Al-An'am (The Cattle): Verses 55–57

Verse 55: {And thus do We detail the signs, so that the way of the criminals may become clear.}

The meaning is: Just as We have detailed Our proofs in this Surah concerning the soundness of Monotheism (Tawhid), Prophethood, Divine Decree, and Predestination, similarly We clarify and detail Our signs and arguments for establishing every truth that the people of falsehood deny.

The phrase {and so that the way of the criminals may become clear} (وَلِتَسْتَبِينَ سَبِيلُ الْمُجْرِمِينَ) is connected in meaning, as if it were said: "So that the truth may become manifest, and so that the way of the criminals may become clear." This omission (of mentioning the way of the believers) is elegant because it is understood.

Recitation Variations: The reciters differed regarding {لِتَسْتَبِينَ}:

1. Nāfiʿ: Recited it with the feminine form (لِتَسْتَبِينَ - litas-tabīna) with the accusative case for sabeel (سَبِيلَ) (meaning: so that you, O Muhammad, may clearly see the way of these criminals).
2. Ḥamzah, Al-Kisāʾī, and Abū Bakr from ʿĀṣim: Recited it with the masculine form (لِيَسْتَبِينَ - liyas-tabīna) with the nominative case for sabeel (سَبِيلُ).
3. The rest: Recited it with the feminine form (لِتَسْتَبِينَ) with the nominative case (سَبِيلُ) because they treat sabeel (way/path) as feminine.

The people of Ḥijāz feminize sabeel, while Banū Tamīm masculineize it. The Qur'an has used both forms:

• Feminine: {...if they see the way of righteousness, they will not take it as a way} (Al-Aʿrāf: 146).
• Masculine: {...and they turn people away from the way of Allāh and seek to make it crooked} (Ibrāhīm: 3).

Inquiry: Why did Allāh say {and so that the way of the criminals may become clear} without mentioning the way of the believers?

Answer: Mentioning one of two opposites implies the other. This is like the verse {We shall make for them garments of fire} (An-Naḥl: 81), where the mention of heat implies the absence of cold. Furthermore, when two opposites have no intermediary between them, clarifying the characteristic of one necessarily clarifies the characteristic of the other. Since there is no middle ground between Truth and Falsehood, when the path of the criminals becomes clear, the path of the truthful inevitably becomes clear as well.

Verse 56: {Say, "Indeed, I have been forbidden from worshipping those you call upon besides Allāh." Say, "I will not follow your desires. Indeed, if I did, I would have gone astray, and I would not be among the guided."}

When Allāh mentioned in the previous verse that He details the signs to clarify the way of the criminals, He mentioned in this verse that He has forbidden the Prophet (PBUH) from following their path.

The verse continues: {Say, "Indeed, I have been forbidden from worshipping those you call upon besides Allāh." Say, "I will not follow your desires. Indeed, if I did, I would have gone astray, and I would not be among the guided."}

This means: If I were to follow your desires, then I would certainly be misguided, and I would not be guided in any respect. The implication is that they are the ones who are misguided.

Since the Prophet (PBUH) negated following desires as something worthy of imitation by stating {Say, "Indeed, I am upon a clear proof from my Lord"}—meaning, clear proof that none is worthy of worship besides Him—he then refuted them: "You have associated others with Him."

The Prophet (PBUH) used to warn them of the descent of punishment due to this Shirk (polytheism). Due to their persistence in disbelief, they were hastening the arrival of that punishment. Allāh commanded the Prophet (PBUH) to say: {Say, "I do not possess what you are impatient for"}—referring to their saying: {“O Allāh, if this is the truth from You, then rain down upon us stones from the sky or bring us painful punishment”} (Al-Anfāl: 32).

The meaning is that Allāh will send that punishment at the time He wills, and I have no power to hasten it or delay it.

Then He said: {Judgment belongs only to Allāh} (إِنِ الْحُكْمُ إِلَّا لِلَّهِ). This is an absolute statement encompassing everything. Here, it means that the judgment regarding the delay or hastening of their punishment belongs only to Allāh. {He judges with truth} (يَقْضِي بِالْحَقِّ), meaning the true judgment concerning everything He decrees, whether delaying or hastening. {And He is the best of those who judge} (وَهُوَ خَيْرُ الْفَاصِلِينَ), meaning the best of those who decree.

First Point: Our scholars (Ashāʿirah/Sunnis) use the verse {Judgment belongs only to Allāh} as proof that the servant cannot perform any action unless Allāh has decreed and judged it to occur. Therefore, the servant cannot commit disbelief unless Allāh has decreed and judged it. This applies to all actions. The evidence is that Allāh stated this with restriction (إِلَّا لِلَّهِ), meaning no judgment belongs to anyone other than Allāh.

The Muʿtazilah argue using {He judges with truth} (يَقْضِي بِالْحَقِّ), meaning everything He judges is truth. This implies that He does not will disbelief from the disbeliever, nor disobedience from the disobedient, because those acts are not truth. (Allāh knows best.)

Second Point: Recitation of يَقْضِي

1. Ibn Kathīr, Nāfiʿ, and ʿĀṣim: Recited it with Ṣād (يَقُصُّ - yaquṣṣu), meaning "He narrates the truth," similar to {We narrate to you the best of narratives} (Yūsuf: 3).
2. The rest: Recited it with Ḍād (يَقْضِي - yaqḍī). The yāʾ is omitted in writing (يَقْضِ) because it drops in pronunciation due to the meeting of two silent letters, similar to how they write {We shall call the Zabanīyah} (Al-ʿAlaq: 18) without the yāʾ.

Regarding the recitation {He judges with truth} (يَقْضِي بِالْحَقِّ): Al-Zajjāj suggested two interpretations for the reading with Ḍād:

1. الْحَقُّ is an adjective for the verbal noun (Maṣdar): The meaning is: He judges the true judgment (يَقْضِي الْقَضَاءَ الْحَقَّ).
2. الْحَقُّ is the direct object: The meaning is: He creates/makes truth (يَصْنَعُ الْحَقَّ), because everything Allāh creates is truth. In this case, qaḍā means ṣanaʿa (to make/create), as cited from Al-Hudhali:

"And upon them are two coats of mail, which Dāwūd fashioned, or the making of the long coats by Tabaʿ." (Meaning: fashioned by Dāwūd).

Abū ʿAmr used the phrase {And He is the best of those who judge} (وَهُوَ خَيْرُ الْفَاصِلِينَ) as evidence for the reading with Ḍād (يَقْضِي), arguing that Faṣl (judging/deciding) pertains to decree/judgment, not narration (الْقَصَص).

Abū ʿAlī Al-Fārisī responded by saying that Al-Qasas (narration) here means speech/saying. Faṣl (deciding/separating) is also used in speech, as Allāh says: {Indeed, it is a decisive saying} (إِنَّهُ لَقَوْلٌ فَصْلٌ), and {We detail the signs} (Al-Aʿrāf: 32).

Verse 57: {Say, "If I possessed what you are impatient for, the matter between me and you would have been decided. And Allāh is most knowing of the wrongdoers."}

This verse addresses the disbelievers' impatience for punishment.

Verse 58: {And with Him are the keys of the Unseen; none knows them except He. And He knows what is in the land and sea. And no leaf falls but that He knows it, nor is there a grain in the darkness of the earth or anything moist or dry but that it is in a clear Record.}

This verse confirms the absolute knowledge of Allāh, contrasting it with the limited knowledge of creation.