No Escape From God

A Commentary by Sayyid Qutb

In the Name of God, the Lord of Grace, the Most Merciful

Are they not aware how God creates [life] in the first instance, and then brings it forth anew? This is indeed easy for God. Say: “Go all over the earth and see how God has originated His creation in the first instance; and then He will certainly bring about the second life. Most certainly, God has the power over all things. He punishes whom He will, and bestows His mercy on which He wills. To Him you shall be made to return. And never can you elude Him, neither on earth nor in the skies. You have none to protect you from God and none to give you support.” Those who deny God’s signs and the meeting with Him are indeed the ones who abandon all hope of My mercy. It is for these that grievous suffering awaits.

[Abraham’s] people’s only answer was: “Kill him, or burn him!” But God saved him from the fire. In this there are signs for people who believe.

[The Spider, Al-Ankabut: 29: 19-24]

These verses represent a brief pause the surah makes in the middle of its narrative of the history of earlier prophets, which started with Noah’s long advocacy of his message, continuing for 950 years, before the floods overwhelmed them for their stubborn resistance.

The surah then speaks about Abraham and how he presented the divine message to his people. However, this pause comes early in its narrative of Abraham’s story with his people. They speak about the start of creation and God’s might.

Part of God’s power over all things is that He punishes whomever He wills and bestows His grace over whomever He wills. To Him all mankind returns; none escapes Him and none can evade His will: “He punishes whom He will, and bestows His mercy on which He will. To Him you shall be made to return. And never can you elude him, neither on earth nor in the skies. You have none to protect you from God and none to give you support.”

Punishment and mercy are subject to God’s will in the sense that He has given clear guidance and made the way of error clear for all. He has given man the propensity to follow either. The choice belongs entirely to man. However, when man chooses to believe in God and shows a willingness to follow His guidance, God will help him as He has committed Himself to do so. On the other hand, when he turns away from divine guidance he becomes isolated and lives in error. The two ways then lead to either God’s mercy in the first case or to His punishment in the latter.

“To Him you shall be made to return.” In this instance, the surah uses the word tuqlabun, which carries connotations of violent return, to suit what follows: “And never can you elude him, neither on earth nor in the skies.” You have no power to save yourselves from return to God. Neither your own power that you have on earth nor that of those whom you sometimes worship, such as the angels or jinn, thinking that they have power in the skies, have any effect: “You have none to protect you from God and none to give you support.” [Verse 22] How can there be any protection or support against God? Who could give it: Man, angel, or jinn? They are all God’s creatures and servants. They cannot cause benefit or harm even to themselves, let alone anyone else.

“Those who deny God’s signs and the meeting with Him are indeed the ones who abandon all hope of My mercy. It is for these that grievous suffering awaits.” Man does not despair of God’s mercy except when he totally disbelieves, cutting all relations with his Lord. Again man does not disbelieve except when he despairs of establishing a relation between himself and God, abandoning all hope God’s grace. The end then is well known: “It is for these that grievous suffering awaits.”

After this intervening address aimed at everyone who denies faith generally and at Abraham’s people by implication, the surah reports his people’s reply to his call. It is a very strange and singular reply; one which shows the arrogance of disbelief and oppression that relies on force and authority: “[Abraham’s] people’s only answer was: ‘Kill him, or burn him!’ But God saved him from the fire. In this there are signs for people who believe.” [Verse 24] To kill or burn a man is their only response to a simple, clear and logical call with which he addressed their hearts and minds.

How could Abraham alone and deprived of all power stand up to such arrogant brutality? Therefore, God intervened in a direct and open manner, with a miracle no human could have expected: “God saved him from the fire.” Indeed his saving in this miraculous way should have been seen as clear evidence confirming his message, but only a person whose heart is ready to embrace faith looks at it in this light. Abraham’s people, however, did not believe despite this miracle. This shows, then, that miracles do not give guidance. Instead, it is necessary to have an open mind, one willing to accept the truth and divine guidance: “In this there are signs for people who believe.” [Verse 24]

The first of these signs was Abraham’s saving from the fire. The second was the impotence of tyranny to harm just one man standing alone, when God wanted him saved. The fact that miracles do not ensure acceptance of God’s guidance by hardened hearts was the third sign. In confirmation of this fact one only needs to look at the history of divine messages, and reflect on the way people’s hearts change, and also on the factors that enable people to accept guidance as well as those that leave them astray.

© Arab News