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Cf. 6:25 and {10:42-43}.
Lit., "unto those who have been given knowledge", sc., "of the truth" or "of thy message": i.e., the believers. The people spoken of in the above are the hypocrites among the contemporaries of the Prophet as well as all people, at all times, who pretend to approach the Qur'anic message with a show of "reverence" but are in their innermost unwilling to admit that there is any sense in it.
I.e., the "sealing" of their hearts (for an explanation of which see note [7] on 2:7 ) is consequence of their "following but their own lusts".
Cf. x. 42, and n. 1434; also vi. 25, 36, and n. 857. The case here referred to is that of the Hypocrites who came to the assemblies of Islam in Madinah and pretended to listen to the Prophet's teaching and preaching. But their heart and mind were not in learning righteousness, but in carping at things they saw and heard. When they got out, they knew nothing of the teaching, but on the contrary asked foolish and ignorant questions, such as might raise doubts.
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Lit., "and gives them their God-consciousness (taqwahum)".
Spiritual advancement is progressive: each step makes the next ones easier and more complete.
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Lit., "its indications have already come": a reference to the many Qur'anic predictions of its inevitability, as well as to the evidence, accessible to every unprejudiced mind, of the temporal finality of all creation.
I.e., "of what benefit will be to them, when the Last Hour comes, their dawning awareness of having sinned, and their belated repentance?"
The coming of Muḥammad (ﷺ) is one of the signs of the Hour.
Cf. xliii. 66, and n. 4665.
The sands of time are always running, and when a wrong is done, the time for its punishment is approaching every moment. No one should therefore wait. The time for repentance is Now at any given time. When the punishment comes, it is too late for repentance, and all admonition would be useless. Looking to the particular time when this Sura was revealed, viz., about a year after the Hijrat, already there were Signs that the plans of the Pagans to crush Islam were crumbling to pieces. The Hijrat showed how much good-will there was in Madinah for the holy Prophet of Allah, and how many people from Makkah adhered to him, The battle of Badr showed that they could hold their own against odds of three to one.
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I.e., "He knows all that you do and all that you fail to do".
Like other prophets, Muḥammad (ﷺ) was infallible of sin. The verse here refers to misjudgments, such as the example given in 80:1-10. If the Prophet (ﷺ) himself is urged to seek forgiveness, then the believers are even more in need of praying for Allah’s forgiveness.
Cf. xl. 55, and n. 4428.
The time and manner of our conducting ourselves at home and when we move about on our business are all material to the judgment of our conduct, and for every nuance in our moral and spiritual progress, we must seek Allah's help and guidance.
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I am rendering the term surah here and in the next sentence as "a revelation", for whereas there is no surah as such which deals exclusively with questions of war, there are numerous references to it in various surahs; and this is evidently the meaning of this term in the present context as well as in 9:86 . - There is no doubt that this verse precedes the revelation, in the year 1 H., of 22:39 , which states categorically - and for the first time - that the believers are allowed to wage war whenever "war is wrongfully waged" against them (see in this connection note [57] on 22:39 ).
This is a reference to {22:39-40}. For an explanation of the expression muhkamah ("clear in and by itself"), see note [5] on 3:7 . (As in the preceding sentence, the term surah has been rendered here, exceptionally, as " revelation".)
The men of faith and loyalty are eager and anxious to get a command to serve the Cause even if it be at the sacrifice of their lives. Not so the Hypocrites, "those in whose hearts is a disease". They are mortally afraid as mentioned below.
Cf. iii. 7, and n. 347. The defence of truth and righteousness at all sacrifice, when a definite and categorical command issues from the ruler of an Islamic state is a fundamental condition of enlistment in the cause of Allah. It is true that Punishment and Judgment belong to Allah alone; but our mettle and fidelity have to be tested, (see verse 4 above), and Allah uses human agency in human affairs.
Cf. ii. 10. The disease is hypocrisy, disloyalty to the Cause, want of courage and of the spirit of self-sacrifice, want of true understanding.
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I.e., an expression of readiness to fight in His cause: which is obviously the meaning of qawl ma'ruf in this context.
The resolution is not taken except under guidance from Allah. Those, therefore, who fail to implement it by their own effort and sacrifice, are not true to Allah. And such disloyalty or cowardice is not even good for them from a worldly point of view. With what face can they meet their friends after their disgraceful conduct?
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The above interpolations are in tune with the explanation of this passage advanced by almost all of the classical commentators, who regard this rhetorical "question" as an allusion to the chaotic conditions of pre-Islamic Arabia, its senseless internecine wars, and the moral darkness from which Islam had freed its followers. Nevertheless, this verse has, like the whole of the passage of which it forms a part, a timeless import as well.
As you did before Islam.
It is no use to say, as the Quraish said, that it is not seemly to fight against kith and kin. From one point of view the stand against sin brings "not peace, but a sword". It is a case of either subduing evil or being subdued by evil. If evil gets the upper hand, it is not likely to respect ties of kith and kin. It did not in the case of the holy Prophet and his adherents, and had to be suppressed, to bring about the conditions necessary for peace.
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Cf. the reference to God's "sealing" the hearts of stubborn wrongdoers in 2:7 .
Cursed: i.e., deprived of His Grace: left them straying, because they deliberately rejected His guidance. The result is that what they hear is as if they had not heard, and what they see is as if they had not seen. They have no desire to understand Allah's Will or Allah's Revelation;-or is it that they have themselves locked and bolted their hearts and minds, so that nothing can penetrate them?
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Such men are entirely in the hands of Satan. They follow his suggestions, and their hopes are built on his deceptions.
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Lit., "this, because . . .", etc.
Lit., "in some [or "parts of"] the matter": i.e., "although we cannot agree with you [atheists] as regards your denial of God, or of resurrection, or of the fact of revelation as such, we do agree with you that Muhammad is an impostor and that the Qur'an is but his invention" (Razi). By "those who turn their backs [on this message] after guidance has been vouchsafed to them" are meant, in the first instance, the hypocrites and half-hearted followers of Islam at the time of the Prophet who refused to fight in defence of the Faith; in a wider sense, however, this definition applies to all people, at all times, who are impressed by the teachings of the Qur'an but nevertheless refuse to accept it as God-inspired and, therefore, morally binding.
i.e., your opposition to the Prophet (ﷺ).
They have become so impervious to facts and truths, because, without the courage to oppose Allah's Cause openly, they secretly intrigue with Allah's enemies, and say that they will follow them part of the way, and by remaining partly in the other camp, they will be far more useful as spies and half-hearted doubters than by going over altogether. If they think that this game will be successful, they are mistaken. All the inner secrets and motives of their hearts are known to Allah. Cf. lix. 11.
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See note [55] on 8:50 .
It is all very well for them to practise hypocrisy in this life. How will they feel at death, when they find that the angels know all, and touch the very spots they had taken such care to conceal?
Their faces and their backs: there is a subtle metaphor. The face is what looks to the front, the side you present to the outer world; the back is what is not shown, what is hidden from the world. The hypocrites will be hit at both points. Or, the face is what they boast of, what they are proud of; the back is the skeleton in the cupboard, the things they dare not utter, but which yet haunt them. The hypocrites are hit on every side. Cf. viii. 50.
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See first clause of verse {3} of this surah, which speaks of the "pursuit of falsehood". In the present instance, "that which would meet with His goodly acceptance" is the believer's readiness to sacrifice, if necessary, his life in the defence of the Faith.
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The noun dighn (of which adghan is the plural) denotes, primarily, "rancour" or "hate"; in its wider sense it signifies a person's "disposition", "inclination" or "leaning", especially in its negative aspects (Jawhari): hence, a "moral defect" or "failing".
Cf. verse 20 above, and n. 4845. Being diseased at the very core of their being, they do not understand the simplest facts of spiritual life.
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Lit., "by their marks": implying, elliptically, that God does not grant to anyone a clear insight, as by a visible mark, into another human being's heart or mind.
Lit., "the tone (lahn) of speech": indicating that a true believer recognizes hypocrisy even without a "visible mark" (sima).
Evil is not always necessarily branded in this life with a distinguishing mark or brand. But the discerning ones know. Evil is betrayed by its speech and behaviour.
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