Tafsir of Surah Ibrahim - Verse 3

Which was revealed in Makkah

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ )

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Describing the Qur'an and warning Those Who defy it

Previously we discussed the meaning of the separate letters that appear in the beginnings of some Surahs.

كِتَابٌ أَنزَلْنَـهُ إِلَيْكَ

((This is) a Book which We have revealed unto you...) Allah says, `This is a Book that We have revealed to you, O Muhammad. This `Book', is the Glorious Qur'an, the most honored Book, that Allah sent down from heaven to the most honored Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent to all the people of the earth, Arabs and non-Arabs alike,

لِتُخْرِجَ النَّاسَ مِنَ الظُّلُمَـتِ إِلَى النُّورِ

(in order that you might lead mankind out of darkness into light) We sent you, O Muhammad, with this Book in order that you might lead mankind away from misguidance and crookedness to guidance and the right way,'

اللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ ءامَنُواْ يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَـتِ إِلَى النُّورِ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ أَوْلِيَآؤُهُمُ الطَّـغُوتُ يُخْرِجُونَهُم مِّنَ النُّورِ إِلَى الظُّلُمَـتِ

(Allah is the Wali (Protector or Guardian) of those who believe. He brings them out from darkness into light. But as for those who disbelieve, their Awliya (supporters and helpers) are Taghut (false deities), they bring them out from light into darkness.) 2:257, and,

هُوَ الَّذِى يُنَزِّلُ عَلَى عَبْدِهِ ءَايَـتٍ بَيِّنَـتٍ لِّيُخْرِجَكُمْ مِّنَ الظُّلُمَـتِ إِلَى النُّورِ

(It is He Who sends down manifest Ayat to His servant that He may bring you out from darkness into light. ) 57:9 Allah said next,

بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِمْ

(by their Lord's leave), He guides those whom He destined to be guided by the hand of His Messenger , whom He sent to guide them by His command,

إِلَى صِرَاطِ الْعَزِيزِ

(to the path of the All-Mighty,) Who can never be resisted or overpowered. Rather, Allah is Irresistible above everything and everyone else,

الْحَمِيدِ

(the Praised.) Who is glorified and praised in all His actions, statements, legislation, commandments and prohibitions and Who only says the truth in the information He conveys. Allah's statement,

اللَّهِ الَّذِى لَهُ مَا فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَمَا فِى الاٌّرْضِ

(Allah to Whom belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth!), is similar to,

قُلْ يَأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنِّى رَسُولُ اللَّهِ إِلَيْكُمْ جَمِيعًا الَّذِى لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ

(Say: "O mankind! Verily, I am sent to you all as the Messenger of Allah - to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth.) 7:158 Allah's statement,

وَوَيْلٌ لِّلْكَـفِرِينَ مِنْ عَذَابٍ شَدِيدٍ

(And woe unto the disbelievers from a severe torment. ) means, `woe to them on the Day of Judgment because they defied you, O Muhammad, and rejected you.' Allah described the disbelievers as preferring the life of the present world to the Hereafter, coveting the former life and working hard for its sake. They have forgotten the Hereafter and abandoned it behind their backs,

وَيَصُدُّونَ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ

(and hinder (men) from the path of Allah), from following the Messengers,

وَيَبْغُونَهَا عِوَجًا

(and seek crookedness therein) they seek to make Allah's path crooked, even though it is straight itself and does not deviate on account of those who defy or betray it. When the disbelievers do this, they become engulfed in ignorance and misguidance far away from truth, and therefore, there is no hope that they will gain guidance and correctness while on this state.

After that, in verse 3, it was said:

الَّذِينَ يَسْتَحِبُّونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا عَلَى الْآخِرَ‌ةِ وَيَصُدُّونَ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّـهِ وَيَبْغُونَهَا عِوَجًا ۚ أُولَـٰئِكَ فِي ضَلَالٍ بَعِيدٍ

To those who prefer the worldly life to the Hereafter and pre-vent (people) from the way of Allah, and seek crookedness in it. Those are far away in straying.

This verse identifies the three states in which the deniers of the Qur'an are found among disbelievers. These are their distinct traits of character. Firstly, they prefer their life in the present world to the life they are to have in the Hereafter. Therefore, they would tolerate any loss coming to them in the Hereafter for the sake of worldly gain or comfort. Given here is a hint towards the diagnosis of their disease - their chronic denial of the truth. Why is it that these people, despite that they have seen the all too manifest miracles of the Holy Qur’ an, still remain hostile and negative towards it? The reason is that their lust for life in the present world has blinded them. They are unable to visualize what would matter most in their life in the Hereafter. Therefore, they are quite content with the darkness they are in, and towards light they do not care to come.

As for their second trait, it has been said that they certainly like to stay within the many layers of darkness they have chosen for them-selves after all. But, they inflict injustice upon injustice when, in order to conceal their error, they would prevent others too from taking to the Broadway of light, that is, the way of Allah.

Identifying Some Errors in the Understanding of Qur'an

Their third trait appears in: يَبْغُونَهَا عِوَجًا (seek crookedness in it). It can have two meanings. Firstly, they are always looking out for an opportunity, mean at heart and evil in deed as they are, to seek and find, if they can, some crookedness or fault in the otherwise radiant and straight path of Allah, whereby they might have an occasion to raise an objection or throw a taunt. This is the meaning given by Ibn Kathir.

And this sentence could also mean that these people are always trying to find out something about the way of Allah, that is, about the Qur'an and Sunnah, which could be in line with their ideas and wishes so that they can present it in support of the truth of their position. This meaning has been given in Tafsir al-Qurtubi. A fairly large number of ed-ucated people these days are involved in this sort of activity. They would come up with the framework of an idea, either as an outcome of their own error, or under the influence of some other nation. Then, they would go about looking for its supporting evidences from the Qur’ an and Sunnah. And if they happen to come across some word supposedly in sup-port of that idea of theirs, they would take it to be a Qur'anic proof in their favour - although, this method is wrong in principle because it is the duty of a true believer that he should first unburden his or her mind from personal ideas and wishes and then consult the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet ﷺ . Whatever stands proved clearly there from should, for him or her, become the personal creed.

In the last sentence of verse أُولَـٰئِكَ فِي ضَلَالٍ بَعِيدٍ (Those are far away in straying), described there is the sad end of the disbelievers whose three traits have been mentioned above. The substance of the statement is that these people have strayed out too far, so much so that now it is difficult for them to return to the right path.

Points of Guidance

According to Tafsir al-Qurtubi, though, in this verse, these three traits have been clearly identified with disbelievers and that they are far away in straying has been mentioned as their sad end, but, in terms of the principle involved here, any Muslim who has these three traits pre-sent in him, he too shall be deserving of this warning. The gist of these three traits is given below:

1\. To keep the love for worldly life on top of the concern for the Here-after to the limit that one starts avoiding exposure to the light of faith.

2\. To prevent people from the way of Allah so that they too will join hands with them.

To try to misread and misinterpret the Qur'an and Sunnah in order to apply them to fit into personal ideas and wishes. May Allah protect us from it.

God has made the path of guidance extremely clear and well illumined; signs are spread all around on the earth and in the sky; the Book of God provides undeniable arguments in its favour; human nature bears testimony to its veracity; in other words, all the evidence in nature are in its favour. This being so, those who do not seek out guidance certainly refrain from doing so in consideration of their worldly interests and not for any real reason, though such people advance a number of ‘arguments’ in order to justify their behaviour. But the actual purpose of these ‘arguments’ is to find something wrong with a straightforward statement. They are intended purely to justify their rejection of divine guidance in the eyes of the people. In view of this, only that person will be deprived of guidance whose love of self-interest and worldly inducements have made him completely blind and deaf.