In The Name of Allah,
the Beneficent and the Most Merciful
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Volume 7: Ale-Imran, Verses
156-164
O you who believe! be not
like those who disbelieve and say of their brethren when they travel in
the earth or engage in fighting. "Had they been with us, they would not
have died and they would not have been slain;" so Allah makes this to be
an intense regret in their hearts; and Allah gives life and causes death;
and Allah sees what you do (156). And if you are slain in the way of Allah
or you die, certainly forgiveness from Allah and mercy is better than what
they amass (157). And if indeed you die or you are slain, certainly
to Allah shall you be gathered together (158). Thus it is due to
mercy from Allah that you are lenient to them, and had you been rough,
hard-hearted, they would certainly have dispersed from around you; pardon
them therefore and ask forgiveness for them, and take counsel with them in
the affair; but when you have decided, then place your trust in Allah;
surely Allah loves those who trust (in him) (159). If Allah
assists you, then there is none that can overcome you, and if He forsakes
you, who is there then that can assist you after Him? And on Allah should
the believers rely (160). And it is not attributable to a prophet
that he should defraud; and he who defrauds shall bring (with him)
that which he has defrauded, on the Day of Resurrection; then shall every
soul be paid back fully what it has earned, and they shall not be dealt
with unjustly (161). Is then he who follows the pleasure of Allah
like him who has brought upon himself the wrath from Allah, and whose
abode is hell? And it is an evil destination (162). They are of
(diverse) grades with Allah, and Allah sees what they do (163).
Certainly Allah conferred (His) favor upon the believers when He
raised among them a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His
signs and purifying them, and teaching them the Book and wisdom, although
before that they were surely in manifest error (164).
COMMENTARY
It is the continuation of
the verses revealed especially about the battle of Uhud. It deals with
another affair affecting them, i.e., the grief and sorrow that had
overwhelmed them because so many of their braves and notables had been
slaughtered. The overwhelming majority of the martyrs was from the
Helpers; as reportedly no more than four of the Emigrants were martyred.
It gives rise to the surmise that most of the resistance was from the
Helpers' side and that the Emigrants had left the battleground long before
them.
In short, these verses
explain the error and mistake in sorrowing and grieving; then turn to
another matter resulting from that grief, that is, their critical attitude
towards the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a), thinking that it was he who had
brought them to that disaster and put them into that perdition. It may be
inferred from their talk alluded to herein: "Had they been with us,
they would not have died and they would not have been slain." In other
words, if they had listened to them and not obeyed the Messenger of Allah
(s.a.w.a) they would have been alive today. It means that it was he who
had led them to the slaughter. The verses make it clear that it was not
meet for the Prophet that he should deceive anyone; he is Allah's
Messenger, noble of heart, sublime in character; he is lenient to them by
mercy of Allah, pardons them and seeks Allah's forgiveness for them and
takes their counsel by permission of Allah; and Allah has conferred His
favor on them by sending him to them in order that he may take them out of
error bringing them to the guidance.
QUR'AN: O you who believe!
be not like those who disbelieve . . . and Allah sees what you do:
The word, "those who
disbelieve", refers to the unbelievers not to the hypocrites, as some
people think. It is not the hypocrisy, per se, which incites such talks —
although the hypocrites had uttered these words. Such talk, in reality, is
a product of disbelief. Thus it was necessary to ascribe it to the
unbelievers. ad-Darb fil-ard (lit., striking in the earth)
metaphorically means travelling. Al-Ghuzza is plural of
al-ghaizi (fighter) like at-talib and at-tullab or
ad-darib and ad-durrab "so Allah makes this to be an
intense regret in their hearts", i.e., so that Allah may punish them
through this intense regret; it has thus put the means in place of the
end. The words, "Allah gives life and causes death", explain the
reality about which the unbelievers had gone astray, and had said, "Had
they been with us, they would not have died and they would not have been
slain." The words, "death", as used here, covers natural death as well
as slaughter - we have explained earlier that when used alone, this word
covers every type of death. The clause, "and Allah sees what you
do", explains the reason for the prohibition contained in the words,
"be not like those who disbelieve".
In the clause, "they
would not have died and they would not have been slain", death is
mentioned before slaying; the sequence follows that of the preceding
clause, "when they travel . . . or engage in fighting". Also,
unlike slaying (which is an abnormal happening) death is a natural and
normal phenomenon; therefore the normal was mentioned before the
abnormal.
The verse, in short,
admonishes the believers not to be like the unbelievers; they should not
say about someone who dies outside his home town or among strangers, or is
slain when engaged in jihad, that if he had been with them he would not
have died or been killed. This type of talk throws one into mental agony
and divine punishment - it is the intense grief put in their hearts.
Moreover, it emanates from sheer ignorance: Being near them or away from
them neither gives life nor causes death. Giving life and death is among
the affairs exclusively reserved for Allah - the One Who has no partner or
colleague. Therefore, the believers should fear Allah and not be like the
unbelievers; and Allah sees what they do.
QUR'AN: And if you are slain in
the way of Allah or you die, certainly forgiveness from Allah and mercy is
better than what they amass:
Obviously, "what they
amass", refers to property and wealth as well as to its concomitants,
as these are the best objects of desire in this life.
This verse mentions
martyrdom before normal death, because being slain in the way of Allah is
nearer to divine forgiveness compared to other deaths. This fine point has
caused this change of sequence. Thereafter, the next verse, "And if
indeed you die or you are slain. ..", reverts to the normal pattern,
putting death before slaughter, because there is no such fine point there
to justify any change.
QUR'AN: Thus it is due to mercy
from Allah. . . should the believers rely:
"al-Fazz" (rude,
rough); hard-heartedness metaphorically means unkindness, ill-nature and
intolerance; al-infidad (to disperse).
The verse turns away from
the believers, addressing the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) directly,
although the real import is as follows: It is due to Our mercy that Our
Messenger is lenient to you; that is why We have ordered him to pardon
you, ask forgiveness for you and take counsel with you in the affair, and
to place his trust in Us when he has taken any decision.
In spite of that meaning,
the mode of address was changed (and we have explained this reason in the
beginning of this topic of Uhud) because there is a current of censure,
admonition and stricture running throughout the narrative, and the Qur'an
turns its face from the believers whenever a chance occurs. This situation
is one of them, because it touches a condition of theirs, which tends to
put blame on the Prophet. Their grieving for the slaughter of their
martyrs might sometimes lead them to find fault with the Prophet's actions
and to accuse him of bringing them to the hazardous eventuality where they
were killed and extirpated. That is why Allah turned away from them and
addressed His Prophet directly: "Thus it is due to mercy from Allah
that you are lenient to them. . ."
This talk is based on
another implied one which may be understood from the context: "If they are
entangled, as you see, in such undesirable condition that they resemble
the unbelievers and intensely grieve for their martyrs, then it is only
due to Our mercy that you are lenient to them, otherwise, they would have
dispersed from around you." (And Allah knows better).
The clauses, "pardon them
therefore and ask forgiveness for them, and take counsel with them in the
affair", endorse the precedent established by the Prophet, as he was
doing all this from the beginning, and he had taken their counsel shortly
before the battle of Uhud. The verse points to the fact that the Prophet
does what he is told by Allah to do, and Allah is pleased with his
performance.
Allah told His Prophet to
pardon them (i.e., he should not mete out to them the consequences of
their disobedience), and to ask Allah to forgive them (and in that case He
would certainly do so). The word, although general and unrestricted, does
not include the shari'ah's penal code and things like that;
otherwise it would result in discarding the whole shari'ah. Moreover, the
next clause, "and take counsel with them in the affair", implies
that the preceding two orders too are related to the matters of government
and public affairs — in which he is required to take counsel with
them.
Now we have reached the last
sentences: "but when you have decided, then place your trust in Allah,
surely Allah loves those who trust (in Him)." When He loves, He
will be your Guardian and Helper; and will never forsake you. The
next verse makes it clear and even invites the believers to have trust in
Him: "If Allah assists you, then there is none that can overcome
you, and if He forsakes you, who is there then that can assist you after
Him?" Then He orders the believers to have trust in Him and says: "and on
Allah should the believers rely." The sentence metaphorically puts the
effect in place of the cause. They should rely on Allah because they
believe in Him, and there is no helper or supporter except Him.
QUR'AN: And it is not
attributable to a prophet that he should defraud . . . and Allah sees what
they do:
"al-Ghill " (to
defraud, to act faithlessly). We have mentioned in verse 3:79 (It is
not meet for a man that Allah should give him the Book and the wisdom and
prophethood, then he should say to men: "Be my servants rather than
Allah's") that this mode of speech is intended to declare the purity
and blamelessness of the Prophet showing that he was far removed from evil
and indecency. This verse means as follows: Far be it from a prophet to
defraud or be faithless to his Lord or the people (and defrauding the
people too is another form of defrauding Allah); it is because he who
defrauds will have to meet his Lord with that which he has defrauded and
shall be paid back fully what he has earned.
Then He declares that
accusing the Prophet of defrauding is an unjust and untenable idea,
because he follows the pleasure of Allah, he never goes beyond His
pleasure; and the man who defrauds, brings upon himself severe wrath of
Allah and his abode is the hell, and it is an evil destination. The
verse, "Is then he who follows the pleasure of Allah . . . ", gives
the above connotation.
Then He says that the
various groups (i.e., those who follow the pleasure of Allah and those who
bring wrath of Allah upon themselves) are of diverse grades; and Allah
sees what they do. The people should not think that Allah loses sight of
even an iota of good or evil done by them; they should not be careless in
following His pleasure or avoiding His wrath.
QUR'AN: Certainly Allah
conferred (His) favor. . . they were surely in manifest error:
Again the mode of address
has changed, taking the believers as absent. The general reason of such
changes has already been explained. As for this particular verse, the
reason is as follows: The verse intends to describe Allah's favor upon the
believers - because of their belief. That is why it has used the
adjective, "the believers", and not the verb, "those who believe",
because only an adjective shows inseparable relationship, and only the
adjective could show the causality (as has been said) or could show it
more perfectly. The verse's meaning is clear.
There are other matters
worth explaining in this verse; and, God willing, some will be given in
appropriate places.
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