| Answer: The understanding of this passage that I can offer
is this: God Almighty, in order to explain to us certain truths sometimes uses
analogies in the Qur’ān. If there is a need in the analogy to mention words like
mosquito or fly, for instance, then a serious-minded reader would readily
understand the idea in the right context. However, for someone who is inclined
to reject the message without considering it properly, examples like these
provide opportunities to make fun of it. Thus God Almighty says that the same
message guides some and misguides others. However, the message doesn’t misguide
anyone but those who are transgressors: those who have spoilt their innate
goodness by doing what their nature requires them to stay away from. For
example, man’s inner nature (given to him by God Almighty) requires him to
maintain good relations with relatives and not sever his ties with them.
However, those who are ultimately misguided by the Qur’ān instead of being
guided by it, don’t bother to maintain their relations with them.
Let me give you an example of a passage where a fly has
been mentioned in an illustration. The Qur’ān mentions an example to illustrate
the foolishness of those who worshipped statues instead of God Almighty in the
following words:
O mankind! A similitude is coined, so pay heed to it:
Those on whom you call beside Allah will never be able to create even a fly
though they combine together their abilities for the purpose. And if the fly
took something from them, they could not rescue it from it. So weak are both the
seeker and sought. (22:73)
In this verse, the Qur’ān has effectively used the example
of a fly to help the reader understand the weakness of the polytheistic position
of worshipping statues. However, those who are to be misguided by this passage
might claim that there was no reason why there should be a mention of a creature
as mean as a fly in God’s message.
Obviously anyone who says that has missed the point
completely. However, he has missed the point not because there was anything
wrong in the idea of mentioning a fly in the example, but because he didn’t want
to understand it, and in order to justify his position, he uses the mention of
fly in the passage as an excuse. The Qur’ān claims that people who are thus
misguided are those who have contaminated the innate goodness of their pristine
nature by transgressing against Allah’s will (which they clearly knew
instinctively). |