Tafsir of Yunus 10:25

This is an encouragement for people toward the everlasting afterlife, following their dissuasion from the perishable worldly life. That is, He invites all people to Paradise, as He commands them with that which leads to it. Paradise was named thus due to the safety of its inhabitants from every pain and affliction, or because Allah, Exalted is He, greets them, or because its keepers say to them: "Peace be upon you; you have become pure," or because some of them greet others therein.

Thus, Al-Salam (Peace) is either in the sense of safety (salamat), or in the sense of greeting (taslim), or because Al-Salam is one of the names of Allah, Exalted is He, meaning He is the One from whom and by whom there is safety, or the Possessor of safety from all deficiencies. It was attributed to Him, Glory be to Him, as an honor—just as "The House of Allah" is used for the Kaaba—and because there is no sovereign therein for anyone other than Him, Glorified is His status, both outwardly and inwardly. It also serves as an alert that whoever is therein is safe from what has passed, regarding the focus on the meaning of safety in its root. The intent to specify it through attribution to Him, rather than His other names, serves as evidence for this.

And He guides whom He wills—His guidance—to a straight path; one that leads to that Abode, which is the true religion.

In the verse, there is evidence that guidance is distinct from the invitation to it, and that the command is distinct from the will (irada). This is because He, Glorified be He, generalized the invitation (by omitting its object), and specified the guidance with the will—which is equivalent to irada according to the well-known view—by restricting it to it. This is the position held by the majority.

The Mu'tazilah said: The meaning of guidance is tawfiq (granting success) and iltaf (divine kindness/gentleness). The distinction between the invitation and the command for this reason is evident, for the disbeliever is commanded but is not granted tawfiq. "Whom He wills" is the one whom He, Glorified be He, knew would benefit from kindness, for His will, Glorified is His status, follows wisdom. Therefore, as for the one whom He knew would not benefit from kindness, He did not grant him tawfiq and did not bestow kindness upon him, for tawfiq for the one whom Allah, Exalted is He, knows will not benefit from it is futile, and wisdom is incompatible with futility. Thus, He, Glorified be He, guides the one who would benefit from kindness, even if He willed the guidance of all.