Tafsir of Surah Al-Isra - Verse 58

The Destruction or Torment of all Disbelieving Towns before the Hour begins

Here Allah tells us that He has decreed and it is written in Al-Lawh Al-Mahfuz (The Preserved Tablet) which is with Him, that there is no town that He will not destroy by wiping out all its people or by punishing them,

عَذَاباً شَدِيداً

(with a severe torment.) either by killing them or sending calamities upon them as He wills. This will be because of their sins, as Allah says of the past nations:

وَمَا ظَلَمْنَـهُمْ وَلَـكِن ظَلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ

(We wronged them not, but they wronged themselves.) 11:101

فَذَاقَتْ وَبَالَ أَمْرِهَا وَكَانَ عَـقِبَةُ أَمْرِهَا خُسْراً

(So it tasted the evil result of its affair (disbelief), and the consequence of its affair (disbelief) was loss.) 65:9

وَكَأِيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ عَتَتْ عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهَا وَرُسُلِهِ

(And many a town (population) revolted against the command of its Lord and His Messengers;) 65:8 and many Ayat.

Commentary

The word 'al-wasilah' in: يَبْتَغُونَ إِلَىٰ رَ‌بِّهِمُ الْوَسِيلَةَ (seek the means of close ness to their Lord - 57) conveys the sense of that which is used as a means of reaching someone. As for reaching Allah, the wasilah or means is to always keep the pleasure of Allah in sight when learning or doing anything while adhering to the injunctions of the Shari` ah strictly. Thus, the sense of the sentence is that all of them are seeking the closeness of Allah Ta’ ala through their righteous deeds.

About the sentence which follows immediately after: يَرْ‌جُونَ رَ‌حْمَتَهُ وَيَخَافُونَ عَذَابَهُ (hope for His Mercy and fear His punishment - 57), Sahl ibn ` Abdullah said: Hope and Fear, that is, hoping for mercy from Allah as well as fearing Him are two different states one is in. When they stay at par, one keeps on course, correct and stable. And if any one of the two overcomes the other, one finds the equilibrium of his spiritual state subjected to disorder to the measure of that imbalance. (Qurtubi)

The entities given the status of objects of worship by man are themselves creations of God, for instance, pious people or the angels. They have not claimed divine status for themselves. It is their followers who worship and glorify them. If one had the insight to perceive the unseen, one would see a strange sight. One would see that man gives the status of an object of worship to certain personalities at that very time when those very personalities shudder at the thought of God’s Majesty: they themselves are forced to seek His mercy to attain salvation.