063- AL-MUNAFIQUN
THE HYPOCRITES
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL
# When the hypocrites come unto thee, they say, “We bear witness that thou art indeed the Messenger of God.” Yet God knows that thou art indeed His Messenger, and God bears witness that the hypocrites are surely liars. # They took their oaths as a shield and thus turned from the way of God. Evil indeed is that which they used to do. + That is because they believed, and then disbelieved; so a seal was set upon their hearts such that they comprehend not. # And when thou seest them, their bodies impress thee, and if they speak, thou listenest to their speech. [Yet] they are like leaning timbers. They suppose that every cry is against them. They are the enemy; so be wary of them. May God curse them! How are they perverted? # And when it is said unto them, “Come! The Messenger of God will ask forgiveness for you, # they twist their heads, and thou seest them turning away in arrogance. # It is the same for them whether thou askest forgiveness for them or thou askest forgiveness for them not; God will never forgive them. Truly God guides not iniquitous people. # They are the ones who say, “Do not spend on those who are with the Messenger of God, that they may disperse.” Yet to God belong the treasuries of the heavens and the earth, but the hypocrites comprehend not. # They say, “If we return to Madinah, the mightier will surely expel the weaker therefrom.” Yet unto God belongs the might and unto His Messenger and the believers, but the hypocrites know not. # O you who believe! Let neither your property nor your children divert you from the remembrance of God. Whosoever does so, it is they who are the losers. # And spend of that which We have provided you before death comes upon one of you and he says, “My Lord, wouldst that Thou grant me reprieve till a term nigh, that I may give charity and be among the righteous!” # Yet God will not grant any soul reprieve when its term has come. And God is Aware of whatsoever you do.
Commentary
# When the hypocrites come unto thee, they say, “We bear witness that thou art indeed the Messenger of God.” Yet God knows that thou art indeed His Messenger, and God bears witness that the hypocrites are surely liars.
1 This verse, along with vv. 2, 7, and 8, was reportedly revealed regarding ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy (d. 631), known as the leader of the hypocrites in Madinah, who said while on an expedition with the Prophet, “Do not spend on those who are with God’s Messenger, that they may disperse and go away. And if we return to Madinah, surely the mightier will expel the weaker therefrom” (cf. v. 7–8). When the Prophet heard of this utterance from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy’s nephew, Zayd ibn Arqam, he sent for ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy and his companions, who swore that they did not say it. The Prophet did not believe Zayd and believed ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy. Then vv. 1–8 were revealed, after which the Prophet said, “O Zayd! God confirmed your statement” (Q, Ṭ, W). God bears witness that the hypocrites are surely liars indicates that faith is an affirmation with the heart, not only with the tongue, and that true speech comes from the heart (Q); see also 9:74.
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# They took their oaths as a shield and thus turned from the way of God. Evil indeed is that which they used to do.
2 In swearing that they had not said what Zayd reported to the Prophet, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy and his companions took their oaths as a shield to protect their possessions and their lives (JJ), as in Islam the blood, property, and honor of Muslims were protected by their oath of allegiance to the Muslim polity. In this sense they swear by God that truly they are of you, but they are not of you (9:56). They thus sell . . . their oaths for a paltry price (3:77), because they are more concerned about the affairs of this world than those of the next. That they turned from the way of God indicates both that they turned believers away from observing God’s Decree by dissuading the disbelievers and the Jews of Madinah from entering Islam (Q) and that they themselves turned away. Regarding the nature of the hypocrite, the Prophet is reported to have said, “The signs of the hypocrite are four and whosoever possesses one of them possesses the characteristic of hypocrisy until he abandons it: when he is entrusted, he betrays his trust; when he speaks, he lies; when he makes a promise, he breaks it; and when he quarrels, he uses foul words.”
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# That is because they believed, and then disbelieved; so a seal was set upon their hearts such that they comprehend not.
3 This verse means either that the hypocrites first believed and then came to disbelieve or that they affirmed with their tongues, although they disbelieved with their hearts (Q). A seal was set upon their hearts (cf. 2:7; 6:46; 7:100–101; 9:87, 93; 10:74; 16:108; 17:46; 18:57; 30:59; 40:35; 41:5; 42:24; 47:16) implies spiritual insensitivity and ignorance, as the heart is considered the principle faculty of knowledge and understanding (see 6:25; 22:46). That a seal has been placed upon the heart as a barrier to religious understanding may be understood either as an inherent insensitivity toward revelation or as a Divinely imposed punishment in response to moral transgression and disobedience (see, e.g., 10:74; 42:24; 2:7c).
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# And when thou seest them, their bodies impress thee, and if they speak, thou listenest to their speech. [Yet] they are like leaning timbers. They suppose that every cry is against them. They are the enemy; so be wary of them. May God curse them! How are they perverted?
4 This first sentence is usually understood to describe ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy and some of his companions, who were said to be handsome and well spoken (Q). Like leaning timbers indicates that the hypocrites have no roots of their own to support them, but rely upon another structure for support. They are thus “like shapes without spirits, or bodies without minds” or like wood that has been eaten from the inside, so that the exterior seems strong but the interior is hollow (Q). The hypocrites are afraid every time they hear a battle cry, because they fear that their true nature, and in some cases their alliances with enemies, may have been discovered (JJ), in which case their oaths might be discovered to be false and thus no longer protect them. Believers are to be wary of them because their words may deceive (Q) or they may communicate believers’ secrets to the disbelievers (JJ). How are they perverted? means, “How can they turn from the truth and deviate from guidance, and how can their intellects be blind to the clarity of these proofs?” (Q).
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# And when it is said unto them, “Come! The Messenger of God will ask forgiveness for you, ” they twist their heads, and thou seest them turning away in arrogance.
# It is the same for them whether thou askest forgiveness for them or thou askest forgiveness for them not; God will never forgive them. Truly God guides not iniquitous people.
5–6 After verses such as vv. 1–4 were revealed, some Muslims enjoined the hypocrites to apologize and seek forgiveness from the Prophet. But the hypocrites mocked them and rejected their proposal (Q). Their failure to repent indicates a hardness of heart. Thus the Prophet is told in 9:80, Seek forgiveness for them, or seek not forgiveness for them. If thou seekest forgiveness for them seventy times, God will not forgive them (see also 9:113–15). For similar verses where warnings and guidance are said to be of no avail to disbelievers, see 2:7; 7:193; 26:136; 36:10. These verses remind the Prophet that he cannot guide those whom God has not guided and should leave them to God, as in 35:8: Truly God leads astray whomsoever He will and guides whomsoever He will; so let not thy soul be expended in regrets over them.
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# They are the ones who say, “Do not spend on those who are with the Messenger of God, that they may disperse.” Yet to God belong the treasuries of the heavens and the earth, but the hypocrites comprehend not.
7 These are the words of the hypocrites to the Helpers, those Muslims who had been residents of Madinah before the Prophet’s emigration from Makkah. Many hypocrites thought the spoils of war that the Muslims were now enjoying derived more from the strength of the Madinan forces than from anything the Prophet or God had done for them and thus sought to keep the spoils for themselves. When they first migrated to Madinah, many of the Emigrants had been completely dependent upon the generosity of the Helpers, who provided food, shelter, clothing, fertile land, and others forms of aid, without which many Emigrants might not have survived. The newly acquired spoils of war, however, made many of the Emigrants more self-sufficient and thus altered the balance of power within Madinah, to which some of the hypocrites took exception. To God belong the treasuries of the heavens and the earth thus reminds them that it is God Who has provided all of their wealth and who provides spiritual and material benefits to whomsoever He will, whether the hypocrites spend on those who are with the Messenger or not. Elsewhere the disbelievers are reported to have said of the Prophet, Why has no treasure been sent down upon him? (11:12; see also 25:8).
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# They say, “If we return to Madinah, the mightier will surely expel the weaker therefrom.” Yet unto God belongs the might and unto His Messenger and the believers, but the hypocrites know not.
8 The mightier will surely expel the weaker therefrom could also be rendered, “The more noble will expel the meaner therefrom.” ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy is reported to have uttered these words, arguing that he and his companions were morally superior to and physically more powerful than the Prophet and his Companions (see 63:1c). But even his son saw the folly in this position and urged him to recant his statement before returning to Madinah from the expedition. He did not, and is reported to have died soon thereafter.
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# O you who believe! Let neither your property nor your children divert you from the remembrance of God. Whosoever does so, it is they who are the losers.
9 Elsewhere the Quran cautions: It is not your wealth or your children that bring you nigh in nearness unto Us, save those who believe and work righteousness (34:37); and Wealth and children are the adornment of the life of this world, but that which endures—righteous deeds—are better in reward with thy Lord (18:46). The Day of Judgment is thus described as the Day when neither wealth nor children avail, save for him who comes to God with a sound heart (26:88–89). Those who meet the challenge, dealing justly with their worldly possessions and responsibilities, shall be rewarded, but for those who disbelieve, neither their wealth nor their children will avail them aught against God (3:10, 116). In this vein, 9:55 and 9:85 caution: And let not their wealth or their children impress thee. God desires but to punish them thereby in the life of this world, and that their souls should depart while they are disbelievers (cf. 68:10–14); see also 2:212; 3:14; 8:28; 9:69; 26:88; 60:3; 64:14–15; 68:14; 71:21. As rendered, the remembrance of God refers to the practice of ḍhikr or remembrance of God (see 13:28c; 29:45c). It could also be rendered “the reminder of God,” in which case it would refer to the Quran (Q), since the Reminder is one of the names of the Quran, as in 6:90; 12:104; and 38:87, which say of the Quran: It is naught but a reminder for the worlds (see, e.g., 11:114, 120; 15:9; 16:44; 20:3, 99; 21:10, 24, 50; 36:69; 38:49; 43:44; 65:10; 68:51–52; 69:48; 73:19).
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# And spend of that which We have provided you before death comes upon one of you and he says, “My Lord, wouldst that Thou grant me reprieve till a term nigh, that I may give charity and be among the righteous!”
# Yet God will not grant any soul reprieve when its term has come. And God is Aware of whatsoever you do. 10–11 These verses are understood to indicate the need to pay the zakāh (alms) with dispatch; likewise, there should be no delay in performing any obligatory religious duties (Q). According to Ibn ʿAbbās, “Every person who has fallen short in [paying] zakāh will ask to be returned [to this world] at the moment of death” (JJ, Q), ostensibly in order to make up for failing to pay the zakāh. When its term has come refers to the moment of death, at which point the door of repentance is closed. This discussion of Divine reprieve follows directly upon the central theme of this sūrah, that is, religious hypocrisy. Although every soul is granted reprieve until the moment of death to make sincere repentance, from a Quranic perspective one should not make a calculated decision to wait until that moment to repent, as in 4:18: Repentance is accepted from those who do evil deeds till, when death confronts one of them, he says, “Truly now I repent,” nor from those who die as disbelievers (see 4:17–18c). On the one hand, everyone is granted reprieve out of God’s Mercy and Forgiveness, as in 35:45: Were God to take mankind to task for that which they have earned, He would not leave a single creature upon the surface of the earth. But He grants them reprieve till a term appointed (see also 14:42; 16:61). On the other hand, those who deliberately wait until the moment of death to repent and perform good deeds are granted no reprieve when one’s term has come, as in the present verse, or respite, as in 2:162: The punishment shall not be lightened for them; nor shall they be granted respite (see also 3:88; 16:85; 21:40).
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