فَعّالٌ لِما يُريدُ
Doer of what He desires.
EXEGESIS
Faʿʿāl (doer) is the emphatic form of the active participle fāʿil, meaning one who carries out an action. It denotes not just a ‘doer’ but one who acts repeatedly, effortlessly, and with absolute power.
EXPOSITION
This verse connects to all the four previous verses, allowing the reader to reflect once again on each one of them.
Seeing oppression, people often ask: why does God permit this to continue? If He is the Lord of the Throne and if to Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, then why does He permit such things to happen? If His striking is severe, why does He delay it? While more complete answers to that important question are given in other verses of the Quran (for example 2:155, 29:2-3, and 67:2), we are here treated to a very brief answer: God is the Doer of what He desires based on His boundless knowledge and absolute wisdom. He has created the creation with a specific plan in mind and we have to understand that He is carrying out that plan per His wisdom. Perhaps we think we would do many things differently, but that is because we are impatient and ignorant of the bigger picture. Perhaps we would like to see the wrongdoers punished immediately and cannot wait a moment longer to see that done, but God bids us to be patient: So be patient just as the resolute among the apostles were patient, and do not seek to hasten [the punishment] for them. The day when they see what they are promised, [it will be] as though they had remained only an hour of a day. This is a proclamation. So shall anyone be destroyed except the transgressing lot? (46:35).
God does not act on the whims of His subjects. The majestic Lord of the Throne administers His kingdom with a wisdom that is beyond our limited comprehension, He is not questioned concerning what He does, but they are questioned (21:23). The usage of the emphatic faʿʿāl is to highlight God’s active role in administering His kingdom. He is not a creator who created and then abandoned His creation; far from it, He is constantly looking after their needs.
The verse is also a reminder of the absolute sovereignty of the Lord of the Throne. If God wishes to do something, there is no limit to His power. He can do as He pleases. Nothing can stop or avert His punishment when the oppressors incur His wrath, nor can anyone thwart His will. No external force can limit Him. Additionally, there are no internal obstacles to Him carrying out His will, such as laziness, shortness of attention span, lack of determination, changing one’s mind, and so on.
This verse also connects to His two attributes, the all-forgiving, the all-affectionate. As the absolute sovereign, not only does He hold the authority to decree punishment as He sees fit, but He dispenses mercy as He wishes: To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth: He forgives whomever He wishes and punishes whomever He wishes, and Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful (3:129).
Finally, the statement of the verse, Doer of what He desires, invites us to ask: what is it that God desires? In Sūrat Āl ʿImrān we are told Allah does not desire any wrong for the creatures (3:108). If God punishes His subjects, it is not because He likes to inflict harm on them. On the contrary, God desires good and success for all His servants. This reflection takes the reader back to the heart of the surah and its description of paradise, which is the supreme success (verse 11). That is what God desires for His servants, that is what He has planned for them, that is why He has created them, and that is what He is guiding them towards.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.
- Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
[1] Mizan, 20/254.
[2] Psalms 135:6.
[3] Psalms 115:3.