35:43 Faatir (The Originator)

وليس إقسامهم المذكور، لقصد حسن، وطلب للحق، وإلا لوفقوا له، ولكنه صادر عن استكبار في الأرض على الخلق، وعلى الحق، وبهرجة في كلامهم هذا، يريدون به المكر والخداع، وأنهم أهل الحق، الحريصون على طلبه، فيغتر به المغترون، ويمشي خلفهم المقتدون.{ وَلَا يَحِيقُ الْمَكْرُ السَّيِّئُ } الذي مقصوده مقصود سيئ، ومآله وما يرمي إليه سيئ باطل { إِلَّا بِأَهْلِهِ } فمكرهم إنما يعود عليهم، وقد أبان اللّه لعباده في هذه المقالات وتلك الإقسامات، أنهم كذبة في ذلك مزورون، فاستبان خزيهم، وظهرت فضيحتهم، وتبين قصدهم السيئ، فعاد مكرهم في نحورهم، ورد اللّه كيدهم في صدورهم.فلم يبق لهم إلا انتظار ما يحل بهم من العذاب، الذي هو سنة اللّه في الأولين، التي لا تبدل ولا تغير، أن كل من سار في الظلم والعناد والاستكبار على العباد، أن يحل به نقمته، وتسلب عنه نعمته، فَلْيَتَرَّقب هؤلاء، ما فعل بأولئك.

ثم بين ذلك بقوله "استكبارا في الأرض" أي استكبروا عن اتباع آيات الله "ومكر السيء" أي ومكروا بالناس في صدهم إياهم عن سبيل الله "ولا يحيق المكر السيء إلا بأهله" أي وما يعود وبال ذلك إلا عليهم أنفسهم دون غيرهم. قال ابن أبي حاتم ذكر علي بن الحسين حدثنا ابن أبي عمر حدثنا سفيان عن أبي زكريا الكوفي عن رجل حدثه أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال "إياك ومكر السيء فإنه لا يحيق المكر السيء إلا بأهله ولهم من الله طالب" وقال محمد بن كعب القرظي ثلاث من فعلهن لم ينج حتى ينزل به من مكر أو بغي أو نكث وتصديقها في كتاب الله تعالى "ولا يحيق المكر السيء إلا بأهله" "إنما بغيكم على أنفسكم" "ومن نكث فإنما ينكث على نفسه" وقوله عز وجل "فهل ينظرون إلا سنة الأولين" يعني عقوبة الله لهم على تكذيبهم رسله ومخالفتهم أمره "ولن تجد لسنة الله تبديلا" أي لا تغير ولا تبدل بل هي جارية كذلك في كل مكذب "ولن تجد لسنة الله تحويلا" أي "وإذا أراد الله بقوم سوءا فلا مرد له" ولا يكشف ذلك عنهم ويحوله عنهم أحد والله أعلم.

They longed for a Warner to come, but when He came, They disbelieved in Him

Allah tells us how Quraysh and the Arabs swore by Allah their most binding oath before the Messenger came to them,

لَئِن جَآءَهُمْ نَذِيرٌ لَّيَكُونُنَّ أَهْدَى مِنْ إِحْدَى الاٍّمَمِ

(that if a warner came to them, they would be more guided than any of the nations;) i.e., than any of the nations to whom Messengers had been sent. This was the view of Ad-Dahhak and others. This is like the Ayat:

أَن تَقُولُواْ إِنَّمَآ أُنزِلَ الْكِتَـبُ عَلَى طَآئِفَتَيْنِ مِن قَبْلِنَا وَإِن كُنَّا عَن دِرَاسَتِهِمْ لَغَـفِلِينَ أَوْ تَقُولُواْ لَوْ أَنَّآ أُنزِلَ عَلَيْنَا الْكِتَـبُ لَكُنَّآ أَهْدَى مِنْهُمْ فَقَدْ جَآءَكُمْ بَيِّنَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةٌ فَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّن كَذَّبَ بِآيَـتِ اللَّهِ وَصَدَفَ عَنْهَا

(Lest you (pagan Arabs) should say: "The Book was sent down only to two sects before us, and for our part, we were in fact unaware of what they studied." Or lest you should say: "If only the Book had been sent down to us, we would surely have been better guided than they." So, now has come unto you a clear proof from your Lord, and a guidance and a mercy. Who then does more wrong than one who rejects the Ayat of Allah and turns away therefrom) (6:156-157)

وَإِن كَانُواْ لَيَقُولُونَ - لَوْ أَنَّ عِندَنَا ذِكْراً مِّنَ الاٌّوَّلِينَ

لَكُنَّا عِبَادَ اللَّهِ الْمُخْلَصِينَ - فَكَفَرُواْ بِهِ فَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ

(And indeed they (Arab pagans) used to say: "If we had a reminder as had the men of old, We would have indeed been the chosen servants of Allah!" But they disbelieve therein, so they will come to know!) (37:167-170) Allah says:

فَلَمَّا جَآءَهُمْ نَذِيرٌ

(yet when a warner came to them,) -- meaning, Muhammad ﷺ with the Book revealed to him, i.e., the Clear Qur'an,

مَّا زَادَهُمْ إِلاَّ نُفُوراً

(it increased in them nothing but flight (from the truth).) means, they only increased in their disbelief. Then Allah explains this further:

اسْتِكْبَاراً فِى الاٌّرْضِ

((They took to flight because of their) arrogance in the land) means, they were too arrogant to follow the signs of Allah.

وَمَكْرَ السَّيِّىءِ

(and their plotting of evil.) means, they plotted to prevent people from following the path of Allah.

وَلاَ يَحِيقُ الْمَكْرُ السَّيِّىءُ إِلاَّ بِأَهْلِهِ

(But the evil plot encompasses only him who makes it.) means, the evil consequences of that will come back upon them and not on others.

فَهَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلاَّ سُنَّةَ آلاٌّوَّلِينَ

(Then, can they expect anything (else) but the Sunnah (way of dealing) of the peoples of old) meaning, the punishment of Allah for disbelieving in His Messengers and going against His command.

وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ اللَّهِ تَبْدِيلاً

(and no turning off will you find in Allah's Sunnah.) means, it does not change or alter, and this is what happens to every disbeliever.

وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ اللَّهِ تَحْوِيلاً

(and no turning off will you find in Allah's Sunnah.) means,

وَإِذَآ أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ سُوءًا فَلاَ مَرَدَّ لَهُ

(But when Allah wills a people's punishment, there can be no turning back of it) (13:11). This means, no one can remove that from them or ward it off from them. And Allah knows best.

acting with disdain in the land against faith istikbāran fī’l-ardi an object denoting reason and devising acts of evil in the way of idolatry and otherwise; and evil schemes will beset surround only their authors namely the one who devises such evil the qualifying of makr ‘scheme’ with the noun al-sayyi’ ‘evil’ is intrinsic to the fact that it is a scheme and so the annexation of the former to the latter is said to be alternative usage in which the annexed term is implied as a precaution against annexing a noun to an adjective. So do they expect do they await anything but the precedent of the ancients? God’s way of dealing with them such as chastising them for their denial of the messengers? Yet you will never find any change in God’s precedent and you will never find any revision in God’s precedent that is to say chastisement is never replaced by anything else nor is it ever meted out other than to the one who deserves it.

Commentary

The word: لَا يَحِيقُ (la yahiq) in verse 43: وَلَا يَحِيقُ الْمَكْرُ‌ السَّيِّئُ إِلَّا بِأَهْلِهِ (And the evil plot envelops none but its own people ( who make it) carries the sense of: لَا یُحِیطُ (la yuhit: does not surround) or: لَا یُصیبُ (la usib: does not afflict). Thus, it comes to mean that the curse of making an evil plan falls on none but the one who makes it. In other words, a person who wishes evil for others, he himself falls a victim to it.

A doubt may arise at this point. It is commonly seen in this worldly life that someone with an evil plan gets away with it and the loss intended for anyone stands inflicted on him. The answer to this has been given by Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanavi (رح) by saying that the pain or loss inflicted on such a person was a loss limited to this mortal world, while the loss to be the fate of the maker of such evil plan in the Hereafter was not only heavier, but was more lasting too. So, if compared, his worldly loss amounts to nothing.

There is another answer given by some elders who say that there are occasions when the curse of contriving against someone innocent or inflicting injustice on him, more than often, falls on the person causing it, right here in this world as well. Muhammad Ibn Ka` b al-Qurazi said: There are three things the doer of which does not remain safe against its curse and punishment even in this world. These are: (1) Causing harm or pain to some innocent person by engineering evil against him. (2) Inflicting any injustice. (3) Breaking of pledge. (Ibn Kathir) Particularly so, when things like that are done against a person who is helpless or does not have the power to avenge or elects to endure despite having that power. Experience bears out that no one who does things like that has ever remained unaffected by the curse of injustice thus inflicted even in this world. Hence, the outcome will be that the element of restriction (Hasr) visible here appears in terms of a majority rule and not in any absolute sense. Allah knows best.

Alhamdulillah

The Commentary on

Surah Fatir

Ends here