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Surah 4. An-Nisaa', Ayah 49

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أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى ٱلَّذِينَ يُزَكُّونَ أَنفُسَهُم ۚ بَلِ ٱللَّهُ يُزَكِّى مَن يَشَآءُ وَلَا يُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلًا
Alam tara il a alla th eena yuzakkoona anfusahum bali All a hu yuzakkee man yash a o wal a yu th lamoona fateel a n
Art thou not aware of those who consider themselves pure?66 Nay, but it is God who causes whomever He wills to grow in purity; and none shall be wronged by as much as a hair's breadth.67
  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., the Jews, who consider themselves to be "God's chosen people" and, therefore, a priori destined for God's grace, and the Christians, who believe in Jesus' "vicarious atonement" for the sins of mankind. There is also an obvious connection between this observation and the reference to shirk in the preceding verse, inasmuch as the Jews and the Christians, while not actually believing in the existence of any deity apart from God, ascribe divine or semi-divine qualities, in varying degrees, to certain human beings: the Christians by their elevation of Jesus to the status of a manifestation of God in human form and their open worship of a hierarchy of saints, and the Jews by their attribution of law-giving powers to the great Talmudic scholars, whose legal verdicts are supposed to override, if need be, any ordinance of the scriptures (cf. in this respect 9:31 ). It goes without saying that this condemnation applies also to those Muslims who have fallen into the sin of worshipping saints and according them something of the reverence which is due to God alone. Consequently, the expression "those who consider themselves pure" comprises, in this context, all who think of themselves as believing in the One God (simply because they do not consciously worship a plurality of deities) but are, nevertheless, guilty of the sin of shirk in the deeper sense of this term.

According to most of the philological authorities (e.g., Qamus), a fatil is any "slender thread which one rolls between one's fingers" - a term which is also, but by no means exclusively, applied to the tiny fibre adhering to the cleft of the date-stone (cf. Lane Vl, 2334). Idiomatically, it is best rendered as "a hair's breadth". The above passage implies, firstly, that spiritual purity is not the privilege of any particular group or community, and, secondly, that one can become or remain pure only by God's grace, for "man has been created weak" (verse {28} above). See also note [27] on the second paragraph of 53:32 .

Have you not seen those who speak very highly of their own purity even though they are committing shirk. In fact, Allah purifies whom He wishes. If the mushrikin are not purified no injustice, even equal to the thread of a date-stone, is being done to them.
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
Have you 'O Prophet' not seen those who 'falsely' elevate themselves? It is Allah who elevates whoever He wills. And none will be wronged 'even by the width of' the thread of a date stone.
  - Mustafa Khattab
Hast thou not seen those who praise themselves for purity? Nay, Allah purifieth whom He will, and they will not be wronged even the hair upon a date stone.
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
Hast thou not turned thy vision to those who claim sanctity for themselves? Nay but Allah doth sanctify whom He pleaseth but never will they fail to receive justice in the least little thing. 570 571
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The sanctimonious or self-sanctified people are the farthest from sanctity or purity, which can only proceed from Allah. They cannot play with Allah's Truth and yet go on claiming to be guided and purified or justified by Allah. Their falsehood in itself condemns them: no further proof is needed of their selfishness and evil.

Literally, the small skin in the groove of a date stone, a thing of no value; fatil.

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