Ask an Alim

I assume you are referring to the following verse of Quran:

وَ نُنَزِّلُ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ ما هُوَ شِفاءٌ وَ رَحْمَةٌ لِلْمُؤْمِنينَ وَ لا يَزيدُ الظَّالِمينَ إِلاَّ خَساراً 

And We are sending down, of the Qur’an, that which is a cure and a mercy to the believers; and it increases the unjust in nothing except in greater loss. (17: 82)

Before looking into the tafsir of this verse, two terms need to be clarified:

1. Dhalimeen: The disbelievers are referred to as Dhalimeen due to the inner trait of being unjust to themselves by not following their natural instinct bestowed by Allah (swt.) So a person who doesn’t believe in Allah swt is unjust because he is going against the natural instinct with which he was created.

2. Khasara: The root word of “Khasara” is “Khusran” which means to loose the capital investment. Allah (swt) has created all of us with the natural instinct based on which we distinguish between good and evil. If someone goes against it, he looses the power to distinguish, which means he is loosing out on the capital. 

So it is obvious that disbelievers are in a sheer loss as they are loosing their own capital.

This is what Surat al Asr reads:

“By Time, Indeed man is in loss, except those who have faith and do righteous deeds, and enjoin one another to (follow) the truth, and enjoin one another to patience”.

Till here, it should have been proved that the disbelievers by not following their godly instinct are in a sheer loss.

This verse of sural Al-Isra (17: 82) reads that Quran is mercy and healing to believers and for disbelievers it increases loss. Disbelievers are already in loss and the task which Quranic verses do is the increment of their loss because by not obeying Quranic teachings, they lose more opportunities of awakening their instinct. Instead of getting awakened, they opt to put more and more layers on it and eventually bearing more and more loss. This is what the verse says, that it increases in their loss.

Kumail Rajani