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Consider
the following verses (with conventional translation):
5/48 …
if Allah had pleased He would have made you (all) a
single people, but that He might try you in what He gave
you, therefore strive with one another to hasten to
virtuous deeds; to Allah is your return, of all (of
you), so He will let you know that in which you
differed;
11/118 And
if your Lord had pleased He would certainly have
made people a single nation, and they shall continue to
differ.
16/93 And
if Allah please He would certainly make you a
single nation, but He causes to err whom He pleases and
guides whom He pleases; and most certainly you will be
questioned as to what you did.
42/8 And
if Allah had pleased He would surely have made
them a single community but He admits whom He wills to
His Beneficence and the Zalimun will have neither a wali
(protector or guardian) nor a helper
The
key conditional
in the above verses is this:
“If
Allah had pleased, He would have made you a single
nation”. Intuitively, a confusion comes to mind,
i.e. Allah does not wish to make all the world a single
community and is pleased with the status quo that each
nation take care of her own interests and different
communities keep on fighting with each other whether
militarily or economically.
Similarly
in 10:99, Allah says:
10/99 And
if your Lord had pleased, surely all those who
are in the earth would have believed, all of them…
Does this mean that
Allah does not wish that all those who are on the earth
would believe?
According
to 43:20:
43/20 And
they (, the worshipers of false deities) say: “If the
Beneficent Allah had pleased, we should never have
worshipped them.” …
Does this
mean that Allah does not wish that the worshipers of
false deities would worship Him?
For other
such conditional sentences, please also see 2:20, 2:220,
2:253, 4:90, 6:35, 6:107, 6:112, 6:137, 6:148-149,
10:16, 16:9, 16:35, 23:24, 25:45, 41:14.
Now let us
analyze such conditional sentences as are given in the
above verses. In Arabic, there are two types of
conditional sentences: real (or valid) conditional
sentences and unreal (or hypothetical) conditional
sentences. All the above given conditionals begin with
the Arabic “law shaa’a” . “law” introduces an unreal
conditional sentence which contains a hypothetical
presumption. The word “shaa’a” can be used in the
following meanings (Ref. Lane’s Lexicon):
The Arabic
phrase “ashaa’ahu ilaihi” means “ He or it
compelled him, or constrained him or necessitated him to
have recourse to or betake himself, to it”. As can
be seen, that the word “shaa’a” is also used to mean,
“to constrain, or compel or necessitate”. In the light
of this, the verses given above can be re-translated as
following:
42/8 And
if Allah had compelled or necessitated He would
surely have made them a single community …
The key
point is that Allah does not compel or force
human beings to any action. He gives them free
choice, so that they can be held accountable for their
deeds. The following verses make clear that there is no
enforcement or compulsion.
10/99 And
if your Lord had compelled (law shaa’a), surely
all those who are in the earth would have believed, all
of them; will you then force men till they become
believers?
The last
part of the verse (will you then force men) explains the
sense of “law shaa’a”, which should be rendered in the
verse.
The
following verse underscores the aspect of
accountability:
16/93 And
if Allah had compelled or necessitated, He would
certainly make you a single nation, but He causes to err
according to His law of causation and guides according
to His law of causation; and most certainly you will
be questioned as to what you did.
The
notions of "no compulsion or ikraah" and accountability,
as they have been used in 10:99 and 16:93 make clear
that "law shaa'a Allah" should not be translated here as
"If Allah had pleased" but it should be translated as
"If Allah had compelled", which is not only perfectly
according to the Arabic language but also in line with
the Quranic teachings in general and the context of the
verses, in particular.
For
similar topics, see
Mashiyyat and
Do we have free-will?
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