The Twenty-Ninth Surah

Al-'Ankabut (The Spider)

Period Uncertain

29:21 [Asad] "He causes to suffer whomever He wills, and bestows His mercy on whomever He wills; and unto Him you shall be made to return:

يُعَذِّبُُ مَن يَشَاء وَيَرْحَمُ مَن يَشَاء...

29:21. [Ali] "He punishes whom He pleases, and He grants mercy to whom He pleases,

...وَإِلَيْهِ تُقْلَبُونَ ﴿٢١﴾

and towards Him are ye turned.

C3442. I think ilaihi tuqlabun is better translated "towards Him are ye turned" than "towards Him will be your return", as it implies not only the return of man to Allah in the Hereafter (turja'un in verse 17 above) but also the fact explained in verse 22 that man's needs are always to be obtained from Allah:

man cannot frustrate Allah's designs, and can have no help or protection except from Allah: man has always to face Allah, whether man obeys Allah or tries to ignore Allah.

Man will never be able to defeat Allah's Plan. According to His wise Will and Plan, He will grant His grace or withhold it from man.

[[Amatulla’s comment: I think the word ‘tuqlabun’ indicates an ever returning concept. We are always turning or coming back to God, a circular idea. Where as ‘turjaun’ connotes to a linear idea that we are increasingly going towards our final destination: God.]]