The Worldly and Otherworldly Punishment of the Unbeliever, the Polytheist and the Oppressive Believer

Concerning a people to whom the divine religion has been or is being conveyed, and upon whom God’s proof has been or is being completed, Dhū al-Qarnayn said: Whoever does not believe in the call of truth and engages in polytheism, or believes but is oppressive and causes corruption in the land, we will soon punish; then he will be returned to his Lord, and God too will afflict him with an unknown punishment: “As for whoever does wrong, we shall punish him; then he will be returned to his Lord, and He will punish him with a dire punishment”.

This division may be exhaustive; that is, each of its two parts may include all individuals, such that the second part has no instance at all – just as this same point was mentioned regarding God the Glorified’s words in the previous verse: “you either punish them, or you adopt a good way with them”. That is, the possibility that each of the two parts is exhaustive and all-inclusive is apt; and not mentioning the pronoun of the plural in the first part, where He said “you either punish”, without mentioning the word “fīhim”, was through reliance on its mention in the second part.

Dhū al-Qarnayn said that oppressors must be chastised: “He said: As for whoever does wrong, we shall punish him”; and that believers and those who possess righteous deeds enjoy blessing: “But as for whoever believes and does righteous deeds, for him is the goodly reward”. It cannot be said that he did not speak of a number of people who did not believe and yet did no wrong either, so that his division is not exhaustive; for it is not possible for someone to be an unbeliever and yet not be a wrongdoer, given that the Qur’an has: “And the unbelievers – they are the wrongdoers”.(101) Yes! How could Dhū al-Qarnayn’s promise of beneficence include one who does not observe God’s right in tawḥīd and is a person of wrongdoing, and who, on the other hand, provides the worst punishment for himself and wrongs his own soul?

So wrongdoing in this verse is not only causing corruption in the land; rather, given the indication of its counterpart, “But as for whoever believes and does righteous deeds”, the one caught in this wrongdoing is one of three groups, for detailing cuts off partnership:

1) He has no faith at all, because he is an atheist.

2) He has faith tainted with polytheism.

3) He has faith but no righteous deeds; that is, the Muslim by identity papers, who is not a person of worship or of fulfilling divine and religious rights.

So the compound “whoever believes and does righteous deeds” is negated by the negation of one of its parts, just as it is by the negation of both its parts.

The sentence “then he will be returned to his Lord” – as was explained in the commentary on the verse “We said: O Dhū al-Qarnayn”(102) – is a sign that God’s conversation with Dhū al-Qarnayn was through an intermediary, and the intermediary is a righteous servant, or one of the friends of God, or one of the prophets, with whom Dhū al-Qarnayn converses. For if God’s conversation with Dhū al-Qarnayn had been direct and without intermediary, Dhū al-Qarnayn would have said to God: “then he will be returned to You”, not “then he will be returned to his Lord”. Although the possibility of a shift (iltifāt) from the second person to the third person is raised, it needs evidence; therefore the expression “We said: O Dhū al-Qarnayn” is not proof of his prophethood.

The nukr punishment in the sentence “and He will punish him with a dire punishment” is an unknown and unprecedented punishment, not an ugly one; and it is not known because no one punishes as God punishes, and no one binds as He binds: “So on that Day none will punish as He punishes, and none will bind as He binds”.(103) In this world, if someone is punished, he consoles himself that he himself, or his children, or his party and group, will one day take revenge, and with this consolation he is relieved; but on the scene of the Resurrection the whole truth becomes clear to him, he perceives his own falsehood, and he can in no way justify his deeds or calm himself psychologically.(104)