42.19
Abbas - Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs
(Allah is gracious unto His slaves) the pious as well as the sinful; it is also said that this means: His knowledge is gracious with His slaves, both the pious and sinful among them. (He provideth for whom He will) He expands the wealth of whomever He will. (And He is the Strong) in providing the sustenance of the slaves, (the Mighty) in retribution against those who do not believe.
God is gentle to His servants, He is benevolent and lovingly kind toward them. It was His gentleness that gave you the success to worship Him and the success to ask from Him. He made your heart the quarry of light so that you love without seeing and you recognize without perceiving. It is His gentleness that asks temporary acts of obedience from you and gives everlasting rewards as a gift unbroken [11:108]. It is His gentleness that gives blessings in His measure and asks for gratitude from the servants in their measure: Be wary of God as far as you are able [64:16]. It is His gentleness that gives the servants the success to serve and then puts laudation and praise on top of that: The repenters, the worshipers, and so on [9:112]. It is His gentleness that calls you ignorant at the time of sin so as to pardon you: Whosoever of you does an ugly deed in ignorance [6:54]. At the time of bearing witness He calls you knowing so that He may accept your testimony: except those who have borne witness to the truth while they are knowing [43:86]. At the time of shortcoming He calls you weak to efface your shortcoming: Man was created weak [4:28].
In burning and need that dervish said in the seclusion of secret whispering, "O God, You called me weak. What comes from the weak other than error? You called me ignorant. What comes from the ignorant other than disloyalty? You are a generous and gentle Lord. What is fitting for someone generous and gentle other than generosity, loyalty, and bestowing gifts?"
What is fitting for the servants once they recognize His gentleness and benevolence toward them is to pull back their skirts from the two worlds, roll up the carpet of folly, bind the belt of servanthood around their waists, cling to the threshold of service and veneration, sew up their eyes from gazing at others, burn the haystack of wanting from people, and, with a heart free of dust and a breast free of burdens, sit waiting for the gentle favors and kindly acts of God, until the Real takes care of their business with His own gentleness and caresses their hearts in the cradle of the Covenant.
God is gentle to His servants. God has both gentleness and severity. His gentleness built the Kaabah and mosques, His severity built churches and idol-temples. He sent out success-giving to be the vanguard of the army of gentleness, and He stirred up deprivation to be the advance guard of the army of justice. The poor, hapless Adamite, who passes by gentleness and love. He does not know if the vanguard of the army of gentleness will embrace him in joy, or the advance guard of the army of justice will take him off his feet, weeping and lowly.
O dervish! May you never have borrowed clothing without knowing it! May your life not pass by with hidden deception. Alas for the hidden fetters! Alack for everlasting regret! How many a prayerful old man has spent his life in the outer appearance of Islam! He made the night a strainer for the warm water of his eyes, and by day he had the rosary of glorification in hand, his hopes tied to his final end. Finally, when the thread of his life was thinning and the day of his hopes darkening, there will appear to them from God that with which they had never reckoned [39:47].
There was a muezzin who for several years gave the call to prayer. One day he went up on the minaret and his gaze fell on a Christian woman. He was caught up with her. When he came down from the minaret, as much as he struggled with himself, he could not hold himself back. He went to the door of the woman's house and told her the story. The woman said, "If you speak truly in your claim and your love is truthful, the stipulation is conformity. You must bind your waist with the Christian sash." That unfortunate man bound the sash in coveting that woman.
There is fear that I will be disgraced by your love,
that I will put aside the Book and take up the cross.
If you will not become a Muslim for me,
then I will become a Christian in passion for you.
The poor man began to drink wine. When he became drunk, he tried for the woman. The woman fled and went into the house. That miserable fellow went up on the roof so as to throw himself into the house by trickery. The beginningless deprivation charged forth and he fell from the roof, perishing after having turned away from his religion. For many years he had been a muezzin and had observed the laws of Islam, and in the end he died a Christian and did not reach the goal.
God is Gracious to His servants both the pious and the profligate for He does not destroy them through hunger despite their acts of disobedience. He provides for whomever He will from among each of the two classes of individuals whatever He will. And He is the Strong in effecting what He wants the Mighty Whose way always prevails.
The Provision of Allah in this World and the Hereafter
Here Allah speaks of His kindness towards His creation, in that He provides for every last one of them and does not forget anyone. When it comes to His provision, the righteous and the sinner are alike. Allah says:
(And no moving creature is there on the earth but its provision is due from Allah. And He knows its dwelling place and its deposit. All is in a Clear Book.) (11:6) And there are many similar Ayat.
يَرْزُقُ مَن يَشَآءُ
(He gives provisions to whom He wills.) means, He gives generously to whomsoever He wills.
وَهُوَ الْقَوِىُّ الْعَزِيزُ
(And He is the All-Strong, the Almighty.) means, there is nothing that can overpower Him. Then Allah says:
مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الاٌّخِرَةِ
(Whosoever desires the reward of the Hereafter,) means, whoever does things for the sake of the Hereafter,
نَزِدْ لَهُ فِى حَرْثِهِ
(We give him increase in his reward, ) meaning, `We will give him strength and help him to do what he wants to do, and We will increase it for him. So for every good, We will multiply it and give him between ten and seven hundred good rewards,' as much as Allah wills.
(and whosoever desires the reward of this world, We give him thereof, and he has no portion in the Hereafter.) means, whoever strives for the purpose of worldly gains, and never pays any heed to the Hereafter at all, Allah will deny him the Hereafter; and in this world, if He wills He will give to him and if He does not will, he will gain neither. So the one who strives with this intention in mind will have the worst deal in this world and in the Hereafter. The evidence for that is the fact that this Ayah is reinforced by the passage in Subhan (i.e., Surat Al-Isra') in which Allah says: y
(Whoever desires the quick-passing, We readily grant him what We will for whom We like. Then, afterwards, We have appointed for him Hell; he will (enter) burn therein disgraced and rejected. And whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it, with the necessary effort due for it while he is a believer -- then such are the ones whose striving shall be appreciated. On each -- these as well as those -- We bestow from the bounties of your Lord. And the bounties of your Lord can never be forbidden. See how We prefer one above another (in this world), and verily, the Hereafter will be greater in degrees and greater in preferment.) (17:18-21) It was reported that Ubayy bin Ka`b, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "The Messenger of Allah said:
(Give the glad tidings to this Ummah of sublimity, high status, victory and power in the land. But whoever among them does the deeds of the Hereafter for the sake of worldly gain, will have no portion of the Hereafter.)''
Making Legislation for the Creatures is Shirk Allah says:
(Or have they partners with Allah who have instituted for them a religion which Allah has not ordained) means, they do not follow what Allah has ordained for you of upright religion; on the contrary, they follow what their devils (Shayatin), of men and Jinn, have prescribed for them. They instituted taboos, such as the Bahirah, Sa'ibah, Wasilah or Ham. They also permitted eating flesh and blood of animals not slaughtered for consumption, gambling and other kinds of misguidance, ignorance and falsehood. These are things that they invented during Jahiliyyah, when they came up with all kinds of false rulings on what was permitted and what was forbidden, and false rites of worship and other corrupt ideas. It was recorded in the Sahih that the Messenger of Allah said:
(I saw `Amr bin Luhayy bin Qama`ah dragging his intestines in Hell) -- because he had been the first one to introduce the idea of the Sa'ibah. This man was one of the kings of the Khuza`ah tribe, and he was the first one to do these things. He was the one who had made the Quraysh worship idols, may the curse of Allah be upon him. Allah said:
وَلَوْلاَ كَلِمَةُ الْفَصْلِ لَقُضِىَ بَيْنَهُمْ
(And had it not been for a decisive Word, the matter would have been judged between them.) means, the punishment would have been hastened for them, were it not for the fact that it had already been decreed that it would be delayed until the Day of Resurrection.
وَإِنَّ الظَّـلِمِينَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
(And verily, for the wrongdoers there is a painful torment.) i.e., an agonizing torment in Hell, what a terrible destination.
The Terror of the Idolators in the Place of Gathering
تَرَى الظَّـلِمِينَ مُشْفِقِينَ مِمَّا كَسَبُواْ
(You will see the wrongdoers fearful of that which they have earned,) means, in the arena of Resurrection.
وَهُوَ وَاقِعٌ بِهِمْ
(and it will surely befall them.) means, the thing that they fear will undoubtedly happen to them. This is how they will be on the Day of Resurrection; they will be in a state of utter fear and terror.
(But those who believe and do righteous deeds (will be) in the flowering meadows of the Gardens. They shall have whatsoever they desire with their Lord.) What comparison can there be between the former and the latter How can the one who will be in the arena of resurrection in a state of humiliation and fear, deserving it for his wrongdoing, be compared with the one who will be in the gardens of Paradise, enjoying whatever he wants of food, drink, clothing, dwellings, scenery, spouses and other delights such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and has never crossed the minds of men. Allah says:
ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَضْلُ الْكَبِيرُ
(That is the supreme grace.) means, the ultimate victory and complete blessing.
42.19-20
Maududi - Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an
The word "Kind" cannot fully convey the meaning of the word "Latif" as used in the original. This word contains two meanings: First, that Allah is very Kind and Compassionate to His servants; second, that He is a subtle observer and keeps in view even their minutest and most ordinary needs, which none else can see, and He fulfills them in such ways that they themselves do not perceive as to which need of theirs has been fulfilled at what time and by whom. Then the "servants" here does not imply only the believers but all servants. That is, Allah is Kind and Compassionate to all His servants. "
It means: The demand of His general kindness and compassion is not this that all the servants should be given everything equally. For although He is providing for each and every one from His treasures, there is no equality and uniformity in the measure of His provisions. He has given one thing to one and another to another: He has provided someone with something in a greater measure and another with another thing more generously.
That is, "His system of providence is functioning undo His own might. No one.has the power to change it or take away something forcibly from Him, or prevent Him from providing for somebody."
Two of the truths have been mentioned in the previous verse, which we are observing everywhere at all times: (1) That Allah is Kind and Compassionate to all His servants; and (2) that the measure of His provisions is not the same for everybody, but it varies from man to man. Now, in this verse it is being told that although the partial differences in kindness and measures of Provisions are countless, there is also a difference of fundamental nature, which is: there is one kind of the provision for the seeker of the Hereafter and of another kind for the seeker of the world. This is a very important truth which has been stated here briefly. Let us understand it fully, for it helps every man to determine his attitude to life. Both the seeker of the Hereafter and the seeker of the world have been likened to the farmer in this verse, who labors persistently hard right from the time he prepares the soil till the time his crop is ready for harvesting. He puts in all his labor so that he may reap and gather the crop of the seeds he sowed. But because of the difference of the intention and objective and also the difference of the attitude and conduct, to a large extent, a vast difference takes place between the farmer who sows for the Hereafter and the farmer who sows for this world. Therefore, Allah has ordained different results and consequences of the labors of each, although the place of activity of both is this very earth. As to the farmer who is sowing for the Hereafter, Allah has not said that he will get no share from the world. The world, in a more or less measure, he will get in any case. for he also has a share in the common provisions being bestowed by Allah, and every person, good or bad, is getting his sustenance here. But Allah has not given him the good news of the harvest of this world but that his harvest of the Hereafter will be increased, for he is a seeker of the same, and is concerned about his end there There are several ways in which this harvest can be increased; for example, as he will go on doing righteous deeds with sincere mentions, he will be blessed with the grace to do more and more righteous deeds and his breast will be opened out for more and more good works. When he will make up his mind to adopt pure means for thieving pure aims, he will be blessed with pure means only and Allah will not let it so happen that all doors to goodness he closed and only doors to evil to remain open for him. Above all, his each good work, however small and insignificant, will at least be increased ten times over in the Hereafter, and there is no limit to this increase. Allah will increase it hundreds of thousands of tithes for whomever He may please As for the one who is only sowing for this world, and is not at all concerned about the Hereafter, Allah has plainly told him of two of the results of his labors: (1) That, however hard he may struggle and strive. he will not get the whole of what he is trying for, but only a fraction of it, which Allah has ordained for him; and (2) that whatever he has to get, he will get only in this world: there is no share for him in the good things of the Hereafter.
