Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 15 Al-Hijr, Ayat 36-42

قَالَ رَبِّ فَاَنۡظِرۡنِىۡۤ اِلٰى يَوۡمِ يُبۡعَثُوۡنَ‏ ﴿15:36﴾ قَالَ فَاِنَّكَ مِنَ الۡمُنۡظَرِيۡنَۙ‏ ﴿15:37﴾ اِلٰى يَوۡمِ الۡوَقۡتِ الۡمَعۡلُوۡمِ‏ ﴿15:38﴾ قَالَ رَبِّ بِمَاۤ اَغۡوَيۡتَنِىۡ لَاُزَيِّنَنَّ لَهُمۡ فِى الۡاَرۡضِ وَلَاُغۡوِيَـنَّهُمۡ اَجۡمَعِيۡنَۙ‏ ﴿15:39﴾ اِلَّا عِبَادَكَ مِنۡهُمُ الۡمُخۡلَصِيۡنَ‏ ﴿15:40﴾ قَالَ هٰذَا صِرَاطٌ عَلَىَّ مُسۡتَقِيۡمٌ‏ ﴿15:41﴾ اِنَّ عِبَادِىۡ لَـيۡسَ لَكَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ سُلۡطٰنٌ اِلَّا مَنِ اتَّبَـعَكَ مِنَ الۡغٰوِيۡنَ‏ ﴿15:42﴾

(15:36) Iblis said: "My Lord! Grant me respite till the Day when they will be resurrected." (15:37) Allah said: "For sure you are granted respite (15:38) until the day of a known time." (15:39) Iblis said: "My Lord! In the manner You led me to error, I will make things on earth seem attractive to them22 and lead all of them to error, (15:40) except those of Your servants whom You have singled out for Yourself." (15:41) Allah said: "Here is the path that leads straight to Me.23 (15:42) Over My true servants you will be able to exercise no power, your power will be confined to the erring ones, those who choose to follow you.24


Notes

22. That is, thou hast beguiled me by commanding me to bow down before a creature who is inferior to me: for it is obvious that I could not obey such an order. Therefore, I will now beguile them and disobey Thee. In other words, Iblis meant to say: I will make the worldly life, its enjoyments and its transitory benefits so alluring for man that he will forget the responsibilities of the vicegerent of Allah, and that he shall have to render his account in the Hereafter. They will also forget Thee and will disobey Thee, even though they would profess to remember Thee.

23. This (verse 41) may have another meaning: This is the right thing: I also will stick to this.

24. This (verse 42) also may have another meaning: You will have no power over My servants (common people) to force them to disobey Me. However, We will give freedom of action to those who will willingly or deliberately follow you, and we will not forcibly prevent them from your way, if they intended to follow you.

According to the first rendering, these verses will mean this: The way followed by My sincere servants is the only straight way to reach Me. Satan will have no power over those people who follow it, for I will choose them to be My own servants. Satan himself admitted that he will not be able to entice them. On the contrary, he will succeed in beguiling those people who themselves will deviate from the way of obedience. They will then wander farther and farther away following his temptations and allurements.

According to the second meaning, the passage will mean this: When Satan challenged that he would beguile people from the way of Allah by making this worldly life very tempting to them, Allah accepted his challenge but made it clear to him that he was being allowed only to beguile people with temptation, but was not being given any power to force them to deviate from the right way. At this, Satan clarified that his challenge did not apply to those people whom Allah will choose for Himself. As this exception might have led to a misunderstanding that Allah may choose any people for Himself to keep them safe and secure from the reach of Satan, Allah clarified it, saying: Only that person will follow you, who himself will deviate from the right way. As a corollary to this, that person, who will not deviate from the right way will not follow you, and will, thus become Our servant, whom We will choose for Ourself.