إِلّا بَلاغًا مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرِسالاتِهِ ۚ وَمَن يَعصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسولَهُ فَإِنَّ لَهُ نارَ جَهَنَّمَ خالِدينَ فيها أَبَدًا
[I have no duty] except to transmit from Allah, and [to communicate] His messages; and whoever disobeys Allah and His apostle, indeed there will be for him the fire of hell, to remain in it forever.’
EXEGESIS
Balāgh is a noun that has its origin in the verb balagha, meaning to reach or to arrive at something. Some grammarians including Rāghib and Muṣṭafawī qualify the meaning of the term balāgh as reaching the highest point of something, or to arrive at the farthest point of a fixed end, be it of time, place, or any other thing conventionally agreed upon. It is by virtue of this qualification that the term balāgh or bulūgh and its derivatives become distinct from their sister term wuṣūl. As an extension of the lexical meaning of the term, balāgh – like iblāgh and tablīgh – implies communication of something to its ultimate recipient, and has appeared in this sense in such verses of the Quran as 14:52, 45:35, and 13:40. The word balāgh is used in Arabic to also denote sufficient amount of something required for a task, preserving its link with the lexical connotation of its root by implying that something has reached the highest level required for the accomplishment of a certain task. The word balāgh in the verse under discussion means communication of the divine message to mankind and jinn.
Risālātihi: risālāt is the plural of the noun risālah (message). It lexically has its origin in the infinitive risl that has been discussed under the word rasūlahu below. The term risālah in Arabic also implies a mission. In the verse under discussion, the noun risālāt implies the divine messages.
Makārim Shīrāzī cites the views of some exegetes that the term balāgh in this verse implies the fundamental (uṣūl) Islamic beliefs, whilst risālāt refers to the teachings related to the branches (furūʿ) of religion; or the former signifies communicating the divine message, whereas the latter means to enforce the divine injunctions in society. However, considering other verses of the Quran – like 7:62 – where both these terms have appeared together in the same meaning, he maintains that there seems to be no difference in meaning between them in the verse under discussion.
Yaʿṣi is the imperfect tense of the verb ʿaṣā, which lexically implies to disobey or defy someone in something. ʿIṣyān and maʿṣiyah mean disobedience and wrongdoing. The word ʿāṣī is the active participle denoting one who is disobedient, and which originally refers to the young one of a camel that defies following her mother. Some grammarians such as Rāghib are of the view that the term ʿiṣyān derives from the root ʿ-ṣ-w from which comes the noun ʿaṣā – staff. Accordingly, Rāghib maintains that ʿiṣyān originally implies to show defiance or rejection by using a staff. However, Muṣṭafawī holds that the term ʿiṣyān and its other derivatives have their origin in the root ʿ-ṣ-y that lexically implies incompliance, and has occurred in the Quran in this meaning in 14:36. Explaining the relationship between the verb and the noun ʿaṣā (staff), he believes that holding a staff indicates some kind of incompliance from the physical body due to illness or weakness, or from outside by one’s adversary and the like. Hence, taking up a staff is either for the purpose of compensating an internal deficiency or preventing an external threat. The term ʿaṣā (staff) is said to have been imported into Arabic from Hebrew.
The verb yaʿṣi has occurred in this verse in its lexical meaning connoting defiance of God’s command and that of His Prophet. Nonetheless, taking the context of the previous verses into account, maʿṣiyah here implies to either reject the concept of tawḥīd (oneness of God) specifically, or denying tawḥīd and that which follows it of other fundamental Islamic beliefs and divine injunctions.
Rasūlahu is a noun that derives from the infinitive risl meaning to release or to set something free. The term irsāl – a derivative of risl – is used in Arabic to refer to the act of letting one’s hair freely hang down. Setting a thing free implies that there is unrestricted movement and flow. It is probably on this basis that some grammarians have defined risl as something that flows smoothly. Nonetheless, the term irsāl came to be gradually used in the case of dispatching a person or a thing from one place to another, while the word rasūl came to denote one who has been sent – an envoy. However, the term rasūl is at times also used to signify the message that is carried by a messenger.
The term rasūl has consistently appeared in the Quran to mean messenger. In the context of the Quran, rasūl (pl. rusul) refers most of the time to the divine prophets sent towards mankind except in some cases, like in 11:81, 6:61, and 10:21, where it refers to the angels in general, and in 81:19 where the archangel Gabriel has been intended in particular. The term rasūlahu in this verse refers to Prophet Muhammad (s).
Nār is a noun that basically means fire. Some grammarians have defined it as a flame that can be felt by the five physical senses. It derives from the root nūr, which lexically implies radiance and luminosity. However, radiance and heat always accompany one another for they are produced as a result of the severe collision between the molecules of a physical object. As such, the word nūr (light) is basically used to refer to luminosity, whilst the term nār to heat.
The term nār has appeared in the Quran sometimes referring to the worldly and visible fire, such as in 56:71, and at other times to hellfire as in 2:24, 3:24, and 7:38. In the verse under discussion, the term nār implies burning fire and has been annexed to the noun jahannam.
Jahannam is one of the names of hell which is a place for the divine chastisement in the hereafter promised by God to the infidels and transgressors.
Khālidīn (sing. khālid) is a participle that has occurred in this verse as an accusative (ḥāl). It originates lexically from the infinitive khuld or khulūd, which signifies to continue to remain and last, however, from a certain point in time. Rāghib explains khulūd as immunity of a thing from decadence and its remaining in the same state that it used to be before. Mountains, stones, and rocks are referred to in Arabic as khawālid due to their durability over the ages. The hereafter is called dār al-khuld because its inhabitants will abide therein permanently. One of the names of paradise is khald.
Considering the instances where the term khulūd and its derivatives are used in Arabic, it becomes clear that the word implies long life or prolonged period of time when deployed in respect to physical and contingent objects and entities, whereas with regard to events in the life hereafter, it only signifies lasting and continuity starting from a given point in time, without bearing the idea of permanence. The notion of perpetuity is not understood from the term khulūd unless it is accompanied with such literal indication (qarīnah lafẓiyyah) as abad (always) and the like. However, there is also the view that the concept of being everlasting and perpetual is essential to the word khuld.
In the verse under discussion, the term khālidīn implies permanent stay by virtue of the word abad in the verse. As khulūd means continuation from a specific point in time, the term cannot be used to characterise God as He is eternal and has no beginning in existence.
Abadan is an adverb that is commonly defined as forever. According to Ibn Manẓūr, it lexically denotes time and is also used in Arabic as an adjective, meaning that which continues. However, Rāghib qualifies the meaning of abad as a span of extended time that is indivisible, unlike the ordinary concept of time that can be divided into different periods. It can be inferred from this definition that abad is a span of time that is continuous, uninterrupted, and without bounds. This definition of the term abad corresponds to the one offered by Ṭurayḥī, who considers abad as a prolonged period of time that has no limit. It is probably in view of this that abad has been regarded to also signify continuation (dawām). The term abadan would thus mean always, and that which happens continuously.
In sum, abad connotes a long and extended period of time that essentially bears no indication of any limit to it. Any kind of limitation in this regard is understood from the context in which the term has been used. Hence, in the verse 9:108, as an example, abadan would be explained as ‘do not stand in that mosque as long as you are alive and so long as the mosque is raised’. In conclusion, the phrase khālidīna fī-hā abadan in this verse would therefore mean, in light of what has been discussed here and under the word khālidīna above: they shall endure therein always.
EXPOSITION
This verse is an exceptive sentence related to the noun multaḥad (place of refuge) in verse 22. As such, this verse would read: no one is able to give me shelter from God, nor am I capable of finding any refuge besides Him except by obeying Him to deliver His message to mankind.
The occurrence of the word rasūl after the name of God by a conjunction is due to the fact that renouncing the Prophet of God is equivalent to renouncing God, as obedience to him is obedience to God: Whoever obeys the Apostle certainly obeys Allah (4:80); this is because the Prophet is naught but the carrier of the divine message to mankind. Moreover, this verse contains subtle allusion to the infallibility of the Holy Prophet, as disobedience to him has been unquestionably regarded as defiance of God’s command.
The divine promise to subject those who are defiant to everlasting punishment includes only the disbelievers, excluding those who although may have professed faith in the divine message but fail to practically adhere to it. This is owing to the fact that eternity in the divine chastisement is the result of infidelity and polytheism.
Unlike the first part of this verse, it appears that the sentence and whoever disobeys Allah and His apostle, indeed there will be for him the fire of hell, to remain in it forever is not part of the speech which the Prophet had been commanded by God to communicate to mankind.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
A group of exegetes are of the view that this verse is an exceptive sentence related to verse 21. Accordingly, the verse would read: I do not possess the power to bring you any harm or good but the power to communicate God’s message to you. Based on this, verse 22 would be a parenthetical clause (muʿtariḍah), emphasising the lack of power and ability of the Prophet. However, it is unlikely for the consequent clause to be disconnected from the antecedent clause, that also by a sentence which is inchoative (mustaʾnaf).
According to Rāzī, the word rasūlahu in the verse refers to the Gabriel.
Ṭūsī, Ṭabarī, and Mughniyyah appear to have interpreted the verb yaʿṣi in the verse to include all forms of disobedience to God and His Prophet, without any distinction between the faithful and the infidels.
[1] Lisan, under b-l-gh.
[2] Tahqiq, under b-l-gh.
[3] Raghib, under b-l-gh.
[4] Tahqiq, under b-l-gh.
[5] Raghib, under b-l-gh.
[6] Raghib and Lisan, under b-l-gh.
[7] Mizan, 20/52; Ahsan al-Hadith, 11/390; Ithna Ashari, 13/352; Tantawi, 15/143; Nemuneh, 25/132; Tabari, 29/76; Alusi, 15/105; Shawkani, 5/372; Tabrisi, 10/562; Razi, 30/676.
[8] Hans Wehr, under rasila (risālah).
[9] Tantawi, 15/143.
[10] Nemuneh, 25/133.
[11] Hans Wehr, under ʿaṣā.
[12] Lisan, under ʿ-ṣ-a.
[13] Raghib, under ʿ-ṣ-w.
[14] Tahqiq, under ʿ-ṣ-y.
[15] Mizan, 20/52. See also Tabrisi, 10/563; Shawkani, 5/372; Alusi, 15/105; Thaalabi, 5/499; Qurtubi, 20/26; Nemuneh, 25/134; Shubbar, p. 536; Ahsan al-Hadith, 11/390.
[16] Raghib, under r-s-l.
[17] Muṭahharī, Majmūՙeh-e Āthār, 4/289.
[18] Ayn, under r-s-l.
[19] Raghib, under r-s-l.
[20] Qamus, under r-s-l.
[21] Mizan, 20/52.
[22] Hans Wehr, nawwara (nār).
[23] Raghib, under n-w-r.
[24] Tahqiq, under n-w-r.
[25] For more information on the meaning of this word, see jahannam under the Exegesis of verse 15.
[26] Raghib, under j-h-n-m.
[27] Qamus, under jahannam.
[28] Darwish, 10/249.
[29] Tahqiq, under kh-l-d.
[30] Lisan, kh-l-d.
[31] Tahqiq, under kh-l-d.
[32] Zamakhshari, 1/110.
[33] Tabrisi, 1/163.
[34] Hans Wehr, under abada (abad).
[35] Lisan, under ʾ-b-d.
[36] Raghib, under ʾ-b-d.
[37] Bahrayn, under ʾ-b-d.
[38] Tahqiq, under ʾ-b-d.
[39] Mizan, 20/52. See Tabrisi, 10/562; Ahsan al-Hadith, 11/390.
[40] Mizan, 20/52.
[41] Qaraati, 10/257.
[42] Mizan, 20/52. See also Razi, 30/677; Nemuneh, 25/134; Ahsan al-Hadith, 11/390.
[43] Thaalabi, 5/499; Qurtubi, 20/26.
[44] Mizan, 20/52.
[45] Tibyan, 10/157; Shubbar, p. 536; Tantawi, 15/143; Tabrisi.J, 4/378; Nemuneh, 25/133; Tabari, 29/76; Alusi, 15/104; Shawkani, 5/372; Zamakhshari, 4/631.
[46] Zamakhshari, 4/631; Alusi, 14/104.
[47] That is the excepted element, known as al-mustathnā.
[48] The general thing from which the exception is made, known as al-mustathnā minhu.
[49] Mizan, 20/52.
[50] Razi, 30/676.
[51] Tibyan, 10/157-158; Tabari, 29/76; Kashif, 7/442.