Overview (Verse 125)

Choosing Divine Guidance
 
The whole passage concludes with a description of the state that ensues when divine guidance is followed, when the faith is accepted and the effect it has on people’s hearts. “Whomever God wills to guide, He makes his bosom open wide with willingness towards self-surrender (to Him); and whomever He wills to let go astray, He causes his bosom to be tight and constricted, as if he were climbing up into the skies. Thus does God lay the scourge on the unbelievers.” (Verse 125)
 
God has set in operation a law that ensures guidance for everyone who wishes to be guided and who takes the necessary action to achieve that guidance. All this remains within the limits of choice given to human beings by way of a test. Within this law, when God wishes to guide a person, “He makes his bosom open wide with willingness towards self- surrender (to God).” (Verse 125) He thus receives the concept of surrendering himself to God with willingness and reassurance. Again, in accordance with God’s law that He leaves anyone who turns his back on guidance and closes his mind to it to his own devices, it is said of God that: “He causes his bosom to be tight and constricted.” (Verse 125) His mind is shut and he finds difficulty in accepting God’s guidance. He is just like one who “is climbing up into the skies.” (Verse 125) This is a mental state described in terms of a physical condition which combines difficult breathing, stress and the exhaustion which accompanies climbing up stage after stage into the skies. The very word chosen here to denote `climbing up’ imparts a sense of difficulty and strenuous physical effort. Thus, the whole scene is in perfect harmony both with the physical condition and the verbal expression describing it.
 
The scene is concluded with a fitting comment: “Thus does God lay the scourge on the unbelievers.” (Verse 125) Just as it is God’s will to cause the bosom of a person who wishes to be guided to open wide with willingness to surrender himself to God, and causes the one who chooses to go astray to find things hard and difficult, so does God lay a scourge on those who do not believe. The Arabic term which is rendered here as `scourge’ has a variety of meanings. It denotes `suffering, blight, ignominy, etc.’ Together, its nuances give us a picture of a person who is completely incapable of rescuing himself. He continues to endure most severe suffering without any hope of salvation.
 
We need to say something further about this verse: “Whomever God wills to guide, He makes his bosom open wide with willingness towards self-surrender (to Him); and whomever He wills to let go astray, He causes his bosom to be tight and constricted, as if he were climbing up into the skies. Thus does God lay the scourge on the unbelievers.” (Verse 125)
 
This verse and similar ones in the Qur’ān refer to the essential relationship between God’s will and people’s choices, and what befalls them of either being guided or going astray and the consequent reward or punishment they receive. To fully appreciate the facts such verses describe requires a level of human understanding different from that of intellectual logic. All the controversy that has taken place around this issue over the years, in the history of Islamic thought, particularly between the Mu`tazilah, the Murji’ah and the mainstream Sunnīs, and in the history of divinity and philosophy, and all that has been written about it have a distinct intellectual drift.
 
But as we have said, this whole question requires the use of a different level of understanding. It also requires us to deal with practical facts, not intellectual arguments. The Qur’ān describes the true facts within the human self and the universe at large. These portray distinctly the close interrelation between what God determines and man’s choice and action in a way that cannot be properly appreciated by intellectual logic.
 
To say that God’s will pushes man into taking one of two ways, either guidance or error, is not compatible with practical reality. Nor is this reality compatible with saying that man’s will determines his destiny. Instead, the practical reality is made up of an elaborate mixture which combines the freedom and authority of God’s will on the one hand and man’s free choice on the other, without these being in conflict with each other.
 
As has already been stated, understanding this reality cannot be done within the confines of intellectual logic or argument. It is the nature of a certain reality that determines how it should be approached and expressed. Understanding this reality as it is also requires going through a complete spiritual and psychological experience. When people move towards surrendering themselves to God, they find that their hearts open up warmly to such surrender. This is certainly of God’s own doing. To feel inclined to something takes place only by God’s will. On the other hand, a person who prefers the path which leads astray feels his bosom tightening and constricted. This is again of God’s own doing, because it is an event that cannot come about unless God wills it to be. But this is not the will of force. It is the will that has set a particular law in operation so that man is tested with the measure of choice he has been given. Moreover, it is God’s will to determine the consequences of the type of choice man makes and whether he follows guidance or error.
 
When one intellectual issue is set against another, and when the benefit of practical experience of how to deal with these intellectual issues is not made use of, we cannot have a complete and accurate understanding of the practical reality involved. This is the shortcoming of all intellectual arguments on these issues, whether we find them in Islamic philosophy or elsewhere. Hence, a different approach is needed.
 
Let us now pick up the thread of our commentary on this passage, which is stated as a comment on the question of which slaughtered animals it is permissible to eat. All these issues form a single unit in the Qur’ān, in a Muslim’s mind and in the structure of the Islamic faith. The question of which meat is lawful is a question of legislation, and this is a question of authority, which is, in turn, a question of faith. This means that this approach to faith is the right one, given in the right place.

Overview (Verse 125)

Choosing Divine Guidance
 
The whole passage concludes with a description of the state that ensues when divine guidance is followed, when the faith is accepted and the effect it has on people’s hearts. “Whomever God wills to guide, He makes his bosom open wide with willingness towards self-surrender (to Him); and whomever He wills to let go astray, He causes his bosom to be tight and constricted, as if he were climbing up into the skies. Thus does God lay the scourge on the unbelievers.” (Verse 125)
 
God has set in operation a law that ensures guidance for everyone who wishes to be guided and who takes the necessary action to achieve that guidance. All this remains within the limits of choice given to human beings by way of a test. Within this law, when God wishes to guide a person, “He makes his bosom open wide with willingness towards self- surrender (to God).” (Verse 125) He thus receives the concept of surrendering himself to God with willingness and reassurance. Again, in accordance with God’s law that He leaves anyone who turns his back on guidance and closes his mind to it to his own devices, it is said of God that: “He causes his bosom to be tight and constricted.” (Verse 125) His mind is shut and he finds difficulty in accepting God’s guidance. He is just like one who “is climbing up into the skies.” (Verse 125) This is a mental state described in terms of a physical condition which combines difficult breathing, stress and the exhaustion which accompanies climbing up stage after stage into the skies. The very word chosen here to denote `climbing up’ imparts a sense of difficulty and strenuous physical effort. Thus, the whole scene is in perfect harmony both with the physical condition and the verbal expression describing it.
 
The scene is concluded with a fitting comment: “Thus does God lay the scourge on the unbelievers.” (Verse 125) Just as it is God’s will to cause the bosom of a person who wishes to be guided to open wide with willingness to surrender himself to God, and causes the one who chooses to go astray to find things hard and difficult, so does God lay a scourge on those who do not believe. The Arabic term which is rendered here as `scourge’ has a variety of meanings. It denotes `suffering, blight, ignominy, etc.’ Together, its nuances give us a picture of a person who is completely incapable of rescuing himself. He continues to endure most severe suffering without any hope of salvation.
 
We need to say something further about this verse: “Whomever God wills to guide, He makes his bosom open wide with willingness towards self-surrender (to Him); and whomever He wills to let go astray, He causes his bosom to be tight and constricted, as if he were climbing up into the skies. Thus does God lay the scourge on the unbelievers.” (Verse 125)
 
This verse and similar ones in the Qur’ān refer to the essential relationship between God’s will and people’s choices, and what befalls them of either being guided or going astray and the consequent reward or punishment they receive. To fully appreciate the facts such verses describe requires a level of human understanding different from that of intellectual logic. All the controversy that has taken place around this issue over the years, in the history of Islamic thought, particularly between the Mu`tazilah, the Murji’ah and the mainstream Sunnīs, and in the history of divinity and philosophy, and all that has been written about it have a distinct intellectual drift.
 
But as we have said, this whole question requires the use of a different level of understanding. It also requires us to deal with practical facts, not intellectual arguments. The Qur’ān describes the true facts within the human self and the universe at large. These portray distinctly the close interrelation between what God determines and man’s choice and action in a way that cannot be properly appreciated by intellectual logic.
 
To say that God’s will pushes man into taking one of two ways, either guidance or error, is not compatible with practical reality. Nor is this reality compatible with saying that man’s will determines his destiny. Instead, the practical reality is made up of an elaborate mixture which combines the freedom and authority of God’s will on the one hand and man’s free choice on the other, without these being in conflict with each other.
 
As has already been stated, understanding this reality cannot be done within the confines of intellectual logic or argument. It is the nature of a certain reality that determines how it should be approached and expressed. Understanding this reality as it is also requires going through a complete spiritual and psychological experience. When people move towards surrendering themselves to God, they find that their hearts open up warmly to such surrender. This is certainly of God’s own doing. To feel inclined to something takes place only by God’s will. On the other hand, a person who prefers the path which leads astray feels his bosom tightening and constricted. This is again of God’s own doing, because it is an event that cannot come about unless God wills it to be. But this is not the will of force. It is the will that has set a particular law in operation so that man is tested with the measure of choice he has been given. Moreover, it is God’s will to determine the consequences of the type of choice man makes and whether he follows guidance or error.
 
When one intellectual issue is set against another, and when the benefit of practical experience of how to deal with these intellectual issues is not made use of, we cannot have a complete and accurate understanding of the practical reality involved. This is the shortcoming of all intellectual arguments on these issues, whether we find them in Islamic philosophy or elsewhere. Hence, a different approach is needed.
 
Let us now pick up the thread of our commentary on this passage, which is stated as a comment on the question of which slaughtered animals it is permissible to eat. All these issues form a single unit in the Qur’ān, in a Muslim’s mind and in the structure of the Islamic faith. The question of which meat is lawful is a question of legislation, and this is a question of authority, which is, in turn, a question of faith. This means that this approach to faith is the right one, given in the right place.