Commentary on the Tafsir al-Jalalayn: “Allah is Gentle with His servants,” the righteous and the wicked

But here he says: "

to His servants

بعباده

the righteous and the wicked " Even the wicked, is Allah Gentle with him? Yes, He is Gentle with him in the general sense. For this reason, He sends down rain upon him, causes vegetation to grow for them, and averts evils from them, and so on. So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is Gentle with all the servants, the righteous and the wicked. But His gentleness with the righteous is a special, continuous gentleness in this world and the Hereafter. And His gentleness with the wicked is a general gentleness that serves as a trial and a test. Perhaps the wicked person increases in sinfulness because of what Allah has shown him of gentleness, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .
"

Gentle with His servants

لطيف بعباده

in that He did not destroy them with hunger for their sins " And he explained it by saying: “in that He did not destroy them with hunger” as a preparation for the saying of the Exalted: He provides, meaning He gives. So provision means giving. From this is the saying of the Exalted: [al-Nisa:8] meaning: give to them.
He says: "

whom He wills

من يشاء

from each of them what He wills " “from” and “what He wills” because the matter involves the one who is provided for and the provision. The one who is provided for is expressed by his saying: So he used “min” (from) which is for rational beings. And the provision is defined by the commentator’s saying: " what He wills " So we have provision and the one who is provided for. The one who is provided for is expressed by Allah’s saying: , and the provision is omitted because it is known, and it is defined by his saying: “what He wills.” The parallel to this is the saying of the Exalted: [al-Isra:18] Good. And his saying: “what He wills,” this occurs frequently in the Qur’an, things conditioned by the will. And I ask you: are these things conditioned by the will for a bare will, or for a will accompanied by wisdom? The second. This is necessary, because Allah (Exalted is He) in His actions does not do anything except for a wisdom. Everything you find attributed to Allah and conditioned by the will, know that it is accompanied by wisdom. The evidence for this is His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): In this is an indication that the will of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) issues from knowledge and wisdom. So take this to your heart. Whenever you find something of the actions of Allah or the rulings of the Shari’ah of Allah conditioned by the will, know that it is accompanied by wisdom. This is contrary to what some of the Jahmiyyah and others said: that the actions of Allah (the Exalted) are for a bare will and are not accompanied by wisdom.
Good: The Mighty is the opposite of the weak, meaning the one with complete strength to which no weakness attaches. Let us ask ourselves: do we have complete strength? No, then no, then no. And does our incomplete strength continue? No. And is our incomplete strength fixed for us from the time we were born? No. And listen to the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic): This is one. This is the state of man, and there is no escape from it. The Lord (Mighty and Majestic) is the Mighty, the one with complete strength that has not ceased and does not cease. And listen to ‘Ad when they boasted of their strength and said: So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: Allah is Greater. If America said now: What do we say? Allah who created you, you are now created and weak. And if Allah willed, He would strip you of strength, ability, and minds, because Allah is the one who created you. He is stronger than you in strength. And likewise other nations who boast of their material strength, we say: above you is the Lord of servants (Mighty and Majestic) who created you when you were nothing, so He is stronger than you in strength. And perhaps the fragmentation of strength comes from the strength itself. Have you seen the Soviet Union? Did it not threaten the world before? Did their leader not say, when the American Minister of Defense said: “We have missiles that we can use to strike Moscow,” their leader said to him: “But if they return to America, they will not find America. Where did it go? The Russians destroyed it before their missiles reached the Russians.” Boasting of strength. Now the Soviet Union has been fragmented by Allah from within. And the One capable of this is capable of fragmenting America. We ask Allah to fragment it. He is capable of this. So the important thing is that Allah is the Mighty with complete strength, and no weakness can attach to it. Good.
Here is a benefit: there is ability and strength, and there is weakness and incapacity. What is the opposite of strength?
The student: Weakness,

The Shaykh : The evidence? , and what is the opposite of ability? Incapacity. The evidence: [Fatir:44] He did not say: All-Knowing, Mighty. He said: Which is more severe and more complete? We say: everything according to its measure. Ability is not attributed except to those with will. So, for example, you do not say of a wall: it is All-Able. And strength is attributed to those with will and others. You say: the wall is strong, and stones are strong. But do you say: All-Able? No.
Good, strength is more complete from another aspect, because not every one who is able is strong. So if we tested one of you and said: carry this stone, and he wanted to carry it but was unable to lift it from the ground, do we say: this one is not strong and not able? No, not able, because he was unable, he did not move it. And if we said to another: carry this stone, and he bared his arms and then carried it but with difficulty... what do we say: not strong or not able? Not strong. He is able now, he carried it, but he is not strong. So strength became more complete from this aspect, because it is the ability to do a thing without weakness.
Here Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: The Dominant: meaning the Prevailing over His affair. And the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) divided the might of Allah into three categories: the might of decree, the might of compulsion, and the might of refusal. Three. The might of decree: meaning that His decree is great and has no parallel. From this is the saying of the Arabs: this is noble, meaning rare in existence. This is the might of decree. The might of compulsion: meaning dominance. And this is the most common meaning in which it occurs. So the Dominant means the Prevailing. From this is the saying of the Exalted: in response to the saying of the hypocrites: .
The third: the might of refusal, meaning that evil is refused to Him (Mighty and Majestic) and deficiency is refused to Him. The criminals try to describe Him with deficiency, but it is refused to them. From this is their saying: this is noble land, meaning: hard and solid, that tools do not affect. They say: it is noble. And in our common language, they say: noble, omitting the second zay: noble land, meaning solid. Good. So the Dominant, from the names of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), has three meanings: the first is the might of compulsion, the might of decree, and the might of refusal. All of these are established for Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Ibn al-Qayyim said:
“And He is the Dominant, so His sanctuary will not be approached. How can the sanctuary of the one with authority be approached?
And He is the Dominant, the Subduer, the Prevailing. Nothing has overcome Him. These are two attributes.
And He is the Dominant with a strength that is His description. So might, in that case, has three meanings.
And these are what were completed for Him (Exalted is He) from every aspect, devoid of deficiency.
Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is the Mighty and the Prevailing. And if strength and dominance are combined, the authority is completed. Because some people are strong but do not prevail. Have you seen if there were a man very strong, strong as a pebble, but he is a coward? Does he prevail or is he overpowered? He is overpowered, because he is a coward. If strength and might are combined, the authority is completed. and so on. If Allah wills, it will come tomorrow.