Tafsir of Surah Ash-Shu'ara' - Verse 3

Which was revealed in Makkah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

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

The Qur'an and the Disbelievers turning away;

They could be compelled to believe if Allah so willed At the beginning of the explanation of Surat Al-Baqarah we discussed the letters which appear at the beginning of some Surahs. Allah's saying:

تِلْكَ ءايَاتُ الْكِتَـبِ الْمُبِينِ

(These are the Ayat of the Book Mubin.) means, these are the verses of the Clear Qur'an, i.e. the clear and unambiguous Book which distinguishes between truth and falsehood, misguidance and guidance.

لَعَلَّكَ بَـخِعٌ نَّفْسَكَ

(It may be that you are going Bakhi` yourself,) means, destroy yourself -- because of your keenness that they should be guided and your grief for them.

أَلاَّ يَكُونُواْ مُؤْمِنِينَ

(that they do not become believers.) Here Allah is consoling His Messenger for the lack of faith of those among the disbelievers who do not believe in him. This is like the Ayat:

فَلاَ تَذْهَبْ نَفْسُكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسَرَتٍ

(So destroy not yourself in sorrow for them) (35:8).

فَلَعَلَّكَ بَـخِعٌ نَّفْسَكَ عَلَى ءَاثَـرِهِمْ إِن لَّمْ يُؤْمِنُواْ بِهَـذَا الْحَدِيثِ أَسَفاً

(Perhaps, you would Bakhi` yourself, over their footsteps, because they believe not in this narration) (18:6). Mujahid, `Ikrimah, Qatadah, `Atiyyah, Ad-Dahhak, Al-Hasan and others said that:

لَعَلَّكَ بَـخِعٌ نَّفْسَكَ

(It may be that you are going Bakhi` yourself,) means, `kill yourself.' Then Allah says:

إِن نَّشَأْ نُنَزِّلْ عَلَيْهِمْ مِّنَ السَّمَآءِ ءَايَةً فَظَلَّتْ أَعْنَـقُهُمْ لَهَا خَـضِعِينَ

(If We will, We could send down to them from the heaven a sign, to which they would bend their necks in humility.) meaning, `if We so willed, We could send down a sign that would force them to believe, but We will not do that because We do not want anyone to believe except by choice.' Allah says:

وَلَوْ شَآءَ رَبُّكَ لآمَنَ مَن فِى الاٌّرْضِ كُلُّهُمْ جَمِيعًا أَفَأَنتَ تُكْرِهُ النَّاسَ حَتَّى يَكُونُواْ مُؤْمِنِينَ

(And had your Lord willed, those on earth would have believed, all of them together. So, will you then compel mankind, until they become believers.) (10:99)

وَلَوْ شَآءَ رَبُّكَ لَجَعَلَ النَّاسَ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً

(And if your Lord had so willed, He could surely, have made mankind one Ummah...) (11:118) But Allah's will has acted, His decree has come to pass, and His proof has been conveyed to mankind by mission of Messengers and the revelation of Books to them. Then Allah says:

وَمَا يَأْتِيهِم مِّن ذِكْرٍ مِّنَ الرَّحْمَـنِ مُحْدَثٍ إِلاَّ كَانُواْ عَنْهُ مُعْرِضِينَ

(And never comes there unto them a Reminder as a recent revelation from the Most Gracious, but they turn away therefrom.) meaning, every time a Scripture comes from heaven to them, most of the people turn away from it. As Allah says:

وَمَآ أَكْثَرُ النَّاسِ وَلَوْ حَرَصْتَ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ

(And most of mankind will not believe even if you desire it eagerly.) (12:103)

يحَسْرَةً عَلَى الْعِبَادِ مَا يَأْتِيهِمْ مِّن رَّسُولٍ إِلاَّ كَانُواْ بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ

(Alas for mankind! There never came a Messenger to them but they used to mock at him.) (36:30)

ثُمَّ أَرْسَلْنَا رُسُلَنَا تَتْرَى كُلَّ مَا جَآءَ أُمَّةً رَّسُولُهَا كَذَّبُوهُ

(Then We sent Our Messengers in succession. Every time there came to a nation their Messenger, they denied him...) (23:44). Allah says here:

فَقَدْ كَذَّبُواْ فَسَيَأْتِيهِمْ أَنبَـؤُا مَا كَانُواْ بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ

(So, they have indeed denied, then the news of what they mocked at will come to them.) meaning, they denied the truth that came to them, so they will come to know the news of the consequences of this denial after a while.

وَسَيَعْلَمْ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ أَىَّ مُنقَلَبٍ يَنقَلِبُونَ

(And those who do wrong will come to know by what overturning they will be overturned) (26:227). Then Allah tells those who dared to oppose His Messenger and disbelieve in His Book, that He is the Subduer, the Almighty, the All-Powerful, Who created the earth and caused every good kind of crop, fruit and animal to grow therein. Sufyan Ath-Thawri narrated from a man from Ash-Sha`bi that people are a product of the earth. So whoever enters Paradise is good and noble, and whoever enters Hell is base and vile.

إِنَّ فِى ذَلِكَ لآيَةً

(Verily, in this is an Ayah,) meaning an evidence of the power of the Creator of all things. He spread out the earth and raised the canopy of the heavens, yet despite that the majority of people do not believe, rather they deny Him, His Messengers, and His Books, and they go against His commands doing the things He had prohibited. His saying:

وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ

(And verily your Lord, He is truly the All-Mighty,) means, the One Who has power over all things, to subdue and control them,

الرَّحِيمِ

(the Most Merciful. ) means, towards His creation, for He does not hasten to punish the one who sins, but He gives him time to repent, and if he does not, then He seizes him with a mighty punishment. Abu Al-`Aliyah, Qatadah, Ar-Rabi` bin Anas and Ibn Ishaq said: "He is Almighty in His punishment of those who went against His commands and worshipped others besides Him." Sa`id bin Jubayr said: "He is Most Merciful towards those who repent to Him and turn to Him."

Commentary

لَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَّفْسَكَ Seemingly you are going to let yourself collapse in grief - 26:3). The word بَاخِعٌ (bakhi" )is derived from بَخعٌ (bakh' ) which means to reach up to Bikha`, an artery of the neck, while slaughtering. In this verse baki` is used in the sense of putting oneself into trouble and toil. "Allamah ` Askari has said, ` Although at such places the sentence appears to be informative but in fact it means to prohibit or prevent'. What it conveys is that, ` O Messenger, do not be so despondent because of your people's disbelief and rejection of Islam that you cause yourself to collapse'. One learns from this verse that even if it is apparent that a disbeliever would not convert to Islam, still it is not right to stop preaching to him. The second thing one learns is that the efforts one makes for a certain objective must be balanced and moderate, and if someone is adamant not to be guided to the right path, one should not be over-grieved.

The call for Truth reveals itself with total clarity. The sign of a call being Divine is that everything is clear and based on clear arguments. One may deny it, but nobody would be in a position to say that he has not grasped its message. ‘It may be that you will destroy yourself.’ These words show the very strong feelings of well-wishing that a preacher has towards his addressees. The desire to spread the word of God gushes forth from such pure feelings. So, when God’s envoy observes that an addressee does not accept his message, he worries about him as a mother would worry about the welfare of her child. This sentence of the Quran is the confirmation of the benevalent feelings of the preacher and does not indicate criticism of his addressee. The call for Truth is the call of God. God is that Being who is all-powerful but who nevertheless may be denied or rebelled against. But, this present position is in accordance with God’s own plan. God wants such human beings to settle in paradise as are able to recognise the Truth in this world full of deception, and who bow down before Him without any compulsion. The selection of such individuals may be made only under conditions where everyone enjoys complete freedom of thought and action.