فَإِذا مَسَّ الإِنسانَ ضُرٌّ دَعانا ثُمَّ إِذا خَوَّلناهُ نِعمَةً مِنّا قالَ إِنَّما أوتيتُهُ عَلىٰ عِلمٍ ۚ بَل هِيَ فِتنَةٌ وَلٰكِنَّ أَكثَرَهُم لا يَعلَمونَ
When distress befalls man, he supplicates Us. Then, when We grant him a blessing from Us, he says: ‘I was given it by virtue of [my] knowledge.’ Rather, it is a test, but most of them do not know.
EXEGESIS
Letter fāʾ at the beginning of the verse means ‘so’ or ‘thus’ (it is dropped from the translation). It indicates that the verse describes the group mentioned earlier – either those who detest the remembrance of God alone (verse 45), or the wrongdoers (verse 47). It shows a clear contradiction in their mentality and behaviour, because at times of distress they attribute everything to God and resort to Him alone, while at times of ease they ascribe their happiness to themselves or other means.
For massa (befall, touch) and al-insān (man, human being) see verse 8.
Khawwalnāhu: see khawwalahu under verse 8.
Minnā (from us) is in plural form, which could indicate the following: 1. It means from Me (God), and the plural form indicates God’s greatness and magnificence. This is especially relevant here, because it shows how wrong and blasphemous it is to stand against such power and arrogantly claim, I was given it by virtue of [my] knowledge. 2. It is plural as it includes the means and instruments by which God bestows blessings upon His servants. These instruments would primarily include God’s angels, but could also include other means down to the natural forces in the realm of matter at the bottom of the chain of instruments. This meaning would explain why man is drawn into the conclusion that I was given it by virtue of [my] knowledge, for this claim shows that the person has been caught up by these means, and thus has been veiled from seeing the real source behind them.
Fitnah is the process of heating gold or metal to refine and purify it. Its primary meaning in the Quran is test and trial. However, it is also used to refer to the implications and consequences of trial as well, such as calamity, difficulty, commotion, disruption, and punishment. Therefore, it could also be that Rather, it is a test (fitnah) means: Rather, it is a punishment, which would comply with verses 3:178, 9:55, and 9:85. However, this meaning is not very likely given the context of the current verses.
Niʿmah (blessing, bounty) is feminine, but ‘it’ (in I was given it by virtue of [my] knowledge) is a masculine pronoun. This could be because the person is essentially saying: I was given whatever I was given by virtue of my knowledge. This indicates a fundamental belief and misconception of mankind about the affairs of the universe in general, which is far broader than any particular blessing. This generalisation is conveyed in the subtlest and most concise way by merely a change of grammatical gender, which is an example of the Quran’s miraculous eloquence.
EXPOSITION
These verses are signs of God’s mercy, for He is essentially calling His servants back to Himself before the day when it is too late to wake up and repent, and when no payment or ransom will be accepted. When distress befalls man is a time when he is disappointed with his own power, knowledge, and planning. It is when the apparent means, forces, and sources that one usually relies on fall short of what they are expected to achieve. This is like cleansing the heart of the dusts that have sat on it and have blocked it from beholding the light of tawḥīd. That is why the person’s attention is turned toward God: he supplicates Us.
However, this temporary awakening goes away as soon as that emergency is over and things are back to normal: Then, when We grant him a blessing from Us, he says: ‘I was given it by virtue of [my] knowledge’. This need not be something that the person literally utters, but could be what one effectively holds within oneself. This claim essentially means that ‘I am the one who is on top of my affairs; I am the cause of my achievements and success’. This is clearly against tawḥīd, which holds God as the one and only source of any impact or effect in the universe. Therefore, this person is setting himself and his knowledge as equals and partners to God. This is clearly seen by matching this verse with verse 8: When distress befalls man, he supplicates his Lord, turning to Him penitently. Then, when He grants him a blessing from Himself, he forgets that for which he had supplicated Him before, and sets up equals to Allah that he may lead [people] astray from His way. Say: ‘Revel in your ingratitude for a while. Indeed you are among the inmates of the fire’.
Rather, it is a test, but most of them do not know. This world is a realm of test and trial. This is an essential quality of this world, meaning that anything that happens in this life is a test (although it could also serve other purposes at the same time). The current life is not a place of retribution. Even when God rewards or punishes someone in this life, which by the way is only a partial and temporary retribution, that reward or punishment is at the same time a trial for the person. Unfortunately, most people do not realise this principle. See verses 89:15-16.
In this case, the test is clear: to see if the person has truly woken up and if he remains loyal to God, or if he becomes heedless by God’s bounties and turns his back to Him in arrogance and defiance.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Several interpretations have been narrated from the early and later exegetes concerning I was given it by virtue of [my] knowledge, such as: 1. By virtue of my own work and skill. 2. Due to my knowledge of God’s satisfaction with me. 3. Based on God’s knowledge of my worth and desert. 4. Due to my knowledge of how to achieve ease and avoid hardship. 5. Based on my knowledge of how to earn a living.
What clarifies the meaning here is the subsequent contrast: Rather, it is a test. Therefore, I was given it by virtue of [my] knowledge means: I acquired this based on my worth and desert. In other words, I earned this using my knowledge of how-to. The explicit description of the blessing as something that is from Us also confirms this. Furthermore, the subsequent verses show that what they were given was not because of their merit or virtue, because what they used to earn did not avail them (verse 50) and that the evils of what they had earned visited them (verse 51).
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
A similar logic to the one seen in this verse is found in God’s description of the people of Israel as he talked to their judge, Gideon, when they were about to fight the army of Midian:
- And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
The same idea is also found in the following verses:
- For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
TOPICAL ARTICLES
See Topical Article: Test and Trial.
[1] Zamakhshari, 4/134.
[2] Razi, 26/458-459.
[3] Raghib; Lisan, under f-t-n.
[4] Mizan, 2/61.
[5] Mizan, 2/274.
[6] Tabrisi.J, 3/460; Alusi, 12/267, with some elaboration. The masculine pronoun in this case would refer to something or some part of blessing. It could also be that mā here is mawṣūlah and not part of innamā.
[7] Tabari, 24/9; Tibyan, 9/35-36; Tabrisi.J, 3/460.
[8] Mizan, 17/274.
[9] Judges 7:2.
[10] Isaiah 10:13-14.