Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:110

(And We will turn their hearts and their eyes...) This is conjoined to [they] do not believe and is included within the same ruling as it. The phrase [And what makes you perceive...] is qualified by what the former was qualified with; that is: "And what makes you perceive that We shall turn their hearts away from grasping the Truth, so they do not grasp it, and their eyes away from beholding it, so they do not see it?" According to the Imam, this is a confirmation of what was stated in the first verse: that they will not believe.

The Sheikh al-Islam stated that this "turning" does not refer to the hearts and eyes being directed toward the Truth and prepared for it; rather, it is due to their absolute alienation from it and their total turning away. It is for this reason that its mention was delayed until after the mention of their lack of faith, serving as an indication of their rootedness in disbelief, and to prevent the false assumption that their lack of faith stems from Allah Almighty turning their faculties [against their will] by way of compulsion.

The verification of this—as stated by our master's master, al-Kurani—is that since He, glory be to Him, knew in eternity the wretchedness of their innate disposition (which was hidden in their essences), He poured upon them what that disposition required, and He did unto them what they had "asked for" through the tongue of their disposition, after He had tempted them, warned them, established the proof, and clarified the path. To Allah belongs the conclusive proof; Allah did not wrong them, but they were the ones who wronged themselves.

(As they did not believe in it [the first time]) Meaning: in what came of the signs of Allah Almighty. It is also said: in the Quran. It is also said: in Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—even though no mention of this preceded. It is also said: [they did not believe] in the turning [of their hearts].

(The first time) Meaning: upon the arrival of the preceding signs. The Kaf (in Ka-ma) occupies the position of an adjective for an object [a verbal noun] implied by [they] do not believe; Ma is the masdariyah (the infinitive particle), meaning: "They do not believe, but rather they disbelieve with a disbelief that is like their disbelief the first time." The insertion of "the turning of the hearts and eyes" is because it is among the completions of their lack of faith. Abu al-Baqa said: "The Kaf is an adjective for a deleted verbal noun, meaning: 'a turning like their disbelief,' that is, a punishment equal to their disobedience the first time." The weakness of this is evident. The verse is clear that faith and disbelief are by the decree and pre-determination of Allah Almighty.

Al-Ka'bi responded to this by saying that the intended meaning of [And We will turn...], etc., is: "We do not deal with them as We deal with the believers, in terms of favors and kindnesses, since they cast themselves out of this status on account of their disbelief." The Judge [al-Qadi] said that the meaning is: "We turn their hearts and eyes regarding the signs that have appeared, so we do not find them believing in them later, just as they did not believe in them earlier." Al-Juba'i said that the meaning is: "We will turn their hearts and eyes in Hell, upon the flame of the fire and its embers, to punish them just as they did not believe in it the first time in the world." All of these are like a mirage in a lowland which the thirsty one considers to be water. Such is the majority of the speech of the Mu'tazila.

(And We will leave them) Meaning: We will abandon them, (in their transgression) meaning: their exceeding the limit in disobedience, (wandering blindly) meaning: they waver in confusion. This is conjoined to [they] do not believe and is also qualified by what the former was qualified with; it explains what is intended by the "turning of the hearts and eyes" and clarifies its reality, [showing] that it is not upon its literal meaning. The prepositional phrase relates to what is "with Him," and the sentence [they] wander blindly occupies the position of a state (hal) for the pronoun in [We] leave them. It has been recited as yuqallibu (He turns) and yadharu (He leaves) in the third person, the pronoun referring to Allah—Exalted is His Majesty. Al-A'mash read [wa-tuqallabu] in the passive voice, attributing it to their hearts.

(And We chose them and guided them to a straight path) Al-Junayd—may his secret be sanctified—said: "Meaning: We purified them and sheltered them unto Our presence, and We guided them to sufficiency with Us over everything else. (That is the guidance of Allah; He guides thereby whom He wills of His servants.) They are the people of precedence who asked Him, Glory be to Him, for guidance with the tongue of their eternal disposition. Even if they had associated partners [with Allah] by inclining toward the 'other'—which is the shirk of the perfect ones, as my master Umar ibn al-Farid—may his secret be sanctified—alluded to by his words: 'If a desire for other than Thee had crossed my mind, by mistake, I would have judged myself an apostate'—(there would have been lost from them what they used to do) because of the greatness of what they had brought, for indeed shirk is a great injustice. (If these reject it)—meaning the veiled ones—(then We have entrusted it to a people who are not therein disbelievers.) They are those who have gnosis (Ma'rifa) of Allah—Exalted is His Majesty—who are the treasuries of the realities of faith."

In the tradition: "A party of my nation will remain upheld by the command of Allah, not harmed by those who forsake them, until the command of Allah—Glory be to Him—comes, and they are upon that." (Those are the ones whom Allah has guided, so by their guidance, take an example)—a command for him—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—to be characterized by all of that guidance which was dispersed among them. This was, as it is said, in the stations of the intermediaries. And when He anointed the eyes of his secrets with the kohl of Lordship (Rububiyyah), He made him independent in his essence, upright in his state, and brought him out of the boundary of "will" into the boundary of "gnosis" and "uprightness." Hence, He commanded him—upon him be peace—to drop the intermediaries, as alluded to by His saying, Glory be to Him: (Say: "I only follow what is revealed to me from my Lord") alongside the saying of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—"If Moses were alive, he would have no alternative but to follow me." Some Gnostics said: "There is no intermediation here, because it is a command to emulate their guidance, not them. The likeness of it is 'follow the religion of Abraham,' where He did not say 'follow Abraham'."

(And they did not appraise Allah with the appraisal due to Him)—meaning: they did not know Him with the knowledge due to Him—(when they said: "Allah has not revealed anything to a human being")—meaning: He did not manifest anything of His work or His speech—Exalted is He—to anyone. That is because of their claim of [Allah's] remoteness from His servants—Great is His majesty—and the impossibility of some of His attributes appearing upon a human manifestation. If they had known, they would not have denied, nor would they have believed that there is no manifestation of the perfection of His knowledge and His wisdom except the Perfect Human (al-Insan al-Kamil). Indeed, if the cataract were removed from the eye, they would not see the One as two.

(And this is a Book We have revealed, blessed)—because of the secrets of proximity and union it contains, and the longing for Grace and Beauty; indeed, from it is the manifestation of the Truth to His creation, if they but knew.

(Confirming what is before it)—of the Torah and the Gospel—by bringing together the outward and the inward in the most perfect manner. (And for you to warn the Mother of Cities)—which is the heart—(and those around it)—of the [spiritual] faculties.

(And who is more unjust than one who invents a lie against Allah?)—like one who claims perfection, arrival at [the station of] Unity, and freedom from the multiplicity of the attributes of the soul, claiming that he is with Allah—Exalted is His Majesty—and that he is among the people of guidance while he is not so. Or [one] who said: "It has been revealed to me," while nothing was revealed to him, like one who calls the inventions of his imagination and fancy, and the constructs of his intellect and thought, "revelation" and "outpouring from the Holy Spirit," and thus claims prophethood. Or one who said: "I will reveal the like of what Allah has revealed," like one who played the Pharaoh and claimed divinity.

(And if you could see when the wrongdoers)—these three types—(are in the overwhelmings of death)—the natural [physical] death—(and the angels are extending their hands, "Discharge your souls!"... Today you will be recompensed with the punishment of humiliation) and disgrace, due to the presence of your soul’s attributes and their dark forms, and the thickening of the veils of your egoism and your Pharaoh-like state. (And you have come to Us alone)—meaning: isolated, stripped of everything, through immersion in the eye of the gathering of the Essence—(just as We created you the first time)—when the Covenant was taken.

(Indeed, Allah is the splitter of the grain)—meaning: the grain of the heart, with the light of the spirit, from the sciences and the knowledges—(and the date stone)—meaning: the stone of the soul, with the light of the heart, from [the refinement of] character and virtues. Or: the splitter of the grain of eternal love in the hearts of the lovers and the truthful, and the stone of the tree of eternal lights in the heart of the Gnostics, so they yield the fruit of pure deeds, noble stations, and lofty states. (He brings the living out of the dead)—meaning: the knower from the ignorant—(and He brings the dead out of the living)—meaning: the ignorant from the knower. Or: He brings the living heart out of the dead soul at one time by the dominance of the light of the spirit over it, and brings the dead soul out of the living heart at another time by its [the soul's] approach to it and the dominance of desire and the attributes of the soul over it.

(Splitter of the dawn)—meaning: the manifestor of the lights of His attributes upon the horizons of His creation, or the cleaver of the darkness of the morning with the light of the morning. That is because the sea of non-existence was filled with darkness, so He cleaved it by causing a stream of His light to flow into it until the flood reached the mound. The Imam said: "He is the splitter of the darkness of non-existence with the dawn of creation and bringing-into-being, the splitter of the darkness of the inanimate with the dawn of life, intellect, and rectitude; the splitter of the darkness of ignorance with the dawn of perception; the splitter of the darkness of the bodily world by liberating the holy soul into the vastness of the world of the spheres; the splitter of the darkness of preoccupation with the world of possibilities with the dawn of the light of immersion in the knowledge of the Controller of the originated and created things." Some Gnostics said: "The meaning is: the splitter of the darkness of the soul's attributes away from the heart, by the dawn of the sun of the spirit and its shining upon it."

(And He made the night)—the night of bewilderment in the Essence itself—(a dwelling)—unto which the spirits of the lovers dwell, as one of them said: "Increase me, through the excess of love for Thee, in bewilderment; and have mercy on a bosom inflamed by the heat of Thy passion." Or: He made the darkness of the soul a dwelling for the heart, to dwell therein at times for benefit and relief, or a dwelling in which the physical faculties dwell and rest from agitation.

(And the sun)—the sun of the manifestation of the Attributes—(and the moon)—the moon of the manifestation of the Acts—(as a calculation)—according to the calculation of states, as they are considered by these two. Or: the sun of the spirit and the moon of the heart, calculated among the remaining, noble existents, accounted for; or according to the calculation of times and states.

(And it is He who set for you the stars)—the guides—or the stars of the senses—(to be guided by them in the darkness of the land)—the science of outward manners—(and the sea)—the science of realities—or the meaning is: to be guided by them in the darkness of the land of the bodies toward the interests of living, and the sea of sciences by acquiring them through [those senses].

(And it is He who produced you)—meaning: manifested you—(from a single soul)—the Universal Soul—(so there is a place of dwelling)—in the earth of the body during the time of appearance—(and a repository)—in the eye of the gathering of the Essence.

(And it is He who sends down rain from the sky)—from the sky of the spirit, the rain of knowledge—(and We bring forth by it the growth of everything)—every type of virtue and character—(and We bring forth from it)—the growth—(greenery)—the adornment of the soul and its delight. (We bring forth from it)—the greenery—(grains arranged in layers)—meaning: deeds, organized and noble, and sincere intentions by which the heart is strengthened—(and from the palm trees)—the palm tree of the intellect—(from its emerging fruit)—from the appearance of its connection—(clusters)—knowledges and realities—(hanging low)—easy to grasp because of their appearance through the light of the spirit, as if they were self-evident. (And gardens of grapevines)—the grapes of states and tastings, from which the wine of love is pressed. In a drunkenness from it—even if for an hour—you see time as an obedient servant, and yours is the command. (And the olives)—the olives of contemplation—(and the pomegranates)—the pomegranates of noble aspirations and spiritual determinations—(similar)—as in the individuals of a single type—(and dissimilar)—as in two types or two individuals of it, for example.

(Look at its fruit when it bears fruit)—observe it with vigilance during the journey and the beginning of the state—(and its ripening)—the perfection upon arrival through presence.

(And they have attributed to Allah partners—the Jinn)—the jinn of illusion and fancy, as they obeyed them and submitted to them—(and He created them)—and they fabricated for Him sons from the intellects and daughters from the souls, believing that because of their abstraction, they are effective like Him, without knowledge on their part that they are His Names and Attributes, which have no effect except by Him—Exalted is His Majesty, Sublime is He above what they describe, [and] above His being limited by that to which they limit Him.

(Vision perceives Him not)—The Greatest Sheikh—may his secret be sanctified—said in the 421st chapter: "He means: from every eye of the eyes of the faces and the eyes of the hearts, for hearts do not see except through vision, and the eyes of the faces do not see except through vision. Vision, wherever it is, is where perception occurs; so in the intellect, it is called 'the eye of insight' (basirah), and in the outward, it is called 'the sight of the eye' (basar). The eye in the outward is the locus of sight, and the insight in the inward is the locus of the 'eye' which is sight in the eye of the face. The name differed regarding it, but it did not differ in itself. Just as the eyes do not perceive Him with their sight, the insights do not perceive Him with their eyes."

It came in the report from the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—that "Allah Almighty veiled Himself from the intellects just as He veiled Himself from the eyes." The higher assembly seeks Him just as you seek Him; we participated in the seeking with the higher assembly and differed in the mode. Among us are those who seek Him with their thought, while the higher assembly possesses intellect but does not have thought. Among us are those who seek Him with it [intellect], and there is no one in the higher assembly who seeks Him with it, because the perfect among us is upon the Divine Form upon which Allah created him. Therefore, it is valid for one whose attribute is this to seek Allah Almighty with it. Whoever seeks Him with it has reached Him, for no one else has reached Him.

The perfect among us has a supererogatory [act of worship] that exceeds his obligatory ones. When the servant draws near to his Lord with it, He loves him. When He loves him, He is his hearing and his sight. When the Truth is the sight of such a servant, he sees Him and perceives Him with His [Allah's] sight, because his sight is the Truth. He did not perceive Him except by Him, not by himself. There is no angel who draws near to Allah Almighty with a supererogatory act; rather, they are in the obligatory ones, and their obligatory acts have consumed their breaths, so they have no supererogatory acts. They have no station that results in the Truth being their sight such that they perceive Him by it; they are servants of necessity, while we are servants of necessity in our obligatory acts and servants of choice in our supererogatory acts—to the end of what he said. This is explicit that some sights perceive Him, but from the aspect of the removal of otherness.

He [the Sheikh] said in the 414th chapter after chanting: "He who sees the Truth face-to-face openly, he only saw Him behind a veil, and he does not know Him, and he is by Him—this is indeed a wondrous matter." ... [He further explains that the seer sees only his own form manifested in the Truth, and if he were to remove his own ego, he would not see Him, for there would be no one left to see.]

From this, one knows what is in the saying of some: "(Vision perceives Him not) due to the extremity of His manifestation—Exalted is He. (And He is the Subtle) for there is no subtlety—as the Greatest Sheikh said—like a selfhood that is the very sight of the servant, (the Acquainted) meaning: the Knowing, with the acquaintance that He is the sight of the servant. (And Allah is from behind them encompassing)."

(There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing). Al-Junayd—may his secret be sanctified—said: "The Subtle is the One who clears your heart with guidance, nourishes your body with food, grants you wilayah (friendship/sainthood) through trials, guards you while you are in the flame [of trials], and enters you into the Garden of Abode." Others said: "The Subtle is the One who, if you call Him, He answers you; if you intend Him, He shelters you; if you love Him, He brings you near; if you obey Him, He rewards you; if you anger Him, He forgives you; if you turn away from Him, He calls you; if you turn toward Him, He guides you; if you disobey Him, He invites you." What subtle speech this is!

(There have come to you insights from your Lord)—these are the forms of the manifestations of His attributes. Some Gnostics said: "They are His words from which He manifested Himself to the people of realities, and from beneath whose curtains the lights of His eternal attributes emerged." (So whoever sees)—and is guided—(it is for himself)—that seeing [i.e., its fruit returns to him]. (And whoever is blind)—and veiled from guidance—(is against himself)—his blindness and veiling. (And I am not a guardian over you)—rather, Allah Almighty is a guardian over you, and all your affairs exist by Him.

(And thus do We diversify the signs for a people who know)—Ibn 'Ata said: "Meaning the reality of exposition, which is standing with Him wherever He stands and running with Him wherever He runs; one does not precede Him out of overwhelming [emotion], nor does one lag behind Him out of inability." Another said: "The meaning is: they know my status and understand my address, not those who do not know the station of my address and my intent from my speech."

(Follow what is revealed to you from your Lord)—it is said: it is an allusion to a revelation specific to him—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—which no one else can bear, or an allusion to the revelation of Unity. That is why He described Himself, Glory be to Him, by His saying: (There is no god but Him). Then He said, Glory be to His majesty: (And turn away from the polytheists)—those veiled by the multiplicity from the Unity.

(And if Allah had willed, they would not have associated partners)—rather, He willed their association, because it is what was known to Him—Glory be to His majesty—in eternity, unlike their faith. He does not will except what He knows, not what He does not know [in the sense] of pure negation.

(And do not insult those they invoke other than Allah)—rather, guide them to the Truth with that which is best—(lest they insult Allah in enmity without knowledge)—by insulting you, while you are His greatest manifestations.

(Thus We have made pleasing to every community their deeds)—for it is what they requested from Him by the tongue of their eternal disposition; it is our way not to refuse a seeker.

(And they swore by Allah their strongest oaths that if there came to them a sign, they would surely believe in it)—meaning: they sought miracles and turned away from the clear proofs due to being veiled by the senses and the sensible. Say: "The signs are only with Allah," so He brings them as wisdom requires. (And what makes you perceive that when they come, they do not believe)—due to the wretchedness that preceded them—(and We will turn their hearts and their eyes)—as their disposition requires—(as they did not believe in it the first time)—when they turned away from the clear proofs, or in eternity—(and We will leave them in their transgression)—which is theirs by the requirement of their disposition—(wandering blindly)—wavering in confusion, not knowing the direction of rectitude.

And whoever Allah leads astray—there is no guide for him.