Tafsir of Surah Al-Hajj - Verse 16

Allah will definitely help His Messenger

Ibn `Abbas said, "Whoever thinks that Allah will not help Muhammad ﷺ in this world and the Hereafter, let him stretch out a rope

إِلَى السَّمَآءِ

(to the ceiling) to the ceiling in his house,

ثُمَّ لْيَقْطَعْ

(and let him strangle himself.) let him hang himself with it." This was also the view of Mujahid, `Ikrimah, `Ata', Abu Al-Jawza', Qatadah and others. The meaning is: whoever thinks that Allah will not support Muhammad ﷺ and His Book and His Religion, let him go and kill himself if it annoys him so much. For Allah will most certainly help and support him. Allah says:

إِنَّا لَنَنصُرُ رُسُلَنَا وَالَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ فِى الْحَيَوةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ يَقُومُ الاٌّشْهَـدُ

(Verily, We will indeed make victorious Our Messengers and those who believe in this world's life and on the Day when the witnesses will stand forth.) 40:51. Allah says here:

فَلْيَنْظُرْ هَلْ يُذْهِبَنَّ كَيْدُهُ مَا يَغِيظُ

(Then let him see whether his plan will remove that whereat he rages!) As-Suddi said, "Meaning, in the case of Muhammad " `Ata' Al-Khurasani said, "Let him see whether that will cure the rage he feels in his heart."

وَكَذلِكَ أَنزَلْنَـهُ

(Thus have We sent it down) the Qur'an.

ءَايَـتٌ بَيِّنَـتٌ

(as clear Ayat,) clear in its wording and its meaning, evidence from Allah to mankind.

وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِى مَن يُرِيدُ

(and surely, Allah guides whom He wills.) He sends astray whomsoever He wills and He guides whomsoever He wills, and He has complete wisdom and definitive proof in doing so.

لاَ يُسْأَلُ عَمَّا يَفْعَلُ وَهُمْ يُسْـَلُونَ

(He cannot be questioned about what He does, while they will be questioned.) 21:23. Because of His wisdom, mercy, justice, knowledge, dominion and might, no one can overturn His ruling, and He is swift in bringing to account.

Commentary

مَن كَانَ يَظُنُّ (If someone thinks - 22:15). It means that the enemies of Islam who put hurdles in its path and desired that Allah should abandon the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his religion must clearly understand that this can happen only when, God forbid, he is deprived of the office of the prophethood and ceases to receive wahy (revelations) from Allah Ta’ ala. It is well understood that when Allah Ta’ ala bestows the prophethood on someone and also favours him with wahy (revelations), He also promises him full support in this world and in the Hereafter. Thus the only way to stop the advancement of a prophet and his mission, if someone has the power to stop it, is that he should dispossess the Holy Prophet ﷺ of his mission or that the sequence of Divine revelation should be severed. Anyone wanting to do all this will have to go up to the sky and cut off the chain of revelation, and since such a thing is not possible, no amount of fire and fury can do any harm to Islam. This interpretation is related in al-Durr al-Manthur from Ibn Zaid and, in my opinion, it is the most appropriate one.

Qurtubi also thinks that this is the best interpretation of this verse. There are some others who are of the view that the word سَمَاء (sky) occurring in this verse means the ceiling of one's house and the verse means that a person who entertains hostile feelings towards Islam and the Holy Prophet ﷺ must realize that he can do them no harm. Hence the best thing for him to do is to hang himself from the ceiling out of sheer mortification. (Mazhari and others).

When the Prophet Muhammad called upon the people to the Truth, those who had built their castles on untruth became his enemies. Opposition went on growing until a stage was reached when it appeared that the flag-bearers of Untruth would overcome the flag-bearers of Truth. Under these critical circumstances, certain Muslims questioned why, if the truth were on their side, God was not helping them and why He remained neutral in the struggle between the Truth and Untruth. God says that He always supports the Truth. But it is not the way of God to intervene immediately. He waits until matters reach the stage when one side’s being on the right path and the other side’s being on the wrong path are clearly established. When this stage has been reached, God intervenes without further delay and settles the issue. This is the way of God. It is necessary for human beings to become reconciled to this, because no other course is possible in this universe. Any way other than this is the way of death and not of life.