Yunus: 107

"And if Allah should touch you with adversity..."

This is a confirmation of what was presented within the relative clause regarding the negation of benefit from false deities, and an illustration of its restriction to Him, Glorified be He. That is: if He strikes you with any evil, "there is no remover of it" — from you, whoever he may be and whatever it may be — "except Him" alone. Thus, the inability of idols to remove [adversity] is established through demonstrative proof. This is an exposition of the lack of benefit through the removal of the disliked, which logically entails the lack of benefit through the acquisition of the desired. For the removal of the disliked is the lowest level of benefit; therefore, if it is negated, benefit is negated entirely.

"And if He intends for you good..."

This serves to verify the negation of harm [previously] mentioned in the relative clause. That is: if He intends to afflict you with good, "there is no repeller of His bounty," of which what He has intended for you of good is a part. This is evidence for the consequence (answer) of the conditional, not the consequence itself. It contains an indication that the overflowing of good from Him, the Exalted, occurs by way of favor and generosity, without any entitlement upon Him, Glorified be He. It means no one is capable of repelling it, whoever they may be, which includes the idols by primary inclusion. This is an exposition of their inability to cause harm by repelling the desired before its occurrence, which clearly entails their inability to cause harm by removing it or by inflicting the disliked.

Perhaps His mentioning "intention" (iradah) with "good," and "touching" (mass) with "adversity"—despite the correlation between the two—is because what He, the Exalted, intends shall strike, and what strikes can only be by His intention. It is also meant to signal that good is intended by Allah, the Exalted, in its essence, while adversity only occurs as a recompense for deeds and is not intended in its essence. It is also possible that the meaning of both verbs is intended for both good and adversity, because the context demands an emphasis on both encouragement and deterrence, but conciseness in speech was sought. Thus, He mentioned "touching" in one side and "intention" in the other, so that what is mentioned in one side may indicate what was omitted in the other. In the verse, there is a type of rhetorical elegance called ihtibak (mutual ellipsis), which has been addressed in more than one verse.

He, the Exalted, did not mention an exception in the case of good to demonstrate complete concern for it. This is indicated by His saying: "He causes it to reach whom He wills of His servants," where He, Glorified be His Majesty, explicitly stated the reaching of the bounty, which encompasses the good He intended. It is said that He, the Exalted, did not make an exception there because it was posited that the attachment of good to [the servant] occurs by His, the Exalted's, intention; and the validity of an exception would be [contingent upon] the intention of its opposite at that same time, which is impossible. This is unlike the "touching of adversity," for the intention to remove it does not necessitate the impossible—which is the attachment of two conflicting intentions to opposites at the same time.

Regarding the shift from "If He intends for you good" [to the wording used], there is an indication—as has been said—that the intended [object] is the human being, and all other goods are created for his sake. As for our reference to the pronoun in "with it" (bihi) referring to "bounty," that is the apparent and appropriate [interpretation]. Some have permitted it to refer to what was mentioned [the good], but that is not as strong. Interpreting "bounty" in its general sense, both initially and finally, as you have learned, is the view held by some researchers, rejecting the opinion that it is an expression for that specific good. Furthermore, bringing it [the bounty] at the end is clearly a case of using a manifest noun in place of a pronoun, to highlight the benefit mentioned, because His saying, "whom He wills of His servants," rejects that [specific interpretation] as it calls out for generality. In my view, it is permissible that the speech is of the type of "I have a dirham and its half."

His, the Exalted's, saying: "And He is the Forgiving, the Merciful," is a tadhil (supplementary clause) to His saying: "He causes it to reach," etc., confirming its content. The whole is a tadhil to the final conditional sentence, confirming its content.

The Imam stated regarding these verses that His, the Exalted's, saying: "And do not be of the polytheists," cannot be a prohibition against the worship of idols, because that is mentioned in His, the Exalted's, words at the beginning of the verse: "I do not worship those whom you worship besides Allah." Therefore, this speech must be understood as carrying an additional benefit: that whoever knows his Lord, if he then turns to another, that would be polytheism—which the people of the hearts call "hidden polytheism." He treats His, the Exalted's, saying: "And do not invoke besides Allah that which neither benefits you nor harms you," as an allusion to a station that is the final degree of the Gnostics. For everything other than the Truth is contingent in itself, existing only by His creation. The contingent in itself is non-existent when viewed in relation to its own essence, and exists only by the creation of the Truth. In that case, there is no one who brings benefit except the Truth, and no one who causes harm except Him. "Everything will perish except His Face." When it is so, there is no turning except to Him, regarding His affair in both abodes.

The meaning of "And if you did [so]..." is: if you become occupied with seeking benefit and harm from other than Allah, the Exalted, you would be among the "wrongdoers," meaning those who place a thing where it does not belong. For everything other than Allah, the Exalted, is removed from [the power of] disposal; thus, to attribute disposal to them is to place a thing where it does not belong, which is wrongdoing. Seeking to benefit from things that Allah, the Exalted, has created for the purpose of utilization—such as food, drink, and the like—does not contradict turning entirely to Allah, provided that the eye of the intellect, when turning to any of those things, witnesses the power of Allah, His existence, and His grace in creating those existing things and depositing those benefits within them, while being certain that in themselves and their essences they are non-existent and perishable, and have no existence, persistence, or influence except by the creation of Allah and His maintaining them, and His flooding them with the characteristics they possess through His generosity and grace.

His, the Exalted's, saying: "And if Allah should touch you..." is a confirmation that all contingent things are dependent upon Him, Glorified be He, and that there is no reliance except upon Him, Mightier is His Majesty. This is excellent speech, although his claim that His saying: "And do not be of the polytheists" cannot be a prohibition against the worship of idols is not without its issues. Something similar to this discussion in the verses has been mentioned by our Sufi masters. In Asrar al-Qur'an (The Secrets of the Quran), it is stated that He, the Exalted, warned His Prophet, peace be upon him, against turning to other than Him while turning toward Him, by saying: "And do not be of the polytheists," meaning: do not be of those who seek other than Me, and who prefer over the beauty of witnessing Me what is not fitting from created things. They have mentioned that establishing the Hanifi (monotheistic) creed is by perfecting knowledge, and this cannot be attained except by abandoning the view of anything other than the Truth, Great is His Majesty. Then He, the Exalted, added emphasis to turning toward Him and turning away from all else by His saying: "And do not invoke," etc., where He indicated that whoever seeks benefit or harm from other than Him, the Exalted, is a wrongdoer—that is, one who places [the attribute of] Lordship where it does not belong. From here, Shaqiq al-Balkhi said: "The wrongdoer is he who seeks his benefit from one who does not possess the benefit of his own self, and seeks to repel harm from one who does not possess the power to defend his own self. And one who is incapable of sustaining himself, how could he sustain another?" He confirmed this with His, the Exalted's, saying: "And if He touches you..." etc.

From this, Ibn 'Ata said: He, the Exalted, has severed the fear and hope of His servants except from and toward Him, by informing them that He is the Harmer and the Benefactor. Sometimes "adversity" is an allusion to the veil, and "good" is an allusion to the unveiling of beauty. That is: if Allah touches you with the adversity of the veil, there is no remover of your adversity except Him, by the manifestation of the lights of His union. And if He intends for you the unveiling of His beauty, there is no repeller of the bounty of His union through any cause or means. For the one destined in pre-eternity for union is not veiled by anything, because he is protected by the previous bounty from the occurrence of [divine] subjugation. This perhaps suffices for a discussion from the path of allusion regarding these verses, as is the custom in the book.