Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 148 of 165

Al-An'am 6:148

سَيَقُولُ ٱلَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا۟ لَوْ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ مَآ أَشْرَكْنَا وَلَآ ءَابَآؤُنَا وَلَا حَرَّمْنَا مِن شَىْءٍ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ كَذَّبَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ ذَاقُوا۟ بَأْسَنَا ۗ قُلْ هَلْ عِندَكُم مِّنْ عِلْمٍ فَتُخْرِجُوهُ لَنَآ ۖ إِن تَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا ٱلظَّنَّ وَإِنْ أَنتُمْ إِلَّا تَخْرُصُونَ

“Those who associated [others] with Allāh will say, "If Allāh had willed, we would not have associated [anything] and neither would our fathers, nor would we have prohibited anything." Likewise did those before deny until they tasted Our punishment. Say, "Do you have any knowledge that you can produce for us? You follow not except assumption, and you are not but misjudging."”

Saheeh International

Essence

The oldest excuse in religion, 'had Allah wanted otherwise, He would have stopped me', is met here with one calm question: where is your knowledge?

A reflection

The parcel left in the rain

A philosophy student spends an evening arguing that free will is an illusion. Every choice, he says, is fixed by causes long before we make it. Nobody truly chooses anything. The next morning a courier leaves his parcel in the rain, and he writes a furious review. He does not blame the causes. He blames the courier.

This ayah quotes the older version of his argument. Law shāʾa Allāhu mā ashraknā: had Allah willed, we would not have associated partners with Him, nor would our fathers. The logic looks tidy. Allah could have stopped us. He did not. So what we do must be what He wants.

The objection deserves a fair hearing, because it is very much alive. If nothing happens outside His will, how can anyone be blamed? Notice that the ayah does not deny His will. The very next ayah says, 'had He willed, He would have guided you all' (6:149). What it denies is the leap from 'He let it happen' to 'He is pleased with it'.

One classical commentary draws the line plainly. Allah wills everything that comes to be, but He does not command everything He wills. The servant must follow His command. He has no right to hang his choices on His will. His will is an excuse for no one.

Another classical writer puts a sharp question to anyone who uses this argument. Would you accept it from your own child, or from someone you employ? Suppose your employee ignores every instruction and says, 'it was decreed'. Do you shrug? If you would not accept it from them, how can you offer it to Allah?

The student did not accept it from the courier. Nobody really lives as though choice were an illusion. We reach for the argument only when we are the ones being asked to change.

What remains open is how His will and our choosing fit together. The schools of theology have explained it in different ways, and the mystery is real. But the ayah shows it was never the real problem here.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.