Surah Al-Hajj, Ayah 15

The Reward of the Righteous

The mention of the misguided who are doomed is followed by mention of the righteous who are blessed. They are those who believe firmly in their hearts and confirm their faith by their actions, doing all kinds of righteous deeds and avoiding evil actions. Because of this, they will inherit dwellings in the lofty ranks of the gardens of Paradise. So Allah tells us that He sends those astray and guides these, and says:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَفْعَلُ مَا يُرِيدُ

(Verily, Allah does what He wills.)

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).

Whenever a man, unmindful of God, strays from His right path or ignores it, the reason is that he has placed his entire reliance on something other than God. This could be either an idol or some other such object or being. But, in this world, there is nobody who has any powers except the one and only God. Therefore, if a man relies on something other than God, he in fact parts from a powerful Being to seek the support of some imaginary thing which has no reality as a power. What action can be more wrong than this? Moreover, one’s association with God is not a simple matter. It is in fact an acceptance of reality. It is a right of God over man. Therefore, when a man leaves God and diverts his attention towards imaginary things, he is to be harmed by his own action. As far as any benefit is concerned, it can never be received from any object other than the one true God. Those who seek the support of things other than God apparently consider those things to be on a higher plane than themselves, as they would not otherwise have had recourse to them. But the fact is that those whose support is sought and those who seek such support are equally helpless and powerless. In such a world, the pure in thought, treading the God-favoured path with eyes fixed on the Hereafter, can distinguish God from a host of false gods. They are the most precious souls on this earth. God will show His appreciation for them by settling them in the perfect world of paradise, where they will experience eternal bliss.