Tafsir of Al Imran 3:162

{Is then one who follows the pleasure of Allah}—meaning, he strives to attain it and inclines towards it—{like one who has returned}—that is, gone back—{with wrath}—meaning, a very great anger. It is a standard verbal noun (masdar) with both consonants vowelled with a fatha (sakhata), though it is also said to be with a damma followed by a sukun (sukht), which is non-standard. The prepositional phrase relates to the verb preceding it. It is also permissible for it to be a circumstantial qualifier (hal), thus relating to an implied meaning: "returned in a state of being accompanied by wrath."

{From Allah}—meaning, originating from Him, the Exalted.

There are various opinions regarding the intent of the verse: The first: The meaning is, "Is then one who follows the pleasure of Allah, the Exalted, by performing acts of obedience like one who has returned with wrath from Him, the Glorified, by performing acts of disobedience?" This is reported from Ibn Ishaq.

The second: Its meaning is, "Is then one who follows the pleasure of Allah in refraining from misappropriation (ghulul), such as the Prophet and those who follow his conduct, like one who has returned with wrath from Allah, the Exalted, by committing misappropriation?" This is reported from al-Hasan and al-Dahhak, and al-Tabari preferred it, as it is most consistent with the context.

The third: The intent is, "Is then one who follows the pleasure of Allah, the Exalted, by struggling (jihad) in His cause, like one who has returned with wrath from Him, Majestic is His Majesty, by fleeing from it?" This is narrated from al-Juba'i and al-Zajjaj. It is said that this aligns with what was recounted regarding the occasion of revelation: when the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) commanded to set out for Uhud, a group of hypocrites stayed behind, while the believers followed him, so Allah the Exalted revealed this verse. (There is some distance in this interpretation). The manifestation of the Glorious Name [Allah] in place of the pronoun is for reasons previously mentioned more than once.

{And his refuge is Hell}—that is, his destination is that. Regarding this sentence, there are two possibilities: The first: That it is an inaugural sentence intended to clarify the state of the one who returned with wrath. It is understood from its counterpart that the one who followed the pleasure [of Allah] has Paradise as his refuge; it was not mentioned so that the warning would be more emphatic. It is also said that Paradise was not mentioned alongside the pleasure because the pleasure of Allah, the Exalted, is greater, and it entails every form of bliss. Since wrath entails every form of punishment, it necessitates that Hell be mentioned with it in the sphere of prohibition, for beauty precedes majesty; understand this.

The second: That it is within the sphere of the relative pronoun (al-mawsul), being conjoined to {has returned with wrath}—a conjunction of a nominal relative clause to a verbal one. Under both possibilities, it has no place in the inflection.

{And wretched is the destination}—this is either a concluding tail-piece (tadhil), an interjection (i'tirad), or conjoined to the relative clause with the estimation that "this is said regarding them." Regardless, the specific object of condemnation is omitted—that is, Hell. {Destination (al-masir)} is a noun of place, though it may be a verbal noun. They distinguished between it and al-marji' (the return) by stating that al-masir necessitates a change in the state of the one who has arrived at Hell from what he was upon in the worldly life, for "becoming" (sayrura) necessitates a transition from one state to another, as in "the clay became pottery." Al-marji', however, is the reversion of a thing to a state it had previously been in, such as your saying, "The return of the son of Adam is to the dust." As for their saying, "The return of the servants is to Allah, the Exalted," it is in view of the fact that they return to a state in which they do not possess anything for themselves, just as they did not possess anything before.