In 7:170-179,46:27 Allah explains that
"We make clear the communications, and that haply they might return".
The concept of returning to God implies that the instinctive ability to perceive His existence is in human nature 7:172, and that man's turning away from Him is an unnatural consequence of his spiritual degeneration. In other instances Allah says that this Quran is "their" reminder, ie with the aim of bringing them back to their true uncorrupted nature that must lead them to recognize divine guidance, bring them back to the way from which they have deviated 23:71,74.
It is a pervasive notion seen in many Quranic terminologies, as for example the inaba/returning to God 30:33 where the Arabic derived from "noub" means returning again to something. This is because the most fundamental Quranic teaching is that man’s nature is hardwired with monotheism and theology, while polytheism is alien to it.
The concept of Allah "misguiding" is then introduced, through the parable
7:175"of him to whom We give Our communications, but he withdraws himself from them, so the Shaitan overtakes him, so he is of those who go astray".
Because they first turned their backs to the guiding light leading them to the straigth path, and followed a different path, disputed about Allah without knowledge and deliberately misused and misinterpreted His guidance, innovated in religion 6:140,22:4,74:31 the shaitan/evil entities among the men and jinns managed to overtake them and lead them further away from the correct path. Such people are
"unjust to their own souls"
and indulging in spiritual self-destruction, willfuly opening up the door to the whisperings of evil beings. They are responsible for their straying and the statement that Allah causes their "idlal" means He abandons them altogether to thread the wrong path they have freely decided to walk on despite all warnings to the contrary
7:178,186"Whomsoever Allah causes to be lost/yudil, there is no guide for him; and He leaves them alone in their inordinacy, blindly wandering on".
In the background in which the Quran was revealed, the word idlal from d-l-l carried strong implications, since being lost in the desert would most often result in a painful death.
Once truth has been clearly made distinct from error, a volitional entity cannot be coerced into accepting a proposition against its will 2:256,18:29. God "misguides" them by removing His guidance 53:30, providing them what they wish for and leaving them to walk the path they freely choose
Once truth has been clearly made distinct from error, a volitional entity cannot be coerced into accepting a proposition against its will 2:256,18:29. God "misguides" them by removing His guidance 53:30, providing them what they wish for and leaving them to walk the path they freely choose
2:257,7:30"A part has He guided aright and (as for another) part, error is justly their due, surely they took the Shaitans for guardians beside Allah, and they think that they are followers of the right".
At that point, rejection of the right path, causes one to enter into a path where warnings and signs of truth, the light of guidance and the correct spiritual direction are absent
24:40,59:19,64:6,9:67"they have forsaken Allah, so He has forsaken them".
The only active guidance left on that path is that from the evil guardians spoken of above, now more than readily taken as open friends, yet they truly are the weakest of all guardians 29:41. The feebleness of their opposition is likened in 9:32 to the puff from a person's mouth attempting to extinguish a strong light. No matter their plots and machinations looking complex and elaborate on the outside, they are as a spider's web taken away by a breeze, while Allah's guardianship which they have rejected is
31:22"the firmest thing upon which one can lay hold"
elsewhere described as an extended rope of salvation which the believers are urged to hold fast by 3:101-3,4:175,22:78 and warned not to sell for a small price once they have tied themselves with it, to God 2:27,3:77,5:7.
As demonstrated through the history of previous nations upon whom revelation was bestowed, as soon as they forsook their covenant with God, they became disunited and their comunity disintegrated. This disunion is counted in the Quran as a divine punishement 6:65. The use of the spider's web, as well as other insect habitations, to convey the sense of fraility of a false system is found in previous scriptures too Job8:14,27:18.
As demonstrated through the history of previous nations upon whom revelation was bestowed, as soon as they forsook their covenant with God, they became disunited and their comunity disintegrated. This disunion is counted in the Quran as a divine punishement 6:65. The use of the spider's web, as well as other insect habitations, to convey the sense of fraility of a false system is found in previous scriptures too Job8:14,27:18.
Allah's guardianship is the strongest foundation upon which one can build his spirituality
9:109"Is he, therefore, better who lays his foundation on fear of Allah and (His) good pleasure, or he who lays his foundation on the edge of a cracking hollowed bank, so it broke down with him into the fire of hell; and Allah does not guide the unjust people".
Allah remains the Watcher over them despite them having rejected His guardianship and turned away, thinking they have any ability to really choose a protector other than the sole keeper of all that exists 42:6,9,48.
Clearly, Allah's turning away from those who initially willfully turned away from His guidance, is what causes their misguidance. Just as with divine guidance, divine misguidance is always contingent on an initial willful action. The lights of guidance are turned off, not haphazardly but in consequence of persistent rejection, which leaves nothing but darkness. That is the definition of divine misguidance/abandonement
10:11"We leave those alone who hope not for Our meeting in their inordinacy, blindly wandering on".
As plainly stated in 7:170-179, Allah sends guidance to all indiscriminately so He cannot be spoken of as arbitrarily "leading astray" as stated here regarding the Thamud nation
41:17"We showed them the right way, but they chose error above guidance".
The objects of idlal are therefore always those who have already turned away and chose the wrong path
14:27,40:34,68:7"Surely your Lord best knows him who errs from His way, and He best knows the followers of the right course"
or
45:23"Allah has made him err having knowledge"
ie knowing what he has done previously to deserve being left in error
"him who takes his low desire for his god".
When the prophet David in the HB admonishes the entire nation through his own son Solomon, he very eloquently describes this notion. God sends guidance to all but does not insist on those that shut themselves to it
1Chr28:9"And you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and worship Him with a whole heart and with an eager soul, for the Lord seeks all hearts, and He understands the thoughts of every creation; if you seek Him, He will be found to you, and if you forsake Him, He will abandon you forever".
Similarly in 7:16,15:39 after Iblis' curse, he says it is Allah who "ighwa" -literally "made him err". How was this done? Indirectly and not arbitrarily, not by compeling Iblis to sin but by puting him in a situation where his own arrogance and prejudice were exposed. The choice was of course his, to either obey or disobey the command. He chose rebellion and his reasons given to God after he was given the chance to explain himself were evil and totally unjustified.
This is a central theme in the Quran, that God aids all people in the direction that they want to take. The notion is also present throughout the HB, as in
Ps31:24"The Lord guards those who believe [in Him] and He pays with a bowstring him who works with haughtiness."
Further reading answering Sam Shamoun "Original Forgiveness – Did Original Sin Really End with Adam?"
