Al-A'raf (The Heights): Verse 179

Commentary on the Phrase: {And certainly We have created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind}

This verse serves as the second piece of evidence supporting our doctrine regarding the creation of actions, the willing of created beings, and its establishment, based on several points:

1. Explicit Statement: Allah (Exalted is He) explicitly stated that He created many of the jinn and mankind for Hell. There can be no clearer statement than that of Allah.
2. Consequence of Divine Knowledge: Since Allah informed us that they are destined for the Fire, if they did not enter the Fire, then Allah's knowledge would become ignorance, and His truthful report would become a lie—both of which are impossible. Therefore, their not entering the Fire is impossible. Since He knows a thing is impossible, He cannot will it. Thus, it is impossible for Allah to will that they not enter the Fire; rather, He must will that they enter it, which is precisely what the wording of the verse indicates.
3. Agency and Predestination: If the one destined for disbelief is incapable of faith, then the One who created the capacity for disbelief in him has willed to admit him to the Fire. If he is capable of both disbelief and faith, then the preference for one over the other cannot occur without a deciding factor (a murajjih). If that factor originates from the servant, it leads to an infinite regress (tasalsul). If it originates from Allah, since He is the Creator of the compelling call (dā'iyah) that necessitates doom, then He has certainly created him for the Fire.
4. Divine Power: If Allah created him for Paradise and aided him in acquiring what necessitates entry into Paradise, yet the servant strives to acquire disbelief that necessitates entry into the Fire, then the servant's will is achieved, but Allah's will is not. This would imply the servant is more powerful and stronger than Allah, a notion no rational person would accept.
5. The Will of the Rational Being: A rational person does not intend disbelief and ignorance that lead to the Fire; rather, they intend faith and knowledge that lead to reward and Paradise. Since disbelief and ignorance occurred contrary to the servant's intention and effort, their occurrence must originate from Allah.

Objection: If they argue: "The servant only strove to acquire that corrupt belief because the matter was obscured to him, and he thought it was the true, correct belief."

Our Response: Under this assumption, he fell into this ignorance because of prior ignorance. If his undertaking of that initial ignorance was due to another ignorance, it leads to infinite regress, which is impossible. If it terminates in an ignorance that occurred initially without prior ignorance, then the obligation is confirmed, and the proof is established.

Thus, these rational proofs confirm what is explicitly stated by the Almighty's saying: {And certainly We have created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind}.

The Mu'tazilites argue that the apparent meaning of this verse cannot be intended, because many other verses indicate that Allah intended obedience, worship, goodness, and righteousness from everyone. They cite verses such as:

• {We have sent you as a witness, a bringer of good tidings, and a warner} (Al-Fath: 8)
• {And We have not sent any messenger except to be obeyed by permission of Allah} (An-Nisa: 64)
• {And We have varied it among them so that they may remember} (Al-Furqan: 50)
• {It is He who sends down clear verses to His servant that He may bring you out of darknesses into the light} (Al-Hadid: 9)
• {And We sent down with them the Book and the Balance that mankind may uphold justice} (Al-Hadid: 25)
• {He calls you so that He may forgive you of your sins} (Ibrahim: 10)
• {And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me} (Adh-Dhariyat: 56)

They assert that since the Qur'an cannot contain contradictions, the apparent meaning of {And certainly We have created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind} must be abandoned.

Our Counter-Arguments Against Abandoning the Apparent Meaning (The Seventh Objection):

1. The Following Verse: Allah follows this verse with: {They have hearts with which they do not understand, and they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear}. Allah mentions this in a context of censure. If they were created for Hell and were utterly incapable of faith, then censuring them for abandoning faith would be inappropriate.
2. Divine Favor: If Allah created them for Hell, then He conferred no favor upon any disbeliever whatsoever. The benefits of this world, compared to eternal torment, are like a drop in the ocean. It is like giving someone poisoned candy; it is not an act of favor. Since the Qur'an is filled with accounts of Allah's abundant favors upon all creation, we know that what they claim is not the case.
3. Moral Accountability: Praise, blame, reward, punishment, encouragement, and deterrence are nullified by this doctrine they uphold.
4. Logic of Creation: If Allah created them for Hell, He should have created them directly in Hell. There is no benefit in leading them to Hell by creating disbelief within them first.
5. Grammatical Interpretation: The phrase {for Hell} (li-jahannam) uses lām (the preposition 'for' or 'to'). Since Hell is a specific place, it cannot be the intended purpose of creation. Therefore, what Allah intended by creating them must be omitted (i.e., an implied clause). It is as if He said: "We created them so that they may disbelieve and thus enter Hell." Thus, the verse, according to their view, has an omitted meaning. It should instead be based on {And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me}, whose apparent meaning is sound without omission.
6. The Lām of Consequence ('Aqibah): If their interpretation is that He created them so they would disbelieve and end up in Hell, this reverts their interpretation to the lām signifying consequence. However, they apply the lām of consequence even when there is no prior desert for Hell. We apply it when the consequence (Hell) is deserved due to an action. Therefore, our view is stronger.

These points prove that the apparent meaning of this verse cannot be accepted, necessitating interpretation (ta'wīl). The interpretation is that since the consequence ('āqibah) for many jinn and mankind was entry into the Fire of Hell, mentioning this lām as a lām al-'āqibah (the lām of consequence) is permissible. This has many parallels in the Qur'an and poetry:

• In the Qur'an: {And thus do We vary the signs so they say, "You have studied"} (Al-An'am: 105). Allah did not vary the signs so that they would say this, but since they did say it, this wording is appropriate. Also, {Our Lord, indeed You have given Pharaoh and his chiefs splendor and wealth in the worldly life. Our Lord, that they may lead [people] astray from Your way} (Yunus: 88). And {So the people of Pharaoh picked him up [from the river] to be an enemy to them and a source of grief} (Al-Qasas: 8). They did not pick him up for this purpose, but since this was the consequence of their action, the wording is appropriate.
• In Poetry: Examples are given illustrating that things are built or born for an end result that is often ruin or death (e.g., houses built for ruin, children born for death).

This concludes the opponents' arguments regarding interpretation.

It is only appropriate to resort to interpretation when rational proof establishes the impossibility of accepting the literal meaning. Since we have established that nothing is true except what the literal meaning indicates, resorting to interpretation in such a context is futile.

The verses the Mu'tazilites use to support their doctrine are countered by the vast ocean of verses supporting the Ahl al-Sunnah doctrine. Among these supporting verses are:

• The verse immediately preceding this one: {Whoever Allah guides is the [rightly] guided; but whoever He leaves astray - then those are the losers} (Al-A'raf: 178), which explicitly supports our doctrine.
• The verses immediately following: {And those who deny Our verses - We will progressively destroy them from where they do not know. And I will give them respite. Indeed, My plan is strong} (Al-A'raf: 182-183).

Since the verses before and after this one only strengthen our position, the Mu'tazilites' argument for interpreting this verse is very weak.

Commentary on the Phrase: {They have hearts with which they do not understand...}

Regarding this part of the verse, there are two issues:

Our scholars use this verse as proof for their position on the creation of actions:

1. It is certain that these disbelievers possessed hearts capable of understanding worldly matters, eyes capable of seeing visible things, and ears capable of hearing speech.
2. Therefore, the intended meaning of this verse must be to restrict these faculties to matters related to religion: they did not understand with their hearts what pertains to religious benefit, nor did they see or hear what pertains to religious benefit.
3. If this is established, we assert that Allah tasked them with religious duties even though their hearts, sight, and hearing were not fit for that purpose. This is equivalent to commanding something while simultaneously preventing or obstructing it, which is precisely what we aim to prove.

Mu'tazilite Objection: If this were the case, it would be ugly for Allah to burden them, as burdening someone incapable of action is ugly and unfitting for the Wise. Therefore, the verse must mean that due to their excessive turning away from proofs and lack of attention to them, they became resembling those who lack an understanding heart, seeing eye, or hearing ear.

Our Response: When a person's aversion to something becomes deeply ingrained and established, that ingrained aversion prevents them from understanding the speech that proves the thing's validity and prevents them from seeing its merits and virtues. This is an essential, experiential state that every rational person finds within themselves. This is why the famous proverb states: "Love for something blinds and deafens."

If this is established, we say that some disbelievers reached such a level of enmity toward the Prophet (peace be upon him), hatred, and strong aversion to accepting his religion and acknowledging his prophethood, that their state became extreme. It is a necessary truth that the arising of love or hatred in the heart is not by human choice; rather, it arises in the heart whether the person wills it or not.

If this is established, it becomes clear that the arising of this aversion and enmity in the heart is not by the servant's choice. And when this aversion and enmity arise in the heart, it becomes impossible for the person, with that ingrained aversion and intense enmity, to attain understanding and knowledge. If this is proven, the doctrine of Compulsion (Jabr) is necessarily established, from which there is no escape.

A sermon narrated from the Commander of the Faithful, Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him), strongly affirms this meaning. Sheikh Ahmad al-Bayhaqi narrated in Manaqib al-Shafi'i that Ali ibn Abi Talib addressed the people, saying: "The most wondrous thing in man is his heart, which contains materials of wisdom and their opposites. If hope touches it, it begins with greed. If greed overwhelms it, desire destroys it. If despair afflicts it, regret kills it. If anger confronts it, rage intensifies. If he is blessed with contentment, he becomes miserable with discontent. If fear befalls him, sorrow occupies him. If calamity strikes him, panic kills him. If he finds wealth, riches make him arrogant. If poverty bites him, affliction occupies him. If hunger exhausts him, weakness overcomes him. Every deficiency harms him, and every excess corrupts him."

This section is of the highest majesty and honor, as it reveals a secret of the issue of Divine Decree and Predestination (Qada' wa Qadar), because the actions of the limbs are tied to the states of the hearts, and every state of the heart is dependent on a prior state. If one grasps this state, one realizes there is no escape from acknowledging Jabr. Sheikh Al-Ghazali, may Allah have mercy on him, mentioned a chapter in Al-Ihya' establishing the doctrine of Jabr.

Then he said: If it is asked: "I find within myself that if I will an action, I do it, and if I will to refrain, I refrain, so my action originates from me, not from another."

We reply: Even if you find that within yourself, do you also find within yourself that if you will to will something, you will it, and if you will not to will it, you do not will it? I doubt you would say that, otherwise the matter would lead to infinity. Rather, whether you will it or not, you will that thing. And once you will it, whether you will it or not, you perform it. Thus, your willing is not up to you, nor is the occurrence of your action subsequent to your willing it. Man is compelled in the guise of being a free agent.

The scholars used the verse {They have hearts with which they do not understand} to prove that the seat of knowledge ('ilm) is the heart. This is sound only if the negation of comprehension and understanding is attributed to the heart in a context of censure. (Allah knows best.)

Commentary on the Phrase: {Those are like cattle; rather, they are more astray.}

The explanation is that man and other animals share the natural powers of nourishment, growth, and reproduction. They also share the five external and internal senses, as well as the faculties of imagination, reflection, and memory.

The distinction between man and other animals lies only in the rational and intellectual faculty that guides him to know the Truth for its own sake and to know the Good for the sake of acting upon it. Since the disbelievers turned away from considering the states of intellect and reflection and from knowing the Truth and acting upon the Good, they are likened to cattle.

Then He said: {rather, they are more astray} because animals lack the capacity to attain these virtues, whereas man was granted the capacity to acquire them. Whoever turns away from acquiring great virtues while possessing the capacity to do so is in a worse state than one who fails to acquire them due to inability. For this reason, Allah said: {rather, they are more astray}.

The poet said:

The spirit originates with the Lord of the Throne, While the earth's soil is the origin of the body and frame. The Merciful King has bound them together, So they may be fit to receive command and trials. The spirit is a stranger, and the body is in its homeland; Know the right of the distant, exiled stranger.

Other interpretations for {rather, they are more astray} are mentioned:

• Cattle are obedient to Allah, while the disbeliever is not obedient.
• Qatadah said: They are more mistaken than cattle because cattle recognize and remember their Lord, while they do not know or remember their Lord.
• Al-Zajjaj said: Cattle perceive their benefits and harms, striving for benefits and guarding against harms. These disbelievers and obstinate people know they are being obstinate, yet they persist, throwing themselves into the Fire and torment.
• Cattle always flee to their masters and those who manage their affairs, whereas the disbeliever flees from his Lord and God, who bestowed upon him limitless blessings.
• Cattle only go astray when they lack a guide; but when a guide is present, they rarely go astray. These disbelievers have been sent prophets and revealed books, yet they increase in misguidance.

Finally, Allah concludes the verse by saying: {Those are the heedless}. 'Ata said: They are heedless of the reward Allah has prepared for His allies and the punishment for His enemies.

Verse 180: {And to Allah belong the Most Beautiful Names, so invoke Him by them. And leave those who deviate in His names. They will be recompensed for what they used to do.}