Surah 4. An-Nisaa'

Art thou not aware of those who, having been granted their share of the divine writ, [now] believe in baseless mysteries and in the powers of evil,⁶⁹ and maintain that those who are bent on denying the truth are more surely guided than those who have attained to faith?

  - Mohammad Asad

The word al-jibt - rendered by me as "baseless mysteries" - is probably, as the Lisan al-'Arab points out, of non-Arabic origin. It denotes, according to some authorities, "something which is worthless in itself" or "something in which there is no good" (Qamus, Baydawi); according to others, it signifies "enchantment" ('Umar ibn al-Khattab, Mujahid and Sha'bi, as quoted by Tabari; also Qamus); others, again, interpret it as "anything that is worshipped instead of God" (Zamakhshari), and consequently apply it also to idols and idol-worship (Qamus, Lisan al-'Arab) and - according to a Tradition quoted by Abu Da'ud - to all manner of superstitious divination and soothsaying as well. Taking all these interpretations into account, al-jibt may be defined as "a combination of confusing ideas (dijl), fanciful surmises (awham) and fictitious stories (khurafat)" (Manar V, 157) - in other words, abstruse mysteries without any foundation in fact. - As regards the expression "the powers of evil" (at-taghut), it seems to refer here to superstitious beliefs and practices - like soothsaying, foretelling the future, relying on "good" and "bad" omens, and so forth - all of which are condemned by the Qur'an. See also surah {2}, note [250].

Have you not seen those who were given a portion of the Book? They believe in superstition and Taghut (forces of Shaitan) and say about the unbelievers that they are better guided to the Right Way than the believers!

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Hast thou not seen those unto whom a portion of the Scripture hath been given, how they believe in idols and false deities, and bow they say of those (idolaters) who disbelieve: "These are more rightly guided than those who believe?"

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

It is they whom God has rejected: and he whom God rejects shall find none to succour him.

  - Mohammad Asad

Those are the ones whom Allah has cursed, and the one who is cursed by Allah can find no helper.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Those are they whom Allah hath cursed, and he whom Allah hath cursed, thou (O Muhammad) wilt find for him no helper.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Have they, perchance, a share in [God's] dominion?⁷⁰ But [if they had], lo, they would not give to other people as much as [would fill] the groove of a date-stone!

  - Mohammad Asad

An allusion to the Jewish belief that they occupy a privileged position in the sight of God.

Do they have a share in the kingdom? If they had any share they would have not given other people equal to a speck on a date-stone.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Or have they even a share in the Sovereignty? Then in that case, they would not give mankind even the speck on a date stone.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Do they, perchance, envy other people for what God has granted them out of His bounty?⁷¹ But then, We did grant revelation and wisdom unto the House of Abraham, and We did bestow on them a mighty dominion:

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., revelation, which - according to the Jews - has been reserved to them alone.

Or do they envy other people because Allah has given them from His grace? If so, let them know that We did give the Book and Wisdom to the descendants of Ibrahim (Abraham), and blessed them with a great kingdom.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Or are they jealous of mankind because of that which Allah of His bounty hath bestowed upon them? For We bestowed upon the house of Abraham (of old) the Scripture and Wisdom, and We bestowed on them a mighty kingdom.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and among them are such as [truly] believe in him,⁷² and among them are such as have turned away from him. And nothing could be as burning as [the fire of] hell:

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., in Abraham - implying that they are faithful to his message. It is to be borne in mind that the Prophet Muhammad, too, was a direct-line descendant of Abraham, whose message is confirmed and continued in the Qur'an.

But some of them believed in it and some turned away. Sufficient is hell to burn those who turned away.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And of them were (some) who believed therein and of them were (some) who disbelieved therein. Hell is sufficient for (their) burning.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

for, verily, those who are bent on denying the truth of Our messages We shall, in time, cause to endure fire: [and] every time their skins are burnt off We shall replace them with new skins, so that the may taste suffering [in full].⁷³ Verily, God is almighty, wise.

  - Mohammad Asad

This awesome allegory of suffering in the life to come is obviously meant to bring out the long-lasting nature of that suffering (Razi).

Those who rejected Our revelations will soon be thrown into the Fire. No sooner will their skins be burnt out than We shall replace their skins, so that they may taste the real torment. Allah is Mighty, Wise.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! Those who disbelieve Our revelations, We shall expose them to the Fire. As often as their skins are consumed We shall exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the torment. Lo! Allah is ever Mighty, Wise.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But those who attain to faith and do righteous deeds We shall bring into gardens through which running waters flow, therein to abide beyond the count of time; there shall they have spouses pure: and [thus] We shall bring them unto happiness abounding.⁷⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

The primary meaning of zill is "shade", and so the expression zill zalil could be rendered as "most shading shade" - i.e., "dense shade". However, in ancient Arabic usage, the word zill denotes also "a covering" or "a shelter" and, figuratively, "protection" (Raghib); and, finally, "a state of ease, pleasure and plenty" (cf. Lane V, 1915 f.), or simply "happiness" - and in the combination of zill zalil, "abundant happiness" (Razi) - which seems to agree best with the allegorical implications of the term "paradise".

As for those who believe and do righteous deeds, We shall admit them to gardens beneath which rivers flow wherein they will live for ever. Therein they will have chaste spouses, and We shall provide them with cool thick shade.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And as for those who believe and do good works, We shall make them enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow to dwell therein for ever; there for them are pure companions and We shall make them enter plenteous shade.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

BEHOLD, God bids you to deliver all that you have been entrusted with unto those who are entitled thereto, and whenever you judge between people, to judge with justice.⁷⁵ Verily, most excellent is what God exhorts you to do: verily, God is all-hearing, all-seeing!

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., in the judicial sense, as well as in the sense of judging other people's motives, attitudes and behaviour. - The term amanah denotes anything one has been entrusted with, be it in the physical or moral sense (Razi). If one reads this ordinance in the context of the verses that precede and follow it, it becomes obvious that it relates to the message or - in view of the plural form amanat - to the truths which have been conveyed to the believers by means of the divine writ, and which they must regard as a sacred trust, to be passed on to "those who are entitled thereto" - i.e., to all mankind, for whom the message of the Qur'an has been intended. This, of course, does not preclude the ordinance from having a wider scope as well - that is, from its being applied to any material object or moral responsibility which may have been entrusted to a believer - and, in particular, to the exercise of worldly power and political sovereignty by the Muslim community or a Muslim state, to which the next verse refers.

Allah commands you to give back the trusts to their rightful owners, and when you judge between people, judge with fairness. Surely, excellent is the counsel which Allah gives you. Allah is He who hears and observes all.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! Allah commandeth you that ye restore deposits to their owners, and, if ye judge between mankind, that ye judge justly. Lo! comely is this which Allah admonisheth you. Lo! Allah is ever Hearer, Seer.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

O you who have attained to faith! Pay heed unto God, and pay heed unto the Apostle and unto those from among you⁷⁶ who have been entrusted with authority; and if you are at variance over any matter, refer it unto God and the Apostle,⁷⁷ if you [truly] believe in God and the Last Day. This is the best [for you], and best in the end.⁷⁸

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., from among the believers.

I.e., to the Qur'an and to the sunnah (the sayings and the practice) of the Prophet. See also verse {65} of this surah.

Read in conjunction with 3:26 , which speaks of God as "the Lord of all dominion" - and therefore the ultimate source of all moral and political authority - the above passage lays down a fundamental rule of conduct for the individual believer as well as the conceptual basis for the conduct of the Islamic state. Political power is held in trust (amanah) from God; and His will, as manifested in the ordinances comprising the Law of Islam, is the real source of all sovereignty. The stress, in this context, on "those from among you who have been entrusted with authority" makes it clear that the holders of authority (ulu 'l-amr) in an Islamic state must be Muslims.

O believers! Obey Allah, obey the Rasool and those charged with authority among you. Should you have a dispute in anything, refer it to Allah and His Rasool, if you truly believe in Allah and the Last Day. This course of action will be better and more suitable.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the messenger and those of you who are in authority; and if ye have a dispute concerning any matter, refer it to Allah and the messenger if ye are (in truth) believers in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and more seemly in the end.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

ART THOU NOT aware of those who claim that they believe in what has been bestowed from on high upon thee, [O Prophet,] as well as in what was bestowed from on high before thee, [and yet] are willing to defer to the rule of the powers of evil⁷⁹ - although they were bidden to deny it, seeing that Satan but wants to lead them far astray?

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "who summon one another to the judgment [or "rule"] of the powers of evil (at-taghut): an allusion to people like those mentioned in verse {51} above, who, by their deference to what the Qur'an describes as at-taghut (see surah {2}, note [250]), nullify all the good that they could derive from guidance through revelation.

Have you not seen those who claim that they believe in what has been revealed to you and other prophets before you? Yet they desire that the judgment (in their disputes) be made by Taghut (forces of Shaitan) though they were commanded to reject them, and Shaitan's wish is to lead them far astray into deep error.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Hast thou not seen those who pretend that they believe in that which is revealed unto thee and that which was revealed before thee, how they would go for judgment (in their disputes) to false deities when they have been ordered to abjure them? Satan would mislead them far astray.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And so, whenever they are told, "Come unto that which God has bestowed from on high, and unto the Apostle," thou canst see these hypocrites turn away from thee with aversion.⁸⁰

  - Mohammad Asad

The classical commentators see in verses {60-64} a reference to the hypocrites of Medina who, at the time of the Prophet, outwardly professed to be his followers but did not really believe in his teachings. It seems to me, however, that this passage goes far beyond the possible historical occasion of its revelation, inasmuch as it touches upon an often-encountered psychological problem of faith. People who are not fully convinced that there exists a reality beyond the reach of human perception (al-ghayb, in the sense explained in surah {2}, note [3]) find it, as a rule, difficult to dissociate their ethical views from their personal predilections and morally questionable desires - with the result that they are only too often "willing to defer to what the powers of evil tell them". Although they may half-heartedly concede that some of the moral teachings based on revelation (in this case, the Qur'an) contain "certain verities", they instinctively recoil from those teachings whenever they conflict with what their own idiosyncrasies represent to them as desirable: and so they become guilty of hypocrisy in the deepest, religious connotation of this word.

When it is said to them: "Come to be judged by the Rasool in accordance with what Allah has revealed, " you see that the hypocrites show their utmost hesitation in coming to you.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And then it is said unto them: Come unto that which Allah hath revealed and unto the messenger, thou seest the hypocrites turn from thee with aversion.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But how [will they fare] when calamity befalls them [on the Day of Judgment] because of what they have wrought in this world⁸¹ - whereupon they will come to thee, swearing by God, "Our aim was but to do good, and to bring about harmony"?⁸²

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "what their hands have sent ahead": an allusion to their ambivalent attitude and the confusion which it may have created in others.

I.e., they will plead that their aim was no more than a harmonization of the Qur'anic ethics with a "humanistic" (that is, man-centred) world-view: a plea which the Qur'an implicitly rejects as being hypocritical and self-deceptive (cf. {2:11-12}). As regards the phrase "whereupon they will come to thee", see verse {41} of this surah.

But see how they behave when they get into trouble as a consequence of their own doings? They come to you swearing by Allah that they desired nothing but to promote good and bring about a reconciliation.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

How would it be if a misfortune smote them because of that which their own hands have sent before (them)? Then would they come unto thee, swearing by Allah that they were seeking naught but harmony and kindness.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

As for them - God knows all that is in their hearts; so leave them alone, and admonish them, and speak unto them about themselves in a gravely searching manner:

  - Mohammad Asad

Allah knows what really is in their hearts; therefore, neglect their attitude, admonish them, and speak to them effectual words which may go deep into their hearts.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Those are they, the secrets of whose hearts Allah knoweth. So oppose them and admonish them, and address them in plain terms about their souls.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

for We have never sent any apostle save that he should be heeded by God's leave.⁸³ If, then, after having sinned against themselves, they would but come round to thee and ask God to forgive them - with the Apostle, too, praying that they be forgiven - they would assuredly find that God is an acceptor of repentance, a dispenser of grace.

  - Mohammad Asad

The expression "by God's leave" is to be understood, in this context, as "with God's help" or "by God's grace" (Zamakhshari, Razi). As so often in the Qur'an, the sudden change, within one and the same sentence, from the pronoun "We" or "I" to "He", or from "We" to "God", is meant to impress upon the listener or reader of the Qur'an the fact that God is not a "person" but an all-embracing Power that cannot be defined or even adequately referred to within the limited range of any human language.

We did not send any Rasool but to be obeyed by Allah's leave. If they would have come to you when they had wronged themselves to seek Allah's forgiveness and if the Rasool had also asked Allah's forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah Forgiving, Merciful.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We sent no messenger save that he should be obeyed by Allah's leave. And if, when they had wronged themselves, they had but come unto thee and asked forgiveness of Allah and asked forgiveness of the messenger, they would have found Allah Forgiving, Merciful.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But nay, by thy Sustainer! They do not [really] believe unless they make thee [O Prophet] a judge of all on which they disagree among themselves, and then find in their hearts no bar to an acceptance of thy decision and give themselves up [to it] in utter self-surrender.⁸⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

This verse lays down in an unequivocal manner the obligation of every Muslim to submit to the ordinances which the Prophet, under divine inspiration, promulgated with a view to exemplifying the message of the Qur'an and enabling the believers to apply it to actual situations. These ordinances constitute what is described as the sunnah (lit., "way") of the Prophet Muhammad, and have (whenever they are authenticated beyond any possibility of doubt) full legal force side by side with the Qur'an: see verse {80} of this surah.

Nay! O Muhammad - by your Rabb - they will never be true believers until they accept you as a judge in their disputes, then they do not find any resentment in their hearts against your verdicts and accept them with complete submission.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But nay, by thy lord, they will not believe (in truth) until they make thee judge of what is in dispute between them and find within themselves no dislike of that which thou decidest, and submit with full submission.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall