أَفَحَسِبَ الَّذينَ كَفَروا أَن يَتَّخِذوا عِبادي مِن دوني أَولِياءَ ۚ إِنّا أَعتَدنا جَهَنَّمَ لِلكافِرينَ نُزُلًا
Do the faithless suppose that they have taken My servants for guardians in My stead? Indeed, We have prepared hell as the abode of the faithless.
EXEGESIS
A-fa-ḥasiba (do they suppose) is a rhetorical question which rejects the false supposition of the faithless. Fāʾ is a consequential conjunctive which conjoins this sentence to an elided sentence.
Awliyāʾ (guardians) is the plural of walī, which as discussed in verse 26 has various meanings, depending on the context. Here it is referring to guardianship in the sense of one who can manage their affairs and look after their interests, like the walī who is appointed over an orphan to look after their affairs.
Aʿtadnā (we have prepared) was originally aʿdadnā, but has been changed in pronunciation because of the similarity of the letters d and t.
Nuzul comes from nazala meaning to descend and come down. A nuzul is like a manzil, a place where one settles down, usually to rest. It is also said that nuzul is that which is prepared for a guest and includes things such as food and refreshments. If that is the case then the usage here is ironic, like in the verse, give them good tiding (bashshirhum) of a painful punishment (3:21).
EXPOSITION
The last verses spoke of the myopia of the faithless being revealed on the Day of Judgement when its consequence (hell) is shown to them. This verse continues on that, pointing out how some people blindly follow false gods down a path to perdition.
Do the faithless suppose: this is a rhetorical question meant to deride the ones who have denied God’s oneness, His signs, and His complete control over all things.
That they have taken My servants: the first question to be answered here is who are these servants? The exegetes have offered different suggestions: 1. It is the angels or people like Prophet Jesus (a). 2. It is the idols, as per the verse, Indeed those whom you invoke besides Allah are creatures (ʿibād, lit. servants) like you (7:194). 3. It is the evil and satanic jinns which they obeyed instead of God.
Abū Ḥayyān argues that the usage of the pronoun My should be understood as indication of honour for those servants and therefore the first opinion should be favoured. Ālūsī adds that it is also possible that the pronoun is not for indication of honour, but rather to indicate that they are under the authority of God. Tabatabai criticises Abū Ḥayyān’s opinion saying that the context is not a context of praise.
Perhaps we might think that it is difficult to apply the name servants to the idols worshipped by the idolaters, because we are told they have no reality and are only names invented by people, having no true existence: You do not worship besides Him but [mere] names that you and your fathers have coined (12:40). However, the issue is more subtle than that. God is actually approaching the issue with two different types of refutations; one is based on reality, and the other on their beliefs. The idolaters of Arabia thought of the angels as being the daughters of God and thought their idols to house the essence of those angels. God of course knows that those false gods have no reality and do not exist and are merely lies invented by the forefathers of the Arabs (12:40). Nevertheless, He also refutes them polemically, using their own false ideology against them by pointing out that all the angels have been created by God and are merely His servants (7:194).
If we opt for the first opinion, then we may see the specification of My servants as being emphatic, because this is the worst type of shirk, since it is taking beloved servants of God and ascribing such a vile thing to them; while we know that those servants were completely disassociated from such acts.
It is also important to keep in mind that no one, not even highly distinguished individuals such as archangels or prophets or their like, have any power independent of God, and it is only through Him that they have achieved anything or were even guided in the first place.
For guardians in My stead: they think that these guardians would protect them from the consequences of their actions, that is, the punishment of hell spoken of here and previously. As we said, those angels abhor such an act and disassociate themselves from it, On the day He will muster them all together, then He will say to the angels: ‘Was it you that these used to worship?’ They will say: ‘Immaculate are You! You are our intimate, not they (waliyyunā min dūnihim)! Rather, they used to worship the jinn; most of them had faith in them’ (34:40-41). The angels are of course keenly aware that God is the only walī, something which some realise only on the Day of Judgement.
Perhaps in this sense another takeaway from the verse could be that no one should think that God would not be angered if the ones they worship besides Him are His beloved servants. Meaning, He would somehow not mind it, because after all they are His beloved servants and He should be happy they are being praised and elevated. This is of course wrong and anyone thinking in this way has made a terrible mistake, like those who claimed that Prophet Jesus (a) was the son of God: They say: ‘The All-Beneficent has taken a son!’ You have certainly advanced something hideous! The heavens are about to be rent apart at it, the earth to split open, and the mountains to collapse into bits, that they should ascribe a son to the All-Beneficent! (19:88-91).
Indeed, We: the pronoun changes from first person singular (My servants; My stead) to the first person plural (Indeed, We; We have prepared). This contrast allows us to pay more attention and realise the emphasis on the first person singular, which highlights the oneness of God and that He has no one beside Him. This same contrast was utilised earlier as well: We shall bring hell into view (verse 100), as compared to My remembrance (verse 101). Again, when speaking of remembering God, the singular is used in parallel to the plural to emphasise the concept of tawḥīd (oneness of God).
We have prepared hell as the abode of the faithless: hell is their final abode (nuzul), but as we said, the expression nuzul can be understood ironically. In this sense, the punishment of hell is likened to a prepared rest stop for the faithless. Of course it is anything but, and they have actually prepared it for themselves by their own actions. They transition from the comfort they enjoyed in this life to the (dis)comfort they have prepared for themselves in the hereafter, Amid infernal miasma and boiling water and the shadow of a dense black smoke, neither cool nor beneficial. Indeed, they had been affluent before this (56:42-45). The ironic usage is clearer when compared to the description of paradise in the verses to come, which uses the same word, they shall have the gardens of firdaws for abode (nuzul) (verse 107).
Noteworthily, faithlessness is not only denying the existence of God, but often it is about relegating Him to irrelevance. Many might claim to believe in Him, but they deny His sovereignty and absolute control over all things, thinking themselves and others independent of Him, seeking refuge in other than Him and making those things their guardians, be they idols, money, science, spirits, the universe, stars, other people, or anything else. All of this is a type of faithlessness and all of it takes one further from the vicinity of God and His mercy.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Another understanding of the verse, that is attributed to Ibn Abbas, is that the first part of the verse is a question: Do the faithless suppose that they can take My servants for guardians in My stead? To which God then replies that anyone who does so, hell is prepared for him.
Another understanding is: Do they think that they can take God’s servants as deities beside Him and they would be their friends (awliyāʾ can also carry the meaning of friends)? Rather, they are their enemies.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
- Judgments are prepared for scorners, and beatings for the back of fools.
[1] Munyah, 17/86.
[2] Tibyan, 7/97; Razi, 21/501.
[3] Tabrisi, 6/766; Zamakhshari, 2/749; Razi, 21/501; Muhit, 7/230; Mizan, 13/368; Nemuneh, 12/557.
[4] Tabrisi, 6/767; Tabari, 16/26; Thalabi, 6/200; Zamakhshari, 2/749; Baghawi, 3/220; Razi, 21/501; Qurtubi, 11/65; Muhit, 7/229; Nemuneh, 12/556; Tantawi, 8/582.
[5] Thalabi, 6/200; Baghawi, 3/220; Razi, 21/501; Mizan, 13/368.
[6] Baghawi, 3/220; Razi, 21/501.
[7] Muhit, 7/229; Alusi, 8/366.
[8] Alusi, 8/366.
[9] Mizan, 13/368.
[10] See also 53:23.
[11] Nemuneh, 12/556-557.
[12] Tabrisi, 6/767; Mizan, 13/367.
[13] See also 19:82.
[14] Mizan, 13/367.
[15] Tabari, 16/26.
[16] Matthew 25:41.
[17] Proverbs 19:29.