Al-An'am 42: Vow to that; We have sent Prophets to the nations that came before you as well and We have given them tribulations and hardships so that they would pray.

A. Metin Saruhan · 20 February 2022 · Misinterpreted Verses

The misinterpretation

We certainly sent envoys to nations before you, and then We afflicted them with affliction and sickness so that they might submit.

The right translation

Vow to that; We have sent Prophets to the nations that came before you as well and We have given them tribulations and hardships so that they would pray.

Explanation

Although the meaning of this verse seems to be the same, there is a distinction between wrong and right. Wrong: subjugation is one thing and begging is another. Subjugation is when one person opposes another person and the other person oppresses the other person in order to subjugate him because he is powerless over him.

And to make a person beg: to discipline him, to teach him to respect his elders, to teach him to respect his elders by depriving him of some of his wealth and testing him with some of his life. Our Lord says in the next verse:

43- If only they had begged when such violence came upon them. But their hearts were hardened, and Satan made what they did appear to them as an adornment.

Allah does not want to subjugate anyone among His servants. Since our Lord is incapable of subjugating anyone, it would be a case of oppression to subjugate him, which is contrary to the verse that if the human and jinn gathered together, they would not be able to overpower our Lord. That is why He has given His servants their own will. People will be held to account for their own will.

But begging is putting people in hardship for the purpose of disciplining them. Even though our Lord knows whether people will come to the truth or not, our Lord, who is the only One who is free from imperfect attributes, puts people through trials with their wealth and their lives to keep them as witnesses to themselves, so that such people do not say that if you had given me such and such a hardship and not given me wealth, I would have remembered you, or if you had not given me wealth but had given me worldly wealth, I would have thanked you in this comfort.

What is said in the video

Al-Ma'idah Surah, Surah Al-An'am, verse 42 has been translated wrongly. What does Allah Almighty say? Indeed, We sent messengers to the nations before you too. Correct. Allah Almighty says: We do not call anyone to account for a thing We have not made known. Then, so that they then, it says, so that they would submit, We afflicted them with hardship and illnesses, it says.

Look at the deficiencies here too, let me read it once more. Indeed, We sent messengers to the nations before you too, then, so that they would submit, We afflicted them with hardship and illnesses, it says.

Yes. Allah Almighty confirms this verse of His here: We test you sometimes with your lives and sometimes with your wealth, it says. A test. Now here: then so that they would submit, I mean, don't You have the power? To make them submit. Doesn't Allah have the power? Indeed, here already. Doesn't Allah have the power to make them submit? What does it say? Then, so that they would submit, We afflicted them with hardship and illnesses, it says. Whereas: indeed, to the nations who came before you too, We sent prophets. Then We seized the nations with certain severities and hardships, so that they would implore.

Imploring is one thing, making someone submit is another. Making someone submit means Allah Almighty's power wasn't enough, so He made them submit. Imploring means him taking refuge in Allah Almighty within his own will. Yes. Make them submit. Look what it says. Then, so that they would submit. He can't make them submit, so by being squeezed they'll submit to Him. And here, what do we say there? We seized them with certain severities and hardships, so that, it says, We seized. Allah Almighty sent it, and they were seized so that they would implore. Now they, within their own will, are in helplessness. Come on, save yourself.

Implore now. There's no escape for you. But here they are free, He can't make them submit. So that they make them submit, so that they submit. I mean, how much the meanings change here. Seizing, seizing with severity, and 'implore': how different it is! Quite so. If I grabbed you, tied your hands and feet and tortured you. What would you do? At some point you'd say: okay. I believed in you. If, when I do this torture to you, your hatred for me grows, you'd say: go on, kill me. What else can you do to me? Kill me, you'd say. Torture again, you'd say. Right? So, how nice. A person enters the right path in this direction too, and he goes the crooked path too. When He seizes him.

But what does it say here? Then, so that they would submit, We afflicted them with illnesses, it says. He doesn't bend, he doesn't.

Seizing is one thing; leaving him free and whether the person, sir, submits to Allah whether or not he submits. First grasp that. Yes. I don't know whether I managed to explain this part here. If you didn't understand, ask, then. But my ability to explain, to explain, only goes so far. Everyone has an ability, some explain it much better, and I explain it this much, briefly. Yes.