Al-Isrā’ 17:16

The issue

The decree of Allah, given in the verse, states that if he wanted to destroy a city he would command “the opulent ones thereof” and they would spread abomination. In other words, when Allah decides to destroy a town, he prepares the background that would allow for the city’s destruction and creates the justification for the coming down of the torture and suffering.

Regarding the meaning of this verse, Islamic commentators offer several explanations:

Allah commands the opulent ones to obey, but they disobey the divine commands, and thus they (the opulent) deserve the punishment.

Questions: (1) Even if a sector of the city’s population became corrupt, why does the destruction fall upon the whole city? (2) How is that consistent with the Qur’ān’s teaching in five different verses: “…nor shall one burdened soul bear the burden of another…”? (See Q 6.164, Q 17.15, Q 35.18, Q 39.7, and Q 53.38.)

Allah multiplies the number of the opulent ones.

Questions: (1) Why would Allah multiply the number of the opulent ones? (2) Is it to destroy the city’s people? (3) Is it not justice to lessen the number of the opulent and preserve the lives of the others instead—or, at least limit and not increase the number of abominable opulent ones who perish?

The verse means that Allah made them (the opulent ones) princes, meaning Allah gave them authority by giving them governance. This interpretation associates the verb amara (“to command”) with the word ’imāra (“to govern as an ’amīr, or a prince”).

See Questions under number 1.

The explanations offered by the commentators do not correspond with the verse’s text, which clearly states that Allah works out the destruction of a city by means of using its opulent ones and pushing them in the wrong path. Obviously aware of this imperfect alignment, al-Rāzī states, “Know that all the three ways [explanations] that we mentioned in holding to this verse are, no doubt, all deviant from the literal meaning of the word”.

Al-Rāzī does not address that all three interpretations make Allah seem unjust, even though these explanations portray Allah as pushing the opulent to evil and then punishing the innocent for the sins of the criminals.

If the intention of the verse, which decrees a divine command, produces at least three separate opinions, why did the verse come in such an ambiguous form? Why does the verse not declare clearly its true meaning?