Tafsir of An-Nisa' 4:26

(Allah wishes to make clear to you): This is an explanatory resumption of the rulings that preceded it. Such a grammatical construction has occurred in the speech of the ancient Arabs, and grammarians have analyzed it in various ways. It has been said: the object of "wishes" (yureedu) is omitted—meaning, the lawfulness of what He has made lawful and the prohibition of what He has made forbidden, and the like—and the lam (in li-yubayyina) is for causality or the outcome (consequence), meaning: "That is for the purpose of clarification." This is attributed to Sibawayh and the majority of the Basrans; thus, the act of willing (al-iradah) is attached to something other than the clarification itself. They only adopted this interpretation to avoid the verb acting upon its delayed object through the lam, which is considered impossible or weak.

It is also said: if emphasis is intended, it is permissible without weakness, and here the emphasis of the future, which is necessary for the act of willing, is intended, but with regard to connection. Otherwise, the will of Allah is eternal. The author of al-Lubab called this lam the "completive lam" (lam al-takmilah) and posited it as a counterpart to the "transitive lam." Some Basrans held that the verb is interpreted as a verbal noun (masdar) without a precursor—as has been said regarding the phrase "To hear of al-Mu‘aydi is better than to see him"—on the basis that it is an initial noun (mubtada’) and the prepositional phrase (jar wa majrur) is its predicate, meaning: "My will is for the sake of clarification." This is forced. The Kufans held that the lam is the agent that makes the verb accusative (nasibah) without the hidden an, and that it and what follows it constitute the object of the preceding verb, since the lam can take the place of an in verbs of willing and commanding. The Basrans reject this and say: the function of the lam is to govern the genitive case, with an being hidden after it. The object of "to clarify" (yubayyina), according to some viewpoints, is omitted, meaning: "to clarify [for you]."

Regarding His saying, (and guide you to the ways of those before you): meaning the methods of those who preceded you among the Prophets and the righteous, so that you may follow in their footsteps and imitate their way of life. The intent is not that the ruling was the same in previous nations, as has been suggested; rather, the intent is that what was mentioned belongs to the genus and type of the methods of the righteous predecessors in the exposition of interests.

(And turn to you in forgiveness): This is a conjunction to what precedes it. Since repentance (tawbah) is the abandonment of sin with remorse and the resolve not to return to it—which is something impossible to attribute to Allah—they resorted to interpreting this in this context in one of several ways: it is said that repentance here means forgiveness (maghfirah) metaphorically, because it is the cause of it; or it means guidance toward what prevents sins by way of secondary metaphor, because repentance prevents sins just as His guidance does; or it is a metaphor for His urging them toward it, because it is the cause of it (the reverse of the first); or it means guidance toward that which expiates sins, also by way of similitude. Nasir al-Din al-Baydawi pointed to all of these. The scholar al-Tibi established that this is a case of placing the effect in the place of the cause, due to the conjunction of "and turn to you in forgiveness" to "and guide you" etc., by way of exposition. It is as if it were said: "To clarify for you, and to guide you, and to lead you to acts of obedience," so He placed "and turn to you in forgiveness" in its place. What is countered against some of these views—namely the necessity of the object of the will being different from the will itself, while the will is a complete cause—is dismissed by the fact that the address is not general to all those burdened with religious obligations, but rather to a specific group for whom this repentance has occurred.

(And Allah is All-Knowing): Highly hyperbolic in His knowledge of all things; He knows what He has legislated for you regarding rulings, what the guided ones among the nations before you followed, and what benefits His believing servants and what harms them.

(All-Wise): Observing wisdom and interest in all His actions; He clarifies for whom He wills, guides whom He wills, and turns in forgiveness to whom He wills. He is not questioned about what He does, but they will be questioned.