أَن رَآهُ استَغنىٰ

When he considers himself self-sufficient.

EXEGESIS

The perfect tense verb istaghnā has as its root letters the trilateral gh-n-y which means to be independent, to be free from want, to be self-sufficient, and to be rich, and thus its core meaning is the opposite of poverty, neediness, want, and lacking.^{‎[1]Tahqiq, 7/274.} The verb itself means to do without, to have no need, and to become self-sufficient.^{‎[2]Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, pp. 676-677.}

EXPOSITION

This verse is in the form of an explanation as to why a human being becomes rebellious. He does so when he believes himself to be needless of God and to be independent of Him; that he can dispense with God, the one who blessed him and bestowed favours on him. Consequently he becomes an ingrate disbeliever. He becomes preoccupied with his self and the apparent causes which allow him to reach his aims and intent and thus becomes heedless of God, seeing no need to thank Him, obey Him, or remember Him, thus forgetting Him.^{‎[3]Mizan, 20/325.}

Additional factors that have been identified as major causes of human rebelliousness, disobedience, and tyranny, in addition to a false sense of self-sufficiency, are wealth, power and dominance (20:24), ignorance (50:27), and deviance from the truth (7:186),^{‎[4]Tahqiq, 7/83.} title, social position, and charismatic personality, although it is also argued that a composite over-arching cause for it is the false sense of self-sufficiency and security that comes about due to all these factors. This is because just as wealth, power, and social rank can fool a person into feeling self-sufficient and invincible, ignorance of reality and the truth, as well as deviation from the truth, can also lead to a false sense of security, sufficiency, and invincibility.^{‎[5]Tahqiq, 7/83.} The effect of such rebelliousness and disobedience is that the person thus afflicted inclines to the lowly life of this world, that is, worldliness (79:37), and his end is inordinate (38:55).

Indeed, what this verse mentions is an attitude found in many a human being where a sense of supposed self-sufficiency develops due to strength, wealth, children, affiliation to a strong and powerful social group, etc., which in turn leads to a false sense of pride and haughtiness. This in turn causes the human being to incline to tyranny and the disobedience of God. Such a human being may withdraw from the worship of God and the recognition of His precepts whereas no contingent creature can ever survive, even for a moment, without the continuous grace of God towards it.^{‎[6]Amthal, 20/327; Irshād al-Adhhān, 1/603.} Indeed, numerous verses identify God as the real and true being that is absolutely free of want, self-sufficient, and beyond need, such as 3:97, 39:7, and 10:68, while 47:38 explicitly emphasises that God is the true self-sufficient one, the rich, and the one free of all want while mankind is the one that is poor and needy of Him. This is repeated forcefully once again in 35:15, and whilst the quality of supposed self-sufficiency in human beings causes the qualities of arrogance, tyranny, and excess to come to the fore, the real and true self-sufficient one (God) is described in the Quran with four very different attributes. He is described as being self-sufficient and forbearing (2:263), self-sufficient and praiseworthy (2:267), self-sufficient and merciful (6:133), and self-sufficient and bountiful (27:40).^{‎[7]Tahqiq, 7/277.}

It is suggested that these verses and the following ones were revealed in respect of Abū Jahl,^{‎[8]Shawkani, 5/571; Tabrisi, 10/782; al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al- Qurʾān, 21/123; Amthal, 20/327; Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān, 4/762; Zamakhshari, 4/777.} just as it is suggested that what is apparent from the verses is that the man mentioned in these verses is a reference to mankind as a species, that is, it is a generic noun and means mankind as a whole^{‎[9]Razi, 32/219- 220; Bayān al-Maʿānī, 1/70; Mizan, 20/325; Amthal, 20/327.} and that this verse informs of the nature of the human being akin to, for example, 14:34.^{‎[10]Mizan, 20/325.} The latter verse says that God grants mankind what they ask of Him and if mankind were to attempt to count the blessings of God bestowed on them, they would fail to do so, and then the verse terminates with the emphatic Indeed man is most unfair and ungrateful!

The general wording of these verses lends credence to the idea that mankind in general is meant by these verses while Abū Jahl is one relevant historical example for the verses^{‎[11]Amthal, 20/327.} on the basis of the principle of application (taṭbīq). This principle is defined (from among several definitions ascribed to it) as the identification or application of a verse to a specific person in case of it being capable of being identified with multiple persons. Consequently, it is applied to the most relevant instance of it and hence the ambit of a wide concept capable of being applied to many instances is rendered limited and narrow, and the general concept is identified with the most relevant instance for it without such an application negating its identification with other similar referents across time and space or negating its general import. However, if these verses were truly revealed in respect of Abū Jahl, which is what the historical sources insist, and which may come across as corroborated by the succeeding verses which seem to be referring to a specific historical incident, then these may yet be applied to mankind as a whole on the basis of the principle of jary, which is defined as the identification or application of the words or verses of the Quran to an instance that is other than its original historical object of reference. In other words, it is to consider something as an instance from the instances of a concept when it was not an instance of it originally. Another relevant interpretive principle that could be invoked here is al-ʿibratu bi-ʿumūm al-lafẓ lā bi-khuṣūṣ al-sabab. This principle says that the lesson sought to be understood from a verse is by means of the apparent, general sense of the verse and not by limiting the meaning to the specific (historical) cause/referent, although it is undeniable that the specific historical referent complements the apparent general sense and helps clarify it by offering a relevant example for it, and especially so here.

It is suggested that one way a human being may cure himself of this spiritual and psychological malady is by reflecting on the hereafter and what is prepared there for human beings of reward and punishment, which cannot be compared to what is available in the world. This can be done by visiting cemeteries which is greatly encouraged in Islamic teachings.^{‎[12]Mudarrisi, 18/236.}

It seems that these verses were intended to draw the Prophet’s attention to the rather complicated and convoluted nature of mankind in respect to divine guidance and teachings, intending thereby to warn him not to expect a quick and positive response to his teachings and missionary efforts, and to rather prepare himself for rejection, rebellion, stubbornness, and arrogance.^{‎[13]Amthal, 20/327.}

Thereafter, the following verse warns and cautions the rebellious human being.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. The Prophet is reported to have prayed: ‘O Allah, I seek refuge with You from poverty that causes one to forget [You] and from self-sufficiency that causes one to rebel [against You].’^{‎[14]Thalabi, 10/246.}
2. ʿAbd-Allāh ibn Masʿūd is reported to have said: ‘Two types of greedy and covetous people are not satisfied: the person seeking knowledge and the person seeking the world. Nor are they equal, for the seeker of knowledge increases in the satisfaction of the Merciful …’ He then recited 35:28. Thereafter, he said: ‘As for the seeker of the world, he exceeds the bounds in tyranny,’ and then recited verses 6-7 [of this surah].^{‎[15]Suyuti, 6/369.}
3. Muqātil relates the following anecdote in his Quran commentary, in the context of verses 4-5 of this surah. He writes: ‘The Messenger of God entered Masjid al-Ḥarām where he found Abū Jahl placing a necklace of gold on the idol Hubal which he worshipped. He had applied fragrance to it and was saying: “O Hubal, everything has an abode and every good thing has a reward. I swear by your dignity that I shall make you happy in the forthcoming period.” This was because a thousand camels had been born in his herd that year and his caravan had returned from Shām with abundant profits, and he was attributing that success to Hubal and was therefore expressing his gratitude to it. Hubal was the idol situated inside the Kaaba. At this, the Messenger of God exclaimed: “Woe be to you! Your Lord granted you while you are offering thanks to another! I swear by Allah that He is indignant and angry with you and shall requite you. So wait and see when that happens! O uncle, I call you to Allah, the one, for He is your God and the God of your forefathers before. He created and sustained you and if you follow me you will attain the world and the hereafter.” Abū Jahl responded: “I swear by al-Lāt, al-ʿUzzā, and the lord of this building, if you did not abstain from such speech and if I saw you here worshipping other than our gods I shall drag you by your forelock. Aren’t these the daughters of God?” The Prophet responded: “And since when did Allah have children?”’^{‎[16]Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān, 4/761-762.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Mughniyyah makes an interesting observation with respect to verses 6-7. His observation is that the emphasis on knowledge in the previous verses, especially verses 4-5, appears to indicate that the cause of human rebelliousness meant here is not due to the feeling of material self-sufficiency such as wealth, progeny, etc., but a feeling of superiority that comes about due to knowledge, especially of the destructive kind which allows for the production of weapons of destruction by means of which their owner wishes to overwhelm and control the world and its inhabitants.^{‎[17]Mubin, 1/864.} In yet another Quran commentary of his he points out, in relation to these verses, that this was the observation of Muhammad ʿAbduh, who said that the common understanding of this verse is tenable if it is looked at in isolation and separately from the previous verses, however if the literary context is borne in mind then it refers to rebelliousness and the sense of superiority that comes about due to knowledge and what it brings in terms of factories, labs, and weapons of destruction for the control of the world.^{‎[18]Kashif, 7/588.}

What the two scholars Mughniyyah and Muhammad ʿAbduh have written and understood of these verses is also mentioned by Faḍl-Allāh who writes that these verses can refer and apply to intellectual power and superiority that grants its possessor the ability to create and innovate products which are destructive.^{‎[19]Fadlallah, 24/338.}

[1] Tahqiq, 7/274.
[2] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, pp. 676-677.
[3] Mizan, 20/325.
[4] Tahqiq, 7/83.
[5] Tahqiq, 7/83.
[6] Amthal, 20/327; Irshād al-Adhhān, 1/603.
[7] Tahqiq, 7/277.
[8] Shawkani, 5/571; Tabrisi, 10/782; al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al- Qurʾān, 21/123; Amthal, 20/327; Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān, 4/762; Zamakhshari, 4/777.
[9] Razi, 32/219- 220; Bayān al-Maʿānī, 1/70; Mizan, 20/325; Amthal, 20/327.
[10] Mizan, 20/325.
[11] Amthal, 20/327.
[12] Mudarrisi, 18/236.
[13] Amthal, 20/327.
[14] Thalabi, 10/246.
[15] Suyuti, 6/369.
[16] Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaymān, 4/761-762.
[17] Mubin, 1/864.
[18] Kashif, 7/588.
[19] Fadlallah, 24/338.