Tafsir al-Sadi - Abd al-Rahman al-Sadi’ - (759)

(30–31) “Whatever affliction befalls you is because of what your own hands have earned, though He pardons much. You cannot escape Him on earth, and besides Allah you have neither protector nor helper.”

The Exalted informs us that no affliction befalls His servants—in their bodies, wealth, children, or anything else they love and hold dear—except because of the sins their own hands have committed. Yet what Allah pardons is far greater. Allah does not wrong His servants; rather, they wrong themselves. “If Allah were to take people to account for what they have earned, He would not leave a single living creature upon its surface.” His delaying punishment is neither neglect on His part, Exalted is He, nor inability.

“You cannot escape Him on earth”—that is, you cannot thwart Allah’s power over you. Rather, you are powerless on earth and cannot prevent anything Allah decrees for you. “And besides Allah you have neither protector” to care for you and secure benefits for you “nor helper” to ward off harm from you.

﴿٣٠-٣١﴾ ﴿وَمَا أَصَابَكُمْ مِنْ مُصِيبَةٍ فَبِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَيَعْفُو عَنْ كَثِيرٍ * وَمَا أَنْتُمْ بِمُعْجِزِينَ فِي الأرْضِ وَمَا لَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مِنْ وَلِيٍّ وَلا نَصِيرٍ﴾ . يخبر تعالى، أنه ما أصاب العباد من مصيبة في أبدانهم وأموالهم وأولادهم وفيما يحبون ويكون عزيزا عليهم، إلا بسبب ما قدمته أيديهم من السيئات، وأن ما يعفو الله عنه أكثر، فإن الله لا يظلم العباد، ولكن أنفسهم يظلمون ﴿وَلَوْ يُؤَاخِذُ اللَّهُ النَّاسَ بِمَا كَسَبُوا مَا تَرَكَ عَلَى ظَهْرِهَا مِنْ دَابَّةٍ﴾ وليس إهمالا منه تعالى تأخير العقوبات ولا عجزا. ﴿وَمَا أَنْتُمْ بِمُعْجِزِينَ فِي الأرْضِ﴾ أي: معجزين قدرة الله عليكم، بل أنتم عاجزون في الأرض، ليس عندكم امتناع عما ينفذه الله فيكم. ﴿وَمَا لَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مِنْ وَلِيٍّ﴾ يتولاكم، فيحصل لكم المنافع ﴿وَلا نَصِيرٍ﴾ يدفع عنكم المضار.