Tafsir of Al-Hajj 22:3-4

"And among the people is he who..."

It is said: This was revealed regarding al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith, who was argumentative. He used to say: "The angels are the daughters of Allah," "The Qur’an is fables of the ancients," and "Allah is not capable of reviving those who have decayed and become dust."

However, it is general in its application to everyone who engages in argumentation regarding what is permissible and impermissible for Allah concerning His attributes and actions, without relying on knowledge or grasping it with a firm conviction. Such a person does not follow proof nor submit to fairness; rather, he wanders blindly, unable to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

"And follows" in that regard the footsteps of "every rebellious devil." It is known from his state—and it has become manifest and clear—that whoever takes him as an ally, his alliance will yield nothing but misguidance from the path of Paradise and guidance toward the Fire.

I see the leaders of the people of whims, innovations, and the Ḥashwiyya (literalists), who style themselves as authorities in the religion of Allah, as being included under this description primarily. Indeed, they are the most misleading of devils and the most obstructive to the path of truth, for they have codified misguidance and taught it to their followers as if they had mixed it into their very flesh and blood. It is they whom the poet meant:

O you whose footsteps are followed among his people, While the path of salvation is, to them, a straight, clear way. Yet if they had read in the Tablet what was written therein Of the crookedness of his path, they would have marveled.

O Allah, establish us upon the correct creed that You have approved for Your angels in Your heavens and Your prophets on Your earth, and admit us by Your mercy among Your righteous servants.

"It has been decreed for him"—that is, it is as if the misguidance of whoever takes him as an ally has been written upon him and inscribed, due to the manifestation of this in his state.

It is recited as annahu (that he) and innahu (for he). Whoever reads it with fatḥa (annahu) does so because the first [clause] is the subject of "decreed," and the second is a conjunction to it. Whoever reads it with kasra (innahu) does so as a quotation of what is written, as if it were written upon him: "He will surely lead him astray." It is as if you were to say: "I wrote: 'Indeed, Allah is the Free of need, the Praiseworthy.'" Or, it is based on the estimation of "it was said," or because "decreed" carries the meaning of "said."

"O mankind, if you are in doubt about the Resurrection, then indeed We created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then from a clinging clot, then from a lump of flesh, formed and unformed—that We may show you. And We settle in the wombs what We will for a specified term, then We bring you out as a child, then [We develop you] that you may reach your [time of] maturity. And among you is he who is taken in [early] death, and among you is he who is returned to the most decrepit [old] age so that he knows not, after [having had] knowledge, a thing. And you see the earth barren, but when We send down upon it rain, it quivers and swells and grows [something] of every beautiful kind."