أَغْوَيْ

15:40; 38:83.

Important Words:

اغویتنی (Thou hast adjudged me as lost). اغویت is derived from اغوی which again is derived from غوی which means, he erred; he deviated from the right way; he acted ignorantly; he failed in his object and was disappointed; he was lost; he perished; his life became unpleasant. اغواہ means, he caused him to err; or he caused him to deviate from the right course; he caused him to be disappointed, or to fail in attaining his desire; he seduced him, or misled him; or he caused him to be lost or to perish; he declared or adjudged him to be lost; he destroyed him; or he punished him for erring; or he called upon him to do a thing as a result of which he deviated from the right course and was lost (Lane, Lisan, Aqrab & Mufradat).

Commentary:

Iblis here declares that as God had adjudged him as lost, he would now tempt and waylay men and cause them to be lost even as he himself was lost. This work becomes his life’s function. See also 2:35.

The particle با (since) in the clause فبما اغویتنی may also be taken in the sense of "swearing", in which case the clause would mean, "I swear by Thy having adjudged me as lost."

7:17, 18; 38:83.

Commentary:

This verse too, gives a figurative word-picture of the condition of those disbelievers who, having failed to join the ranks of the Faithful in the beginning of the ministry of a Prophet, feel bitterly disappointed when they see him triumphing. The leaders of disbelief feel disgraced and humiliated at finding that others less important than themselves have outstripped them in believing and so, instead of accepting the Prophet, even at a later stage, they begin to oppose him. It is this state of mind of disbelievers that v. 3 depicts where it is mentioned that seeing the cause of Islam triumphing they wish they had accepted Islam in the beginning and thus had retained their former status and respect and had shared the blessings with which Muslims were favoured but having lost all their respect by rejecting the Prophet, they refrain from believing in spite of their desire and even increase in disbelief and opposition. This phenomenon has been repeated in the time of every Prophet of God, as is clear from 2:218, 4:45, 7:89 and 14:4.

7:39, 40; 14:22; 33:68-69; 34:32-33; 40:48-49.

10:29; 16:87.

Commentary:

The words, "those against whom the sentence will have become due," refer to the leaders of disbelief whom the misguided people blindly follow. Or the words may apply only to those associate-gods who themselves will be under Divine punishment and not to all those whom the idolaters worshipped because some of the righteous and God-fearing men have also been made the object of worship by their misguided followers.

The words, "it was not us they worshipped," mean that the leaders of disbelief would say that their so-called followers did not worship them but only their own ideas and fancies, i.e. it was because of their own false and foolish beliefs that they were led astray from the path of truth and righteousness.

Commentary:

In vv. 30, 31 above the leaders of disbelief had refused to plead guilty to the charge that they had led their followers astray by saying that they had no power or authority over them; in the verse under comment they plead guilty to the charge of misleading them. The seeming contradiction is, in reality, no contradiction. The verse means to say that leaders of disbelief will say to their followers: "You yourselves chose to follow us, and since we ourselves had gone astray, you could expect nothing better from us. It was a case of blind leading the blind."