Yunus: (35) Say, is there...

"Say, is there of your partners any who guides to the truth?" This is another argument concerning what was mentioned; it is brought forth as a compulsion upon compulsion and a silencing upon silencing. Its separation [from the previous verse] is a signal of its excellence and its independence in establishing the sought-after conclusion, just as in the previous verse. The intent is: Is there any among your partners who guides to the truth by bestowing intellect, sending messengers, revealing scriptures, and granting success in observation and contemplation through what is established in the horizons and the souls, and other than that? Is it Allah, Glorified be He, or are they the partners? Among people are those who leave the discourse on what is immediately apparent from it, as you heard previously. Among people are those who specify the path of guidance, yet generalization is more in accordance with what the situation requires in terms of complete rebuke and compulsion, as is not hidden.

"Say, Allah guides to the truth." That is, He, Glorified be He, guides to it, not anyone else—Exalted is His Majesty. The discourse on the matter is on the model of what preceded. The verb "to guide" (huda) transitions to two objects; the second is by means of a preposition, either ila (to) or li (for). It may also transition to both directly. It is, linguistically—according to what is said—like using it as an intransitive verb in the sense of "to be guided" (ihtada). Al-Mubarrad denied this, saying: "That hada carries the meaning of ihtada is unknown." However, the preservers of the language, like Al-Farra’ and others, did not follow him in this. Here, both prepositions (ila and lam) are combined as a matter of stylistic variation, and as a signal—with ila—to the meaning of termination, and—with the lam—to indicate that the endpoint is the goal of the guidance, and that it was not directed toward Him by way of coincidence, but rather with an intention of the action and making it its fruit. For this reason, He transitioned [the verb] with it for what is ascribed to Him, Glorified be He, as you see. As for His saying, the Almighty: "Or does he who does not guide..." (the verse continues), the intent is generalization, even if the agent in reality is Allah, the Almighty, Exalted be His Majesty. It is said: The lam here is for specification, though the majority hold the first view.

The object is omitted in all three places. The validity of the necessity in the first case is not to be paid attention to; it is estimated in them on a single model, like "a person" or the like. It is said: The estimation is "Say, is there of your partners anyone who guides another to the truth? Say, Allah guides whom He wills to the truth. Is he who guides another to the truth more deserving to be followed than he who does not guide?"

"La-yuhda" (with a fat-hah on the ya, a kasrah on the ha, and a shaddah on the dal): This is the reading of Ya‘qub and Hafs. Its origin is la-yuhtada; the ha is vocalized with a kasrah to avoid the meeting of two vowelless consonants. Hammad and Yahya, from Abu Bakr from ‘Asim, read it with a kasrah on the ya and the ha, with the shaddah; the ya was vocalized with a kasrah in following the ha. Sibawayh held the view that it is linguistically permissible to vocalize the prefix of the imperfect tense with a kasrah, except for the ya, because of the heaviness of the kasrah upon it; this reading is an argument against him. Ibn Kathir, Warsh from Nafi‘, and Ibn ‘Amir read it with a fat-hah on the ya and the ha, with the shaddah; the origin is la-yuhtadi, then the fat-hah of the ta was transferred to the ha before it, then it was changed into a dal because of the proximity of their points of articulation, and it was assimilated into it. Abu ‘Amr and Qalun from Nafi‘ read it likewise, but they shortened the fat-hah of the ha as a reminder that the vowel in it is transient. In some paths from Abu ‘Amr, it is reported that he read it with assimilation, devoid of the transfer of the vowel to what is before it, or vocalizing it with a kasrah to avoid the meeting of two vowelless consonants. This was considered problematic because it involves the combination of two vowelless consonants; thus, Al-Mubarrad said: "Whoever attempts this must vocalize it with a light vowel." Ibn al-Nahhas said: "Without it, speech is impossible." The Judge mentioned that he did not care about the meeting of two vowelless consonants because the assimilated letter is in the position of a vowelled letter. Some rejected this reading and claimed he only read it with shortening. The truth is that he read it with both; this is also reported from Nafi‘. Its details are in Lata’if al-Isharat and al-Tayyibah.

Hamzah and Al-Kisa’i read "la-yahdi" like yarm-i. It is either intransitive in the sense of la-yahtadi (he is not guided)—which is one of the usages of the verb of guidance as relied upon, as you have learned—or it is transitive—meaning he does not guide another. This has been preferred as it is more consistent with what precedes, for what is understood from it is the negation of guidance, not the negation of being guided. The first may be preferred because it involves the agreement of the readings in meaning, and their agreement is better than their disagreement. The negation of being guided—even though what is understood from the previous is the negation of guidance—is as mentioned, because its negation often necessitates the negation of the other, for whoever is guided to the truth is not devoid of guiding others in some manner; the lowest level of this is his being an example to others, whereby they see him and follow his path.

The fa is for the ordering of the interrogation upon what preceded; it is as if it were said: "Since the matter is as such, then I ask you: 'Is he who guides to the truth...' etc." The intent of that is compulsion. The hamzah [of afaman] is, according to this, delayed in consideration, and it was only placed at the beginning in mention to show its established status in necessitating the initial position, as is well-known among the majority.

The superlative form is either upon its reality, and the one being compared is omitted, as Makkī chose; the estimation is: "Is he who guides to the truth more deserving to be followed than he who does not guide, or is he who does not guide more deserving?" Or it is in the sense of "deserving" (haqiq), as Abu Hayyan chose, and it is a predicate of the relative pronoun. The separation of the predicate between am (or) and what is conjoined to it is the most eloquent, as Al-Samin said. Sometimes it is not separated, as in His saying, the Almighty: "Is it near or far that which you are promised?" The overt [noun] is in the place of the pronoun for the sake of increased emphasis.

"An yuttaba‘a" (to be followed) is in the position of the accusative or genitive after the omission of the preposition, according to the well-known disagreement in such cases, or [governed] by an yuttaba‘a. Unless "he who guides" is an exception from the most general states: i.e., he is not guided, nor does he guide another, in any state, except for the state of Allah’s guidance to him—either to being guided or to the guidance of others. This, according to what a group said, is a state of the noble ones among their partners, such as the Messiah, ‘Uzair, and the angels, peace be upon them, rather than the idols, because being guided—which is accepting guidance—and guiding others are specific to those possessed of knowledge, so it is not conceivable for them. Ibn Abi Hatim, Abu al-Shaykh, and others extracted that the intent is the idols. The explanation for that is that it proceeds upon treating them as if they were possessed of knowledge. It is said: The meaning is "Or does he who is not guided—from among the idols—to a place [exist] so that he is moved to it, unless he is moved to it, or unless Allah, the Almighty, moves him from his state to make him a creature accountable, so He guides him?" This is from your saying: "I guided the woman to her husband," and I have already been guided to it.

It is said: The first verse ("Say, is there of your partners who originates creation and then repeats it?") is regarding the idols or what encompasses them, like the angels, peace be upon them; and this is regarding the heads of misguidance, like the rabbis and monks who were taken as lords besides Allah. This is not far-fetched in my view, and it is supported by the expression "following," for it necessitates acting upon their commands and avoiding their prohibitions, and this is not conceivable regarding idols except with strained interpretation. Even though it is conceivable regarding the nobles among your partners, they do not call except to good, and following them in that is not criticized for any of them. Unless it is said: The polytheists fabricated commands and prohibitions on their behalf, so their following them in that was criticized. He expressed it as "following" and did not express it as "worship"—by saying: "Is he who guides to the truth more deserving to be worshipped than he who does not guide, unless he is guided?"—even though the verse contains the invalidation of the correctness of their worship in that they do not guide. The lowest level of worship is the worshipped being's guidance of his worshippers to what is in their interest; this is an exaggeration in making their state of worship abominable, because if following is not good for you, then worship is not good—by way of the prior argument—and if the state of that is ugly, the state of this is uglier. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

It is read "illa an yuhda" (passive, with shaddah), as an indication of the exaggeration in guidance.

"What is the matter with you?"—i.e., what is for you in taking these incapable ones as partners to Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He? The discourse is a nominal sentence (subject and predicate), and the interrogation is for denial and astonishment. Some grammarians say that such a construction is not complete without a circumstantial qualifier (hal) after it, such as His saying, the Almighty: "What is the matter with you, being heedless of the Reminder?" Perhaps the hal here is omitted due to its obviousness; it is as if it were said: "What is the matter with you, taking these as partners?"

It is not correct for His saying, the Almighty: "How do you judge?" to be in the position of a hal, because an interrogative sentence does not function as a hal. Rather, it is another interrogation for denial and astonishment as well: i.e., how do you judge by falsehood—which is rejected by clear intellect, and [the intellect] judges the taking of partners to Allah, Exalted be His Majesty, as invalid? The fa is for the ordering of the denial upon what has become apparent of the obligation to follow the Guide.