وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لَـَٔاتَيْنَا كُلَّ نَفْسٍ هُدَىٰهَا وَلَـٰكِنْ حَقَّ ٱلْقَوْلُ مِنِّى لَأَمْلَأَنَّ جَهَنَّمَ مِنَ ٱلْجِنَّةِ وَٱلنَّاسِ أَجْمَعِينَ 13
Translations
And if We had willed, We could have given every soul its guidance, but the word from Me will come into effect [that] "I will surely fill Hell with jinn and people all together.
Transliteration
Wa law shi'nā la-ātaynā kulla nafsin hudāhā wa lākin haqqa al-qawlu minnī la-amlā'anna jahannama mina al-jinni wa al-nāsi ajma'īn
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah establishes that Allah has the absolute power to guide all people to the straight path, yet He has decreed that Hell will be filled with both jinn and humans who reject guidance. According to Ibn Kathir and Al-Tabari, this reflects Allah's justice: guidance is available to all, but those who willfully turn away from it will face the consequences of their choice. The ayah emphasizes that damnation is not arbitrary but the result of rejecting divine guidance despite its clarity.
Revelation Context
This ayah appears in the Meccan surah As-Sajdah, which addresses fundamental theological principles about creation, divine wisdom, and accountability. It responds to those who questioned why Allah did not simply make everyone believers, clarifying that human free will and moral responsibility are integral to Allah's divine plan and justice.
Related Hadiths
The hadith in Sahih Muslim (2644) where the Prophet (ﷺ) said: 'Allah created all creatures, and then created Hell. He said to it: Fill yourself. And Hell kept saying: Is there more? Until Allah placed His foot in it, and then it said: Qad qad (enough, enough)' - illustrating the certainty of Hell's filling as decreed by Allah.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah teaches that while Allah's guidance is sufficient and available to all, each person bears responsibility for accepting or rejecting it; our eternal fate is determined by our conscious choices, not by arbitrary divine decree, emphasizing the gravity of turning away from clear truth.