And those who have believed know that it is the truth from their Lord
فأما الذين آمنوا فيعلمون أنه الحق من ربهم
And those who have believed know that it
فأما الذين آمنوا فيعلمون أنه
That is, the parable that Allah struck is the truth from their Lord, and they believe in it and see that it contains clear signs.
But as for those who disbelieve, they say, "What did Allah intend by this as an example?"
وأما الذين كفروا فيقولون ماذا أراد الله بهذا مثلا
This is because the truth did not become clear to them due to their turning away from it. And Allah the Exalted said:
(13) When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples." (14) No! Rather, the stain has covered their hearts of that which they were earning.
وإذا تتلى عليه آياتنا قال أساطير الأولين كلا بل ران على قلوبهم ما كانوا يكسبون
But as for those who disbelieve, they say, "What did Allah intend by this as an example?"
وأما الذين كفروا فيقولون ماذا أراد الله بهذا مثلا
“What does Allah intend” — the word *ma* here is a relative pronoun, an interrogative, and *dha* is a demonstrative pronoun, meaning “What is this that Allah intends?” However, it is said that *dha* here is a relative pronoun, meaning “What is it that Allah intends by this parable?” As Ibn Malik said:
“And *ma dha* after the interrogative *ma*, or after *min* if it is not negated in the speech. We have two options for its grammatical parsing: either we make *ma dha* a single word and say it is all an interrogative pronoun, or we make *ma* an interrogative pronoun as the subject and *alladhi* its predicate, meaning ‘What is it that Allah intends by this parable?’”
The questioner : .....
The Shaykh: We do not discuss *alladhi*.
What does Allah intend by this parable?
ماذا أراد الله بهذا مثلا
What does Allah intend by this?
ماذا أراد الله بهذا
In the state of being a parable, so *mithlan* (parable) is a circumstantial phrase describing *dha*. Allah the Exalted said:
He misleads many thereby
يضل به كثيرا
This is not part of the speech of those who disbelieved. Therefore, one should pause at His saying:
What does Allah intend by this parable?
ماذا أراد الله بهذا مثلا
It misleads thereby
يضل به
That is, by the parable.
many thereby and guides
كثيرا ويهدي به كثيرا
So Allah, Mighty and Majestic, mentioned that people, in their response to parables, are divided into two groups:
A group that is misled, may Allah protect us from that, and a group that is guided. So who is the one who is misled? He said:
And He misleads not except the defiantly disobedient,
وما يضل به إلا الفاسقين
Because Allah the Exalted does not mislead anyone unless that person is in this state... unless there is deviation in him, as Allah the Exalted said:
And when they deviated, Allah caused their hearts to deviate.
فلما زاغوا أزاغ الله قلوبهم
So the misleading of the one whom Allah, Mighty and Majestic, misleads is not merely by His will, but because he is not worthy of guidance. So when they deviated, Allah turned their hearts away.
And He misleads not except the defiantly disobedient,
وما يضل به إلا الفاسقين
That is, those who go out from the obedience of Allah, and what is intended here is absolute departure, which is disbelief, because *fisq* (open sinfulness) may be intended to mean disbelief, or it may be intended to mean what is less than that. So in His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He:
But as for those who defiantly disobeyed, their refuge is the Fire
وأما الذين فسقوا فمأواهم النار
What is intended by *fisq* here? Disbelief. And likewise here, what is intended is disbelief.
