Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:15

"(Say, indeed I fear, if I should disobey my Lord)" means by violating His command and His prohibition, of whatever act of disobedience it may be; thus, what has been mentioned enters into this with primary inclusion. His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He: "(the punishment of a Great Day)"—meaning the punishment of the Day of Resurrection, its greatness being due to the magnitude of what takes place therein—is the object of "I fear." The conditional clause is parenthetical between them, and the apodosis of the condition is obligatorily omitted; what precedes the particle is similar to it, thus it is an indication of it, not the apodosis itself, according to the most correct view, contrary to the Kufans and Al-Mubarrad. The estimation is: "If I were to disobey, I would fear [or 'I fear'] the punishment, etc."

It has been said: "I would become deserving of the punishment of that day." There is another hyperbole in the speech, considering what is understood from the preceding context regarding the cutting off of their expectations and the insinuation that they are the ones who are disobedient and deserving of punishment, since he attributed to the first-person pronoun that which is known to be negated, coupled it with 'in' (if) which implies doubt, and used the past tense to present it in the form of an established fact by way of hypothesis. The meaning in the end leads to terrifying them regarding their own commission of that act. Thus, there is no indication in the speech that he, peace be upon him, fears disbelief and disobedience for his own sanctified self, especially since he is not like that due to his infallibility (ma'sum), may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Some have presented the implication of the verse regarding what was mentioned as a subject of investigation, and it was answered that the fear relates to an act of disobedience that is impossible to occur by customary standards; therefore, it does not indicate anything other than that he, peace be upon him, would fear—God forbid—disbelief and disobedience if it were to proceed from him, and this does not indicate the actualization of the fear. You know that what we have presented dispenses with that.

It is understood from the words of some that the fear of the infallible (ma'sum) regarding disobedience does not contradict infallibility, due to his knowledge that Allah, Glorified be He, is Doer of what He wills, and that nothing is incumbent upon Him. In some traditions, it is stated that He, Majestic is His glory, said to Moses, peace be upon him: "O Moses, do not feel secure from My scheming until you cross the Sirat (bridge)." It has come in more than one report that when the wind would storm, his noble face would turn pale and he would say: "I fear that the Hour may be established," even though Allah, the Exalted, informed him that preceding it would be the appearance of the Mahdi and Jesus, peace be upon them, the emergence of the Dajjal, the rising of the sun from the west, and other signs that had not existed at that time and had not yet been realized. It is authenticated that he, peace be upon him, apologized for not coming out for the Tarawih prayer after having prayed it at the beginning of Ramadan and people having gathered in abundance for it, saying: "I feared that it might be made obligatory upon you," even though what occurred on the night of the Isra when the prayers were ordained implies that He, the Exalted, would not ordain more than five. All of this indicates that Allah, the Exalted, has the right to do whatever He wills. The utmost that is necessitated in such examples, if He were to act, is a change in the attachment of the attribute, and this does not necessitate a change in the attribute itself, so as to result in contingency or the occurrence of temporal events within His Essence, Glorified be His status. This is a long-standing investigation, and perhaps the turn will lead to its verification, if Allah, the Exalted, wills.