Tafsir of As-Sajdah 32:13

(And if We had willed, We could have given every soul its guidance.) This is a clause dependent upon a suppressed preceding clause, indicated by His saying: (Our Lord, we have seen...) etc. It serves as a response to their request: (Return us), indicating that had they been returned, they would have reverted to that which they were forbidden, due to their own ill-will, and that they are among those to whom Allah the Exalted did not will to grant guidance. That is to say: We say, "If We had willed"—meaning, if Our will had connected, in an actual, definitive sense, to grant every soul—both the righteous and the wicked—its guidance, i.e., that by which it is guided to faith and righteous deeds. Some have interpreted this as faith and righteous deeds themselves, but the former is more appropriate. As for interpreting it as that which the majority asked for—namely, returning to the world—or as guidance to Paradise, there is no merit in these interpretations. (We would have given it to them) in the world, which is the abode of acquisition, and We would not have delayed it to the abode of recompense.

(But the word from Me has come into effect.) That is, My word has been established and realized, and My decree has preceded, when I said to Iblis upon his saying: "(I will surely mislead them all, except Your chosen servants among them): The Truth is, and I speak the Truth, I will surely fill Hell with you and those who follow you among them all." This is the meaning of His saying: (I will surely fill Hell with jinn and mankind all together). This is suggested by the mention of jinn before mankind, as it is prioritized in the address to Iblis. It is prioritized there because it is more appropriate to the context of debasing that addressee, upon whom is the curse. It has also been said that the prioritization in both instances is because those from the jinn who are in Hell are more numerous.

From what we have mentioned, the reason for shifting from the pronoun of majesty in His saying: (If We had willed, We would have given...) to the singular pronoun in His saying: (But the word from Me has come into effect) is made clear. This is because what was mentioned is a reference to what transpired in the response to the accursed one, where the speaking and the filling [of Hell] were attributed to the singular pronoun so that the discourse would follow the style of "I will surely mislead them all, except Your chosen servants," in the unification of the pronoun. It may also be said that the pronoun of majesty is more appropriate for the plurality indicated by "every soul," while the other pronoun is more appropriate for what is less than that plurality, as indicated by "from the jinn and mankind." Or, it may be said that He unified the pronoun in the threat because the intended meaning is the polytheists, as if He fashioned the speech in a way that no one could imagine any sort of partnership [with Him] at all, or He fashioned it in a way that alludes to what they had deviated from—the [doctrine of] Unity—toward what they committed that necessitated the threat—the [sin of] polytheism. Or, it may be said that the pronoun was unified in "I will surely fill" because the act of filling does not admit to multiplicity; thus, unifying the pronoun is more appropriate to it. The same may be said regarding "The word from Me." However, the act of giving (Ita') admits to multiplicity according to the number of recipients, so the pronoun of majesty is more appropriate for it; the same is said regarding "We willed." Ponder this.

It does not necessarily follow from His saying "all together" that every single individual of the jinn and mankind enters it. As for His saying: (And there is none of you except he will come to it), "coming" (wurud) does not mean "entering" (dukhul), as previously discussed. "All together" (ajma'in) signifies the universality of the types, not necessarily the individuals. Thus, the meaning is: I will fill it with those two types together, just as one fills a bag with coins and dinars together. This has been said, though it has been countered by the argument that if that were intended, the dual form would be more appropriate than the plural (i.e., "both of them"). It is also posited that it is for the universality of individuals, and the definite article in "the jinn and mankind" refers to those of them previously known—meaning the disobedient among them—which is supported by the verse containing the address to Iblis.

The essence of the verse is: If We had willed to grant every soul its guidance, We would have given it; but the word has come into effect from Me: "I will surely fill Hell," etc. By the necessity of that word, We did not will to grant guidance universally; rather, We withheld it from the followers of Iblis, of whom you are a part, since you directed your choice toward error through his seduction. Our will for the actions of servants is tethered to their choice of them. When you did not choose guidance and chose misguidance, We did not will to give it to you; rather, We gave it to those who chose it among the righteous. These are the ones meant by His upcoming saying: (Only those believe in Our signs...), etc. Thus, the basis for His not willing to grant guidance is, in reality, their own ill-will, not the mere realization of the word [of decree].

The will was qualified by what was mentioned—the actual connection to the actions of the servants at the time of their occurrence—because the eternal will, in its general connection to what will happen of their actions, precedes the realization of the word of punishment; thus, its absence is not tied to the realization of the word. Its basis is rather His knowledge that they will not direct their choice toward anything other than error, preferring it over guidance. If the eternal will were intended in that context, it would have been followed up by saying: "But We did not will," and it would have been tethered to that basis, on the pattern of His saying: (If Allah had known any good in them, He would have made them hear). This is what some eminent scholars have said.

It may also be said: It is permissible for the "eternal will" to refer to its connection to what will occur of their actions, and for the "word" to refer to the knowledge of Allah the Exalted. For [the word], like the "Word of Allah," is applied to that, as Al-Raghib mentioned, citing His saying: (The word has come into effect against most of them, so they do not believe) and: (Those upon whom the word of your Lord has come into effect do not believe). The essence of the meaning is: If We had willed in eternity to grant every soul its guidance in the world, We would have given it. But My knowledge in eternity, regarding the punishment of the disobedient, has been established and realized. By the necessity of that, We did not will [to grant them guidance], for what is known must occur according to the knowledge, lest the knowledge be rendered ignorance. The occurrence of that necessitates the existence of the disobedient, as the punishment of the disobedient is a branch of their existence. The will to grant guidance to every soul necessitates the obedience of every soul, due to the necessity of the effect following the cause; it would then follow that the punished soul is both disobedient and obedient, which is impossible. This impossibility stems from His willing to grant every soul its guidance while He, the Exalted, knows of the punishment of the disobedient. Therefore, either that knowledge is negated—which is impossible, as the connection of His knowledge to the known, as it is, is necessary—or the will is negated for that reason. This reduces, in the final analysis, to the fact that the negation of His will to grant guidance to the disobedient is due to the evil of what they are in themselves; for the will is subservient to knowledge, and knowledge is subservient to the known as it is in itself. Thus, His knowledge of the punishment of the disobedient necessitates His knowledge of them as being disobedient; therefore, He does not will them except with this title fixed to them in themselves, and He does not will them contrary to it, because His willing them as such would necessitate the connection of knowledge to a thing contrary to what it is in reality, and that is not knowledge.

It is also possible for the knowledge to remain as it is ostensibly, and to say: He, the Exalted, did not will their guidance because He, the Exalted, said to Iblis, upon whom is the curse, that He would punish his followers, and it must come to pass; and Allah does not say other than what He knows. Therefore, He does not will, Blessed and Exalted is He, contrary to what He says. This also returns to the fact that He did not will their guidance due to the evil of what they are in themselves, upon the slightest reflection. The end result of the answer in both explanations is: There is no benefit for you in returning, due to the evil of what you are in yourselves. It is not hidden that what has been mentioned is based on the doctrine of the "Fixed Archetypes" (al-a'yan al-thabitah), that the wretched is wretched in himself and the happy is happy in himself, and that the knowledge of Allah the Exalted only connected to them as they are in themselves, and that His will only connected to bringing them into existence according to what He, Glorified is His Majesty, knew. Thus, they were found in the external realm by His, the Exalted's, bringing them into existence as they are in themselves. If this is completed, then that is completed; otherwise, [the matter remains as it is].