17:11 Al-Israa (The Night Journey)

وهذا من جهل الإنسان وعجلته حيث يدعو على نفسه وأولاده وماله بالشر عند الغضب ويبادر بذلك الدعاء كما يبادر بالدعاء في الخير، ولكن الله -بلطفه - يستجيب له في الخير ولا يستجيب له بالشر. { وَلَوْ يُعَجِّلُ اللَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ الشَّرَّ اسْتِعْجَالَهُمْ بِالْخَيْرِ لَقُضِيَ إِلَيْهِمْ أَجَلُهُمْ }

يخبر تعالى عن عجلة الإنسان ودعائه في بعض الأحيان على نفسه أو ولده أو ماله بالشر أي بالموت أو الهلاك والدمار واللعنة ونحو ذلك فلو استجاب له ربه لهلك بدعائه كما قال تعالى "ولو يعجل الله للناس الشر" الآية وكذا فسره ابن عباس ومجاهد وقتادة وقد تقدم في الحديث "لا تدعوا على أنفسكم ولا على أموالكم أن توافقوا من الله ساعة إجابة يستجيب فيها" وإنما يحمل ابن أدم على ذلك قلقه وعجلته ولهذا قال تعالى "وكان الإنسان عجولا" وقد ذكر سلمان الفارسي وابن عباس ههنا قصة آدم عليه السلام حين هم بالنهوض قائما قبل أن تصل الروح إلى رجليه وذلك أنه جاءته النفخة من قبل رأسه فلما وصلت إلى دماغه عطس فقال الحمد لله فقال الله "يرحمك ربك يا آدم" فلما وصلت إلى عينيه فتحهما فلما سرت إلى أعضائه وجسده جعل ينظر إليه ويعجبه فهم بالنهوض قبل أن تصل إلى رجليه فلم يستطيع قال يا رب عجل قبل الليل.

Man's Haste and Prayers against Himself

Allah tells us about man's haste and how he sometimes prays against himself or his children or his wealth, praying for something bad to happen for them, or for them to die or be destroyed, invoking curses, etc. If Allah were to answer his prayer, he would be destroyed because of it, as Allah says:

وَلَوْ يُعَجِّلُ اللَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ الشَّرَّ

(And were Allah to hasten for mankind the evil...) 10:11 This is how it was interpreted by Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid and Qatadah. We have already discussed the Hadith:

«لَا تَدْعُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِكُمْ، وَلَا عَلَى أَمْوَالِكُمْ أَنْ تُوَافِقُوا مِنَ اللهِ سَاعَةَ إِجَابَةٍ يَسْتَجِيبُ فِيهَا»

(Do not pray against yourselves or your wealth, for that might coincide with a time when Allah answers prayers.) What makes the son of Adam do that is his anxiety and haste. Allah says:

وَكَانَ الإِنْسَـنُ عَجُولاً

(And man is ever hasty.) Salman Al-Farisi and Ibn `Abbas mentioned the story of Adam, when he wanted to get up before his soul reached his feet. When his soul was breathed into him, it entered his body from his head downwards. When it reached his brain he sneezed, and said, "Al-Hamdu Lillah" (praise be to Allah), and Allah said, "May your Lord have mercy on you, O Adam." When it reached his eyes, he opened them, and when it reached his body and limbs he started to stare at them in wonder. He wanted to get up before it reached his feet, but he could not. He said, "O Lord, make it happen before night comes."

And man prays for ill against himself and his family when he is frustrated as avidly as he prays for good. And mankind is ever hasty to pray against himself without contemplating the consequence thereof.

Perhaps, it is based on this congruity that it was said in verse 11 that man would, on occasions, pray for something in a haste, something that spells out destruction for him. If Allah Ta` ala were to answer such a prayer, he would be ruined. But, Allah Ta’ ala does not answer such prayers instantly until man himself comes to realize that his prayer was made in error and that it was fatal for him. Then, in the last sentence of this very verse, a natural weakness of man has been mentioned in the form of a standing rule - that man is, by nature, haste-prone. He keeps his sight trained on passing profit and loss and falls short on foresight and hindsight. He loves to go for the immediate gain and comfort, even if it happens to be only a little. He would not bat an eye to prefer it to the greater and more lasting gain and comfort. In short, this verse points out to a natural weakness of human beings in general.

And some authorities in Tafsir have taken this verse to be related to a particular event. The event they refer to concerns Nadr ibn Harith who had made a prayer in the heat of his hostility to Islam saying:

اللھُمَّ اِن کَانَ ھٰذَا ھوُالحَقَّ مِن عندِکَ فَاَمطِر عَلَینَا حِجارَۃً مَّنَ السَّمَآِء اَوأتنا بِعَذَاب اَلِیم

O Allah, if this [ Islam ] is the truth from You, then, rain down on us rocks from the skies or send upon us some other painful punishment.

In that case, 'al-insan' of the text would be referring to those mentioned above, or those like them.

Man supplicates for evil just as he supplicates for good. Sahl said, “The safest of supplications is remembrance and the abandonment of choice in supplica- tion and asking, for in remembrance there is sufficiency, and perchance man will supplicate and ask for that within which is his destruction, while he is not aware. Do you not see that God says, 'Man supplicates for evil just as he supplicates for good.'” When someone remembers constantly and abandons choice in supplicating and asking, the best of his wishes will be freely given to him and the blights of asking and choice will fall away from him. The Prophet said, recounting from his Lord, “When someone's remembrance of Me keeps him too busy to ask from Me, I will give him the best of what I give to the askers.”