Аль-Анам 6:164–165

One's Burden of Sin Cannot Be Borne By Another

The disbelievers of Makkah al-Mukarramah, with Walid ibn Mughirah among them, used to say to the Holy Prophet ﷺ and to the Muslims in general that they should return to their faith and they will bear the burden of all their sins. This has been answered in the fourth verse (164). It was said: قُلْ أَغَيْرَ‌ اللَّهِ أَبْغِي رَ‌بًّا وَهُوَ رَ‌بُّ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ Here, the address is to the Holy Prophet ﷺ . He is being asked to tell them: ` Do you want me that I too, like yourself, seek and find some other Rabb, other than Allah, when He is the Lord of everything?. This is error and straying which you should not expect me to accept. As for your saying that you will bear the burden of our sins, this is absurd in itself. A sin committed by a person will be written in that person's record of deeds, and it will be he or she who will deserve its punishment. How can that sin be transferred to your account just by your saying so? And if the idea is that the sins will go in our account and in our Book of Deeds, but the punishment to be given against these will be borne by you, then, that idea is not valid either.' The next sentence in the verse rejects it. It was said: وَلَا تَزِرُ‌ وَازِرَ‌ةٌ وِزْرَ‌ أُخْرَ‌ىٰ that is, (on the day of Qiyamah) no bearer of burden (of sin) shall bear the burden of another).

As for the disbelievers, this verse does answer their absurd saying in its own way. But, it also tells Muslims at large about the rule that they too should not take the matters of Qiyamah on the analogy of their ways in the mortal world where one person commits a crime and succeeds in putting it on someone else - especially when the other per-son is willing to accept it. But, in the great Court of Allah, there is no room for it. There, the other person can never be caught for the sin committed by someone else. It is based on the authority of this verse that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said that the child born out of wedlock will not be affected by the sin of his or her parents. (This Hadith has been reported by Hakim from Sayyidah ` A'ishah ؓ عنہا based on sound authority).

When Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Umar ؓ ، saw someone crying at the Janazah of a deceased person, he said that the crying of the living causes punishment to the deceased. Ibn Abi Mulaykah says that, when he reported this saying to Sayyidah ` A'ishah ؓ she said: You are reporting the saying of a person who never lies, nor can there be any doubt in his integrity. But, there are occasions when one does not hear right. In this matter, the decisive verdict of the Qur'an is sufficient for you: وَلَا تَزِرُ‌ وَازِرَ‌ةٌ وِزْرَ‌ أُخْرَ‌ىٰ , that is, the sin of one person cannot be applied to another. So, how can the crying of a living person cause punishment to descend on a dead person just for no reason? (Ad-burr A1 Manthur)

At the conclusion of the verse, it was said that, finally they have to go to their Lord after all where they will find out the ultimate verdict on all their differences - which means that they would be better off keeping their verbal confrontation in check and devoting more to the end of things.

In the fifth (164) verse, Surah Al-An` am reaches its end at a comprehensive note of advice. It brings the past history of peoples and their times into focus and invites attention to a projection towards the future by saying: وَهُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَكُمْ خَلَائِفَ الْأَرْ‌ضِ وَرَ‌فَعَ بَعْضَكُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَ‌جَاتٍ (And it is He who made you vice-regents of the earth and raised some of you in ranks over some others). Here, the word: خَلَائِفَ (khala'if) is the plural form of khalifah which means vice-regent or deputy. The sense of the verse is:

It is Allah Ta` ala who has let you inhabit places occupied by peoples before you. There is no home, no land which you call your private property today, and believe to be so, which was not, only yesterday, under the ownership of other human beings like you. Allah Ta` ala has, by re-moving them, made you sit in their place. Then, worth keeping in mind all the time is the fact of life that everyone among you too is not alike. One is poor, the other is rich. One is low, the other is high. And equally obvious is the fact that, had being rich or being low been within one's control, who would have chosen to remain poor and low? This distance among steps and this difference in ranks is knocking at your doors to tell you that this power, control and choice is in the hands of some other Being who can make anyone poor, if He so wills; make anyone rich, if He so wills; give honour to whom He wills and let whoever He wills be low.

Towards the end of the verse, it was said: لِّيَبْلُوَكُمْ فِي مَا آتَاكُمْ (so that He may test you in what He has given you). It means: By making you take the place of others, and by making you owners of their wealth and property, and then, by keeping you at different steps in terms of honour and wealth, the very aim is to make you open your eyes to this framework of trial which seeks to determine your reaction to this phenomena that blessings which once belonged to past peoples have now been entrusted in your hands. To be seen is what it would be that of gratitude and obedience, or that of ingratitude and disobedience?

At the conclusion of the fifth and the last (165) verse, the end of both these stances was made clear by saying: إِنَّ رَ‌بَّكَ سَرِ‌يعُ الْعِقَابِ وَإِنَّهُ لَغَفُورٌ‌ رَّ‌حِيمٌ (Surely, your Lord is swift in punishing - and surely He is Most-Forgiving, Very-Merciful). In other words, it means: Your Lord is going to send His punishment on the disobedient soon - and for the obedient, He is Forgiving and Merciful.

Surah Al-An'-am began with Hamd (the praise of Allah) and concluded on Maghfirah (the seeking of forgiveness from Allah). May Allah Ta` ala bless all of us with the Taufiq (ability bestowed by Allah) of Hamd, and honour us with Maghfirah from Him.

It appears in Hadith that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: Surah Al-An` am, the whole of it, was revealed at one time. Such was the majesty of its revelation that seventy thousand angels followed behind it reciting Tasbih (glorifying Allah). Therefore, Sayyidna Faruq al-A` zam ؓ said: Surah Al-An'-am is one of the highly merited Surahs of the Holy Qur'an.

In some narrations, it has been reported from Sayyidna ` Ali ؓ that Allah Ta` ala would become the healer of the sick person over whom this Surah is recited.

وَآخِرُ دَعوَانَا اَنِ الحمدُ للہِ رَبِّ العٰلَمِینَ