The Angels, Originator, The Creator — Verse 17
35:17 · Fatir
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وَمَا ذَ ٰلِكَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ بِعَزِیزࣲ ١٧
wamā dhālika ʿalā l-lahi biʿazīzi
The Angels, Originator, The Creator / Fatir (35:17)
Connections 1 single-source 1 commentator
Multi-source connections
No verses on this ayah are cited by 2 or more commentators using numeric S:A notation. All extracted references come from a single source's commentary.
Single-source mention (1) cited by only one commentator
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Q 35:14 (Fatir)
cited by
By commentator who cites how many verses on this ayah
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Ma'arif-ul-Quran 1 verse 2 mentions total
Note: these connections are extracted from numeric S:A references inside the commentary text and are therefore biased toward mufassirun who use that notation. Prose-style references (e.g. "Surat al-Baqarah verse 30") will be added later, which should surface additional multi-source consensus.
that is not difficult for God
wamā dhālika ʿalā l-lahi biʿazīzi
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Tafsir Commentary
Mankind is in need of Allah, and each Person will carry His own Burdens on the Day of Resurrection
Allah tells us that He has no need of anyone or anything else, but all of creation is in need of Him and is in a position of humility before Him. He says:
يأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ أَنتُمُ الْفُقَرَآءُ إِلَى اللَّهِ
(O mankind! it is you who stand in need of Allah.) meaning, they need Him in all that they do, but He has no need of them at all. Allah says:
وَاللَّهُ هُوَ الْغَنِىُّ الْحَمِيدُ
But Allah is the Rich, Worthy of all praise. meaning, He is unique in His being Free of all needs, and has no partner or associate, and He is Worthy of all praise in all that He does, says, decrees and legislates.
إِن يَشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُـمْ وَيَأْتِ بِخَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ
(If He willed, He could destroy you and bring about a new creation.) means, if He wanted to, He could destroy you and bring forth another people, and this is not difficult or impossible for Him. He says:
وَمَا ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ بِعَزِيزٍ
(And that is not hard for Allah.) Allah's saying:
وَلاَ تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَى
(And no bearer of burdens shall bear another's burden;) means, on the Day of Resurrection.
وَإِن تَدْعُ مُثْقَلَةٌ إِلَى حِمْلِهَا
(and if one heavily laden calls another to (bear) his load, ) means, if the person who is carrying a heavy burden calls someone else to help him carry his load, all or part of it,
لاَ يُحْمَلْ مِنْهُ شَىْءٌ وَلَوْ كَانَ ذَا قُرْبَى
(nothing of it will be lifted even though he be near of kin.) means, even if he is closely-related to him, even if he is his father or son, for each person will be preoccupied with his own self and his own situation. Then Allah says:
إِنَّمَا تُنذِرُ الَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُمْ بِالْغَيْبِ وَأَقَامُواْ الصَّلَوةَ
(You can warn only those who fear their Lord unseen and perform the Salah.) means, `the only ones who will draw a lesson from what you have brought are those who are possessed of insight and wisdom, who fear their Lord and who do as He commands.'
وَمَن تَزَكَّى فَإِنَّمَا يَتَزَكَّى لِنَفْسِهِ
(And he who purifies himself, then he purifies only for the benefit of himself.) means, who does righteous deeds, the benefit of that will come back to him,
وَإِلَى اللَّهِ الْمَصِيرُ
And to Allah is the Return. means, to Him everything will ultimately return, and He is swift in bringing to account. He will reward or punish everyone according to his deeds: if they are good, then the end will be good, and if they are bad, then the end will be bad.
And that is not an arduous thing for God.
وما إهلاككم والإتيان بخلق سواكم على الله بممتنع، بل ذلك على الله سهل يسير.
ولهذا قال تعالى: "وما ذلك على الله بعزيز" وما هذا عليه بصعب ولا ممتنع.
واسم الإِِشارة فى قوله ( وَمَا ذَلِكَ عَلَى الله بِعَزِيزٍ ) يعود على الإِذهاب بهم ، والإِتيان بغيرهم .وما ذلك الذى ذكرناه لكم من إفنائكم والإِتيان بغيركم ، بعزيز ، أى : بصعب أو عسير أو متنع على الله - تعالى - ، لأن قدرته - تعالى لا يعجزها شئ .
وقوله (وَمَا ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ بِعَزِيزٍ) يقول: وما إذهابكم والإتيان بخلق سواكم على الله بشديد، بل ذلك عليه يسير سهل، يقول: فاتقوا الله أيها الناس، وأطيعوه قبل أن يفعل بكم ذلك.
"وما ذلك على الله بعزيز"، شديد.
وَمَا ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ بِعَزِيزٍ (17) وعطف عليه الإِعلام بأن ذلك لو شاء لكان هيّناً عليه وما هو عليه بعزيز .والعزيز : الممتنع الغالِب ، وهذا زيادة في الإِرهاب والتهديد ليكونوا متوقعين حلول هذا بهم .ومفعول فعل المشيئة محذوف استغناء بما دل عليه جواب الشرط وهو { يذهبكم } أي إن يشأ إذهابكم ، ومثل هذا الحذف لمفعول المشيئة كثير في الكلام .والإِشارة في قوله : { وما ذلك } عائدة إلى الإِذهاب المدلول عليه ب { يذهبكم } أو إلى ما تقدم بتأويل المذكور .
{ وَمَا ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ بِعَزِيزٍ } أي: بممتنع، ولا معجز له.
أي ممتنع عسير متعذر .وقد مضى هذا في " إبراهيم "
Man is an extremely vulnerable creation. His whole existence depends on a particular balance of natural factors. If this balance were to be disturbed, the very existence of man would be threatened. If, for instance, the sun reduced its distance from the earth and came near it, then all human beings would be burnt and reduced to ashes. Also, a large part of the inside of the earth consists of an extremely hot, semi-liquid material. If this hot matter moved upwards, the surface of the earth would experience terrible earthquakes which would reduce all human settlements to ruins. Moreover, meteors constantly fall upon Earth from outer space, but the atmosphere shields us against their effects. If the present balanced arrangement of this phenomenon were to be disrupted, the shower of meteors might turn into such a terrible barrage of stones that it would be impossible to save humanity from it. Man is surrounded by innumerable deadly possibilities of this kind; being totally dependent explains why man needs God and not vice versa. The burden of Doomsday will be that of one’s sins. Were it only a question of a physical burden, any individual could share another’s burden. But, the denigration and pain one suffers due to one’s bad deeds are of an extremely personal nature and there is no question of anybody else sharing them. The Truth is very clear, but it is understood only by one who wants to understand. One who is not serious about knowing what is Truth and what is Untruth, cannot be made to understand anything.
In the last verse: إِن تَدْعُوهُمْ لَا يَسْمَعُوا دُعَاءَكُمْ وَلَوْ سَمِعُوا مَا اسْتَجَابُوا لَكُمْ (If you call them, they do not hear your call, and even if they were to hear, they would not respond to you. - 35:14). To explain, it can be said that if you call those idols or some prophets or angels you take as god and worship them asking them to help you in distress, they will, first of all, be unable to listen to you because idols do not have the ability to listen. Though, prophets and angels have this ability, yet they are not present everywhere nor do they hear that which is said by everybody. Further on, it was said that, should they, as a matter of supposition, be able to listen, as in the case of angels and prophets, still, they would not fulfill your request, because they themselves have no control over it, and cannot intercede with Allah on behalf of anyone without His permission.
In the last verse: إِن تَدْعُوهُمْ لَا يَسْمَعُوا دُعَاءَكُمْ وَلَوْ سَمِعُوا مَا اسْتَجَابُوا لَكُمْ (If you call them, they do not hear your call, and even if they were to hear, they would not respond to you. - 35:14). To explain, it can be said that if you call those idols or some prophets or angels you take as god and worship them asking them to help you in distress, they will, first of all, be unable to listen to you because idols do not have the ability to listen. Though, prophets and angels have this ability, yet they are not present everywhere nor do they hear that which is said by everybody. Further on, it was said that, should they, as a matter of supposition, be able to listen, as in the case of angels and prophets, still, they would not fulfill your request, because they themselves have no control over it, and cannot intercede with Allah on behalf of anyone without His permission.
The issue of the ability of the dead to hear سماع الموتی sama`-ulmawta) has appeared earlier. The present verse neither confirms nor rejects it. Arguments and proofs relating to this issue are different. They have already been mentioned in details under the commentary on Surah Ar-Rum [ 30] (Ma` ariful-Qur an, Volume VI).
(That) i.e. destroying you and bringing a new creation (is not a hard thing for Allah.