The broadest of all rights is the right to liberty or freedom of choice. The justification of the Day of Judgment and human accountability before the Creator, and that God commanded the angels to prostrate before a human, etc., all these ideas rest on God’s endowment to humans the right to liberty.
The freedom of choice is reflected all over the Quran in many verses. Just few are given below to demonstrate human liberty and the corresponding responsibilities.
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10. Surah Yunus
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَلَوْ شَاء رَبُّكَ
لآمَنَ مَن فِي
الأَرْضِ كُلُّهُمْ
جَمِيعًا...
10:99. If it had been the Lord's Will, they would all have believed -- all who are on earth!
...أَفَأَنتَ تُكْرِهُ النَّاسَ حَتَّى يَكُونُواْ مُؤْمِنِينَ ﴿٩٩﴾
Wilt thou then compel mankind, against their will, to believe!
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13. Surah Ar Ra'd, late Medina 96
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
لَهُ
مُعَقِّبَاتٌ
مِّن بَيْنِ
يَدَيْهِ وَمِنْ
خَلْفِهِ
يَحْفَظُونَهُ
مِنْ أَمْرِ
اللّهِ...
13:11. For each (such person) there are (angels) in succession, before and behind him:
they guard him by command of Allah.
C1816. See last verse.
Every person, whether he conceals or reveals his thoughts, whether he skulks in darkness or goes about by day, -all are under Allah's watch and ward. His grace encompasses everyone, and again and again protects him, if he will only take the protection, from harm and evil.
If in his folly he thinks he can secretly take some pleasure or profit, he is wrong, for recording angels record all his thoughts and deeds.
...إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّى يُغَيِّرُواْ مَا بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ...
Verily never will Allah change the condition of a people until they change it themselves (with their own souls).
C1817. Allah is not intent on punishment. He created man virtuous and pure; he gave him intelligence and knowledge; he surrounded him with all sorts of instruments of His grace and mercy.
If, in spite of all this, man distorts his own will and goes against Allah's Will, yet is Allah's forgiveness open to him if he will take it.
It is only when he has made his own sight blind and changed his own nature or soul away from the beautiful mould in which Allah formed it, that Allah's Wrath will descend on him and the favourable position in which Allah placed him will be changed.
When once the punishment comes, there is no turning it back. None of the things which he relied upon- other than Allah-can possibly protect him.
...وَإِذَا أَرَادَ اللّهُ بِقَوْمٍ سُوءًا فَلاَ مَرَدَّ لَهُ...
But when (once) Allah willeth a people's punishment, there can be no turning it back,
...وَمَا لَهُم مِّن دُونِهِ مِن وَالٍ ﴿١١﴾
nor will they find, besides Him, any to protect.
Other versions:
Asad
13: 11 ……Verily, God does not change men’s condition unless they change their inner selves;
Pickthall
13: 11 “…Lo! God change not the condition of a folk until they (first) change that which is in their hearts; “
2. Surah AL-Baqarah, Medina 87
The Quranic Text :
كَانَ
النَّاسُ
أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً
فَبَعَثَ اللّهُ
النَّبِيِّينَ
مُبَشِّرِينَ
وَمُنذِرِينَ...
... وَأَنزَلَ مَعَهُمُ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ فِيمَا اخْتَلَفُواْ فِيهِ...
... وَمَا اخْتَلَفَ فِيهِ إِلاَّ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوهُ مِن بَعْدِ مَا جَاءتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ ...
... فَهَدَى اللّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ لِمَا اخْتَلَفُواْ فِيهِ مِنَ الْحَقِّ بِإِذْنِهِ...
... وَاللّهُ يَهْدِي مَن يَشَاء إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ ﴿٢١٣﴾
Asad’s Version:
Asad ……... But God guided the believers unto the truth about which, by His leave, they had disagreed: for God guides onto a straight way him that will [to be guided] [note 198]
[[ Asad’s note - 198 Or: "God guides whomever He wills onto a straight way." As is made clear in the second part of verse 253 of this surah, maris proneness to intellectual dissension is not an accident of history but an integral, God- willed aspect of human nature as such: and it is this natural circumstance to which the words "by His leave" allude. For an explanation of the phrase "out of mutual jealousy", see 23:53 and the corresponding note 30. ]]
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109. Sura al-Kafirun, Mecca 18 [early Meccan]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
قُلْ
يَا أَيُّهَا
الْكَافِرُونَ
(١)
109:1. Say: O ye that reject Faith!
C6289. Faith is a matter of personal conviction, and does not depend on worldly motives.
Worship should depend on pure and sincere Faith, but often does not: for motives of worldly gain, ancestral custom, social conventions or imitative instincts, or a lethargic instinct to shrink from enquiring into the real significance of solemn acts and the motives behind them, reduce a great deal of the world's worship to sin, selfishness, or futility.
Symbolic idols may themselves be merely instruments for safeguarding the privileges of a selfish priestly class, or the ambitions, greed, or lust of private individuals.
Hence the insistence of Islam and its Prophet on the pure worship of the One True God. The Prophet firmly resisted all appeals to worldly motives, and stood firm to his Message of eternal Unity.
لَا
أَعْبُدُ مَا
تَعْبُدُونَ
(٢)
109:2. I worship not that which ye worship,
وَلَا
أَنتُمْ عَابِدُونَ
مَا أَعْبُدُ
(٣)
109:3. Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
C6290. Verses 2-3 describe the conditions as they were at the time when this Surah was revealed, and may be freely paraphrased:
'I am a worshipper of the One True God, the Lord of all, of you as well as of myself; but you on account of your vested interests have not the will to give up your false worship, of idols and self'.
وَلَا
أَنَا عَابِدٌ
مَّا عَبَدتُّمْ
(٤)
109:4. And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship,
وَلَا
أَنتُمْ عَابِدُونَ
مَا أَعْبُدُ
(٥)
109:5. Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
Verses 4-5 describe the psychological reasons: I, being a prophet of Allah do not and cannot possibly desire to follow your false ancestral ways; and you, as custodians of the false worship, have not the will to give up your ways of worship, which are wrong'.
The "will" in the translation represents less the future tense than the will, the desire, the psychological possibility: it tries to reproduce the Arabic noun-agent.
لَكُمْ
دِينُكُمْ
وَلِيَ دِينِ
(٦)
109:6 To you be your Way, and to me mine
C6291. 'I, having been given the Truth, cannot come to your false ways: you, having your vested interests, will not give them up. For your ways the responsibility is yours: I have shown you the Truth. For my ways the responsibility is mine: you have no right to ask me to abandon the Truth. Your persecutions will be vain: the Truth must prevail in the end'.
This was the attitude of Faith then: but it is true for all time. Hold fast to Truth, "in scorn of consequence".
Asad’s Version:
109:1 SAY: "O you who deny the truth! (2) "I do not worship that which you worship, (3) and neither do you worship that which I worship! 1 (4) "And I will not worship that which you have [ever] worshipped, (5) and neither will you [ever] worship that which I worship. 2 (6) Unto you, your moral law, and unto me, mine !" 3
[[ Asad’s notes : -
1 In the above rendering, the particle ma ("that which") alludes, on the one hand, to all positive concepts and ethical values - e.g., belief in God and the believer's self-surrender to Him - and, on the other, to false objects of worship and false values, such as man's belief in his own supposed "self- sufficiency" (cf 96:6-7), or his overriding, almost compulsive "greed for more and more" (surah 102).
2 Sc, "so long as you are unwilling to abandon the false values which cause you to deny the truth
3 Lit., "unto me, my moral law". The primary significance of din is "obedience"; in particular, obedience to a law or to what is conceived as a system of established - and therefore binding - usages, i.e., something endowed with moral authority: hence "religion", "faith. 1 or "religious law" in the widest sense of these terms (cf. first half of note 249 on 2:256); or simply "moral law", as in the above instance as well as in 42:21, 95:7, 98:5 or 107:1.
2. Surah Al Baqarah
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
إِنَّ
اللَّهَ لاَ
يَسْتَحْيِي
أَن يَضْرِبَ
مَثَلاً مَّا
بَعُوضَةً فَمَا
فَوْقَهَا...
2:26. Allah disdains not to use the similitude of things, lowest as well as highest.
C45. The word for "the lowest" in the original Arabic means a gnat, a byword in the Arabic language for the weakest of creatures.
In 29:41, which was revealed before this Surah, the similitude of the Spider was used, and similarly in 22:73, there is the similitude of the Fly. For similitudes taken from magnificent forces of nature, expressed in exalted language, see 2:19 above.
To Allah all His creation has some special meaning appropriate to itself, and some of what we consider the lowest creatures have wonderful aptitudes, e.g., the spider or the fly.
Parables like these may be an occasion of stumbling to those "who forsake the path"; in other words those who deliberately shut their eyes to Allah's Signs, and their Penalty is attributed to Allah, the Cause of all causes.
But lest there should be misunderstanding, it is immediately added that the stumbling and offence only occur as the result of the sinner's own choice of the wrong course. Verses 26 and 27 form one sentence and should be read together.
"Forsaking the path" is defined in 2:27, viz.,
breaking solemn covenants which the sinner's own soul had ratified, causing division among mankind, who were meant to be one brotherhood, and doing as much mischief as possible in the life on this earth, for the life beyond will be on another plane, where no rope will be given to evil.
The mention of Covenant (2:27) has a particular and a general signification.
The particular one has reference to the Jewish tradition that a Covenant was entered into with "Father Abraham" that in return for Allah's favours the seed of Abraham would serve Allah faithfully. But as a matter of fact a great part of Abraham's progeny were in constant spiritual rebellion against Allah, as is testified by their own Prophets and Preachers and by Muhammad Mustafa.
The general signification is that a similar Covenant is entered into by every creature of Allah: for Allah's loving care, we at least owe Him the fullest gratitude and willing obedience.
The sinner, before the darkness his own conscience, knows this, and yet he not only "forsakes the path" but resists the Grace of Allah which comes to save him. That is why his case becomes hopeless. But the loss is his own. He cannot spoil Allah's design.
The good man is glad to retrace his steps from any lapses of which may have been guilty, and in his case Allah's Message reclaims him with complete understanding. (R).
... فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ فَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ...
Those who believe know that it is truth from their Lord;
... وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ فَيَقُولُونَ مَاذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِهَـذَا مَثَلاً...
but those who reject Faith say: "What means Allah by this similitude?"
... يُضِلُّ بِهِ كَثِيراً وَيَهْدِي بِهِ كَثِيراً...
By it He causes many to stray, and many He leads into the right path,
... وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهِ إِلاَّ الْفَاسِقِين ﴿٢٦﴾
but He causes not to stray, except those who forsake (the path).
الَّذِينَ
يَنقُضُونَ
عَهْدَ اللَّهِ
مِن بَعْدِ
مِيثَاقِهِ
وَيَقْطَعُونَ
مَا أَمَرَ
اللَّهُ بِهِ
أَن يُوصَلَ...
2:27. Those who break Allah's Covenant after it is ratified, and who sunder what Allah has ordered to be joined,
... وَيُفْسِدُونَ فِي الأَرْضِ أُولَـئِكَ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُون ﴿٢٧﴾
and do mischief on earth: These cause loss (only) to themselves.
Pickthall’s Version:
2: 26
Pickthall Lo! Allah disdaineth not to coin the similitude even of a gnat. Those who believe know that it is the truth from their Lord; but those who disbelieve say: What doth Allah wish (to teach) by such a similitude? He misleadeth many thereby, and He guideth many thereby; and He misleadeth thereby only miscreants;
Transliteration Innalla_ha la_ yastahyi ay yadriba masalam ma_ ba'u_datan fama_ fauqaha_, fa ammal lazina a_manu_ faya'lamu_na annahul haqqu mir rabbihim, wa ammal lazina kafaru_ fa yaqu_lu_na ma_za_ ara_dalla_hu bi ha_za_ masala_(n), yudillu bihi kasiraw wayahdi bihi kasira_(n), wa ma_ yudillu bihi illal fa_siqin(a).
2: 27
Pickthall Those who break the covenant of Allah after ratifying it and sever that which Allah ordered to be joined, and (who) make mischief in the earth: Those are they who are the losers
Transliteration Allazina yanqudu_na'ahdalla_hi mim ba'di misa_qih(i), wa yaqta'u_na ma_ amaralla_hu bihi ay yu_sala wa yufsidu_na fil ard(i), ula_'ika humul kha_siru_n(a).
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