Tafsir of Surah Fussilat - Verse 42

The Punishment of the Deniers and the Description of the Qur'an

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِى ءَايَـتِنَا

(Verily, Yulhiduna Fi Our Ayat) Ibn `Abbas said, "Al-Ilhad means putting words in their improper places." Qatadah and others said, "It means disbelief and obstinate behavior."

لاَ يَخْفَوْنَ عَلَيْنَآ

(are not hidden from Us.) This is a stern warning and dire threat, stating that He, may He be exalted, knows who denies His signs, Names and attributes, and He will punish them for that. He says:

أَفَمَن يُلْقَى فِى النَّارِ خَيْرٌ أَم مَّن يَأْتِى ءَامِناً يَوْمَ الْقِيَـمَةِ

(Is he who is cast into the Fire better or he who comes secure on the Day of Resurrection) means, are these two equal They are not equal. Then Allah warns the disbelievers:

اعْمَلُواْ مَا شِئْتُمْ

(Do what you will.) Mujahid, Ad-Dahhak and `Ata' Al-Khurasani said that

اعْمَلُواْ مَا شِئْتُمْ

(Do what you will. ) is a threat. Meaning, `do what you will of good or evil, for He knows and sees all that you do.' He says:

إِنَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ

(Verily, He is All-Seer of what you do.)

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ بِالذِّكْرِ لَمَّا جَآءَهُمْ

(Verily, those who disbelieved in the Reminder when it came to them.) Ad-Dahhak, As-Suddi and Qatadah said, "This is the Qur'an."

وَإِنَّهُ لَكِتَـبٌ عَزِيزٌ

(And verily, it is an honorable well-fortified respected Book.) means, it is protected and preserved, and nobody can produce anything like it.

لاَّ يَأْتِيهِ الْبَـطِلُ مِن بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَلاَ مِنْ خَلْفِهِ

(Falsehood cannot come to it from before it or behind it,) means, there is no way to corrupt it, because it has been sent down by the Lord of the worlds. Allah says:

تَنزِيلٌ مِّنْ حَكِيمٍ حَمِيدٍ

((it is) sent down by the All-Wise, Worthy of all praise.) meaning, He is Wise in all that He says and does, Praiseworthy in all that He commands and forbids; everything that He does is for praiseworthy purposes and its consequences will be good.

مَّا يُقَالُ لَكَ إِلاَّ مَا قَدْ قِيلَ لِلرُّسُلِ مِن قَبْلِكَ

(Nothing is said to you except what was said to the Messengers before you.) Qatadah, As-Suddi and others said, "Nothing is said to you by way of rejection and disbelief, that was not said to the Messengers who came before you. Just as you have been rejected, they were also rejected. Just as they bore their people's insults with patience, so too you must bear your people's insults with patience."

وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَذُو مَغْفِرَةٍ

(Verily, your Lord is the Possessor of forgiveness,) means, for those who turn to Him in repentance.

وَذُو عِقَابٍ أَلِيمٍ

(and (also) the Possessor of painful punishment.) means, for those who persist in disbelief, transgression and stubborn opposition.

لَّا يَأْتِيهِ الْبَاطِلُ مِن بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَلَا مِنْ خَلْفِهِ (that cannot be approached by falsehood, neither from its front, nor from its behind.) Qatadah and Suddi have stated that ` batil' (falsehood) in this verse means Shaitan (Satan), and ` neither from its front, nor from its behind' means ` from any side'. To sum up, Satan's manipulation and contrivance just do not work on this Book; Shaitan cannot distort this Book by adding something to it, or deleting something from it.

The author of Tafsir Mazhari, after quoting this explanation, has added that Satan here includes the satans both from jinn and from humans - neither can carry out any change or distortion in the Qur'an. Some Rawafid1.

(1) This term is used for the extremists among the Shi'ites who tried to add ten parts (Ajza' ) and some tried to add some particular verses, but none could succeed.

Abu Hayyan has stated in Al-Bahr-ul-Muhit that the word batil (falsehood) as a word is not specific to Shaitan; any falsehood or falsifier, whether from Shaitan or from any other source, cannot succeed in the Qur'an. Then, referring to Tabari, he has mentioned that this verse means that a disbeliever can neither dare to carry out any change in this Book openly, nor can he distort its meaning through ilhad covertly.

The explanation of Tabari is very appropriate here, because there can be only two ways of introducing any distortion or ilhad in the Qur'an. First, that any disbeliever tries openly to add something to or delete something from the Qur'an. This has been denoted by the words, ` from its front'. The second way of distortion is that somebody, claiming to have faith, tries to distort the meaning of the Qur'an covertly through false interpretations. This has been referred to by the words, ` nor from its behind'.

The sense, in nut shell, is that this Book is so noble and protected by Allah that nobody has the power to bring any addition, omission or change in its words, nor can one succeed in bringing any change in the injunctions of the Qur'an by distorting its meaning. Whenever any wretched person attempted to do so, he had to face ignominy -The Qur'an remained pure and untouched by his evil plans. As for its protection from open distortion or change, everybody can see that there is no way for anyone to do it, because it is being read and recited throughout the world for the last fourteen centuries, fully memorized by hundreds of thousands of people; if anybody makes even the slightest mistake, the young, the old, the learned scholars, the illiterate - thousands and thousands of Muslims raise their voice for correction. The words ` nor from its behind' in the present verse indicate that the protection of the Qur'an that has been undertaken by Allah Almighty Himself by saying "And We are there to protect it." (15:9) is not limited to its words only; rather Allah Almighty has ensured that its meanings will remain protected as well. Allah Almighty has so safeguarded even the meaning and injunctions of Qur'an through His Messenger and his direct disciples, the noble Companions ؓ ، that if any infidel attempts to distort it through false explanations, thousands of scholars stand up to refute it, and he faces rejection. The fact is that in the verse إِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ (We are there to protect it) the pronoun ` it' points towards the Qur'an and Qur'an is not just the name of words, but is the name of both words and meanings.

It is clearly mentioned in correct ahadith that a group will always remain among Muslims, till Doomsday, who would expose the distortions of those who commit ilhad (false interpretation), and would clarify the correct meaning of the Qur'an. They may hide their kufr from the whole world, but they cannot hide it from Allah Almighty, and since Allah Almighty is aware of their conspiracy, they are bound to face punishment.

The Quran is a book of unsurpassable greatness. The proof of its being so is that untruth cannot enter it either from the front or from behind, i.e., there is no possibility of interference with it from any side. It cannot be distorted either directly or indirectly. And this holds true now and for all time to come. This is a very extraordinary forecast to make. In terms of the cause-and-effect system of this world, if this forecast has to come true, it is necessary that a strong community should permanently exist as the bearer of the Quran; it should not be at variance with the teachings of previous prophets; nobody should ever be able to find fault with the Quran; the evolution of knowledge should never result in contradiction of any of its statements; the vicissitudes of history should not exert any influence upon it; the language of the Quran, Arabic, should always remain a living language. Islam’s long history after the revelation of the Quran shows that, surprisingly, all these factors in its favour have strongly resisted erosion. The very convergence of these factors is quite extraordinary: there is no other book except the Quran in respect of which so many positive factors have continuously remained accumulated for so long a period as one thousand five hundred years. This is sufficient proof that the Quran is the Book of God. The greatness of the Quran must be discovered through argument and reasoning and not by a display of power. Its greatness will be apparent on the basis of power on the Day of Judgement. But then those who did not accept God’s Truth on the strength of arguments would be compelled to accept this Truth by being humbled.