When it is said to them: ‘Do not spread corruption on the earth,’ they answer: ‘We are but improving things!’ ❋ Oh, verily, it is they, they who are who are spreading corruption, but they perceive it not. (Wa idhā qīla la‑hum lā tufsidū fi’l-arḍ qālū innamā naḥnu muṣliḥūn. • A’lā innahum hum al-mufsidūna wa lākin lā yash‘urūn.)
Consider the Positioning of These Verses in Regard to the Preceding Ones
Allah the Most High mentions the first of the crimes arising from their dissembling: their wronging themselves and transgressing His rights (ḥuqūq Allāh), together with the successive consequences mentioned above, and then He follows this with the second of their crimes: their trampling the rights of His servants and their spreading corruption, and its results.
[The phrase] And when it is said (wa idhā qīla) is linked by virtue of the story to say (yaqūlu) in Of the people there are some who say: (Wa min al‑nās man yaqūlu), and by reason of its meaning to Fain would they deceive (Yukhādi‘ūna); so too, by virtue of itself it is linked to they are false to themselves (yakdhibūn). The change from a categorical to a conditional clause is an indication and concealed sign of the clause implicit between them. It is as though it is saying: “Theirs is a grievous penalty for what they give the lie to; for when they lie they cause dissension, and when they cause dissension they cause corruption; and if they are admonished they do not accept it, and if they are told: don’t spread corruption… and so on.”
The Positioning of the Verses’ Phrases, Both Explicit and Implicit
It is exactly the same as the order and linkages in the example that I shall now give you: If you see someone who has taken a road leading to perdition, you first of all warn him, saying: “This way will be the ruin of you; don’t take it!” If he does not avoid it using his own intelligence, you will renew your efforts to restrain him by forbidding and upbraiding him, and you will reinforce this and instil it in his brain either by scaring him with the threat of universal condemnation, or by softening his heart by inculcating fellow feeling, as will be explained to you below.
If the person is obstinate, persistent, recalcitrant, and mounted on compounded ignorance, he will not be silent but will defend himself. For it is characteristic of corrupters to look on their corruption as good and useful. For by nature, man does not perpetrate iniquitous acts thinking they are iniquitous. He will offer evidence that his way is right, claiming that this is well known and that you have no right to admonish him and that he has no need for your advice. Rather, you need to learn about his way. For the only smooth path is his and you should not attack the better way.
And if that obdurate person is two‑faced, he will also have a forked tongue. On the one hand, he will try to divert the person admonishing him and silence him, and on the other he will defend his way saying: “Outwardly I put things to rights as you wish, and inwardly as I believe.” Then to corroborate what he claims, he says: “Putting things to rights is something I’ve always done; it isn’t that I now do good works having previously spread corruption.”
And if that obdurate, Nimrod‑like person persists in spreading his way and declaring the admonisher a liar and making insinuations against the people of truth to this extent, it is clear that the medicine has no effect on him. Only one remedy remains and that is to put him into quarantine. This treatment consists of warning people and informing them that he is a corrupter, not a doer of good, for he does not use his head or employ his intelligence that he might grasp this matter, which is so obvious and palpable.
If you have understood the links enumerated in the above example [that is, the progression of the argument], you will have grasped the links between the phrases, both stated and alluded to, in this verse from And when it is said to them (Wa idhā qīla la‑hum) to the end. For their order is so natural and succinct (ījāz) that the miraculousness glows from beneath it [like live coals].
The Order and Positioning of the Parts of the Phrases
Consider this: the definiteness expressed by when (idhā) in When it is said to them: ‘Do not spread corruption on the earth’ (Wa idhā qīla la‑hum lā tufsidū fi’l-arḍ) denotes the necessary obligation of ‘forbidding what is unlawful.’
The passive form of it is said (qīla) indicates that such prohibition is encumbent on all (farḍ kifāya ‘alā al‑umūm).
In the la‑ of la‑hum – to them is a sign that the prohibition must be in the form of advice, not coercion; and through persuasion rather than by force.
Do not spread corruption (lā tufsidū) is a summary in the form of a conditional syllogism; that is, “do not do that, for it will lead to anarchy. Relations [requiring] obedience will be severed, justice and its system will be thrown into disorder, the bonds of unity will be broken, and this will lead to corruption. So don’t do it lest you cause corruption.”
The phrase on the earth (fi’l‑arḍ) corroborates and perpetuates the prohibition, for [its effect] is temporary. The admonition therefore has to fix it permanently in the brain of the one addressed by appointing his conscience to always restrain him from beneath. This is either by exciting his vein of fellow feeling, or by arousing his desire to flee from public disgust. On the earth (fi’l‑arḍ) arouses these two veins, for the phrase addresses [the dissemblers] saying: “This depravity of yours spreads through mankind. Why do you feel such hatred and anger at all the people, some of whom are innocent, or poor, or unknown by you? Why don’t you feel sorry for them and pity them? We can see you have no sympathy for your fellow men, but at least you should realize that this action of yours attracts their loathing.”
If You Were to Ask: Which of [the dissemblers’] objectives looks to the people at large? How can their depravity spread to everyone?
You Would Be Told: Just as everything appears dark and ugly to a person who looks through a dark lens, so everything appears hateful and odious to the person whose sight is veiled by dissembling and whose heart is corrupted by unbelief. His heart is full of malice towards all men, indeed, all beings, and he stubbornly opposes them. Furthermore, if one tooth of a flywheel in the workings of a clock is damaged, the clock is affected either wholly or partially. Similarly, mankind’s order is affected by one person’s dissembling, for it is set in order through justice, Islam, and obedience. Alas! [The dissemblers’] continuously scattered poisons have accumulated and resulted in the present ignominy.
They answer: ‘We are but improving things!’ (Qālū innamā naḥnu muṣliḥūn) In the substitution of they answer (lit. say) (qālū) for ‘they do not accept advice’ (lā yaqbulūna al‑naṣīḥa), which would have been appropriate in the context, is an indication that they are making presumptuous claims and calling others to their way.
Innamā, [the restrictive particle, meaning only or but], possesses two characteristics:
The First: The phrase in which it is included has necessarily to signify something known, either in reality or allegedly. Thus, it infers depreciation of the one offering advice, as well as their [the dissemblers’] persisting in their compounded ignorance.
The Second: The restriction of “but” indicates that in their view their improving things is unadulterated by corruption. And this is an insinuation against the believers [who say the opposite].
The use of the active participle in (lit.) improvers [of things] (muṣliḥūn) rather than the verbal form ‘we are making improvements, setting in order, etc.’ indicates that [they allege that] this attribute of theirs is constant and continual and that what they are doing is total betterment. But they are dissimulating in saying this also, for what they profess inwardly is the opposite of what they profess outwardly: inwardly they claim their corruption to be improving things, and outwardly they hypocritically claim that what they do is for the betterment of the believers and in their interests.
Oh, verily, it is they, they who are who are spreading corruption, but they perceive it not. (A’lā innahum hum al‑mufsidūna wa lākin lā yash‘urūn)
Consider this:
The previous verse inferred a number of things about the dissemblers: for example, their spreading their ideas, and claiming that they consistently put things to rights and that this is a constant attribute of theirs, and is confined to them; and that their bettering things is untouched by corruption; that this is clear and well known; and their casting aspersions on the believers and imputing ignorance to those who offer them advice.
Here, the Qur’an replies to them with the present sentence,
which comprises elements proving their corruption and that they have become one with it;
that corruption is restricted to them, and that this is an established fact,
and warning the people against them,
and showing them to be ignorant by disallowing them any senses, as though they were inanimate.
If you wish, consider the following:
The [intensifying interjection] Oh, verily! (a’‑lā) is for alerting or warning: See how with its warning it declares false all their propaganda, which is alluded to by the word(s) they say (qālū).
The [intensifying particle] innā, which is for verification: See how it refutes their well‑known claims, indicated by innamā. It is as though the innā is saying that in reality their inner state is one of corruption, so their outwardly being righteous will not profit them.
The restrictive meaning of the personal pronoun they (hum) counters the insinuations implicit in naḥnu and innamā: We are but improving things.
The definite article in (lit.) the spreaders of corruption (al‑mufsidīn), which signifies that you see in them the quintessence of those who cause corruption and that they are in essence depravity – see how this contradicts the restriction expressed by innamā.
And but they perceive it not (wa lākin lā yash‘urūn), how it contradicts their declaring false the one admonishing them and their claim that they are not in need of advice, since their assertions [about what they are] are known.