Tafsir al-Sadi - Abd al-Rahman al-Sadi’ - (830)

Tafsir al-SadiAbd al-Rahman al-Sadi’

(29–30) “All those in the heavens and the earth ask of Him. Every day He is engaged in some affair. * Which, then, of your Lord’s favors will you both deny?”

That is, He is inherently free of all need of His creatures and is boundless in generosity and munificence. All creation, therefore, is in need of Him, asking Him for all that they require through both their condition and their words. They cannot do without Him for the blink of an eye, or even less than that. Exalted is He: “Every day He is engaged in some affair.” He enriches the poor, mends the broken, gives to some and withholds from others, brings death and gives life, raises and abases. No affair distracts Him from another; requests do not confuse Him; the insistence of those who persist does not weary Him, nor do the prolonged petitions of those who ask.

Glory be to the Generous, the Bestower, whose gifts encompass the inhabitants of the earth and the heavens, and whose kindness embraces all creation at every instant and moment. Exalted is He whom neither the disobedience of sinners prevents from giving, nor the failure of needy people—who are ignorant of Him and His generosity—to ask Him.

These affairs, concerning which He has informed us that every day He is engaged in some affair, are His decrees and His governance, which He ordained and determined in pre-eternity. He continues to carry them out and bring them to pass at the times required by His wisdom. They comprise His religious rulings—His commands and prohibitions—and His creational decrees, which He brings to pass among His servants throughout their stay in this abode. Then, when [this] creation has reached completion and Allah has annihilated them (1), and He wills to carry out upon them the judgments of recompense and show them such manifestations of His justice, grace, and abundant benevolence as will cause them to know Him and affirm His oneness, He will transfer those held morally accountable from the abode of trial and testing to the abode of true life.

He will then set about carrying out these judgments whose time has come. This is what is meant by His words:

(1) Thus in manuscript B; manuscript A reads: “And Allah annihilated creation.”

﴿٢٩-٣٠﴾ ﴿يَسْأَلُهُ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأرْضِ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ * فَبِأَيِّ آلاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ﴾ . أي: هو الغني بذاته عن جميع مخلوقاته، وهو واسع الجود والكرم، فكل الخلق مفتقرون إليه، يسألونه جميع حوائجهم، بحالهم ومقالهم، ولا يستغنون عنه طرفة عين ولا أقل من ذلك، وهو تعالى ﴿كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ﴾ يغني فقيرا، ويجبر كسيرا، ويعطي قوما، ويمنع آخرين، ويميت ويحيي، ويرفع ويخفض، لا يشغله شأن عن شأن، ولا تغلطه المسائل، ولا يبرمه إلحاح الملحين، ولا طول مسألة السائلين، فسبحان الكريم الوهاب، الذي عمت مواهبه أهل الأرض والسماوات، وعم لطفه جميع الخلق في كل الآنات واللحظات، وتعالى الذي لا يمنعه من الإعطاء معصية العاصين، ولا استغناء الفقراء الجاهلين به وبكرمه، وهذه الشئون التي أخبر أنه تعالى كل يوم هو في شأن، هي تقاديره وتدابيره التي قدرها في الأزل وقضاها، لا يزال تعالى يمضيها وينفذها في أوقاتها التي اقتضته حكمته، وهي أحكامه الدينية التي هي الأمر والنهي، والقدرية التي يجريها على عباده مدة مقامهم في هذه الدار، حتى إذا تمت [هذه] الخليقة وأفناهم الله تعالى (١) وأراد تعالى أن ينفذ فيهم أحكام الجزاء، ويريهم من عدله وفضله وكثرة إحسانه، ما به يعرفونه ويوحدونه، نقل المكلفين من دار الابتلاء والامتحان إلى دار الحيوان. وفرغ حينئذ لتنفيذ هذه الأحكام، التي جاء وقتها، وهو المراد بقوله:

(١) كذا في ب، وفي أ: وأفنى الله الخلق.