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Ayah
Word by Word
ٱللَّهُ
Allah
يَبۡسُطُ
extends
ٱلرِّزۡقَ
the provision
لِمَن
for whom
يَشَآءُ
He wills
مِنۡ
of
عِبَادِهِۦ
His slaves
وَيَقۡدِرُ
and restricts
لَهُۥٓۚ
for him
إِنَّ
Indeed
ٱللَّهَ
Allah
بِكُلِّ
of every
شَيۡءٍ
thing
عَلِيمٞ
(is) All-Knower
ٱللَّهُ
Allah
يَبۡسُطُ
extends
ٱلرِّزۡقَ
the provision
لِمَن
for whom
يَشَآءُ
He wills
مِنۡ
of
عِبَادِهِۦ
His slaves
وَيَقۡدِرُ
and restricts
لَهُۥٓۚ
for him
إِنَّ
Indeed
ٱللَّهَ
Allah
بِكُلِّ
of every
شَيۡءٍ
thing
عَلِيمٞ
(is) All-Knower
Translation
Allāh extends provision for whom He wills of His servants and restricts for him. Indeed Allāh is, of all things, Knowing.
Tafsir
God extends provision, He makes it abundant, for whomever He will of His servants, by way of a test, and He straitens, He restricts it, for him, after having extended it, that is, for whomever He will to try. Truly God has knowledge of all things, among them the occasion in which [it is appropriate for Him] to extend or to straiten.
Evidences of Tawhid
Allah says:
وَلَيِن سَأَلْتَهُم مَّنْ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالاَْرْضَ وَسَخَّرَ الشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ لَيَقُولُنَّ اللَّهُ فَأَنَّى يُوْفَكُونَ
اللَّهُ يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَاء مِنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَقْدِرُ لَهُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ
وَلَيِن سَأَلْتَهُم مَّن نَّزَّلَ مِنَ السَّمَاء مَاء فَأَحْيَا بِهِ الاَْرْضَ مِن بَعْدِ مَوْتِهَا لَيَقُولُنَّ اللَّهُ قُلِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ
And if you were to ask them:Who has created the heavens and the earth and subjected the sun and the moon! They will surely reply:Allah. How then are they deviating!
Allah expands the provision for whom He wills of His servants, and straitens it for whom (He wills). Verily, Allah is the All-Knower of everything.
And if you were to ask them:Who sends down water from the sky, and gives life therewith to the earth after its death! They will surely reply:Allah.
Say:All the praises and thanks be to Allah!
Nay, most of them have no sense.
Allah states that there is no God but He.
The idolators who worshipped others besides Him recognized that He was the sole creator of the heavens and earth, the sun and the moon, alternating the night and day.
They acknowledged that He was the Creator Who provided for His servants and decreed how long they should live. He made them and their provision different, so that some were rich and some were poor, and He knew best what was suitable for each of them, who deserved to be rich and who deserved to be poor.
So, Allah stated that He has alone created everything, and that He alone is controlling them -- if this is how it is, then why worship anyone else?
Why put one's trust in anyone else?
Since dominion is His Alone, then let worship be for Him Alone.
Allah often establishes His divinity by referring to their acknowledgement of His Unique Lordship, because the idolators used to acknowledge His Lordship, as they said in their Talbiyah (during Hajj and `Umrah):At Your service, You have no partner, except the partner that You have, and You possess him and whatever he has.
Allah says:
وَمَا هَذِهِ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلاَّ لَهْوٌ وَلَعِبٌ
And this life of the world is only an amusement and a play!
Allah tells us how insignificant and transient this world is, and how it will soon end. All that it is, is amusement and play:
وَإِنَّ الدَّارَ الاْإخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانُ
Verily, the home of the Hereafter -- that is the life indeed,
means, the true everlasting life that will never end, but will continue forever and ever.
لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ
if they but knew.
means, they would prefer that which will last over that which will pass away.
Then Allah says that at times of calamity, the idolators call upon Him alone, with no partner or associate, so why do they not do that all the time!
فَإِذَا رَكِبُوا فِي الْفُلْكِ دَعَوُا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ
And when they embark on a ship, they invoke Allah, making their faith pure for Him only,
This is like the Ayah,
وَإِذَا مَسَّكُمُ الْضُّرُّ فِى الْبَحْرِ ضَلَّ مَن تَدْعُونَ إِلَا إِيَّاهُ فَلَمَّا نَجَّـكُمْ إِلَى الْبَرِّ أَعْرَضْتُمْ
And when harm touches you upon the sea, those that you call upon vanish from you except Him (Allah Alone). But when He brings you safely to land, you turn away. (17:67)
Allah says here:
فَلَمَّا نَجَّاهُمْ إِلَى الْبَرِّ إِذَا هُمْ يُشْرِكُونَ
but when He brings them safely to land, behold, they give a share of their worship to others.
Muhammad bin Ishaq reported from Ikrimah bin Abi Jahl that when the Messenger of Allah conquered Makkah, he (Ikrimah) ran away, fleeing from him. When he was on the sea, headed for Ethiopia, the ship started to rock and the crew said:
O people, pray sincerely to your Lord alone, for no one can save us from this except Him.
Ikrimah said:
By Allah, if there is none who can save us on the sea except Him, then there is none who can save us on land except Him either, O Allah, I vow to You that if I come out of this, I will go and put my hand in the hand of Muhammad and I will find him kind and merciful.
And this is what indeed did happen.
Allah says:
لِيَكْفُرُوا بِمَا اتَيْنَاهُمْ وَلِيَتَمَتَّعُوا فَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ
So that they become ingrate for that which We have given them, and that they take their enjoyment, but they will come to know
The Blessing of the Sanctuary Here
Allah says:
أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا أَنَّا جَعَلْنَا حَرَمًا امِنًا وَيُتَخَطَّفُ النَّاسُ مِنْ حَوْلِهِمْ
Have they not seen that We have made a secure sanctuary, while men are being snatched away from all around them! Then do they believe in falsehood, and deny the graces of Allah
Allah reminds Quraysh how He blessed them by granting them access to His sanctuary which He has made (open) to (all) men, the dweller in it and the visitor from the country are equal there, and whoever enters it is safe, because he is in a place of great security, although the Arabs of the desert round about used to ambush and raid one another and kill one another.
As Allah says:
لاإِيلَـفِ قُرَيْشٍ
إِيلَـفِهِمْ رِحْلَةَ الشِّتَأءِ وَالصَّيْفِ
فَلْيَعْبُدُواْ رَبَّ هَـذَا الْبَيْتِ
الَّذِى أَطْعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعٍ وَءَامَنَهُم مِّنْ خوْفٍ
For the protection of the Quraysh. The caravans to set forth safe in winter and in summer. So let them worship the Lord of this House. Who has fed them against hunger, and has made them safe from fear. (106:1-4)
أَفَبِالْبَاطِلِ يُوْمِنُونَ وَبِنِعْمَةِ اللَّهِ يَكْفُرُونَ
Then do they believe in falsehood, and deny the graces of Allah.
means, is the thanks that they give for this immense blessing to associate others with Him and worship others besides Him, idols and rivals
بَدَّلُواْ نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ كُفْرًا وَأَحَلُّواْ قَوْمَهُمْ دَارَ الْبَوَارِ
Have you not seen those who have changed the blessings of Allah into disbelief, and caused their people to dwell in the house of destruction! (14:28)
They disbelieved in the Prophet, servant and Messenger of Allah , when what they should have done was to worship Allah Alone and not associate anything with Him, and to believe in, honor and respect the Messenger, but they rejected him and fought him, and expelled him from their midst. So, Allah took His blessing away from them, and killed those of them whom He killed at Badr, then His Messenger and the believers gained the upper hand, and Allah enabled His Messenger to conquer Makkah, and He disgraced them and humiliated them (the disbelievers).
Then Allah says
وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ افْتَرَى عَلَى اللَّهِ كَذِبًا أَوْ كَذَّبَ بِالْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَاءهُ
And who does more wrong than he who invents a lie against Allah or denies the truth, when it comes to him!
There is no one who will be more severely punished than one who tells lies about Allah and says that Allah revealed something to him at the time when Allah did not reveal anything to him, or says, `I shall reveal something like that which Allah revealed.'
And there is no one who will be more severely punished than one who denies the truth when it comes to him, for the former is a fabricator and the latter is a disbeliever.
Allah says:
أَلَيْسَ فِي جَهَنَّمَ مَثْوًى لِّلْكَافِرِينَ
Is there not a dwelling in Hell for the disbelievers!
Then Allah says
وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا
As for those who strive hard for Us,
meaning the Messenger and his Companions and those who follow him, until the Day of Resurrection,
لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا
We will surely guide them to Our paths.
means, `We will help them to follow Our path in this world and the Hereafter.'
Ibn Abi Hatim narrated that Abbas Al-Hamdani Abu Ahmad -- one of the people of Akka (Palestine) -- said, concerning the Ayah:
وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا
وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
As for those who strive hard for Us (in Our cause), We will surely guide them to Our paths. And verily, Allah is with the doers of good.
Those who act upon what they know, Allah will guide them to that which they do not know.
Ahmad bin Abu Al-Hawari said,
I told this to Abu Sulayman Ad-Darani, and he liked it and said:`No one who is inspired to do something good should do it until he hears a report concerning that; if he hears a report then he should go ahead and do it, and praise Allah because it was in accordance with what he himself felt.'
وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
And verily, Allah is with the doers of good.
Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Ash-Sha`bi said;
Isa bin Maryam, peace be upon him, said:
`Righteousness means doing good to those who ill-treat you, it does not mean doing good to those who do good to you.'
And Allah knows best.
This is the end of the Tafsir of Surah Al-`Ankabut. All praise and thanks are due to Allah.
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