Women (Al-Nisa’)
Verses 116-122 GROUP_142 4.116-122
116
إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَن يَشَاء وَمَن يُشْرِكْ بِاللّهِ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلاَلاً بَعِيدًا
Surely, God will not forgive the ascribing of partners to Him. He forgives whoever He will for anything other than that. Whoever ascribes partners to God has strayed far indeed.
117
إِن يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِهِ إِلاَّ إِنَاثًا وَإِن يَدْعُونَ إِلاَّ شَيْطَانًا مَّرِيدًا
They [the polytheists] call upon female deities, and they invoke none but Satan, the rebellious one,
118
لَّعَنَهُ اللّهُ وَقَالَ لَأَتَّخِذَنَّ مِنْ عِبَادِكَ نَصِيبًا مَّفْرُوضًا
whom God has rejected. He said [to God], ‘I will assuredly take a number of Your servants,
119
وَلأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَلأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ وَلآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ آذَانَ الأَنْعَامِ وَلآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللّهِ وَمَن يَتَّخِذِ الشَّيْطَانَ وَلِيًّا مِّن دُونِ اللّهِ فَقَدْ خَسِرَ خُسْرَانًا مُّبِينًا
and shall lead them astray, and fill them with vain desires and order them to slit the ears of cattle. I shall order them to tamper with God’s creation. Whoever chooses Satan as a patron instead of God is utterly ruined:
120
يَعِدُهُمْ وَيُمَنِّيهِمْ وَمَا يَعِدُهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ إِلاَّ غُرُورًا
he holds out promises to them, and fills them with vain desires: but Satan’s promises are nothing but delusion.
121
أُوْلَـئِكَ مَأْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ وَلاَ يَجِدُونَ عَنْهَا مَحِيصًا
Hell shall be their home: they shall find no refuge from it.
122
وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ الصَّالِحَاتِ سَنُدْخِلُهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا وَعْدَ اللّهِ حَقًّا وَمَنْ أَصْدَقُ مِنَ اللّهِ قِيلاً
As for those who believe and do good works. We shall admit them to Gardens through which rivers flow; wherein they will abide forever. This is a promise from God; and whose word could be truer than God’s?
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) Opposition to the call of truth and victimization of the followers of the giver of that call are unforgivable offences in the eyes of God. While all other sinful acts may have been committed out of human weakness, the act of opposing the call of Truth is entirely due to insolence and haughtiness: insolence and rebellion are crimes that God will not forgive unless man confesses his mistakes and gives up his rebellious stance. Whenever the call of truth is brought to people in its pure and original form (without making concessions to people’s whims and wishes) it always is a divine mission supported by the special succour of God. To oppose such a mission is to stand in opposition to God Almighty. And can any individual succeed if he takes a stand against God? One who firmly believes in God has his actions rooted in Him. He may err occasionally but, when he turns to God, he rejoins his real roots. On the other hand, one who has associated himself with anyone besides God, is as if deprived of the true base in this universe. An individual who has not established his roots in the one God may perform some good actions, but such actions do not emanate from the divine source; they have only a surface value and are easily nullified by the slightest jolt. That is why a good action based in monotheism unfolds its results in the Hereafter, whereas that based in polytheism is swept away in this world itself. (b) Man’s real challenge in this world is from Satan. Though Satan has no real power, he can lure human beings with fanciful promises to fulfil wishful, imaginary desires and thus manage to make them deviate from the straight path of truth. Satan’s way of misguiding is of two main types: one is superstition and the other is interference in God’s creation. Faith in superstition means expectation of such results from something as have no relation with that thing. For instance, on the basis of self-styled suppositions, one may believe that someone other than God is the controller of the affairs of the world, while it is a well-established fact that no one enjoys any power save God. Superstition can also take the form of being fully involved in worldly activities and then, by wishful thinking, hoping to achieve success in the Hereafter without having worked hard for it. (a) Another way of Satan’s misleading man is by interfering in the divine scheme of things. God has created man with the innate desire to direct all his attention to God. Interfering with this involves diverting man’s attention towards things other than God or else encouraging him to acquire things by other self-devised ways and not through the natural course set by God (for instance, homosexuality). In this manner Satan interferes with man’s observance of God’s divine plan for the entire universe.