Surah Al-Hadid (57) — Ayah 22

(Ayah 22) ➊ The object of {مَاۤ اَصَابَ مِنْ مُّصِيْبَةٍ …:’’ اَصَابَ ‘‘} is omitted: {’’ أَيْ مَا أَصَابَكُمْ أَوْ مَا أَصَابَ أَحَدًا مِنْ مُّصِيْبَةٍ …‘‘} "That is, whatever calamity befalls you or anyone, whether on the earth or in your own selves..." From the beginning of the surah, there has been an emphasis on spending wealth and life in jihad. Since in this path, various kinds of physical, mental, financial, and personal hardships arise, such as hunger, thirst, poverty, fear, grief, fatigue, illness, wounds, injuries, captivity, and even death, a person avoids going for jihad and tries to save himself from these hardships. And if he does go for jihad, he becomes distressed when these hardships occur. Allah Almighty said that whatever financial or personal hardship is destined to befall you, it will come to you in any case; no matter how much you try to avoid it, you cannot escape it. Every coming hardship or comfort, Allah Almighty has written in a book even before creating it, before creating your souls, and even before creating the earth. No one has the power to erase or change what is written. See also the exegesis of Surah Qamar (49) and Surah Tawbah (51).

➋ {فِي الْاَرْضِ:} By this are meant the general calamities that come upon the earth, such as famine, storms, floods, earthquakes, and epidemics, etc., which affect humans.

➌ {وَ لَا فِيْۤ اَنْفُسِكُمْ:} By this are meant those calamities that befall a person himself, such as illness, wounds, hunger, thirst, captivity, poverty, fear, grief, the death of loved ones, and one's own death, etc. In {’’ وَ لَا فِيْۤ اَنْفُسِكُمْ ‘‘}, {’’ لَا ‘‘} is mentioned again due to the importance of these calamities, because a person is more affected by calamities that befall himself; he is affected mentally by calamities that befall others, but not physically.

➍ { مِنْ قَبْلِ اَنْ نَّبْرَاَهَا: ’’ بَرَأَ يَبْرَأُ بَرْأً وَ بُرُوْأً ‘‘} (f) To create. The pronoun in {’’ هَا ‘‘} can refer to {’’ مُصِيْبَةٍ ‘‘}, to {’’ الْاَرْضِ ‘‘}, or to {’’ اَنْفُسِكُمْ ‘‘}. This is the eloquence of divine speech that all three are meant: Allah Almighty wrote every calamity before creating that calamity, before creating the human, and even before creating the earth.

➎ { اِنَّ ذٰلِكَ عَلَى اللّٰهِ يَسِيْرٌ:} That is, since a human has no knowledge of the future, it is impossible for him to write about the future beforehand, but for Allah Almighty this is a very trivial matter, because He knows every future event just as He knows the past and present. See also the exegesis of Surah Qamar (49).

22-1. For example, drought, floods, and other earthly and heavenly calamities.

22-2. For example, diseases, fatigue and exhaustion, and poverty, etc.

22-3. That is, Allah has already written all matters before the creation of all creatures according to His knowledge, as it is mentioned in the hadith that Allah had written all destinies fifty thousand years before the creation of the heavens and the earth.

22. No calamity befalls on the earth or in yourselves except that it is written in a Book [38] before We bring it into existence. Indeed, that is easy [39] for Allah.

[38] The circumstances in which this Surah was revealed were extremely testing for the sincere Muslims. Four types of enemies were determined to wipe out the nascent Islamic state from existence: first, the Quraysh of Makkah; second, the polytheist tribes surrounding Madinah; third, the Jews of Madinah; and fourth, the hypocrites who maintained internal collusion with every anti-Islamic force and had become a snake in the Muslims’ sleeve. The mental and outward anxieties that could afflict the Muslims in such conditions can well be imagined. In these circumstances, Allah Almighty, comforting the Muslims, said that you should not think that We are unaware of your difficulties and hardships. Rather, whatever incident occurs on earth or whatever kind of pain reaches you, We know it even before it happens, because all of this is already written in the Book of Destiny. And it was necessary to make you go through such circumstances so that the distinction between the believers and the hypocrites would become clear. Soon, Islam is going to gain dominance, and your community is being chosen for the leadership of the entire world. Therefore, it was necessary to sift out the hypocrites so that they would not consider themselves entitled to or partners in this leadership, and so that their true worth would become known to themselves and to others.

[39] For the explanation of this verse, see the footnote of verse 24 of Surah Al-A'raf.