وَأَكيدُ كَيدًا
And I [too] am devising a plan.
EXEGESIS
In addition to what was mentioned in the previous verse, we may add that it has been reported from Ibn Abbas that kayd means ‘punishment and retribution’. However, Rāghib elucidates saying the more correct meaning is to ‘give respite in order to bring about a reckoning’. Zajjāj reportedly also mentioned that ‘the plan (kayd) of God for them is to take them into punishment in a manner that they did not expect [68:44]’.
This latter meaning is more appropriate, especially considering the final verse of this surah. Thus, the stratagem or plan employed by God is to give respite until such a moment that the time of punishment has come.
EXPOSITION
Here, God affirms that He is quite prepared for the schemes that the rebellious souls have devised, but God ensures the victory of his mission: It is He who has sent His Apostle with the guidance and the religion of truth that He may make it prevail over all religions, though the polytheists should be averse (61:9). There is indeed a grand plan of God, the plan He has for His creation, which He has not made in vain or jest. There is also a clear juxtaposition used in the verse with regards to the preceding one. The enemies plan in secret and fear that others gaining knowledge of their ill plans would mean the failure of those plans; whereas God announces that He is aware of their plans and informs them of His own plan.
As to what specifically is the plan that God is referring to here could depend on what meaning we preferred in the previous verse. However, if we consider the previous verse to be general in its scope and inclusive of all those meanings, we come to the conclusion that God’s plan is to nullify the plan of the enemies. The hypocrites indeed seek to deceive Allah, but it is He who outwits them (4:142).
In the previous verse we see that God has used the emphatic Indeed to express the planning of the disbelievers, but does not utilise it for His own plan. This subtle linguistic choice delicately points out that the disbelievers bring all their efforts and strength to bear against the prophetic mission, as witnessed by an examination of history, yet the plan of God is completed effortlessly on His behalf and does not tire or strain Him in any way. If the creation of the world and the destruction of other nations far greater than the Arab tribes resisting Prophet Muhammad (s) did not tire God then certainly planning the demise of these enemies was no taxing feat for Him to accomplish.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Mullā Ṣadrā and other commentators have pointed out that when God ascribes devising a kayd (plan) to Himself it is only a figurative expression used to draw a comparison between two things, such as when God says, The requital of evil is an evil like it (42:40), it does not mean that the just recompense dealt to the wrongdoers is evil. Similarly, when God says He has devised a plan for the plotters it means that they will see the just recompense of their actions come to them in a way that they did not foresee. This interpretation could be considered an elaboration on what we mentioned earlier, that some plans can be laudable and others reprehensible. A plan laid out for achieving justice is a laudable one.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.
[1] Suyuti, 3/149.
[2] Raghib, p. 728.
[3] Lisan, 3/384-385.
[4] In this regard see verses 50:36-38.
[5] The translation of kayd as plan may be a bit misleading here. If the word were translated as ‘plot’ it might have some of the same connotations as in Arabic. Hence, we see the discussion of some exegetes concerning the usage of the word.
[6] Sadra, 7/355-356.
[7] Proverbs 12:5.