Tafseer of Consultation · Ash-Shura · 42:8
And if Allah willed, He could have made them [of] one religion, but He admits whom He wills into His mercy. And the wrongdoers have not any protector or helper.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The statement concerning the explanation of His saying, the Exalted: وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَجَعَلَهُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَلَكِنْ يُدْخِلُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ فِي رَحْمَتِهِ وَالظَّالِمُونَ مَا لَهُمْ مِنْ وَلِيٍّ وَلا نَصِيرٍ (8) (And if Allah had willed, He would have made them one community, but He admits into His mercy whom He wills; and the wrongdoers — for them there is no protector and no helper) (8).
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: And if Allah had willed to unite His creation upon guidance and to bring them to a single creed, He would have done so. And لَجَعَلَهُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً (He would have made them one community), He says: adherents of one creed, and a community united upon one religion.
He says: He did not do that, so as to make them one community, but rather He admits of His servants whom He wills into His mercy. By this is meant that He admits him into His mercy by granting him the success to enter His religion, the religion with which He sent His Prophet Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
He says: And the disbelievers in Allah, for them there is no protector (walī) who will have compassion upon them on the Day of Resurrection, and no helper (naṣīr) who will help them against the punishment of Allah when He punishes them, such that he would rescue them from His punishment and take retribution on their behalf against the one who punished them. This was said only to the Messenger of Allah — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — as a consolation for the grief that befell him on account of his people turning away from him, and as a command to him not to bring distress upon himself because of the turning away of those among them who turned from him and did not respond to the truth to which he called them, and as an announcement to him that the affairs of His servants are in His hand, and that it is He who guides to the truth whom He wills and leads astray whom He wills, and none other than He, and none other than He alone.
