Tafsir of At-Taghabun 64:11

“No disaster strikes...” (i.e., no disaster strikes anyone; the object is omitted, min is an augmentative particle, and musībah is the subject. The omission of the tā’ in such instances is linguistically eloquent, though its inclusion is more frequent, as in His saying, “No nation can forestall its appointed time,” and “No sign comes to them.”

The intended meaning of musībah is calamity—anything that causes distress to the servant regarding his person, wealth, child, speech, or actions. That is: no calamity of worldly misfortunes strikes anyone, whatsoever that misfortune may be, “except by the permission of Allah,” meaning by His will and His enabling—glory be to Him—as if the calamity itself is directed toward the servant, contingent upon the permission and enabling of Allah. It has been permitted that the term be intended to include the occurrence of evil or good; indeed, it is established that the word is used for both that which strikes the servant of good and that which strikes him of evil. However, it is said that in the first case, it is derived from al-sawb (rain), and in the second, from the striking of an arrow. The first is the apparent meaning, even if the decree of contingency upon [Allah’s] permission is general.

“And whoever believes in Allah, He guides his heart.” At the time of the calamity’s occurrence, this means: to patience and the utterance of istirjā‘ (saying innā lillāh...), according to one opinion. According to ‘Alqamah, it means to the knowledge that it is from Allah, so he submits to Allah’s command and becomes content with it. Ibn Mas‘ud said something similar. Ibn ‘Abbas said: “He guides his heart” to certainty, so he knows that what struck him could not have missed him, and what missed him could not have struck him. It is also said that “He guides his heart” means He treats him with kindness and expands his chest for the increase of goodness and obedience. Ibn Jubayr, Talhah, Ibn Hurmuz, and al-Azraq from Hamzah read nahdī (We guide) with the nūn of majesty.

Al-Sulami, al-Dahhak, and Abu Ja‘far read yuhdā in the passive voice, with qalbuhu in the nominative case as the deputy subject. It was also read similarly but with qalbahū in the accusative case; this is explained by interpreting the deputy subject as the pronoun referring to man (whoever), while qalbahū is in the accusative due to the removal of the preposition—meaning: He guides within his heart, or guides toward his heart. This is based on the idea that the disbeliever is astray from his own heart, distant from it, while the believer possesses it and is guided to it, as in His saying, “For whoever has a heart.” Thus, the speech involves omission and connection, like “Guide us to the straight path.” In this, the heart is made the equivalent of the destination; whoever goes astray has been prevented from it, and whoever reaches it has been guided to it. It is also permitted that its accusative state is due to tamyīz (specification), on the basis that it is permissible to make it definite.

‘Ikrimah, ‘Umar ibn Dinar, and Malik ibn Dinar read yahda’ with a quiescent hamzah, with qalbuhu in the nominative, meaning his heart finds tranquility and becomes still through faith, having no anxiety or disturbance. ‘Amr ibn Qayid read it with an alif instead of the quiescent hamzah, and ‘Ikrimah and Malik ibn Dinar also read it as yahd with the omission of the alif after having substituted it for the hamzah. Substituting the hamzah in such cases is not analogous (qiyās) according to Abu Hayyan, though some permit it as an analogy and base upon it the permissibility of omitting that alif for the jāzim (jussive). They interpret the verse of Zuhayr ibn Abi Sulma upon this: “He acts quickly whenever he is oppressed by his oppression / And if he does not 'yahda' (desist) from oppression, he is oppressed.”

Its origin is yahda’u, then the hamzah was substituted with an alif, then omitted for the jussive by analogy to the alif in yakhshā when the jussive enters upon it.

His saying—Exalted is He—“And Allah is of everything,” of the things among which are hearts and their states, “Knowing.” Thus, He knows the faith of the believer and guides his heart upon the occurrence of a calamity. The sentence is connected to His saying, “And whoever believes...” etc. It is also permitted that it be connected to His saying—Glorified is He—“No disaster strikes...” etc., as a concluding reinforcement and confirmation. Al-Tibi mentioned that there is a hint in the words of al-Kashshaf that there is an omission in the verse: that is, whoever does not believe, He does not treat him with kindness or guide his heart. He builds upon this that the "disaster" encompasses disbelief and sins as well, because it follows the recompense of the believer and the disbeliever and is followed by the command that comes later. And what calamity is greater than these two? This, as he indicated, strikes the Mu‘tazilah at their core.