God Never Punish a People who do Right:
11.Surah Hud
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَمَا
كَانَ رَبُّكَ
لِيُهْلِكَ
الْقُرَى بِظُلْمٍ
وَأَهْلُهَا
مُصْلِحُونَ ﴿١١٧﴾
11: 117. Nor would thy Lord be the One to destroy communities for a single wrongdoing if its members were likely to mend.
C1621. There are different shades of interpretation for this verse.
I follow Baydawi in construing zulmin here as "a single wrong".
He thinks that the wrong referred to is shirk, or polytheism; Allah will not destroy mere wrong belief if the conduct is right.
I am inclined to interpret it in more general terms.
Allah is Loving-Suffering and Oft-Forgiving: He is too Merciful to destroy for a single wrong, if there is any hope of reclaiming the wrongdoers to repentance and amendment or right life.
An alternative interpretation is: "to destroy communities unjustly."
وَلَوْ شَاء
رَبُّكَ لَجَعَلَ
النَّاسَ أُمَّةً
وَاحِدَةً...
11: 118. If thy Lord had so willed He could have made mankind one People:
C1622. Cf. 10:19.
All mankind might have been one. But in Allah's Plan man was to have a certain measure of free-will, and this made difference inevitable.
This would not have mattered if all had honestly sought Allah. But selfishness and moral wrong came in, and people's disputations became mixed up with hatred, jealousy, and sin, except in the case of those who accepted Allah's grace, which saved them.
The object of their creation was to raise them up spiritually by Allah's grace. But if they will choose the path of evil and fall into sin, Allah's decree must be fulfilled, and His justice will take its course. In the course of that justice Hell will be filled with men and jinns, such is the number of those who go astray.
...وَلاَ يَزَالُونَ مُخْتَلِفِينَ ﴿١١٨﴾
but they will not cease to dispute,
Other versions:
11: 117
Asad For never would thy Sustainer destroy a community for wrong [beliefs alone] so long as its people behave righteously [ towards one another]. [see note 149 ]
Yusuf Ali if its Nor would thy Lord be the One to destroy communities for a single wrongdoing members were likely to mend.
Pickthall In truth thy Lord destroyed not the townships tyrannously while their folk were doing right.
Transliteration W a ma_ ka_na rabbuka liyuhlikal qura_ bi zulmiw wa ahluha_ muslihu_n(a).
[Asad note 149: ……..Explaining the above verse in this sense, Razi says: “God’s chastisement does not afflict any people merely on account their holding beliefs amounting to shirk and kufr, but afflicts them only if they persistently commit evil in their mutual dealings, and deliberately hurt [other human beings] and act tyrannically [towards them]. Hence, those who are learned in Islamic Law [ al-fuqaha] hold that men’s obligations towards God rest on the principle of [His] forgiveness and liberality, whereas the rights of man are of a stringent nature and must always be strictly observed” – the obvious reason being that God is almighty and needs no defender, whereas man is weak and needs protection. [also see 28:59, and note 61 ]
11: 118
Asad And had thy Sustainer so willed, He could surely have made all mankind one single community: but they continue to hold divergent views.
Yusuf Ali If thy Lord had so willed He could have made mankind one People: but they will not cease to dispute
Pickthall And if thy Lord had willed, He verily would have made mankind one nation, yet they cease not differing,
Transliteration Wa lau sya_'a rabbuka laja'alan na_sa ummataw wa_hidataw wa la_ yaza_lu_na mukhtalifin(a),