Tafsir of An-Nahl 16:36

"And We have certainly sent into every nation" (of the past nations) "a messenger, [saying], 'Worship Allah'" alone, "and avoid Taghut"—which is everything that calls to misguidance. Al-Hasan said: It is Satan, and the intent behind avoiding him is to avoid that to which he calls.

"And among them"—that is, among those nations—"were those whom Allah guided" to the truth of His worship or the avoidance of Taghut, by granting them the success to do so. "And among them were those upon whom misguidance was decreed"—that is, it was established and made binding, as He did not grant them success nor did He will their guidance. The indication here is that the realization of misguidance and its stability—inasmuch as it occurs as a counterpart to guidance, which is by His, the Exalted’s, will and decree—is also subject to the same. As for the claim that "willing an ugly thing is itself ugly," and therefore it is not permissible for Allah, the Glorified, to be characterized by it, this is clearly corrupt; for the ugly thing is the earning of the ugly and being characterized by it, not the willing or creating of it, according to what has been established in theology. You know that both of these indications are extremely subtle. One must consider what necessity exists for this limitation (the classification), and what is intended by it, assuming that "So is there upon the messengers..." onwards refers to the aspects of the first suspicion.

The Imam said: The polytheists intended by their statement that since everything is from Allah, the Exalted, sending the prophets, peace be upon them, was in vain. We say: This is an objection against Allah, the Exalted, and proceeds along the lines of seeking the "cause" behind His, the Exalted’s, decrees and actions. This is invalid, for Allah, the Glorified, has the right to do in His kingdom whatever He wills and decree whatever He wishes. It is not permissible to ask Him: "Why did You do this?" or "Why did You not do that?"

The proof that the denial [of the disbelievers] was directed toward this meaning is that He, the Exalted, made this meaning explicit in His saying, "And We have certainly sent..." onwards, where He explained that His, the Exalted’s, sunnah (custom) regarding His servants is sending messengers to them, commanding them to worship Him, and forbidding them from worshipping other than Him. He further explained that while He, the Exalted, commanded all and forbade all, He, Majestic is His Majesty, guided some and let others go astray. There is no doubt that this is appropriate for Him, the Exalted, by virtue of His being a Lord transcendent above the objections of objectors and the disputations of adversaries. Thus, the raising of this question by those disbelievers was a source of ignorance, misguidance, and distance from Allah, the Exalted. It is established that Allah, the Exalted, condemned these speakers because they believed that such a state of affairs prevented the permissibility of sending messengers, not because they were lying in the statement itself. This is the correct answer upon which one relies in this matter.

The meaning of "So is there upon the messengers..." onwards is that He, the Exalted, commanded the messengers, peace be upon them, to convey—that is what is obligatory upon them. As for whether faith is attained or not, that is not a matter for the messengers; rather, Allah, the Exalted, guides whom He wills by His grace and misguides whom He wills by His abandonment. This is as you see.

Al-Wahidi narrated in Al-Wasit from Al-Zajjaj that they said this in mockery, but many of the verifiers did not approve of this. Some mentioned that interpreting it as such does not align with the answer. Indeed, it is said in Al-Kashshaf, regarding His, the Exalted’s, saying: "And they said, 'If the Most Merciful had willed, we would not have worshipped them,'" that they were pushing back against the speech of the messengers, peace be upon them, in their call to worship Him, the Exalted, and their prohibition of worshipping other than Him, with this statement. They are bound by the logic of this statement, because if everything rests upon the will of Allah, the Exalted, then He willed the sending of the messengers, He willed their call to worship, He willed their (the polytheists') rejection, and He willed their entry into the Fire. Thus, the denial and the rebuttal after this statement is proof that they said it not out of belief, but as a reckless gamble.

He (the author of Al-Kashshaf) said in another place regarding a similar verse: They are liars in this statement because they asserted it with certainty, whereas they had no speculation at all, let alone knowledge. This is because it is known that knowledge of the attributes of Allah, the Exalted, is a branch of knowledge of His Essence and faith therein. Those who use this as an argument are infidels, polytheists, and anthropomorphists. He spoke at length on this location in Surah Az-Zukhruf.

He mentioned that their speech contains an attempt to render the Creator incapable by asserting a conflict between His will and the opposite of what is commanded; thus, it would necessitate that He does not will anything except what He has commanded, and does not forbid anything except what He does not will. This is a rendering of incapacity from two angles: removing certain decreed matters from being within His power, and narrowing the scope of His commands and prohibitions. This is exactly the doctrine of their brethren, the Qadariyyah.

It is possible to say: The polytheists only said this by way of setting a trap, according to their belief, when they heard from the messengers and their followers that "whatever Allah wills, happens, and whatever He does not will, does not happen." Otherwise, they are the most ignorant of creation regarding their Lord, the Glorified, and His attributes ("They are like livestock; rather, they are more astray"). Their intention was to silence the messengers, to cut them off from their invitation to what contradicts their own state, and to find relief from their opposition. It is as if they said: "You say 'whatever Allah wills, happens, and whatever He does not will, does not happen.' What we are upon is what Allah willed, and what you call us to is what He did not will—otherwise, it would have happened. It is fitting for you not to oppose the will of Allah, for the function of a messenger is to proceed according to the will of the Sender, since the sending is only to execute that will and achieve what is intended by it." This is ignorance on their part regarding the reality of the matter, the manner in which the will attaches, and the benefit of the mission. For His, the Exalted’s, will attaches according to His knowledge, and it attaches according to what the thing is in itself. Allah, the Exalted, did not will their polytheism, for example, except after He knew it, and He did not know it except according to what it is in the reality of the matter. Thus, they were polytheists in pre-eternity and in the reality of the matter. However, when He, the Exalted, brought them forth according to what He knew of them, if He had left them as they were, they would have had a plea against Him, the Exalted, if He punished them on the Day of Resurrection, for they would say at that time: "No warner came to us." Therefore, He, Majestic is He, sent the messengers as bringers of good tidings and warners, so that the people would have no plea against Allah after the messengers. There is nothing upon the messengers except the delivery of commands and prohibitions, so that the conclusive argument for Allah is established against His creation. Thus, the delivery is what Allah, the Exalted, intended from the messengers, peace be upon them, to establish His, the Exalted’s, argument against His creation. He did not intend from His creation anything except what they are in the reality of the matter—whether it be good or evil. In the Hadith, Allah, the Exalted, says: "O My servants, it is only your deeds that I record for you. So whoever finds good, let him praise Allah, and whoever finds otherwise, let him blame none but himself."

There is no contradiction between commanding something and willing other than it from Allah, the Exalted, because the command for that is according to what befits His majesty and beauty, and the will is according to what the thing itself necessitates in the hereafter. Many have established the separation of the command from the will even in the observable world. Some of the Hanbalis mentioned the separation as well, though from the creative will, not absolutely. The discussion is detailed in its proper place.

When this is known, know that His, the Exalted’s, saying: "So is there upon the messengers except the clear delivery?" contains an indication of their refutation. It is as if it were said: "What you have pointed to—that it is fitting for the messengers to abandon the call to what contradicts what Allah willed from us, and to proceed according to the will and be silent about us—is invalid. Because their function and what is obligatory upon them is the delivery—which is what Allah, the Exalted, intended from them in order to establish Allah’s, the Exalted’s, argument against you—not silence and abandoning the call." In His, the Exalted’s, saying, "And We have certainly sent..." onwards, there is an indication—realized by those who have a heart—that the will is according to the readiness that the person possesses in the reality of the matter. Reflect on this, for this view is not without distance and difficulty.

What the Qadi mentioned regarding His, the Exalted’s, saying "And We have certainly sent..." onwards is that He explained therein that the mission is a matter by which the divine sunnah has proceeded among all nations as a cause for the guidance of those whom He, the Exalted, willed to be guided, and an increase in the misguidance of those whom He willed to go astray; like healthy nourishment that benefits a sound temperament and strengthens it, while harming the one who is corrupted and destroying him.

In Irshad al-'Aql al-Salim, it is stated that it is a verification of how His, the Exalted’s, will attaches to the actions of the servants, after stating that compulsion is not one of the functions of the mission, nor is it a matter of the will attached to the actions of choice upon which the cycle of reward and punishment revolves. The meaning is: We sent to every nation a messenger commanding them to worship Allah, the Exalted, and to avoid Taghut. They commanded them, and the people divided; among them were those whom Allah, the Exalted, guided after they directed their power and partial choice toward attaining that to which they were guided, and among them were those who remained upon misguidance due to their obstinacy and failure to direct their power toward attaining the truth. The fa (so) in "So among them" is explanatory, as was pointed out. The apparent expression in the second part would have been "and among them were those whom Allah led astray," yet He changed the style to what is in the noble arrangement to intimate that this is due to their own poor choice, like His, the Exalted’s, saying: "And when I am ill, it is He who cures me."

The word "that" (an) is possibly explanatory of the meaning of "saying" contained within the "sending," or it may be a verbal particle with the implication of a preposition, i.e., "by the fact that you worship Allah."

"So travel"—you, the polytheists, the deniers who say: "If Allah had willed, we would not have worshipped other than Him"—"through the land and observe how was the end of the deniers" of 'Ad and Thamud and those who followed their path from among those upon whom misguidance was decreed and who spoke as you have spoken, so that you may take heed. The ordering of the command to travel after merely informing of the establishment of misguidance upon them, without informing of the arrival of the punishment, is to indicate that the latter is self-evident and needs no explanation. The conjunction of the second command with the fa (so) intimates the necessity of haste in observing and reasoning, which are the means of salvation from misguidance.