أَم لِلإِنسانِ ما تَمَنّىٰ

Shall man have whatever he yearns for?

EXEGESIS

The word am (or) is considered disjointed (munfaṣilah) by most exegetes and thus has the role similar to the interrogative a, which has no equivalent in English translation as it only serves to mark an interrogative sentence.

It has also been suggested that it is possible for am to be connected (muttaṣilah) and mean ‘or’. Rāzī suggests two possibilities for this: 1. It connects to Are you to have males and He females? (verse 21). In this case it would mean: is it really so that God has daughters and you have sons, or is it that you simply wish to get whatever you desire? This would require the sentences that came in between these two verses to be an interjection. 2. It connects to Have you considered al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā (verse 19). In this case it would mean: have you considered these idols? Do they truly deserve to be worshipped, or is it for man to worship whatever he desires?^{‎[1]Razi, 28/252. See also Muhit, 10/18.}

While neither of these understandings is invalid, the first option is more obvious and less cumbersome.

EXPOSITION

Since the idols are merely names and exist only on a conceptual level in the minds of the idolaters, God declares then that man cannot simply will things into reality. Just because they wish it to be so does not make it so, therefore Shall man have whatever he yearns for? The question is a rhetorical one, and is meant to rebuff the conception that man can have whatever he yearns for.^{‎[2]Zamakhshari, 4/424; Tibyan, 9/429.} God does not give to people based on their yearnings, but rather He gives them what they deserve.^{‎[3]Tibyan, 9/429.} It is not their wishes that determine the outcome of events, but God’s.^{‎[4]Nemuneh, 22/525.}

Also, as in the previous verse which juxtaposed desires to the guidance of God, here man’s yearning is juxtaposed with God’s will. The message is that if man wishes to get the good of this world and the hereafter, he should submit his desires to God’s will.

See also the commentary of verses 4:122-3.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Ṭabarī argues that the verse is rhetorically asking ‘did Muhammad (s) desire for prophethood and God gave that to him?’^{‎[5]Tabari, 27/37; Tibyan, 9/429.} The elided answer would then be ‘nay, everything belongs to God and He decides on every matter’. Ṭabrisī, Zamakhsharī, and others understand the verse to indicate the desire of the polytheists for the intercession of their idols.^{‎[6]Tabrisi, 9/268; Zamakhshari, 4/424; Thalabi, 4/310.} Other opinions have also been related, such as that it means what some of them said: This is my due! I do not think the hour will ever set in, and in case I am returned to my Lord, I will indeed have the best [reward] with Him (42:50). Or that it means what some others of them said: I will surely be given wealth and children (19:77).^{‎[7]Zamakhshari, 4/424.} All such suggestions merely point at one aspect of the broad scope of the verse, which should not be limited in such a way.^{‎[8]Alusi, 14/58.}

[1] Razi, 28/252. See also Muhit, 10/18.
[2] Zamakhshari, 4/424; Tibyan, 9/429.
[3] Tibyan, 9/429.
[4] Nemuneh, 22/525.
[5] Tabari, 27/37; Tibyan, 9/429.
[6] Tabrisi, 9/268; Zamakhshari, 4/424; Thalabi, 4/310.
[7] Zamakhshari, 4/424.
[8] Alusi, 14/58.