Surah Al-An'aam: Verse 133 - وربك الغني ذو الرحمة ۚ... - English

Commentary

Stated in previous verses was that Allah Ta` ala has always been sending His messengers and the rules of conduct required by Him to every set of people among the Jinn and the human beings and, unless they were fully warned through their messengers, punishment was never given to them for their disbelief and disobedience.

In the first (133) of the four verses cited above, it has been pointed out that the practice of sending needed our obediences and worthier because the Lord of the universe needed our obedience and worship, or some task of His depended on our obedience. No, this was never so. He is absolutely All-Independent, and need-free. But, alongwlth never so. He is absolutely All-Independent, and need-free. But His perfect freedom from dependence and need, there is that attribute of mercy in Him. See how He brings fulfilling all outward and, then He maintains it and keeps present and future needs of everyone and everything. The cause is this very attribute of mercy. Otherwise, human beings, being what they are, would have hardly been able to produce what they needed, not to say much about their lack of etiquette the very blessing of existence. need. This is particularly true about the very blessing of existence. That it has been bestowed without asking is all too clear. No human being anywhere has prayed to be born - nor can praying before coming into existence be imagined. Similarly, there are the limbs of the human body which go in the creation of a living body - the eyes, ears, hands, feet, the heart and the brain. Were they asked for by any human being? Or, did one of them had the consciousness and etiquette to ask for them? Nothing of the sort is true. The truth is: we were not there, we did not ask - it was His mercy hearing the unsaid!

Allah is All-Independent and His Creation is only a Mirror of His Mercy

In this verse, the words: رَبُّکَ الغَنِیُّ describe how absolutely free from and independent of need the Lord of all lords is. But, by adding the needs none, words: ذُوالرَّحمَۃِ soon after, it was it was pointed out that, though He needs none, depends on none, is independent of everyone and everything in the universe, and the universe itself, yet, along with all that, He is also the one who has mercy and dispenses it at will.

Allah, in His Wisdom, Made no Human Being Need-Free - If So, Man Turns To Tyranny

It is certainly a great blessing of Allah, otherwise human beings have their own ways of neglect. When they become free from needs and independent of circumstancial compulsions they stop caring for the benefit or loss and the sorrow or comfort of others. In fact, what usually happens under such situations is that one becomes all the more adamant on inflicting injustice and oppression against others. Says a verse of the Holy Qur'an: إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَيَطْغَىٰ ﴿6﴾ أَن رَّ‌آهُ اسْتَغْنَىٰ ﴿7﴾ (96:6), that is, when human beings find themselves need-free and independent, they are ready to rebel and transgress. Therefore, Allah Almighty has made man so tied up with needs which cannot be fulfilled without the help of others. A king needs his retinue of liveries, the wealthy man needs his help, the industrialist depends on his labour. The driver of a passenger vehicle comes out on the streets to earn his living of the day while one who can afford to pay for the ride has to hail for one. Nature has chained them together. Each needs the other and no one is doing any favour. Without this arrangement, no rich man will pay a dime to any-one and no handyman or porter would care to carry someone else's burden. So, all this is a manifestation of the most perfect attribute of Allah Ta ala who is All-Independent, yet the Master of Mercy. The text could have used a single word form such as Ar-Rahman (All-Merciful) or Ar-Rahim (Very-Merciful) and that would have served the purpose of describing the mercy of Allah. But, the choice of a compound form: ذُوالرَّحمۃِ (Dhur-Rahmah: The Master of Mercy) has been preferred because it shows the correlation between the two attributes of Allah Ta` ala de-scribed in the verse. He is All-Independent, yet He is the master-dispenser of mercy - an attribute which is the real cause of sending messengers and books for the good of human beings.

After that, it was also made clear that the way His mercy is universal and perfect, in the same way His power holds control over everything. If He wills, He could undo everyone in a moment - and even this undoing of the entire creation would not cause the slightest difference to the working of His power. Then, if He wills to undo the present system of the entire universe and replace it with another set of creation in the same manner and at the same time - He can certainly do that. An evidence of this possible happening always remains before human beings of all ages. Think of the millions of human beings who inhabit the near and far corners of the earth and run the business of their lives, then think of the time a hundred years earlier. You shall realize that the earth was inhabited as it is now, and things were going on as usual, but none of the present inhabitants of the earth, the movers and shakers of things, were there. What was there was a different set of people - and that different set of people lies buried under the earth with no traces to be found today. The people on the earth to-day are the descendants of the earlier generation of people. Says the Qur'an: إِن يَشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُمْ وَيَسْتَخْلِفْ مِن بَعْدِكُم مَّا يَشَاءُ كَمَا أَنشَأَكُم مِّن ذُرِّ‌يَّةِ قَوْمٍ آخَرِ‌ينَ He wills, He shall take you away and shall bring after you whom He wills just as He has raised you from the progeny of other people -133). The sense of " يُذْهِبْكُمْ ": yudhhibkum, translated as ` take you away,' is to undo or make absent with no traces left behind. This is why there is no reference to destroying, killing or exterminating. The statement in the text restricts itself to ` taking' which denotes a state of unmaking, unbeing, loss of name, identity and trace.

If They Disobey, They Will Perish

(And your Lord...), O Muhammad,

(is Al-Ghani) Rich, free from needing His creatures in any way or form, while they stand in need of Him in all situations,

(full of mercy;) towards creation. Allah said in another Ayah,

(Truly, Allah is full of kindness, the Most Merciful towards mankind.) 2:143

(if He wills, He can destroy you.) if you defy His commandments,

(And in your place make whom He wills as your successors,) who behave obediently,

(As He raised you from the seed of other people.) and surely, He is able to do this, and it is easy for Him. And just as Allah has destroyed the earlier nations and brought their successors, He is able to do away with these generations and bring other people in their place. Allah has also said;

(If He wills, He can take you away, O people, and bring others. And Allah is Ever Capable over that.) 4:133,

(O mankind! It is you who stand in need of Allah. But Allah is Rich (free of all needs), Worthy of all praise. If He willed, He could destroy you and bring about a new creation. And that is not hard for Allah.) 35:15-17, and,

(But Allah is Rich (free of all needs), and you are poor. And if you turn away, He will exchange you for some other people and they will not be your likes.) 47:38. Muhammad bin Ishaq said that Ya`qub bin `Utbah said that he heard Aban bin `Uthman saying about this Ayah,

(As He raised you from the seed of other people. ) "`The seed' means the offspring and the children." Allah's statement,

(Surely, that which you are promised, will verily, come to pass and you cannot escape.) means, tell them, O Muhammad, that what they have been promised of Resurrection will surely occur,

(and you cannot escape.) from Allah. Rather, He is able to resurrect you even after you become dust and bones. Certainly, Allah is able to do all things and nothing ever escapes His power. Allah said;

(Say: "O my people! Work according to your way, surely, I too am working and you will come to know.") This contains a stern warning and a sure promise, saying; remain on your way, if you think that you are rightly guided, for I will remain on mine. Allah said in another Ayah,

(And say to those who do not believe: "Act according to Makanatikum, We are acting (in our way). And you wait! We (too) are waiting.") 11:121-122. `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said that,

(according to Makanatikum...) means, your way.

(And you will come to know for which of us will be the (happy) end in the Hereafter. Certainly the wrongdoers will not be successful) 6:135, You will come to know if the happy end will be mine (Muhammad's) or yours (the disbelievers). Allah has indeed kept His promise and allowed Muhammad to prevail in the land and rise above those who defied him. He conquered Makkah for him and made him triumphant over his people who rejected and showed enmity towards him. The Prophet's rule soon spread over the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen and Bahrain, and all this occurred during his lifetime. After his death, the various lands and provinces were conquered during the time of his successors, may Allah be pleased with them all. Allah also said,

(Allah has decreed: "Verily, it is I and My Messengers who shall be the victorious." Verily, Allah is All-Powerful, Almighty.) 58:21

(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. The Day when their excuses will be of no profit to the wrongdoers. Theirs will be the curse, and theirs will be the evil abode.) 40:51-52 and,

(And indeed We have written in the Zabur after the Dhikr that My righteous servants shall inherit the land.) 21:105