With kind permission: Islamic Foundation UK
Introduction to Tafheem | Glossary | Verbs
Tafsirs: Maarif | Dawat | Ishraq | Clear
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- Cro Magnon Man
You do not know which of them, your parents or your children, are more beneficial to you. But these portions have been determined by Allah, for He indeed knows all, is cognizant of all beneficent considerations.21 (4:12) And to you belongs half of whatever has been left behind by your wives if they die childless; but if they have any children then to you belongs a fourth of what they have left behind, after payment of the bequest they might have made or any debts outstanding against them. And to them belongs a fourth of what you leave behind, if you die childless; and if you have any child then to them belongs one-eighth of what you have left behind,22 after the payment of the bequest you might have made or any debts outstanding against you.18 And if the man or woman has no heir in the direct line, but has a brother or sister, then each of these shall inherit one-sixth; but if they are more than two, then they shall inherit one-third of the inheritance,23 after the payment of the bequest that might have been made or any debts outstanding against the deceased, providing that the bequest causes no injury.24 This is a commandment from Allah; Allah is All-Knowing, All-Forbearing.25 (4:13) These are the bounds set by Allah. Allah will make the man who obeys Allah and His Messenger enter the Gardens beneath which rivers flow. He will abide there for ever. That is the mighty triumph. (4:14) And he who disobeys Allah and His Messenger and transgresses the bounds set by Him - him shall Allah cause to enter the Fire. There he will abide. A humiliating chastisement awaits him.*25a (4:15) As for those of your women who are guilty of immoral conduct, call upon four from amongst you to bear witness against them. And if four men do bear witness, confine those women to their houses until either death takes them away or Allah opens some way for them. (4:16) Punish both of those among you who are guilty of this sin, then if they repent and mend their ways, leave them alone. For Allah is always ready to accept repentance. He is All-Compassionate.26 (4:17) (And remember that) Allah's acceptance of repentance is only for those who commit evil out of ignorance and then soon repent. It is towards such persons that Allah turns graciously. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (4:18) But of no avail is repentance of those who do evil until death approaches any one of them and then he says: 'Now I repent.' Nor is the repentance of those who die in the state of unbelief of any avail to them. For them We have kept in readiness a painful chastisement.27 (4:19) Believers! It is not lawful for you to become heirs to women against their will.28 It is not lawful that you should put constraint upon them that you may take away anything of what you have given them; (you may not put constraint upon them) unless they are guilty of brazenly immoral conduct.29 Live with your wives in a good manner. If you dislike them in any manner, it may be that you dislike something in which Allah has placed much good for you.30 (4:20) And if you decide to dispense with a wife in order to take another, do not take away anything of what you might have given the first one, even if you had given her a heap of gold. Would you take it back by slandering her and committing a manifest wrong? (4:21) How can you take it away after each one has enjoyed the other, and they have taken a firm covenant from you?31 (4:22) Do not marry the women whom your fathers married, although what is past is past.32 This indeed was a shameful deed, a hateful thing, and an evil way.33 (4:23) Forbidden to you are your mothers,34 your daughters,35 your sisters,36 your father's sisters and your mother's sisters, your brother's daughters and your sister's daughters,37 your milk-mothers, your milk-sisters,38 the mothers of your wives,39 and the stepdaughters - who are your foster-children,40 born of your wives with whom you have consummated the marriage; but if you have not consummated the marriage with them, there will be no blame upon you (if you marry their daughters).
It is also forbidden for you to take the wives of the sons who have sprung from your loins41 and to take two sisters together in marriage,42 although what is past is past. Surely Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.43 (4:24) And also forbidden to you are all married women (muhsanat) except those women whom your right hands have come to possess (as a result of war).44 This is Allah's decree and it is binding upon you. But it is lawful for you to seek out all women except these, offering them your wealth and the protection of wedlock rather than using them for the unfettered satisfaction of lust. And in exchange of what you enjoy by marrying them pay their bridal-due as an obligation. But there is no blame on you if you mutually agree to alter the settlement after it has been made. Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (4:25) And those of you who cannot afford to marry free, believing women (muhsanat), then marry such believing women whom your right hands possess. Allah knows all about your faith. All of you belong to one another.45 Marry them, then, with the leave of their guardians, and give them their bridal-due in a fair manner that they may live in the protection of wedlock rather than be either mere objects of unfettered lust or given to secret love affairs. Then if they become guilty of immoral conduct after they have entered into wedlock, they shall be liable to half the penalty to which free women (muhsanat) are liable.46 This relaxation is for those of you who fear to fall into sin by remaining unmarried.47 But if you persevere, it is better for you. Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate. (4:26) Allah wants to make all this clear to you, and to guide you to the ways which the righteous have followed in the past. He will turn graciously towards you. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.48 (4:27) And Allah indeed wants to turn graciously towards you; but those who follow their lusts would want you to drift far away from the right way.49 (4:28) Allah wants to lighten your burdens, for man was created weak. (4:29) Believers! Do not devour one another's possessions wrongfully; rather than that, let there be trading by mutual consent.50 You shall not kill yourselves.51 Surely Allah is ever Compassionate to you.52 (4:30) And whoever does this by way of transgression and injustice him shall We surely cast into the Fire; that indeed is quite easy for Allah. (4:31) But if you avoid the major sins which you have been forbidden, We shall remit your (trivial) offences,53 and cause you to enter an honourable abode. (4:32) Do not covet what Allah has conferred more abundantly on some of you than others. Men shall have a share according to what they have earned, and women shall have a share according to what they have earned. Do ask of Allah His bounty. Allah has full knowledge of everything.54 (4:33) And to everyone We have appointed rightful heirs to what the parents and near of kin might leave behind. As to those with whom you have made a solemn covenant, give them their share. Allah watches over all things.55 (4:34) Men are the protec-tors and maintainers of women56 because Allah has made one of them excel over the other,57 and because they spend out of their possessions (to support them). Thus righteous women are obedient and guard the rights of men in their absence under Allah's protection.58 As for women of whom you fear rebellion, admonish them, and remain apart from them in beds, and beat them.59 Then if they obey you, do not seek ways to harm them. Allah is Exalted, Great. (4:35) If you fear a breach between the two, appoint an arbitrator from his people and an arbitrator from her people. If they both want to set things right,60 Allah will bring about reconciliation between them. Allah knows all, is well aware of everything.61 (4:36) Serve Allah and ascribe no partner to Him. Do good to your parents, to near of kin, to orphans, and to the needy, and to the neighbour who is of kin and to the neighbour who is a stranger, and to the companion by your side,62 and to the wayfarer, and to those whom your right hands possess. Allah does not love the arrogant and the boastful, (4:37) who are niggardly and bid others to be niggardly and conceal the bounty which Allah has bestowed upon them.63 We have kept in readiness a humiliating chastisement for such deniers (of Allah's bounty). (4:38) Allah does not love those who spend out of their wealth to make a show of it to people when they believe neither in Allah nor in the Last Day. And he who has taken Satan for a companion has indeed taken for himself a very bad companion. (4:39) What harm would have befallen them if they had believed in Allah and the Last Day, and spent on charity what Allah had bestowed upon them as sustenance? For Allah indeed has full knowledge of them. (4:40) Indeed Allah wrongs none, not even as much as an atom's weight. Whenever a man does good, He multiplies it two-fold, and bestows out of His grace a mighty reward. (4:41) Consider, then, when We shall bring forward witnesses from every community, and will bring you (O Muhammad!) as a witness against them all.64 (4:42) Those who disbelieved and disobeyed the Messenger will wish on that Day that the earth were levelled with them. They will not be able to conceal anything from Allah. (4:43) Believers! Do not draw near to the Prayer while you are intoxicated65 until you know what you are saying66 nor while you are defiled67 - save when you are travelling - until you have washed yourselves.68 If you are either ill or travelling or have satisfied a want of nature or have had contact with women69 and can find no water, then betake yourselves to pure earth, passing with it lightly over your face and your hands.70 Surely Allah is All-Relenting, All-Forgiving. (4:44) Have you not seen those to whom a portion of the Book was given?71 They purchased error for themselves, and wish that you too lose the right way? (4:45) Allah knows your enemies better and Allah suffices as a protector and Allah suffices as a helper. (4:46) Among those who have become Jews72 there are some who alter the words from their context,73 and make a malicious play with their tongues and seek to revile the true faith. They say: 'We have heard and we disobey' (sami'na wa 'asayna),74 'Do hear us, may you turn dumb' (isma' ghayr musma')75 and 'Hearken to us' (ra'ina). It would indeed have been better for them and more upright if they had said: 'We have heard and we obey' (sami'na wa ata'na)76 and: 'Do listen to us, and look at us (with kindness)' (wa isma' wa unzurna). But Allah has cursed them because of their disbelief. Scarcely do they believe. (4:47) O you who have been granted the Book! Do believe in what We have (now) revealed, which confirms the revelation which you already possess.77 Do this before We alter countenances, turning them backwards, or lay a curse upon them as We cursed the Sabbath-men.78 Bear in mind that Allah's command is done. (4:48) Surely Allah does not forgive that a partner be ascribed to Him,79 although He forgives any other sins for whomever He wills.80 He who associates anyone with Allah in His divinity has indeed forged a mighty lie and committed an awesome sin. (4:49) Have you not seen those who boast of their righteousness, even though it is Allah Who grants righteousness to whomsoever He wills? They are not wronged even as much as the husk of a date-stone (if they do not receive righteousness). (4:50) See how they forge lies about Allah! This in itself is a manifest sin. (4:51) Have you not seen those to whom a portion of the Book was given? They believe in baseless superstitions81 and taghut (false deities),82 and say about the unbelievers that they are better guided than those who believe.83 (4:52) Such are the ones whom Allah has cursed; and he whom Allah curses has none to come to his help. (4:53) Have they any share in the dominion (of Allah)? Had that been so, they would never have granted people even as much as the speck on a date-stone.84 (4:54) Do they envy others for the bounty that Allah has bestowed upon them?85 (Let them bear in mind that) We bestowed upon the house of Abraham the Book and Wis-dom, and We bestowed upon them a mighty dominion,86 (4:55) whereupon some of them believed, and others turned away.87 (Those who turn away), Hell suffices for a blaze. (4:56) Surely We shall cast those who reject Our signs into the Fire; and as often as their skins are burnt out, We shall give them other skins in exchange that they may fully taste the chastisement. Surely Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise. (4:57) And those who believe and do good deeds, We shall cause them to enter the Gardens beneath which rivers flow. There they shall abide for ever. There they shall have spouses purified and there We shall cause them to enter a shelter with plenteous shade. (4:58) Allah commands you to deliver trusts to those worthy of them; and when you judge between people, to judge with justice.88 Excellent is the admonition Allah gives you. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. (4:59) Believers! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger, and those from among you who are invested with authority; and then if you were to dispute among yourselves about anything refer it to Allah and the Messenger89 if you indeed believe in Allah and the Last Day; that is better and more commendable in the end.90 (4:60) (O Messenger!) Have you not seen those who claim to believe in the Book which has been revealed to you and in the Books revealed before you, and yet desire to submit their disputes to the judgement of taghut (the Satanic authorities who decide independently of the Law of Allah), whereas they had been asked to reject it.91 And Satan seeks to make them drift far away from the right way. (4:61) When they are told: 'Come to that which Allah has revealed, and come to the Messenger', you will notice the hypocrites turning away from you in aversion.92 (4:62) But what happens when some misfortune visits them because of their own misdeeds? Then, they come to you swearing by Allah,93 saying: 'We wanted nothing but to do good and to bring about conciliation (between the two parties)'. (4:63) As for them, Allah knows what is in their hearts. Leave them alone, admonish them, and say to them penetrating words about themselves. (4:64) (And tell them that) We never sent a Messenger but that he should be obeyed by the leave of Allah.94 If whenever they wronged themselves they had come to you praying to Allah for forgiveness, and had the Messenger prayed for their forgiveness, they would indeed have found Allah All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate. (4:65) But no, by your Lord, they cannot become true be-lievers until they seek your arbitration in all matters on which they disagree among themselves, and then find not the least vexation in their hearts over what you have decided, and accept it in willing submission.95 (4:66) Had We enjoined upon them: 'Slay yourselves', or 'Leave your habitations', very few of them would have done it;96 yet if they had done as they were admonished, it would have been better for them and would have strengthened them;97 (4:67) whereupon We would indeed grant them from Us a mighty reward, (4:68) and guide them to a straight way.98 (4:69) And he who obeys Allah and the Messenger -they shall be with those whom Allah has favoured -the Prophets, those steadfast in truthfulness99, the martyrs, and the righteous." How excellent will they be for companions!100 (4:70) That is a bounty from Allah, and Allah suffices to know the truth. (4:71) Believers! Always be on your guard against encounters.101 Then (as circumstance demands) either advance in detachments or advance in a body. (4:72) Among you there is such who lags behind,102 then if some affliction strikes you, he says: 'Indeed Allah bestowed His favour upon me that I was not present with them.' (4:73) And if a bounty from Allah is given you, he says - and says as if there never was any affection between you and him - 'Oh, would that I had been with them, I would have come by a great gain. (4:74) Let those who seek the life of the Next World in exchange for the life of this world fight in the way of Allah.103 We shall grant a mighty reward to whoever fights in the way of Allah, whether he is slain or comes out victorious. (4:75) How is it that you do not fight in the way of Allah and in support of the helpless - men, women and children -who pray: 'Our Lord, bring us out of this land whose people are oppressors and appoint for us from Yourself, a protector, and appoint for us from Yourself a helper'?104 . (4:76) Those who have faith fight in the way of Allah, while those who disbelieve fight in the way of taghut (Satan).105 Fight, then, against the fellows of Satan. Surely Satan's strategy is weak.106 (4:77) Have you not seen those who were told: 'Restrain you hands, and establish the Prayer, and pay the Zakah'? But when fighting was enjoined upon them some of them feared men as one should fear Allah, or even more,107 and said: 'Our Lord, why have You ordained fighting for us? Why did You not grant us a little more respite?' Say to them: 'There is little enjoyment in this world. The World to Come is much better for the God-fearing. And you shall not be wronged even to the extent of the husk of a date-stone.108 (4:78) Wherever you might be, death will overtake you even though you be in massive towers. And when some good happens to them, they say: 'This is from Allah'; whereas when some misfortune befalls them, they say: 'This is because of you'.109 Say: 'All is from Allah.' What has happened to this people that they seem to understand nothing? (4:79) Whatever good happens to you is from Allah; and whatever misfortune smites you is because of your own action. We have sent you to mankind (O Muhammad!) as a Messenger, and Allah is sufficient as a witness. (4:80) He who obeys the Messenger thereby obeys Allah; as for he who turns away, We have not sent you as a keeper over them!110 (4:81) They say (in your presence): 'We obey', but when they leave your presence a party of them meets by night to plan against what you have said. Allah takes note of all their plots. So, let them alone, and put your trust in Allah. Allah is sufficient as a guardian. (4:82) Do they not ponder about the Qur'an? Had it been from any other than Allah, they would surely have found in it much inconsistency.111 (4:83) Whenever they come upon any news bearing upon either security or causing consternation they go about spreading it, whereas if they were to convey it to either the Messenger or to those from among them who are entrusted with authority, it would come to the knowledge of those who are competent to investigate it.112 But for Allah's bounty and mercy upon you, (weak as you were) all but a few of you would surely have followed Satan. (4:84) (So, O Messenger!) Fight in the way of Allah -since you are responsible for none except yourself - and rouse the believers to fight, for Allah may well curb the might of the unbelievers. Indeed Allah is strongest in power and most terrible in chastisement. (4:85) He who intercedes in a good cause shall share in its good result, and he who intercedes in an evil cause shall share in its burden.113 Allah watches over everything. (4:86) When you are greeted with a salutation then return it with a better one, or at least the same.114 Surely Allah takes good count of everything. (4:87) There is no god but Allah. He will certainly gather you all together on the Day of Resurrection - the Day regarding which there can be no doubt. Whose word can be truer than Allah's?115 (4:88) What has happened to you that you have two minds about the hypocrites116 even though Allah has reverted them, owing to the sins that they earned?117 Do you want to lead those to the right way whom Allah let go astray? And he whom Allah lets go astray, for him you can never find a way. (4:89) They wish that you should disbelieve just as they disbelieved so that you may all be alike. Do not, therefore, take from them allies until they emigrate in the way of Allah, but if they turn their backs (on emigration), seize them and slay them118 wherever you come upon them. Take none of them for your ally or helper, (4:90) unless it be such of them who seek refuge with a people who are joined with you by a covenant,119 or those who come to you because their hearts shrink from fighting either against you or against their own people. Had Allah so willed, He would certainly have given them power over you and they would have fought against you. If they leave you alone and do not fight against you and offer you peace,, then Allah does not permit you to harm them. (4:91) You will also find others who wish to be secure from you, and secure from their people, but who, whenever they have any opportunity to cause mischief, plunge into it headlong. If such people neither leave you alone nor offer you peace nor restrain their hands from hurting you, then seize them and slay them wherever you come upon them. It is against these that We have granted you a clear sanction. (4:92) It is not for a believer to slay another believer unless by mistake.120 And he who has slain a believer by mistake, his atonement is to set free from bondage a believing person121 and to pay blood-money to his heirs,122 unless they forgo it by way of charity. And if the slain belonged to a hostile people, but was a believer, then the atonement is to set free from bondage a believing person.
And if the slain belonged to a (non-Muslim) people with whom you have a covenant, then the atonement is to pay the blood-money to his heirs, and to set free from bondage a believing person.123 But he who cannot (free a slave) should fast for two consecutive months.124 This is the penance ordained by Allah.125 Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (4:93) And he who slays a believer wilfully his reward is Hell, where he will abide. Allah's wrath is against him and He has cast His curse upon him, and has prepared for him a great chastisement. (4:94) Believers! When you go forth in the way of Allah, discern (between friend and foe), and do not say to him who offers you the greeting of peace: 'You are not a believer.'126 If you seek the good of this worldly life, there lies with Allah abundant gain. After all, you too were such before, and then Allah was gracious to you.127 Discern, then, for Allah is well aware of what you do. (4:95) Those believers who sit at home, unless they do so out of a disabling injury, are not the equals of those who strive in the way of Allah with their possessions and their lives. Allah has exalted in rank those who strive with their possessions and their lives over those who sit at home; and though to each Allah has promised some good reward, He has preferred those who strive (in the way of Allah) over those who sit at home for a mighty reward.128 (4:96) For them are ranks, forgiveness, and favours from Him. Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate. (4:97) While taking the souls of those who were engaged in wronging themselves,129 the angels asked: 'In what circumstances were you?' They replied: 'We were too weak and helpless in the land.' The angels said: 'Was not the earth of Allah wide enough for you to emigrate in it?'130 For such men their refuge is Hell - an evil destination indeed; (4:98) except the men, women, and children who were indeed too feeble to be able to seek the means of escape and did not know where to go .- (4:99) maybe Allah shall pardon these, for Allah is All-Pardoning, All-Forgiving. (4:100) He who emigrates in the way of Allah will find in the earth enough room for refuge and plentiful resources. And he who goes forth from his house as a migrant in the way of Allah and His Messenger, and whom death overtakes, his reward becomes incumbent on Allah. Surely Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.131 (4:101)When you go forth journeying in the land, there is no blame on you if you shorten the Prayer,132 (especially) if you fear that the unbelievers might cause you harm.133 Surely the unbelievers are your open enemies. (4:102) (O Messenger!) If you are among the believers and rise (in the state of war) to lead the Prayer for them,134 let a party of them stand with you to worship, keeping their arms.135 When they have performed their prostration, let them go behind you, and let another party who have not prayed, pray with you, remaining on guard and keeping their arms,136 for the unbelievers love to see you heedless of your arms and your baggage so that they might swoop upon you in a surprise attack. But there shall be no blame upon you if you were to lay aside your arms if you are either troubled by rain or are sick; but remain on guard. Surely Allah has prepared a humiliating chastisement for the unbelievers.137 (4:103) When you have finished the Prayer, remember Allah -standing, and sitting, and reclining. And when you become secure, perform the regular Prayer. The Prayer is enjoined upon the believers at stated times. (4:104) Do not be faint of heart in pursuing these people:138 if you happen to suffer harm they too are suffering just as you are, while you may hope from Allah what they cannot hope for.139 Allah is All-Knowing, All- Wise. (4:105) (O Messenger!) We have revealed to you this Book with the Truth so that you may judge between people in accordance with what Allah has shown you. So do not dispute on behalf of the dishonest,140 (4:106) and seek forgiveness from Allah. Surely Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate. (4:107) Do not plead for those who are dishonest to themselves;141 Allah does not love him who betrays trust and persists in sin. (4:108) They can hide (their deeds) from men but they cannot hide (them) from Allah for He is with them even when they hold nightly counsels that are unpleasing to Allah. Allah encompasses all their doings. (4:109) You pleaded on their behalf in this worldly life but who will plead with Allah on their behalf on the Day of Resurrection, or who will be their defender there? (4:110) He who does either evil or wrongs himself, and then asks for the forgiveness of Allah, will find Allah All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate. (4:111) He who commits a sin, commits it only to his detriment. Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (4:112) But he who commits either a fault or a sin, and then casts it upon an innocent person, lays upon himself the burden of a false charge and a flagrant sin. (4:113) (O Messenger!) But for Allah's favour and mercy upon you, a party of them had resolved to mislead you,yet they only misled them selves, and could not have harmed you in any way.142 Allah revealed to you the Book and Wisdom, and He taught you what you knew not. Great indeed has been Allah's favour upon you. (4:114) Most of their secret conferrings are devoid of good, unless one secretly enjoins in charity, good deeds, and setting the affairs of men right. We shall grant who ever does that seeking to please Allah a great reward. (4:115) As for him who sets himself against the Messenger and follows a path other than that of the believers even after true guidance had become clear to him, We will let him go to the way he has turned to,143 and We will cast him into Hell - an evil destination. (4:116) Truly it is only associating others with Allah in His divinity that Allah does not forgive,144 and forgives anything besides that to whomsoever He wills. Whoever associates others with Allah in His divinity has indeed strayed far away. (4:117) Rather than call upon Him, they call upon goddesses, and call upon a rebellious Satan145 (4:118) upon whom Allah has laid His curse. He said (to Allah): 'I will take to myself an appointed portion of Your servants146 (4:119) and shall lead them astray, and shall engross them in vain desires, and I shall command them and they will cut off the ears of the cattle,147 and I shall command them and they will disfigure Allah's creation.'148 He who took Satan rather than Allah for his guardian has indeed suffered a man-ifest loss. (4:120) Satan makes promises to them and fills them with vain hopes,149 but whatever he promises them is merely delusion. (4:121) For these people, their abode shall be Hell and from there they shall find no way of escape. (4:122) But those who believe and do good, We shall cause them to enter the Gardens beneath which rivers flow. Here they will abide for ever. This is Allah's promise in truth and whose word is truer than Allah's? (4:123) It is neither your fancies nor the fancies of the People of the Book which matter. Whoever does evil shall reap its consequence and will find none to be his protector and helper against Allah. (4:124) Whoever does good and believes -whether he is male or female - such shall enter the Garden, and they shall not be wronged in the slightest. (4:125) And whose way of life could be better than that of he who submits his whole being to Allah, does good, and follows exclusively the way of Abraham whom Allah took for a friend? (4:126) Whatever is in the heavens and in the earth belongs to Allah;150 Allah en-compasses everything.151 (4:127) They ask you to pronounce laws concerning women,152 say: 'Allah pronounces to you concerning them,153 and reminds you of the injunctions which were recited to you in the Book about female orphans whom you do not give what has been ordained for them154 and whom you wish to marry (out of greed)',155 and the commandments relating to the children who are weak and helpless.156 Allah directs you to treat the orphans with justice. Allah is well aware of whatever good you do. (4:128) If157 a woman fears either ill-treatment or aversion from her husband it is not wrong for the husband and wife to bring about reconciliation among themselves (by compromising on their rights), for settlement is better.158 Man's soul is always prone to selfishness,159 but if you do good and are God-fearing, then surely Allah is aware of the things you do.160 (4:129) You will not be able to treat your wives with absolute justice not even when you keenly desire to do so. (It suffices in order to follow the Law of Allah that) you incline not wholly to one, leaving the other in suspense.161 If you act rightly and remain God-fearing, surely Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.162 (4:130) But if the two separate, out of His plenty Allah will make each dispense with the other. Indeed Allah is All-Bounteous, All-Wise. (4:131) All that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth belongs to Allah. We enjoined upon those who were given the Book before you, and also yourselves, to have fear of Allah. But if you disbelieve, then bear in mind that all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth belongs to Allah. Allah is Self-Sufficient, Most Praiseworthy. (4:132) And to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth; and Allah suffices for help and protection. (4:133) If He wills, He has the full power to remove you, O mankind, and bring in others in your place. (4:134) He who desires the reward of this world, let him know that with Allah is the reward of this world and also of the World to Come. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.163 (4:135) Believers! Be upholders of justice,164 and bearers of witness to truth for the sake of Allah,165 even though it may either be against yourselves or against your parents and kinsmen, or the rich or the poor: for Allah is more concerned with their well-being than you are. Do not, then, follow your own desires lest you keep away from justice. If you twist or turn away from (the truth), know that Allah is well aware of all that you do. (4:136) Believers! Believe166 in Allah and His Messenger and in the Book He has revealed to His Messenger, and in the Book He revealed before. And whoever disbelieves167 in Allah, in His angels, in His Books, in His Messengers and in the Last Day, has indeed strayed far away. (4:137) Allah will neither forgive nor show the right way to those who believed, and then disbelieved, then believed, and again disbelieved, and thenceforth became ever more intense in their disbelief.168 (4:138) Give tidings of painful chastisement to the hypocrites. (4:139) who take the unbelievers for their allies in preference to the believers. Do they seek honour from them169 whereas honour altogether belongs to Allah alone? (4:140) Allah has enjoined upon you in the-Book that when you hear the signs of Allah being rejected and scoffed at, you will not sit with them until they engage in some other talk, or else you will become like them.170 Know well, Allah will gather the hypocrites and the unbe-lievers in Hell - all together. (4:141) These hypocrites watch you closely: if victory is granted to you by Allah, they will say: 'Were we not with you?' And were the unbelievers to gain the upper hand, they will say: 'Did we not have mastery over you, and yet we protected you from the believers?'171 It is Allah Who will judge between you on the Day of Resurrection, and He will not allow the unbelievers, in any way, to gain advantage over the believers. (4:142) Behold, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but it is they who are being deluded by Him. When they rise to Prayer, they rise reluctantly, and only to be seen by men. They remember Allah but little.172 (4:143) They dangle between the one and the other (faith and disbelief), and belong neither to these nor to those completely. And he whom Allah lets go astray, for him you can find no way.173 (4:144) Believers! Do not take the unbelievers as your allies in preference to the believers. Do you wish to offer Allah a clear proof of guilt against yourselves? (4:145) Surely the hypocrites shall be in the lowest depth of the Fire and you shall find none to come to their help, (4:146) except those who re-pent and mend their ways and hold fast to Allah and make their faith exclusive to Allah.174 Those people shall be numbered with the believers and Allah will certainly bestow on the believers a great reward. (4:147) Why should Allah deal chastisement to you if you are grateful175 to Him and believe? Allah is All-Appreciative,176 All-Knowing. (4:148) Allah does not like speaking evil publicly unless one has been wronged. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (4:149) (Even though you have the right to speak evil if you are wronged), if you keep doing good -whether openly or secretly -or at least pardon the evil (then that is the attribute of Allah). Allah is All-Pardoning and He has all the power to chastise.177 (4:150) There are those who disbelieve in Allah and His Messengers and seek to differentiate between Allah and His Messengers, and say: 'We believe in some and deny others, and seek to strike a way between the two.' (4:151) It is they, indeed they, who are, beyond all doubt, unbelievers;178 and for the unbelievers We have prepared a humiliating chastisement. (4:152) For those who believe in Allah and His Messengers, and do not differentiate between them, We shall certainly give them their reward.179 Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate 180 (4:153) The People of the Book now ask of you to have a Book come down on them from heaven;181 indeed they asked of Moses even greater things than this, for they said: 'Make us see Allah with our own eyes' - whereupon the thunderbolt suddenly smote them for their wickedness.182 Then they took to worshipping the calf after clear signs had come to them.183 Still, We forgave them, and conferred a manifest commandment upon Moses, (4:154) and We raised the Mount high above them and took from them a covenant184 (to obey the commandment), and ordered them: 'Enter the gate in the state of prostration.'185 And We said to them: 'Do not violate the law of the Sabbath', and took from them a firm covenant.186 (4:155) (They have incurred Allah's wrath) for their breaking the covenant, and their rejection of the signs of Allah, and for slaying Prophets without right, and for saying: 'Our hearts are wrapped up in covers'187 -even though in fact Allah has sealed their hearts because of their unbelief, so that they scarcely believe188 (4:156) and for their going so far in unbelief189 as uttering against Mary a mighty calumny,190 (4:157) and their saying: 'We slew the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary', the Messenger of Allah191 - whereas192 in fact they had neither slain him nor crucified him but the matter was made dubious to them193 - and those who differed about it too were in a state of doubt! They have no definite knowledge of it, but merely follow conjecture;194 and they surely slew him not, (4:158) but Allah raised him to Himself.195 Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise. (4:159) There are none among the People of the Book but will believe in him before his death,196 and he will be a witness against them on the Day of Resurrection.197 (4:160) Thus,198 We forbade them many clean things which had earlier been made lawful for them,199 for the wrong-doing of those who became Jews, for their barring many from the way of Allah,200 (4:161) and for their taking interest which had been prohibited to them,201 and for their consuming the wealth of others wrongfully. And for the un believers among them We have prepared a painful chastisement.202 (4:162) Those among them who are firmly rooted in knowledge and the believers, such do believe in what has been revealed to you and what was revealed before you.203 (Those who truly believe) establish the Prayer and pay Zakah, those who firmly believe in Allah and in the Last Day, to them We shall indeed pay a great reward. (4:163) (O Muhammad!) We have revealed to you as We revealed to Noah and the Prophets after him,204 and We revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the offspring of Jacob, and Jesus and Job, and Jonah, and Aaron and Solomon, and We gave to David Psalms.205 (4:164) We revealed to the Messengers We have already told you of, and to the Messengers We have not told you of; and to Moses Allah spoke directly.206 (4:165) These Messengers were sent as bearers of glad tidings and as warners207 so that after sending the Messengers people may have no plea against Allah.208 Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise. (4:166) (Whether people believe or not) Allah bears witness that whatever He has revealed to you, He has revealed with His knowledge, and the angels bear witness to it too, though the witness of Allah is sufficient. (4:167) Those who denied this truth and barred others from the way of Allah have indeed strayed far. (4:168) Likewise, Allah will neither forgive those who denied the truth and took to wrong-doing nor will He show them any other way. (4:169) save that of Hell wherein they will abide. And that is easy for Allah. (4:170) O men! Now that the Messenger has come to you bearing the Truth from your Lord, believe in him; it will be good for you. If you reject, know well that to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth.209 Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.210 (4:171) People of the Book! Do not exceed the limits in your religion,211 and attribute to Allah nothing except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was only a Messenger of Allah, and His command212 that He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him (which led to Mary's conception).213 So believe in Allah and in His Messengers,214 and do not say: (Allah is a) trinity215. Give up this assertion; it would be better for you. Allah is indeed just one God. Far be it from His glory that He should have a son.216 To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and in the earth.217 Allah is sufficient for a guardian.218 (4:172) The Messiah neither did disdain to be a servant of Allah nor do the angels who are stationed near to Him; and whoever disdains to serve Him, and waxes arrogant, Allah will certainly muster them all to Him. (4:173) He will grant those who have believed and done good deeds their rewards in full, and will give them more out of His bounty. He will bestow upon those who have been disdainful and arrogant a painful chastisement; and they will find for themselves neither a guardian nor a helper besides Allah. (4:174) O men! A proof has come to you from your Lord, and We have sent down unto you a clear light. (4:175) Allah will surely admit those who believe in Him and hold fast to Him to His mercy and bounty, and will guide them on to a straight way to Himself. (4:176) People219 ask you to pronounce a ruling concerning inheritance from those who have left behind no lineal heirs (kalalah).220 Say: 'Allah pronounces for you the ruling: should a man die childless but have a sister,221 she shall have one half of what he has left behind; and should the sister die childless, his brother shall inherit her.222 And if the heirs are two sisters, they shall have two-thirds of what he has left behind.223 And if the heirs are sisters and brothers, then the male shall have the share of two females. Allah makes (His commandments) clear to you lest you go astray. Allah has full knowledge of everything.
1. What are the mutual rights of human beings, what are the principles on
which a sound and stable family life can be established, are questions that
are discussed a little further on in this surah. As an appropriate introduction
to the subject, the surah opens by exhorting the believers to fear God and to
avoid courting His displeasure, and by urging them to recognize that all human
beings have sprung from the same root and that all of them are, therefore, of
one another's flesh and blood. The expression 'Who created you from a single
being (nafs)' indicates that the creation of the human species began with the
creation of one individual. At another place, the Qur'an specifies that the
one person from whom the human race spread in the world was Adam. (For Adam
being the progenitor of mankind see Towards Understanding the Qur'an,
(Surah 2, verses 31 f.) and
(Surah al-A'raf: 11), etc. - Ed.)
The details how out of that 'being' its mate was created are not known to us.
The explanation which is generally given by the commentators of the Qur'an and
which is also found in the Bible is that Eve was, created out of a rib of Adam.
(The Talmud is even more detailed in that it states that Eve was created out
of Adam's thirteenth rib on the left side.) The Qur'an, however, is silent on
the matter and the tradition which is adduced in support of this statement does
not mean what it is often thought to be. It is thus better that we leave the
matter in the same state of ambiguity in which it was left by God, rather than
waste our time trying to determine, in detail, the actual process of the creation
of man's mate.
'The author alludes to, but does not quote, the text of the following tradition:
Muslim, 'Rida'ah', 61 and 62; Tirmidhi, 'Talaq'' 12; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad,
vol. 2, pp. 428, 449, 497, 530 and vol. 6, p. 279 - Ed.
2. God directs the guardians of the orphans to spend out of the latter's property while they are still minors, and to restore it to them when they attain majority.
3. The order not to exchange the bad for the good has several meanings. On the one hand, it means that one should not replace honest by dishonest living. At the same time, it also means that one should not exchange one's own property which is of little value for the more valuable property of the orphans.
4. Commentators have explained this in the following ways:
(i) There is the view of 'A'ishah who says that men tended to marry orphan girls
who were under their guardianship out of consideration for either their property,
beauty or because they thought they would be able to treat them according to
their whims, as they had no one to protect them. After marriage such men sometimes
committed excesses against these girls. It is in this context that the Muslims
are told that if they fear they will not be able to do justice to the orphan
girls, then they should marry other girls whom they like. (This interpretation
seems to be supported by (verse 127 )of this surah.)
(ii) The second view is that of Ibn 'Abbas and his disciple 'Ikrimah who expressed
the opinion that in the Jahiliyah period there was no limit on the number of
wives a man could take. The result was that a man sometimes married as many
as ten women and, when expenses increased because of a large family, he encroached
on the rights either of his orphan nephews or other relatives. It was in this
context that God fixed the limit of four wives and instructed the Muslims that
they may marry up to four wives providing they possessed the capacity to treat
them equitably.
(iii) Sa'id b. Jubayr, Qatadah and some other commentators say that while the
Arabs of the Jahiliyah period did not approve of subjecting orphans to wrong,
they had no concept of justice and equity with regard to women. They married
as many women as they wanted and then subjected them to injustice and oppression.
It is in this context that people are told that if they fear perpetrating wrongs
on orphans they ought to be equally worried about perpetrating them on women.
In the first place they should never marry more than four, and of those four,
they should marry only as many as they can treat fairly.
Each of the three interpretations is plausible and all three may possibly be
correct. Moreover, the verse could also mean that if a person does not find
himself able to treat orphans in a fair manner, then he might as well marry
the women who are looking after those orphans.
5. Muslim jurists are agreed that according to this verse the maximum number
Of wives has been fixed at four. This conclusion is also supported by traditions.
It is reported that when Ghaylan, the chief of Ta'if, embraced Islam he had
nine wives. The Prophet (peace be on him) ordered him to keep only four wives
and divorce the rest. Another person, Nawfal b. Mu'awiyah, had five wives. The
Prophet (peace be on him) ordered him to divorce one of them. (For the relevant
traditions see the comments of Ibn Kathir and Qurtubi on this verse - Ed.)
This verse stipulates that marrying more wives than one is permissible on the
condition that one treats his wives equitably. A person who avails himself of
this permission granted by God to have a plurality of wives, and disregards
the condition laid down by God to treat them equitably has not acted in good
faith with God. In case there are complaints from wives that they are not being
treated equitably, the Islamic state has the right to intervene and redress
such grievances.
Some people who have been overwhelmed and overawed by the Christianized outlook
of Westerners have tried to prove that the real aim of the Qur'an was to put
an end to polygamy (which, in their opinion, is intrinsically evil). Since it
was widely practised at that time, however, Islam confined itself to placing
restrictions on it. Such arguments only show the mental slavery to which these
people have succumbed. That polygamy is an evil per se is an unacceptable proposition,
for under certain conditions it becomes a moral and social necessity. If polygamy
is totally prohibited men who cannot remain satisfied with only one wife will
look outside the bounds of matrimonial life and create sexual anarchy and corruption.
This is likely to cause much greater harm than polygamy to the moral and social
order. For this reason the Qur'an has allowed those who feel the need for it
to resort to polygamy. Those who consider it an evil in itself may certainly
denounce it in disregard of the Qur'an and may even argue for its abolition.
But they have no right to attribute such a view to the Qur'an, for it has expressed
its permission of polygamy in quite categorical terms. Indeed, there is not
the slightest hint in the Qur'an that could justify the conclusion that it advocates
abolition of polygamy. (For further elaboration see my book, Sunnat k A'iniHaythiyat,
Lahore, 3rd edition, 1975, pp. 307-16.)
6. This expression denotes 'slave-girls', i.e. female captives of war who are distributed by the state among individuals. The purpose of this verse is to tell men that if their financial circumstances do not permit them to support a free woman as their wife then they may marry a slave-girl (see verse 25 below); if they consider it necessary to have more than one wife and it would be difficult for them to treat their free wives equitably they may resort to slave-girls, for here the burden of obligations is lighter by comparison. (For further injunctions regarding slave-girls seen. 44 below.)
7. In the opinion of 'Umar and Shurayh, if a woman gives up either the whole or a part of the bridal-due (mahr) in favour of her husband and later reclaims it from him then he is bound to pay it. The claim on the woman's part would be tantamount to her unwillingness to remit either the whole or a part of the bridal-due. For further details see the section entitled 'Mahr' in my book Huquq al-Zawjayn, 16th edition, Lahore, 1976, pp. 31-3 and 119-23.
8. This verse covers a very wide spectrum of meaning. It emphasizes to the community of believers that wealth is one of the main supports of human life. It should not be left, therefore, at the mercy of those who are incompetent to handle it properly. By misusing wealth such people might destroy the bases of social and economic life and wreck the moral foundations of human society. The right to private property is not so absolute; if a person is incapable of exercising this right properly and if he might cause grave social harm by wanton expenditure then his right may be forfeited. The necessities of such a person's life should always be provided for. But so far as the exercise of his proprietary rights is concerned, due restrictions should be placed on it in order that the owner is restrained from spending his resources in brazen disregard of the dictates of morality, collective welfare and economic interests of the community. According to the directive embodied in the verse, anyone who entrusts his property to someone else's care should satisfy himself that the latter is capable of making good use of it. At a higher level, it is incumbent upon an Islamic state to take over the management of the properties of those who either lack totally the capacity for good management or cause social damage by misuse. In such cases the state is responsible for providing these people with their livelihood.
9. When such people approach their majority their mental development should be watched so as to determine to what extent they have become capable of managing their own affairs.
10. Two conditions have been laid down for handing over the charge of their properties to such people. The first of these is the attainment of puberty, and the second is that of mental maturity - i.e. the capacity to manage their affairs in a sound and appropriate manner. There is full agreement among Muslim jurists with regard to the first condition. As for the second condition, Abu Hanifah is of the opinion that if an orphan does not attain mental maturity after he has attained puberty, the guardian of the orphan should wait for a maximum of seven years after which he should hand over the property to its owner regardless of whether he has attained maturity or not. According to Abu Yusuf, Muhammad b. al-Hasan and Shafi'i, maturity is an indispensable pre-condition for the handing over of property. If one were to apply the doctrine of the latter jurists it would probably be more appropriate to refer particular cases to a judge under Islamic law. If the judge is convinced that the person concerned lacks maturity he should make adequate arrangements for the supervision of that person's financial affairs. (For a more complete study of the subject see Jassas, vol. 2, pp. 59 ff.; Ibn Rushd, Biddyat al-Mujtahid, 2 vols., Cairo, Al-Maktabahal-Tijariyahal-Kubra, n.d., vol. 2, pp. 275ff.-Ed.)
11. The guardian is entitled to remuneration for his service. The amount of this remuneration should be such as is deemed to be fair by neutral and reasonable people. Moreover, the guardian is instructed that he should take a fixed and known amount by way of remuneration, that he should take it openly rather than secretly, and that he should keep an account of it.
12. This verse embodies five legal injunctions. First, that women as well as men are entitled to inheritance. Second, that inheritance, however meagre it might be, should be distributed; even if the deceased has left a small piece of cloth and he has ten heirs, that piece of cloth should be distributed among them all. This does not exclude, however, the permissibility of one heir purchasing the shares of other heirs with their consent. Third, this verse indicates that the law of inheritance is applicable to all kinds of property - movable and immovable, agricultural, industrial and so on. Fourth, it shows that the right of inheritance comes into force as soon as a person dies leaving property. Fifth, it implies the rule that immediate blood-relatives exclude those that are further removed.
13. This directive is addressed to the heirs of the deceased. They are told not to be niggardly towards their relatives whether they be close or distant. Nor should they be niggardly towards either poor and needy members of the family or towards orphans who are present when the inheritance is distributed. Although they are not legally entitled to any share it is seemly for people to act magnanimously and give them something out of their inheritance, and especially to desist from making hurtful remarks.
14. It is reported in a tradition that after the Battle of Uhud the wife of Sa'd b. Rabi' brought her two daughters to the Prophet (peace be on him) and said: 'O Messenger of God! These are daughters of Sa'd who was with you in the Battle of Uhud, where he was martyred. The girls' uncles have seized the whole property and left nothing for them. Who will now marry these girls?' It was after this incident that these verses were revealed. (See Muhammad 'Ali al-Sabuni's comments on this verse in his Safwat al-Tafasir and the sources quoted therein - Ed.)
15. This is the first general rule in connection with inheritance, viz., that the share of the male should be double that of the female. Since Islamic law imposes greater financial obligations on men in respect of family life and relieves women of a number of such obligations, justice demands that a woman's share in inheritance should be less than that of a man.
16. The same applies in the case where there are two daughters. If the deceased leaves only daughters, and if there are two or more daughters then they will receive two-thirds of the inheritance and the remaining one-third will go to the other heirs. But if the deceased has only one son there is a consensus among jurists that in the absence of other heirs he is entitled to all the property and if the deceased has other heirs, he is entitled to the property left after their shares have been distributed.
17. If the deceased leaves issue each of his parents will receive one-sixth of the inheritance irrespective of whether the issue consists either only of daughters, only of sons, of both sons and daughters, of just one son or just one daughter. The remaining two-thirds will be distributed among the rest of the heirs.
18. If there are no other heirs than the parents, the remaining two-thirds will go to the share of the father; otherwise the two-thirds will be distributed between the father and other heirs.
19. In the case where the deceased also has brothers and sisters the share of the mother will be one-sixth rather than one-third. In this case the sixth that was deducted from the share of the mother will be added to that of the father, for in this circumstance the father's obligations are heavier. It should be noted that if the parents of the deceased are alive, the brothers and sisters will not be entitled to any share in the inheritance.
20. The mention of bequest precedes the mention of debt, for although not
everyone need be encumbered with debt it is necessary that everyone should make
a bequest. (However, other Mufassirun (exegetes) regard making a bequest as
a discretionary act - Ed.) As for legalities, there is consensus among Muslims
that the payment of debts takes precedence over the payment of bequests, i.e.
if the deceased owes a debt and also leaves a bequest, the debt will first be
paid out of the inheritance, and only then will his bequest be fulfilled.
We have already stated in connection with bequest (see Towards Understanding
the Qur'an, vol. I, (Surah 2, n. 182) that a man has the right to bequeath up
to a maximum of one-third of his inheritance. The principle laid down in regard
to bequest is that a man can -^\ot a portion of his inheritance either to a
relative who is not legally entitled to any prescribed share in the inheritance
or to others whom he considers deserving of help, e.g. either an orphaned grandson
or grand-daughter, the widow of a son in financial distress, any brother, sister,
brother's wife, nephew, and other relatives who seem to be in need of support.
If there are no such relatives bequests can be made either to other needy people
or for charitable purposes. In short, the Law has fixed regulations for the
distribution of two-thirds or more of one's inheritance, out of which the legal
heirs are to receive their shares according to the regulations laid down by
the Law. A maximum of one-third of the inheritance has been left to the discretion
of the person concerned, who can dispose of it by means of bequest in light
of his particular family circumstances. If anyone makes either an inequitable
bequest or misuses his discretion so as to hurt the legitimate rights of others,
it is permissible for the members of the family to rectify the situation either
by mutual agreement or by requesting a judge to intervene. For further details
see my booklet Yatim Pot6 ki Wirathat ka Mas'alah, Lahore, 1954.
21. This is in response to those feeble-minded people who do not fully appreciate God's law of inheritance and try to fill, with the help of their limited intellect, what they see as gaps in God's Laws.
22. Whether a man has one wife or several wives the share of the wife/wives is one-eighth of the inheritance when the deceased has issue, and one-fourth when he has no issue. The share of the wives, whether one-fourth or one-eighth, will be distributed equally among them.
23. The remaining five-sixths or two-thirds of the inheritance goes to the legal heirs, if any. Where there are no legal heirs, the person concerned is entitled to make a bequest with regard to the remaining part of the inheritance. Commentators are agreed that the sisters and brothers mentioned here mean half-brothers and half-sisters, i.e. those who have kinship with the deceased on the mother's side. Injunctions affecting full brothers and sisters, and half-brothers and half-sisters on the father's side are mentioned towards the end of the present surah. See (verse 176 below, and nn. 219 ff. - Ed.)
24.'Bequests which cause injury' are those that entail depriving deserving kin of their legitimate rights. Similarly, the debt which causes injury is the fake debt which one falsely admits to owing, and any other device to which one resorts merely in order to deprive the rightful heirs of their shares in inheritance. This kind of injury has been declared to be a major sin in a tradition from the Prophet (peace be on him). According to another tradition the Prophet (peace be on him) said that even if a man worked all his life, like the men of Paradise, yet ended his life's record by making a wrongful bequest, he would be consigned to Hell. (Ibn Kathir, vol. 2, p. 218.) Such an act of deliberate injury and calculated effort designed to deprive people of their due rights is always a sin, but it is mentioned by God particularly in the case of kalalah (the person who leaves behind neither parents nor descendants). (For kalalah see nn. 219 ff. below - Ed.) The reason for this seems to be that a man who has neither issue nor parents is often prone to squander his property and somehow prevent his distant relatives from receiving any share in the inheritance.
25. God's knowledge is referred to here for two reasons. First, to stress
that if a man violates God's Law he will not be able to escape from the grip
of God, for He is Omniscient. Second, to emphasize that the shares in inheritance
fixed by God are absolutely sound, for God knows better than His creatures where
their true interests lie. Reference is also made to God's forbearance. This
is in order to point out that harshness could not characterize the laws laid
down by God in respect of inheritance since He Himself is not harsh. On the
contrary, the aim of God's laws is to prevent people suffering inconvenience
and hardship.
25a. This is a terrifying verse in which those who either tamper with God's
laws of inheritance or violate the legal bounds categorically laid down by God
in His Book are warned of unending punishment. It is lamentable that, in spite
of these very stern warnings, Muslims have occasionally been guilty of breaching
God's laws with the same boldness and insolence as that of the Jews. Disobedience
to God's law of inheritance has occasionally assumed the proportion of open
rebellion against Him. In some instances, women have been disinherited altogether.
In others, the eldest son has been declared the only legal heir. There are also
instances where the entire system of inheritance distribution has been replaced
by the system of joint family property. In still other instances, the shares
of women have been made equal to those of men. In our time a few Muslim states,
in imitation of the West, even contrived a new form of disobedience. This consists
of imposing death duties so that governments, too, become one of the heirs of
the deceased, an heir whose share God had altogether failed to mention! This
is despite the fact that under Islamic dispensation governments may assume control
of a dead man's inheritance only if it is either unclaimed or if the person
concerned has specifically so bequeathed part of his inheritance.
26. In these two (verses 15-16)the first, preliminary directives for the
punishment for unlawful sexual intercourse are stated. The first verse deals
with women. The punishment laid down was to confine them until further directives
were revealed. The second verse (i.e. 16) relates to both sexes. The injunction
lays down that they should be punished - that is, they should be beaten and
publicly reproached. Later, another injunction was revealed see
(Surah al-Nur 24: 2) which laid down that both the male and female should be given a hundred
lashes. These injunctions are necessarily of a preliminary nature since the
people of Arabia were neither used to obeying the orders of any established
government, the verdicts of any courts of law nor to following any legal code;
it would therefore have been unwise to try to force acceptance of a penal code
upon them so soon after the establishment of the Islamic state. In due course,
the punishments for unlawful sexual intercourse, for slanderous accusations
of unchastity against women, and for theft were laid down in their definitive
form and served as the basis of that detailed penal code which was enforced
by the Prophet (peace be on him) and the Rightly-Guided Caliphs.
The apparent difference between the contents of the two verses led al-Suddi
to the misconceived belief that the first verse lays down the punishment for
married women, and the second that for unmarried men and women. This is a tenuous
explanation unsupported by any serious evidence and argument. Even less convincing
is the opinion expressed by Abu Muslim al-Isfahani that the first verse relates
to lesbian relations between females, and the second to homosexual relations
between males. It is strange that al-Isfahani ignored the basic fact that the
Qur'an seeks merely to chart a broad code of law and morality and hence deals
only with fundamental questions. It is inconsistent with the majestic style
of the Qur'an to discuss secondary details which have been left to people to
decide through the exercise of their legal judgement. It is for this reason
that when the problem of fixing a punishment for sodomy came up for consideration
after the time of the Prophet (peace be on him), none of the Companions thought
that the above-mentioned verse contained any relevant injunction.
26. In these two (verses 15-16)the first, preliminary directives for the
punishment for unlawful sexual intercourse are stated. The first verse deals
with women. The punishment laid down was to confine them until further directives
were revealed. The second verse (i.e. 16) relates to both sexes. The injunction
lays down that they should be punished - that is, they should be beaten and
publicly reproached. Later, another injunction was revealed see
(Surah al-Nur 24: 2) which laid down that both the male and female should be given a hundred
lashes. These injunctions are necessarily of a preliminary nature since the
people of Arabia were neither used to obeying the orders of any established
government, the verdicts of any courts of law nor to following any legal code;
it would therefore have been unwise to try to force acceptance of a penal code
upon them so soon after the establishment of the Islamic state. In due course,
the punishments for unlawful sexual intercourse, for slanderous accusations
of unchastity against women, and for theft were laid down in their definitive
form and served as the basis of that detailed penal code which was enforced
by the Prophet (peace be on him) and the Rightly-Guided Caliphs.
The apparent difference between the contents of the two verses led al-Suddi
to the misconceived belief that the first verse lays down the punishment for
married women, and the second that for unmarried men and women. This is a tenuous
explanation unsupported by any serious evidence and argument. Even less convincing
is the opinion expressed by Abu Muslim al-Isfahani that the first verse relates
to lesbian relations between females, and the second to homosexual relations
between males. It is strange that al-Isfahani ignored the basic fact that the
Qur'an seeks merely to chart a broad code of law and morality and hence deals
only with fundamental questions. It is inconsistent with the majestic style
of the Qur'an to discuss secondary details which have been left to people to
decide through the exercise of their legal judgement. It is for this reason
that when the problem of fixing a punishment for sodomy came up for consideration
after the time of the Prophet (peace be on him), none of the Companions thought
that the above-mentioned verse contained any relevant injunction.
27. The Arabic word tawbah means 'to return, to come back'. A man's tawbah
after he has sinned means that God's servant, who had turned away from his Master
in disobedience, has repented, and has returned to obedience and service. On
the other hand, tawbah on the part of God means that the attention of the Master,
which had turned away from His erring servant, has once again turned towards
him. In this verse, however, God makes it clear to His servants that tawbah
is acceptable only from those who commit errors inadvertently and out of ignorance.
Such persons will always find the door of God open for them whenever they turn
to Him in repentance.
But this tawbah is not for those who pile sin upon sin throughout their lives
in sheer indifference to God and who cry for pardon as soon as they see the
angel of death approaching. The Prophet (peace be on him) has warned against
this attitude in the following words: 'God accepts the repentance of a slave
until the gurgling (of death) begins.' (Tirmidhi, 'Da'wat', 98; Ibn Majah, 'Zuhd',
30; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 2, pp. 132 and 153, and vol. 3, pp. 425 -
Ed.) For when the last leaf of a man's book of life has been turned, what opportunity
remains for a man to return to righteous conduct? Likewise, if a person spends
even the very last moment of his life in a state of disbelief and then on the
threshold of the Next Life he comes to discover that the facts are quite contrary
to what he had imagined, what sense is there for him to seek forgiveness?
28. This means that the relatives of the husband should not treat the widow of the deceased as if she were a part of the inheritance and begin imposing their will on her. Upon the death of her husband a woman becomes independent. As soon as her legally-prescribed period of waiting ends, she is free to go to wherever she likes and to marry anyone she wishes.
29. This permission is intended not in order to provide them with an excuse to misappropriate her property but to exercise a restraint on her conduct and prevent her from lewdness.
30. This means that if the wife is either not beautiful or has some shortcoming because of which she does not seem attractive enough to her husband, the latter should not suddenly decide, in a fit of rage and disgust, to part with her. Rather he should act with patience and forbearance. It often happens that a woman lacks physical attraction but has other qualities which are of much greater value for the success of married life. Hence if such a woman finds the opportunity to express her qualities, the same husband who initially felt revulsion towards her becomes captivated by her attractive conduct and character. Sometimes in the early stages of married life a husband dislikes certain things in his wife, and this initial dislike may even grow to revulsion. Were a man to be patient and allow all the potentialities of the woman to be realized, it would become evident to him that her merits outweighed her weaknesses. Hence a man's haste in taking the decision to rupture the matrimonial bond is not praiseworthy. Repudiation of marriage should be a man's last resort, a resort towards which he should turn only in unavoidable circumstances. The Prophet (peace be on him) has said: For God, divorce is the most reprehensible of all lawful things.' (Abu Da'ud, Talaq', 3; Ibn Majah, 'Talaq', 1 - Ed.) In another tradition the Prophet (peace be on him) said: 'Marry and do not go about divorcing. For God does not like men and women who keep on changing partners merely for a change of taste.' (al-Tabrani, cited by 'Ajluni in Kashf al-Khifa. vol. 1, p. 304 - Ed.)
31. The 'firm covenant' in this verse refers to marriage. For marriage is a firm covenant of fidelity. It is only because a woman has faith in the firmness of this covenant that she entrusts herself to a man. If a man decides of his own will to break it, he has no right to withdraw the amount he offered his wife by way of bridal-due at the time of entering into that covenant. (See Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I,( Surah 2, n. 251)
32. The Qur'an rounds off all statements prohibiting the objectionable features of the social life of the Jahiliyah period by condoning violations of those prohibitions prior to their revelation: 'What is past is past.' This has two meanings. First, that those concerned would not be punished for mistakes committed in their state of Ignorance, providing they rectified their conduct after the prohibitory injunction had been revealed. Second, that the prohibition of any ancient custom, usage and law did not mean that all acts which took place in the past would be nullified, and that all the consequences of those acts would be deemed void, and people absolved of all the obligations which ensued from them. If marriage with the step-mother, for instance, was prohibited it did not necessarily follow that the children of all such marriages which had been contracted in the past were to be reckoned illegitimate, and that the offspring from such marriages would be disinherited. Similarly, if a certain transaction was declared unlawful it did not mean that all such transactions which had taken place prior to the prohibition should be deemed void and that all the earnings of people accumulated through those transactions would be either seized or declared illegitimate property.
33. In Islamic law marrying women who fall in the prohibited degrees of marriage is a recognized criminal offence. According to traditions in the Hadith collections of Abu Da'ud, Nasa'i and Ahmad b. Hanbal, people guilty of this offence were punished by the Prophet (peace be on him) with death and confiscation of property. It appears from the tradition related by Ibn 'Abbas (found in the collection of Ibn Majah), that the Prophet (peace be on him) had devised the following general rule: 'Kill whosoever commits sexual intercourse with a woman forbidden to him' (Ibn Majah; 'Hudud', 13, 35; also Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 1, p. 300 - Ed.) There is some disagreement, however, among jurists on this question. Ahmad b. Hanbal is of the opinion that the convicted person should be put to death and his property confiscated. Abu Hanifah, Malik and Shafi'i are of the opinion that if a person commits sexual intercourse with a woman within the prohibited degrees he should be punished for adultery; and if he merely marries (but has not actually had sexual intercourse - Ed.) he should be subjected to severe punishment.
34. The word 'mother' applies to one's step-mother as well as to one's real mother. Hence the prohibition extends to both. This injunction also includes prohibition of the grandmother, both paternal and maternal. There is disagreement on whether a woman with whom a father has had an unlawful sexual relationship is prohibited to his son or not. There are some among the early authorities who do not believe in such prohibition. But there are others who go so far as to say that a woman whom a father has touched with sexual desire becomes prohibited to the son. Likewise, there is disagreement among the scholars of the early period of Islam in regard to a woman with whom a person has had an illegitimate sexual relationship whether she is prohibited to his father or not. In the same way there has been disagreement in regard to a man with whom a mother or daughter has had an illegitimate sexual relationship, whether or not marriage with him is prohibited for both the mother and daughter. (See Jassas, vol. 2, pp. 113 ff., and Bidayat al-Mujtahid, vol. 2, pp. 33 f. - Ed.) There is a great deal of formal, legal discussion on this point. But even a little reflection makes it evident that if a man marries a woman who is at once the object of the desire of either his father or his son, and if a man marries a woman and is attracted to either her mother or daughter, this militates against the requirements of a righteous society. The spirit of the Law is opposed to the legal hair-splitting which makes a distinction between sexual relations that take place either within the marital framework or outside it, and between either touching or looking with desire and so on. The plain fact is that if the sexual passions of both the father and the son are focused on the same woman, or conversely, if the sexual passions of both the mother and daughter are focused on the same man, this situation is full of evil and mischief for family life and the Law can never tolerate it. The Prophet (peace be on him) has said: 'Whoever looks at the genitals of a woman, both the mother and daughter of that woman become prohibited for him.' In another tradition, the Prophet (peace-be on him) said: 'God will not even care to look at the person who casts his look at the genitals of a woman as well as those of her daughter.' (Jassas, Ahkam al-Qur'an, vol. IV, p. 141.) These traditions bring out the intent of the Law very clearly.
35. The injunction with regard to daughters applies to grand-daughters on both the paternal and maternal sides as well. There is disagreement, however, whether a daughter born of an illegitimate relationship becomes prohibited or not. According to Abu Hanifah, Malik and Ahmad b. Hanbal such a daughter is prohibited in the same way as a daughter born in wedlock; Shafi'i, however, is of the opinion that such daughters are not prohibited. The very idea, however, of marrying a girl who was born of one's own semen would be repulsive to any decent person.
36. This applies to full sisters as well as to half-sisters.
37. In all these relationships, no distinction is made between the full and step-relationships. The sister of a man's father or mother, whether full sister or step-sister, is prohibited to him. Likewise, the daughters of a man's brothers and sisters are prohibited just as if they were one's own daughters. (See Bidayat al-Mujtahid, vol. 2, pp. 31 ff. - Ed.)
38. There is consensus among Muslims that if a boy or girl is breast-fed
by a woman, that woman attains the status of mother, and her husband the status
of father. It is forbidden to marry relatives through milk where the degree
of relationship is such as /to constitute a bar to marriage in the case of blood-relations.
The basis of this rule is the saying of the Prophet (peace be on him): 'Whatever
is rendered prohibited by descent (nasab) is likewise rendered prohibited by
breast-feeding.' (Bukhari, 'Shahadat', 4, 7,13,14; Muslim, 'Rida'ah', 1-14,26-30;
etc. - Ed.) According to Abu Hanifah and Malik prohibition is established if
a child suckles milk from a woman's breast equal to that minimum quantity which
nullifies fasting. But according to Ahmad b. Hanbal, it is established by three
sucklings; and according to Shafi'i by five. There is also disagreement about
the maximum age up to which breast-feeding leads to prohibition of marriage
with the woman concerned. In this connection, jurists have expressed the following
opinions:
(1) Suckling is of legal significance only when it occurs before a child has
been weaned, and when milk is its main source of nourishment. If a child suckles
from a woman's breast after having been weaned, this is legally no different
from drinking anything else. This is the opinion of Umm Salamah and Ibn 'Abbas,
and a tradition to this effect has also been reported from 'Ali. This is also
the view of al-Zuhri, Hasan al-Basri, Qatadah, 'Ikrimah and Awza'i.
(2) Prohibition is established by breast-feeding during the first two years
of a child's life. This is the view of 'Umar, Ibn Mas'ud, Abu Hurayrah and 'Abd
Allah b. 'Umar. Among jurists, Shafi'i, Ahmad b. Hanbal, Abu Yusuf, Muhammad
b. al-Hasan al-Shaybani and Sufyan al-Thawri followed this view; and according
to a report, so did Abu Hanifah. Malik largely followed this view, but he was
of the opinion that if breast-feeding took place a month or two after the age
of two, the prohibition would still remain in effect.
(3) The generally-reported opinion of Abu Hanifah and Zufar is that a bar to
marriage is created by breast-feeding up to an age limit of two and a half years.
(4) Some other jurists are of the opinion that the prohibition comes into effect
irrespective of the age when breast-feeding takes place. This opinion is based
on the view that the effective cause of the prohibition is a woman's milk, rather
than the age of the person fed. Hence, even in the case of an older person,
the same prohibition would apply as in the case of an infant. This is the view
of 'A'ishah and this has been supported on the basis of a tradition from 'Ali,
which is presumably .authentic. Among the jurists this opinion has been followed
by 'Urwah b. al-Zubayr, 'Ata', Layth b. Sa'd and Ibn Hazm. (On this subject
see Jassas, vol. 2, pp. 124 ff.; and Ibn Rushd, Biddyat al-Mujtahid, vol. 2,'pp'.
35 ff. -Ed.)
39. There is disagreement about prohibition in respect of the mother of the woman with whom one has merely contracted marriage (without having consummated it). Abu Hanifah, Malik, Ahmad b. Hanbal and Shafi'i believe that such a relationship is prohibited. 'Ali, however, holds the opinion that unless the marriage has been consummated the mother of one's wife does not become prohibited.
40. The prohibitive restriction in regard to such girls is not based on the consideration of their having been brought up in the house of a step-father. The reference to the child's upbringing in his house points to the delicacy of this relationship. The jurists are almost unanimous that it is prohibited to marry one's step-daughter irrespective of whether or not she has been raised in the step-father's house.
41. This restriction has been added because the widow of one's adopted son is, according to Islam, not prohibited. It is only the wife of one's own son who is prohibited. Likewise, the wives of grandsons (paternal and maternal) are prohibited to grandfathers (on both the mother's and father's side).
42. The Prophet (peace be on him) has taught that it is prohibited for a man to combine in marriage an aunt - whether maternal or paternal - with her niece. The guiding principle is that it is prohibited to have as wives two women who, if one were male, would be prohibited to each other. (See Bidayat al-Mujtahid, vol. 2, p. 41 - Ed.)
43. This is an assurance that God would not call them to task for such misdeeds of the Jahiliyah period as combining two sisters in matrimony, provided they abstained from doing so in the future. See also( n. 32 above.) For this reason a man with two sisters as his wives is required to divorce one of them when he embraces Islam.
44. Women who come as captives of war, leaving their husbands behind in Dar
al-Harb (Domain of War), are not prohibited, for their marriage is nullified
by virtue of their entry into Dar al-Islam (Domain of Islam). A man may marry
such women and, if they happen to be his slave-girls, he may have sexual relations
with them. There is disagreement, however, among jurists as to what should be
done if both husband and wife have been taken captive together. Abu Hanifah
and the jurists of his school are of the opinion that their marriage should
remain intact. Malik and Shafi'i, on the other hand, argue that their matrimonial
contract should be rendered void.
Many misunderstandings seem to persist about the right to have sexual relations
with one's slave-girls. It is pertinent to call attention to the following regulations
of Islam:
(1) Islam does not permit soldiers of the Islamic army to have sexual relations
with women they capture in war. Islamic Law requires that such women should
first be handed over to the government, which then has the right to decide what
should be done with them. It may either set them free unconditionally, release
them on payment of ransom, exchange them for Muslim prisoners of war held by
the enemy or distribute them among the soldiers. A soldier may have sexual relations
only with that woman who has been entrusted to him by the government.
(2) Even then, he may not have sexual relations with her until at least one
menstrual period has expired; this is in order to establish that she is not
already pregnant. If the woman concerned is pregnant one may not have sexual
relations with her until after the birth of her child.
(3) It is not necessary for female captives of war to be People of the Book
in order that sexual relations with them be permitted. The man to whom such
a woman is entrusted has the right to have sexual relations with her regardless
of her religious affiliations.
(4) Only that person to whom a female captive has been entrusted has the right
to have sexual relations with her. Any child born to her will be regarded as
the legitimate child of her master, and will be entitled to all the rights laid
down by the Law for one's issue. Moreover, once such a woman has given birth
to a child she may not be sold to anyone, and on the death of her master she
automatically becomes a free person.
(5) If the master allows the woman to marry someone else he ceases to have the
right to sexual relations with her but retains the right to have her serve him
in other ways.
(6) Although the Law has fixed the maximum number of wives at four, it has set
no limit with regard to slave-girls. The Law does not lay down a limit in order
to encourage people to accumulate huge armies of slave-girls, and thereby turn
their homes into dens of sexual enjoyment. Rather the Law does not define the
limit because the effects of war and the total number of female captives that
would have to be disposed of after a certain war are unpredictable.
(7) In the same way as other rights of property are transferable, so are the
proprietary rights regarding the captives of war that have been legally entrusted
to a man by the state.
(8) Since the regular conferment of property rights is as legal an act as that
of marriage, there is no basis for a person who feels no revulsion towards the
idea of marriage to feel revulsion towards the idea of having sexual relations
with a slave-girl duly entrusted to him.
(9) If a government confers proprietary rights to a man over a female captive
of war it forfeits the right to withdraw those rights in the same way as the
guardian (wali) of a woman ceases to have the right to withdraw his agreement
to the marriage proposal after the marriage has been contracted.
(10) If a military commander permitted his soldiers to temporarily use the female
captives as objects of sexual desire and distributed them among the soldiers
for that purpose, such an act would be considered unlawful by Islamic Law. Such
an act is not essentially different from fornication or adultery. For details
see my book Tafhimat, vol. 2, pp. 366-84, and Rasai'il wa Masa'il, 6th edition,
Lahore, 1976, vol. 3, pp. 102-4.
45. The difference between the status of people is relative. All Muslims are alike. If there is any true distinction its basis is a person's faith and faith is not an exclusive privilege of the rich or so-called upper classes of the society. So it is possible for a slave-girl to be superior, in respect of her faith and morals, to a woman belonging to the elite of a society.
46.A superficial reading of this verse can lead to the mistaken conclusion,
as Khawarij and others have done, that stoning is not the prescribed punishment
for adultery. Such people ask: If stoning is the prescribed punishment for extra-marital
sexual intercourse, then how is it possible to halve that punishment with regard
to slave-girls? Such people have not noted carefully the wording of this verse.
In this section see (verses 24-5) the term muhsanat (protected women) is used
in two different meanings. First, it is used in the sense of 'married women',
that is, those who enjoy the protection of their husbands. Second, it is used
in the sense of 'women belonging to families', i.e. those who enjoy the protection
of families even though they may not be married. In the verse under discussion,
the word muhsanat is used in the latter sense, i.e. in the sense of women who
enjoy the protection of families as opposed to slave-girls. At the same time,
the word is also used in the first meaning, when slave-girls have acquired the
protection accorded by the contract of marriage (fa idha uhsinna), they will
be liable to the punishment laid down in this verse if they have unlawful Sexual
intercourse.
It is therefore apparent that a free woman enjoys two kinds of protection. One
is the protection of her family through which she remains protected even when
she is not married. The second is the protection of her husband, which reinforces
the protection of the family that she already enjoys. As long as the slave-girl
remains a slave, she does not enjoy the protection of the family. However, when
she is married she has the protection of her husband - and of her husband alone.
This protection is partial. Even after marriage she is neither liberated from
the bond of her master nor does she attain the status enjoyed by free women.
The punishment prescribed for a married slave-girl is accordingly half the punishment
of an unmarried free woman rather than half that of a married free woman.
This also explains that the punishment for unlawful sexual intercourse (zina)
laid down in (Surah al-Nur 24: 2 )refers to the offence committed by unmarried
free women alone, and it is in comparison with their punishment that the punishment
of married slave women has been laid down as half. As for free married women,
they deserve more severe punishment than the unmarried free women (muhsanat)
for they violate the double protection. Even though the Qur'an does not specifically
mention punishment by stoning it does allude to it in a subtle manner.
47. That is, if a man cannot afford to marry a free woman then he should marry a slave-girl with the permission of her master.
48. Here a general reference is made to the directives embodied in this surah, as well as those revealed earlier in Surah al-Baqarah and which deal with social and collective matters. It is stressed that these directives reveal those lasting principles observed by the Prophets and their followers from the earliest times. It is merely out of His grace and benevolence that God liberated them from their state of Ignorance (Jahiliyah) and opened to them the way of life of the righteous.
49. This refers to the hypocrites, the ultra-conservatives and the Jews who
lived on the outskirts of Madina. Both the hypocrites and the conservatives
were incensed at the reforms introduced by Islam, as these were diametrically
opposed to the age-old customs and traditions of their society and culture.
The reforms were numerous: a share of the inheritance was assigned to daughters;
widows were liberated from bondage to the will of their husbands' families and
were granted the freedom to marry whomever they wished after the expiry of the
waiting-period ('iddah); marriage with one's step-mother and with two sisters
together was prohibited; adopted sons were disinherited; and a foster-father's
marriage with either the divorced or widowed wife of his adopted son was declared
lawful. These and other such reforms were so totally opposed to the customary
laws of the Arabs that it was impossible for the elders and the blind devotees
of the ways of their forefathers not to protest against them vehemently. They
long continued to grumble against these injunctions. Mischievous people pointed
to these innovations and exploited them by provoking people against the Prophet's
movement of reform. For instance, they would meet those born as a result of
the marriage which had been prohibited by Islam and try to infuriate them by
saying that according to the new-fangled teachings of Muhammad (peace be on
him) the relationship between their parents was unlawful.
The Jews, on the other hand, had woven a complex network of laws and regulations
for themselves. The result was that they had forbidden a great number of things
which were, in fact, lawful. Additionally, they had introduced a number of superstitions
into God's Law. It was argued that the simple and straightforward law of the
Qur'an was out of tune with the tastes and temperaments of both the religious
leaders and the ordinary people. The Qur'anic injunctions simply infuriated
them and as soon as they came to know of any Qur'anic law, they vehemently denounced
it. They expected the Qur'an to endorse and validate all the legal deductions
and all the superstitions and myths of their forefathers, and to treat them
as an integral part of the law of God. If the Qur'an would not do so then they
would refrain from recognizing it as the Book of God.
Let us take the following as an example. According to Jewish usage, a woman
was considered completely unclean during her menstrual period. Hence, they neither
ate the food she cooked, drank from the cup of water she offered nor even sat
with her. It was even considered unwholesome to be touched by her. Thus for
a few days every month a woman virtually became an untouchable in her own house.
Owing to the influence of the Jews the same custom had found its way into the
Arab families of Madina. When the Prophet (peace be on him) arrived in Madina,
he was asked about this matter. In response to this query
(verse 222 of Surah al-Baqarah) was revealed. In the light of the principle embodied in the verse
the Prophet (peace be on him) made it clear that it was unlawful to have sexual
intercourse with a woman during her menstrual period; but it was only that relationship,
and no other, that was unlawful. (See Bukhari, 'Hayd', 2, 3; Nasa'i, 'Hayd',
9, 13, 16, 19, and 'Ahkam', 13 - Ed.) This caused uproar among the Jews. They
claimed that Muhammad (peace be on him) was bent upon reversing all their legal
injunctions to the extent that he wanted to legalize whatever they held as prohibited
and prohibit whatever they held as lawful.
50. The expression 'wrongfully' embraces all transactions which are opposed to righteousness and which are either legally or morally reprehensible. By contrast, 'trade' signifies the mutual transfer of benefits between the parties concerned, such as that underlying those transactions in which one person provides whatever satisfies the needs of another person and is paid in return. 'Mutual consent' means that the exchange should be free of undue pressure, fraud and deception. Although bribery and interest apparently represent transactions based on mutual consent, closer examination reveals that such consent takes place by constraint and under pressure. In games of chance, too, the participants seem to consent freely to the outcome. This kind of consent, however, is due to the expectation entertained by the participants that they will win. No one takes part anticipating loss. Fraudulent transactions also seem to be based on the mutual consent of the parties concerned. That kind of consent, however, is based on the false assumption that no fraud is involved in the transaction. Nobody who knew that he would be subjected to fraud would consent to be a party to that transaction.
51. This can be considered either as complementary to the preceding sentence or as an independent statement. If it is complementary, it means that to consume the property of others by wrongful means is tantamount to courting one's own destruction; for such practices corrupt society on such a scale that even the most cunning are not spared their destructive consequences. This is in addition to the severe punishment that is bound to be meted out to such people in the Next Life. Taken as an independent statement, it can mean either that one should not kill others or that one should not kill oneself. Both the words used and the sequence in which they have been placed by God in this verse make each of these three meanings feasible.
52. God wishes His creatures well; their well-being and salvation please Him, and it is out of benevolence that He has forbidden things harmful to human beings.
53. God is not overly exacting and severe in His judgements. He is not on
the look out for trivial omissions and lapses on the part of His creatures in
order to punish them. God is prepared to condone minor omissions, and may even
spare a man from being presented with a charge-sheet provided his record is
free of major sins. But if a man's record is full of major transgressions, he
will be required to explain all the sins he has committed - both major and minor.
We need at this stage to grasp the essential differences between major and minor
sins. After reflecting on this question, in the light of the Qur'an and Sunnah,
it seems to me - and God alone knows what is absolutely correct - that three
elements turn an act into a major sin:
(1) Violation of rights - be it either the rights of God, of parents, of other
human beings or even of one's own self. The greater a person's rights, the greater
is the sin in violating them. Hence sin is characterized in the Qur'an as wrong-doing
(zulm). It is for the same reason that associating others with God in His divinity
is called the 'great wrong' in the Qur'an. See, for example,
(Surah Luqman 31: 13 - Ed.)
(2) Insufficient fear of God, and arrogance and indifference towards Him, as
a result of which man does not heed God's commandments, even wilfully violates
them, and deliberately desists from carrying them out. The greater the brazenness,
temerity and fearlessness with which one disobeys God, the more heinous is the
sin in His eyes. It is for this reason that sin is also termed ma'siyah (disobedience)
and fisq. See, for instance,
(Surah al-Baqarah 2: 26, 61);
(Surah al-Hujurat 49: 11);
(Surah al-Munafiqun 63: 6);
(Surah Hud 11: 59);
(Surah AI 'Imran 3: 112);
(Surah al-Nisa' 4: 42);
(Surah al-Ma'idah 5: 78);
and passim for verbal forms derived
from the word ma'siyah and fisq - Ed.)
(3) Sin is aggravated by breaking those bonds and relationships on which the
peace and tranquillity of social order rest. These bonds include the relationship
between a man and his Lord, as well as that between a man and his fellow-beings.
The more important a bond is, the greater is the harm done to the peace of human
society when that bond is broken. Likewise, the stronger the expectation that
the sanctity of a certain bond will be honoured, the greater is the sin incurred
through its desecration. Let us take the case of unlawful sexual intercourse
in its various degrees. This act is inimical to the existence of a sound social
order and is therefore a major sin. But in certain cases the sin becomes even
graver. For instance, it is more serious if committed by a married person than
by one who is unmarried. Similarly, unlawful sexual intercourse with a married
woman is graver than with an unmarried woman. Again, to commit this act with
one's neighbours is more heinous than with others, and to commit this act with
women within the prohibited degrees, such as one's sister, daughter or mother,
is far more abominable than with others. Further still, it is a much graver
sin to commit such an act in places of worship than elsewhere. The difference
in the degree of such sinfulness is based on the considerations we have mentioned
above. Wherever the sanctity "of a relationship is normally respected, wherever
there is a bond which deserves to be held sacred, and wherever the disruption
of a particular relationship is likely to result in greater harm and corruption,
the gravity of the sin increases. This is why in certain places the Qur'an uses
the term fujur to denote sin. See, for instance,
(Surah al-Qiyamah 75: 5);
(Surah al-Infitar 82: 14);
(Surah al-Shams 9l: 8 - Ed.)
54. This verse embodies a very important directive. By heeding it, man would
be able to achieve a great measure of peace and tranquillity. God has not created
all men alike. Some are handsome while others are ugly. The voices of some are
sweet and those of others repulsive. Some are physically strong others are weak.
Some have sound limbs others have inherent deformities. Some possess outstanding
physical and mental abilities while others lack them. Some are born in favourable
circumstances and others not. Some have been endowed with more resources than
others. It is this diversity which gives variety to human civilization, and
hence serves a useful purpose. Whenever man superimposes distinctions of his
own over and above this natural inequality he disrupts the natural order of
things, and paves the way for corruption. Likewise, when anyone attempts to
obliterate all differences between human beings he in fact engages in a war
against nature and inflicts wrongs of another kind. Man is naturally inclined
to feel uneasy whenever he sees someone else ahead of him. This is the root
of jealousy and envy, of cut-throat competition and animosity, of mutual strife
and conflict. These feelings often obsess a person to such a degree that whenever
fair means do not prove effective, he resorts to unfair means to achieve his
ambitions. In the present verse, God directs us not to allow this kind of mentality
to take hold of us. The import of the directive is that one should not yearn
for the good that God has bestowed on others. One should rather pray to God
to bestow upon one the good which is in one's best interests according to God's
wisdom and knowledge.
The statement that 'men shall have a share according to what they have earned
and women shall have a share according to what they have earned' seems to mean,
to the best of my understanding, that men and women shall have their shares
of good and evil, depending on the good and evil they have earned in using the
resources bestowed upon them by God.
55. According to Arab customary law, those who concluded compacts of alliance and friendship also became mutual heirs. Likewise, an adopted son inherited from his foster-father. While abrogating this customary law, this verse reveals that inheritance goes to one's kin according to the rules for the distribution of inheritance laid down by God Himself. However, if a man has made commitments to people, he has the right to give away to them whatever he wishes during his lifetime.
56. A qawwam or qayyim is a person responsible for administering and supervising the affairs of either an individual or an organization, for protecting and safeguarding them and taking care of their needs.
57. The verb used here - a derivative of the root fdl - is not used to mean that some people have been invested with superior honour and dignity. Rather it means that God has endowed one of the sexes (i.e. the male sex) with certain qualities which He has not endowed the other sex with, at least not to an equal extent. Thus it is the male who is qualified to function as head of the family. The female has been so constituted that she should live under his care and protection.
58. It is reported in a tradition from the Prophet (peace be on him) that he said: 'The best wife is she who, if you look at her, will please you; who, if you bid her to do something, will obey; and who will safeguard herself and your property in your absence.' (Cited by Ibn Kathir, and reported by Tabari and Ibn Abi Hatim. See Mukhtasar Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 3 vols., ed. Muhammad 'All al-Sabuni, 7th edition, Beirut, 1402 A.H./1981 C.E.; vol. 1, p. 385 and n. 1 - Ed.) This tradition contains the best explanation of the above verse. It should be borne in mind, however, that obedience to God has priority over a woman's duty to obey her husband. If a woman's husband either asks her to disobey God or prevents her from performing a duty imposed upon her by God, she should refuse to carry out his command. Obedience to her husband in this case would be a sin. However, were the husband to prevent is wife from performing either supererogatory Prayer or Fasting - as distinct from the obligatory ones - she should obey him, for such acts would not be accepted by God if performed by a woman in defiance of her husband's wish. (See Abu Da'ud, 'Sawm', 73; Ibn Majah, 'Siyam', 53 - Ed.)
59. This does not mean that a man should resort to these three measures all at once, but that they may be employed if a wife adopts an attitude of obstinate defiance. So far as the actual application of these measures is concerned, there should, naturally, be some correspondence between the fault and the punishment that is administered. Moreover, it is obvious that wherever a light touch can prove effective.one should not resort to sterner measures. Whenever the Prophet (peace be on him) permitted a man to administer corporal punishment to his wife, he did so with reluctance, and continued to express his distaste for it. And even in cases where it is necessary, the Prophet (peace be on him) directed men not to hit across the face, nor to beat severely nor to use anything that might leave marks on the body. (See Ibn Majah, 'Nikah', 3 - Ed.)
60. The statement: 'if they both want to set things right', may be interpreted as referring either to the mediators or to the spouses concerned. Every dispute can be resolved providing the parties concerned desire reconciliation, and the mediators too are keen to remove the misunderstandings between them and to bring them together.
61. Whenever the relationship between a husband and a wife starts to break
down, an attempt should first be made to resolve the dispute at the family level,
before it is aggravated and leads to the disruption of the matrimonial tie.
The procedure to be followed is that two persons, one on behalf of each family,
should be nominated to look into the matter together and devise means whereby
the misunderstanding between the spouses may be brought to an end. Who should
nominate these mediators? God has not specified this so as to allow people full
freedom to choose the most convenient arrangement. The parties would be free,
for instance, to decide that the mediators be nominated either by the spouses
themselves or by the elders of their respective families. If the dispute is
brought before the court, the latter also has the right to nominate mediators,
representing the families of both parties, before referring the matter for judicial
verdict.
There is disagreement among Muslim jurists about the extent of the mediators'
authority. The Hanafi and Shafi'i schools are of the opinion that they normally
have no authority to issue a binding verdict. All they may do is to recommend
the solution they advocate, whereafter the spouses have the right either to
accept or to reject it. The exception is if the spouses have nominated the mediators
to act on their behalf in regard to either talaq or khul': they will then be
bound by their verdict. This is the opinion of the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools.
Another group of jurists argues that the authority of the mediators is confined
to deciding how the spouses should reconcile their differences, and does not
extend to the annulment of marriage. This is the opinion of Hasan al-Basri and
Qatadah, among others. Yet another group holds the opinion that the mediators
have full authority both in respect of reconciliation and annulment of marriage.
This is the opinion of Ibn 'Abbas, Sa'id b. Jubayr, Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, al-Sha'bi,
Muhammad b. Sinn and several other authorities. The precedents which have come
down from early Islam, however, are the judgements of 'Uthman and 'Ali. These
indicate that they conferred upon the mediators the authority to issue judgements
binding on both parties. When the dispute between 'Aqil b. Abi Talib and his
wife Fatimah b. 'Utbah b. Rabi'ah came up for the judgement of 'Uthman, he nominated
Ibn 'Abbas and Mu'awiyah b. Abi Sufyan from the families of the husband and
the wife respectively. He also told them that if they thought that separation
was preferable, they should declare the marriage annulled. In a similar dispute
'Ali nominated mediators and authorized them either to bring about reconciliation
or annul the marriage, whichever they considered appropriate. This shows that
the mediators do not have judicial authority as such. (See the commentaries
of Ibn Kathir and Jassas on this verse -Ed.) Such authority, however, may be
conferred upon them by the courts, in which case their decision will have the
force of a judicial verdict.
62. The expression al-sahib bi al-janb (the companion by your side) embraces those with whom one has friendly relations of an abiding nature as well as those with whom one's relationship is transient: for instance, either the person who walks beside one on the way to the market or who sits beside one while buying things from the same shop or one's fellow traveller. Even this temporary relationship imposes certain claims on every refined and decent person - that he should treat him, as far as possible, in a kind and gracious manner and avoid causing him any inconvenience.
63. Concealing God's bounty is to live, as if God had not bestowed that bounty. If anyone has considerable wealth and yet lives at a standard strikingly lower than that warranted by his income, if he shuns spending on himself and his family, and also on helping other creatures of God, and avoids providing financial support to any philanthropic cause, then he creates the false impression of being in a state of financial stringency. This is sheer ingratitude to God. The Prophet (peace be on him) is reported, according to a tradition, as saying: 'If God confers a bounty on somebody, He would like to see that benefaction displayed.' (Ibn Kathir, vol. 4, p. 486 - Ed.) This means that a person's day-to-day life, his eating and drinking, his dress and his abode and his spending on others, all these should reflect God's bounty.
64. The Prophet of each age will stand as a witness before God against his people; he will testify that he conveyed to them the true way of life, and showed them the right outlook and the fundamentals of moral conduct revealed to him by God. The testimony of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) will be to the same effect, and the Qur'an indicates that he will stand as a witness to the period beginning with his advent as a Prophet right through to the Day of Judgement. (See Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I, (Surah 3, n. 69.)
65. This is the second in the chronological sequence of injunctions concerning
intoxicants. We came across the first injunction in
(Surah al-Baqarah 2: 219).
In that verse God merely indicated that drinking wine was a great sin, making
it clear that it was reprehensible in His sight. This was quite enough to make
some Muslims give up liquor altogether, though many others still took intoxicating
drinks: they sometimes stood up to pray while still under the influence of alcohol,
so that they even made mistakes in their recitations. This second injunction
was probably revealed at the beginning of 4 A.H., making it forbidden, thenceforth,
to pray in a state of intoxication. This led people to alter their drinking
times. They drank only at those hours when there was no fear of their remaining
under the influence of intoxicants when the time for Prayer came. The injunction
embodying unconditional prohibition of intoxicants was revealed not long afterwards.
See (Surah al-Ma'idah 5: 90-1.)
It should also be borne in mind that the word used in the verse is derived from
sukr, which embraces not merely intoxicating liquors but everything which causes
intoxication. The injunction contained in the verse is valid even now, for though
the use of intoxicants as such has been completely prohibited, praying in a
state of intoxication is a graver sin.
66. It is on this basis that the Prophet (peace be on him) directed anyone who is under the influence of sleep, and dozes off again and again during the Prayer, to stop praying and go to bed. (Ibn Kathir, vol. 4, p. 494-Ed.) Some people argue, on the basis of this verse, that the Prayer of one who does not understand the Arabic text of the Qur'an will not be accepted. Apart from taking things too far such a conclusion is not supported by the words in the text. The expression used by the Qur'an is neither ( ) nor even ( ). On the contrary, the expression is ( ) (i.e. until you know what you are saying, rather than 'until you understand' what you are saying). What is required is that while praying one should at least be conscious enough to know what one is uttering in the Prayer.
67. The term janabah denotes the state of major ritual impurity, and is derived from the root meaning: 'to ward off'. The word ajnabi, meaning foreigner or stranger, is also derived from the same root. In Islamic terminology, janabah denotes the state of ritual impurity (in both male and female) which results from the act of intercourse or from seminal emission (either from sexual stimulation or from a wet dream).
68. One group of jurists and Qur'anic commentators interpret this verse to mean that one should not enter a mosque in the state of major ritual impurity (janabah), unless out of necessity. This is the opinion of 'Abd Allah b. Mas'ud, Anas b. Malik, Hasan al-Basri, Ibrahim al-Nakha'i and others. Another group thinks that the reference here is to travel. In the opinion of this group, if a traveller is in the state of major ritual impurity he may resort to tayammum (i.e. symbolic ablution attained through wiping the hands and face with clean earth). See (Surah al-Ma'idah 5: 6 and also n. 70 ) below - Ed.) This group considers it permissible to stay in the mosque in this state provided one has performed ablution. This is the view of 'Ali, Ibn 'Abbas, Sa'id b. Jubayr and some other authorities. The opinion that a traveller in the state of major impurity may perform ablution if he is unable to take a bath is supported by consensus, but while some authorities infer it from traditions others base it on the Qur'anic verse mentioned above. (See Jassas, vol. 2, pp. 201-6; and Ibn Kathir's commentary on this verse - Ed.)
69. There is disagreement as to what is meant here by the verb lamastum, which literally means 'you touched'. 'Ali, Ibn 'Abbas, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, Ubayy b. Ka'b, Sa'id b. Jubayr, Hasan al-Basri and several other leading jurists are of the opinion that it signifies sexual intercourse. Abu Hanifah and his school, and Sufyan al-Thawri follow this view. But 'Abd Allah b. Mas'ud and 'Abd Allah b. 'Umar hold that it signifies the act of touching, the mere placing of one's hand on a woman's body. This is the opinion adopted by Shafi'i. Other jurists take an intermediate position. Malik, for instance, is of the opinion that if a man and a woman touch each other with sexual desire, their ablution is nullified, and if they want to perform the Prayer they are obliged to renew their ablution. He sees nothing objectionable, however, in the mere fact of a man touching a woman's body, or vice versa, provided the act is not motivated by sexual desire. (See Ibn Kathir's commentary on this verse - Ed.-)
70. The detailed rules of tayammum are as follows: A man who either needs
to perform ablution or take a bath to attain the state of purity for ritual
Prayer may resort to tayammum provided water is not available to him. Only then
may he perform the Prayer. Permission to resort to tayammum, rather than make
ablution with water or take a bath, is also extended to invalids whose health
is likely to be harmed by the use of water. We have tried to convey both shades
of meaning in the translation of the verse by using the expression 'have had
contact with' instead of 'touched' - Ed.
Tayammum literally means 'to turn to, to aim at, to head for, to intend'. The
relevance of the term in the Islamic religious context is that when water is
either not available or when its use is likely to cause harm one should 'turn
to' clean earth.
There is some disagreement among jurists about the manner of performing tayammum.
According to some, one should strike one's palms on the clean earth, then gently
wipe one's face, then strike one's hands again and gently wipe one's hands and
arms up to the elbows. This is the view of Abu Hanifah, Shafi'i, Malik and the
majority of jurists. Among the Companions and Successors, 'Ali, 'Abd Allah b.
'Umar, Hasan al-Basri, Sha'bi, Salim b. 'Abd Allah and many others are of the
same opinion. Other jurists are of the view that it is sufficient to strike
one's palms once on the clean earth, then wipe one's face and one's hands up
to the wrist; it is not necessary to wipe the arms between the wrist and the
elbow. This is the opinion of 'Ata', Makhul, Awza'i, and Ahmad b. Hanbal, and
is generally followed by the Ahl al-Hadith. (Cf. Qurtubi, Ahkam al-Qur'an, vol.
5, pp. 239-41.)
Tayammum is not necessarily performed by striking one's palms on earth proper.
It is sufficient to strike the palms on anything which either has dust over
it or anything consisting of the dry elements of the earth. It may be asked
how one attains purity by striking one's palms on the earth and then wiping
one's hands and face with them. In fact tayammum is a useful psychological device
to keep the sense of ritual purity and the sanctity of Prayer alive in man's
mind even when water - the principal agent of purification - is not available.
The value of tayammum is that even if a man is unable to use water - and no
one knows how long this situation may persist - his sensitivity to cleanliness
and purity will endure. He will continue to observe the regulation laid down
by the Law in respect of cleanliness and purity, and the distinction between
the states in which one may and may not perform the Prayer will not be erased.
71. The Qur'an often characterizes the scholars of the People of the Book as those who 'were given a portion of the Book'. The reason for the use of this expression, in the first place, is that they caused a part of the divine revelation to be lost. Moreover, they had detached themselves from the spirit and purpose of the divine revelation which was available to them. Their concern with the Scripture was confined to verbal discussions, arguments about legal minutiae, and speculation about subtle and involved philosophical and theological questions. This had so alienated even their religious leaders and scholars from the true concept of religion that they lost true religious devotion and piety.
72. It is to be noted that this expression means 'they became Jews', rather than 'they were Jews'. For, originally, they were nothing but Muslims, just as the followers of every Prophet are Muslims. Only later on did they become merely 'Jews'.
73. This signifies three things. First, that they tampered with the text of the Scripture. Second, that they misinterpreted the Scripture and thereby distorted the meanings of the verses of the Book. Third, that they came and stayed in the company of the Prophet (peace be on him) and his Companions and listened to the conversations which took place there, then went among other people and misreported what they had heard. They did this with the malicious intent of bringing the Muslims into disrepute and thereby preventing people from embracing Islam.
74. When the ordinances of God are announced to them, they loudly proclaim: 'Yes, we have heard', (sami'na), but then they whisper: 'And we disobeyed' ('asayna). Or else they pronounce ata'na ('we obey') with such a twist of the tongue that it becomes indistinguishable from 'asayna.
75. Whenever they wanted to say something to the Prophet (peace be on him) they would say, 'isma" (listen), but added to this the expression, 'ghayr musma" which had several meanings. It could either be a polite expression, meaning that he was worthy of such deep respect that one should say nothing to his dislike or it could have a malicious implication, meaning that he did not deserve to be addressed by anybody. It also meant the imprecation: 'May God turn you deaf.'
76. For an explanation of this see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I, (Surah 2, n. 108).
77. See ibid., (Surah 3, n. 2).
78. See ibid., (Surah 2, nn. 82 and 83).
79. Although the People of the Book claimed to follow the Prophets and the Divine Books they had, in fact, fallen a prey to polytheism.
80. The purpose of this verse is not to tell man that he may commit any sin as long as he does not associate others with God in His divinity. The object is rather to impress upon those who had begun to regard polytheism as a trivial matter that it constitutes the most serious offence in God's sight, an offence so serious that while other sins may be pardoned this will not. Jewish religious scholars were meticulous about questions of subsidiary importance, and devoted all their time to pondering over legal subtleties which their jurists had painstakingly elaborated by far-fetched deductions. Yet they treated polytheism so lightly that they neither abstained from it themselves nor tried to prevent their people from falling a prey to polytheistic ideas and practices nor found anything objectionable in establishing cordial relations with the polytheists nor in supporting them.
81. Jibt signifies 'a thing devoid of any true basis and bereft of all usefulness'. In Islamic terminology the various forms of sorcery, divination and soothsaying, in short all superstitions, are termed jibt. It is reported in a tradition that, 'to divine things from the cries of animals, or the traces of animals' paws, or the flight of birds, constitutes jibt. Thus, jibt may be roughly translated as 'superstition'. (See Abu Da'ud, Tibb', 23; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 3, p. 477 and vol. 5, p. 60 - Ed.)
82. For explanation see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I, (Surah 2, nn. 286 and 288).
83. The obstinacy of the Jewish religious scholars had, reached such a point that they brazenly declared the followers of Muhammad (peace be on him) to be in greater error than even the polytheists of Arabia. This was despite the fact that they knew that the Muslims stood for absolute monotheism while their opponents believed in that undisguised polytheism which has been so vehemently denounced throughout the Bible.
84. The Jews, who had judged the Muslims to be in error, are asked if they have some share in God's authority which entitles them to judge who is rightly guided and who is not. If the Jews really had any share in that authority, no one would receive so much as a penny from them, for their hearts are too small to even acknowledge the truth, let alone credit others with righteousness and goodness. This verse can also be understood somewhat differently so as to pose the following question to the Jews: 'Is it a matter of your possessing some dominion which you are reluctant to share with others?' Obviously, the question was merely one of acknowledging the Truth, and they were too grudging to credit others with it.
85. By implication, this query accurately portrays the state of mind of the Jews. They saw the Muslims being endowed with the grace and reward of God which they, notwithstanding their own unworthiness had expected to fall to their share. By virtue of the advent of a great Prophet among the ummis of Arabia, a spiritual, moral and intellectual revolution had taken place which totally changed their practical life and ultimately led them to greatness and glory. It is this which aroused their spite and envy, and which was reflected in their unjustifiable remarks about the Muslims.
86. This 'mighty dominion' refers to the position of world leadership and authority which a people attain by virtue of receiving the knowledge in the Book of God and acting according to its dictates.
87. This is in response to the malicious remarks of the Israelites. What is being said is that they had no reason to feel jealous since both the Israelites and Ishmaelites were offspring of the same Abraham. Now, the leadership of the world had been promised only to those children of Abraham who followed the Book and Wisdom revealed by God. The Book and Wisdom had been sent down earlier to the Israelites, and to their discredit they had turned away from them. The same Book and Wisdom had now been made available to the Ishmaelites and they had decided to greet it with faith and gratitude.
88. Here the Muslims are forewarned against the evils which had afflicted the Israelites. One of the fundamental mistakes committed by the Israelites was that in the time of their degeneration they had handed over positions of trust (i.e. religious and political leadership) to incompetent, mean, immoral, dishonest and corrupt people. The result was that corruption spread throughout the nation. The Muslims are directed to take heed of this, and to entrust positions of responsibility only to those who are capable of shouldering the burdens of such positions. The other major weakness of the Israelites was that they completely lost their sense of justice. In their pursuit of either personal or national interests, honesty and good faith were often sacrificed. The Muslims, in the time of the Prophet (peace be on him), were themselves subjected to gross injustice at their hands. On the one side were the Prophet (peace be on him) and his followers, to whose purity of life and conduct the Jews were themselves witnesses. On the other side were those who worshipped idols, buried their daughters alive, married their step-mothers and circumambulated the Ka'bah naked. Despite this, these so-called People of the Book felt no shame in declaring that the latter were closer to righteousness than the Muslims. After informing the Muslims of the iniquity of the Jews, God now warns them against committing similar injustices. They should rather declare what is right in the face of friend and foe alike, and judge between people with equity and justice.
89. This verse is the cornerstone of the entire religious, social and political
structure of Islam, and the very first clause of the constitution of an Islamic
state. It lays down the following principles as permanent guidelines:
(1) In the Islamic order of life, God alone is the focus of loyalty and obedience.
A Muslim is the servant of God before anything else, and obedience and loyalty
to God constitute the centre and axis of both the individual and collective
life of a Muslim. Other claims to loyalty and obedience are acceptable only
insofar as they remain secondary and subservient, and do not compete with those
owed to God. All loyalties which may tend to challenge the primacy of man's
loyalty to God must be rejected. This has been expressed by the Prophet (peace
be on him) in the following words: 'There may be no obedience to any creature
in disobedience to the Creator.' (Muslim, 'Iman', 37; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad,
vol. 3, p. 472 - Ed.)
(2) Another basic principle of the Islamic order of life is obedience to the
Prophet (peace be on him). No Prophet, of course, is entitled to obedience in
his own right. Obedience to Prophets, however, is the only practical way of
obeying God, since they are the only authentic means by which He communicates
His injunctions and ordinances to men. Hence, we can obey God only if we obey
a Prophet. Independent obedience to God is not acceptable, and to turn one's
back on the Prophets amounts to rebellion against God. The following tradition
from the Prophet (peace be on him) explains this: 'Whoever obeyed me, indeed
obeyed God; and whoever disobeyed me, indeed disobeyed God.' (Bukhari, 'Jihad',
109; 'I'tisam', 2; Muslim, 'Amarah', 32, 33; Nasa'i, 'Bay'ah', 27; etc. - Ed.)
We shall see this explained in more detail a little further on in the Qur'an.
(3) In the Islamic order of life Muslims are further required to obey fellow
Muslims in authority. This obedience follows, and is subordinate to, obedience
to God and the Prophet (peace be on him). Those invested with authority (ulu
al-amr) include all those entrusted with directing Muslims in matters of common
concern. Hence, persons 'invested with authority' include the intellectual and
political leaders of the community, as well as administrative officials, judges
of the courts, tribal chiefs and regional representatives. In all these capacities,
those 'invested with authority' are entitled to obedience, and it is improper
for Muslims to cause dislocation in their collective life by engaging in strife
and conflict with them. This obedience is contingent, however, on two conditions:
first, that these men should be believers; and second, that they should themselves
be obedient to God and the Prophet (peace be on him). These two conditions are
not only clearly mentioned in this verse they have also been elucidated at length
by the Prophet (peace be on him) and can be found in the Hadith. Let us consider,
for example, the following traditions: A Muslim is obliged to heed and to obey
an order whether he likes it or not, as long as he is not ordered to carry out
an act of disobedience to God (ma'siyah). When ordered to carry out an act of
disobedience-to God he need neither heed nor obey.
There is no obedience in sin; obedience is only in what is good (ma'ruf). (For
these traditions see Bukhari, 'Ahkam', 4; 'Jihad', 108; Muslim, 'Amarah', 39;
Tirmidhi, 'Jihad', 29; Ibn Majah, 'Jihad', 40; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol.
2, pp. 17 and 142 - Ed.)
There will be rulers over you, some of whose actions you will consider good
and others abominable. Who even disapproves of their abominable acts will be
acquitted of all blame, and whoever resents them he too will remain secure (from
all blame); not so one who approves and follows them in their abominable acts.
They (i.e. the Companions) asked: 'Should we not fight against them?' The Prophet
(peace be on him) said: 'No, not as long as they continue to pray.' (See Bukhari,
'Jihad', 108 - Ed.)
This means that their abandonment of Prayer will be a clear sign of their having
forsaken obedience to God and the Prophet (peace be on him). Thereafter it becomes
proper to fight against them. In another tradition the Prophet (peace be on
him) says:
Your worst leaders are those whom you hate and who hate you; whom you curse
and who curse you. We asked: 'O Messenger of God! Should we not rise against
them?' The Prophet (peace be on him) said: 'No, not as long as they establish
Prayer among you: not as long as they establish Prayer among you.' (See Muslim,
'Amarah', 65, 66; Tirmidhi, 'Fitan', 77; Darimi, 'Riqaq, 78; Ahmad b. Hanbal,
Musnad, vol. 6, pp. 24, 28 - Ed.)
In this tradition the position is further clarified. The earlier tradition could
have created the impression that it was not permissible to revolt against rulers
as long as they observed their Prayers privately. But the latter tradition makes
it clear that what is really meant by 'praying' is the establishment of the
system of congregational Prayers in the collective life of Muslims. This means
that it is by no means sufficient that the rulers merely continue observing
their Prayers: it is also necessary that the system run by them should at least
be concerned with the establishment of Prayer. This concern with Prayer is a
definite indication that a government is essentially an Islamic one. But if
no concern for establishing Prayer is noticed, it shows that the government
has drifted far away from Islam making it permissible to overthrow it. The same
principle is also enunciated by the Prophet (peace be on him) in another tradition,
in which the narrator says: 'The Prophet (peace be on him) also made us pledge
not to rise against our rulers unless we see them involved in open disbelief,
so that we have definite evidence against them to lay before God' (Bukhari and
Muslim).
(4) In an Islamic order the injunctions of God and the way of the Prophet (peace
be on him) constitute the basic law and paramount authority in all matters.
Whenever there is any dispute among Muslims or between the rulers and the ruled
the matter should be referred to the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and all concerned
should accept with sincerity whatever judgement results. In fact, willingness
to take the Book of God and the Sunnah of His Messenger as the common point
of reference, and to treat the judgement of the Qur'an and the Sunnah as the
last word on all matters, is a central characteristic which distinguishes an
Islamic system from un-Islamic ones. Some people question the principle that
we should refer everything to the Book of God and the Sunnah of the Prophet
(peace be on him). They wonder how we can possibly do so when there are numerous
practical questions involved, for example, rules and regulations relating to
municipal administration, the management of railways and postal services and
so on which are not treated at all in these sources. This doubt arises, however,
from a misapprehension about Islam. The basic difference between a Muslim and
a non-Muslim is that whereas the latter feels free to do as he wishes, the basic
characteristic of a Muslim is that he always looks to God and to His Prophet
for guidance, and where such guidance is available, a Muslim is bound by it.
On the other hand, it is also quite important to remember that when no specific
guidance is available, a Muslim feels free to exercise his discretion because
the silence of the Law indicates that God Himself has deliberately granted man
the freedom to make his decision.
90. Since the Qur'an is not merely a legal code, but also seeks to instruct, educate, admonish and exhort, the earlier sentence which enunciates a legal principle is followed by another which explains its underlying purpose and wisdom. Two things are laid down. First, that faithful adherence to the above four principles is a necessary requirement of faith. Anyone who claims to be a Muslim and yet disregards the principles of Islam involves himself in gross self-contradiction. Second, the well-being of Muslims lies in basing their lives on those principles. This alone can keep them on the straight path in this life, and will lead to their salvation in the Next. It is significant that this admonition follows immediately after the section which embodies comments about the moral and religious condition of the Jews. Thus the Muslims were subtly directed to draw a lesson from the depths to which the Jews had sunk, as a result of their deviation from the fundamental principles of true faith just mentioned. Any community that turns its back upon the Book of God and the guidance of His Prophets, that willingly follows rulers and leaders who are heedless of God and His Prophets, and that obeys its religious and political authorities blindly without seeking authority for their actions either in the Book of God or in the practice of the Prophets, will inevitably fall into the same evil and corruption as the Israelites.
91. Taghut clearly signifies here a sovereign who judges things according to criteria other than the law of God. It also stands for a legal and judicial system which acknowledges neither the sovereignty of God nor the paramount authority of the Book of God. This verse categorically proclaims that to refer disputes to the judgement of a court of law which is essentially taghut contravenes the dictates of a believer's faith. In fact, true faith in God and His Book necessarily requires that a man should refuse to recognize the legitimacy of such courts. According to the Qur'an, belief in God necessitates repudiation of the authority of taghut. To try to submit both to God and to taghut at the same time is hypocrisy.
92. This shows that the hypocrites were inclined to refer to the Prophet (peace be on him) those cases in which they expected a favourable decision. When they feared an adverse judgement they refused to refer to the Prophet (peace be on him). This continues to be the practice of many hypocrites even now. Whenever they feel that Islamic Law would further their interests they turn to it but when they feel it would militate against them they refer their disputes to whichever legal systems and courts of law, customs and usages they anticipate most likely to give them a favourable decision.
93. This may mean that when Muslims become aware of their hypocritical activities and they feel afraid of being caught, censured, and eventually punished, the hypocrites resort to every stratagem, including oaths, in order to assure people that they are true believers.
94.This is to impress upon us that Prophets are not sent so that people may pay lip-service to their Prophethood, and then obey whoever they wish. The purpose of sending Prophets is that people should follow the laws of God as brought and expounded by them rather than laws devised by man, and that they should obey the commands of God as revealed to the Prophets to the exclusion of the commands of others.
95.The application of the injunction embodied in this verse is not confined to the life-time of the Prophet (peace be on him). It will remain in force until the Day of Judgement. The guidance the Prophet (peace be on him) proclaimed on God's behalf, and the manner in which he followed God's direction and inspiration, will for ever remain the universal touchstone for Muslims. In fact, recognition of that guidance as the final authority is the criterion of true belief. This principle was pronounced by the Prophet (peace be on him) in the following words: 'None of you can become a believer until his desires become subservient to what I have brought (i.e. my teachings).' (Cited by al-Nawawi in al-Arba'in, see the tradition no. 41, transmitted on their authority of Abu al-Qasim Isma'il b. Muhammad al-Isfahani, Kitab al-Hujjah with the opinion that it is a 'good' and 'sound' tradition, with a sound chain of transmission - Ed.)
96. As these people are not prepared to endure even minor losses and inconveniences in order to follow the law of God, they can never be expected to make big sacrifices. If asked either to lay down their lives or to give up their homes and families for the sake of the Truth they would fly straight back to unbelief and disobedience.
97. Had these people been able to free themselves of uncertainty, hesitation and ambivalence, and to resolve firmly to follow and obey the Prophet (peace be on him), their lives would have been spared the instability from which they suffer. Their way of thinking, their morals and their practical dealings would all have found permanent and stable foundations, and they would have enjoyed the blessings granted only to those who follow the one straight path with firmness and resolution. For one who is subject to indecision and hesitation, who keeps changing from one direction to another in a state of uncertainty, life is a continuous exercise in futility.
98. By giving up uncertainty, and deciding with complete faith and conviction to follow the Prophet (peace be on him), the straight path of their endeavours would have opened up before them. They would have been able to perceive clearly the channels into which their energies should be directed, so that each step they took would be a step towards the true goal.
99. Siddiq denotes someone who is utterly honest, someone whose devotion
to truth has reached a very high point. Such a person is always upright and
straightforward in his dealings. He supports nothing but right and justice and
does so with sincerity. He opposes whatever is contrary to truth, and does not
waver in his opposition to falsehood. His life is so unblemished and selfless
that even enemies, let alone friends, expect of him unadulterated probity and
justice.
The term shahid (pi. shuhada') means 'witness'. It signifies one who attests
to the truth of his faith with his whole life. He who lays down his life fighting
for God is called a shahid because by this sacrifice he confirms that his confession
of faith was backed by a deep, genuine conviction of its truth, and that he
valued it above his own life. The term shahid is also applied to those outstandingly
honest people who are so trustworthy that their testimony, on any matter, is
accepted without hesitation. Salih denotes one whose belief and thinking, motives
and intentions, words and deeds, are based on righteousness. In short, he is
a person whose life as a whole is oriented to righteousness.
100.He who enjoys, in this world, the company of the kind of people mentioned in this verse, and whom God judges worthy of the same company in the Hereafter is fortunate. The fact is that unless a man's natural sensitivity has atrophied, the companionship of corrupt and wicked people is a painful punishment even in this transient world, let alone that one should be subjected to the perpetual companionship of such people in the abiding life of the Hereafter. Good people have always longed for the company of like people, both in this world and the Next.
101. This discourse was revealed after the Battle of Uhud, when the tribes living around Madina had been greatly encouraged by the defeat of the Muslims. Thus dangers seemed to surround the Muslims on all sides. Day in and day out news poured in about the hostile intentions of one tribe after another. Reports came in of attacks mounted now in one area, and then in another. The Muslims were again and again the victims of treachery. Their preachers were invited to preach and then put to the sword. Beyond Madina, neither their lives nor their property was secure. Consequently the Muslims had to prepare themselves for a fierce struggle, for a tremendous, all-out effort to ensure that the Islamic movement would not be crushed.
102. Another meaning could be that such persons not only shirk the risks of fighting themselves but also go about spreading demoralization to discourage others from fighting in the name of God.
103. The point stressed here is that fighting in the cause of God cannot be conducted by people engrossed in the pursuit of worldly benefits. This is the task of those who seek to please God, who have complete faith in Him and in the Hereafter, who are prepared to sacrifice all opportunities of worldly success and prosperity, and of all worldly interests, hoping thereby to win God's good pleasure. Irrespective of what happens in the present world such sacrifices will not be wasted in the Hereafter. Jihad (struggle in the cause of God) is not for those who mainly care for worldly benefits.
104. This refers to those wronged, persecuted men, women and children of Makka and of the other tribes in Arabia who had embraced Islam, but were able neither to emigrate nor to protect themselves from the wrongs to which they were subjected. These helpless people suffered many forms of persecution, and prayed for deliverance from oppression.
105. This lays down a clear verdict of God. To fight in the cause of God in order that His religion be established on earth is the task of men of faith, and whoever truly believes can never shirk this duty. To fight in the cause of taghut (authority in defiance of God) in order that the world may be governed by rebels against God is the task of unbelievers in which no believer can engage himself.
106. Satan and his comrades-in-arms ostensibly undertake tremendous preparations and contrive all kinds of ingenious machinations. True men of faith, however, should not be intimidated either by such preparations or by machinations. For, no matter what they do, they are doomed to fail.
107. This verse .can be interpreted in three ways, and each meaning is equally
valid: First, that those who now shirked to fight in the cause of God were themselves
initially eager to fight. They often approached the Prophet (peace be on him),
saying that they were being wronged, beaten, persecuted and abused, that' their
patience was exhausted, and that they wanted permission to fight. They had then
been told to be patient and continue to purify their souls by observing Prayers
and dispensing Zakah. At that time they had felt disconcerted by this counsel
of patience. Later on, some of those very same people were to tremble at the
first sight of the enemy and the dangers of warfare.
Second, that they remained highly 'religious' as long as they were asked merely
to pray and pay Zakah, which entailed no risk to their lives. But as soon as
that phase was over and they were asked to expose themselves to danger, they
began to shiver with fear.
Third, that in the former times the same people had unsheathed their swords
for trivial causes. They had fought for loot and plunder, and engaged in feuds
motivated by animal impulses, so much so that feuding had almost become their
national pastime. At that time they had been told to abstain from bloodshed
and to reform themselves by observing Prayers and dispensing Zakah. When, later
on, the same people were told that the time had come for them to fight in the
cause of God, those who had shown themselves to be lions while fighting for
their own selfish causes turned out to be as meek as lambs. The strong hands
which had wielded the sword so firmly, and had used it so fiercely for the sake
of either personal or tribal honour, or for Satan's sake, became almost paralysed.
Each of these three meanings applies to a different kind of person, but the
actual words of the verse seem to apply equally to all who shirked fighting
in the cause of God.
108. Were they to serve the religion of God and spend their energy in that cause, they would surely be rewarded by Him.
109. When such people encounter success and victory, they attribute it to the grace of God. They allow themselves to forget that this grace came to them through no one but the Prophet (peace be on him). When they are either beaten or face setbacks because of their own faults and weaknesses they gratuitously exonerate themselves and place the blame squarely on the Prophet (peace be on him).
110. Such people are responsible for their own conduct. It is they rather than the Prophet (peace be on him) who will be censured. The task entrusted to the Prophet (peace be on him) was merely to communicate to them the ordinances and directives of God and he acquitted himself of it very well. It was not his duty to compel them to follow the right way, so that if they failed to follow the teachings communicated to them by the Prophet (peace be on him) the responsibility was entirely theirs. The Prophet (peace be on him) would not be questioned as to why they disobeyed.
111. The main reason for the attitude of the hypocrites and lukewarm believers was their lack of conviction that the Qur'an came from God. They did not believe that the Prophet (peace be on him) had received the messages and directives that he preached from God Himself. Hence, when they are censured for their hypocritical conduct, they are told that they do not reflect upon the Qur'an. For the Qur'an itself is a strong, persuasive testimony to its divine origin. It is inconceivable that any human being should compose discourses on different subjects under different circumstances and on different occasions, and that the collection of those discourses should then grow into a coherent, homogeneous and integrated work, no component of which is discordant with the others. It is also inconceivable that such a work would be permeated through and through with a uniform outlook and attitude, a work reflecting a remarkable consistency in the mood and spirit of its Author, and a work too mature ever to need revision.
112. This was a period of turbulence and upheaval and rumour was rife. Occasionally, baseless and exaggerated reports circulated and seized the whole of Madina and its outlying areas with alarm and consternation. At other times some cunning enemy tried to conceal the dangers threatening the Muslims by spreading soothing reports. A specially keen interest in rumours was taken by those who simply relished anything out of the ordinary, and who did not consider this life-and-death struggle between Islam and Ignorance to be a matter of crucial importance, and who were not aware of the far-reaching consequences of rumour-mongering. As soon as they heard something, they ran about spreading it everywhere. This rebuke is addressed to such people. They are warned against spreading rumours and are directed to convey every report they receive to responsible quarters.
113. It is all a matter of choice and luck. One has the opportunity to struggle for the cause of God, and to urge others to strive for it in order to raise the banner of the Truth and be rewarded by God for so doing. Likewise, one also has the opportunity to expend one's energy trying to create misunderstanding among God's creatures and to demoralize people in their struggle for His cause thus incurring His chastisement.
114. At that time the relations between the Muslims and non-Muslims were strained to the limit. It was feared, therefore, that the Muslims might feel inclined to treat the latter discourteously. They are accordingly asked to pay at least as much respect and consideration to others as is paid to them - and preferably more. Good manners and courtesy are to be matched by the Muslims. In fact, the mission entrusted to the Muslims requires them to excel others in this respect. Harshness, irritability and bitterness are not becoming in a people whose main function is to preach a message and invite people to it; a people committed to guiding mankind towards righteousness. While harshness and bitterness may at best satisfy one's injured vanity, they are positively harmful to the cause that one seeks to promote.'
115.Whatever the unbelievers, polytheists and atheists may do does not impair God's godhead. That God is the One and Absolute Lord of all is a fact which none can alter. And a Day will come when He will gather together all human beings and will make them see the consequences of their deeds, and no one will be in a position to escape His retribution. God therefore does not require His good creatures to maltreat, on His behalf, those who are lost in error. This is the link between the present verse and the one preceding it. The same verse also concludes the theme running through the last twenty verses or so (see verses 71 ff). The present verse outlines that a man can follow whichever course he deems fit, and expend his energy in any direction he likes, but ultimately all men will have to stand before the One True God for His judgement and will see the consequences of their deeds.
116.The problem of the hypocrites is discussed here. They had outwardly embraced
Islam in Makka and in other parts of Arabia, but instead of migrating to the
Domain of Islam they continued co live among their own people who were unbelievers,
taking part in all their hostile machinations against Islam and the Muslims.
It was not easy for the Muslims to decide how to deal with such people. Some
were of the opinion that since they professed Islam, performed Prayers, fasted
and recited the Qur'an they could not be treated as unbelievers. Here God pronounces
His judgement on this issue.
Unless the following is made clear at this point, the reader is likely to miss
the real object of not only this verse but of all those verses in which believers
who have failed to migrate are characterized as hypocrites. The fact is that
after the Prophet (peace be on him) migrated to Madina the Muslims came to possess
a piece of territory where they could fulfil the dictates of their faith. At
that time all Muslims who suffered from the pressures and constraints imposed
on them by the unbelievers, and who did not enjoy the freedom to practise their
religion, were directed to migrate to Madina, the Domain of Islam. It was in
these circumstances that all those believers who were in a position to migrate
to Madina, but who failed to do so because their hearth and home, kith and kin,
and their material interests were dearer to them than Islam, were declared hypocrites.
Those who were not really in a position to migrate were reckoned as 'feeble'
see( verse 98 below).
It is obvious that Muslims living in non-Islamic territories can be called hypocrites
only when the Domain of Islam either extends a general invitation to all of
them or at least leaves its doors open to them. In such circumstances, all Muslims
who are neither engaged in trying to transform the non-Islamic territory into
a Domain of Islam nor inclined to migrate to the latter despite their ability
to do so, will be deemed hypocrites. But if the Domain of Islam neither invites
them nor even keeps its doors open for them, then they obviously cannot be declared
hypocrites merely because of their failure to migrate. Such persons would be
considered hypocrites only if they did something too outrageous to be consistent
with true faith.
117. God has returned them whence they came because of their duplicity, their excessive hankering after their material interests, and their preference for the good of this world over that of the Next. Those people had indeed tried to extricate themselves from the grip of unbelief and to advance towards Islam. To be a true Muslim calls for single-mindedness. It requires a willingness to sacrifice all interests and advantages that are in conflict with the interests of Islam. It requires a faith in the Hereafter strong enough to enable a man to cheerfully sacrifice all worldly advantages for the sake of his eternal happiness. Since those people lacked these qualities they retraced their steps. Could there be any doubt about the stuff they were made of?
118. This is the verdict on those hypocritical confessors of faith who belong to a belligerent, non-Muslim nation and actually participate in acts of hostility against the Islamic state.
119. The exception here does not relate to the injunction that they should not be taken as friends and supporters, but to the injunction that the believers should seize and slay them. What is meant is that if a hypocrite takes shelter among an unbelieving people with whom the Muslims have an agreement he should not be pursued into that territory. It is not permissible for Muslims of the Islamic state to kill a hypocrite in some neutral territory even if he merits execution. This is because of the sanctity of the agreement concluded by the Muslims rather than the sanctity of the hypocrite's blood.
120. The hypocritical confessors of Islam mentioned here are distinct from those whom the Muslims may kill. The reference here is to Muslims who are either residents of the Domain of Islam (Dar al-Islam) or to those who live in the Domain of War or of Unbelief (Dar al-Harb or Dar al-Kufr) but against whom there is no proof of actual participation in the hostile activities with the enemies of Islam. In the time of the Prophet (peace be on him) there were many people who had embraced Islam and yet, because of genuine difficulties, were living among tribes hostile to Islam. It occasionally happened that, in attacking a hostile tribe, the Muslims inadvertently killed fellow Muslims living in its midst.
121. Since the person killed was a believer, expiation of the sin required the emancipation of a Muslim slave.
122. The Prophet (peace be on him) had fixed the blood-money at either 100 camels, 200 oxen or 2,000 head of cattle. If someone wished to pay this in another form the amount would be determined with reference to the market value of the articles mentioned above. For instance, for those who wished to pay blood-money in cash, the fixed amount in the time of the Prophet (peace be on him) was 800 dinars (8000 dirhams). In the time of Caliph 'Umar the amount of blood-money was fixed at 1000 golden dinars (12000 silver dirhams). It should be noted, however, that this amount relates to an unintentional rather than a deliberate homicide. (Regarding blood-money for unintentional homicide and injury see Abu Da'ud, 'Diyat', 14-17; Tirmidhi, 'Diyat', 1; Nasa'i, 'Qasamah', 34; Ibn Majah, 'Diyat', 6; Malik b. Anas, Muwatta', "Uqul', 4; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 1, pp. 384 and 450; vol. 2, pp. 178, 183, 186, 217, 224; vol. 4, p. 275. See also Ibn Rushd, Bidayat al-Mujtahid, vol. 2, pp. 401 ff. - Ed.)
123. The legal injunctions embodied in this verse are as follows:
(1) If the victim was a resident of the Domain of Islam (Dar al-Islam) the killer
is not only required to pay blood-money but also to emancipate a slave by way
of expiation.
(2) If the victim was a resident of the Domain of War (Dar al-Harb) the killer
is only required to emancipate a slave.
(3) If the victim was a resident of a non-Muslim country which had treaty relations
with an Islamic state the killer is required to emancipate a slave and also
to pay blood-money. The amount of the blood-money, however, depends on the terms
stipulated in the treaty between the Muslims and the territory of the victim.
(See Jassas, vol. 2, pp. 238 f f. and 240 ff. - Ed.)
124. This means that he should observe fasting uninterrupted for the entire period. If a man breaks his fast for just one day without a legally valid reason he will be required to resume fasting anew.
125. This shows that what has been prescribed is an act of repentance and
expiation rather than a penalty inflicted on a criminal. Penalization is essentially
devoid of the spirit of repentance and of the urge to self-reform. A penalty
is suffered under duress, usually with resentment, and leaves behind repugnance
and bitterness. On the contrary, what God wants is that the believer who has
committed a sin should wash the stain of it from his soul by supererogatory
worship, by acts of charity, and by a meticulous fulfilment of all the duties
incumbent upon him. Such a person is required to turn to God in remorse and
repentance so that his sin may be pardoned and his soul secured against the
recurrence of similar errors.
The word kaffarah signifies that which either covers or hides something. To
declare that certain acts of charity constitute kaffarah means that those acts
overlay the sin and cover it up, just as stains on a wall are covered up when
it is painted.
126.In the early days of Islam the greeting as-salam 'alaykum ('peace be
on you') was a distinguishing symbol of the Muslims. When a Muslim greeted another
Muslim with this expression it signified that he was a member of the same community,
that he was a friend and well-wisher, one who wished peace and security, from
whom he need entertain no fear of hostility and towards whom, in return, he
should not behave with hostility. The Islamic greeting occupied virtually the
same position among Muslims as the passwords used by sentries to distinguish
friend from foe. This was particularly important in those days because there
were no distinctions in dress, language and so on by which Muslims could be
conclusively marked off from their non-Muslim Arab compatriots.
The Muslims also encountered a strange problem on the battlefield. Whenever
a Muslim was in danger of being harmed inadvertently by other Muslims during
the fighting, he resorted to either the Islamic greeting (as-salam 'alaykum)
or the Islamic creed There is no god save Allah' (ili-Jl^y) in order to indicate
that he was their brother-in-faith. The Muslims, however, often suspected this
to be merely a ruse of the enemy and therefore sometimes disregarded the utterance
of the Islamic greeting or of the Islamic creed, and killed such people and
seized their belongings as booty. Although whenever the Prophet (peace be on
him) came to know of such incidents, he severely reproached the people concerned,
it, nevertheless, continued to take place. In the end God solved the problem
by revelation. The purport of the verse is that no one has the right summarily
to judge those who profess to be Muslims, and assume them to be lying for fear
of their lives. At least two possibilities exist: the claim may either be true
or it may be false. The truth can only be ascertained by proper investigation.
While it is impossible to investigate a person's case properly during fighting
and this may enable him to save his life by lying, it is equally possible that
an innocent, true believer might be put to death by mistake. The error of letting
an unbeliever go unpunished is preferable to that of killing a true believer.
127.The Muslims are now told that there was a time when they were scattered among different tribes of unbelievers. They were, therefore, forced to conceal the fact of being Muslims since they feared that they would be subjected to persecution and hardship. In those days they had nothing else besides their verbal profession to testify to their faith. Later on, some time before these verses were revealed, God benevolently enabled the Muslims to develop a collective entity of their own and thus to raise the banner of Islam in the face of strong opposition from the unbelievers. That the Muslims should fail to appreciate the hardships which other Muslims were enduring, and which they themselves had endured until not long before, and not to treat them with consideration and forbearance, did not seem an adequate way of thanking God for His benevolence.
128. "Those who sit at home' (i.e. remain passive) does not refer either
to those who had been ordered to fight but tried to look for excuses not to
fight or to those who were individually obliged to take part in fighting because
of the general summons of Jihad (fight in the cause of God) and yet shirked
this duty. The reference here is to those who remained engrossed in personal
concerns at a time when Jihad had become a collective obligation (fard bi al-kifayah).
In the first case the person who fails to fight can only be a hypocrite, and
God holds out no good promise for such a person unless there is good reason,
for example, genuine disability. In the second case, however, what is required
is the mobilization of a part rather than the entire military strength of the
Islamic community. In such cases, if the recognized head (imam) of the Islamic
community summons the people to come forward and undertake the expedition concerned,
those who respond to that call are reckoned to be of superior merit to those
who remain occupied with other pursuits however meritorious.
Fard bi al-kifayah signifies a collective duty of the Muslim community so that
if some people carry it out no Muslim is considered blameworthy; but if no one
carries it out all incur a collective guilt - Ed.
129. The reference here is to those who stay behind along with the unbelievers, despite no genuine disability. They are satisfied with a life made up of a blend of Islamic and un-Islamic elements, even though they have had the chance to migrate to the Dar al-Islam and thus enjoy a full Islamic life. This is the wrong that they committed against themselves. What kept them satisfied with the mixture of Islamic and un-Islamic elements in their life was not any genuine disability but their love of ease and comfort, their excessive attachment to their kith and kin and to their properties and worldly interests. These concerns had exceeded reasonable limits and had even taken precedence over their concern for their religion see also( n. 116 )above).
130. Those people who had willingly acquiesced to living under an un-Islamic order would be called to account by God and would be asked: If a certain territory was under the dominance of rebels against God, so that it had become impossible to follow His Law, why did you continue to live there? Why did you not migrate to a land where it was possible to follow the law of God?
131. It should be understood clearly that it is only permissible for a person
who believes in the true religion enjoined by God to live under the dominance
of an un-Islamic system on one of the following conditions. First, that the
believer struggles to put an end to the hegemony of the un-Islamic system and
to have it replaced by the Islamic system of life, as the Prophets and their
early followers had done. Second, that he lacks the means to get out of his
homeland and thus stays there, but does so with utmost disinclination and unhappiness.
If neither of these conditions exist, a believer who continues to live in a
land where an un-Islamic order prevails, commits an act of continuous sin. To
say that one has no Islamic state to go to does not hold water. For if no Islamic
state exists, are there no mountains or forests from where one could eke out
a living by eating leaves and drinking the milk of goats and sheep, and thus
avoid living in a state of submission to unbelief.
Some people have misunderstood the tradition which says: 'There is no hijrah
after the conquest of Makka' (Bukhari, 'Sayd', 10; 'Jihad', 1, 27, 194; Tirmidhi,
'Siyar', 33; Nasa'i, 'Bay'ah', 15, etc. - Ed.) This tradition is specifically
related to the people of Arabia of that time and does not embody a permanent
injunction. At the time when the greater part of Arabia constituted the Domain
of Unbelief (Dar al-Kufr) or the Domain of War (Dar al-Harb), and Islamic laws
were being enforced only in Madina and its outskirts, the Muslims were emphatically
directed to join and keep together. But when unbelief lost its strength and
elan after the conquest of Makka, and almost the entire peninsula came under
the dominance of Islam, the Prophet (peace be on him) declared that migration
was no longer needed. This does not mean, however, that the duty to migrate
was abolished for Muslims all over the world for all time to come regardless
of the circumstances in which they lived.
132. Shortening Prayers (qasr) while travelling in peace-time consists of
praying two rak'ahs at those appointed times when one is normally required to
pray four rak'ahs. The form of qasr during a state of war has not been specified.
Prayers should, therefore, be performed as circumstances permit. People should
pray in congregation if possible, otherwise individually. If it is not possible
to turn towards the qiblah, one may keep the direction in which one happens
to be facing. One may even pray while seated either on the back of an animal
or on a vehicle. If actual bowing and prostrating are not possible, they may
be performed with hand signals. If absolutely necessary, one may even pray while
walking. One may also pray even though one's clothes are soiled with blood.
If, in spite of these relaxations, a man still fails to manage to perform a
Prayer within the prescribed time, he may defer it, following the precedent
set by the Prophet (peace be on him) during the Battle of the Ditch.
There is disagreement as to whether one should also perform the sunnah (recommended)
Prayers, or confine oneself to the obligatory ones. It is established that the
practice of the Prophet (peace be on him) was to keep up the sunnah connected
with the fajr (morning) Prayers, and with the witr in the 'isha' (evening) Prayers.
At the other prescribed times, he performed only the obligatory Prayers. He
did, however, perform the nafl (supererogatory) Prayers whenever he had the
chance to do so, sometimes even while he was mounted. For this reason 'Abd Allah
b. 'Umar expressed the opinion that one ought not to perform the sunnah Prayers
while travelling, except for the sunnah in the fajr Prayers. But a majority
of scholars consider both the performance and the omission of these Prayers
as equally permissible, leaving the matter entirely to the discretion of the
individual. The opinion held by the Hanafi school, however, is that it is preferable
for a traveller actually on the move to omit the sunnah Prayers, but when he
makes an overnight stop and is at his ease (even though in the legal sense he
may still be a traveller), their performance is preferable.
According to some eminent jurists, journeys on which one may resort to qasr
are those characterized as being fi sabil Allah (in the cause of God), such
as military expeditions, Pilgrimage, the quest for knowledge, and so on. This
is the judgement of 'Abd Allah b. 'Umar, 'Abd Allah b. Mas'ud and 'Ata'. On
the other hand, Shafi'i and Ahmad b. Hanbal are of the view that such permission
extends to all journeys undertaken for lawful purposes, though not to those
undertaken for unlawful purposes: indeed, if one travels for illegitimate purposes,
one has no right whatever to benefit from the relaxation of qasr. Hanafi jurists,
however, do not connect qasr with the purpose of the journey; they consider
it lawful on all journeys, regardless of the purposes for which they are undertaken.
They hold that a traveller may be either rewarded or punished by God, depending
on his purpose in travelling. That, however, has nothing to do with the permissibility
of qasr. (See the commentaries on the verse by Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir and Jassas.
See also Ibn Rushd, Biddy at al-Mujtahid, vol. 1, p. 163 - Ed.)
Other eminent jurists have inferred from the words: 'And there is no blame on
you . . . ' that qasr is not obligatory for a traveller: it is merely permitted.
A person may avail himself of it if he chooses, and he may also perform his
Prayers normally if he so wishes. This is the view of Shafi'i, even though he
considers qasr recommended and holds its omission to be tantamount to failure
to adopt the preferable alternative. According to Ahmad b. Hanbal, however,
while qasr is not obligatory, its omission falls under the category of disapproved
acts. In Abu Hanifah's opinion, qasr is obligatory, and according to one report,
Malik is of the same opinion. (See the commentaries on the verse by Qurtubi,
Jassas and Ibn al-'Arabi. See also al-Fiqh 'aid al-Madhdhib al-Arba'ah, vol.
1, p. 471, and n. 1, pp. 471-3 and Ibn Rushd, vol. 1, p. 161 - Ed.) It is established
by the Hadith that the Prophet (peace be on him) always shortened his Prayers
during his journeys. There is no reliable tradition to the effect that the Prophet
(peace be on him) ever prayed four full rak'ahs in these circumstances. Ibn
'Umar states that he accompanied the Prophet (peace be on him) as well as Abu
Bakr, 'Umar and 'Uthman on their journeys, and never saw any of them fail to
shorten their Prayers. A number of authentic traditions which have come down
from Ibn 'Abbas and several other Companions corroborate this. When 'Uthman
prayed four rak'ahs in Mina on the occasion of Hajj, some Companions objected
to his not shortening the Prayer. 'Uthman convinced them that he had not made
any mistake in so doing by arguing that he had got married in Makka and he had
heard from the Prophet (peace be on him) that the place a person married in
was in a sense his home. In that respect he was, therefore, not a traveller.
(See the commentaries on the verse by Qurtubi, Jassas and Ibn Kathir, and the
chapters on 'Salat al-Qasr' in the major collections of Hadith - Ed.)
In opposition to these numerous traditions are two from 'A'ishah which indicate
that it is equally valid both to shorten the Prayers and to do them in full.
These traditions, however, have weak links in their transmission and are also
opposed to the authenticated practice of 'A'ishah herself. It is also true that
there are intermediary states between travel and non-travel. During a temporary
stop, it is quite proper for a man to shorten his Prayers on some occasions
and on others to complete them. It depends upon the circumstances. It is probably
in this context that 'A'ishah states that the Prophet (peace be on him) sometimes
shortened his Prayers and sometimes performed them in full.
The Qur'anic expression in the verse 'there shall be no blame' also occurs in
the Qur'anic verse on the ritual of running between Safa and Marwah
see (Surah al-Baqarah 2: 158). The actual words used in both verses apparently mean that
these acts were not blameworthy even though the running, as we know, is part
of the prescribed rites of Pilgrimage and is obligatory: We can appreciate the
significance of both these Qur'anic verses if we remember that the purpose in
each case is to dispel the misunderstanding that the acts concerned might either
entail some sin or jeopardize a man's reward.
Another question in. regard to qasr is: What is the minimum travelling distance
in which Prayers may be shortened? The Zahiri school recognizes no limit at
all: any travelling validates the shortening of Prayers. According to Malik,
however, one may not shorten Prayers if the distance involved is either less
than forty-eight miles (seventy-seven kilometers) or involves travelling for
less than a day and a night. This is also the opinion of Ahmad b. Hanbal and
Ibn 'Abbas and a statement in support of it has also come down from Shafi'i.
The Companion Anas considers it permissible to shorten Prayers if the travelling
distance is fifteen miles. Awza'i, Zuhri and 'Umar consider one day's travelling
to be sufficient; Hasan al-Basri says that the journey should be two days long,
and Abu Yusuf says that it should be more than two days. According to Abu Hanifah,
one may shorten the Prayers on any journey in which one has to travel for three
days either on foot or by camel, i.e. a distance of eighteen farsakh. Ibn 'Umar,
Ibn Mas'ud and 'Uthman agree with this view. (See the commentary on the verse
by Qurtubi and Jassas. See also al-Fiqh 'aid al-Madhahib al-Arba'ah, vol. 1,
pp. 472 ff. and Ibn Rushd, vol. 1, pp. 163 ff. - Ed.)
If one stops over en route to one's destination, how long may one stay in one
place and still be allowed to shorten one's Prayers? On this question, too,
a variety of opinions have been expressed. Ahmad b. Hanbal is of the opinion
that if a man decides to stay for four days, he should perform his Prayers in
full. Malik and Shafi'i are of the opinion that a man may not shorten his Prayers
if he decides to stay at a place for more than four days. Awza'i and Abu Hanifah
are respectively of the opinion that if a person intends to stay at a place
for more than thirteen or fifteen days, he should pray in full. No categorical
injunction has come down from the Prophet (peace be on him) on this matter.
All jurists agree, however, that if a man has been held up somewhere and cannot
proceed because of some constraint, he may shorten his Prayers indefinitely
provided he is in a constant state of readiness to undertake the journey back
to his home as soon as the constraint is removed. Instances are reported of
Companions who continued to shorten their Prayers for two years in this kind
of circumstance. Treating the situation of a prisoner as analogous to this,
Ahmad b. Hanbal holds that he may shorten his Prayers throughout the period
of his imprisonment. (For legal discussions on the questions discussed here
see the commentaries on the verse by Ibn Kathir, Jassas, Qurtubi and Ibn al-'Arabi.
See also Ibn Rushd, vol. 1, pp. 160-5 - Ed.)
133. The Zahiris and Khawarij have interpreted this to signify that the injunction of shortening Prayers is confined to war-time alone and that it is against the Qur'an to shorten Prayers while travelling in peace-time. But it is established by an authentic tradition that when 'Umar mentioned this misgiving to the Prophet (peace be on him), he said: "This is a charitable gift to you from God, so accept His charitable gift.' (Muslim, 'Salat al-Musafirin', 12; Abu Da'ud, 'Salat al-Safar', 1; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 3, pp. 129 and 190 - Ed.) It is more or less established by an overwhelmingly large number of traditions that the Prophet (peace be on him) shortened his Prayers in times of both war and peace. Ibn 'Abbas states categorically that the Prophet (peace be on him) left Madina with the intention of performing Pilgrimage to the Ka'bah, and during this journey he prayed two rak'ahs (instead of four) even though he could have nothing to fear except God. (See Nasa'i, 'Taqsir al-Salah', 1 - Ed.) It is for this reason that I have added the word 'especially' in brackets to the text of the translation:
134. These words have led Abu Yusuf and Hasan b. Ziyad to the view that Prayer in a state of insecurity was confined to the time of the Prophet (peace be on him) alone. There are numerous examples, however, where a Qur'anic injunction was addressed specifically to the Prophet (peace be on him), yet holds good for the succeeding periods. Moreover, it is established that many outstanding Companions also resorted to this form of Prayer, even after the death of the Prophet (peace be on him), and there are no reports of disagreement on this question among the Companions. (For discussion see Jassas, vol. 2, pp. 261-3 and Ibn Rushd, vol. 1, p. 169-Ed.)
135. This injunction regarding Prayer in a state of either fear or insecurity (salat al-khawf) refers to the time when an enemy attack is anticipated, but the fighting has not yet begun. When fighting is taking place the ruling of the Hanafi school is that Prayer may be deferred. Malik and Thawri are of the opinion that if it is not possible to bow and prostrate in Prayer, it is enough to perform these actions by means of signs. Shafi'i argues that should the need arise, one might even fight while still in the state of Prayer. It is an established fact that on four occasions during the Battle of the Ditch the Prophet (peace be on him) missed Prayers during the appointed times, but performed them subsequently in their correct sequence, even though the above-mentioned injunction regarding Prayer in the state of insecurity had already been revealed. (See Jassas, vol. 2, pp. 263 ff. - Ed.)
136. The actual form of congregational Prayer in the state of insecurity
depends, to a large extent, on the actual state of the hostilities. The Prophet
(peace be on him) prayed variously under different conditions. A Muslim commander
may use his discretion and adopt whichever of the following forms of Prayer
seems to him most in keeping with the actual circumstances of the conflict:
(1) That a group of soldiers may pray behind the Prayer-leader, while the rest
take their positions against the enemy. When one rak'ah is completed, the first
group may disperse to be replaced in the Prayer by those who were at battle-stations,
and who now complete the second rak'ah behind the leader. In this way the soldiers
will have prayed one rak'ah each, and the leader two rak'ahs.
(2) That a group of soldiers may pray first and then another group may pray
one rak'ah each behind the leader. Subsequently, each of the two groups comes,
in turn, to complete the Prayer by performing one rak'ah individually. In this
way, each of the two groups will have prayed one rak'ah congregationally and
one rak'ah individually.
(3) That a group may pray two rak'ahs behind the leader, recite tashahhud and
finish the Prayer by reciting the salutation. Then the second group may join
the Prayer behind the leader and complete it with him. Thus the Prayer-leader
will have prayed four rak'ahs and each of the two groups will have prayed two.
(4) That a group may pray one rak'ah behind the leader. When the leader rises
to pray the second rak'ah, those who have been following him may complete the
second rak'ah by themselves, including the recitation of the tashahhud and salutation.
Then the second group joins the Prayer while the leader is in the second rak'ah.
After the leader has finished his second rak'ah and his followers have prayed
their first, the latter may rise and complete their Prayer by performing the
second rak'ah by themselves. In this case, the leader should prolong his standing
in the second rak'ah of the Prayer. The first form has been reported by Ibn
'Abbas, Jabir b. 'Abd Allah and Mujahid. The second form has been reported by
'Abd Allah b. Mas'ud and is the basis of the Hanafi ruling on this matter. The
third form of the Prayer has been adopted by Shafi'i and Malik with slight modification.
The basis of this ruling is a tradition from Sahl b. Abi Hathmah. There are
certain other forms of Prayer in the state of insecurity, details of which can
be found in larger works of Islamic Law.
137. This is to emphasize that the precautions recommended here are among the measures which ought to be adopted with a view to minimizing This tradition reports that the Prophet (peace be on him) led the Prayer of his Companions as prescribed for the state of insecurity. The Companions stood in two rows behind the Prophet (peace be on him). The Companions in the first row completed the first rak'ah with the Prophet (peace be on him), then rose and remained standing until those in the second row had prayed one rak'ah. The latter then rose and stepped forward and the ones standing ahead of them retreated behind them. Then the Prophet (peace be on him) prayed with this group one rak'ah, then sat down until the back raw had prayed one rak'ah. Then the Prophet (peace be on him) recited the salutation (marking the end of the Prayer). See Muslim. 'Salat al-Musafirin' - Ed. losses and ensuring good results. Victory and defeat ultimately depend, however, on the will of God; so even while taking these precautionary measures one should feel sure that God will humiliate those who are trying to extinguish His light.
138. This refers to those unbelievers who adamantly opposed the cause of Islam and the establishment of the Islamic order.
139. It is astonishing that men of faith should not be prepared to endure the same degree of hardship for the sake of the Truth as unbelievers do for the sake of falsehood. This is strange insofar as the latter merely seek the transient benefits of worldly life whereas the faithful seek to please, and secure the proximity of the Lord of the Universe and look forward to everlasting rewards.
140. These and certain other verses which occur a little later on (see verses
113 ff.) deal with an important matter, related to an incident that took place
around the time they were revealed. The incident involved a person called Tu'mah
or Bashir ibn Ubayriq of the Banu Zafar tribe of the Ansar. This man stole an
Ansari's coat of mail. While the investigation was in progress, he put the coat
of mail in the house of a Jew. Its owner approached the Prophet (peace be on
him) and expressed his suspicion about Tu'mah. But Tu'mah, his kinsmen and many
of the Banu Zafar colluded to ascribe the guilt to the Jew. When the Jew concerned
was asked about the matter he pleaded that he was not guilty. Tu'mah's supporters,
on the other hand, waged a vigorous propaganda campaign to save Tu'mah's skin.
They argued that the wicked Jew, who had denied the Truth and disbelieved in
God and the Prophet (peace be on him), was absolutely untrustworthy, and his
statement ought to be rejected outright. The Prophet (peace be on him) was about
to decide the case against the Jew on formal grounds and to censure the plaintiff
for slandering Banu Ubayriq, but before he could do so, the whole matter was
laid bare by a revelation from God. (For the traditions cited here, see the
commentary of Ibn Kathir on this verse - Ed.)
It is obvious that the Prophet (peace be on him) would have committed no sin
if he had given judgement on the evidence before him. Judges are quite often
faced with such situations. False evidence is given in order to obtain wrong
verdicts. The time when this case came up for decision was a time of severe
conflict between Islam and unbelief. Had the Prophet (peace be on him) issued
a wrong judgement on the basis of the evidence before him, it would have provided
the opponents of Islam with an effective weapon against the Prophet (peace be
on him) as well as against the entire Islamic community, and even Islam itself.
They could have spread the word that the Prophet (peace be on him) and his followers
were not concerned about right and justice: it would have been claimed that
they were guilty of the same prejudice and chauvinism against which they had
themselves been preaching. It was specifically to prevent this situation that
God intervened in this particular case.
In this and the following (verses 105 ff.) the Muslims were strongly censured
for supporting criminals for no other reason than either family or tribal solidarity
and were told that they should not allow prejudice to interfere with the principle
of equal justice for all. Man's instinctive honesty revolts against the idea
of supporting one's own kin even when they are wrong, and denying others their
legitimate rights.
141. Whoever commits a breach of trust with others in fact commits a breach of trust with his own self first. For the powers of his head and heart have been placed at his disposal as a trust, and by misusing them he is forcing those powers to support him in acts which involve a breach of trust. In doing so the person concerned suppresses his conscience, which God has placed as a sentinel over his moral conduct, with the result that it is rendered incapable of preventing him from acts of wrong and iniquity. It is only after a man has already carried out this cruel suppression of conscience within himself that he is able to commit acts of sin and iniquity outwardly.
142. Even if some people succeeded in their design to obtain from the Prophet (peace be on him) a wrong judgement in their favour by presenting a false account of events, the real loss would have been theirs rather than the Prophet's (peace be on him). For the real criminals in the sight of God are the perpetrators of that fraud and not the Prophet (peace be on him) who might in good faith have delivered a verdict that actually did not conform to the facts. Whoever obtains a judgement in his favour by tricking the courts deludes himself into believing that by such tricks he can bring right to his side; right remains with its true claimant regardless of judgements obtained by fraud and deception. (See also Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I, (Surah 2, n. 197.)
143. When, after revelation from God, the Prophet (peace be on him) delivered his verdict in favour of the innocent Jew rather than the dishonest Muslim, the latter was so seized by un-Islamic, egotistic and chauvinistic considerations that he left Madina, went straight to Makka to join the ranks of the enemies of Islam and of the Prophet (peace be on him), and undertook open opposition. The verse alludes to that incident.
144. In this and the following verses we are asked to consider coolly, the end result of obsession with rage and anger, and what kind of people one chooses to identify with in place of the righteous people from whom one foolishly dissociates oneself.
145. No one sets up Satan as his 'god' in the sense that he makes him the object of his ritual worship and declares him to be God in so many words. The way to make Satan one's god is to entrust one's reins to him and let oneself be drawn helplessly in whichever direction he wants; the relationship between the two is, then, that of worshipper and worshipped. This shows that either absolute, unreserved obedience to or blind following of anybody is tantamount to 'worshipping' him, so that whoever indulges in this kind of absolute obedience is guilty of worshipping a 'god' other than the One True God.
146. This shows that Satan is determined to lay his claim to a portion of men's time, to their effort and labour, to their energies and capacities, to their material belongings, and to their offspring, and would somehow trick them into devoting a sizeable portion of all these in his cause.
147. The reference here is to a superstitious Arabian custom. It was customary among the Arabs that after a camel had given birth to five or ten young to slit her ears and let her go in the name of their deity; they considered it forbidden to put her to any work. Likewise, the male camel that had caused the birth of ten camels was consecrated to some deity. The slitting of ears symbolized this consecration.
148. To alter God's creation in some respect does not mean changing its original form. If that was meant, human civilization would have to be considered Satanic in its entirety. For civilization consists essentially of man's putting to use the resources endowed by God. Hence the alteration of God's creation, which is characterized as Satanic, consists in using a thing not for the purpose for which it was created by God. In other words, all acts performed in violation either of one's true nature or of the intrinsic nature of other things are the result of the misleading promptings of Satan. These include, for instance, sodomy, birth control, monasticism, celibacy, sterilization of either men or women, turning males into eunuchs, diverting females from the functions entrusted to them by nature and driving them to perform the functions for which men were created. These and numerous similar measures are enacted by Satan's disciples in this world, which amounts on their part, to saying that the laws of the Creator were faulty and that they would like to 'reform' them.
149. Satanic operations are based on making attractive promises and raising high hopes. Whenever Satan wants to mislead men, whether individually or collectively, he tries to inspire them with Utopian expectations. In some he inspires expectations of ecstatic pleasure and outstanding success in their individual lives. He inspires others with prospects for achieving national glory. To still others he promises the well-being of mankind. He makes people feel confident that they can arrive at the ultimate truth without the aid of revealed knowledge. He deludes others into believing that God neither exists nor that there is any Life-after-Death. He comforts others with the belief that even if there is an After-life, they will be able to escape punishment through the intercession of certain persons. In short, Satan extends to different groups of people different promises and expectations with a view to seducing them.
150. To submit to God is the best course for man, for it conforms fully to ultimate reality. Since God is the Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that lies therein, the only right attitude for man is to give up his unlimited freedom and willingly commit himself to serve and obey God.
151. If man will neither submit to God nor stop acting in defiance of Him, he should bear in mind that he can never escape from God's grip,for His power encompasses him completely.
152. The actual query about women is not spelled out directly. The judgement pronounced a little later on in response to that query, however, makes it abundantly clear what the query was.
153. This is not a response to the query itself. Before attending to this, God once again emphasizes that people should implement His directives regarding orphans in general, and orphan girls in particular, as mentioned at the beginning of this surah see (verses 2 ff). above). This shows the importance of the rights of orphans in the sight of God. The protection of their rights, as we have pointed out, had already been stressed forcefully (see beginning of the surah, (verses 1-14). But that was not deemed sufficient. Hence, when problems of family life came up for discussion, the question of the well-being of orphans automatically arose even before answering the questions people raised.
154. This alludes to (verse 3 of this surah): 'And if you fear that you might not treat the orphans justly, then marry the women that seem good to you. '
155. The words of the text ( ) may be interpreted as: 'Whom you wish to marry (out of greed)' and also as 'Whom you do not wish to marry.' In explanation of this verse 'A'ishah states that, in those days, guardians of orphan girls who had any significant inheritance from their parents used to perpetrate many wrongs on their wards. If the girl was both rich and good looking, the guardian desired to marry her and exploit both her attractiveness and wealth without either having to make the bridal-due (mahr) or even having to undertake her maintenance. If the girl was ugly, the guardian would neither marry her nor allow her to get married, for she might thus get a husband who would support her claim to her legitimate rights. (See the commentary of Ibn Kathir on this verse. The tradition is quoted by Ibn Kathir from Bukhari. See also( n. 4 )above -Ed.)
156. The reference here is to the injunctions regarding the protection of the rights of orphans at the beginning of the surah see (verses 1 ff . and 11) ff. above).
157.The actual response to the query begins here. In order to appreciate
the response fully one would do well to consider the query itself. In the days
of Ignorance a man was free to marry an unlimited number of women, who had virtually
no rights. When the preliminary verses of the present surah were revealed (see
especially( verse 3) this freedom was circumscribed
in two ways. First, the maximum number of wives was fixed at four. Second, justice
(that is, equal treatment of wives) was laid down as a necessary condition for
marrying more than one. This gives rise to the question whether a person is
obligated by Islam to feel equally towards each of his wives, to love each to
an equal degree, and treat them equally even in respect of sexual relationship.
Such questions are especially relevant with regard to a husband one of whose
wives might be, say, afflicted with either sterility, permanent sickness or
who is incapable of sexual intercourse. Does justice demand that if he fails
to live up to the standards of equality mentioned above that he should renounce
his first wife in order to marry the second? Moreover, where the first wife
is disinclined to agree to annulment of the marriage, is it appropriate for
the spouses to make a voluntary accord between themselves, according to which
the wife, towards whom the husband feels relatively less attracted, voluntarily
surrenders some of her rights, prevailing upon her husband not to repudiate
the marriage? Would such an act be against the dictates of justice? It is to
questions such as these that these verses are addressed.
158. It is better for the spouses to come to a mutual understanding so that the wife may remain with the same man with whom she has already spent part of her life.
159. The 'selfishness' on the part of the wife is that even though she is conscious of the causes which have contributed to her husband's aversion towards her, she nevertheless expects from him the treatment that a husband accords to the wife that he loves. The 'selfishness' of the husband, on the other hand, lies in suppressing her unduly and curtailing her rights to an intolerable extent, merely because she is keen to continue to live with him even though she has lost her attraction for him.
160. Here, too, God urges the male, as He usually does in such matters, to be magnanimous. God urges a man to treat his wife, who has probably spent a considerable number of years with him as his companion, with kindliness and grace in spite of the aversion that he has come to feel for her. He also urges man to love God, for if He were to deprive him of His loving care and blessing in order to punish him for his shortcomings, what place would he have under the sun?
161. This means that it is not possible for a man to accord complete equality
of treatment to two or more wives under all circumstances and in all respects.
It is possible that one is ugly, the other beautiful; one is old, the other
young; one is permanently sick, the other healthy; one is irritable, the other
good-tempered. These and other differences are likely to make a person less
attracted to one and more to the other. In such circumstances, the Law does
not demand that one should necessarily maintain absolute equality between the
wives in respect of love, emotional attachment and sexual relationship. What
it does demand is that if a husband does not repudiate the marriage despite
aversion for his wife, either because of his own desire or out of consideration
for the desire of his wife, he should at least maintain a good relationship
short of which his wife begins to feel as if she is without a husband. In such
circumstances, while it is natural that a person should prefer one wife to the
other, this should not go to the extent that the woman remains, as it were,
in a state of suspension, as if she were without a husband at all.
Some people point out that in this verse the Qur'an in one breath stipulates
justice as the necessary condition for plurality of wives and in the other breath
declares it to be impossible. On this ground they conclude that the Qur'an has
itself revoked the permission to marry more than one wife. There is, however,
absolutely no justification for such an inference. Such an inference would have
been justified had the Qur'an merely said that 'You will not be able to treat
your wives with (absolute) justice.' But this statement has been followed by
the directive: ' ... do not allow yourselves to incline wholly to one, leaving
the other in suspense.' This leaves no grounds at all for the blind followers
of Christian Europe to force an interpretation of their liking on the verse.
162. If a man does not deliberately inflict any wrong and tries earnestly to be just in his dealings God will pardon whatever minor shortcomings take place.
163. In the Qur'an God often rounds off His enunciation of laws by urging
people to reform those aspects of family life and social order in which they
are generally liable to commit injustice with admonitions designed to create
in people the urge to follow those legal injunctions. Since in the preceding
verse the believers were asked to treat women and orphans with justice and kindness
it was deemed necessary to bring home to them the following points:
First, that people should not entertain the illusion that they have the power
to make or mar the destinies of others, that if they were to withdraw their
support, people would be left helpless. The fact is that the destinies of all
lie in the Hand of God alone and He need not remain dependent upon any single
person as the sole instrument for helping any particular creature. The resources
of the Lord of the heavens and the earth are limitless and He also knows how
to use those resources.
Second, that the followers of the Prophet (peace be on him) ought to heed the
admonition that was made to them, just as it was made to the followers of the
former Prophets: to fear God in all their actions. They are being told in effect
that by following God's guidance they will secure their own well-being rather
than be the source of any benefit to God, that they can do God no harm by disobeying
Him, just as it did not lie in the power of the followers of the former Prophets
to cause God any harm. The Lord of the Universe does not need people's obedience.
If they disobey He may simply replace them with some other nation, and their
dismissal will not diminish the majesty and splendour of His realm in the least.
Third, that God alone has the power to dispense the good of this world as well
as that of the Hereafter, to lavish transient benefits as well as abiding felicity.
It all depends on a man's nature and the extent of his ambition what kind of
benefit he seeks from God. If a man is infatuated with the fleeting benefits
of this world, and is prepared to sacrifice the benefits of the everlasting
life, then God will grant him only the good of this world and he will have no
share in the good of the Hereafter. God's benevolence is like a river which
never dries up, a river which is both capable of, and geared to, providing abundant
water to all who need their tillage watered. It is short-sighted and unambitious
to want one's fields to be irrigated only once, and to be prepared thereafter
to face the prospect of eternal drought. Anyone with breadth of vision would
commit himself to submit to God and obey Him, thereby earning the well-being
of both worlds.
The section ends with the assertion that God is All-Seeing and All-Hearing.
This means that God is fully aware of the actions of His creatures, and is unlike
those negligent sovereigns who are blind in lavishing their favours. God governs
the universe with full knowledge and awareness. He has an eye on the capacities
and ambitions of all human beings and knows their qualities exactly. He is fully
aware of the purposes to which people devote their efforts and energies. Anyone
who 'wilfully decides to be disobedient to God should therefore not cherish
hopes of receiving the favours reserved for those who obey Him.
164. It is not enough for believers to uphold justice themselves: they are expected to be its standard-bearers. They are supposed not merely to practise justice in their own dealings but to strive for its triumph. They have to do all within their power to ensure that injustice is eradicated and replaced by equity and justice. A true believer is required to be the pillar supporting the establishment of right and justice.
165. The testimony of the believers should be solely for the sake of God. Their testimony should not be biased in favour of any of the parties concerned, they should not use any opportunity for personal aggrandizement, and they should not seek to please anyone but God.
166. To ask believers to believe might at first seem strange. The fact is, however, that belief as used here has two meanings. First, belief denotes that a man has preferred to acknowledge the soundness of true guidance, to distance himself from the fold of those who disbelieve, and to join the camp of the believers. Second, belief denotes faith, a man's believing in the truth with all his heart, with full earnestness and sincerity. It denotes man's sincere determination to mould his way of thinking, his taste and temperament, his likes and dislikes, his conduct and character, his friendship and enmity, and the direction of his efforts and striving, in conformity with the creed which he has resolved to embrace. This verse is addressed to all those who are 'believers' in the first sense of the term, and they are asked to change themselves into true believers, i.e. believers in the second sense.
167. Kufr has two meanings. One signifies categorical rejection. The other signifies that pretence of belief even when either one's heart is not convinced or one's conduct is flagrantly opposed to the demands of one's belief. Here the term Kufr conveys both meanings, and the verse aims at impressing upon people that whichever kind of Kufr they adopt in respect of the fundamental beliefs of Islam, it will only alienate them from the Truth, and lead them instead to falsehood, and ultimately to their tragic failure and destruction.
168. This refers to those for whom religion is no more than an object of casual entertainment, a toy with which they like to play as long as it suits their desires and fancies. One wave carries them to the fold of Islam and the next away to that of disbelief. Whenever Islam appears to suit their interests they become Muslims; and when the glamorous visage of the god of utility leaps up before their eyes they rush off to worship it. To such people God holds out neither the assurance of forgiveness nor of direction to true guidance. The statement that such people 'became even more intense in their disbelief refers to those who are not content with not believing themselves, but also try to undermine the faith of others and to persuade them to disbelief, who engage in secret conspiracies as well as overt activities against Islam, and who devote their energies to the struggle aimed at exalting disbelief and degrading the true religion of God. This is a higher degree of disbelief, involving the progressive heaping of crime upon crime. It is obvious that the punishment for this must be greater than for simple disbelief.
169. The term 'jzzah denotes a position which is at once exalted and secure. In other words, the term signifies 'inviolable honour and glory'.
170. A person who professes Islam and yet enjoys the company of those who indulge in blasphemy against God, and who bears with equanimity their scoffing at God and His Messenger, is no different' from the unbelievers mentioned here. (For the injunction in this verse, see also (Surah al-An'am 6: 68) below.
171. This is typical of the hypocrites of every age. Such people try to avail themselves of all the benefits which can accrue from a verbal profession of Islam and identification with the Islamic community. They also try to secure the advantages to be obtained by associating with the unbelievers, by assuring them in every possible way about themselves that they are not 'fanatic Muslims', that their association with the Muslims is only nominal. On the other hand, they never fail to assure the unbelievers that their loyalties and concerns are the same as theirs, that in mental outlook, cultural orientation and taste they are in harmony with them, and that if a decisive conflict between Islam and unbelief were to take place, their weight will certainly be on the side of the latter.
172. In the time of the Prophet (peace be on him) no one, unless he prayed regularly, could be reckoned as belonging to the Islamic community. We know that secular associations consider the absence of any member from their meetings, without a valid excuse, a sign of lack of interest, and that in the event of continued absence, they cancel his membership. The early Islamic community did the same with those who absented themselves from congregational Prayers. In those days a person's absence from congregational Prayers was considered a clear indication of his indifference towards Islam: if he absented himself from them repeatedly he was no longer held to be a Muslim. In those days, therefore, even the worst hypocrites had to attend the five daily Prayers in the mosque. What distinguished a true believer from the hypocrite was that the former came to the mosque with devotion, fervour and eagerness, came there well before the appointed time for the Prayer, and did not rush out of the mosque as soon as the Prayer was over. In short, everything about him indicated that his heart was in the Prayer. Whereas the call to the Prayer for the hypocrite seemed like the announcement of an unavoidable calamity. When such a person set off for the mosque, he seemed to do so in spite of himself. He walked as if he were dragging the entire weight of his being. No wonder, then, that as soon as the Prayer was over, he escaped like a prisoner released from jail. His entire demeanour testified that the remembrance of God was not what he really had his heart in.
173. Here an important fact has been stated about the person who remained
unguided to the Truth despite his acquaintance with the Book of God and with
the life of His Prophet (peace be on him). He was a person who was so disinclined
to the Truth and so infatuated with error that even God let him go forth along
the same erroneous direction that he had chosen for himself, a person on whom
the door of true guidance had been shut and the way towards error had been made
smooth by God. It is virtually beyond the power of human-beings to direct such
a person to the Truth.
We may be able to grasp this if we consider the case of man's livelihood. God
controls all the sources of man's livelihood. Thus, anyone who receives any
portion of livelihood receives it from God alone. At the same time, God grants
every man livelihood through the means he has himself sought. If a man seeks
his livelihood through lawful means and strives accordingly, God opens the door
to honest living to him and closes the avenues of dishonest earnings in proportion
to his earnestness. On the other hand, there is the person who is bent upon
fattening himself on dishonest earnings and strives accordingly. God permits
such a person to continue making an unlawful living, and no one has the power
to help him secure an honest means of living.
The same applies to man's belief and conduct in this life. In this respect too,
the ultimate control rests with God. No human being can proceed along any path,
whether it be good or evil, unless God lets him proceed along it, and bestows
upon him the means to do so. However, it is up to man himself to choose his
own path, and after he has made the choice, God will let him proceed along it,
and will even pave the way for him. If a person really cares about God, genuinely
seeks the truth and earnestly tries to pursue the path charted by God, God permits
him to follow his choice, and even provides the means necessary to proceed along
his chosen path. On the other hand, God shuts the door of true guidance on the
person who chooses error and strives to proceed only along wrong paths, and
further enables him to follow the path of his choice. It is beyond the power
of any human being to prevent such a person from thinking wrongly, acting wrongly
and using up his energies in wrong directions. If a man loses the road to his
success and is subsequently deprived of true guidance by God, in whose power
does it lie, then, to restore to him his lost treasure?
174. To make one's faith exclusively to God means to concentrate one's loyalties, concerns, affections, and adorations on God, and not to allow any attachments to strike such deep roots in one's heart that one may cease to be capable of sacrificing them for His sake.
175. Shukr denotes an acknowledgement of benefaction and a feeling of gratitude.
This verse states if a person does not behave ungratefully towards God then
there is no reason why God should punish him.
The attitude of gratefulness to God consists of acknowledging His benefaction
in one's heart, in confessing it in one's speech and by manifesting it in one's
deeds. It is the sum-total of these which is termed shukr. This attitude requires:
(1) that a person should ascribe the benefaction to its real source, letting
no one share in either the gratitude or the acknowledgement of benevolence;
(2) that his heart should be overflowing with love for, and loyalty to, the
Benefactor, and that he should have no attachment to His opponents;
(3) that he should obey the Benefactor and should not use His bounties contrary
to His directives.
176.The word used here is shakir which we have translated as 'All-Appreciative'. In the context of the God-man relationship, when the word shukr is used in respect of God, it denotes 'appreciation of services'. When it is used in respect of man, it denotes his acknowledgement of God's benefaction and his sense of gratitude to Him. To say that God 'thanks' His creatures stresses that God is fully appreciative of the services which His servants have rendered and will recompense them liberally. This contrasts sharply with the attitude of human beings, who are generally slow and uncharitable in appreciating the services rendered to them, and quick and severe in censuring people for their omissions. As for God, He is lenient and prone to overlook man's omissions. On the contrary, He rewards man manifold for his good deeds.
177. This verse embodies a moral directive of very high value to the Muslims. The hypocrites, the Jews and the polytheists were all bent on placing all kinds of obstacles in the way of the spread of Islam: They eagerly persecuted the Muslims and used all possible means, however malicious, against them. Such an attitude inevitably created anger and resentment. It was in the context of this storm of bitter feelings that God told the Muslims that He did not consider speaking ill of people as praiseworthy. No doubt the Muslims had been wronged, and if a wronged person speaks out against a wrong-doer, he is quite justified in doing so. Even though this is a person's right, it is more meritorious to continue to do good both in public and in private, and to ignore the misdeeds of others. For one's ideal should be to try to approximate to God's way as far as possible. God with whom one wants to be close is lenient and forbearing; He provides sustenance even to the worst criminals and seeks mitigating circumstances in even the most serious offences. In order to become close to God, one ought to be generous in spirit and full of tolerance.
178. Insofar as being an unbeliever is concerned, there is no difference
between
(1) those who believe neither in God nor in the Prophets,
(2) those who believe in God but not in the Prophets, and
(3) those whobelieve in some Prophets but reject others.
179. This means that only those who acknowledge God to be their sole object of worship and their only sovereign, and who commit themselves to follow all the Prophets, will merit reward for their acts in the Hereafter. What that reward will be depends on the nature and extent of their acts of goodness. Those who do not either acknowledge the exclusive sovereignty of God or who rebelliously reject some Messengers of God and believe only in those whom they choose to, will not be rewarded, for in God's sight their apparently good acts are essentially not valid.
180. God will be lenient and forgiving in judging the conduct of those who believe in Him and the Prophets.
181. One of the odd demands which the Jews of Madina made to the Prophet (peace be on him) was that if he wanted them to accept his claim to prophethood he should have them either witness a book descending from the heavens or that each one of them should receive a writ from on high, confirming Muhammad's prophethood and the absolute necessity of believing in him.
182. The purpose here is not to describe the details of any particular event, but merely to mention, in brief, the crimes of the Jews. Hence passing references are made to the main incidents in the national history of the Jews. The particular event referred to has been mentioned earlier in Surah al-Baqarah. (See Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I, (Surah 2: 55; also n. 71.)
183. 'Clear signs' refer here to the signs which people had constantly witnessed from the time of Moses' appointment to his prophetic office, to the drowning of Pharaoh and the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt. It is clear that He Who had secured the deliverance of the Israelites from the clutches of the powerful Egyptian empire was not the calf, but God, the Lord of the Universe. One is simply staggered at the overpowering predisposition of the Jews to error, as evidenced by the fact that at that very juncture in their history when they had experienced the most illustrious signs of God's power and grace they bowed down before the image of the calf, rather than before God, their Benefactor.
184. This 'manifest commandment' refers to the commandments hichhad been handed over to Moses on tablets. (For a more detailed account of this incident see (Surah al-A'raf 7, verses 143 ff.).The covenant referred to here is that which had been entered into by the representatives of Israel in the valley of Mount Sinai. For this see (Surah al-Baqarah 2: 63 )and (Surah al-A'raf 7:171.)
185. See Towards Understanding the Qur'an. vol. I, (Surah 2: 58-9 and n. 75).
186. See ibid., ( Surah 2: 65 and nn. 82-3).
187. This statement of the Jews has already been mentioned in (Surah al-Baqarah 2: 88). In fact, like all ignorant worshippers of falsehood, these people also boasted that their faith in the ideas and prejudices, customs and usages of their forefathers was so firm that they could never be made to forsake them. Whenever the Messengers of God tried to admonish them, they have been told point-blank that no matter what argument or evidence the latter might adduce in support of their message, they would never be prepared to alter their viewpoint. (See Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I, (Surah 2, n. 94.)
188. This is a parenthetical statement.
189. This marks the resumption of the main theme of the discourse.
190. The Jews had ho grounds for suspicion regarding the miraculous birth
of Jesus. The day he was born God made the entire Jewish people witness that
it was the birth of an extraordinary person, and that his birth had taken place
miraculously rather than as the result of an act of moral corruption. When this
unmarried girl, of a highly esteemed and pious Israelite family, produced a
new-born infant, thousands of people of all age groups thronged to her house
out of curiosity. Instead of replying to their queries verbally, Mary pointed
to the baby, indicating that he would himself reply. The wonder-struck crowd
inquired if they were expected to direct their questions to the infant child
who lay in the cradle. To their amazement the child addressed the crowd in a
clear and eloquent style: 'I am indeed a servant of God, and to me has He vouchsafed
Revelation, me has He made a Prophet'. (Surah Maryam 19: 30.)
Thus God demolished every basis for casting doubt on the birth of Jesus. When
Jesus was young no one accused Mary of either unchastity or Jesus of being born
illegitimately. When Jesus reached the age of thirty he launched his prophetic
mission, censuring the Jews for their misdeeds and reproaching the rabbis and
the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. He also called attention to the moral degeneration
to which they had sunk, urging people to rise up and engage in the perilous
struggle to establish the hegemony of God's religion. Such a struggle called
for all kinds of sacrifices and involved confrontation with Satanic forces on
all fronts. Once Jesus launched this mission these criminals decided to spare
no weapon, however base, in their bid to silence this fearless voice of truth.
It was at this point that they flung at Mary the accusation of unchastity and
at Jesus that of illegitimate birth. They made these accusations despite full
knowledge that both mother and child were absolutely chaste and innocent. That
is why this accusation is not characterized as either a wrong or a falsehood.
It is rather branded as disbelief (kufr) since the calumny was motivated chiefly
by the desire to obstruct the path of true faith and not just to bring an innocent
woman into disrepute.
191. Their criminal boldness had reached such proportions that they attempted
to put an end to the life of the one they themselves knew to be a Prophet, and
subsequently went around boasting of this achievement. The least reflection
on the incident of Jesus talking in his cradle (see the preceding note) makes
it clear that there was no strong reason to doubt his prophethood. Moreover,
the miracles of Jesus which they themselves witnessed (see Surah Al 'Imran 3:
49) had firmly established his claim to prophethood. Thus, whatever treatment
they meted out to him was not based on any misconception, for they were fully
aware that the person whom they were subjecting to criminal treatment had been
appointed by God as the bearer of His message. It seems strange that a people
should recognize a man to be a Prophet in their hearts and still try to assassinate
him. The ways of degenerate nations are indeed strange. Such people are absolutely
unprepared to tolerate the existence of those who reproach them for their corruption
and seek to prevent them from evil. Hence the reformers, including Prophets,
who arise among corrupt nations are always persecuted; they are imprisoned and
even put to death. The Talmud mentions that:
Nebuchadnezzar laid waste the land of Israel. . . when the city had been captured,
he marched with his princes and officers into the Temple ... on one of the walls
he found the mark of an arrow's head, as though somebody had been killed or
hit nearby, and he asked: 'Who was killed here?' 'Zachariah, the son of Yohoyadah,
the high priest', answered the people. 'He rebuked us incessantly on account
of our transgressions, and we tired of his words, and put him to death.' (The
Talmud Selections by H. Polano, London, Frederick Warne & Co.)
The Bible also mentions that when the corrupt practices of Israel exceeded all
limits, and Jeremiah warned them that God would have them overrun by other nations
in punishment for their wickedness, his warning was greeted by the Jews with
the accusation that he was a collaborator with the Chaldeans and hence a traitor.
And under that pretext Jeremiah was sent to prison. In the same manner, about
two and a half years before Jesus' crucifixion, John the Baptist suffered a
cruel fate. On the whole the Jews knew him to be a Prophet, or at least acknowledged
him to be one of the most religious people in the nation. But when he criticized
the royal court of Herod, the King of Judah, he was first thrown into prison,
and then, in response to the demand of a dancing girl, who was Herod's favourite
'mistress', his head was cut off.
If this record of the Jews is kept in mind, it does not seem surprising that,
after having subjected Jesus - according to their belief - to crucifixion, they
might have been overcome by jubilation and in a fit of self-congratulation might
have boastfully exclaimed: 'Yes, we have put a Prophet of God to death!' (For
similar incidents see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I,
(Surah 2, n. 79 - Ed.)
192. This again is a parenthetical statement.
193. This verse categorically states that Jesus was raised on high before he could be crucified, and that the belief of both the Jews and the Christians that Jesus died on the cross is based on a misconception. As a result of a comparative study of the Qur'anic and Biblical versions we are persuaded that, so far as the trial at the court of Pilate is concerned, it was probably Jesus who was tried. Pilate sentenced him to death after the Jews showed their deep hostility to Truth and righteousness by openly declaring that, in their view, the life of a thief was of higher value than that of a man with such a pure soul as Jesus. It was then that God raised Jesus up to heaven. The person the Jews subsequently crucified was someone else who, for one reason or another, was mistaken for the person of Jesus. The fact that the person who had actually been crucified was someone other than Jesus does not in any way detract from the guilt of those Jews, for in their minds it was Jesus whose head they were crowning with thorns, in whose face they were spitting, and whom they were subjecting to crucifixion. We are not in a position now to find out how and why such a confusion arose. As no authentic source of information is available to us, it would be inappropriate to conjecture and speculate about the cause of the misapprehension which led the Jews to believe that they had crucified Jesus, the son of Mary, whereas he had already passed far beyond their grasp.
194. "Those who differed' refers to the Christians. The Christians have dozens of different versions, rather than one universally agreed view, regarding the crucifixion of the Messiah. This in itself is an eloquent testimony that the Christians were doubtful about the actual event. Some of them held the view that the one who was crucified was someone other than-Jesus and that Jesus himself in fact remained standing somewhere nearby, laughing at their folly. Others were of the opinion that the one who was crucified was certainly Jesus himself, but that he did not die on the cross and was still alive when brought down from it. Others asserted that though Jesus died on the cross, he later returned to life, met his disciples and conversed with them about ten times. Again, some believe that the human body of Jesus suffered death and was buried, while the spirit of godhead in him was taken up on high. Yet others believe that after his death the Messiah was resurrected physically and was subsequently taken up to heaven in physical form. Had the truth been fully known and well-established so many divergent views could not have gained currency.
195. This is the truth revealed by God. What is categorically asserted here
is merely that the Jews did not succeed in killing the Messiah, but that God
raised him unto Himself. The Qur'an furnishes no detailed information about
the actual form of this 'raising'. It neither states categorically that God
raised him from the earthly sphere to some place in heaven in both body and
soul, nor that his body died on earth and his soul alone was raised to heaven.
Hence neither of the two alternatives can be definitely affirmed nor denied
on the basis of the Qur'an. If one reflects on the Qur'anic version of the event
one gets the impression that, whatever the actual form of this 'raising', the
event was of an extraordinary character. This extraordinariness is evident from
three things:
First, the Christians believed in the ascension of the Messiah in both body
and soul, which was one of the reasons for large sections of people to believe
in the godhead of Jesus. The Qur'an does not refute that idea but employs the
same term, raf (i.e. 'ascension'), employed by the Christians. It is inconceivable
that the Qur'an, which describes itself as the 'Clear Book', would employ an
expression that might lend support to a misconception it seeks to repudiate.
Second, one might assume that either the ascension of the Messiah was of the
kind that takes place at every person's death or that this 'ascension' meant
merely the exaltation of a Prophet's position, like that of Idris: 'And We raised
him to an exalted station'
(Surah Maryam 19: 57). Had it been so, this idea
would have been better expressed by a statement such as: And indeed they did
not kill the Messiah; Allah delivered him from execution and caused him to die
a natural death. The Jews had wanted to slight him but Allah granted him an
exalted position.
Third, if this raf (exaltation, ascension) referred to in the verse: 'Allah
raised him to Himself was of an ordinary kind, the statement which follows,
namely that 'Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise', would seem altogether out of context.
Such a statement is pertinent only in the context of an event which manifested,
in a highly extraordinary manner, by the overwhelming power and wisdom of God.
The only Qur'anic argument that can be adduced to controvert this view is the
verse in which the expression mutawaffika see (Surah Al 'Imran 3: 55))is employed.
But as we have pointed out (see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I,
(Surah 3, n. 51), this word can denote either God's taking a man unto Himself in soul
or taking him unto Himself in both body and soul. Arguments based on the mere
use of this word are not enough to repudiate the arguments we have already adduced.
Some of those who insist on the physical death of Jesus support their argument
by pointing out that there is no other example of the use of the word tawaffa
for God's taking unto Himself a man in body as well as in soul. But this argument
is not tenable since the ascension of Jesus was a unique event in human history
and, therefore, the quest for another example of the use of this term in the
same context is meaningless. What is worth exploring is whether or not the use
of the word in such a sense is valid according to Arabic usage. If it is, we
will have to say that the choice of this particular word lends support to belief
in the ascension of Jesus.
If we reflect on this verse in the light of the assumption that Jesus died physically,
it appears strange that the Qur'an does not employ those terms which would exclude
signifying the simultaneous physical and spiritual ascension of Jesus. On the
contrary, the Qur'an prefers a term which, since it is liable to both interpretations
(i.e. it can mean both spiritual and physical ascension), lends support to belief
in the physical ascension of Jesus, even though that notion was used as a basis
to support the false belief in the godhead of Jesus.
Belief in the physical ascension of Jesus is further reinforced by those numerous
traditions which mention the return of Jesus, son of Mary, to the world and
his struggle against the Anti-Christ before the end of time. (For these traditions
see our appendix to Surah 33.) These traditions quite definitively establish
the second coming of Jesus. Now it is for anybody to judge which is more reasonable:
Jesus' return to this world after his death, or his being alive somewhere in
God's universe, and returning to this world at some point in time?
196. The death mentioned here could refer either to the death of Jesus or to the death of each and every person among 'the People of the Book'. The text lends itself to both meanings. We have adopted the first in our translation. If we accept the alternative meaning, the verse would mean: "There is no one among the People of the Book who, before his death, will not believe in Jesus.' The expression, 'People of the Book' here refers to the Jews and possibly even to the Christians. In the light of this latter meaning, the purpose of the verse would be to affirm that at the time when the physical death of Jesus takes place, all the living 'People of the Book' would have come to believe in him (i.e. in his prophethood). Alternatively, the verse would mean that the prophethood of Jesus will become manifest to every person among the People of the Book just before he dies so that they will believe in him, but at a time when believing would be of no avail. Both these views have been supported by several Companions, Successors and outstanding scholars of Qur'anic exegesis. The truth of the matter is best known to God alone.
197. This means that on the Day of Judgement Jesus will stand in the court of the Almighty and testify to the treatment meted out to him and to the message he brought. (For the nature of this testimony see (Surah al-Ma'idah 5: 109 ff.) below.)
198. After this parenthetical statement, the main discourse is once again resumed.
199. This may refer to the regulation mentioned in (Surah al-An'am 6: 146), that all beasts with claws, and the fat of both oxen and sheep, were prohibited to the Jews. It might also refer, however, to the highly elaborate set of prohibitions found in Judaic Law. To restrict the choice of alternatives in their life is indeed a kind of punishment for a people. (For a fuller discussion see (Surah al-An'am 6, n. 122 )below.
200. The Jews, on the whole, are not satisfied with their own deviation from the path of God. They have become such inherent criminals that their brains and resources seem to be behind almost every movement which arises for the purpose of misleading and corrupting human beings. And whenever there arises a movement to call people to the Truth, the Jews are inclined to oppose it even though they are the bearers of the Scripture and inheritors of the message of the Prophets. Their latest contribution is Communism - an ideology which is the product of a Jewish brain and which has developed under Jewish leadership. It seems ironical that the professed followers of Moses and other Prophets should be prominent as the founders and promoters of an ideology which, for the first time in human history, is professedly based on a categorical denial of, and an undying hostility to God, and which openly strives to obliterate every form of godliness. The other movement which in modern times is second only to Communism in misleading people is the philosophy of Freud. It is a strange coincidence that Freud too was a Jew.
201. The Torah categorically lays down the injunction: 'And if you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor, and you shall not exact interest from him. If ever you take your neighbour's garment in pledge, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down; for that is his only covering, it is his mantle for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate' (Exodus 22: 25-7). This is one of several passages of the Torah which embody the prohibition of interest. The followers of the Torah, however, are most conspicuously engaged in transactions involving interest and have become notorious the world over for their meanness and hard-heartedness in monetary matters.
202. God has kept in store a painful punishment both in this world and in the Next for those Jews who have deviated from the course of true faith and sincere obedience to God, and are steeped in rejection of faith and rebellion against God. The severe punishment which has befallen the Jews in this world is unique and should serve as a lesson for all. Two thousand years have gone by and they have remained scattered all over the world and have been treated everywhere as outcasts. There has been no period during the last two millennia when they have not been looked on ignominiously and there is no part of the world where they are respected despite their enormous riches. What is more, this nation has been left dangling between life and death, unlike other nations which once appeared on the stage of history and then vanished. Their condemnation to this state of suspension makes them a lesson for all nations till the end of time. It marks the tragic fate that meets a people who, despite enjoying the guidance of the Book of God, dare to defy God. It would seem that their punishment in the Hereafter must be even more severe than in the present world. (For the questions which arise about the validity of our view, in spite of the establishment of the state of Israel, see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I, (Surah 3: 112, n. 90.)
203. Those well acquainted with the true teachings of the Scriptures, and whose minds are free from prejudice, obduracy, blind imitation of their forefathers and bondage to animal desires, will be disposed to follow those teachings. Their attitude is bound to be altogether different from the general attitude of those Jews apparently immersed in unbelief and transgression. Such people realize, even at first glance, that the Qur'anic teaching is essentially the same as that of the previous Prophets, and hence feel no difficulty in affirming it.
204. This emphasizes that Muhammad (peace be on him) did not introduce any innovations, and that his essential message was no different from the earlier revelations. What Muhammad (peace be on him) expounded was the same truth which had previously been expounded by the earlier Prophets in various parts of the world and at different periods of time. Wahy means 'to suggest; to put something into someone's heart; to communicate something in secrecy; to send a message'.
205. The 'Psalms' embodied in the Bible are not the Psalms of David. The
Biblical version contains many 'psalms' by others and they are ascribed to their
actual authors. The 'psalms' which the Bible does ascribe to David do indeed
contain the characteristic lustre of truth. The book called 'Proverbs', attributed
to Solomon, contains a good deal of accretion, and the last two chapters, in
particular, are undoubtedly spurious. A great many of these proverbs, however,
do have a ring of truth and authenticity. Another book of the Bible is ascribed
to Job. Even though it contains many gems of wisdom, it is difficult to believe
that the book attributed to Job could in fact be his. For the portrayal of Job's
character in that book is quite contrary to the wonderful patience for which
he is applauded in the Qur'an and for which he is praised in the beginning of
the Book of Job itself. The Book of Job, quite contrary to the Qur'anic portrayal
of him, presents him as one who was so full of grievance and annoyance" with
God throughout the entire period of his tribulation that his companions had
to try hard to persuade him that God was not unjust. In fact Job is shown in
the Bible as one whom even his companions failed to convince that God was just.
In addition to these, the Bible contains seventeen other books of the Israelite
Prophets. The greater part of these seem to be authentic. In Jeremiah, Isaiah,
Ezekiel, Amos and certain other books, in particular, one often encounters whole
sections which stir and move one's soul. These sections without doubt have the
lustre of Divine revelation. While going through them one is struck by the vehemence
of moral admonition, the powerful opposition to polytheism, the forceful exposition
of monotheism, and the strong denunciation of the moral corruption of the Israelites
which characterize them. One inevitably senses that these books, the orations
of Jesus embodied in the Gospels, and the glorious Qur'an are like springs which
have arisen from one and the same Divine source.
206. Revelation in the case of other Prophets meant either that they heard a voice or received a message from an angel. The privileged treatment accorded to Moses was that God communicated with him directly. This communication was similar to one that takes place between two persons, as is fully illustrated by the conversation reported in (Surah Ta Ha 20: 11 ff). This unique privilege of Moses is mentioned in the Bible as well, and in much the same manner. It mentions that the Lord used to speak to Moses 'face to face, as a man speaks to his friend' (Exodus 33: 11).
207. It is emphasized that the essential function of all the Prophets was the same: to announce good tidings of salvation and felicity to those who believe in the teachings revealed by God and mend their conduct accordingly, and to warn those who persist in false beliefs and evil ways that they will have to face dire consequences.
208. God's purpose in sending the Prophets was to establish His plea against mankind. God did not want criminals to have any basis on which to plead that their actions were done in ignorance. Prophets were therefore sent to all parts of the world, and many Scriptures were revealed. These Prophets communicated knowledge of the Truth to large sections of people, and left behind Scriptures which have guided human beings in all ages. If anyone falls a prey to error, in spite of all this, the blame does not lie with God or the Prophets. The blame lies rather with those who have spurned God's message even after having received it, and with those who knew the Truth but failed to enlighten others.
209. By disobeying one cannot hurt the Lord of the heavens and the earth. One can only hurt one's own self.
210. They are being told that their Lord was not at all unaware of the wickedness in which they indulged, nor did He lack the capacity to deal severely with those who only violated His commands.
211. The expression 'People of the Book' refers here to the Christians and the word ghuluw denotes the tendency to exceed the limits of propriety in support of something. The fault of the Jews was that they had exceeded the limits of propriety in rejecting and opposing Jesus, whereas the crime of the Christians was that they had gone beyond the proper limits in their love for and devotion to Jesus.
212. What is meant by sending the 'command' to Mary is that God ordered Mary's womb to become impregnated without coming into contact with sperm. In the beginning the Christians were told that this was the secret of the fatherless birth of Jesus. Later on, under the misleading influence of Greek philosophy, they equated this with the 'Logos', which was subsequently interpreted as the Divine attribute of speech. The next step in this connection was the development of the notion that this Divine attribute entered into the womb of Mary and assumed the physical form of Jesus. Thus there developed among the Christians the false doctrine of the godhead of Jesus, and the false notion that out of His attributes God caused that of speech to appear in the form of Jesus.
213. Here Jesus himself is called 'a spirit from God'. The same idea is also expressed elsewhere in the Qur'an: 'And We supported him with the spirit of holiness' (Surah al-Baqarah 2: 87).The import of both verses is that God endowed Jesus with a pure, impeccable soul. He was therefore an embodiment of truth, veracity, righteousness, and excellence. This is what the Christians had been told about Christ. But they exceeded the proper limits of veneration for Jesus. The 'spirit from God' became the 'spirit of God', and the 'spirit of holiness' was interpreted to mean God's own Spirit which became incarnate in Jesus. Thus, along with God and Jesus, there developed the third person of God - the Holy Ghost. It was this unjustified exaggeration which led the Christians to even greater error. Ironically, however, Matthew contains the statement that: 'But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.' (The Bible, Authorized version, p. 771.)
214. The followers of Christ are urged to acknowledge God as the only God and to believe in the prophethood of all the Prophets, and that Jesus was one of them. This was the teaching of Christ and a basic truth which his followers ought to recognize.
215. They are urged to abandon the trinitarian doctrine, regardless of the form in which it was found. The fact is that the Christians subscribe simultaneously to the unity and the trinity of God. The statements of Jesus on this question in the Gospels, however, are so categorical that no Christian can easily justify anything but the clear, straightforward doctrine that God is One and that there is no god but He. The Christians, therefore, find it impossible to deny that monotheism is the very core of true religion. But the original confusion that in Jesus the Word of God became flesh, that the Spirit of God was incarnate in him, led them to believe in the godhead of Jesus and of the Holy Ghost along with that of God. This gratuitous commitment gave rise to an insoluble riddle: how to combine monotheism with the notion of trinity. For over eighteen centuries Christian theologians have grappled with this self-created riddle. The concept of the trinity is capable of such a myriad of interpretations that literally dozens of sects have arisen as a result of its ambiguity. And it has been largely responsible for the various Christian churches indulging in mutual excommunication. Moreover, it is logically impossible to maintain belief in trinity without impairing belief in One God. This problem has arisen because of the extravagance in which the Christians have indulged. The easiest course to get out of the morass is to give up the innovated belief in the godhead of Jesus and of the Holy Ghost, acknowledge God as the Only God, and accept Jesus as His Messenger rather than as God's partner in godhead.
216. This is the refutation of the fourth extravagance in which the Christians
have indulged. Even if the reports embodied in the New Testament are considered
authentic, the most that can be inferred from them (particularly those embodied
in the first three Gospels) is that Jesus likened the relationship between God
and His servants to that between a father and his children, and that he used
to employ the term 'father' as a metaphor for God. But in this respect Jesus
was not unique. From very ancient times the Israelites had employed the term
'father' for God. The Old Testament is full of examples of this usage. Jesus
obviously employed this expression in conformity with the literary usage of
his people. Moreover, he characterized God not merely as his own father but
as the father of all men. Nevertheless, the Christians exceeded all reasonable
limits when they declared Jesus to be the only begotten son of God. Their strange
doctrine on this question is that since Jesus is an incarnation, an embodiment
of the Word and Spirit of God, he is therefore the only son of God, who was
sent to the earth in order to expiate the sins of humanity through his crucifixion.
The Christians hold this to be their basic doctrine even though they cannot
produce one shred of evidence from the statements of Jesus himself. This doctrine
was a later product of their fancies, an outcome of the extravagance in which
they indulged as a result of their impression of the awe-inspiring personality
of their Prophet.
God does not repudiate here the doctrine of expiation, for this is not an independent
doctrine but a corollary of recognizing Jesus as the son of God, and is a mystical
and philosophical answer to the query as to why the only begotten son of God
died an accursed death on the cross. The doctrine of expiation automatically
falls apart by repudiating the dogma that Jesus was the son of God and by dispelling
the misapprehension that he was crucified.
217. This strongly emphasizes that the true relationship between God and His creatures is one between the Lord and His slave. This repudiates the idea that the relationship which exists is one between a father and his offspring.
218. God is Himself sufficiently powerful to govern His dominion and has no need of a son to assist Him.
219. This verse was revealed long after the revelation of the rest of this surah. According to certain traditions, this verse was the very last Qur'anic verse to be revealed. (For these traditions, see Ibn Kathir's comments on this verse - Ed.) Even if this is disputed, it shows at least that this verse was revealed in 9 A.H., whereas the Muslims had been reciting the present surah, al-Nisa, for quite some time before that. It was for this reason that this verse was not included among the verses relating to inheritance mentioned at the beginning of the surah, but was attached to it at the end as an appendix.
220. There is disagreement about the meaning of the word kalalah. According to some scholars, it means one who dies leaving neither issue nor father nor grandfather. According to others, it refers to those who die without issue (regardless of whether succeeded by either father or grand father). On this question 'Umar remained undecided up to the last. But the majority of jurists accept the opinion of Abu Bakr that the former meaning is correct. The Qur'an also seems to support this, for here the sister of the kalalah has been apportioned half of the inheritance whereas, had his father been alive, the sister would not have inherited from him at all. (For relevant traditions on the subject see the commentary on this verse by Ibn Kathir. For legal discussion on the question see the commentaries of Jassas and Qurtubi - Ed.)
221. The apportioned shares in inheritance mentioned here are those of brothers and sisters, whether related through both parents or through a common father only. Abu Bakr gave this interpretation in one of his pronouncements and none of the Companions expressed any dissent. This view is, therefore, considered to be supported by consensus (ijma').
222. This means that if there is no other legal heir the brother will receive the entire inheritance. In the presence of other heirs (such as husband), the brother will receive all the residual inheritance after the other heirs have received their apportioned shares.
223. The same also applies to more than two sisters.