Al-Isra · Makki · ayah 97 of 111

Al-Isra 17:97

وَمَن يَهْدِ ٱللَّهُ فَهُوَ ٱلْمُهْتَدِ ۖ وَمَن يُضْلِلْ فَلَن تَجِدَ لَهُمْ أَوْلِيَآءَ مِن دُونِهِۦ ۖ وَنَحْشُرُهُمْ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ عَلَىٰ وُجُوهِهِمْ عُمْيًا وَبُكْمًا وَصُمًّا ۖ مَّأْوَىٰهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ ۖ كُلَّمَا خَبَتْ زِدْنَـٰهُمْ سَعِيرًا

“And whoever Allāh guides - he is the [rightly] guided; and whoever He sends astray[775] - you will never find for them protectors besides Him, and We will gather them on the Day of Resurrection [fallen] on their faces - blind, dumb and deaf. Their refuge is Hell; every time it subsides, We increase [for] them blazing fire.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Guidance is His to give; those who refuse it find no other guide, and rise on their faces to a fire that never truly dies.

A reflection

The guided one is the one He guides

Read the opening clause slowly. Whoever Allah guides, he is the guided one. It sounds almost circular. It is meant to.

A narration-based commentary draws out the point. The guided one is the one Allah guides and grants success, it says, not one guided by anyone else, for guidance is in His hand. Another commentary says this ayah tells of His control over His creation and the reach of His decree. Whom He guides, no one can mislead, and no one can overturn His judgement.

The lexicons give guidance a fuller picture than 'being shown'. The root means directing someone to the road and setting him right on it. One view adds inclining: a heart turned towards the truth. Guidance, in that picture, is being led, not only being shown.

Now picture a young man three years into practising his faith. He writes a long post on how he reasoned his way to it, book by book and debate by debate. It is sincere, and it is proud. He leaves out the Ramadan when his flatmate woke him for the pre-dawn meal every night without being asked. He leaves out the old man at the mosque who smiled at him for a year before they ever spoke.

The ayah does not deny that he read and thought. It denies that he authored the outcome. He walked, but he was led. Every argument that persuaded him did so because a heart had been turned to listen.

Some ask whether it is arrogant for Allah to claim all guidance as His. Arrogance is claiming what is not yours, in order to be admired. Here the One who owns guidance names it, so that we know where to ask. He gains nothing from the claim. We gain the right door.

That is why the guided keep asking Guide us to the straight path (1:6) in every prayer. Not 'congratulate us'. The ego shrinks, and the gratitude grows.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.