Ruh al-Ma'ani on An-Nisa' 4:113

Surah An-Nisa' 4:113

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ﲮ ﲯ ﲰ ﲱ ﲲ ﲳ ﲴ ﲵ ﲶ ﲷ ﲸ ﲹ ﲺ ﲻ ﲼ ﲽ ﲾ ﲿ ﳀ ﳁ ﳂ ﳃ ﳄ ﳅ ﳆ ﳇ ﳈ ﳉ ﳊ ﳋ ﳌ ﳍ ﳎ ﳏ ﳐ ﳑ

And if it was not for the favor of Allah upon you, [O Muhammad], and His mercy, a group of them would have determined to mislead you. But they do not mislead except themselves, and they will not harm you at all. And Allah has revealed to you the Book and wisdom and has taught you that which you did not know. And ever has the favor of Allah upon you been great.

{And were it not for the bounty of Allah upon you and His mercy} By informing you through revelation of what they are engaged in, and by alerting you to the truth. It is also said: Were it not for His bounty through Prophethood and His mercy through protection from error (‘isma). It is also said: Were it not for His bounty through Prophethood and His mercy through revelation. It is further said: The meaning is, were it not for His preservation of you and His guarding of you.

{A faction among them would have determined} Meaning, from among those who betray. The intended subjects are Usayr ibn ‘Urwah and his companions, or those who defended the thief and were aware of the essence of the incident, knowing its reality. It is also permissible for the pronoun to refer to "the people," and the "faction" refers to those who supported the thief or the treacherous trustee. It is also said that they are the delegation of Thaqif, for it is narrated from Jarir, from al-Dahhak, from Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with both of them) that they came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: "O Muhammad, we have come to pledge allegiance to you on the condition that we do not break our idols with our own hands, and that we may enjoy the idol al-‘Uzza for one year." He (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not accept this, and Allah Almighty protected him from it, so this was revealed.

Abu Muslim holds that they are the hypocrites who "determined" what they could not achieve—namely, the destruction of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)—but Allah Almighty preserved him from them and guarded him with the eye of His care.

{To mislead you} Meaning, by causing you to deviate from judging with the truth, or from following what has come to you regarding the matter of the idols, or by destroying you. Misguidance (idlal) has indeed come with this meaning; among instances of this—as is claimed—is the saying of Allah Almighty: “And they said: ‘When we are lost [dhalalna] in the earth?’”

The sentence is the answer to Law (Were it not for). The negation of their "determining" (the attempt), despite the fact that only its effect is what is actually negated, serves to signal that its effect is completely absent. It is also said that the meaning is the "effective determination," and there is no doubt of its non-existence in reality.

Al-Raghib said: The people were Muslims and did not intend to mislead him (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) at all; rather, that action was considered correct in their view and estimation. Abu al-Baqa’ permitted the possibility that the answer to Law is omitted, the estimate being: "Were it not for the bounty of Allah upon you and His mercy, they would have misled you," then He commenced with His saying: "Indeed, a faction among them determined that."

{And they do not mislead except themselves} Meaning, they do not remove anyone from the truth except themselves, or they do not destroy anyone but their own selves, because the bane and harm of that return upon them. The sentence is parenthetical. His saying (Exalted is He):

{And they do not harm you in anything} Is a conjunction to it. Linking it to "to mislead you" is purely imaginary, and 'min' (in 'anything') is a particle of connection, while the noun governed by it is in the accusative position of a verbal noun (masdar); meaning, they do not harm you with any harm, because He (Exalted is He) protects you from deviation in judgment—and as for what crossed your mind, it was an acting upon the apparent state, trusting the words of the claimants without it crossing your mind that the reality was otherwise—or because He (Subhanahu) protects you from sycophancy and inclining toward the opinions of the atheists, or acting contrary to what Allah Almighty revealed to you, or because He (Glorious is His Majesty) promised you protection from the people and blocked them from having power over you.

{And Allah has revealed to you the Book and Wisdom} Meaning, the Quran, which combines both titles. It is said that "Wisdom" means the Sunnah; discussion on the verification of this has already passed. This sentence, according to what al-Ajhuri stated, is in the position of providing the cause for what preceded it, and to this al-Tabarsi pointed, though it is not accepted by what Abu Muslim followed.

{And He taught you that which you did not know} By the various types of revelation—that which you did not know of hidden matters, the contents of hearts, and among them the methods to invalidate the plots of the schemers; or matters of the world and the rulings of the Shari‘ah, as narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them); or of good and evil, as al-Dahhak said; or of the history of the ancients and the later ones, as is said; or all of what was mentioned, as is the custom in such expressions.

Some people interpreted the relative pronoun (ma) as the secrets of the Book and Wisdom; meaning that He (Subhanahu) revealed that to you and informed you of its secrets and made you acquainted with its truths. Thus, the second sentence is a completion to the first. In al-Bahr, the general meaning is favored.

{And the bounty of Allah upon you has been great} A bounty that no expression can contain, and no gesture can encompass, and from that is the general Prophethood, the absolute leadership, and the Great Intercession on the Day of Resurrection.

Tafsir of An-Nisa' 4:113

Ruh al-Ma'ani

{And they do not mislead except themselves} Meaning, they do not remove anyone from the truth except themselves, or they do not destroy anyone but their own selves, because the bane and harm of that return upon them. The sentence is parenthetical. His saying (Exalted is He):

{And the bounty of Allah upon you has been great} A bounty that no expression can contain, and no gesture can encompass, and from that is the general Prophethood, the absolute leadership, and the Great Intercession on the Day of Resurrection.