Al-Isra: (18-21) Whoever desires...

Issues in the Verse:

Al-Qaffal (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This verse falls under the meaning of His saying:

{And every human, We have fastened his fate/omen to his neck} (Al-Isra: 13).

The meaning is that perfection/success in this world is divided into two categories:

1. Those who seek the world and its benefits and leadership through their actions. Such people disdain submission to the Prophets (peace be upon them), entering their obedience, and responding to their call, fearing the loss of their authority. For such a person, their "fate/omen" (ṭā'ir) has become unfortunate because they are in Allah's grasp. Allah grants them from the world what He wills, not what the person desires. However, their ultimate end is Hellfire, which they will enter, suffering its heat, despised, blamed, driven away, and expelled from Allah's mercy.

Benefits in the Wording of this Verse:

Benefit 1: Punishment (ʿiqāb) is defined as harm coupled with humiliation and blame, provided it is permanent and devoid of any trace of benefit.

• His saying: {Then We have prepared for him Hell, wherein he will burn} points to the immense harm.
• His saying: {despised} (madhmūman) points to the humiliation and blame.
• His saying: {driven away} (madḥūran) points to the distance and expulsion from Allah's mercy. This phrasing indicates that the harm is completely devoid of benefit or mercy, and that it is permanent, without the possibility of being replaced by comfort or release.

Benefit 2: Some ignorant people, when the world favors them, become deluded and think this is due to their honor in Allah's sight. Allah clarifies that worldly success should not be taken as evidence of Allah's pleasure, because worldly gain can occur alongside an ultimate fate of torment and humiliation from Allah. For such a person, their deeds resemble an evil omen (ṭā'ir al-sū’) because they cling to him and lead him to the severest punishment.

Benefit 3: His saying, {for whom We will} (liman nurīd), indicates that success in the world is not granted to everyone. Many disbelievers and deviators turn away from religion in pursuit of the world, yet they remain deprived of both the world and religion. This serves as a severe warning to these misguided disbelievers who abandon religion for worldly gain, as they might lose the world too, becoming the greatest losers in terms of deeds, whose efforts went astray in the life of this world while they thought they were doing good.

The Second Category:

As for the second category, His saying: {And whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it with the striving due to it, while being a believer} (wa man arāda al-ākhirata wa saʿā lahā saʿyahā wa huwa mu'min), the Almighty has stipulated three conditions for it:

Condition 1: That he desires the Hereafter (al-ākhirah) through his action, meaning the reward of the Hereafter. If this intention is absent, the deed will not benefit him, due to His saying: {And that there is not for man except that for which he strives} (Al-Najm: 39), and the Prophet's saying: "Actions are but by intentions." Furthermore, the purpose of actions is to illuminate the heart with the knowledge and love of Allah, which is not achieved unless one intends through the action servitude to Allah and the pursuit of His obedience.

Condition 2: His saying: {and strives for it with the striving due to it} (wa saʿā lahā saʿyahā). This means that the action used to attain the reward of the Hereafter must be among the deeds by which the reward of the Hereafter is attained. This is only the case if the action is one of closeness (qurb) and obedience (ṭāʿāt). Many people approach Allah through invalid deeds. For instance, disbelievers approach Allah by worshipping idols, and they have two interpretations for this:

• Interpretation 1: They say: The God of the universe is too great and majestic for any one of us to manifest servitude and service to Him; we do not possess that rank. Thus, the extent of our capacity is to occupy ourselves with the worship of those close to Allah, such as worshipping a planet or an angel. Then, the angel or the planet occupies themselves with the worship of Allah. They approach Allah through this path, but since it is inherently corrupt, it yields no benefit.
• Interpretation 2: They say: We have made these statues in the likeness of the Prophets and the righteous, and our intention in worshipping them is for those Prophets and righteous ones to become intercessors for us with Allah. This path is also corrupt. Furthermore, it is reported from the Indians that they approach Allah sometimes by killing themselves and sometimes by burning themselves, exaggerating in their glorification of Allah. However, since the path is corrupt, it yields no benefit. The same applies to all groups of falsehood who approach Allah with their false doctrines, corrupt sayings, and deeds deviating from the law of truth and correctness.

Condition 3: His saying: {while being a believer} (wa huwa mu'min). This condition is essential because the prerequisite for righteous deeds to necessitate reward is the prior existence of faith (īmān). If the condition is not met, the conditioned outcome is not achieved. Then, the Almighty informed that when these conditions are met, the striving becomes appreciated (mashkūr) and the deed becomes accepted (mabrūr).

Know that Thanksgiving/Appreciation (shukr) is a combination of three things:

1. Belief that the doer is a benefactor in those actions.
2. Praising Him with speech.
3. Performing actions that indicate the doer holds the one being thanked in high esteem.

Allah treats the obedient with these three aspects: He knows they are benefactors in those deeds, He praises them through His Book, and He treats them with dealings that indicate they are honored by Allah. When the totality of these three is present, they are considered thankful for their obedience by Allah.

I saw in the books of the Mu'tazila that Ja'far ibn Harb was confronted by a Sunni scholar who said: "The proof that faith is created by Allah is that we thank Allah for faith. If faith were not brought into existence by Him, it would be impossible to thank Him for it, because praising and thanking a person for something that is not their action is ugly." He cited: {And they love to be praised for what they did not do} (Al 'Imran: 188). The attendees were unable to respond. Then Thumamah ibn Al-Ashras entered and said: "We praise and thank Allah for the ability and intellect He gave us, for sending the Books, and for clarifying the proofs. And Allah thanks us for performing faith," citing: {So those their striving was appreciated} (fa'ūlā'ika kāna saʿyuhum mashkūran). Ja'far ibn Harb laughed and said: "The question was difficult, and you made it easy."

Know that our statement: The totality of ability plus the incentive necessitates the action, is clear, because Allah is the one who provided the complete cause for the attainment of faith, so He is the one deserving of thanks. When faith is attained by the servant, and since faith necessitates complete felicity, the servant also becomes appreciated (mashkūr), and there is no contradiction between the two matters.

Know that whoever performs an action either intends through that action to attain the goods of this world, or the goods of the Hereafter, or intends both, or intends neither. This is the correct division. If he intends only the world, or only the Hereafter, Allah mentioned the ruling for these two categories in this verse.

As for the third category (intending both), it is divided into three subcategories: either the desire for the Hereafter is dominant, or it is subordinate, or the two desires are equal.

• The first subcategory: The desire for the Hereafter is dominant. There is a debate on whether this action is accepted by Allah. It might be argued that it is not accepted based on the narration that the Prophet (PBUH) related from the Lord of Might saying: "I am the richest of the rich from Shirk. Whoever does a deed in which he associates another with Me, I leave him with his associate." Furthermore, the desire for Allah's pleasure, either it was an independent cause motivating that action or an incentive, or it was not. If it was the former, it is impossible for another to have a role in that motivation and incentive, because if a ruling is attributed to a complete and perfect cause, it is impossible for another to have a role in it. If it was the latter, then the impetus and incentive for that action is that totality, and that totality is not the desire for Allah's pleasure, because the totality resulting from something and something else must be different from each of its parts. Thus, this subcategory aligns with the category whose incentive was different from the desire for Allah's pleasure, so it must be accepted. It can also be argued that since the desire for the Hereafter is dominant over the desire for the world, the like is balanced by the like, leaving the excess part as a pure incentive for the desire for the Hereafter, so it must be accepted.

• If the desire for the world and the desire for the Hereafter are equal, or if the desire for the world is dominant, everyone agrees that it is not accepted. However, in any case, it is better than if the desire for the world was completely devoid of the desire for the Hereafter.

• The fourth category: He performs the action without any incentive. This depends on whether the action of the capable person requires the presence of an incentive or not. Those who say it requires an incentive say this category is impossible. Those who say it does not require an incentive say this action has no effect on the inner self and is outwardly forbidden because it is futile. And Allah knows best.

Then Allah said: {No!} (Kallā), meaning each of the two groups. The indefinite pronoun (tanwīn) is a substitute for the possessed noun (the group). {We provide both of them from the gift of your Lord} (namuddu hādhā wa hādhā min ʿaṭā'i rabbik). This means that the Almighty provides both groups with wealth and expands their sustenance, such as money, children, and other means of honor and adornment in this world. This is because His gift is not restricted from anyone, whether a believer or a disbeliever, as all are created in the abode of action. Therefore, it is necessary to remove excuses and justifications from everyone and deliver the provisions of this world to all according to what is appropriate for their welfare. Thus, the Almighty clarified that His gift is not restricted (maḥẓūr), meaning forbidden. It is said: ḥaẓara yaḥẓuru (to restrict). Whoever stands between you and something, he has restricted it from you.

Then Allah said: {See how We have preferred some of them over others} (unẓur kayfa faḍḍalnā baʿḍahum ʿalā baʿḍ). There are two opinions regarding this:

• Opinion 1: The meaning is: Look at Our permissible gift to both groups in this world—how We preferred some of them over others, granting it to one believer and withholding it from another believer, granting it to one disbeliever and withholding it from another disbeliever. The Almighty explained the wisdom behind this disparity, saying: {It is We Who have portioned out among them their livelihood in the life of this world and have raised some of them above others in ranks, so that some may take others into service} (Az-Zukhruf: 32). And He said at the end of Surah Al-An'am: {And We have raised some of you above others in degrees, that He may test you in what He has given you} (Al-An'am: 165).

Then He said: {But the degrees of the Hereafter are greater in rank and greater in preference} (wa lad-dāru al-ākhiratu akbaru darajātin wa akbaru tafḍīlā). The meaning is that the differentiation among creation in the degrees of worldly benefits is perceptible, so their differentiation in the degrees of Hereafter benefits is greater and more immense. The ratio of differentiation in the degrees of the Hereafter to the differentiation in the degrees of the world is like the ratio of the Hereafter to the world. If a person intensely desires a worldly virtue, then his desire to seek the virtue of the Hereafter should be even stronger.

• Opinion 2: What is meant is that the Hereafter is greater and nobler than the world. The meaning is that the believers will enter Paradise, and the disbelievers will enter Hellfire, thus revealing the preference of the believers over the disbelievers. Similar to this is His saying: {The companions of Paradise that Day will be better in station and fairer in resting place} (Al-Furqan: 24).