Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 11 Hud, Ayat 118-123

وَلَوۡ شَآءَ رَبُّكَ لَجَـعَلَ النَّاسَ اُمَّةً وَّاحِدَةً​ وَّلَا يَزَالُوۡنَ مُخۡتَلِفِيۡنَۙ‏ ﴿11:118﴾ اِلَّا مَنۡ رَّحِمَ رَبُّكَ​ ؕ وَلِذٰلِكَ خَلَقَهُمۡ​ ؕ وَتَمَّتۡ كَلِمَةُ رَبِّكَ لَاَمۡلَـئَنَّ جَهَـنَّمَ مِنَ الۡجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ اَجۡمَعِيۡنَ‏ ﴿11:119﴾ وَكُلًّا نَّقُصُّ عَلَيۡكَ مِنۡ اَنۡۢبَآءِ الرُّسُلِ مَا نُثَبِّتُ بِهٖ فُؤَادَكَ​ ۚ وَجَآءَكَ فِىۡ هٰذِهِ الۡحَـقُّ وَمَوۡعِظَةٌ وَّذِكۡرٰى لِلۡمُؤۡمِنِيۡنَ‏ ﴿11:120﴾ وَقُلْ لِّـلَّذِيۡنَ لَا يُؤۡمِنُوۡنَ اعۡمَلُوۡا عَلٰى مَكَانَتِكُمۡؕ اِنَّا عٰمِلُوۡنَۙ‏ ﴿11:121﴾ وَانْـتَظِرُوۡا​ ۚ اِنَّا مُنۡتَظِرُوۡنَ‏ ﴿11:122﴾ وَلِلّٰهِ غَيۡبُ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالۡاَرۡضِ وَاِلَيۡهِ يُرۡجَعُ الۡاَمۡرُ كُلُّهٗ فَاعۡبُدۡهُ وَتَوَكَّلۡ عَلَيۡهِ​ؕ وَمَا رَبُّكَ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعۡمَلُوۡنَ‏  ﴿11:123﴾

(11:118) Had your Lord so willed, He would surely have made mankind one community. But as things stand, now they will not cease to differ among themselves and to follow erroneous ways (11:119) except for those on whom your Lord has mercy. And it is for this (exercise of freedom of choice) that He has created them.116 And the word of your Lord was fulfilled: 'Indeed I will fill the Hell, with men and jinn, altogether.' (11:120) (O Muhammad!) We narrate these anecdotes of Messengers to you that We may strengthen through them your heart. In these anecdotes come to you the truth, and an exhortation, and a reminder for the believers. (11:121) As for those who are bent on not believing, tell them: 'Work according to your way and we are working according to our way. (11:122) And do wait for the end of things; we too are waiting. (11:123) All that is hidden in the heavens and the earth lies within the power of Allah. To Him are all matters referred for judgement. So do serve Him, and place in Him all your trust. Your Lord is not heedless of what you do.117

Notes

116. This is the answer to the objection raised in the name of taqdir (destiny) against the principle that has been laid down in the preceding verse for the destruction of the wicked communities. It is this: Why should these communities be punished for lack of a sufficient number of righteous persons in them? Why didn’t Allah Himself will to produce that sufficient number of righteous persons in it? Allah has answered this objection, so as to say: It is not the will of Allah to bind mankind inherently to a fixed course of life as He has bound the vegetable and animal life. Had it been so, there would have been no need of sending the Messengers and the Books for inviting mankind to the faith. For, in that case all human beings would have been born Muslims and born believers and there would have been no unbelief and no disobedience. But it is the will of Allah to grant freedom of choice and action to man so that he may be free to choose and follow any way of life. That is why He has left open both the way to Paradise and the way to Hell for man and given every individual and every community the opportunity to choose and follow either of the two ways with full freedom and win any of the two abodes as a result of his own efforts and exertions. It is obvious that this scheme of Allah demands that it should be based on the freedom of choice and the option to adopt faith or unbelief. This is why Allah does not compel a community to the right way if it itself intends to follow the wrong way, and plans and works for it. Allah’s scheme does not interfere with the plans and works of such a community. When it makes deliberate arrangements to mold the wicked, unjust, and sinful people, He does not supply it with righteous persons by birth to set it right. Every community is free to produce good or bad people as it wills. And if a community wills to follow a wrong way as a community, leaving little room for the production and the development of the righteous people in order to raise up the standard of virtue, God does not will to coerce it to follow the righteous way. He will let it follow the way it chooses for itself with its inevitable consequences. On the contrary, Allah shows His mercy to that community which produces a sufficiently large number of such people as accept the invitation to virtue, and leaves room in its collective system for such people to work for its reform and purification. (For further explanation, See (E.N. 24 of Surah Al-Anaam).

117. At the end of the discourse, Allah has warned the champions of kufr, and comforted the believers, so as to say: Allah is closely watching the behaviors of both the parties in the conflict between kufr and Islam, and the Sovereign is fully aware of all that is happening in His kingdom. He is watching and controlling everything with perfect wisdom. He will reward richly the champions of the truth and will not let go waste their efforts and exertions. And though He is showing tolerance to the champions of kufr, and giving them respite, He will take them to task because they are unjustly persecuting the standard bearers of the truth and are spreading chaos in the land, and exerting their utmost to put obstacles in the way of the work of reform. All these things are in the knowledge of Allah and the evil doers shall have to bear the consequences of their misdeeds, and the true believers will ultimately come out successful.