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Translators: Ahmed Ali ● Amatul Rahman Omar ● Daryabadi ● Faridul Haque ● Hamid S. Aziz ● Maulana Mohammad Ali ● Pickthall ● Sarwar ● Shakir ● Yusuf Ali
Recitation by Mishary Al-Alfasy
Name
This Surah is known by two names -- At-Taubah
and Al-Bara'at. It is called At-Taubah because it enunciates the nature of
taubah (repentance) and mentions the conditions of its acceptance.(vv. 102.
118). The second name Bara'at (Release) is taken from the first word of the
Surah.
Omission of Bismillah
This is the only
Surah of the Quran to which Bismillah is not prefixed. Though the commentators
have given different reasons for this, the correct one that which has been given
by Imam Razi: namely,this is because the Holy Prophet himself did not dictate it
at the beginning of the Surah. Therefore the Companions did not prefix it and
their successors followed them., This is a further proof of the fact that utmost
care has been taken to keep the Quran intact so that it should remain in its
complete and original form.
Discourses and Periods of Revelation
This Surah comprises three discourses:-
The first discourse (vv.
1-37), was revealed in Zil-Qa'adah A.H. 9 or thereabout. As the importance of
the subject of the discourse required its declaration on the occasion of Haj the
Holy Prophet dispatched Hadrat Ali to follow Hadrat Abu Bakr, who had already
left for Makkah as leader of the Pilgrims to the Ka'abah. He instructed Hadrat
Ali to deliver the discourse before the representatives of the different clans
of Arabia so as to inform them of the new policy towards the mushriks.
The second discourse (vv., 38-72) was sent down in Rajab A.H. 9 or a little
before this, when the Holy Prophet was engaged in making preparations for the
Campaign, of Tabuk. In this discourse, the Believers were urged to take active
part in Jihad, and the shirkers were severely rebuked for holding back their
wealth and for hesitation to sacrifice their lives in the way of Allah because
of their hypocrisy, weak faith or negligence.
The third discourse (vv.
73-129) was revealed on his return from the Campaign of Tabuk. There are some
pieces in this discourse that were sent down on different occasions during the
same period and were afterwards consolidated by the Holy Prophet into the Surah
in accordance with inspiration from Allah. But this caused no interruption in
its continuity because they dealt with the same subject and formed part of the
same series of events. This discourse warns the hypocrites of their evil deeds
and rebukes those Believers who had stayed behind in the Campaign of Tabuk. Then
after taking them to task, Allah pardons those true Believers who had not taken
part in the Jihad in the Way of Allah for one reason or the other.
Chronologically, the first discourse should have come last; but being the most
important of the three in regard to its subject matter, it was placed first in
the order of compilation.
Historical Background
Now let us consider the historical background of the Surah. The series of events
that have been discussed in this Surah took place after the Peace Treaty of
Hudaibiyah. By that time, one-third of Arabia had come under the sway of Islam
which had established itself as a powerful, well organized and civilized Islamic
State. This Treaty afforded further opportunities to Islam to spread its
influence in the comparatively peaceful atmosphere created by it. After this
Treaty, two events took place, which led to very important results:
Conquest of Arabia
The first was the Conquest of Arabia.
The Holy Prophet was able to send missions among different clans for the
propagation of Islam. The result was that during the short period of two years,
it became such a great power that it made the old order of ignorance' feel
helpless before it. So much so that the zealous elements from among the Quraish
were so exasperated that they broke the Treaty in order to encounter Islam in a
decisive combat. But the Holy Prophet took prompt action after the breach so as
not to allow them any opportunity to gather enough force for this. He made a
sudden invasion on Makkah in the month of Ramadan in A. H. 8 and conquered it.
Though this conquest broke the backbone of the order of ignorance, it made still
another attack on Islam in the battle-field of Hunain, which proved to be its
death-knell. The clans of Hawazin Thaqif, Naur, Jushm and others gathered their
entire forces in the battle field in order to crush the reformative Revolution,
but they utterly failed in their evil designs. The defeat of 'ignorance' at
Hunain paved the way for making the whole of Arabia the 'Abode of Islam' (Dar-ul-Islam).
The result was that hardly a year had Passed after the Battle of Hunain, when
the major portion of Arabia came within the fold of Islam and only a few
upholders of the old order remained scattered over some corners of the country.
The second event that contributed towards making Islam a formidable power
was the Campaign of Tabuk, which was necessitated by the provocative activities
of the Christians living within or near the boundaries of the Roman Empire to
the north of Arabia. Accordingly, the Holy Prophet, with an army of thirty
thousand marched boldly towards the Roman Empire but the Romans evaded the
encounter. The result was that the power of the Holy Prophet and Islam increased
manifold and deputations from all corners of Arabia began to wait upon him on
his return from Tabuk in order to offer their allegiance to Islam and obedience
to him. The Holy Quran has described this triumph in Surah An-Nasr: "When the
succor of Allah came and victory was attained and you saw people entering the
fold of Islam in large numbers...
Campaign to Tabuk
The Campaign to Tabuk was the result of conflict with the Roman Empire, that
had started even before the conquest of Makkah. One of the missions sent after
the Treaty of Hudaibiyah to different parts of Arabia visited the clans which
lived in the northern areas adjacent to Syria. The majority of these people were
Christians, who were under the influence of the Roman Empire. Contrary to all
the principles of the commonly accepted international law, they killed fifteen
members of the delegation near a place known as Zat-u-Talah (or Zat-i-Itlah).
Only Ka'ab bin Umair Ghifari, the head of the delegation, succeeded in escaping
and reporting the sad incident. Besides this, Shurahbll bin Amr, the Christian
governor of Busra, who was directly under the Roman Caesar, had also put to
death Haritli bin Umair, the ambassador of the Holy Prophet, who had been sent
to him on a similar minion.
These events convinced the Holy Prophet that
a strong action should be taken in order to make the territory adjacent to the
Roman Empire safe and secure for the Muslims. Accordingly, in the month of
Jamadi-ul-Ula A. H. 8, he sent an army of three thousand towards the Syrian
border. When this army reached near Ma'an, the Muslims learned that Shurahbil
was marching with an army of one hundred thousand to fight-with them and that
the Caesar, who himself was at Hims, had sent another army consisting of one
hundred thousand soldiers under his brother Theodore. But in spite of such
fearful news, the brave small band of the Muslims marched on fearlessly and
encountered the big army of Shurahbil at M'utah. And the result of the encounter
in which the Muslims were fighting against fearful odds (the ratio of the two
armies was 1:33), as very favorable, for the enemy utterly failed to defeat
them. This proved very helpful for the propagation of Islam. As a result, those
Arabs who were living in a state of semi independence in Syria and near Syria
and the clans of Najd near Iraq, who were under the influence of the Iranian
Empire, turned towards Islam and embraced it in thousands. For example, the
people of Bani Sulaim (whose chief was Abbas bin Mirdas Sulaimi), Ashja'a,
Ghatafan, Zubyan, Fazarah, etc., came into the fold of Islam at the same time.
Above all, Farvah bin 'Amral Juzami, who was the commander of the Arab armies of
the Roman Empire, embraced Islam during that time, and underwent the trial of
his Faith in a way that filled the whole territory with wonder. When the Caesar
came to know that Farvah had embraced Islam, he ordered that he should be
arrested and brought to his court. Then the Caesar said to him, "You will have
to choose one of the two things. Either give up your Islam and win your liberty
and your former rank, or remain a Muslim and face death." He calmly chose Islam
and sacrificed his life in the way of the Truth.
No wonder that such
events as these made the Caesar realize the nature of the danger that was
threatening his Empire from Arabia. Accordingly, in 9 A.H. he began to make
military preparations to avenge the insult he had suffered at M'utah. The
Ghassanid and other Arab chiefs also began to muster armies under him. When the
Holy Prophet, who always kept himself well-informed even of the minutest things
that could affect the Islamic Movement favorably or adversely, came to know of
these preparations, he at once under- stood their meaning. Therefore, without
the least hesitation he decided to fight against the great power of the Caesar.
He knew that the show of the slightest weakness would result in the utter
failure of the Movement which was facing three great dangers at that time. First
the dying power of 'ignorance' that had almost been crushed in the battle-field
of Hunain might revive again. Secondly, the Hypocrites of Al: Madinah, who were
always on the look-out for such an opportunity, might make full use of this to
do the greatest possible harm to it. For they had already made preparations for
this and had, through a monk called Abu Amir, sent secret messages of their evil
designs to the Christian king of Ghassan and the Caesar himself. Besides this,
they had also built a mosque near Al-Madinah for holding secret meetings for
this purpose. The third danger was of an attack by the Caesar himself, who had
already defeated Iran, the other great power of that period, and filled with awe
the adjacent territories.
It is obvious that if all these three elements
had been given an opportunity of taking a concerted action against the Muslims,
Islam would have lost the fight it had almost won. That is why in this case the
Holy Prophet made an open declaration for making preparations for the Campaign
against the Roman Empire, which was one of the two greatest empires of the world
of that period. The declaration was made though all the apparent circumstances
were against such a decision: for there was famine in the country and the long
awaited crops were about to ripen: the burning heat of the scorching summer
season of Arabia was at, its height and there was not enough money for
preparations in general, and for equipment and conveyance in particular. But in
spite of these handicaps, when the Messenger of Allah realized the urgency of
the occasion, he took this step which was to decide whether the Mission of the
Truth was going to survive or perish. The very fact that he made an open
declaration for making preparations for such a campaign to Syria against the
Roman Empire showed how important it was, for this was contrary to his previous
practice. Usually he took every precaution not to reveal beforehand the
direction to which he was going nor the name of the enemy whom he was going to
attack; nay, he did not move out of Al-Madinah even in the direction of the
campaign.
All the parties in Arabia fully realized the grave consequences
of this critical decision. The remnants of the lovers of the old order of
'ignorance' were anxiously waiting for the result of the Campaign, for they had
pinned all their hopes on the defeat of Islam by the Romans. The 'hypocrites'
also considered it to be their last chance of crushing the power of Islam by
internal rebellion, if the Muslims suffered a defeat in Syria. They had,
therefore, made full use of the Mosque built by them for hatching plots and had
employed all their devices to render the Campaign a failure. On the other side,
the true Believers also realized fully that the fate of the Movement for which
they had been exerting their utmost for the last 22 years was now hanging in the
balance. If they showed courage on that critical occasion, the doors of the
whole outer world would be thrown open for the Movement to spread. But if they
showed weakness or cowardice, then all the work they had done in Arabia would
-end in smoke.
That is why these lovers of Islam began to make
enthusiastic preparations for the Campaign. Everyone of them tried to surpass
the other in making contributions for the provision of equipment for it. Hadrat
Uthman and Hadrat Abdur Rehman bin Auf presented large sums of money for this
purpose. Hadrat Umar contributed half of the earnings of his life and Hadrat Abu
Bakr the entire earnings of his life. The indigent Companions did not lag behind
and presented whatever they could earn by the sweat of their labor and the women
parted with their ornaments. Thousands of volunteers, who were filled with the
desire of sacrificing their lives for Islam, came to the Holy Prophet and
requested that arrangements for weapons and conveyance be made for them so that
they should join the expedition. Those who could not be provided with these shed
tears of sorrow; the scene was so pathetic that it made the Holy Prophet sad
because of his inability to arm them. In short, the occasion became the
touchstone for discriminating a true believer from a hypocrite. For, to lag
behind in the Campaign meant that the very relationship of a person to Islam was
doubtful. Accordingly, whenever a person lagged behind during the journey to
Tabuk, the Holy Prophet, on being informed, would spontaneously say, "Leave him
alone. If there be any good in him, Allah will again join him with you, and if
there be no good in him, then thank Allah that He relieved you of his evil
company".
In short, the Holy Prophet marched out towards Syria in Rajab
A. H. 9, with thirty thousand fighters for the cause of Islam. The conditions in
which the expedition was undertaken may be judged from the fact that the number
of camels with them was so small that many of them were obliged to walk on foot
and to wait for their turns for several had to ride at a time on each camel. To
add to this, there was the burning heat of the desert and the acute shortage of
water. But they were richly rewarded for their firm resolve and sincere
adherence to the cause and for their perseverance in the face of those great
difficulties and obstacles.
When they arrived at Tabuk, they learned that
the Caesar and his allies had withdrawn their troops from the frontier and there
was no enemy to fight with. Thus they won a moral victory that increased their
prestige manifold and, that too, without shedding a drop of blood.
In
this connection, it is pertinent to point out that the general impression given
by the historians of the campaigns of the Holy Prophet about the Campaign of
Tabuk is not correct. They relate the event in a way as if the news of the
mustering of the Roman armies near the Arabian frontier was itself false. The
fact is that the Caesar had begun to muster his armies, but the Holy Prophet
forestalled him and arrived on the scene before he could make full preparations
for the invasion. Therefore, believing that "discretion is the better part of
valor," he withdrew his armies from the frontier. For he had not forgotten that
the three thousand fighters for the cause of Islam had rendered helpless his
army one hundred thousand strong at M'utah. He could not, therefore, even with
an army of two hundred thousand, dare to fight against an army of thirty
thousand, and that, too, under the leadership of the Holy Prophet himself.
When the Holy Prophet found that the Caesar had withdrawn his forces from
the frontier, he considered thee question whether it would be worthwhile to
march into the Syrian territory or to halt at Tabuk and turn his moral victory
to political and strategical advantage. He decided on the latter course and made
a halt for twenty days at Tabuk. During this time, he brought pressure on the
small states that lay between the Roman Empire and the Islamic State and were at
that time under the influence of the Romans, and subdued and made them the
tributaries of the Islamic State. For instance, some Christian chiefs Ukaidir
bin Abdul Malik Kindi of Dumatul Jaiidal, Yuhanna bin D'obah of Allah, and the
chiefs of Maqna, Jarba' and Azruh also submitted and agreed to pay Jizyah to the
Islamic State of Al- Madinah. As a result of this, the boundaries of the Islamic
State were extended right up to the Roman Empire, and the majority of the Arab
clans, who were being used by the Caesar against Arabia, became the allies of
the Muslims against the Romans.
Above all, this moral victory of Tabuk
afforded a golden opportunity to the Muslims to strengthen their hold on Arabia
before entering into a long conflict with the Romans. For it broke the back of
those who had still been expecting that the old order of 'ignorance' might
revive in the near future, whether they were the open upholders of shirk or the
hypocrites who were hiding their shirk under the garb of Islam. The majority of
such people were compelled by the force of circumstances to enter into the fold
of Islam and, at least, make it possible for their descendants to become true
Muslims. After this a mere impotent minority of the upholders of the old order
was left in the field, but it could not stand in the way of the Islamic
Revolution for the perfection of which Allah had sent His Messenger.
Problems of the Period
If we keep in view the preceding
background, we can easily find out the problems that were confronting the
Community at that time. They were:
to make the whole of Arabia a perfect
Dar-ul-Islam,
to extend the influence of Islam to the adjoining
countries,
to crush the mischiefs of the hypocrites, and
to
prepare the Muslims for Jihad against the non- Muslim world.
Now that the
administration of the whole of Arabia had come in the hands of the Believers,
and all the opposing powers had become helpless, it was necessary to make a
clear declaration of that policy which was to be adopted to make her a perfect
Dar-ul-Islam. Therefore the following measures were adopted:
A clear
declaration was made that all the treaties with the mushriks were abolished and
the Muslims would be released from the treaty obligations with them after a
respite of four months.(vv. 1-3). This declaration was necessary for uprooting
completely the system of life based on shirk and to make Arabia exclusively the
center of Islam so that it should not in any way interfere with the spirit of
Islam nor become an internal danger for it.
A decree was issued that the
guardianship of the Ka`abah, which held central position in all the affairs of
Arabia, should be wrested from the mushriks and placed permanently in the hands
of the Believers, (vv. 12-18) that all the customs and practices of the shirk of
the era of 'ignorance' should be forcibly abolished: that the mushriks should
not be allowed even to come near the "House" (v. 28). This was to eradicate
every trace of shirk from the "House" that was dedicated exclusively to the
worship of Allah.
The evil practice of Nasi, by which they used to tamper
with the sacred months in the days of 'ignorance', was forbidden as an act of
kufr(v. 37). This was also to serve as an example to the Muslims for eradicating
every vestige of the customs of ignorance from the life of Arabia (and
afterwards from the lives of the Muslims everywhere).
In order to enable
the Muslims to extend the influence of Islam outside Arabia, they were enjoined
to crush with sword the non- Muslim powers and to force them to accept the
sovereignty of the Islamic State. As the great Roman and Iranian Empires were
the biggest hindrances in the way, a conflict with them was inevitable. The
object of Jihad was not to coerce them to accept Islam they were free to accept
or not to accept it-but to prevent them from thrusting forcibly their deviations
upon others and the coming generations. The Muslims were enjoined to tolerate
their misguidance only to the extent that they might have the freedom to remain
misguided, if they chose to be so, provided that they paid Jizyah (v. 29) as a
sign of their subjugation to the Islamic State.
The third important
problem was to crush the mischiefs of the hypocrites, who had hitherto been
tolerated in spite of their flagrant crimes. Now that there was practically no
pressure upon them from outside, the Muslims were enjoined to treat them openly
as disbelievers (v. 73). Accordingly, the Holy Prophet set on fire the house of
Swailim, where the hypocrites used to gather for consultations in order to
dissuade the people from joining the expedition to Tabuk. Likewise on his return
from Tabuk, he ordered to pull down and burn the 'Mosque' that had been built to
serve as a cover for the hypocrites for hatching plots against the true
Believers.
In order to prepare the Muslims for Jihad against the whole
non-Muslim world, it was necessary to cure them even of that slight weakness of
faith from which they were still suffering. For there could be no greater
internal danger to the Islamic Community than the weakness of faith, especially
where it was going to engage itself single-handed in a' conflict with the whole
non-Muslim world. That is why those people who had lagged behind in the Campaign
to Tabuk or had shown the least negligence were severely taken to task, and were
considered as hypocrites if they had no plausible excuse for not fulfilling that
obligation. Moreover, a clear declaration was made that in future the sole
criterion of a Muslim's faith shall be the exertions he makes for the uplift of
the Word of Allah and the role he plays in the conflict between Islam and kufr.
Therefore, if anyone will show any hesitation in sacrificing his life, money,
time and energies, his faith shall not be regarded as genuine. (vv. 81-96).
If the above-mentioned important points are kept in view during the study of
this Surah, it will facilitate the understanding of its contents.
Subject: Problems of Peace and War
In continuation of
Surah Al-Anfal, this Surah also deals with the problems of peace and war and
bases the theme on the Tabuk Expedition.
Topics and their
Interconnection
This portion deals with the sanctity of treaties
and lays down principles, rules and regulations which must be kept in view
before breaking them, in case the other party does not observe them sincerely. 1
- 12
In this portion the Muslims have been urged to fight in the Way of
Allah with the mushrik Arabs, the Jews and the Christians, who were duly warned
of the consequences of their mischievous and inimical behavior. 13 - 37
In this discourse, the Muslims have been told clearly and explicitly that they
will inherit the rewards promised by Allah only if they take active part in the
conflict with kufr, for that is the criterion which distinguishes true Muslims
from hypocrites. Therefore true Muslims should take active part in Jihad,
without minding dangers, obstacles, difficulties, temptations and the like. 38 -
72
This portion deals with the problems of hypocrites and lays down rules
and regulations governing the treatment that should be meted out to them and
points out their distinctive marks from true Muslims. 73 - 90
This
portion deals with the case of those who remained behind and did not accompany
the Holy Prophet for Jihad to Tabuk. For this purpose they have been separated
in different categories, that is, the disabled, the sick, the indigent, the
hypocrites, the believers who realized their guilt and punished themselves
before the return of the Holy Prophet from Tabuk and those who confessed their
error. Their cases have been dealt with in accordance with the nature and extent
of their offense. 91 - 110
In order to make their noble qualities look
all the more conspicuous and dignified by contrast, the characteristics of the
Believers have been mentioned, and they have been reassured that Allah, the
Sovereign of the Universe, is their helper and guardian. Accordingly, because of
their sincerity, He has forgiven the Three Believers who did not take part in
the expedition. 111 - 118
In the concluding portion, general instructions
have been given to the Believers for their guidance. 119 - 127
This is
the conclusion: "Follow the Messenger who is gentle and compassionate and your
greatest well-wisher, and trust in Allah, the Lord of the Universe". 128 - 129
1As has already been stated in the Preface to this Surah, this discourse (vv.
1-37) was revealed in A.H. 9, when Hadrat Abu Bakr had left for Makkah as leader
of the pilgrims to the Ka`abah. Therefore the Companions said to the Holy
Prophet, "Sir, send it to Abu Bakr so that he may proclaim it on the occasion of
Haj. " He replied, "The importance and nature of the Declaration demands that
this should be proclaimed on my behalf by some one from my own family."
Accordingly, he entrusted this duty to Hadrat 'Ali and instructed him to
proclaim it openly before the pilgrims, and also make these four announcements:
(1) "No one who rejects Islam shall enter Paradise. (2) No mushrik should
perform Haj after this. (3) It is forbidden to move round the Ka`abah in a naked
state. (4) The terms of the treaties which are still in force (i.e. with those
who have not broken their treaties with the Messenger of Allah up to that time)
would be faithfully observed till the expiry of the term of the treaties".
In this connection, it will be worthwhile to know that the first Haj of the
Islamic period after the conquest of Makkah was performed in A.H. 8, according
to the old customs. Then in A.H. 9 the second Haj was performed by the Muslims
in the Islamic way, and by the mushriks in their own way. But the third Haj,
known as "Hajja-tul-Wida a", was performed in A.H. 10 in the purely Islamic way
under the guidance of the Holy Prophet himself. He did not perform Haj during
the two previous years because up to that time the mushriks had not been
forbidden from it, and so there were still some traces of shirk associated with
it.
2This declaration of the abrogation of the treaties with the
mushriks was made in accordance with the law enjoined in VIII: 58 regarding the
treacherous people, for it is treachery from the Islamic point of view to wage
war against any people with whom a treaty of peace had been made, without openly
declaring that the treaty had been terminated. That is why a proclamation of the
abrogation of the treaties was necessitated against those clans who were always
hatching plots against Islam in spice of the treaties of peace they had made.
They would break the treaties and turn hostile on the first opportunity for
treachery, and the same was true of all the mushrik clans with the exception of
Bani Kananah, Bani Damrah and one or two other clans.
This proclamation
practically reduced the mushriks of Arabia to the position of outlaws and no
place of shelter was left for them, for the major part of the country had come
under the sway of Islam. As this released the Muslims from the obligations of
the treaties made with them and forestalled them, they were driven into a tight
comer. For this smashed all their evil designs of creating trouble by inciting
civil war at the time of a threat from the Roman and the Iranian Empires or
after the death of the Holy Prophet. But Allah and His Messenger turned the
tables on them before the opportune moment for which they were waiting. Now the
only alternatives left with them were either to accept Islam that had become the
state religion of Arabia, or to fight against it and be exterminated, or to
emigrate from the country.
The wisdom of this grand plan became apparent
when the mischief of apostasy broke out in different parts of Arabia a year and
a half after this at the death of the Holy Prophet. This disturbance was so
sudden and violent that it shook to its foundations, the newly created Islamic
State, and would have done a far greater harm if the organized power of shirk
had not been broken beforehand by this abrogation. It may be asserted that but
for this timely action the mischief of apostasy, that rose at the very beginning
of the Caliphate of Hadrat Abu Bakr, would have done ten-fold harm by rebellion
and civil war, and might have changed the whole history of Islam.
3The
respite of four months from the tenth of Zil-Haj (the date of the proclamation)
to the tenth of Rabi'-uth-thani; was granted to give time to the mushriks so
that they should consider their position carefully and decide whether to make
preparation for war or to emigrate from the country or to accept Islam.
4Hajj-i-akbar refers to the 10th of Zil-Hajjah and is also known as Yaum-un-Nahr.
This has been explained by the Holy Prophet in an authentic Tradition. On the
10th of Zil-Hajjah, during the last Haj of the Holy Prophet, he asked the
people, "What is this day?" The people answered, "It is the day of Sacrifice. "
The Holy Prophet said, "This is the day of Hajj-i-akbar" Here the word
Hajj-i-akbar (Great Pilgrimage) has been used in contrast to Hajj-i-asghar which
the Arabs used for 'Umrah' . Thus, the Haj which is performed in the prescribed
dates of Zil-Haj is called Hajj-i-akbar.
5"......you also should observe
the treaties with such people" who do not violate them, for your violation in
such cases shall be against piety. And Muslims should remain pious under all
circumstances "for Allah loves the pious people" only.
6Here "the months
made unlawful" are not those four months during which war is forbidden for the
sake of Haj and `Umrah but the four months that were made unlawful for the
Muslims to make any attack on the mushriks, who were granted respite by v. 2.
7That is, "Mere repentance from disbelief and shirk will not end the
matter. but they shall have to perform the prescribed prayer and pay Zakat dues.
Without these it will not be considered that they had given up disbelief and
embraced Islam. " Hadrat Abu Bakr based his decision on this verse in the case
of the apostates, after the death of the Holy Prophet, who argued that they were
not the rejecters of Islam, because they offered Salat, even though they had
refused to pay the Zakat dues. This argument roused doubts in the minds of the
Companions in general that they had no right to fight with such people as these.
But Hadrat Abu Bakr removed their doubts, saying, "Verse 5 enjoins us to let
those people go their way who fulfill all the three conditions- repentance from
shirk, the establishment of Salat and the payment of Zakat. We cannot forbear
them, because they do not fulfill one of these three conditions."
8That
is, "if during a fight, an enemy makes a request that he should be given an
opportunity to understand Islam, the Muslims should give him a surety of
protection and allow him to visit them. They should then present Islam before
him in order to make him understand it. If, after this, he does not embrace
Islam, they should convey him safely to his place" . Such a person who comes to
Dar-ul-Islam under the above mentioned protection is called musta'min in the
Islamic Code.
9That is: Bani Kinanah and Bani Khuza`ah and Bani Damrah.
10That is, "Though outwardly they negotiated for peace treaties, they
cherished evil intentions in their hearts, and waited for an opportune moment to
break them. And this was borne by later experiences."
11They were
evil-doers because they had no sense of moral responsibilities nor did they
hesitate to break moral limits.
12That is, "When they had to make a
choice between the Divine Guidance and the transitory worldly ambitions, they
chose the latter, because they did not comprehend the comparative values of the
two. Whereas the Revelations of Allah were inviting them to goodness,
righteousness and observance of the Divine Law, which lead to eternal bliss,
they chose to follow the unbridled lusts of their selves which gained some
transitory worldly benefits for them, but consequently led them to eternal
perdition.
13Those evil-doers "blocked His Way for others", for they not
only chose misguidance for themselves but also tried to prevent others from
following the right way. They put every kind of obstruction in the way of the
invitation to righteousness; nay, they tried their worst to gag the mouths of
those who were extending that invitation and make their lives hard for them. In
short, they did all they could to prevent the establishment of the righteous
system of life that Allah required the people to establish.
14Here, too,
it has explicitly been stated that those who repent will not become your
brethren in faith without the observance of Salat and Zakat.
"Yet if
........they shall be your brethren in faith": This means that "if they fulfill
those conditions, then not only shall their lives and properties become unlawful
for you but also they shall enjoy equal rights with you in the Islamic
Community. There shall be no distinction between them and the other Muslims in
regard to social, cultural, legal and political rights, and nothing will stand
in their way to the progress for which they are otherwise qualified.
14a"........you should fight with them.....":perhaps the fear of war may force
them to desist from breaking oaths and reviling Islam.
15In the
context,the words, oaths and compacts mean the compact of the acceptance of
Islam. Therefore, the question of making a new compact with them does not arise.
As regards the old pacts, they had already broken all of them. It is on account
of this that the declaration of immunity (from obligations) by Allah and His
Messenger has been clearly made. It has also been stated that such people are
not worthy of any treaty and they can only be let off if they repent of their
disbelief and shirk and establish Salat and pay Zakat dues. This verse states
clearly how the renegades should be treated. As a matter of fact, .this verse
forestalled the mischief of apostasy that broke out a year and a half after its
revelation and Hadrat Abu Bakr followed the guidance given in this verse to
crush it. (For further explanation, see my book entitled Murtad ki Saza Islami
Qanun men).
16In this passage the addressees are the Muslims. They have
been urged to fight perseveringly in the Way of Allah, without paying the least
heed to their ties of blood and relationship and to their worldly interests. In
order to understand fully the spirit of this passage, the reader should keep in
view the state of affairs at the time, when the abrogation of the treaties was
declared. Though Islam was reigning supreme in the greater part of Arabia and
there was no greater power to challenge its supremacy, still superficial
observers saw a number of dangers in the extreme step which was being taken at
that time.
First, it was feared that the abrogating of the treaties with
all the mushrik clans at one and the same time, and debarring them from Haj and
changing the guardianship of the Ka`abah and abolishing all the rituals of
`ignorance', would so incite the mushriks and the hypocrites and kindle such
fire of enmity that they would be ready to shed the last drop of their blood for
safeguarding their interests and prejudices.
Secondly, it was feared that
the mushriks would be greatly enraged by this declaration which granted freedom
of movement to the Muslims to perform Haj, whereas it forbade the non-Muslims.
Obviously this would also affect adversely their economic condition, for Haj
played a very important part in the economic life of Arabia during that period
of her history.
Lastly, it was feared that this would put to a hard trial
those people who had embraced Islam recently after the Peace Treaty of
Hudaibiyah and the Conquest of Makkah. For many of their kith and kin were still
mushriks, some of whom had their interests closely bound up with those offices
of `ignorance' which were abolished. Now it was obvious that the total war
against the mushriks demanded that these new Muslims should not only kill their
own near and dear ones but should also themselves abolish those ancient offices
and distinctions which they had enjoyed for centuries.
Though it is true
that none of these dangers took any practical shape, there were good reasons for
these apprehensions, for none could foresee the trends of events at the time of
the abrogation of the treaties. And the dangers were averted because these
Commandments had prepared them beforehand to meet them. More than that: this
preparedness produced other good results. The delegates from the remnants of the
mushriks, their chiefs and rulers began to visit Al-Madinah and take the oath of
allegiance to Islam and obedience to the Holy prophet, who let them retain their
old positions and offices. These things proved that if the Muslims had not been
in a state of readiness to take immediate action for enforcing the terms of the
"Declaration" with the sword, the events which followed might have taken a
different direction. Therefore it was the need of the hour that the Muslims
should have been vehemently urged for Jihad, and their apprehensions removed.
That is why it was being enjoined that they should not let anything hinder them
from doing the Will of Allah. And this is the theme of this discourse.
17This was a subtle reference to the possibility of what actually was going to
happen afterwards. "And He may remove ......... repentance": this was to remove
the misunderstandings of the Muslims who apprehended a bloody war as a result of
the Declaration. They were told that it was also possible that some of the
enemies might repent and embrace Islam. This was not made quite plain lest it
should slacken the war preparations of the Muslims on one side and weaken the
force of the warning to the mushriks on the other. The latter thing might have
hindered the mushriks from giving a serious thought to the critical position
they were in that finally led them to embrace Islam.
18The addressees in
v. 16 were those Muslims who had recently embraced Islam. It means to tell them
plainly: "Now that you have embraced Islam, you shall ave to give a genuine
proof by a trial that you have accepted it because you believe in its Truth and
not because it has become supreme in the country by the exertions of the true
Believers. The trial is that you shall have to sacrifice your lives, wealths and
your near and dear ones for the sake of Allah and His Way. Then and only then,
you will be regarded as true Believers."
19This lays down the general
principle for the guardianship of the places of worship that ave been built
exclusively for the worship of Allah. Obviously, those people who associate
others with Allah in His essence, His rights and His powers cannot be the proper
persons to be the guardians, the servants, the managers etc. of such sacred
places. And when they themselves reject the invitations to Tauhid, and openly
declare that they are not going to dedicate their worship and obedience
exclusively o Allah, they automatically forfeit any right they ad for the
guardianship of such places of worship that had been built for the worship of
Allah alone. Though the principle is of a general nature, it has been mentioned
here with the particular object of removing the mushriks from the guardianship
of the Ka`abah and Masjid-i-Haram and establishing permanently the guardianship
of the worshipers of One God over them.
20".........all their works have
gone to waste.....", including the little real service they did to the `House of
Allah' because they mixed with it shirk and other practices of ignorance. Their
little good was destroyed by their far greater evils.
21This question
has been posed to bring home the fact that the guardianship of a shrine or
attendance at it or other religious acts that are done for show, and are
exploited by worldly people to establish and maintain the show of their piety,
have no value whatsoever in the sight of Allah. The real worth of a person with
Allah is that he should be sincere in his beliefs and make sacrifices in the Way
of Allah, no matter whether he enjoys or does not enjoy such distinctions or
happens to descend or not from a family of `saints'. On the contrary, those
people who lack these excellences have no value with Allah, no matter whether
they be the descendants of saints or inherit the guardianship of shrines from a
long line of saints, or perform some `religious' acts for show on special
occasions. And it is not lawful in any way that the guardianship, etc. of sacred
places and institutions should be left in the hands of these worthless people
just because they happen to inhere such rights from their forefathers.
22That is: "The judgment will deprive them of the blessings of the true Faith,
and of the honor of bearing its standard and leading the world towards its
guidance. and bestow these on others".
23This has been mentioned to
allay the fears of those who were afraid of the consequences of the Declaration
of the abrogation of the treaties, as if to say, "Why are you afraid of war?
That Allah, Who helped you in far worse and dangerous situations on so many
occasions before this, is there even now to help you. Had this Mission depended
on your might, it could not have come out victorious in the hard trials at
Makkah nor in the Battle of Badr when the odds were heavily against you. This is
because Allah's Power has been helping you, and past experiences have shown you
how effective that Power is. Rest assured that the same Power will help you to
succeed in your Mission."
The Battle of Hunain had taken place in the
valley of Hunain between Ta'if and Makkah in the month of Shawwal A.H. 8, a year
or so before the Revelation of this discourse. This was the first battle in
which the Muslim army consisted of 12,000 fighters and this far outnumbered the
army of the disbelievers. But in spite of this the archers of the Hawazin clan
wrought havoc among the Muslim army and put them to rout. The Holy Prophet and a
few of his bravest Companions, however, firmly stood their ground and rallied
the routed army, and ultimately won the victory. It was because of their
perseverance that the army reassembled and the Muslims ultimately won the
victory; otherwise they would have lost much more at Hunain than they had gained
by the conquest of Makkah.
24".....Allah enables .....to repent" refers
to the large number of the disbelievers who embraced Islam after the victory at
Hunain as a result of the kind and generous treatment they received from the
Holy Prophet, in spite of their former antagonism. This was mentioned to allay
the anxiety of those new Muslims who feared that, as a result of the
Declaration, all of their mushrik relatives would be put to death. (E.N. 16).
They have been told to expect, in the light of the previous experiences, that
the mushriks would be obliged to accept Islam, when they realize that neither
any hope of the revival of the order of 'ignorance' was Ieft nor of any props to
support it.
25This prohibition was meant to root out all the vestiges of
shirk and ' ignorance' . For the mushriks were prohibited not only from the
performance of Haj and attendance at the Masjid-i-Haram but also from entering
into its sacred precincts .
They are "unclean" in their creeds, in their
morals, in their deeds, and in their ways of `ignorance', and not in their
physical bodies by themselves. That is the reason why they have been prohibited
from entering the sacred precincts of the Holy Place.
This prohibition
has been interpreted in different ways. Imam Abu Hanifah is of the view that it
prohibits them only from the performance of Haj and Umrah, and from the
observance of the rites of `ignorance' in the Holy Precincts. But Imam Shafi`i
is of the opinion that they have been forbidden even to enter the Masjid-i-Haram
for any purpose whatsoever. Imam Malik is of the opinion that they are forbidden
not only to enter Masjid-i-Haram but any mosque at all. It is, however, obvious
that the last opinion is not correct, as the Holy Prophet himself permitted
mushriks to enter the Prophet's Mosque at Al-Madinah.
26Though the
people of the Book professed to believe in Allah and the Hereafter, in fact they
believed in neither. For only that person really believes in Allah who
acknowledges Him as the only One God and the only One Lord, and does not
associate with Him any other, whatsoever, in His Being, in His characteristics,
in His rights and in His powers and authority. But according to this definition
of shirk both the Christians and the Jews were guilty of shirk as has been made
plain in the verses that follow: therefore their profession of belief in Allah
was meaningless. Likewise they did not really believe in the Hereafter, in spite
of the fact that they believed in Resurrection. For it is not enough: one must
also believe that on that Day absolute justice will be done on the basis of
one's belief and actions. One should also believe that no ransom and no
expiation and no 'spiritual' relationships with any 'saint' shall be of any
avail on that Day. It is absolutely meaningless to believe in the Hereafter
without this. And the Jews and the Christians had polluted their faiths because
they believed that such things would protect them against justice on that Day.
27The second reason why Jihad should be waged against them is drat they did
not adopt the Law sent down by Allah through His Messenger.
28This is
the aim of Jihad with the Jews and the Christians and it is not to force them to
become Muslims and adopt the `Islamic Way of Life.' They should be forced to pay
Jizyah in order to put an end to their independence and supremacy so that they
should not remain rulers and sovereigns in the land. These powers should be
wrested from them by the followers of the true Faith, who should assume the
sovereignty and lead others towards the Right Way, while they should become
their subjects and pay jizyah. jizyah is paid by those non-Muslims who live as
Zimmis (proteges) in an Islamic State, in exchange for the security and
protection granted to them by it. This is also symbolical of the fact that they
themselves agree to live in it as its subjects. This is the significance of
"..... they Pay jizyah with their own hands," that is, "with full consent so
that they willingly become the subjects of the Believers, who perform the duty
of the vicegerents of Allah on the earth. "
At first this Command applied
only to the Jews and the Christians. Then the Holy Prophet himself extended it
to the Zoroastrians also. After his death, his Companions unanimously applied
this rule to all the non-Muslim nations outside Arabia.
This is jizyah "
of which the Muslims have been feeling apologetic during the last two centuries
of their degeneration and there are still some people who continue to apologize
for it. But the Way of Allah is straight and clear and does not stand in need of
any apology to the rebels against Allah. Instead of offering apologies on behalf
of Islam for the measure that guarantees security of life, property and faith to
those who choose to live under its protection, the Muslims should feel proud of
such a humane law as that of jizyah. For it is obvious that the maximum freedom
that can be allowed to those who do not adopt the Way of Allah but choose to
tread the ways of error is that they should be tolerated to lead the life they
like. That is why the Islamic State offers them protection, if they agree to
live as its Zimmis by paying jizyah, but it cannot allow that they should remain
supreme rulers in any place and establish wrong ways and impose them on others.
As this state of things inevitably produces chaos and disorder, it is the duty
of the true Muslims to exert their utmost to bring to an end their wicked rule
and bring them under a righteous order.
As regards the question, "What do
the non-Muslims get in return for Jizyah " it may suffice to say that it is the
price of the freedom which the Islamic State allows them in following their
erroneous ways, while living in the jurisdiction of Islam and enjoying its
protection. The money thus collected is spent in maintaining the righteous
administration that gives them the freedom and protects their rights. This also
serves as a yearly reminder to them that they have been deprived of the honor of
paying Zakat in the Way of Allah, and forced to pay jizyah instead as a price of
following the ways of error.
29Uzair (Ezra) lived during the period
around 450 B.C. The Jews regarded him with great reverence as the revivalist of
their Scriptures which had beat lost during their captivity in Babylon after the
death of Prophet Solomon. So much so that they had lost all the knowledge of
their Law, their traditions and of Hebrew, their national language. Then it was
Ezra who re-wrote the Old Testament and revived the Law. That is why they used
very exaggerated language in his reverence which misled some of the Jewish sects
to make him 'the son of God'. The Qur'an, however, does not assert that all the
Jews were unanimous in declaring Ezra as 'the son of God'. What it intends to
say is that the perversion in the articles of faith of the Jews concerning Allah
had degenerated to such an extent that there were some amongst them who
considered Ezra as the son of God.
30"Those who were involved in Kufr
before them" were the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Persians, etc. The
Jews and the Christians were so influenced by their philosophies, their
superstitions and fancies that they also invented erroneous creeds like theirs.
(For details sec E.N. 101 of Al-Maidah).
31"They have taken their
scholars and monks as their Lords the Holy Prophet himself explained its true
significance. According to a Tradition, when Hadrat `Adi bin Hatim, who was
formerly a Christian, came to the Holy Prophet with the intention of
understanding Islam, he asked several questions in order to remove his doubts.
One of these was: "This verse accuses us of taking our scholars and monks as our
lords. What is its real meaning, sir? For we do not take them as our fords."
As a reply to this, the Holy Prophet put him a counter-question: "Is it not
a fact that you accept as unlawful what they declare to be unlawful, and lawful
what they declare to be lawful?" 'Adi confessed, "Yes, sir, it is so." The Holy
Prophet replied, "This amounts to making them your lords." Incidentally, this
Tradition shows that those who themselves set limits to the lawful and the
unlawful without the authority of Allah's Book, assume for themselves the rank
of Godhead, and those who acknowledge their right of making laws take them as
their Lords.
It should be noted that they have been charged with (a)
attributing sons to Allah, and (b) giving the right of making laws to others
than Allah. These are to prove that their claim, that they believed in Allah, is
false, even though they should believe in his existence. But such a wrong
conception of Allah makes their belief in Allah meaningless.
32The
Arabic word ad-din has been translated into 'ways'. For the word din, as has
already been explained in E.N. 204, :Al-Baqarah, is used for the 'way of life'
or the 'system of life', which is followed in obedience to the supreme
authority.
Now let us try to understand the significance of this verse.
The object of the Mission of the Messenger is to make the Guidance and the Right
Way he has brought from Allah dominant over all the other ways and systems of
life. In other words, the Messenger is not sent to allow Allah's Way to remain
subordinate to other ways in order to enjoy concessions from them. He is sent by
the Sovereign of the earth and the heavens to make His Way dominant over all
other ways. And if a wrong way is at all allowed to remain on the earth, it
should be tolerated only under its own protection by the payment of Jizyah under
the limits conferred by the Divine System as in the cast of the system of life
of the Zimmis who pay Jizyah.
33These religious leaders are guilty of
two sins. First, they devour the wealth of the common people by selling false
decrees, and by taking bribes, gifts and presents on different pretexts. They
invent religious regulations and rituals as tempt people to buy their salvations
and fortunes in life from them and make deaths and marriages dependent on the
payment of due `price' to these "monopolists" of Paradise. To add to this
another sin, they debar the people from the Way of Allah by involving them into
different sorts of deviations and by obstructing the way of every Righteous
Mission with the obstacles of `learned' doubts and `pious' suspicions.
34This means that ever since Allah created the sun, the moon and the earth, the
new moon takes place only once in a month; thus the year has always been of
twelve months.
This has been mentioned to refute the practice of nasi (v.
37) whereby the pagan Arabs increased the number of the months of a year to 13
or 14 to enable them to interpose in the calendar the forbidden month which had
been made lawful by them. (For fuller explanation see E.N. 37).
35"....do not wrong yourselves ....": "Do not let go waste the good things for
which fighting has been made unlawful during these months by creating disorder
in them that will ultimately be harmful to you also" . The four forbidden months
are . . Zil-Q`adah, Zil-Hajjah and Muharram for Haj and Rajab for ' Umrah.
36That is, ''If the mushriks do not desist from fighting during these
months, you should also fight them and present a united front against them, just
as they put up a united front against you". This verse has been explained by v.
194 of Al-Baqarah.
37The pagan Arabs practiced nasi in two ways.
Whenever it suited them, they would declare a prohibited month to be an ordinary
month in which fighting, robbery and murder in retaliation were lawful for them.
Then they would declare an ordinary month to be a prohibited month instead of
this month in order to make up for the deficiency caused in the number of the
prohibited months.
The other way of nasi was the addition of a month in
order to harmonize the lunar with the solar year so that the Haj should always
fall in the same season and they should be saved from the bother and
inconvenience that are experienced by its observance according to the lunar
year. In this way Haj was observed for 36 years on dates other than the actual
dates. Then in the thirty seventh year it was again observed on the 9th and 10th
of Zil-Hajjah, as they should have actually fallen according to the lunar
calendar. It so happened that on the occasion when the Holy Prophet performed
Hajja-tul-Wida'a (his Last Haj). these dates by rotation coincided with the
actual dates of Haj according to the lunar calendar. So he declared during the
course of his historic address at `Arafat: "This year the dates of Haj have
again occurred exactly at their natural and proper time after a long period of
circulation. " Accordingly, since that `Last Haj' of A.H. 9, it is being
observed up to this day according to the correct dates of the lunar year.
By making nasi unlawful and forbidding it, the Law declared that the two
objects for which it was practiced were also sinful. First, they not only made
lawful what Allah had made unlawful but also tried to practice deception on
Allah by the seeming observance of the Law. As regards the second object of
making the season of Haj fixed permanently according to the solar calendar, this
too, was in fact the worst kind of rebellion against the Divine Law, although it
appeared to be a harmless thing done for public good. But it defeated the very
object of the Divine Law which prescribed the lunar calendar instead of the
solar calendar for the observance of obligatory duties. Allah did this to ensure
many good things for the Muslims, one of which is that His servants should be so
trained as to obey His Commandments at all times of the year and under all
circumstances. For instance, the month of Ramadan circulates among all the
seasons of the year and the Muslims get used to obeying His Commandments whether
it be summer or winter, dry or rainy season. This gives them that excellent
moral training which is the real object of all the obligatory duties imposed by
the Divine Law. Likewise, the dates of Haj according to the lunar calendar, fall
during different seasons: therefore the servants of Allah have to travel during
all the seasons, favorable and unfavorable. Thus they come out successful in the
Divine test under all the circumstances and learn to be steadfast in their
obedience.
It is obvious that such a training will stand them in good
stead in many other fields in which one has to fight the battle of the Truth.
Now it would have become quite clear why nasi was made unlawful and
forbidden. It was designed to fix the season of Haj in order to suit their own
conveniences though it defeated the Divine purpose of Haj and of the forbidden
months. It meant that they had rebelled against Allah and become independent of
Him; this is kufr. Besides this, Islam is a universal religion and for all human
beings. It is obvious that the periods of fasting and performing Haj cannot
satisfy all if they be fixed in accordance with the months of the solar year.
For if they are performed in fixed months according to the solar year, the one
and the same month will not equally suit all for the simple reason that it will
fall during the same seasons in different places-summer or winter or very hot or
very cold or rainy or dry or harvesting or sowing-year after year.
In
this connection it may also be kept in view that the proclamation about the
prohibition of "nasi " was made on the occasion of Haj in A. H . 9 and next
year,the Haj was performed on right dates which were in accordance with the
lunar year. Since that time Haj is being performed according to exact dates.
38From here begins the discourse (vv. 38-72) which was sent down at the time
when the Holy Prophet was engaged in making preparations for the Campaign to
Tabuk.
39".... you should know that the goods ... Hereafter" may imply
two meanings. First: "When you will find that the life in the Hereafter is
eternal and see that the good things and the provisions of enjoyment are
countless, you will realize that the potential and the actual enjoyments of the
temporary life of this world were nothing as compared with the blessings of that
great Kingdom. At that time you will regret why you deprived yourselves of this
everlasting happiness and bliss for the sake of the little-very
little-sort-lived enjoyments of the mortal life of this world. " Second: "The
goods of this worldly life are of no value in the Hereafter, howsoever abundant
they might be. You shall have to give up each and everything as soon as you
breathe your last, for nothing of this world can go with you to the Next World.
Of course, you will get credit for what you sacrificed for the pleasure and love
of Allah, and love of Islam."
40A general rule of the Islamic conduct
has been derived from "If you .... chastisement. " When the Muslims are
commanded to go to Jihad by a public proclamation from their leader, it becomes
an obligatory duty for those who are called upon to do Jihad, whether they
belong to any particular group or region. So much so that the Faith of those who
do not go for Jihad without a genuine excuse becomes doubtful. But even in cases
where the Muslims are called upon to go forth for Jihad and there is no command
for the compulsory enrollment of every able-bodied Muslim of a particular group
or region, it is a religious duty (though not obligatory), and it shall be
considered to have been performed even if only some Muslims go forth for it.
41That is, "Allah's work does not depend on you and will be accomplished
only if you do it. It is Allah's grace and bounty that He is affording you the
golden opportunity of serving the cause of His Way. Therefore if you miss this
opportunity because of any foolish assumption, Allah will raise another people
and bestow on them the opportunity and capability of doing His work, and you
will be losers".
42This refers to the occasion when the disbelievers had
decided to assassinate the Holy Prophet, and the very night fixed for his
assassination he had left Makkah for Al-Madinah. By that time most of the
Muslims had migrated to Al-Madinah in twos and threes and only a few helpless
ones had remained behind in Makkah. As he was sure that he would be pursued, he
took only Hadrat Abu Bakr with him and went southward instead of following the
northern route to Al-Madinah and remained hidden in the Thaur Cave for three
days. In the meantime the blood thirsty enemies had begun to make a thorough
search for him all around Makkah and some of them reached the very mouth of the
Cave where he was hidden. On this critical occasion Hadrat Abu Bakr naturally
felt alarmed lest they should peep into the Cave, and see them. But the Holy
Prophet remained as calm as before and reassured his Companion, saying, "Be not
distressed: indeed Allah is with us."
43The words ".... whether you are
light or heavy ..." have a very comprehensive meaning: "When it is enjoined to
march forth for Jihad, you must go forth anyhow, whether you like it or not:
whether you are in a state of prosperity or indigence: whether you are
well-equipped or ill-equipped: whether the circumstances are favorable or
adverse: whether you are young and healthy or old and weak. "
44They
felt the journey to Tabuk to be hard because they had to fight with the army of
the great and powerful Roman Empire: because they had to journey in the
scorching heat of the summer season of the desert: because there was a famine in
the country and the new harvest on which they had pinned their hopes, was ready
for reaping.
45Allah did not approve of the exemption which the Holy
Prophet had granted to the hypocrites who had put forward lame excuses. Though
he knew it well that they were inventing false excuses, he gave them leave to
stay behind because of his inherent kindness. But Allah warned him that such a
leniency was not well placed as he gave them an opportunity of hiding their
hypocrisy. Had they remained behind without getting an exemption, the false
profession of their faith would have been exposed.
46This verse shows
clearly that the conflict between Islam and kufr is the criterion to distinguish
between a true Believer and a hypocrite. The one who supports Islam in this
conflict with the whole of his heart and expends all of his energies and
resources in order to make it victorious and does not hesitate in the least to
make any sacrifices for this purpose, is a true Believer. On the contrary, the
one who hesitates to support Islam in this conflict and refrains from making
sacrifices in its Way, when he confronts the threat of the victory of kufr, is a
hypocrite, for such an attitude is itself a proof of the fact that there is no
faith in his heart.
47Allah held them back for He did not like that they
should join Jihad unwillingly without any sincere intention for it. As they had
no mind to make sacrifices to exalt the cause of Islam, and, therefore, would
have taken part in it. half-heartedly to escape the taunts of the Muslims or to
create mischief, this would have resulted in a greater evil, as has been stated
explicitly in the next verse (48).
48Some of the hypocrites, who were
requesting the Holy Prophet to give them leave to stay behind on one pretext or
the other, were so impudent that they were inventing excuses of a religious or
moral nature for refraining from jihad in the Way of Allah. One of these was Jad-bin-Qais,
who, according to traditions came to the Holy Prophet and said. "I am a lover of
beauty and my people know that I am very weak in regard to women: therefore I am
afraid to go forth lest the beauty of the Roman women should beguile me into
sin. Therefore ".... do not expose me to temptations."
49Though they
wanted exemption, they had already fallen a prey to the temptations of telling
lies, of double dealings and hypocrisy. They deluded themselves that they would
be considered pious people, if they would put forward the fear of temptations to
avoid Jihad, when, in fact; they had already fallen into the greatest possible
temptation of refraining from Jihad in the conflict between Islam and kufr.
50That is, "Such a show of piety has not taken them away from Hell; nay, on
the other hand, the same thing has caused them to be entangled in the clutches
of Hell."
51In this passage a demarcation has been made between the
attitudes of a man of the world and of a man of God. Whatever the man of the
world does, he does it to please his own self. He exults if he attains some
worldly ends but feels utterly dejected if he fails to attain them. Besides, he
depends entirely on his material resources for his success and feels encouraged
if these are favorable, but loses heart if these are unfavorable.
In
contrast to the man of the world, whatever the man of God does, he does it to
please Him and trusts in Him and not in his own powers nor in material
resources. Therefore he is neither exultant over his success in the cause of
Allah nor loses heart by failure, for he believes that it is the Will of God
that is working in both the cases. Therefore he is neither disheartened by
disasters nor is filled with conceit by successes. This is because he believes
that both prosperity and adversity are from Allah and are nothing but a trial
from Him. Therefore his only worry is to do his best to come out successful in
His test. Besides, as there are no worldly ends before him, he does not measure
his success or failure by the achievement or failure of his ends. On the other
hand, the only object before him is to sacrifice his life and wealth in the Way
of Allah, and he measures the success or failure of his efforts by the standard
he achieves in the performance of this duty. Therefore if he is satisfied that
he has done his best to perform this duty, he believes that he has come out
successful by the grace of God, though he might not have been able to accomplish
anything from the worldly point of view; for he believes that his Allah in Whose
cause he has expended his life and wealth will not let go waste the reward of
his efforts. As he does not depend on the material resources only, he is neither
grieved if they are unfavorable, nor feels exultant when these are favorable.
His entire trust is in God Who is the controller of all the resources; therefore
he goes on doing his duty even under the most unfavorable circumstances with the
same courage and perseverance that is shown by the worldly people unfavorable
circumstances alone. That is why Allah asked the Holy Prophet to say to the
hypocrites, "There is a basic difference between you and us in regard to the
conduct of affairs. We believe that both the good and the bad are from Allah:
therefore the apparent result does not make us happy or sad. Moreover, we depend
on Allah in our affairs and you depend on material resources: so we are content
and happy in all circumstances."
52This is the answer to those who, as
usual, were not taking any part in the conflict between Islam and kufr, but were
very "wisely" watching it from a distance to see whether the Holy Prophet and
his Companions would return victorious from Tabuk or would be totally destroyed
by the powerful Roman army. They were told that either of the two results they
were awaiting, would be good for the Muslims. For it was obvious that it would
be a good thing if they won victory. But even if they were killed in the Way of
Allah, it would be a success froth their point of view, though not in the sight
of the world, as the Muslims' standard of measurement is different from that of
the hypocrites and the like. A Believer considers it his success if he
sacrifices his life and wealth in the Way of Allah, irrespective of whether he
succeeds in conquering some country or in establishing a government or not.
According to him the criterion of success or failure is whether he has extended
or not all the powers of his body and soul, his head and his heart to elevate
the Word of Allah, though from the worldly point of view the result of his
efforts might be nothing at all."
53V. 53 is a sharp retort to those
hypocrites who desired exemption froth Jihad but, at the same time, wanted to
make some monetary contributions in order to avoid the exposure of their
hypocrisy, They said, "Please grant us leave from military service because we
are unable to do this, but we are ready to make monetary contributions towards
it." To this Allah retorted, saying, "Whatever you may contribute, it shall not
be accepted".
54"Allah wills to chastise them by means of these things in
this world", because of their great love for their children and wealth as these
misled them to adopt the hypocritical attitude which, in turn, degraded them in
the Muslim society. Consequently, in the Islamic System they would lose the
respect, tire reputation and the prestige they enjoyed in the pre-lslamic
society. On the contrary, even the Muslim slaves and the sons of slaves, the
farmers and the shepherds, who proved the sincerity of their Faith would win
honor in the new system, and the big hereditary chiefs, who refrained from this
because of their love of the world, would lose their fame, honor and prestige.
In order to illustrate the above we cite an incident that happened during
the Caliphate of Hadrat `Umar. Once some big chiefs of the Quraish including
Suhail-bin-`Amr and Harith-bin-Hisham, went to see Caliph Umar and took their
seats near him. Soon after this some humble people from among the Muhajirin and
the Ansar came there. The Caliph asked those chiefs to make room for them, and
seated these humble people near his own seat. This went on for some time till
these chiefs reached the remotest corner in the assembly. When they came out,
Harith-bin-Hisham said to his companions, "You have noticed what a humiliating
treatment has been meted out to us today!" Suhail-bin-`Amr replied, "It is no
fault of `Umar but it is our own fault. When we were invited to Islam, we turned
away from it, but these humble people accepted it and made sacrifices for it. "
Then both of them returned to the meeting and said "Today we have noticed your
treatment and we feel that it is all due to our own shortcomings, but tell us if
there is a way for us to make atonements for our past failures" . The Caliph did
not make any reply but merely pointed towards the Roman territory, which meant
that the only way of regaining their prestige was to expend their lives and
wealths in doing Jihad there.
55"They would die in a state of unbelief"
because of their hypocrisy, which would not let them attain sincere Faith till
they die. Thus after ruining their moral and spiritual lives in this world, they
would leave it in the state of unbelief, which will ruin their lives in the
Hereafter in a far worse way.
56This was the condition of the hypocrites
of Al-Madinah, the majority of whore were rich and old. We find from a list of
the hypocrites, cited by Ibn Kathir in Al-Badayah-wan-Nihayah, that only one of
them was young and none was poor. These people had large properties and
flourishing businesses in Al Madinah. They were worldly-wise and their wide
experience had taught them expediency, but their sense of self-interest had put
them into a dilemma. When Islam reached Al-Madinah and a large majority of the
population embraced it sincerely and enthusiastically, they found themselves in
a very perplexing situation. They could not reject it outright for the majority
of their own people, nay, their own sons and daughters, were filled with
enthusiasm for Islam. If they had remained unbelievers, they would have lost
their high position, their prestige and reputation and run the risk of a
rebellion by the Muslims of their own household. On the other hand, if they
sincerely embraced Islam, they would incur the danger of war, not only with the
whole of Arabia but also with the adjoining nations and empires. Above all,
self-interest had so blinded them that, in resolving the dilemma, they would not
consider the problem from the point of view of truth and righteousness which by
themselves are worthy of every sacrifice. Therefore they decided that the best
thing for them was to profess Islam outwardly in order to make their positions,
properties and businesses secure, but to adopt a hypocritical attitude towards
it so that they might be able to avoid the losses and perils inherent in the
sincere acceptance of Islam.
This verse (57) depicts the dilemma of the
hypocrites, as if to say, "In reality these people are not Muslims, though they
swear that they are Muslims like you; they profess Islam simply because they are
afraid of losses they might incur, if they reject it outright. Then they dare
not stay at AI-Madinah as non-Muslims for they would lose the high positions
they enjoyed and might even have to cut off their connection with their wives
and children; and if they decided to emigrate from AI-Madinah, they would have
to abandon their properties and business. But they are not prepared for these
sacrifices for they have no sincere attachment even to kufr. Therefore they are
compelled against their beliefs by the force of circumstances to remain in AI-Madinah:
they offer their Salat but regard this as forced labor: they pay the Zakat dues
but as a penalty, for they are in their heart of hearts averse to these things.
To add to their `calamities' they are asked every now and then to make
sacrifices of their lives and their wealth and to go forth for Jihad and to
fight with one enemy or the other. They are so much afraid of these `calamities'
that, in order to escape from them, they would run in frantic haste to take
refuge in any hole, if they hoped that it would provide immunity against these
'calamities' .
57The people referred to were the hypocrites, who felt
depressed on every occasion of the distribution of the Zakat collections, for
they thought that they were not being given their due share. Then they would
taunt the Holy Prophet with making unfair distributions. This happened when the
payment of Zakat was made an obligatory duty on all those Muslims whose
possessions exceeded the prescribed limits. They were required to contribute
from their agricultural products, animals, commercial commodities, minerals dug
out of mines and the gold and silver they possessed, at different rates, varying
from 2½% to 20%,and all these were collected and spent in a systematic way from
a central place.
As a result of this so much wealth flowed into the hands
of a single person, the Holy Prophet, that it had no parallel in the whole
territory of Arabia. Naturally the materialists looked at these things with
greedy eyes and wanted to grab as much as possible out of this wealth. But their
greed could not be satisfied, for the Holy Prophet, who had made the use of
Zakat Fund unlawful for his own person and for his own relatives, could not be
expected to give anything out of it to anyone who did not deserve it. It is thus
obvious that they found fault with the Holy Prophet not because he was unfair in
the distribution of the Zakat collections but because he did not allow the
hypocrites to grab anything from these without any right to them. They, however,
very cunningly hid their real grievance, and accused the Holy Prophet of showing
partiality and injustice in the distribution of the Zakat collection
58That is, it would have been much better for them if they had been content with
their share of the spoils which the Holy Prophet gave them and what they earned
by the grace of Allah and with the prosperity Allah had bestowed on them.
59It would have been good for. them to adopt this attitude: "Allah suffices
us....bounty," for they ought to have known that they would receive their due
shares besides the Zakat collections out of the wealth that would come to the
State treasury, just as they were receiving their shares previously.
60"We look to Allah alone" means "We give ow attention to Allah and His grace
and not to the world and its worthless riches and we desire to do His Will: we
direct ow expectations and hopes to Him and we are content with what He bestows
on us."
61According to the Arabic usage (fuqara: the needy) are all those
people who depend on others for the necessities of life. The Arabic word fuqara'.
is a general word for all those who are needy because of some physical defects,
or old age, or temporarily, and can become self-supporting if they are helped.
e.g. orphans, widows, the unemployed, etc. , etc.
62According to the
Arabic usage( masakin) are those indigent people who are in greater distress
than the needy people usually are. The Holy Prophet especially enjoined the
Muslims to help such people as are unable to find the necessary means to satisfy
their wants and are in very straitened circumstances, but are so self-respecting
that they would not beg for anything nor would others judge from their outward
appearance that they were deserving people. According to a Tradition "Miskin is
one who cannot make both ends meet, though his appearance does not show that he
needs help nor does he beg for help." In short, he is a self-respecting man who
has become needy.
63"....who are employed to collect them...." are those
who collect Zakat dues, supervise the collections and keep accounts, and help in
their distribution, irrespective of the fact whether or not they are needy or
indigent; their remunerations shall be paid out of the Zakat Funds. In this
connection it should be noted well that the Holy Prophet had declared the Zakat
Funds to be unlawful for himself and for the members of his own family (Bani
Hashim). Accordingly, he never received any remuneration for collecting or
distributing Zakat Funds. As regards the other members of Bani Hashim, they were
allowed to do this service without receiving any remuneration, but otherwise it
is unlawful for them. On the contrary, the payment of the Zakat dues was
obligatory on Bani Hashim if their possessions warranted this under the
prescribed limits, but under no circumstances whatsoever were they allowed to
accept anything out of zakat collected from others.
There is, however, a
difference of opinion as to whether they should accept anything out of the
collections made from their own family or not. Imam Abu Yusuf opines that they
are allowed to accept these when they are needy or poor or wayfarers, but the
majority of the Jurists regard this also unlawful.
64A portion of Zakat
Funds may also be given to win over to Islam those who might be engaged in anti-lslamic
activities or to those in the camp of the unbelievers who might be brought to
help the Muslims or to those newly converted Muslims, who might be inclined to
revert to kufr if no monetary help was extended to them. It is permissible to
award pensions to them or give them lump sums of money to make them helpers of
Islam or submissive to it or at least to render them into harmless enemies. A
portion of the spoils or other incomes may be spent on them and, if need be,
also a portion of Zakat Funds. In such cases, the condition of being needy or
indigent or on a journey etc., is also waived; nay, they might be even rich
people or chiefs who are otherwise not eligible for anything from Zakat Funds.
All are agreed that during the time of the Holy Prophet pensions and gifts
were given under the head of 'winning over people', but there is a difference of
opinion whether this head of expenditure was abolished or not after his death.
Imam Abu Hanifah and his followers are of the opinion that it was abolished
during the Caliphate of Hadrat `Umar, and `now it is not lawful to spend
anything under this head'. Imam Shafi`i is of the opinion that something tray be
given to j sinful Muslims under this head from Zakat Funds but not to
unbelievers, while other Jurists arc of the opinion that expenses under this
head are lawful even now, if a need arises for them.
The Hanafis base
their opinion on an incident that happened after the death of the Holy Prophet.
`Uyainah bin Hisan and Aqra`a bin Habis came to Hadrat Abu Bakr and asked him to
allot to them a certain piece of land. So he gave them a written order for this.
They took it to some other highly placed Companions for further confirmation and
some of them endorsed this order. But when they took it to Hadrat `Umar, he tore
the paper into pieces before their very eyes, saying, "It is true that the Holy
Prophet used to give something to win over your hearts because Islam was weak at
that time, but now Allah has made Islam so strong that it does not stand in need
of people like you. " At this they went to Hadrat Abu Bakr and complained to him
about it and taunted him, saying, "Are you the Caliph or `Umar?" But he took no
notice of this nor did any of the Companions differ with Hadrat `Umar's opinion.
The Hanafis conclude from this incident that when the number and power of
Muslims increased by the grace of Allah and they no longer stood in need of any
support from such people; the reason for which expenses under this head were
permitted in the first instance remained no longer there. Therefore the
Companions unanimously abolished expenditure under this head.
Imam
Shafi'i says that there is nothing to prove that the Holy Prophet ever spent
anything out of Zakat Funds under this head. All the incidents mentioned in the
traditions show that whatever he spent for the purpose of winning over hearts to
Islam, was spent out of the spoils of war and not out of Zakat funds.
In
my opinion there is nothing to show that the expenses for winning over hearts
have been made unlawful for ever up to the Last Day. There is no doubt that the
action taken by Hadrat `Umar was absolutely right, for if and when the Islamic
State does not consider it necessary to spend anything under this head, Islam
does not make it obligatory to spend something for `winning hearts'. On the
other hand, if need for this arises at any time, it is authorized to incur
expenses under this head for Allah has kept a provision for this. Hadrat `Umar
and the other Companions agreed only on this that there was no need to give
anything for this purpose at that time because the circumstances did not warrant
it. But there is no reason to conclude from this that the Companions disallowed
for ever the expenses that were permitted by the Qur'an under certain
circumstances for the good of Islam.
As regards the opinion of Imam
Shafi`i, it appears to be correct in so far as it is not lawful to spend
anything under this head out of Zakat Funds, if these expenses can be met out of
other funds. But if it is necessitated that something should be spent under this
head out of Zakat Funds, there is no reason why a differentiation should be made
in this regard between sinful Muslims and unbelievers. For the Qur'an has not
allocated the share because of the faith of the prospective recipients but
because Islam required to win their hearts for its own good and because this
could not be achieved except by giving them a portion of wealth. Therefore the
Qur'an allows the Amir of the Believers to spend a part of the Zakat Funds to
achieve this end, if, when and where the required conditions exist. The fact
that the Holy Prophet did not spend anything from the Zakat Funds on unbelievers
for this purpose does not mean that it is unlawful to do so, for he did not
spend from this fund because there was enough money in other funds for this
purpose. Had it been unlawful to spend anything from Zakat Funds on unbelievers,
he would have explicitly forbidden it.
65A portion of Zakat Funds may be
spent for the ransoming of slaves in two ways. First, help may be given to a
slave for the payment of the ransom money, if he enters into an agreement with
his master that he will set him free, if the slave pays him a certain amount of
money. The second way is that the Islamic government may itself pay the price of
Iris freedom and set him at liberty. There is a consensus of opinion about the
first way, but there is difference of opinion about the second way. Hadrat 'Ali,
Said bin Jubair, Laith Thauri, Ibrahim Nakh`i, Sha'abi; and Muhammad bin Sirin,
Hanafis and Shafi'' is consider this as unlawful while Ibn, 'Abbas, Hasan Basri,
Malik, Ahmad and Abu Thaur consider this as lawful expenditure from this Fund.
66Help may be given out of Zakat Funds to such debtors as would be reduced
to a state of poverty, if they paid off all their debts out of their own
possessions, irrespective of the fact whether they are earning any money or not,
whether they are indigent in the general sense or well off. According to some
Jurists, the only exceptions to this are those debtors who are spendthrifts or
involve themselves in debts by spending money on wicked deeds. Help may be given
to them only if and when they repeat.
67"The Way of Allah" is a general
term which unplies all those good works which please Allah. That is why some
Jurists are of the opinion that Zakat Funds may be spent on every kind of good
work. But the fact is, and the majority of the earliest Muslim scholars have
opined, that here the 'Way of Allah' stands for Jihad in the Way of Allah, that
is, the struggle to eradicate the systems based on kufr and to establish the
Islamic system in their stead. Therefore the Zakat Fund may be utilised to meet
the expenses of the journeys the people make, or for procuring means of
conveyance, equipment, weapons and other articles needed for Jihad, irrespective
of the fact whether they are so well off or not as to need any help fur personal
requirements. Likewise help of a temporary or permanent nature may also be given
to those people who devote the whole of their time and energies, temporarily or
permanently, for this work
It should also be noted that there has arisen
a misunderstanding regarding the "Way of Allah," for the early scholars usually
use for Jihad the Arabic word as (ghazyah) which is synonymous with "fight".
They, therefore, are of the opinion that Zakat Fund may only be used for the
purpose of fighting. But Jihad in the Way of Allah is a much more comprehensive
term than mere fighting in the Way of Allah. Jihad applies to all those efforts
that are made to degrade the word of kufr and to exalt the Word of Allah and to
establish the Islamic System of life, whether by propagating the Message of
Allah in the initial stage or by fighting in the final stage of the struggle.
68Help from Zakat Fund may be given to a wayfarer on a journey even though
he might be quite well off at home.
Some of the Jurists are of the
opinion that according to this verse only that wayfarer who does not undertake a
journey for a sinful purpose may be helped out of Zakat Funds. But no such
condition has been laid down in the Qur'an or the Hadith to this effect. Besides
this, we learn from the fundamental principles of Islam that the sins of a needy
person would in no way prevent us from helping him As a matter of fact such a
help may prove very useful in reforming sinful and depraved persons. For if they
get a support in the tithe of need, it may reasonably be expected that they
would turn towards purifying their souls.
69This was one of the charges
which the hypocrites leveled against the Holy Prophet. As he used to listen to
everyone and let him say freely whatever he had to say, they would find fault
with him, saying, "He is a credulous person. Everyone can approach him freely
and may say whatever he pleases, and he readily believes whatever he hears!"
Though it was a good thing that he heard everyone, the hypocrites intentionally
spread it as a vice, so that the poor and humble Muslims should be kept away
from coming near the Holy Prophet. The hypocrites did not like that these true
Believers should inform the Holy Prophet about their plots, mischiefs and
hostile talks. They resented it very much that the Holy Prophet listened to and
believed in the talk of these humble people against such "respectable" people as
they.
70The answer to this charge implies two things. First, "Though the
Prophet listens to everything, he attends only to that which is good and is for
the welfare of the Community, for he is not the one who would listen to or
encourage mischievous things." Secondly, "It is good for yourselves that he
listens patently to everyone; otherwise he would not have allowed you to put
forward lame excuses for your negligence from the struggle in the Way of Allah.
Had he not been forbearing, he would not have paid attention to your false
professions of faith and hypocritical expressions of good wishes for Islam, but
would have taken you to task for your mischiefs and made it difficult for you to
live at Al-Madinah. It is thus obvious that it is good for you that he listens
to everyone."
71That is, "You are wrong that he listens to everyone. He
puts his trust only in the true Believers. Accordingly, he believed only in
those things about you that were conveyed to him by good and trustworthy people,
who were neither liars nor tale-bearers. Therefore, whatever they said about you
was true and should leave been taken as true."
72The hypocrites were
afraid that their secret plans would be disclosed in the Qur'an to their great
discomfort. Though they did not believe that the Holy Prophet was a Messenger of
Allah, they were convinced from their experience of the last nine years or so
that he possessed some supernatural powers by which he learned their hidden
secrets, and revealed these through the Qur'an (which according to them was
written by himself).
73This refers to the hypocrites who used to make
fun of the Holy Prophet and the true Muslims in their secret meetings when they
were making preparations for the expedition to Tabuk. In this way, they used to
discourage those Muslims who sincerely and honestly intended to go forth for
Jihad. We learn many things in this connection from the traditions. For
instance, in one of their meetings, when the hypocrites were having a gossip,
one of them remarked, "I say! Do you think that the Romans are no better than
the Arabs ? You will see that in the near future these "brave" men will be bound
with ropes." Another responded to this, "What a fun it would be if after this
each one of them is lashed with a hundred stripes! " Still another, ridiculing
the preparations by the Prophet for the expedition, remarked, "Look at this man,
and his preparations! He intends to go forth to conquer the forts in Syria and
the Roman Empire."
74That is, "Those foolish buffoons, who take interest
in such conversations and mock even at serious things because there is nothing
serious in the world for them, may be pardoned. But there are others who mock at
these serious things deliberately with evil intentions, because they consider
the Messenger and the Way taught by him as ridiculous in spite of their
professions of Faith. As their real object is to discourage the believers from
making preparations for Jihad, they are criminals and not buffoons; therefore
they shall not be pardoned at all."
75These are the common
characteristics of all hypocrites. All of them are interested in evil and
inimical to good. If some one undertakes to do an evil thing, they would
dedicate all their sympathies, counsels encouragements contributions. good
wishes, praises and their approvals to such a one. They would join hands co
accomplish that evil thing and persuade others to take part in it and encourage
tire doer in every way. Moreover, they would show in every way their hearty
pleasure if they perceived that that evil thing was progressing satisfactorily.
On the other hand, if someone undertakes to do a good thing, they are shocked to
Bear the very news of it for it pains their hearts; nay, they do not even like
that such a thing should be undertaken at all. Then if they see some one coming
forward to help it, they feel very uncomfortable and try their worst to hinder
him from it and if he does not give it up, they would wish that he should fail
in it. Then all of them have this common characteristic that they do not spend
anything at all for good ends irrespective of the fact whether they be otherwise
parsimonious or generous. At any rate, their wealth is either for hoarding or
for evil deeds. As a matter of fact, they would spend large sums on evil works
generously but would not be willing to spend a farthing for good things.
76In the preceding verse, they were being mentioned in the third person, but
here they are being addressed directly in the second person.
77Again they
are being mentioned in the third person.
78These were the people of Lot.
79"They wronged themselves" for they were themselves responsible for their
destruction. Allah had no enmity with them and had no desire to destroy them. As
a matter of fact, they themselves adopted the way of life that led to
destruction, whereas Allah had sent His Messengers to them and afforded them the
opportunities of thinking, understanding and reforming. His Messengers
admonished and warned them of the consequences of treading wrong paths, and
presented very clearly before there the Way that leads to success, and also the
ways that lead to destruction. But when they did not benefit from the
opportunities that were offered to them to mend their ways, and persisted in
treading the ways that led to destruction, they inevitably met with the end for
which they were heading. And this horrible end was not due to Allah's will to be
unjust to theta but due to their own evil doings."
80The contrast between
the characteristics of the hypocrites (v. 67) and of the true Believers (v. 71)
clearly shows that the two are entirely different from each other, in spite of
their outwardly similar profession of faith in Islam and obedience to it. The
difference lies in their morals, conducts, habits, attitudes and ways of
thinking. On the one hand are the hypocrites whose tongues are never tired of
professing faith in Islam, but who are void of sincere faith, and whose whole
conduct belies their professions. They are, as it were, like bottles which have
labels of "musk", but contain cow-dung which may easily be recognized from its
appearance and unpleasant odor. On the other hand are the true Believers, who
are like those bottles which contain musk which may be tested in any way-by its
appearance, its smell and other characteristics-to be musk. Likewise, though the
outward label of Islam apparently makes both of them one community of Muslims,
the real characteristics of the hypocritical Muslims are so different from those
of the true Muslims that they have, in fact, become two different communities.
The hypocritical Muslims, men and women, form a separate community with those
who have similar characteristics. They all are neglectful of Allah, take
interest in evil things and deviate from all that is good and never co-operate
with tare Believers and, in short, they are allies to one another and
practically dissociate themselves from true Believers and form a group of their
own. In contrast to them, the true Believers, men and women, have practically
become one community. All of them take interest in what is good, and abhor what
is evil: they remember Allah day and night and cannot think of life without the
constant remembrance of Allah; they are very generous in spending in the Way of
Allah, and obey Him and His Messenger without any mental reservations. These
common characteristics have dissociated them from the hypocrites and united them
in one Community and trade them allies to one another."
81From here
begins !he third discourse that was sent down after the expedition to Tabuk.
82This Command enunciated the change of policy towards the hypocrites. Up to
this time, leniency was being shown to them for two reasons. First, the Muslims
had not as yet become so powerful as to take the risk of an internal conflict in
addition to the one with the external enemies. The other reason was to give
trough respite to those people who were involved in doubts and suspicions so
that they could get sufficient time for attaining to faith and belief. But now
the time had come far a change of policy. The whole of Arabia had been subdued
and a bitter conflict with the external enemies was about to start; therefore it
was required that these internal enemies should be crushed down so that they
should not be able to conspire with the external enemies to stir up any internal
danger to the Muslims. And now it had become possible to crush them. As regards
!he second reason, these hypocrites had been given respite for a period of nine
years to observe, to consider and test the Right Way, and they could have
availed of it, if they had any good in them. So there was no reason why any more
leniency should be shown to them. Therefore, Allah enjoined the Muslims to treat
the hypocrites on one and the same level with the disbelievers and start Jihad
against them, and to give up the policy of leniency Grey had adopted towards
them and adopt a fine and stern policy instead.
In this connection, it
should also be noted that this verse does not enjoin the Muslims to fight with
the hypocrites. It merely meant to end the policy of leniency that had hitherto
been adopted towards them. This verse enjoined that they were no more to be
considered a part and parcel of the Muslim community nor were they to be allowed
to take part in the management of its affairs nor consulted about any matter, so
that they might not be able to spread the poison of hypocrisy. This changed
policy required that the true Believers should expose all those, who adopted a
hypocritical attitude and conduct and showed in any way that they were not
sincere allies to Allah, His Messenger and the true Muslims. Each and every one
of such hypocrites should be openly criticized and reproved so that there should
remain for them no more place of honor and trust in the Muslim society: they
should be socially boycotted and kept away from the consultations of the
Community: their evidence in the courts of law should be regarded as
untrustworthy: the doors of offices and positrons of trust should be closed
against them and they should be held in contempt in the social meetings. In
short; every Muslim should show by his behavior to such a one that there was no
place of honor or respect or trust for a hypocrite in the Muslim society.
Besides this, if any one of them was found to be guilty of treachery, there
should be no connivance at his crime, nor should he be pardoned but openly tried
in a court of law and should be duly punished.
This Command was urgently
needed at the time it came. It was obvious that in order to save the Muslim
Community from fall and degradation, it was essential to purge it of all the
internal dangers to its solidarity, because a Community, which nourishes
hypocrites and traitors and allows the internal enemies to flourish with honor
and security, wall inevitably be doomed to moral degradation and ultimate
destruction. Hypocrisy is a plague and a hypocrite is the rat that carries and
spreads its germs. Therefore to allow him the freedom of movement in the society
is to expose the whole population to the danger of hypocrisy. Likewise, to give
a place of honor and prestige to a hypocrite is to encourage many others in
hypocrisy and treachery, for this shows that it is not sincerity, true faith and
its welfare that count in it. One may flourish and prosper in it even if one
verbally professes ;o be a Muslim and at the same time indulges in dishonesty
and treachery. The Holy Prophet has expressed the same thing in a pithy saying.
He said, "Whoso honors and respects the inventor of new practices which are
un-Islamic, indeed helps to demolish the very structure of Islam."
83We
cannot say with certainty what that "word of unbelief" was which they had
uttered. There are, however, traditions that mention several things of unbelief
which were uttered by the hypocrites during that time. For instance, it is
related that a hypocrite, while he was talking to a young Muslim, a near
relative of his, said, "If all that this man (referring to the Holy Prophet) is
saying be true, then we are worse than donkeys." Another tradition relates that
when, during the expedition to Tabuk, one of the she-camels of the Holy Prophet
went astray and the Muslims were moving about in search of it, a party of the
hypocrites made a good deal of fun of this, saying to one another, "(Just
consider the Prophethood of this man! ) He tells news of heavens but cannot tell
where his she-camel is!'
84This is a reference to the plots which the
hypocrites had made during the Tabuk expedition. On the return journey they
conspired to pus!' the Holy Prophet down into some ravine, while he would be
passing over some hill at night. The Holy Prophet got wind of the plot and
ordered that the army should take the longer route through the valley round the
hills, while he himself along with 'Ammar-bin-Yasir and Huzaifah-bin-Yaman would
make the short-cut over the hi" . While they were on the way, suddenly they
discovered that a dozen of the hypocrites, with covered faces, were following
them. At this Hadrat Huzaifah tented towards them so that he may drive away
their camels but they were terrified when they saw him coming towards them and
took to flight lest they should be recognized.
The other plot was to
declare `Abdullah bin Ubayy as king at Al-Madinah as soon as they should hear
some 'bad news' about the Muslim army, because according to their expectations,
the Holy Prophet and his faithful Companions could never fare well against tire
armies of the Great Roman Empire.
85This is an insinuation to put to
shame by an indirect suggestion the hypocrites of AI-Madinah. This refereed to
the prosperity of Al-Madinah and its peoples, for Al-Madinah was a small town
before the migration of the Holy Prophet to it, and its two clans-Aus and
Khazraj-did not hold any high position in regard to wealth or prestige. But
within the short period of nine years or so, this small town became the capital
of Arabia because of the residence of the Holy Prophet and the sacrifices of the
Ansar, the true Muslims. As a result of this, the former peasants-Aus and
Khazraj of AI-Madinah became the `Great Ones' of the Islamic State and wealth
began to flow into this central city on account of spoils of war and increased
commercial activity. The hypocrites were rebuked in this verse that, instead of
being grateful to the Holy Prophet, they showed anger and spite against him for
no other "sin" than that he had brought forth prosperity among them.
86This is an instance of their ingratitude for which the hypocrites were rebuked
in v. 74.
They broke their covenant with Allah which enjoined them to
spend money in charity, if Allah enriched Them by His bounty. This shows that
they were confirmed criminals and they did not care in the least for the
agreements they made, and were niggardly and had no moral code to observe.
87This refers to the mean conduct which the hypocrites evinced on the
occasion of the appeal of the Holy Prophet for contributions towards the Tabuk
expedition. The well-to-do hypocrites did not themselves make any contributions,
but when the sincere Muslims came forward with generous contributions according
to their means, they began to deride them. If a well-to-do Muslim made a
handsome contribution, they would at once accuse him to be guilty of a 'showoff
. On the other hand, if a poor Muslim contributed a paltry sum which he could
hardly spare after sacrificing some of the barest necessities of his family or
contributing the small earnings obtained by hard work, they would at once
ridicule, saying, `Lo! Here is the farthing that will help conquer the forts of
the Roman Empire!"
88This verse was sent down to prevent the Holy
Prophet from saying funeral prayers for 'Abdullah bin Ubayy, the ringleader of
the hypocrites, who died a short while after the Tabuk Expedition. His son
'Abdullah who was a sincere Muslim called on the Holy Prophet and requested him
to give his shirt for his father's shroud. The Holy Prophet very generously
granted his request. Then he begged the Holy Prophet to lead his father's
funeral prayer. The Holy Prophet agreed to this also but Hadrat 'Umar very
respectfully requested him repeatedly not to do so, saying, "O Prophet of Allah!
will you say funeral prayer for a person who was guilty of such and such crimes
and sins"? The Holy Prophet, who was a blessing both for friends and for foes,
got ready to say funeral prayer even for that man who was a deadly enemy of
Islam. At last when he stood up to lead the funeral prayer, this verse was sent
down to prevent him from this by a direct Command from God, in accordance with
the changed policy declared in v. 73 which forbade to do anything that might
encourage the hypocrites among the Muslims.
The above incident led to the
formulation of the regulation that the leaders and prominent people from among
the Muslims should neither lead nor offer the funeral prayers of the sinners
against Islam or for those notorious for their disobedience to Islam. After
this, whenever a request was made to the Holy Prophet for a funeral prayer, he
would first inquire about the conduct of the deceased person. If he came to know
that he was a bad person, he would say to his people, "You may perform his
burial just as you like".
89"...they do not understand anything now," for
they deliberately and intentionally chose the shameful way of staying at home
with women, when they were required to go forth for Jihad, though they were
healthy, physically fit and well-to-do, and professed Islam. Therefore,
according to the Divine Law of Nature. a seal was set upon their hearts and they
were bereft of those noble feelings which make one feel ashamed of adopting such
a disgraceful conduct.
90Here the word "Bedouins" refers to those Arabs
who lived in the desert near Al-Madinah.
91The hypocritical profession of
Islam has been called the way of unbelief, because that profession of faith
which lacks practical proof, surrender, sincerity and obedience, is, in fact,
unbelief. As such persons prefer their own interests and worldly desires to
Allah and His Way, they shall be dealt with by Allah as unbelievers and rebels,
even if they could not be legally treated as such in this world but were
considered Muslims due to their profession of faith. This is because in the life
of this world, the Islamic Law treats as unbelievers only such hypocrites as are
guilty of open unbelief, rebellion, treachery or infidelity. That is why there
are many cases of hypocrisy that do not come under kufr in the Islamic Shari'ah.
However, this does not mean that if one escaped the penalty according to the
Islamic Code, one will escape punishment According to the Divine Judgment also.
92This implies that even those people who are otherwise excusable
because of disability, sickness or indigence will be pardoned only if they are
sincerely and truly faithful to Allah and His Messenger. Without this fidelity,
no one shall be pardoned merely because he was sick or indigent at the time when
he was called upon to go forth for Jihad. For Allah does not judge merely by
appearances and treat alike and forgive all those who present "medical
certificates" of their disability because of sickness, old age or some other
physical defect. On the Day of Judgment, He will examine minutely the heart of
each and everyone, and take into account his whole conduct, open and hidden, and
will consider whether his excuse was of a faithful servant or of a traitor and
rebel. It is obvious that each and every case, in spite of apparent similarity,
requires a separate and different judgment. For instance, let us take the case
of two men who suddenly fell ill on the eve of Jihad. One of them thanked his
lucky stars for the timely disease, as if to say, "How lucky it is that I have
fallen ill on the opportune moment! Otherwise, this calamity of Jihad could not
have been avoided and I would have had to suffer it anyhow." On the contrary,
the other man was filled with sorrow at his illness, and he cried in anguish,
"Ah! what a bad luck! I have been attacked by this sudden disease at the time
when I ought to have been in the battle-field instead of lying down here in
bed!" One of them made his illness not only an excuse for exemption from Jihad
but also tried to dissuade others from it. On the contrary, the other one,
though lying in the sick-bed, went on urging his own dear relatives, friends and
others to go forth to Jihad; nay, he entreated even those who were attending
him, saying, "Leave me in the care of the Real Master, and go forth to Jihad. I
am sure that the arrangements for my nursing will be made somehow or other:
therefore you should not waste your precious chance for my sake but go forth and
serve the Right Way." But the other, who stayed at home, spent all this time in
spreading discontent and bad news and in damaging war efforts and in disrupting
the affairs of the families of the fighters. The other man in similar
circumstances did his very best to make the home front as strong as he could.
Though these two men had similar excuses for exemption, they cannot be
considered as equal in the sight of Allah: the second one only may expect
Allah's pardon, and not the first man who was a traitor and rebel against Allah,
though he might have had a genuine excuse for exemption.
93Such people as
felt a strong urge for Jihad but could not join it because of some really
genuine excuse, will be counted by Allah among those who actually took part in
it, even though they could not join it in person and do anything practically for
it. This is because they were sincerely grieved at their absence from Jihad for
no fault of theirs, just as a man of the world would be grieved if he were
deprived of some lucrative business or of some high profit. Allah considers such
a one as on duty, because his heart was serving in the Way of Allah, though he
had been deprived of active service on account of some genuine excuse. The Holy
Prophet, while returning from Tabuk, stated the same thing like this: "There are
some people at Al-Madinah (at this time) who have been traveling and marching
all along with you through every valley. Naturally the Companions to whom he was
speaking were wonder struck at this. So they asked, "While staying at
Al-Madinah?" He replied, "Yes, while staying at AI-Madinah! This is because they
were compelled by the circumstances to stay behind at AI-Madinah: otherwise they
would certainly have accompanied you. "
94The Arabic words and are of the
same root but have different senses in the two sentences in which they occur. In
the first sentence it means, "... so that you may turn away from them and
forbear them and may not take them to task ...." In the second sentence it
means, "... so turn away from them and break off all connections with them and
have nothing to do with them, as if you had broken off completely with them,,
and they with you.''
95As has already been stated in E.N. 90, the
"Bedouins" here refers to those rustic Arabs of the desert who had settled in
the suburbs of Al-Madinah.
The background which may help one to
comprehend the meanings of the verse is this. Though these people had outwardly
embraced Islam, they had not done so from conviction. When they saw the rising
of the organized power of Islam in Al-Madinah, they were so overawed by it that
they could not ignore it. So at first they adopted the attitude of the
opportunists towards the conflict between Islam and kufr. But when the power of
the Islamic Government spread over the major portions of Hijaz and Najd, and the
power of its enemy clans began to decline, they thought it expedient to enter
the fold of Islam. But there were very few among them who had sincerely accepted
Islam from the conviction that it was the Right Way. That is why they did not
make any sincere efforts to fulfill the implications of the true Faith, and
observe the obligatory duties imposed by Islam. On the contrary, the majority of
them had accepted Islam just because it was the best policy for them. They
merely desired to take advantages of being "Muslims" in order to gain those
benefits to which they were entitled as members of the ruling party, without
performing those duties which became obligatory on them by the very acceptance
of Islam. Therefore they were utterly averse to saying the prescribed Prayers,
observing the Fast, paying the Zakat dues from their date palm gardens and their
herds of cattle. Moreover, they smarted under the discipline of the Islamic
State and resented being subdued by any power for the first time in history.
Above all, it was against their very nature to make sacrifices of their lives
and wealth in the Way of Allah, as was being demanded by Islam, for they were
accustomed to fight only for plunder and spoils. That is why they always
invented one excuse or the other for exemption from the restrictions and
obligations that were being imposed on them. For they had no interest in the
Truth or the welfare of humanity; their only concern was their camels and their
goats, that is, the narrow world around their tents. As regards anything higher
than these, the only thing which they could believe in was irrational reverence
for those who would guarantee their worldly welfare and protect them from
calamities and give them amulets to safeguard them against haram and evil, and
say prayers for them as a recompense for their offerings to them. Hut they were
not prepared to accept any faith or belief that would bring under its moral and
legal discipline every aspect of their cultural, social and economic life, and
demand from them the sacrifices of lives and wealth for the cause of a universal
reform.
In this verse, the above-mentioned mental and moral condition of
the Bedouins has been described like this: "These Bedouins are more hypocritical
than the urban Arabs and are more stubborn and obdurate in their denial of the
Truth. This is because the urban people make use of the opportunities of meeting
the learned and pious people and thus learn the laws and regulations of the Way.
On the other hand, in all probability, the Bedouins will learn little about the
Divine Way, because they get few opportunities for this. Moreover, they lead
lives of "economic animals" rather than of human beings having moral and
spiritual values; therefore they do not think of higher things than their animal
urges.
It should also be noted that the main cause of the subsequent
storm of rebellion and apostasy during the caliphate of Hadrat Abu Bakr two
years after the revelation of these verses (97-99) was the same that has been
mentioned therein.
96This means that they regarded the payment of Zakat
dues as a fine and the expenditure on hospitality, an Islamic duty, a penalty.
Likewise, if they had to make any contributions towards Jihad, they did so to
show that they were loyal to the Islamic State and not because they wanted to
please Allah by giving sincere monetary help for His cause.
97They had
become so expert in the art of hiding their hypocrisy that even the Holy Prophet
could not recognize them, though he possessed immense sagacity and insight into
human nature; so Allah informed him about them.
98This double
chastisement will be the loss of their worldly advantages and the victory of the
Islamic Mission in the teeth of their opposition. Thus one chastisement shall be
the loss of their worldly benefits for which they practiced deceptions and
adopted hypocritical attitudes, and instead of gaining wealth, honor and
prestige they shall meet with disgrace and utter failure. The second
chastisement will be in the shape of the victory of the Islamic Mission to
defeat which they exerted their utmost by their machinations and plots. But the
Islamic Mission will come out successful in the teeth of their evil wishes,
desires, intentions and vicious efforts and they themselves shall witness its
victory to their utter despair, regret, grief and sorrow.
99In this
passage a clear line of demarcation has been drawn between the hypocritical
"Muslims" and the true Muslims, and instructions have been given regarding the
treatment that should be meted out to the hypocrites. Therefore, the one who
claims to be a Muslim but dots not sincerely devote himself to Allah, His Way
and the Islamic Community, should be severely dealt with, if there is a clear
proof, from his conduct, that he lacks sincerity; or if he offers anything in
the Way of Allah, it should be rejected forthwith: or when he dies the Muslims
should neither join his funeral prayer nor beg God's pardon for him, even though
he be one's father or brother. In contrast to this, if a believer is guilty of
some sin and confesses it, he should be pardoned, and his offerings should be
accepted and prayers should be said for his forgiveness.
As regards the
criterion by which it will be judged whether one is or is not a hypocrite,
though one might have been guilty of an act of insincerity, three things have
been implied in this passage:
(1) A sincere follower will openly and
clearly confess his sin without offering any lame excuses and giving false
explanations and interpretations of his offense.
(2) It will be judged
from his previous conduct whether he was a habitual offender or he committed the
sin on the spur of the moment because of some weakness. If he had been behaving
like a righteous Muslim and if his record showed sincere services, sacrifices
and good deeds to his credit, it will be reasonably concluded that he was not a
hypocrite.
(3) His future conduct will be watched to see whether his
confession was verbal or there had really been a change of heart. If he
sincerely feels sorry for his sin and is anxious to compensate for it and his
whole conduct shows that he intends to eradicate the root cause of the weakness
in his Faith that misled him into the sin, it will be concluded that he
sincerely feels sorry for his sin and that he was not a hypocrite but a sinful
believer.
The event that is connected with the occasion on which this
passage was sent down, makes this subject quite clear. It is related by the
scholars of Traditions that these verses were revealed in regard to Abu Lubabah
bin `Abdul Manzar and his Companions. Hadrat Abu Lubabah was one of those people
who had embraced Islam on the occasion of the Oath of Allegiance at `Aqabah
before the migration of the Holy Prophet to Al-Madinah. He had taken part in the
battles of Badr, Uhd and other campaigns. But on the occasion of the Tabuk
Expedition, he succumbed to some inner weakness and stayed at home without any
genuine and lawful excuse. The same was the case of the other six Companions,
who were sincere Muslims. When the Holy Prophet returned from Tabuk and they
came to know that Allah and His Messenger had a very bad opinion of those who
had stayed behind, they were filled with shame and regret. Therefore they tied
themselves to a pillar even before they were called upon to explain their
conduct. Then they declared, "We will neither eat anything nor sleep unless we
are pardoned or die in the same condition." After some days they fell down in an
unconscious condition because of hunger and sleeplessness. When at last they
were informed that Allah and His Messenger had pardoned them, they went to see
the Holy Prophet and said, `Sir, we request you to accept from us as
propitiatory offerings our houses and the whole of our possessions. As these
were responsible for our sin of omission, we desire to give them away in the Way
of Allah. "But the Holy Prophet replied, "There is no need to give the whole of
your property for only one-third of it will suffice."
A deep
consideration of this event clearly brings out the kind of weaknesses that are
pardonable. All of these people were not habitual offenders and defaulters.
Their whole past conduct showed that they were sincere Muslims: none of them
invented false explanations to excuse themselves but confessed their sin. By
offering the whole of their properties as. propitiatory offerings, they proved
that they were really sorry for their conduct and wanted to atone for their sin.
In this connection, another important lesson should also be learned from
these verses. In order to atone for one's sins, one should give a practical
proof along with the verbal confession and heartfelt regret. One way of this is
to give charity in the Way of Allah for this helps to cleanse the filth which
was being nourished in the heart and which was responsible for the sin. This not
only eradicates the hidden evil but also increases the capacity for good works.
For the confession of one's sin is like the feeling of one who has fallen into a
pit. He at once realizes that he is in a critical situation in a pit, where he
does not like to abide, and is troubled over it. Therefore he thinks out plans
for getting out of it and makes practical efforts for this. Likewise the one who
confesses his sin and feels ashamed of it and takes practical steps to atone for
it by making offerings and doing other good works, intends to come out of the
pit of sin.
100"... then you shall return to Allah ...." Who is the
ultimate judge of everything and from Whom nothing can be concealed. Therefore
even if one succeeds in hiding one's hypocrisy in this world or is judged to be
up to the standard in one's Faith and sincerity, it does not mean in any way
that such a one will succeed in escaping chastisement for hypocrisy in the
Hereafter also.
101The case of these people had been deferred because it
could not yet be legally decided whether they were sinners or hypocrites and not
because their case was doubtful in the sight of Allah. This was because the
symptoms of their diseases had not as yet come to the surface to indicate
clearly which of the two they were. For Islam teaches the Muslims not to pass
judgment on a person or a party unless they possess definite knowledge based on
conscious reasoning and not on intuition and the like to support it.
102" . . the one in conflict . . . Messenger" was Abu `Amir who belonged to the
clan of Aus of Al-Madinah. He had become Christian monk during the period of
`ignorance' before the migration of the Holy Prophet and was well-known as a
scholar of the Scriptures and was held in great reverence as a pious monk. But
his scholarship and asceticism, instead of leading him to the Truth, became
hindrance in the way. That was why he not only rejected Islam but also became a
bitter enemy of the Holy Prophet and his Mission, for he took the Prophet for a
rival in the "holy business" of priesthood. At first he ignored the Holy Prophet
and his Mission in the hope that the power of the Quraish would suffice to crush
him and his Mission. But when the Quraish suffered an utter defeat in the battle
of Badr, he could no longer ignore it, so he started a vigorous vicious campaign
against the Islamic Movement. Accordingly he left Al-Madinah and visited .
different clans, in order to incite them against Islam, and was one of those who
brought about the battle of Uhd. It is said that he had got some pits dug in the
battle-field of Uhd, and that the Holy Prophet fell into one of these and
received injuries. Then he played an important role in organizing the armies
which came to invade Al-Madinah in the battle of Ahzab. Likewise this Christian
Monk took a very active part in giving support to the mushriks against Islam in
all the subsequent battles up to the battle of Hunain, At last when he realized
that no power in Arabia could withstand the onslaught of Islam. he left Arabia
and went to the Roman Caesar in order to warn him of the rising "danger" from
AI-Madinah. It was because of his efforts that the Caesar began to make
preparations for invading Arabia, to counteract which the Holy Prophet went
forth on the expedition to Tabuk.
Now let us consider the background of
the building of the `mosque' that was built to harm the Righteous Mission.
A section of the hypocrites of AI-Madinah collaborated wholeheartedly with
Abu `Amir in all the above-mentioned hostile activities against Islam. They also
fully agreed with him that he should use his "spiritual" influence to obtain
military help from the Roman Caesar and the Christian states of northern Arabia.
Accordingly, when he was preparing to go to the Roman Caesar to urge him to
invade Arabia. they devised a plan of making a `mosque' of their own to serve as
a safe meeting place for organizing themselves into a separate party because
none would suspect that they were carrying on evil activities under the garb of
religion. Moreover. this `mosque' would serve as an ambush for the agents of Abu
`Amir who could stay in it as travelers and mendicants without raising any
suspicion that they were spies of the enemy.
As there were already two
mosques in Al-Madinah-one at Quba and the other, Masjid-i-Nabavi, in the city
obviously there was no need for a third one. The hypocrite's themselves
understood this: therefore they began to invent "reasons" to show that there was
really a need for a third mosque. Accordingly, they went to the Holy Prophet and
said, "We need another `mosque' because it is very difficult for the people of
this area, especially the old, the sick and the disabled, to offer the five
prescribed Prayers in either of the two Mosques, during the winter season and
the rainfall. Therefore we intend to build a new `mosque' only for the
convenience of those who live at a distance from the two Mosques but are
desirous of saying their prayers in congregation."
With such professedly
pure motives, these mischief makers built the 'mosque' and then went to the Holy
Prophet with the request, "Sir, please stand in this new 'mosque' and lead the
congregation in one of the prescribed prayers so as to perform its opening
ceremony." But the Holy Prophet postponed the matter, saying, "At this time I am
wholly engaged in making preparations for the expedition to Tabuk. I shall
consider the matter on my return home. " After this he went forth to Tabuk, and
they started their nefarious activities. They went on organizing themselves and
conspiring against Islam in the `mosque' and decided to crown Abdullah-bin-Ubayy
as their king, as soon as the Muslims would meet with reverses and be utterly
crushed down by the Romans, as they had expected. But their expectations were
all frustrated by what happened at Tabuk. Then on the revelation of these verses
during the return journey at a place, Zi Avan, near AI-Madinah, the Holy Prophet
dispatched some men to demolish the mosque' before his entry into the city.
103In order to comprehend fully the implications of this simile, let us
first consider the significance of the Arabic word ~~ (Juruf). This applies to
the brink of that piece of land which has been undermined by a river or a
stream, leaving its surface without any support. In this meaningful simile the
construction of the structure of life on the Godless foundations has been
compared to that building which is built on the river brink, which has been
undermined by its water. It is obvious that the ignorant man who builds a
structure on the surface of such a piece of land, merely because it is a piece
of land, will not only lose the building but will also lose his own life, for it
will inevitably fall down into the river along with him because it has nothing
to support it. Likewise, the one who lays the foundation of the structure of the
system of his life on the surface of worldly things, without any regard to God's
fear or His favor which are the only permanent supports of human life, is like
the man who builds his structure on the surface undermined by the river. For
such a man himself undermines the structure of his life by his wrong deeds which
inevitably follow if there is no bed-rock of God's fear and His favor. Therefore
the surface on which he had built his life would one day inevitably tumble down
into the abyss of Hell along with the earnings of his whole life.
104"The Right Way" that leads to man's real success.
105That is, these
hypocrites have deprived their hearts of the capability of receiving and
accepting faith by the commission of the most heinous sin of building a `mosque'
to do harm to that very Islam for the propagation of which mosques are built.
This crime has set the desire of disbelief so deep in their hearts that it will
remain there as long as they are alive and will leave them only at the time of
death when their hearts will cease to beat in their breasts. Obviously, the case
of such people is quite different from that of those unbelievers, who openly
build idol-temples or openly make preparations for war against God. For it is
possible that such a one may get Guidance just because he is honest, sincere and
bold. Moreover, his open antagonism shows that he has the courage of his
convictions and may, therefore, accept Islam, when he would be convinced of its
Truth. But there is no hope for that cowardly lying and cunning man who builds a
'mosque' for the service of kufr and puts on the garb of God-worship for
fighting against Allah's Way. This is because a conduct like this kills all the
noble sentiments within him and renders him utterly incapable of understanding
and accepting Islam.
106In this verse that aspect of the Islamic Faith
which determines the nature of the relationship between Allah and His servants
has been called a transaction. This means that Faith is not merely a
metaphysical conception but is, in fact, a contract by which the servant sells
his life and possessions to Allah and in return for this accepts His promise
that He would give him the Garden in the Life-after-death. In order to
comprehend the full implications of this transaction, let us first understand
its nature.
We should note it well at the outset that, in reality, this
transaction is not in regard to the actual selling of the life and possessions
of the servant to Allah in the literal sense, for Allah is in fact the real
Owner of man's life and possessions. Allah alone has the right o ownership
because He is the Creator of man and of everything he possesses and uses.
Therefore there is no question at all of selling and buying in the worldly
sense; for man possesses nothing of his own to sell, and Allah has no need to
buy anything because everything already belongs to Him. However, there is one
thing which has entirely been entrusted to man by Allah, that is, the freedom of
will and the freedom of choice, and the transaction concerns that thing.
Of course, it is true that this freedom does not make any change in the real
position of man with regard to the right of ownership to his own life and his
possessions. They belong to Allah Who has delegated to him only the authority to
use or abuse these things as he wills, without any coercion or compulsion from
Him. This means that man has been given the freedom to acknowledge or not to
acknowledge that Allah is the owner of his life and property. The transaction
mentioned in v. 111 is concerning the voluntary surrender of this freedom to
Allah's Will. In other words, Allah wills to test man whether he acknowledges
the ownership of Allah over his life and property, in spite of that freedom, and
considers himself to be their trustee only, or behaves as if he were their owner
and so could do whatever he liked with them.
Thus, the terms of this
transaction from Allah's side arc these: "If you voluntarily (and not by
compulsion or coercion) agree to acknowledge that your life, your property and
everything in this world, which in fact belong to Me, are Mine, and consider
yourself only as their trustee, and voluntarily surrender the freedom I have
given you to behave, if you so like, in a dishonest way and yourself become
their master and owner, I will give you, in return, Gardens in the eternal life
of the Next World". The one who makes this bargain with Allah is a Believer, for
Faith is in fact the other name for making this bargain. On the other hand, the
one who refuses to make this bargain, or after making it adopts the attitude of
the one who has not made the bargain, is a kafir for, technically, kufr is the
term applied to the refusal to make this bargain.
The following are the
implications of making this transaction:
(1) Allah has put man to two
very hard tests in this matter. The first is whether he acknowledges the real
Owner as owner, in spite of the freedom of choice given to him, or he refuses
this and becomes ungrateful, treacherous and rebellious. The second test is
whether he puts his trust in his God or not, and surrenders his freedom and
sacrifices his desires and wishes in this present world in return for His
promise of the Gardens and eternal bliss in the Next World, even though the
world were to proclaim: "A bird in hand is worth two in the bush".
(2)
This matter helps to draw a clear line of demarcation between the legal
conception of the Islamic Faith and the higher and spiritual one according to
which Allah will judge one in the Hereafter.
According to its legal
conception, the mere verbal profession of the articles of the Faith is a
sufficient proof that one is legally a Muslim and after this no Jurist is
authorized to declare such a one to be a disbeliever or to expel one from the
fold of the Islamic Community, unless there is a definite and clear proof that
the one made a false profession of the Faith. But this is not so with Allah:
Allah considers the Faith of only that person to be true, who makes this bargain
with Him and sells his freedom of thought and action to Him and gives up his
entire claim to ownership in His favor. That is why a man might profess the
articles of the Faith and observe the prescribed obligatory duties, but if he
considered himself alone to be the master and owner of his body and soul, his
heart and brain and his other faculties, his property and his resources and
other things in his possession, and reserved to himself the right of expending
them as he willed, he shall be regarded a disbeliever in the sight of Allah,
even though he should be regarded a believer in the sight of the world. This is
because such a man has not made that bargain with God which is the essence of
the Faith according to the Qur'an. The very fact that a man does not expend his
life and property in the way Allah approves of, or expends these in the way He
disapproves, shows that the one who claimed to profess the Faith either did not
sell these to Allah or after having made the transaction still regarded himself
to be their master and owner.
(3) The above conception of the Islamic
Faith draws a clear line of demarcation between the attitude of a Muslim and
that of a disbeliever towards life. The Muslim, who sincerely believes in Allah,
surrenders himself completely to Allah's Will, and does nothing whatsoever which
may show that he is independent in his attitude, except when he temporarily
forgets the terms of the bargain he has made with Him. Likewise no community of
the Muslims can collectively adopt an independent attitude in political,
cultural, economic, social and international matters and still remain Muslim.
And if sometimes it temporarily forgets its subordinate position and its
voluntary surrender of its freedom, it will give up the attitude of independence
and readopt the attitude of surrender, as soon as it becomes aware of its error.
In contrast to this, if one adopts the attitude of independence towards Allah
and makes decisions about all the affairs of life in accordance with ones own
wishes, whims and caprices, one shall be regarded to have adopted the attitude
of disbelief, even though one was a `Muslim' or a non-Muslim.
(4) It
should also be noted well that the Will of God to which a man is required to
surrender himself is that which is specified by Allah Himself and not the one
which the man himself declares to be the will of God. For in the latter case one
does not' follow God's Will but one's own will, which is utterly against the
terms of the transaction. Only that person (or community) who adopts the
attitude that conforms to the teachings of His Book and His Messenger, shall be
deemed to have fulfilled the terms of the transaction.
From the above
implications of this transaction, it also becomes clear why the fulfillment of
the terms by Allah has been deferred to the Next World after the termination of
the life of this world. It is obvious that the Garden is not the return for the
mere profession that the buyer has sold his life and property to Allah "but it
is the actual surrender of these things in the worldly life and their disposal
by him as a trustee of Allah according to His Will." Thus, this transaction will
be completed only when the life of the buyer comes to an end in this world and
it is proved that after making the bargain, he went on fulfilling the terms of
the agreement up to his last breath. For then and then alone, he will be
entitled to the recompense in accordance with the terms of the transaction.
It will also be worthwhile to understand the context in which this matter
has been placed here. In the preceding passage, there was the mention of those
people who failed in the test of their Faith and did not make the sacrifice of
their time, money, life and interests for the sake of Allah and His Way, in
spite of their professions, because of their negligence or lack of sincerity or
absolute hypocrisy. Therefore after criticizing the attitudes of different
persons and sections, they have been told in clear words the implications of the
Faith they had accepted: "This is not the mere verbal profession that there is
God and He is One, but the acceptance of the fact that He is the Owner and the
Master of your lives and possessions. Therefore, if you are not ready and
willing to sacrifice these in obedience to the Command of Allah, but expend
these and your energies and resources against the Will of Allah, it is a clear
proof that you were false in your profession of the Faith. For the true
Believers are those who have truly sold their persons and possessions to Allah,
and consider Him to be their Owner and Master, and expend their energies and
possessions without any reservations, where He commands them to expend, and do
not expend the least of these where He forbids them to expend."
107Some
critics say that the statement "this promise is contained in the Torah and the
Gospel" is not confirmed by these Books. Their objection in regard to the Gospel
is obviously wrong for even in the existing Gospels there are sayings of Prophet
Jesus that confirm this verse. For instance:
"Blessed are they which are
persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (MAT.
5: 10).
"He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his
life for my sake shall find it." (MAT. 10: 39).
"And every one that hath
forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or
children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold and shall
inherit everlasting life." (MAT. 19: 29).
It is, however, true that the
matter of this transaction is not confirmed in its entirety by the existing
Torah. For instance, there is a mention of the first part of the bargain at
several places in one forth or the other:
. . .is not he thy father that
hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?" (DEUT. 32: 6).
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. "
(DEUT. 6: 4-5).
But as regards the other part of the bargain, that is,
the promise of the Gardens, they applied it to the land of Palestine:
"Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee,
and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised
thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey." (DEUT. 6: 3).
This
is because the Torah does not give any conception of the Life-after-death, the
Day of Judgment, Rewards and Punishments in the Here-after, though this creed
has always been an inseparable part of the Right Way. This does not, however,
mean that the Torah did not originally contain this creed. The fact is that the
Jews had become so materialistic during the period of their degeneration that
they had no other idea of a reward from God than the well-being and prosperity
in this world. Therefore they perverted all the promises made by God in return
for man's service and obedience to Him and applied those to the land of
Palestine.
In this connection, it should also be noted that the
above-mentioned changes became possible because the original Torah had been
tampered with in several ways. Some portions were taken away from it and others
were added to it. Thus, the Torah in the existing form is not purely the Word of
God but also contains the comments, etc. , of the Jewish scholars mixed up with
it. So much so that at some places it becomes difficult to distinguish the Word
of God from the Jewish traditions, their racial prejudices, their superstitions,
their ambitions and ,wishes, their legal interpretations, etc., all of which
have got mixed with the Word of God. (For further details please see E.N. 2 of
Al-i-Imran).
108The Arabic word (atta-i-bun) literally means "those who
repent" . But in the context it occurs it implies "those who possess repentance
as their permanent characteristic", that is, they repent over and over again.
Moreover, the literal meaning of (taubah) is "to turn to" or "to turn back" .
Therefore its explanatory translation will be "....those who turn back to Allah
over and over again" . This is the first and foremost characteristic of a true
Believer because even a true Believer is liable to forget the bargain he makes
with Allah by which he sells his life and property to Him. As this matter does
not concern his sense organs but pertains to his mind and heart, he is liable to
forget that these things are not really his property but they belong to Allah.
Therefore, even the true believer occasionally forgets the bargain, and behaves
in a way as if he were their owner. But as soon as he becomes conscious of this
transitory lapse and realizes that he had violated the terms of his agreement,
he feels sorry and ashamed of his conduct and turns to his God, begs His pardon
and renews the terms of the bargain with Him, and pledges his allegiance to Him
after every slip of its violation. This kind of repentance alone is the
guarantee that one will always come back to one's Faith: otherwise it is not
possible for man because of the inherent human weaknesses, to observe strictly
and deliberately the terms of the bargain without ever falling a prey to
negligence and error. That is why Allah says in praise of the true Believer that
".....he turns back to Allah over and over again" and not that "he never slips
into error after making the bargain of obedience and service to Him" . And this
is the greatest excellence that man can accomplish. Let us now consider the
wisdom of placing this characteristics first in the list of the characteristics
of the true Believers. It is to admonish those who had been guilty of crimes
after the profession of their Faith, They have been told in v. III that the true
Believers are those who sell their lives and property to Allah. After this they
are being told that if they sincerely intend to become true Believers they
should first of all create in themselves this characteristic and at once turn to
Allah without showing any obduracy so that they should not deviate further into
error.
109Some commentators are of the opinion that here (Assn `ihun)
means " . . . those who observe fast" . As this is not the lexical meaning of
the word but only its figurative sense, which has been based on an unauthentic
tradition attributed to the Holy Prophet, we are of the opinion that there is no
need to depart from its lexical meanings, that is,".....move about in the land
(for His sake...,... "). For here the Arabic word does not mean merely to
"...move about in the land" but "move about in the land for the sake of noble
and high aims, e.g. to propagate Islam, to do Jihad, to emigrate from those
places where the unbelievers are in power, and to reform the people, to seek
True Knowledge, to earn a lawful livelihood and the like" . This characteristic
of the Believers has been especially mentioned here to reprove those who had not
gone forth to Jihad, in spite of their claim that they were "Believers" . They
have been admonished that a true Believer is the one who goes forth into the
land to raise high His Word, and exerts his utmost to fulfill the implications
of his Faith, and not the one who stays behind when he is called upon to move
about in the land.
110That is those who "strictly observe the limits
prescribed by Allah . . . . . " in regard to the Articles of the Faith,
worship-morality, social behavior, culture, economics, politics, judiciary,
peace and war- in short, in all the aspects of their individual and collective
lives. They neither transgress these limits in order to follow their lusts nor
invent laws nor replace the Divine Law by other laws. They establish these
limits and prevent their violations. Hence, the true Believers are those who not
only strictly observe the limits prescribed by Allah, but also do their very
best to establish them and safeguard them so as to prevent their violation to
the best of their powers and capabilities.
111"It does not behoove . . .
to pray for the mushriks . . . " implies two things. First, we love them and
sympathize with them. Secondly, we consider their crime to be pardonable. There
is no harm to cherish these things for the one who is loyal, though a sinner,
but it is absolutely wrong in principle to love and sympathize with a person who
is an open rebel and to consider his case as pardonable as it renders our own
loyalty doubtful. Besides, it adds to the intensity of the crime, if we pray for
the forgiveness of a mushrik, who is our near relative. For it means that we
consider our relationships to be more valuable than the fulfillment of the
implications of our loyalty to Allah and that our love with Allah. and His Way
is not wholly unalloyed and that we desire that Allah should also be influenced
by the love we have with His rebels and pardon our criminal kinsmen, even though
He should throw the other criminals into the fire of Hell. Obviously, all such
things are wrong and are against loyalty and sincerity and the Faith demands
that our love with Allah and His Way should be absolutely unalloyed and that His
friend should be our friend and His enemy our enemy. That is why Allah has not
said, "Do not pray for the forgiveness of the mushriks ", but has instead
warned, It does not behoove the Prophet and those who have believed to pray for
the forgiveness of the mushriks", which implies this: "The right thing for you
is that you yourselves should regard it as improper to Show sympathy with Our
rebels and consider their crime as pardonable: nay, you should not wait for any
Command from Us about this."
In this connection, it should also be noted
well that it is forbidden to show sympathy with the mushriks only in matters of
Faith. As regards the human relationships that demand the observance of the
rights of one's own relatives, of showing love, sympathy and kindness, and
cherishing fellow-feelings with them it is not forbidden at all but it is
considered to be a virtue. We must fulfill the worldly rights of a relative
whether he be a believer or a disbeliever: we should help him in affliction and
give support ,to the needy ones and the orphans and show all possible 'sympathy
with a sick or wounded person, irrespective of whether he is a Muslim or a
non-Muslim.
112The reference is to what Prophet Abraham said when he
broke off all connections with his father:
(1).....Peace be upon you. I
will pray to my Lord to forgive you: for He is very kind to me" . (XIX: 47).
(2) "And forgive my father: indeed he is of those who have gone astray. And
disgrace me not on the Day, when mankind shall be brought back to life; when
neither riches nor children shall avail anyone, and none shall obtain salvation
except the one who comes before his Lord with a sound and pure heart". (XXVI:
86-89).
(3). . . . .I will pray for your forgiveness, but I have no power
to rescue you from Allah . . . . . " (LX: 4).
In the first place it
should be noted that even the wording and the tone of the prayer for his father
were very guarded, but when Prophet Abraham realized that the person for whom he
was praying was an open rebel against Allah and a bitter enemy of His Way, he
refrained himself from saying even such a guarded prayer for him and declared in
clear words that he would have nothing to do with him in future, even though the
rebel was his father who had brought him up with love and care.
113The
words (swab) and (hatim) which the Qur'an uses for Prophet Abraham are very
comprehensive in meaning. Avvah is the one who is lamenting, humble, weeping,
grief-stricken and God fearing. And hatim is the one who can keep control over
himself under all circumstances, and is neither beside himself in anger and
enmity nor transgresses the proper limits in his affections, friendships and
relationships. Here both the words have been used in their comprehensive senses.
Prophet Abraham prayed for his father because he was tender-hearted and lamented
for him that he would become the fuel for the fire of Hell. As he had full
control over himself, and was very forbearing, he prayed even for that father
who had persecuted him cruelly in order to hinder him from the Way of Islam.
Lastly, he was God fearing and did not want to go beyond the limits in his love
for his father; so he broke off all his relations with his father when he
realized that he was an enemy of Allah.
114"He makes plain to the
people. . . . " beforehand that they should avoid such and such thoughts, deeds
and ways. But if they take no heed, and persist in wrong thinking and
wrongdoing, Allah withholds His guidance from them and lets them follow the
wrong way they themselves choose to follow.
This is the general formula
that helps understand those passages of the Qur'an in which Allah ascribes to
Himself the guidance and the deviation of the people. Allah's guidance is that
He makes plain to them the Right Way through His Prophets and Books. Then He
enables those who have the intention, to follow the Right Way. On the other
hand, He does not force and compel them to follow the Right Way, if they
themselves intend to persist in the wrong ways in spite of the fact that the
Right Way has been made quite clear to them; He rather enables them to follow
the way they themselves intend to follow.
As regards the context in which
this occurs here, it is plain that it is meant to warn those people who have
been mentioned in the preceding passage, and to introduce those who are .going
to be mentioned in the succeeding passage.
115Allah forgave the Prophet
and his Companions for those inadvertent lapses that had been made in connection
with the Tabuk expedition, in view of their excellent services. The inadvertent
lapse made by the Holy Prophet was that he had given leave to stay behind to
those people who were able to take part in the Jihad. (v. 43).
116This
refers to those sincere Companions who were at first somewhat unwilling to go to
war on that critical occasion, but at last overcame their weakness, for they had
true Faith in their hearts and loved the Right Way.
117That is, Allah
will not take them to account for their wrong inclinations. for He does not
punish a man for that weakness which he himself has overcome and corrected.
118These Three were among those who came to the Holy Prophet to present
their excuses for staying behind. More than eighty of them were hypocrites, who
put forward lame excuses and the Holy Prophet accepted these and let them go.
Then came the turn of these Three, who were true Believers, and they confessed
their fault plainly. Therefore the Holy Prophet postponed the decision of their
case and ordered the Muslims not to have any social relations with them till the
decision of their cast came from Allah. This verse was sent down to decide their
case.
In this connection it should be kept in mind that the case of these
Three was different from the case of the seven mentioned in E.N. 99. They had
inflicted the punishment on themselves before they were called to account for
their fault.
119The Three whose condition has been described in this
verse, were Ka`ab bin Malik, Hilal bin Umayyah and Murarah bin Rubai. They were
sincere Believers, as has been stated above, and had made many sacrifices and
given proofs of their sincerity before this. The last two had taken part in the
battle of Badr also, and therefore their Faith was above every kind of
suspicion. Though Ka'ab had not taken part in the battle of Badr, he had
accompanied the Holy Prophet in every other expedition. But in spite of all
these services, they were severely punished for the negligence they had shown on
the critical occasion of the Tabuk Expedition, when all the able-bodied Muslims
were commanded to go forth to Jihad.
When the . Holy Prophet came back
from Tabuk, he ordered the Muslims to break away completely from them; so much
so that they should not even respond to their greetings. After forty days of
this boycott their wives also were ordered to have nothing to do with them. In
short, they were reduced at AI-Madinah to the same sad plight which has been
described in this verse. At last, after a boycott of fifty days, this verse was
sent down to announce their forgiveness.
The story of the above-mentioned
boycott has been described in detail by Ka`ab bin Malik, who was one of the
Three. When he became old and blind, he himself told his story to his son, '
Abdullah, who used to accompany him everywhere. As this story is an excellent
lesson for all, it is given below in Ka`ab's own words:
"When the Holy
Prophet urged upon the people to get ready for Jihad, I made up my mind to make
preparations for this. But when I went home, I became negligent, saying to
myself, `There is .no hurry: when the time comes I will readily make
preparations and start forthwith'. In this way I went on putting off my
preparations till the time came when the army was going to start on the
Expedition. As I had made no preparations for the journey, I said to myself, `It
does not matter: 1 will be able to join the army in a couple of days during the
journey' . But again the same negligence prevented me from putting my intention
into practice. At last no occasion was left for me to join the army. To add to
my misery my conscience pricked me over and over again that the people with whom
I had stayed behind in AI-Madinah were either the hypocrites or those Muslims
who were old or otherwise unfit for Jihad.
"When the Holy Prophet came
back from Tabuk, he, as usual, said two rak'ats of prayer in the Mosque. Then he
sat there to meet the people. At first, the hypocrites, whose number was a
little more than eighty, came to him and offered lathe excuses on solemn oaths.
The Holy Prophet listened to the false story of each of them and accepted their
apparent excuses and left the decision about their hearts to Allah, saying, `May
Allah forgive you' . Then it was my turn to put forward my excuse. I went
forward and uttered my salutations. He smiled and said, `Well, what kept you
behind?' (I hesitated for a moment.) By God, I would have invented one excuse or
the other to satisfy any man of the world, for I am well versed in the art of
conversation. But here was the Holy Prophet who was demanding an explanation
from me. I believed that even if I succeeded in satisfying him by making a false
excuse, Allah will inform him of the truth of the case and I shall again incur
his displeasure. On the other hand, if I told the truth, I expected that Allah
would forgive me, even though I were to incur his displeasure for the time
being. So I replied, `Sir, I have no excuse for staying behind. I was in every
way able to go forth (to Tabuk)' . At this the Holy Prophet remarked, `This is
the man who has told the truth'. Then turning to me, he said, `Go and wait till
Allah decides your case'
"I rose from there and took my seat among the
people of my own clan. They at once began to tease and reprove me because I had
made no excuse. At this, I was tempted to go and make some false excuse. But
when I came to know that there were also two good people (Murarah bin Rubai and
Hilal bin Umayyah), who had told the same thing that I had, I felt satisfied and
stuck to the truth.
"After this the Holy Prophet issued a general order
that no one should have any kind of talk with us. The other two confined
themselves to their houses but I used to go out of my house and say my prayers
in congregation and walk through the bazaars. As nobody spoke to me, it appeared
to me that I was a foreigner in some strange city where I had no acquaintances.
When I attended the mosque, I would utter the usual salutations and wait in vain
for a response from the Holy Prophet. I would turn stealthy looks at him to read
his thoughts in regard to me, but he would turn his eyes away from me, though he
had been looking at me while I was engaged in prayer. As this condition became
intolerable for me, one day I went to see Abu Qatadah who was a cousin of mine
and a friend from childhood. I climbed over the wall of his garden and uttered
my salutations, but even he did not make any response to it. Then I said, `O Abu
Qatadah ! I ask you to tell me on oath whether I love or do not love Allah and
His Messenger' . But he remained silent. Again I repeated the question but he
kept silent. I asked him on oath to answer my question. Then he merely replied,
`Allah and His Messenger know best' . At this my eyes were filled with tears,
and I came back.
"Another incident happened during, those days. Once I
was passing through the bazaar, when a Syrian came to me and gave me a letter
wrapped in silk. This was from the king of Ghassan and read like this: `We have
come to know that your Leader is persecuting you these days. As you are not an
ignoble person, we will not leave you to rot there. Therefore come to us and we
will honor you (as you deserve)' I said to myself, `Here is another hard trial
for me' . Then I threw the letter into the burning oven.
"The boycott
continued for forty days, when a man brought this message from the Holy Prophet
that I should separate from my wife. I asked whether I should divorce her but
was told that I should only separate from her. Accordingly I said to my wife,
'Go to your parental home and wait till a decision comes from Allah. '
"On the fiftieth day, when after the morning prayers, I was sitting in a state
of utter despair on the top of my house, all of a sudden some one cried aloud,
`O Ka`ab bin Malik! Please accept my congratulations.' Hearing this, I fell
prostrate to the ground before Allah, for I understood that the Command of my
forgiveness had come After this, people began to pour in, each trying to
forestall the other in congratulating me on the acceptance of my repentance. I
rose and went directly to the Mosque. I noticed that the face of the Holy
Prophet was glowing with happiness and in response to my salutations, he said,
`I congratulate you on this: it is the best day of your life.' I said, `Is this
forgiveness from you or from Allah?' He replied, `It is from Allah.' Then he
recited these verses (117-118). I asked, `O Messenger of Allah! Does my
repentance require that I should give the whole of my property in charity?' He
replied, `Keep a part of it, for it will be better for you.' Accordingly, I kept
my property at Khaibar for myself and gave all the rest in charity. Then I
solemnly pledged that I would stick to the truth throughout the rest of my life,
for Allah had forgiven me in return for the truth I had told. That is why I have
never uttered a word against reality intentionally up to this time and hope and
expect that Allah will protect me from lies in future as well. "
This
story contains many lessons, and every Believer should impress these on his mind
and heart.
The first and foremost lesson we learn from this story is that
the matter of the conflict between Islam and kufr is so important and delicate
that we should take the greatest possible care to be on our guard in regard to
this. Not to mention the case of one who takes active part on the side of kufr,
if a Muslim shows the least negligence even inadvertently in taking part on the
side of Islam once in his life; and that, too, not with any evil intention, he
is liable to lose all the lifelong services and devotions rendered by him in the
cause of Islam. That was why such a severe action was taken even against those
worthy people who had done great deeds of valor in the battles of Badr, Uhd,
Ahzab and Hunain, and whose sincerity and Faith were absolutely above suspicion.
The second thing, which is as important as the first, is that one should
never consider lightly any negligence in the performance of a duty, for this
often misleads one to commit an offense that is counted among heinous sins. The
fact that ore did not commit the offense with any evil intention cannot save one
from punishment.
Lastly, this story presents the true spirit of the
society that had been evolved out under the leadership of the Holy Prophet. On
the one side there were the hypocrites whose treacherous deeds were quite well
known to all. They offered lame excuses which were accepted without demur for
nothing better could be expected from them. On the other side, let us take the
case of Ka`ab bin Malik, who was a tried Believer, and whose sacrifices were
above every kind of suspicion. He did not invent any false story to justify
himself but confessed his fault quite plainly and clearly. But in contrast to
the hypocrites, a severe chastisement was inflicted on him, not because there
was any suspicion about his Faith but because a sincere Believer like him had
behaved in a way in which only a hypocrite could behave. Thus the chastisement
was meant to remind them: "You are the salt of the earth. But if you, too,
become tasteless, from where will then salt be obtained?"
There is
another noteworthy side of the matter. The part played by the Leader and the
Follower and the Muslim Society in this incident is unique. The Leader inflicts
the most severe punishment but with the feelings of affection and without any
tinge of anger or hatred in it. It is like the punishment which a father gives
to his son, It is always understood that the punishment is given for the good of
the son, who knows that as soon as he mends his ways, he will regain the
fatherly love. And the Follower sets an excellent example of obedience under
very trying circumstances. He suffers hard from the severity of the chastisement
but never thinks of rebelling against the Leader because of any false personal
or clannish pride; nay, he does not cherish in his heart any complaint against
his beloved Leader, but begins to love him even more than before. During this
saddest period of his life the only thing he yearns for is a look of affection
from his Leader. For he is like a famine-stricken farmer whose only hope is the
piece of cloud which he sees floating in the sky.
Now let us have a
glimpse of the Muslim society, which displayed the greatest discipline and the
highest moral spirit that had ever been shown by any society. No sooner does the
Leader order the boycott than the whole community becomes a stranger to the
follower not only in public but also in private. So much so that his nearest
relatives and closest friends do not even speak to him; nay, his own wife leaves
him alone. He implores them on oath to tell him if they suspected his sincerity,
but even his lifelong companions make a point-blank refusal, saying that he
should ask Allah and His Messenger for that testimony. But in spite of the show
of this strict discipline, the moral spirit of the community is so high and so
pure that not a single person tries to take advantage of the position of the
fallen brother by adding insult to his injury; nay, every one feels sorry for
his brother in disgrace, and is important to embrace him as soon as he is
forgiven. That is why the people run in haste to tell him the good news. to
build.
The above is the model of the Righteous community that the Qur'an
aims
This background makes it plain why Allah not only forgave them but
also manifested His Kindness; Gentleness and Compassion in His Forgiveness to
these people. It was because of their sincerity which they proved during the
fifty days of their chastisement. Had they shown arrogance after the commission
of their offense and retaliated by taking angry and hostile actions as does
every self-worshiper whose pride is wounded: had they behaved during their
boycott in a manner as if they would break away from the community but never bow
down before it: had they passed this period in spreading dissatisfaction in the
community and gathering around them all the disgruntled people in order to
organize a strong "opposition" against the Leader, then they would have most
certainly been expelled from the community, as if to say, "Go you now and
worship the idol of your self, for henceforth you will never be given any
opportunity for exerting to raise the Word of Allah". But these Three did not
adopt this way though it was open to them. On the contrary, they took a
different way, as has been seen, and proved that God-worship had destroyed every
idol that might have remained hidden in their hearts: that they had dedicated
themselves entirely to the exertion in the Way of Allah: that while joining the
Islamic community they had burnt their boats to make it impossible for
themselves to go back anywhere: that they would put up with every kind of
treatment but would remain in the community and die as a member of it and would
scornfully reject any offer of an honorable place outside it; and would rather
bear disgrace in it. That was why they were again taken in the community with
the same honor as before. This is the explanation of the kind words of
forgiveness: "Allah turned to them with kindness so that they should turn to
Him." In these concise words, the Qur'an has depicted the true picture of the
matter. The Master had at first turned away His attention from His Three
servants but when He saw that they had not left His door but had remained there
with broken hearts, He again turned to them in appreciation of their fidelity so
as to bring them back into the fold.
120In order to comprehend the
meaning of this verse, v. 97 with which it is connected, should be kept in view:
"These Bedouins are most stubborn in unbelief and hypocrisy, and, in all
probability, will remain ignorant of the laws of the Way which Allah has sent
down to His Messenger."
In v. 97, the Qur'an merely diagnosed the disease
and pointed out its symptoms. The Bedouins were suffering from the disease of
hypocrisy because of their ignorance of the laws of the Way of Allah. This was
so because they had not had any connections with the Center of that knowledge.
Here in this concluding portion of the Surah, the remedy of that disease has
been prescribed so that they should have an understanding of Islam and its
implications. It is not necessary that for this purpose all of them should leave
their homes and come to AI-Madinah to learn that knowledge, but some of them
should come from each habitation, clan and region to the Centers of the
Knowledge (AI-Madinah, Makkah and the like) and understand Islam. Then they
should go back to their own habitations and create its understanding among the
common people.
This was a very important instruction that was given at
the opportune moment to strengthen the Islamic Movement for, at that time, the
people were entering into the fold of Islam in large numbers without its proper
understanding. Obviously, this instruction was not needed in the initial stages
of the Movement, for at that tune everyone who embraced Islam did so with its
full understanding. No one would think of becoming a Muslim without this as this
was an invitation to persecution. When the Movement became successful and won
power in the land, the clans and the habitations began to enter en bloc into the
fold of Islam. Naturally very few of them understood the full implications of
the Faith before accepting it, but the majority of them were being carried into
the fold, as it were, by the strong current that had been generated by the
Movement. Outwardly this immense increase in numbers appeared to be a source of
strength to Islam, but in reality such people as had no true understanding of
Islam and were, therefore, not prepared to fulfill its moral obligations, were
not only useless for the Islamic System but were actually harmful to it. This
side of the matter became quite apparent during the preparations for the Tabuk
expedition. That is why Allah sent down the instruction that necessary steps
should be taken for the integration of the Islamic Community so that it may keep
pace with the immense increase in its number. Therefore some people should be
brought out from every habitation and taught and trained in the requirements of
Islam and these in their turn should teach and train their own people so that
the whole Muslim population should understand Islam and obtain the knowledge of
the limits prescribed by Allah.
In this connection, it should also be
clearly understood that the Command about mass education given in this verse is
not merely about literacy but it had the definite aim of imparting the
understanding of the Way of Islam among the masses and enabling them to refrain
from un-Islamic Ways. This is the real and permanent aim of education that has
been set before the Muslims by Allah Himself. Therefore every system of their
education shall be judged by this criterion and shall be regarded Islamic only
to the extent it fulfills this aim. It does not, however, mean that Islam is
against the spreading of literacy and teaching of the purely mundane subjects to
the masses, but it simply means that the primary aim of the Islamic Education
should be the achievement of the objective which has been mentioned above in
italics. Without this, it does not consider any education to be education at
all, even if it were to produce Einsteins and Freuds of the age.
It will
be worthwhile to consider the true significance of the words used in the
context, for they created a strange misunderstanding among the people of the
later period, and produced lasting poisonous effects on the religious education
of the Muslims, nay, on their whole religious life in general. It is obvious
that Allah used these words in order to lay down the objective of education
before the Muslims, which was this: to understand the Islamic Way of life and
have an insight into its system: to be familiar with its true nature and spirit
so as to be able to judge and differentiate between the Islamic and the
un-Islamic ways of thought and conduct in every aspect of life. But later on
when the knowledge of the Muslim Law was given the technical name of (fiqh), it
gradually developed into the science of the details of external form (as opposed
to the spiritual aspect of the Islamic Law). As the word (fiqh) is of the same
root as used in this verse, a misunderstanding was created that this Command of
the Qur'an was about acquiring the knowledge of fiqh in the above-mentioned
sense. It is true that this knowledge is of great importance in the Islamic
System of life, but it is not all that is required by the Qur'an but only a part
of the objective. It is not possible to recount here all the damages that the
Muslim Community has suffered because of this misunderstanding, but suffice it
to say that this is the thing, which is responsible for reducing the religious
education of the Muslims to the knowledge and interpretation of the external
form of Islam without paying any attention to the spirit of Islam. This
inevitably resulted in making lifeless formalism the ultimate goal of the life
of the Muslims.
121From the apparent wording of this verse, it may be
inferred that only those Muslims have at first been held responsible to fight
with those enemies of Islam who live near their territory. But if we read this
verse along with the succeeding passage, it becomes clear that here
"disbelievers who are near you refers to those hypocrites who were doing great
harm to to Islamic Society by mixing up with the sincere Muslims. This very
thing was stated in v. 73 at the beginning of this discourse. The Command has
been repeated at its end in order to impress on the Muslims the importance of
the matter and to urge them to do Jihad and crush these internal enemies,
without paying the Least regard to the racial, family and social relations that
had been proving a binding force with them. The only difference between the two
Commands is that in v. 73, the Muslims were asked to do Jihad with them, while
in this verse stronger words, "fight with them" , have been used, which were
meant to impress on them that they should crush the hypocrites thoroughly and
completely. Another difference in the wordings is that in v. 73, two different
words, "disbelievers and hypocrites", have been used, while in this verse only
one word, "disbelievers", has been used so that the hypocrites should forfeit
all their claims as Muslims, for there was room for this concession in the word
"hypocrite"
122This is meant to impress that they should not, in future,
show the lenient treatment they had been meting out to them up to that time.
This has already been commanded in v. 73: "be firm and stern with them".
123This warning has two-fold meanings and both are implied here. First, "If
you show any kind of leniency towards them because of your personal or family or
economic connections with them, you should know that such a thing shall be
against the fear of God', for the fear of God and friendly relations with the
enemies of Allah are contradictory things. Therefore, you should give these up,
if you desire to obtain Allah's help". Secondly, "You should scrupulously
observe the moral and humane limits in doing Jihad, and in fighting with them.
For you should always keep yourselves within the prescribed limits in
everything. If you transgress these in any way, you should know that Allah will
forsake you for He helps only those who are God fearing.
124As regards
the increase and decrease in Faith. disbelief and hypocrisy, please refer to
E.N.2 of Surah Al-Anfal.
125That is, during the course of every year such
circumstances are created as put to test once or twice their claim to the Faith,
and these disclose that their profession of Islam was like a counterfeit coin.
For instance, some time their Faith is tested by (a) a Commandment of the Qur'an
which lays some new restriction on their lust, or by (b) a demand of the Faith
that hits hard at their self interests, or by (c) an internal dispute which
discloses their preference for worldly interests and for their personal, family
and clannish relations to Allah, His Messenger and the Faith, or by (d) a war
that requires the sacrifice of their lives, wealth, time and energies. All these
tests help bring to the open that filth of hypocrisy that lay hidden in their
hearts under the garb of the profession of Islam. Besides, these things increase
that filth which had already gathered in their hearts because of their
deviations from the implications of the Faith.
126This happened when the
hypocrites had to attend a meeting that was specially hold for the recital of
some new surah. The Holy Prophet used to recite as an address every new surah
before the assembly. The true believers would listen to it very attentively and
respectfully. But the hypocrites, who had to attend the meeting to show that
they were "Muslims', would sit listlessly in the meeting for they had no
interest in the recital. But when they would be assured that their "attendance"
had been marked, they would look for an opportune moment to slip away without
being seen and noticed.
127"Allah has turned away their hearts from the
Qur'an, because they do not understand that it is in their own interest to
listen to the Qur'an and to act upon its teachings. These foolish people do not
realize that by ignoring the Qur'an and the Holy Prophet, they in fact, deprive
themselves of a great blessing. As they are deeply engaged in their own narrow
interests, they do not see that the great knowledge of the Qur'an and the right
guidance of the Holy Prophet has the potentiality of making them the leaders of
this world, and of bringing salvation to them in the Next World. As a result of
their folly and neglect of the great blessing, Allah has, in accordance with His
Law, deprived them of the capacity of making use of this blessing and "turned
away their hearts" from it. That is why these unfortunate, people do not even
feel the great loss they are suffering, while the blessed people are taking full
advantage of this great fountainhead of power and strength and are preparing
themselves for achieving the greatest success that human beings could ever
achieve.