Al-Isra 16: When a nation deserves punishment (and continues on that path), We order (goodness to) the leaders who were boasting with their wealth. But they still commit evil there. Thus, the nation will deserve punishment and We destroy that place.
Contents
Explanation
The misinterpretation
When we want to destroy a country, we order the ringleaders (good deeds) of that country who are spoiled by the wealth of that country. Yet they do evil there. Thus, that country is deserving of destruction. We'll smash it too.
The right translation
When a nation deserves punishment (and continues on that path), We order (goodness to) the leaders who were boasting with their wealth. But they still commit evil there. Thus, the nation will deserve punishment and We destroy that place.
Explanation
This is where this verse goes wrong: When We wish to destroy a country. The correct one is: When a country is worthy of destruction.
Our Lord does not want to destroy any country, any people, any people. Our Lord has made a covenant with people in the past and has written their desires and wishes as their destiny. When the people in a country go beyond the command of our Lord, when they transgress the limits set by Allah, then that country is worthy of destruction. In this case, our Lord does not immediately destroy that country. He warns the leaders of that country. He sends Prophets and messengers to them so that they turn towards the truth. However, when that tribe and country does not listen to the messengers or messengers sent by our Lord and continues to exceed the limits set by our Lord, He destroys that town. Otherwise, our Lord does not want to destroy a town for no reason.
What is said in the video
That is the correct version.
Verse 16 has been translated wrongly. “When We want to destroy a land, We command that land's ringleaders, spoiled by their wealth, to do good deeds. We command good deeds. Despite this, they commit evil there. Thus that land deserves destruction. And We tear it apart,” it says.
Where is the gap here?
Let me read it again. “When We want to destroy a land, We command that land's ringleaders, spoiled by their wealth, to do good deeds. Despite this, they commit evil there. Thus that land deserves destruction. And We tear it apart,” it says.
Our Lord does not want to destroy. At the start it says, Hodja, “when We want to destroy”. Come. Come, Hodja – not only the rich, the people there too, because they follow them, deserve destruction; those who deserve destruction, it says. Even before He destroys, before He destroys, He sends a messenger. Dervish, look: when a land deserves destruction, a land – Allah Almighty first warns it.
He does not destroy it without warning. What does it say? When a land deserves destruction, when it carries on down that road – there's more to it – when it carries on, We command that land's ringleaders, spoiled by their wealth, to do good deeds. By ringleaders He means the kings of that place, or its rulers, or those who have tagged along behind them. These, they at once commit evil there. That is, they turn their backs on goodness. They turn a deaf ear to it. They, relying on the world, on material things, on their own egotism, cast Allah's word behind them. “Thus that land deserves destruction.
And We tear it apart,” says Allah Almighty. He speaks the truth. Yes.