making such demands. This aligns better with the phrase, because they say, acting as a substitution (badal) for the pronoun in ‘it.’ However, our explanation aligns better with it acting as the object of the verb ‘disregard.’ The implied meaning is: ‘perhaps you would disregard this out of fear that they will say, “Why hasn’t a treasure been sent down to him or an angel come with him?”’

The phrase, You are only a warner is a response to the impertinent demands of the idolaters, Why has not a treasure been sent down to him, or not an angel accompany him? God has repeatedly mentioned these demands of theirs in various contexts, sometimes focusing solely on the appearance of an angel and others adding more elements to it. For example, they sometimes demand that God Himself should appear to bear witness to the truthfulness of his message, or that the Prophet should have a heavenly garden from which to eat, or that a book should descend from the heavens that they all can read. God has responded to all of these demands in a similar way as here, stating that His messenger has only the message to deliver. Being a human messenger, it is not within his power to accede to their suggestions unless God wills it and authorizes a sign, as He has said elsewhere, A messenger may not bring any sign except by Allah’s permission ().

Then, after saying, You are only a warner, God adds, and Allah is a trustee over all things. This completes His response to their demands that the Prophet produce miracles in response to their whims. In other words, the Prophet is a human being like them, and he has not been commanded to do anything other than to deliver a warning, which is a message informing someone of danger. The direction and governance of all affairs, whether following their natural course or breaking the natural order of things, falls to God alone, so there is no basis for them to assign responsibility for these things to the Prophet when they are matters beyond his control.

This is because God is the creator of all things and their originator, and He is the one who manages everything according to its established order. There is nothing except that He is the initiator of its affair and its final destination, whether things are occurring naturally or breaking the natural order. He is the one who is entrusted with its matter and manages its affair, and so He is the trustee over all things. A trustee (wakīl) is someone who is entrusted with a matter and looks after it. Therefore, God Almighty is the trustee over all things.

Based on this, it is apparent that the statement, and Allah is a trustee over all things, when combined with, You are only a warner, serves to constrain the focus of the passage, as they asked the Prophet for something that does not belong to him, but rather belongs to God Almighty.

أَمْ يَقُولُونَ افْتَرَاهُ ۖ قُلْ فَأْتُوا بِعَشْرِ سُوَرٍ مِثْلِهِ مُفْتَرَيَاتٍ وَادْعُوا مَنِ اسْتَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ ١٣

(11:13) Or do they say, ‘He has fabricated it’? Say, ‘Then bring ten chapters like it, fabricated, and invoke whomever you can, besides Allah, should you be truthful.’

We have already discussed the possibility of reading ‘or’ (am) being connected to the statement, Lest you should disregard…, in the sense of a question. The implication being, ‘Are you omitting some of what has been revealed to you out of fear that they will demand a miracle? Or do they say that you have fabricated it and falsely ascribed it to us? For it is unlikely that they would hear my words, then not believe in them.’ Some commentators have said that ‘or’ is detached and not intended a question. This would render the meaning: ‘Rather, they say he invented it.’

Discourse

The discussion “The Qur’anic Challenge” appears here in the printed volume. Read it in the Al-Mizan App.

Commentary continues:

فَإِلَّمْ يَسْتَجِيبُوا لَكُمْ فَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا أُنْزِلَ بِعِلْمِ اللَّهِ وَأَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ فَهَلْ أَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ ١٤

(11:14) But if they do not respond to you, know that it has been sent down with Allah’s knowledge, and that there is no god except Him. Will you, then, submit?

From the context, it appears that the verse is addressing the idolaters, and that it is part of the Prophet’s speech included within the command ‘Say …’ in the previous verse, which God bid him to convey to them. Therefore, the plural pronoun ‘they’ in If they do not respond … refers back to the idols and everyone they sought help from besides God, indicated by His words: and invoke whomever you can, besides Allah.

The implication is: ‘If those helpers whom you called upon—your deities, your men of eloquence who are well-versed in the artful use of language, the scholars of the People of the Book who are in possession of divine scriptures containing the tales of prophets and nations, soothsayers who are inspired by the whisperings of demons, learned persons, and other people immersed in human knowledge—do not respond to your call, O idolaters, then know that this Qurʾan has been revealed with God’s knowledge. It was not something I produced from my knowledge or the knowledge of anyone else whom you allege to have taught it me!

And know that what I invite you to—monotheism—is the truth. For if there were any deity other than God, they would have supported you in what you invited them to. So, are you polytheists willing to submit to God, obedient to His command?’

Therefore, God’s statement, But if they do not respond to you …, means as we might say, ‘if you still cannot meet this challenge after seeking help and support from whomever you could invoke other than God …’ This is because the reasons that necessitate their capability to meet this challenge are their eloquent language and rhetorical skill. They believe that these qualities are gifts from their deities besides God, and also gifts that their deities have not yet bestowed upon them. Now, according to this belief of theirs, these deities could have supported them with such gifts if they so chose. Also, they could draw assistance from others besides these deities of theirs. However, if those they call upon do not come to their aid in meeting the Qurʾan’s challenge, then this shows that the means they have at their disposal are exhausted and, consequently, their capability to meet its challenge is shown to be null. Therefore, the lack of response from their associates in opposing the Qurʾan demonstrates their own incapacity to do so, even when aided by their own intrinsic abilities. This is what the current passage hints at.

When God says, know that it has been sent down with Allah’s knowledge, this refers to God’s unique knowledge, the Unseen (al-ghayb), which is inaccessible to anyone other than Him, except with His permission. As He has stated elsewhere in the Qurʾan, But Allah bears witness to what He has sent down to you—He sent it down with His knowledge (); These are accounts of the Unseen which We reveal to you (); Knower of the Unseen, He does not disclose His Unseen to anyone, except to a messenger He approves of (); and This is indeed a noble Qurʾan, in a guarded Book, no one touches it except the pure ones, gradually sent down from the Lord of all the worlds ().

Thus, the meaning is: ‘If you are unable to oppose it through any of the means from which you have sought help besides God, be certain that it was revealed only due to an unseen cause and that it contains knowledge of the Unseen that is known only to God. He is the one who revealed it to me, spoke to me with it, and intended to make me and you understand the true knowledge and treasures of guidance that it contains.’

Some have said that what is intended here is that the Qurʾan was only revealed with God’s knowledge of its revelation and this is His attestation to it being a genuine revelation from Him. Others have suggested that it means the Qurʾan was only revealed with God’s knowledge that it cannot be opposed or with His knowledge of its structure and order, which no one else knows. However, these interpretations are weak and far from a proper understanding of the text.

The phrase, know that it has been sent down with Allah’s knowledge is but the first of two conclusions that are drawn from the failure of the idolater’s confederates to respond to them. The second conclusion is found within the statement, and that there is no god except Him. Both of these conclusions are necessarily arrived at in two ways:

The first is that when the idolaters call upon their deities for matters of concern to them, and these deities do not respond, it reveals that these deities are not truly gods. The true Deity is the one who responds to the distressed when He is called upon, especially when the request is to the benefit of the deity being invoked. The Qurʾan brought by the Prophet was destined to defeat these deities, erase all memory of them from humankind, and turn people away from them. So, if the idolater’s patrons do not respond when they are called upon to oppose such a book, it is the clearest evidence for the negation of their divinity.

The second way is that if it is established that the Qurʾan is the truth that has been revealed by God and it is veracious in its accounts and it asserts that there is no other deity other than God, then we have no choice but to affirm that there is no god but Him.

His question, Will you, then, submit?, implies that given all that you have come to know, that your patrons other than God have not responded to you, and that you are fundamentally unable to respond to the Qurʾan’s challenge, will you then submit to this knowledge, which affirms the oneness of God and the fact that the Qurʾan has been revealed with His knowledge? In reality, this command to submit is framed as a question, which is suggested by the apparent meaning of the verse.

It has also been suggested that the verse, But if they do not respond to you …, is actually God speaking to the Prophet in the plural form to honor him (that is, ‘you’ plural) and elevate his status. Then, the third person plural pronoun (‘they’) refers back to the idolaters, meaning: ‘If the idolaters do not respond to the challenge you, O Prophet, have delivered to them, then know that the Qurʾan is revealed with the knowledge of God, and that God is One. So, will you submit to His command?’

However, the problem with this reading is that, in classical Arabic, only the first-person plural (‘we’) conveys a higher status, and this is specifically for the speaker. The same is not true for the second or third person plurals, ‘you’ (pl.) and ‘they.’

This is in addition to the fact that when God speaks to the Prophet or sends him revelations, there is no question that this comes from Him, such that he would require some evidence for it. The Prophet receives this in a way that he inherently knows it is a speech from God; inherent in the sense that it requires no further proof of its divine origin. Therefore, it is not necessary for God to call the Prophet’s attention to the failure of the idolaters to meet the challenge of the Qurʾan or their inability to do so in order to prove to him that it is indeed His speech. This is unlike the speech of other creatures such as humans, jinn, angels, or any other speaker, which would require some external evidence, through either sensory perception or reason, to confirm that it did indeed come from the speaker. This concept was hinted at in the story of Zechariah in Sūrah Āl ʿImrān, and we will discuss this more fully later on.

Not to mention that addressing the Prophet with words such as and that there is no god except Him. Will you, then, submit? does not make sense, and the reasoning behind such a reading is also incomplete, as we will show.

Other commentators have suggested that the verse is addressed to both the Prophet and to the totality of the believers or solely to believers because they share with him the role of calling others to the religion and challenging them with the Qurʾan, which is the scripture of their Lord revealed to them through the Prophet. According to this reading, the meaning of the verse is thus: ‘if the idolaters do not respond to your challenge, then know that the Qurʾan is revealed with the knowledge of God, and there is no god but Him. So, will you all then submit to God?’

However, when some other commentators saw that there is no point in inviting believers—who are already firm in their belief in God alone and His book—to acknowledge that it is a book revealed by God, and that He is One without partner, they proposed a revision to this reading, namely: ‘Be steadfast in your knowledge that it is indeed revealed with the knowledge of God, thereby strengthening your faith and certainty that there is no deity deserving of worship but Him. Will you then remain steadfast in your submission and dedication to Him?’

However, this reading arbitrarily restricts the scope of the verse’s meaning while presenting an incomplete argument. If the idolaters had responded to the Qurʾan’s challenge with all the resources at their disposal, invoking their deities and all those they hoped could help them among jinn and humans, and then failed to meet this challenge, this would have been a clear indication that the Qurʾan was indeed beyond human speech, thereby completing the argument against them. However, the non-response of the unbelievers to the challenge does not prove that it is from God, because they did not attempt what they were challenged to do, namely, then bring ten chapters like it, fabricated. This is either because they knew it was the truth from God (and their accusation of it being forged stemmed from stubbornness and obstinacy, not conviction in this claim or doubt about the Qurʾan) or because they despaired of their partners ever responding to the challenge, or because they were frivolous in their speech, speaking nonsense rather than engaging seriously with the Prophet’s arguments.

In sum, the lack of any response from the idolaters to the Prophet or to the believers, or to both, does not, by itself, indicate that the Qurʾan was revealed by God, unless their lack of response occurred after they had called on their associates and patrons to assist them and these associates and patrons did not respond. However, there is no evidence in the verse that the idolaters ever made such a call, so their lack of response alone is not sufficient to show this. The only remaining interpretation would be that the verse means: ‘If the idolaters called upon all those whom they could besides God, and they did not respond, and if the idolaters did not respond to you, O Prophet and believers, then know that the Qurʾan is only revealed with the knowledge of God …’, and this confirms our aforementioned criticism that such a reading arbitrarily restricts the meaning of the verse.

This is in addition to the fact that such a reading would mean that the verse implicitly demanded that the believers fortify their faith and certainty based on the non-occurrence of an event—an illogical demand that is beneath the dignity of God’s speech. Had the verse meant to imply that the idolaters are incapable of meeting the Qurʾan’s challenge even if they call upon all of their associates, it would have been more appropriate to say, ‘But if they do not respond to you, and they will not respond, know …’, similar to the verse where God says, And if you are in doubt concerning what We have sent down to Our servant, then bring a sūrah like it, and invoke your helpers besides Allah, should you be truthful. And if you do not—and you will not—then beware the Fire whose fuel will be humans and stones, prepared for the faithless. ().

مَنْ كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتَهَا نُوَفِّ إِلَيْهِمْ أَعْمَالَهُمْ فِيهَا وَهُمْ فِيهَا لَا يُبْخَسُونَ ١٥ أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ لَيْسَ لَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ إِلَّا النَّارُ ۖ وَحَبِطَ مَا صَنَعُوا فِيهَا وَبَاطِلٌ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ ١٦

(11:15-16) As for those who desire the life of this world and its glitter, We will recompense them fully for their works therein, and they shall not be underpaid in it. They are the ones for whom there shall be nothing in the Hereafter but Fire: what they had accomplished in the world has failed, and their works have come to naught.

‘Recompense’ (tawfiya) means to deliver a person what they are due in full, without stinting anything from it, while ‘underpaid’ (bakhsh) means to pay someone less than the full amount due to them.

The verse contains a threat for those who do not surrender to the truth when it comes to them and refuse to submit to it, preferring the life of this world and forgetting about the Hereafter. It also elucidates some of the laws of causality that make them despair of the blessings of the Hereafter.

This is because any action, no matter what it is, only permits a person to attain the goal for which it was intended. If the goal is worldly, and the action serves the affairs of this life in terms of wealth, beauty, or comfort, then this action—if all other contributing factors are favorable—leads to the outcome that was desired. As for the objectives of the Hereafter, there is nothing to say about them because they were not an outcome intended by the doer of the action, so they do not occur. The mere fact that an action is appropriate for the path of the Hereafter and beneficial for achieving its rewards, such as righteousness, good conduct, and good character, does not necessitate reward and elevation in ranks unless it was intended for the sake of pleasing God and obtaining His reward.

This is why God follows up by saying: They are the ones for whom there shall be nothing in the Hereafter but Fire: what they had accomplished in the world has failed, and their works have come to naught (). This reveals that when they are faced with the life of the Hereafter, they will enter the abode of the reality of their deeds, which is a fire that consumes all of their worldly deeds just as fire consumes firewood, obliterates, and destroys everything that gratifies their souls in the pleasures of existence. It nullifies the effects in the hereafter of all that they have done and invalidates all of their worldly accomplishments. That is why, in another context, God called it the House of Ruin (Dār al-Bawār)—meaning the House of Destruction: “Have you not regarded those who have changed Allah’s blessing with ingratitude, and landed their people in the house of ruin? Hell, which they shall enter, and it is an evil abode! (). This illustrates the reality both phrases what they had accomplished in the world has failed and their works have come to naught are intended to explain: They are the ones for whom there shall be nothing in the Hereafter but Fire. There is nothing for them but the Fire, because everything else has been invalidated.

From the above, it is clear that the meaning of recompensing them for their deeds in full means to actualize their results and convey the effects according to the system of cause and effect that governs the material and spiritual realms, not merely to deliver what the doer seeks by his action or hopes to attain by undertaking it. What the doer obtains in this life by his actions are the outcomes of these actions, which are determined by all the contributing factors, not merely what the doer conceives, no matter what it is, as not everything one desires is achievable.

God expressed this reality elsewhere, when He says, Whoever desires the tillage of the Hereafter, We will enhance for him his tillage, and whoever desires the tillage of the world, We will give some of it to him, but he will have no share in the Hereafter (). Notice that He says, We will give some of it to him rather than ‘We will give it to him.’ In another verse, He says, Whoever desires this transitory life, We expedite for him therein whatever We wish, for whomever We desire. Then We appoint hell for him, to enter it, blameful and spurned (). In these verses, God says that the human being will obtain some of what He wishes for in this world but further clarifies that not everyone who desires a thing will necessarily attain it. On the contrary, the matter is up to God, who gives whatever He wills, withholds whatever He wills, and brings forward or holds back whomever He wills according to the system of cause and effect that He has instituted in the universe.

Secondly, the two verses, by which I mean His saying: As for those who desire the life of this world and its glitter, We will recompense them fully for their works therein… expound one of the divine realities.

Examining Narrations

1. In al-Kāfī, regarding the verse, Look! They fold up their breasts … (), it is related from Ibn Maḥbūb, from Jāmīl b. Ṣāliḥ, from Sudayr, from Abū Jaʿfar, who said, ‘Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh informed me that the idolaters, when they passed by the Messenger of God near the Kaʿba, one of them would lower his head and back in this manner, and cover his head with his robe so that the Prophet of God would not see him. Then God revealed, Look! They fold up their breasts …’
2. In al-Durr al-Manthūr, al-Suyūṭī cites Ibn Abī Shaybah, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abū Ḥātim, and Abū al-Shaykh, who narrate from Abū Rizīn who said: ‘One of them would bend his back and cover himself with his garment.’
3. In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, al-Ṭabrisī reports from ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn and Abū Jaʿfar and Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad: ‘the verb “fold up” (yathnūnī) is on the conjugation pattern of yafʿūʿal.’
4. In Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, it is narrated from Muḥammad b. al-Fuḍayl, from Jābir, from Abū Jaʿfar who said: ‘A man from the Bedouins came to the Messenger of God and said: “O Messenger of God, I have sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and grandsons and granddaughters, and the livelihood is light upon us. If you see fit, O Messenger of God, to ask God to increase it for us.”

Whereat the man began to weep, and the Muslims felt pity for him. The Prophet of God then said, “There is no animal on the earth, but that its sustenance lies with Allah, and He knows its abode and its temporary place of lodging. Everything is in a manifest Book. He who is responsible for putting food in these mouths, whose sustenance is guaranteed by God, God will pour sustenance upon him abundantly—like pouring water, if little then little, and if much then much.”’ The narrator added: ‘Then the Prophet of God prayed and the Muslims said “amen.”’

The narrator said, Abū Jaʿfar said: ‘I was then informed by someone who saw the man in the time of ʿUmar, and he asked him about his situation, and he said: “Who is better than he who God made his income lawful and increased his wealth.”’

5. In al-Durr al-Manthūr, al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī reported in Nawādir al-Uṣūl, and al-Ḥākim al-Nīshābūrī authenticated it, and Ibn Mardawayh and al-Bayhaqī in Shuʿub al-Īmān, all narrate from Ibn Masʿūd, from the Prophet, who said: ‘When the appointed term of one of you is in a particular land, a need for it is made available to him, until when he reaches his furthest step, he is seized by death, so the earth will say on the Day of Resurrection: ‘This is what was temporary lodged with me.”’

Author’s comment: The narration does not accord with the apparent meaning of the verse.

6. In al-Kāfī, al-Kulaynī transmits via his chain of narrators from Abū Ḥamza al-Thumālī, from Abū Jaʿfar, who said: ‘The Messenger of God said during the Farewell Pilgrimage: “Behold, the Trustworthy Spirit has imparted to my mind that no soul will die until it completes its sustenance, so fear God and behave beautifully in its pursuit, and do not let delay of some of the sustenance lead you to seek it by way of disobedience to God, for indeed God the Exalted has divided sustenance among His creation lawfully and has not divided them unlawfully. So, whoever fears God and is patient, his sustenance will come to him lawfully, and whoever tears the veil that God Almighty has drawn across it and seizes it unlawfully, his lawful sustenance will be reduced, and he will be held accountable for it.”’

Author’s comment: This tradition is well-known, narrated by both Sunnī and Shīʿī scholars via numerous chains of narration.

7. In Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, it is narrated from Abū al-Hadhīl, from Abū ʿAbd Allāh, who said: “Indeed God has divided all sustenance among His servants and has prepared a great grace that He has not divided among anyone. God has said: And ask Allah for His grace ().’

Author’s comment: This tradition is also narrated from the Prophet and some reports in a similar vein has have already been presented in relation to His saying, and You provide for whomever You wish without any reckoning (), and His saying, And ask Allah for His grace ().

8. In al-Kāfī, al-Kulaynī narrates from Abū ʿAbd Allāh, who said: ‘The Commander of the Faithful used to often say: “Know for certain that God Almighty has not made it possible for the servant—no matter how hard he strives, no matter how well he plans, and no matter how abundant his schemes—to obtain what was assigned to him in the Wise Remembrance before its time. O people! A person will not increase in wealth by so much as a date thread through his cleverness, nor will a person decrease in wealth by so much as a date thread due to his stupidity. So, the one who realizes this and works according to it is the most relaxed of people in pursuing his own benefit, and the one who knows this but abandons it is the most dedicated of people in pursuing his own harm, and perhaps one who is blessed with kindness is gradually lured by kindness to Him and perhaps one who is conceited among the people is led into perdition. So fear God, O you who strive, in your striving, and hold back from your haste, and wake up from your habitual heedlessness, and reflect on what has come from God Almighty upon the tongue of His Prophet.”’
9. In al-Kāfī, al-Kulaynī relates via his chain of narrators from Ibn Abī ʿUmayr, from ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Ḥajjāj, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh, who said: ‘Indeed, Muḥammad b. al-Munkadir used to say: “I did not think that ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn would leave behind a person better than him until I saw his son Muḥammad b. ʿAlī. I wanted to advise him, but he advised me.” His companions asked him: “With what did he advise you?” He said: “I went out to some parts of Medina in a hot hour. I met Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. ʿAlī who was a bulky man, and he was leaning on two servant boys. I said to myself: ‘Glory be to God, one of the elders of the Quraysh is out at this hour, in such a state, in pursuit of this world! I will certainly advise him.’

I approached him and greeted him. He responded to me with difficulty while sweating heavily. I said: ‘May God rectify you, an elder of Quraysh out at this hour, in such a state, in pursuit of this world! What if your time came while you were in this state?’ He said: ‘If death came to me while I am in this state, it would have come to me while I am engaged in an act of obedience to God Almighty. It is through “this state” that I provide for myself and my dependents so that we do not need to rely on you or on other people, and I only fear that death would come to me while I am in a state of disobedience to God.’ So, I said: ‘You have spoken the truth, may God have mercy on you: I wanted to advise you, but it was you who advised me!’

10. al-Kulaynī transmits via his chain of narrators, from ʿAbd al-Aʿlā, a freed slave of Āl Sām who said: ‘I met Abū ʿAbd Allāh in some roads of Medina on a hot summer’s day. I said: “May I be your ransom, even with your status with God Almighty and your closeness to the Messenger of God, you are exerting yourself on such a day?” He said: “O ʿAbd al-Aʿlā, I went out in pursuit of sustenance, to be independent of seeking it from someone like you.”’ (ibid.)

Author’s comment: And there is no contradiction between the divine decree of apportioning sustenance to the creatures and the divine command to the creatures to seek it, as should be obvious.

11. In al-Durr al-Manthūr, al-Ṭayālisī, Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, al-Tirmidhī (who deemed it a good narration), Ibn Māja, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir, Abū al-Shaykh in al-ʿAẓama, Ibn Mardawayh, and al-Bayhaqī in al-Asmāʾ wa al-Ṣifāt all narrate from Abū Razīn who said: ‘I said: “O Messenger of God, where was our Lord before He created His creation?” He said: ‘He was in a cloud (ʿamāʾ), all that was below Him was air (mā taḥta-hu hawāʾ) and all that was above Him was air, and He created His throne over the water.”’

Author’s comment: ʿAmāʾ is a cloud that obscures one’s vision. When he says ‘all that was below Him was air and all that was above Him was air’, māʾ is a relative pronoun (mawṣūla). The meaning of hawāʾ is a void that is completely empty. This is the same as the meaning we observe in the verse, their hearts will be vacant (afʾidatu-hum hawāʾ) (). Alternatively, we could read the māʾ as a negation (nāfiya) and hawāʾ as denoting the common meaning of ‘air.’ In this case, the tradition would mean that God was in a cloud that was not encompassed by air, unlike all other clouds.

The narration is one of the traditions that, taken literally, seem to assign anthropomorphic qualities to God (tajassum), which is why when the Prophet says, ‘He was in a cloud’, this is to be understood as a metaphor for the unknowability of the Divine Essence, which confounds human intellects and baffles perceptions.

12. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, Bukhārī, Tirmidhī, Nasaʾī, Abū al-Shaykh in his book “al-ʿAẓama, Ibn Mardawayh, and Bayhaqī in al-Asmāʾ wa al-Ṣifāt all narrate from ʿImrān b. Ḥuṣayn, who said: ‘The people of Yemen asked: “O Messenger of God, tell us about the beginning of creation—how was it?” He replied: “God existed before everything, His throne was upon the water, He wrote the mention of everything in the Preserved Tablet, and created the heavens and the earth.” Then, a caller called out: “Your camel has gone astray, O son of Ḥuṣayn!” so he went away, and behold, it was a mirage that had deceived him. He said: “By God, I wish I had left it to roam.” (al-Durr al-Manthūr)

Author’s comment: Several scholars of traditions narrated this report from Burayda, and Burayda said at the end of it: ‘Then a man came to me and said: “Your camel has gone astray.” So I went out and it was a mirage that was deceiving him. I wish I had left it to roam.”’ This is a factor that weakens the two traditions.

13. Concerning the verse, that He may test you: which of you is best in conduct (), it is related from Dāwūd b. al-Muḥabbar in his book al-ʿAql, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, al-Ḥākim in al-Tārīkh, and Ibn Mardawayh, from Ibn ʿUmar who said: ‘The Messenger of God recited this verse: that He may test you: which of you is best in conduct, so I asked: “What does this mean, O Messenger of God?” He said: “It means to test which of you has the best intellect (ʿaql).” Then he said: “And the best of you in intellect is the most cautious of you concerning God’s prohibitions, and the most knowledgeable of you (or the most devoted of you) in obeying God”’ (ibid.)
14. In al-Kāfī, al-Kulaynī narrates from Sufyān b. ʿUyayna, from Abū ʿAbd Allāh concerning the verse, that He may test you: which of you is best in conduct, he said: ‘This does not mean the one of you who performs the most actions, but the one who is most correct in his actions. Correctness is achieved through the fear of God and sincere intention.’

Then he said: ‘To persist in an action until it is purified is harder than the action itself, and the pure action is the one for which you do not wish to be praised by anyone except God Almighty. The intention is better than the action. Indeed, the intention is the action!’ Then he recited the verse, Say, ‘Everyone acts according to his character …’ (), meaning according to his intention.

Author’s comment: His statement, ‘Indeed, the intention is the action’, means that an action has no effect unless it is accompanied by the correct intention.

15. In the Tafsīr of al-Nuʿmānī, it is transmitted via his chain of narration from Isḥāq b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, from Abū ʿAbd Allāh, regarding the verse, if We defer their punishment until a certain time (umma maʿdūda) … (), he said: ‘The punishment is the emergence of the Qāʾim, and the umma maʿdūda are the people of Badr and his Companions (where umma maʿdūda is understood in the sense of ‘numbered nation’ rather than ‘appointed time’).

Author’s comment: The same meaning is narrated by al-Kulaynī in al-Kāfī, and al-Qummī and al-ʿAyyāshī in their respective commentaries from ʿAlī, al-Bāqir, and al-Ṣādiq.

16. In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, we read: ‘Some have said: “The numbered nation (umma maʿdūda) are the companions of the Mahdī—three hundred and a few more men, like the count of the people of Badr—they will gather together in an hour, as the autumn locusts gather.”’ Al-Ṭabrisī says: ‘And this is what is narrated from Abū Jaʿfar and Abū ʿAbd Allāh,.’
17. In the Tafsīr of al-Qummī, regarding the verse, excepting those who are patient and do righteous deeds (), we read: ‘He said: “They are patient in adversity and continue to do good deeds in times of ease.”’
18. In al-Durr al-Manthūr, regarding His saying, As for those who desire the life of this world … (), al-Suyūṭī narrates from al-Bayhaqī, who narrated in Shuʿub al-Īmān from Anas, who said: ‘The Messenger of God, said: “When the Day of Resurrection comes, my community will be divided into three groups: a group who worshipped God purely, a group who worshipped God for show, and a group who worshipped God to achieve worldly gain. He will say to the one who worshipped God for the world: ‘By My Majesty and Glory, what did you want with My worship?’ He will say: ‘The world.’ He will say: ‘Surely what you have gathered will not benefit you and you will not ever return to it—take him to the Fire!’ And He will say to the one who worshipped God for show: ‘By My Majesty and Glory, what did you want with My worship?’ He said: ‘To impress others.’ He will say: ‘Your worship with which you were showing off: nothing of it has ascended to Me and nothing of it will benefit you today—take him to the Fire!’ And He will say to the one who worshipped God purely: ‘By My Majesty and Glory, what did you want with My worship?’ He will say: ‘By Your Majesty and Glory, for You know this better than I. I worshipped You for Your sake and for Your abode!’ He will say: ‘My servant has spoken the truth—take him to Paradise!’

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1. See al-Mīzān Eng. v. 13 (Ed.) ↩︎