فَبِأَيِّ آلاءِ رَبِّكَ تَتَمارىٰ
Then which of the bounties of your Lord will you dispute?
EXEGESIS
Ālāʾ (bounties) is the plural of ilā, which here means the blessings given by God. Even though some of the things mentioned earlier are regarded as punishments of God, they can also be considered blessings in the sense that they are lessons to be taken heed of and reminders, and also in the sense that the people being addressed at the time of Prophet Muhammad (s) had been spared such fates.
Tatamārā (dispute) comes from tamārī, meaning argumentation that is based on doubt and hesitation.
The your here is singular and therefore usually an address to the Prophet, but the tone and content of the statement suggest it to be a general address to all mankind, as in: which of the bounties of your Lord, O man, will you dispute? It could also be referring to him who turned away (verse 33).
EXPOSITION
As mention was made in previous verses of the various blessings given by God – life and creation, wealth and provision, and so on – He now asks if man is willing to dispute with the one who gave him all these things and to deny their source. The question is a rhetorical one, very similar to the verse, O man! What has deceived you about your generous Lord (82:6). The nature of some is to deny the generosity of their Lord and to think that all they have is their own achievements, and man is the most disputatious of creatures (18:54). The question follows the example of destroyed nations who suffered their fate because of their belligerence, so there is a warning here as well; if one disputes with God and denies His blessings, it may be that he meets the same fate as those destroyed nations.
Of course the main blessing that is being alluded to is the main theme of the surah and what the surah began with, namely the spiritual blessing of guidance and the position of prophethood granted to Prophet Muhammad (s). This is made abundantly clear by the next verse.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- From Sulaym ibn Qays al-Hilālī, that Imam Ali (a) said: ‘Faithlessness (kufr) is founded on four pillars: sinfulness (fisq), extremism in faith (ghuluww), doubt (shakk), and confusion (shubhah) … and doubt is divided into four parts: argumentativeness (miryah), desires (hawā), hesitancy (taraddud), and submitting [one’s decision-making capacity] to others (istislām), and that is the meaning of God – mighty and glorious – saying Then which of the bounties of your Lord will you dispute?’
Note: Doubts that are, in reality, based on the desire to argue and deny, to try and poke holes simply for the sake of rejecting, and not a genuine desire to learn the truth, are the foundation of faithlessness. Seeking the truth should always be genuine and questioning for the sake of this is praiseworthy.
[1] Tibyan, 9/440; Tabari, 27/47; Raghib, p. 84.
[2] Nemuneh, 22/572.
[3] Nemuneh, 22/572, which adds that the form of tafāʿul is generally used for verbs that regard the interaction between one or more people, but here it is used for emphasis or perhaps due to the multitude of various blessings given by God.
[4] Tibyan, 9/277; Zamakhshari, 4/429; Qurtubi, 17/121; Mizan, 19/50.
[5] Mizan, 19/50.
[6] Kafi, 2/393. The hadith is only partially related here. Kulaynī comments after this that in another version of the hadith it says istislām lil-jahl wa ahlah, meaning submitting one’s decision-making capacity to ignorance and the people of ignorance.