Tafseer of The Most High · Al-A'laa · 87:3
And who destined and [then] guided
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.
His statement: وَالَّذِي قَدَّرَ فَهَدَى ("and who determined and then guided"). The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: and who determined His creation and thereafter guided it.
And the scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed over the meaning intended by His statement فَهَدَى ("and then guided"). Some of them said: He guided man to the path of good and evil, and the cattle to their pastures.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: قَدَّرَ فَهَدَى ("determined and then guided"), he said: He guided man to wretchedness and felicity, and He guided the cattle to their pastures.
And others said: no, the meaning of that is rather that He guided the males to approach the females. And we have already mentioned the report concerning that earlier.
And the correct ruling on this, according to us, is that Allah, by His statement فَهَدَى ("and then guided"), informed in a general sense about His guidance of His creation, and did not specify therein any one meaning to the exclusion of another. He guided them to the path of good and evil, and He guided the males to approach the females. So the report retains its general import, until there comes a report by which the proof is established and which indicates a restriction of it. And the reciters of the regions were unanimously agreed that the dāl of قَدَّرَ ("determined") is read with doubling (tashdīd), with the exception of al-Kisāʾī, for he read it lightened (without doubling).
And the correct view in this is the doubling, on account of the consensus of the authoritative reciters concerning it.
