Tafsir of Al-Furqan 25:17

"And the Day He will gather them and what..."

"He will gather them" (yaḥshuruhum): It is read with both the nūn (naḥshuruhum - We will gather them) and the yā’ (yaḥshuruhum - He will gather them). It is also recited as yuḥsharūna (they will be gathered) with a kasrah on the shīn.

"And what they worship": He means the worshipped ones among the angels, the Messiah, and Ezra. Al-Kalbī says: It refers to the idols, which God will cause to speak. It is also permissible that it is general, encompassing all of them.

If you ask: How is it valid to use "what" (mā)—which is for the non-rational—in the phrase "It was not for us to take any protectors besides You" (mā kāna yanbaghī lanā an nattakhidha min dūnika min awliyā’) regarding rational beings?

I say: It is used for the general category of both rational and non-rational beings. The evidence for this is that when you see a figure from afar, you ask, "What is it?" (mā huwa?). If you are told, "A human," you then ask, "Who is it?" (man huwa?). The use of man (who) indicates it is for the rational. Alternatively, it may be intended as a description, as if to say: "And their worshipped ones." Do you not see that when you want to ask about the attributes of Zayd, you say, "What is Zayd?" (mā Zayd?), meaning: Is he tall or short? Is he a jurist or a physician?

If you ask: What is the benefit of [the question] "You or they?" and why was it not said, "Did you lead these servants of Mine astray, or did they go astray themselves?"

I say: The question is not about the existence of the act, for were it not for its existence, this rebuke would not be directed at them. Rather, it is about the agent of the act. It is necessary to mention him and place the interrogative particle before him so that it is known who is being questioned.

If you ask: God, may He be exalted, already has prior knowledge of who is being questioned, so what is the benefit of this question?

I say: Its benefit is that they answer as they do, so that their worshippers may be silenced by their denial, leaving them stunned, humiliated, and increasing their regret. This is a type of God’s wrath and punishment that befalls them, while the believers rejoice at their own state and their salvation from the disgrace of those [worshippers]. Furthermore, the narration of this in the Quran serves as a kindness (luṭf) to those who are held accountable.

It also refutes those who claim that God leads His servants astray in a literal sense, for He says to those worshipped besides Him: "Did you lead them astray, or did they go astray by themselves?" They then disavow leading them astray and seek refuge in Him from being misguiders. They say: "Rather, You bestowed favor upon them and their fathers without any prior merit, as a generous and noble Bestower." They turned the blessing—which should have been a cause for gratitude—into a cause for disbelief and forgetting the Reminder, which became the cause of their ruin. If the angels and messengers disavow the attribution of misguidance (which is the work of devils) to themselves and seek refuge from it, they are even more diligent in disavowing and declaring their Lord—the Self-Sufficient, the Just—free from it. They declared Him free from it when they attributed the bestowing of the blessing and the enjoyment of it to Him, while attributing the forgetting of the Reminder and the cause of ruin to the disbelievers. Thus, they explained the metaphorical misguidance that God Almighty attributed to Himself in His saying: "He leads astray whom He wills." If He were the misguider in a literal sense, the ready answer would have been for them to say: "Rather, You led them astray."

The meaning: Did you cause them to fall into misguidance from the path of truth, or did they go astray from it by themselves? Ḍalla (to go astray) is the intransitive form of aḍallahu (to lead astray). The standard linguistic rule would be ḍalla ‘an al-sabīl (strayed from the path), but they omitted the preposition just as they omitted it in the phrase salakta al-ṭarīq (you walked the path). The original is ilā al-ṭarīq (to the path) or li-l-ṭarīq (for the path). Their saying aḍalla al-ba‘īr (he lost the camel) means he made it lost, i.e., wasted. Since this is usually due to the owner's negligence and lack of caution in guarding it, it is said aḍallahu, whether an action occurred from him or not.

"Exalted are You" (Subḥānaka): An expression of wonder from them. They wondered at what was said to them because they are angels and infallible prophets; how far they are from the misguidance that is specific to Iblīs and his party! Or, they uttered "Subḥānaka" to indicate that they are the ones who glorify and sanctify Him, marked by that. How then could it befit their state to lead His servants astray? Or, they intended by it to declare Him free from partners, and that there should be a prophet, angel, or anyone else as a partner to Him. Then they said: "It was not valid for us, nor would it be upright—while we are infallible—to take anyone as a protector besides You; how then could it be valid for us to induce others to take us as protectors besides You?" Or: "It was not for us to be like the devils in taking the disbelievers as protectors, just as the disbelievers took them as protectors." God Almighty said: "Fight the allies of Satan," meaning the disbelievers. And He said: "And those who disbelieve, their allies are the Ṭāghūt (idols/tyrants)."

Abū Ja‘far al-Madanī recited nuttakhadha (passive voice). The verb ittakhadha (to take) can take one object, as in "take a protector," or two objects, as in "take so-and-so as a protector." God Almighty said: "Or have they taken gods from the earth?" and "God took Abraham as a friend." The first recitation is of the type that takes one object, which is min awliyā’. The original is an nattakhidha awliyā’, and min was added to emphasize the negation. The second is of the type that takes two objects; the first is the one for which the verb is constructed, and the second is min awliyā’. Min here is for partitive, meaning: "We do not take any protectors." The indefiniteness of awliyā’ is because they are specific protectors: the jinn and the idols.

The Reminder (al-dhikr): The remembrance of God and belief in Him, or the Quran and the laws.

"Ruin" (al-būr): Destruction. It is used to describe both the singular and the plural. It is also permissible that it is the plural of bā’ir (ruined), like ‘ā’idh and ‘ūdh.