An Analysis and Critique of Shiite and Sunni Exegetes in the Explanation of Verse Sixteen of the al-Isrāʾ Chapter

Verses related to divine will are among the most thought provoking-verses of the Holy Quran and which have always been debated by the exegetes. Verse sixteen of the al-Isrāʾ Chapter, “And when We desire to destroy a town We command its affluent ones [to obey Allah]. But they commit transgression in it, and so the word becomes due against it, and We destroy it utterly” (Qarai translation), is among one of the difficult verses due to the question of God’s will to punish before the people deserve it and the referent of “we command.” Exegetes have made many efforts to eliminate the conflict of this verse with other verses and proofs and that has resulted in different views. However, the lack of a singular conclusion shows that this issue has not been resolved. We have strived in this paper, using an analytic-comparative approach in the range of Shiite and Sunni exegeses, to answer the following questions regarding the abovementioned verse: Based on the apparent words of the verse, how is the will to punish before a sin is committed justifiable? Is the referent of “we command” in the phrase “We command its affluent ones [to obey Allah]. But they commit transgression” transgression or obedience? Studies show that the will to punish is due to their previous sins not the sin that has been mentioned in the verse and “we command” refers to an existential command and thus, command has been used in its real meaning and its referent is transgressionc