No misfortune can happen on earth…[57:22]

مَآ أَصَابَ مِن مُّصِيبَةٍ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِىٓ أَنفُسِكُمْ إِلَّا فِى كِتَـٰبٍ مِّن قَبْلِ أَن نَّبْرَأَهَآ ۚ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى ٱللَّـهِ يَسِيرٌ

No misfortune can happen on earth or in your souls but is recorded in a decree before We bring it into existence: That is truly easy for Allah. [AL-57:22]

He (SWT) mentioned that nothing happens on the earth or in the soul except that it is written decree before its occurrence.

It is observed that the Quran does not use the word [مُّصِيبَةٍ] except with the verb [أَصَابَ] or what is derived from it, and it does not use another verb, for example, it doesn’t say: ما حلَّت من مصيبة أو ما وقت أو نحو ذالك. That is because – Allah knows best- the origin of the أَصَابَ is from the meaning of hitting a target as opposed to missing it. You may say أصاب فلان الهدف – So and so hit the target – i.e. He did not miss it. Or you may say: أصاب فلان في كلامه – so and so was correct in his speech – i.e. he didn’t make a mistake.

As if Allah (SWT) is intending to explain to us that misfortune is destined and it will hit its targetted decreed place and it will not miss it.

The misfortune on the earth, for examples plagues, droughts, catastrophes etc, and the misfortunes on the souls, for example, illnesses, diseases and death and like thereof.

He said: مِن مُّصِيبَةٍ with the prepositional particle مِن, the مِن signifies the idea of all-encompassing, it is called مِنْ الاستغراقية in the language. This prepositional particle indicates that everything is decreed and all-encompassing and there is no escaping from the misfortune whether it is significant or otherwise.

He said: مَآ أَصَابَ مِن مُّصِيبَةٍ -No misfortune can happen- The verb was used in the absolute sense without specifying the object of the verb. He (SWT) didn’t say, for example, مَآ أَصَابَكم مِن مُّصِيبَةٍ – No misfortune can happen to you so that the speech remains absolute and not specified to those addressed.

As opposed to what came for example in Surah Al-Shura in His saying :
وَمَآ أَصَـٰبَكُم مِّن مُّصِيبَةٍ فَبِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَيَعْفُوا۟ عَن كَثِيرٍ 
Whatever misfortune happens to you, is because on the things your hands have wrought, and for many (of them) He grants forgiveness.[42:30]

Where He said: وَمَآ أَصَـٰبَكُم, the verb was made transitive to the pronoun [كُم] of the addressee, that is because the speech is about them due to His saying: فَبِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ – is because on the things your hands have wrought.

A similar example to what came in Sura Al Hadid being absolute is what is mentioned in Sura Al Tagabun:
مَآ أَصَابَ مِن مُّصِيبَةٍ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّـهِ ۗ وَمَن يُؤْمِنۢ بِٱللَّـهِ يَهْدِ قَلْبَهُۥ ۚ وَٱللَّـهُ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمٌ 
No kind of calamity can occur, except by the leave of Allah: and if anyone believes in Allah, (Allah) guides his heart (aright): for Allah knows all things. [64:11]

That is because the verb is intended to be absolute, general and not restricted to a specific misfortune.

He (SWT) said:
مِّن قَبْلِ أَن نَّبْرَأَهَآ -before We bring it into existence – And He did not say: من قبل أن تقع – before it happens – this to indicate His knowledge and His power that He alone brings misfortune into existence. If He had said: من قبل أن تقع – before it happens – then this would indicate His knowledge of the misfortune but will not indicate that He alone is the one that brings the misfortune into existence.

Indeed, His saying: مِّن قَبْلِ أَن نَّبْرَأَهَآ -before We bring it into existence – indicates on the monotheism (Al-Tawheed) also. The negation of polytheism (Al-Shirk), because everything that happens of misfortunes in the earth and in the souls, it is only that He (SWT) alone brings into existence and no one else, thus it negates polytheism. If He had said: من قبل أن تقع – before it happens – then it wouldn’t indicate this explicitly.

His saying: فِى كِتَـٰبٍ – in a decree – to indicate predestination, that is everything is recorded before its occurrence and that matters don’t take place without prior knowledge. Therefore this indicates the absolute perfection of his knowledge and wisdom.

The accusative pronoun in نَّبْرَأَهَآ it can possibly refer to either to the misfortune [مُّصِيبَةٍ] or to the earth [ٱلْأَرْضِ] or to the souls [أَنفُسِكُمْ] or to all these potential antecedents. [Fathul Al Qadeer]. And this is most likely, i.e. indeed what occurs of misfortunes on the earth, or on the souls, it was only written as a divine decree before the creation of the earth and the souls and before the occurrence of misfortunes.

The plural pronoun (royal we)- (النون في نبرأها جمع التعظيم)- as the subject of the verb in نَّبْرَأَهَآ – is for veneration [ATa’zeem], then it is followed by the singular, so He said: إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى ٱللَّـهِ يَسِيرٌ – That is truly easy for Allah. The reason for mentioning the singular followed by the plural, so that no should associate any partners with Him (SWT) thinking that plural is used for a multiplicity of gods. It is customary usage in the Quran if the ‘royal we’ is mentioned then either before or after the individual pronoun or the name of Allah will be mentioned.

His saying:
إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى ٱللَّـهِ يَسِيرٌ – That is truly easy for Allah
The prepositional phrase عَلَى ٱللَّـهِ has been foregrounded (Al-Taqdeem) over the predicate of إِنَّ to indicate restriction [Al-Hasr], i.e. that Allah for alone everything is easy exclusively. If He had said: إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ يَسِيرٌ عَلَى ٱللَّـهِ – Indeed that is easy for Allah – then it possible to that thinks it easy for Allah and also others because of the meaning of restriction afforded by the foregrounding is lost. For example, if you say: هو هين عليّ – it is easy for me – it means it is for you but doesn’t preclude it being easy others too. However, if you said: هوعليّ هين – it is only easy for me – then the being easy is only you and no one else.

 على طريق التفسير البياني،  المؤلف: فاضل صالح السامرائي