7:89 Al-A'raaf (The Heights)

{ قَدِ افْتَرَيْنَا عَلَى اللَّهِ كَذِبًا إِنْ عُدْنَا فِي مِلَّتِكُمْ بَعْدَ إِذْ نَجَّانَا اللَّهُ مِنْهَا ْ} أي: اشهدوا علينا أننا إن عدنا إليها بعد ما نجانا اللّه منها وأنقذنا من شرها، أننا كاذبون مفترون على اللّه الكذب، فإننا نعلم أنه لا أعظم افتراء ممن جعل للّه شريكا، وهو الواحد الأحد الفرد الصمد، الذي لم يتخذ ولدا ولا صاحبة، ولا شريكا في الملك. { وَمَا يَكُونُ لَنَا أَنْ نَعُودَ فِيهَا ْ} أي: يمتنع على مثلنا أن نعود فيها، فإن هذا من المحال، فآيسهم عليه الصلاة والسلام من كونه يوافقهم من وجوه متعددة، من جهة أنهم كارهون لها مبغضون لما هم عليه من الشرك. ومن جهة أنه جعل ما هم عليه كذبا، وأشهدهم أنه إن اتبعهم ومن معه فإنهم كاذبون. ومنها: اعترافهم بمنة اللّه عليهم إذ أنقذهم اللّه منها. ومنها: أن عودهم فيها - بعد ما هداهم اللّه - من المحالات، بالنظر إلى حالتهم الراهنة، وما في قلوبهم من تعظيم اللّه تعالى والاعتراف له بالعبودية، وأنه الإله وحده الذي لا تنبغي العبادة إلا له وحده لا شريك له، وأن آلهة المشركين أبطل الباطل، وأمحل المحال. وحيث إن اللّه منَّ عليهم بعقول يعرفون بها الحق والباطل، والهدى والضلال. وأما من حيث النظر إلى مشيئة اللّه وإرادته النافذة في خلقه، التي لا خروج لأحد عنها، ولو تواترت الأسباب وتوافقت القوى، فإنهم لا يحكمون على أنفسهم أنهم سيفعلون شيئا أو يتركونه، ولهذا استثنى { وَمَا يَكُونُ لَنَا أَنْ نَعُودَ فِيهَا إِلَّا أَنْ يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ رَبُّنَا ْ} أي: فلا يمكننا ولا غيرنا، الخروج عن مشيئته التابعة لعلمه وحكمته، وقد { وَسِعَ رَبُّنَا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا ْ} فيعلم ما يصلح للعباد وما يدبرهم عليه. { عَلَى اللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا ْ} أي: اعتمدنا أنه سيثبتنا على الصراط المستقيم، وأن يعصمنا من جميع طرق الجحيم، فإن من توكل على اللّه، كفاه، ويسر له أمر دينه ودنياه. { رَبَّنَا افْتَحْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ قَوْمِنَا بِالْحَقِّ ْ} أي: انصر المظلوم، وصاحب الحق، على الظالم المعاند للحق { وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الْفَاتِحِينَ ْ} وفتحه تعالى لعباده نوعان: فتح العلم، بتبيين الحق من الباطل، والهدى من الضلال، ومن هو من المستقيمين على الصراط، ممن هو منحرف عنه.

"وما يكون لنا أن نعود فيها إلا أن يشاء الله ربنا" وهذا رد إلى الله مستقيم فإنه يعلم كل شيء وقد أحاط بكل شيء علما "على الله توكلنا" أي في أمورنا ما نأتي منها وما نذر "ربنا افتح بيننا وبين قومنا بالحق" أي احكم بيننا وبين قومنا وانصرنا عليهم "وأنت خير الفاتحين" أي خير الحاكمين فإنك العادل الذي لا يجور أبدا.

Allah describes the way the disbelievers answered His ProphetShu` ayb and those who believed in him, by threatening them withexpulsion from their village, or with forceful reversion to thedisbeliever's religion.

The chiefs spoke the words mentioned here to the Messenger Shu`ayb, but intended it for those who followed his religion too. The statement,

أَوَلَوْ كُنَّا كَـرِهِينَ

("Even though we hate it"), means, would you force us to do that, even though we hate what you are calling us to Certainly if we revert to your religion and accept your ways, we will have uttered a tremendous lie against Allah by calling partners as rivals to Him,

وَمَا يَكُونُ لَنَآ أَن نَّعُودَ فِيهَآ إِلاَ أَن يَشَآءَ اللَّهُ رَبُّنَا

(And it is not for us to return to it unless Allah, our Lord, should will.) This part of the Ayah refers all matters to Allah's will, and certainly, He has perfect knowledge of all matters and His observation encompasses all things,

عَلَى اللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا

(In Allah (Alone) we put our trust. ), concerning all our affairs, what we practice of them and what we ignore,

رَبَّنَا افْتَحْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ قَوْمِنَا بِالْحَقِّ

(Our Lord! Judge between us and our people in truth) judge between us and our people and give us victory over them,

وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ الْفَـتِحِينَ

(for You are the best of those who give judgment) and You are the Most Just Who never wrongs any in His judgment.

We would be forging a lie against God if we were to return to your creed after God has delivered us from it. It is not right for us to return to it unless God our Lord wills that it be so and forsakes us. Our Lord embraces all things through His knowledge that is to say His knowledge embraces all things including my situation and yours. In God we have put our trust. Our Lord decide adjudicate between us and our people for You are the best of deciders’ adjudicators.

In the second verse (89), Sayyidna Shu'aib (علیہ السلام) said to his people:

Allah Ta` ala saved us from your false faith. Now if we were to return to your faith, this would amount to a false and grim accusation by us against Allah Ta` ala.

First of all giving Kufr and Shirk the status of faith by itself means that they have been commanded by Allah Ta` ala - which is forging a lie against Him. In addition to that, after having believed in the revealed Truth ('Iman) and after having its knowledge and insight, a return to Kufr (disbelief) would amount to saying that the first way was false and erroneous while the true and correct way was that which has been adopted later. As obvious, this is a compounded lie and accusation - that the true (Haqq) was taken to be false (Bath) and vice versa, the Bath to be Haqq.

There was a certain flavour of claim or assertion in this saying of Sayyidna Shu'aib (علیہ السلام) - that we can never return to your religion again. Making such a claim is, at least outwardly, contrary to the spirit of selfless submission a true servant of Allah is supposed to have ('abdiyyah). It does not behove those who are close to the presence of Allah and those who have come to know Him. Therefore, he said: مَا يَكُونُ لَنَا أَن نَّعُودَ فِيهَا إِلَّا أَن يَشَاءَ اللَّـهُ رَ‌بُّنَا ۚ وَسِعَ رَ‌بُّنَا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا ۚ عَلَى اللَّـهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا (And it is not for us that we turn to it unless Allah, our Lord, so wills. Our Lord encompasses everything with His knowledge. In Allah we place our trust).

This statement is a mirror of his humility عِجز ('Ijz), an assertion of trust in Allah تَوَکُّل (Tawakkul) and a confident attitude of resigning matters to Him تفویض (Tafwid). These are master virtues of prophets. They amount to saying: at are we and how can we claim to do something or stay away from it? To be able to do something good and to succeed in staying away from evil is nothing but the grace of Allah Ta'ala – as said by the Holy Prophet ﷺ :

لَو لَا اللہُ مَا اھتَدَینا وَ لَا تَصَدَّقنَا وَ لَا صَلَّینَا

Had there not been the grace of Allah Ta'ala, we would have not been guided right, nor been able to give in charity, nor to make Sarah.

It was due to this quality of trusting in Allah alone that when, after having talked to the arrogant chiefs of the people, Sayyidna Shu'aib (علیہ السلام) realized that nothing seems to move these people in any manner whatsoever, he stopped addressing them and made the following Du'a' (prayer) to Allah Ta'ala: رَ‌بَّنَا افْتَحْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ قَوْمِنَا بِالْحَقِّ وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ‌ الْفَاتِحِين (Our Lord, decide between us and our people, with truth, and You are the best of all judges). Sayyidna 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas ؓ has hat the word: فَتح (fath) means 'decide' at this place. That is how the word: فَاتِح (fatih) takes the sense of Qadi or judge.

And in reality, through these words, Sayyidna Shu'aib (علیہ السلام) had prayed for the destruction of the disbelievers from among his people - which was answered by Allah Ta'ala when they were destroyed by an earthquake.