22:16 Al-Hajj (The Pilgrimage)

أي: وكذلك لما فصلنا في هذا القرآن ما فصلنا، جعلناه آيات بينات واضحات، دالات على جميع المطالب والمسائل النافعة، ولكن الهداية بيد الله، فمن أراد الله هدايته، اهتدى بهذا القرآن، وجعله إماما له وقدوة، واستضاء بنوره، ومن لم يرد الله هدايته، فلو جاءته كل آية ما آمن، ولم ينفعه القرآن شيئا، بل يكون حجة عليه.

وقوله " وكذلك أنزلناه " أي القرآن " آيات بينات " أي واضحات في لفظها ومعناها حجة من الله على الناس " وأن الله يهدي من يريد " أي يضل من يشاء ويهدى من يشاء وله الحكمة التامة والحجة القاطعة في ذلك " لا يسئل عما يفعل وهم يسئلون أما هو فلحكمته ورحمته وعدله وعلمه وقهره وعظمته لا معقب لحكمه وهو سريع الحساب.

Allah will definitely help His Messenger

Ibn `Abbas said, "Whoever thinks that Allah will not help Muhammad ﷺ in this world and the Hereafter, let him stretch out a rope

إِلَى السَّمَآءِ

(to the ceiling) to the ceiling in his house,

ثُمَّ لْيَقْطَعْ

(and let him strangle himself.) let him hang himself with it." This was also the view of Mujahid, `Ikrimah, `Ata', Abu Al-Jawza', Qatadah and others. The meaning is: whoever thinks that Allah will not support Muhammad ﷺ and His Book and His Religion, let him go and kill himself if it annoys him so much. For Allah will most certainly help and support him. Allah says:

إِنَّا لَنَنصُرُ رُسُلَنَا وَالَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ فِى الْحَيَوةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ يَقُومُ الاٌّشْهَـدُ

(Verily, We will indeed make victorious Our Messengers and those who believe in this world's life and on the Day when the witnesses will stand forth.) 40:51. Allah says here:

فَلْيَنْظُرْ هَلْ يُذْهِبَنَّ كَيْدُهُ مَا يَغِيظُ

(Then let him see whether his plan will remove that whereat he rages!) As-Suddi said, "Meaning, in the case of Muhammad " `Ata' Al-Khurasani said, "Let him see whether that will cure the rage he feels in his heart."

وَكَذلِكَ أَنزَلْنَـهُ

(Thus have We sent it down) the Qur'an.

ءَايَـتٌ بَيِّنَـتٌ

(as clear Ayat,) clear in its wording and its meaning, evidence from Allah to mankind.

وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِى مَن يُرِيدُ

(and surely, Allah guides whom He wills.) He sends astray whomsoever He wills and He guides whomsoever He wills, and He has complete wisdom and definitive proof in doing so.

لاَ يُسْأَلُ عَمَّا يَفْعَلُ وَهُمْ يُسْـَلُونَ

(He cannot be questioned about what He does, while they will be questioned.) 21:23. Because of His wisdom, mercy, justice, knowledge, dominion and might, no one can overturn His ruling, and He is swift in bringing to account.

So just as We revealed the previous verse We revealed it that is the remainder of the Qur’ān as clear signs manifest signs bayyināt ‘clear signs’ is a circumstantial qualifier and indeed God guides whomever He desires that he be guided wa-anna’Llāha yahdī man yurīdu a supplement to the suffixed pronoun hā’ ‘it’ of anzalnāhu ‘We revealed it’.

Commentary

مَن كَانَ يَظُنُّ (If someone thinks - 22:15). It means that the enemies of Islam who put hurdles in its path and desired that Allah should abandon the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his religion must clearly understand that this can happen only when, God forbid, he is deprived of the office of the prophethood and ceases to receive wahy (revelations) from Allah Ta’ ala. It is well understood that when Allah Ta’ ala bestows the prophethood on someone and also favours him with wahy (revelations), He also promises him full support in this world and in the Hereafter. Thus the only way to stop the advancement of a prophet and his mission, if someone has the power to stop it, is that he should dispossess the Holy Prophet ﷺ of his mission or that the sequence of Divine revelation should be severed. Anyone wanting to do all this will have to go up to the sky and cut off the chain of revelation, and since such a thing is not possible, no amount of fire and fury can do any harm to Islam. This interpretation is related in al-Durr al-Manthur from Ibn Zaid and, in my opinion, it is the most appropriate one.

Qurtubi also thinks that this is the best interpretation of this verse. There are some others who are of the view that the word سَمَاء (sky) occurring in this verse means the ceiling of one's house and the verse means that a person who entertains hostile feelings towards Islam and the Holy Prophet ﷺ must realize that he can do them no harm. Hence the best thing for him to do is to hang himself from the ceiling out of sheer mortification. (Mazhari and others).