Transliteration:( Wa law shaaa'al laahu laja'alakum ummmatanw waahidatanw wa laakiny yudillu many-yashaaa'u wa yahdee many-yashaaa'; wa latus'alunna 'ammaa kuntum ta'maloon )
211. Made into a single nation by giving everybody the guidance towards accepting Islam, i.e. everyone would have become Muslims. But this was against Divine wisdom. Just as the world constitutes of the wealthy and the poor, the healthy and the sick, the white and the black, in the like manner the Hereafter will flourish with the believers and the infidels through whom Paradise and Hell would be filled, and the mercy and wrath of Allah Almighty would be revealed.Â
212. This means by giving the opportunity to accept faith and guidance or inculcate in the heart of man inclination towards evil so that he in his own accord commits infidelity and sin. In short, this verse is not contradicting the will of man.
213. This question would be for the sake of accountability and not for questioning Divine knowledge. Allah Almighty is by Himself All-Knowing and Omniscient.
Â
93. And had Allah willed, He would have made you (all) one nation, but He allows whom He wills to stray and He guides whom He wills. But you shall certainly be called to account for what you used to do. 94. And do not make your oaths a means of deception among yourselves, resulting in the slip of a foot after it was firmly planted, and you taste the evil of having hindered from the path of Allah, and you will suffer a terrible punishment. 95. And do not use an oath by Allah for the purchase of little value, what is with Allah is better for you if you only knew. 96. Whatever you have will be exhausted, and what is with Allah will remain. And to those who are patient, We will certainly grant them their rewards in proportion to the best of what they used to do.
Allah says:
(And had Allah willed, He would have made you) meaning – O mankind,
((all) one nation,) This is like the Ayah:
(And had your Lord willed, all of those on earth would have believed together.) ﴿10:99﴾, meaning, He could have created harmony among them, and there would not be any differences, conflicts or hatred between them.
(And if your Lord had so willed, He would surely, have made mankind one Ummah ﴿nation or community﴾, but they will not cease to disagree. Except him on whom your Lord has bestowed His mercy, and for that did He create them.) (11:118-119) Similarly, Allah says here:
(but He allows whom He wills to stray and He guides whom He wills. ) Then on the Day of Resurrection, He will ask them all about their deeds, and will reward or punish them even equal to a scalish thread in the long slit of a date stone or the size of a speck on the back of a date stone, or even a thin membrane of the date stone.
Then Allah warns His servant against taking oaths as means of deception, i.e., using them for treacherous purposes, lest a foot should slip after being firmly planted. This is an analogy describing one who was on the right path but then deviated and slipped from the path of guidance because of an unfulfilled oath that involved hindering people from the path of Allah. This is because if a disbeliever were to find that after having agreed to a covenant, then the believer betrayed him, then the believer will have hindered him from entering Islam. Thus Allah says:
(and you taste the evil of having hindered from the path of Allah, and you will suffer a terrible punishment.)
Then Allah says:
(And do not use an oath by Allah for the purchase of little value.) meaning, do not neglect an oath sworn in the Name of Allah for the sake of this world and its attractions, for they are few, and even if the son of Adam were to gain this world and all that is in it, that which is with Allah is better for him, i.e., the reward of Allah is better for the one who puts his hope in Him, believes in Him, seeks Him and fulfills his oaths in the hope of that which Allah has promised. This is why Allah says:
(if you only knew. Whatever you have will be exhausted,) meaning, it will come to an end and will vanish, because it is only there for a certain, limited time.
(and what is with Allah will remain.) meaning, His reward for you in Paradise will remain, without interruption or end, because it is eternal and will never change nor disappear.
(And to those who are patient, We will certainly grant them their rewards in proportion to the best of what they used to do. ) Here the Lord swears, with the Lam of affirmation, that He will reward the patient for the best of their deeds, i.e., He will forgive them for their bad deeds.
(16:93) Had Allah so willed, He would have made you all one single community.[93] However, He lets go astray whomsoever He wills and shows the Right Way to whomsoever He wills.[94] Surely you shall be called to account regarding what you did.
93. This further supports the previous warning. It means that it would be wrong for any champion of Allah’s religion to arrogate to himself the use of every sort of method and means irrespective of whether they are right or wrong to propagate his own religion (considering it to be Allah’s religion) and try to destroy opposite religions. For this would be utterly against the will of Allah. If Allah had willed that there should be no religious differences, He could have deprived mankind of the freedom of choice. In that case, there would have been no need for Allah to get help of any such upholder of His religion, who uses disgraceful means for this purpose. Allah could have created all mankind to be inherent believers and obedient servants by depriving them of the power and option of disbelief and sin. Then there would have been none who could have dared to deviate from belief and obedience.
94. This is to show that Allah Himself has given man the power and freedom to follow any out of the many ways. That is why Allah makes arrangements for the guidance of the one who intends to follow the right way, and let go astray the one who desires to deviate.
[713]- According to His knowledge of each soul's preference.
Related Ayat(Verses)/Topics