Tafsir al-Sadi - Abd al-Rahman al-Sadi’ - (175)

Tafsir al-SadiAbd al-Rahman al-Sadi’

“Allah wills to turn to you in mercy, while those who follow their desires want you to deviate grievously. Allah wills to lighten your burdens, for man was created weak.”

His words, “Allah wills to turn to you in mercy,” mean: in a manner that puts your disordered affairs right, gathers together what has become scattered, and brings near what has grown distant.

“While those who follow their desires”—that is, those who incline wherever their desires incline, prefer them to what pleases their Beloved, and worship their whims, including the various kinds of unbelievers and sinners who put their whims before obedience to their Lord—want you “to deviate grievously”; that is, [to] turn away from the straight path to the path of those who have incurred wrath and those who have gone astray.

They want to divert you from obedience to the Most Merciful to obedience to Satan, and from observing the limits set by the One in obeying whose commands lies all happiness to following one in whose path lies all misery. Once you recognize that Allah Most High commands you to do what leads to your well-being, success, and happiness, while those who follow their desires command you to do what leads to utter loss and misery, then choose for yourselves the worthier of the two callers and the better of the two paths.

“Allah wills to lighten your burdens”—that is, by making what He has commanded you and [what] He has forbidden you easy to observe. Moreover, when some religious prescriptions entail hardship, He has permitted you what your need requires, such as carrion, blood, and similar things for one compelled by necessity, and the marriage of a free man to a bondwoman under the conditions previously mentioned. This is because of His perfect mercy, His all-embracing beneficence, and His knowledge and wisdom concerning human weakness in every respect: weakness of constitution, will, resolve, faith, and patience. It was therefore fitting that Allah should lighten for man whatever he is too weak to bear and whatever his faith, patience, and strength cannot endure.

﴿وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَيُرِيدُ الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الشَّهَوَاتِ أَنْ تَمِيلُوا مَيْلا عَظِيمًا * يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُخَفِّفَ عَنْكُمْ وَخُلِقَ الإنْسَانُ ضَعِيفًا﴾ . وقوله: ﴿وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ﴾ أي: توبة تلم شعثكم، وتجمع متفرقكم، وتقرب بعيدكم. ﴿وَيُرِيدُ الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الشَّهَوَاتِ﴾ أي: يميلون معها حيث مالت ويقدمونها على ما فيه رضا محبوبهم، ويعبدون أهواءهم، من أصناف الكفرة والعاصين، المقدمين لأهوائهم على طاعة ربهم، فهؤلاء يريدون ﴿أَنْ تَمِيلُوا مَيْلا عَظِيمًا﴾ أي: [أن] تنحرفوا عن الصراط المستقيم إلى صراط المغضوب عليهم والضالين. يريدون أن يصرفوكم عن طاعة الرحمن إلى طاعة الشيطان، وعن التزام حدود من السعادة كلها في امتثال أوامره، إلى مَنْ الشقاوةُ كلها في اتباعه. فإذا عرفتم أن الله تعالى يأمركم بما فيه صلاحكم وفلاحكم وسعادتكم، وأن هؤلاء المتبعين لشهواتهم يأمرونكم بما فيه غاية الخسار والشقاء، فاختاروا لأنفسكم أوْلى الداعيين، وتخيّروا أحسن الطريقتين. ﴿يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُخَفِّفَ عَنْكُمْ﴾ أي: بسهولة ما أمركم به و [ما] نهاكم عنه، ثم مع حصول المشقة في بعض الشرائع أباح لكم ما تقتضيه حاجتكم، كالميتة والدم ونحوهما للمضطر، وكتزوج الأمة للحر بتلك الشروط السابقة. وذلك لرحمته التامة وإحسانه الشامل، وعلمه وحكمته بضعف الإنسان من جميع الوجوه، ضعف البنية، وضعف الإرادة، وضعف العزيمة، وضعف الإيمان، وضعف الصبر، فناسب ذلك أن يخفف الله عنه، ما يضعف عنه وما لا يطيقه إيمانه وصبره وقوته.