بٰطِل

3:72.

2:147, 160; 6:92.

Important Words:

لاتلبسوا (confound) is derived from لبس which means, he put on a clothing. And as a clothing serves to cover or hide the body of the person clothed, the word has also come to mean, to cover up or to hide or to confound or to make a thing mixed up or doubtful (Aqrab).

الباطل (falsehood) is derived from بطل which means: (1) it became corrupt, or (2) it became inoperative, or (3) it went waste and served no useful purpose. The Arabs use the expression بطل دمه of a murdered person whose blood is not avenged. The word باطل means: (1) anything opposed to حق (truth) i.e. falsehood; (2) anything that goes waste and serves no useful purpose; (3) an obsolete edict or commandment which is no longer operative (Aqrab & Mufradat).

Commentary:

Here the Jews are forbidden (1) to mingle the true with the false, by quoting verses from their Scriptures and putting wrong interpretations on them; and (2) to suppress or hide the truth i.e. suppress such prophecies in their Scriptures as refer to the Promised Prophet.

4:30, 162; 9:34.

Important Words:

تدلوا (offer it) is derived from ادلی which again is derived from دلا. They say دلاالدلو, he let down the bucket (into the well), or he pulled it up. ادلی means, he let down the bucket (into the well.) ادلی الیه بمال means, he offered or gave him money (Aqrab).

Commentary:

The commandment relating to fasting enjoined Muslims to refrain from lawful eating and drinking within specified periods with a view to attaining piety and righteousness. This was thus the most opportune time to remind the people that unlawful eating, i.e. unlawful acquisition of wealth, must be all the more scrupulously avoided. Indeed, one of the greatest evils prevailing in the world is the practice of devouring other men’s property by means of falsehood, fraud and litigation. Many a sin is nothing but an offshoot of this evil. Islam condemns the practice of taking another man’s property without his knowledge or consent. Similarly, it is unlawful to appropriate another person’s possessions by means of false litigation. If a man takes possession of a property that does not belong to him by right, it will prove the ruin of him, even if a court of justice should decree the property as his. Says the Holy Prophet: "Beware! I am but a man like you and it sometimes happens that a litigant comes to me and he is more eloquent than his opponent, and I, after listening to his arguments, may give my decision in his favour. But if the property is really not his, my decision will not make it his in the sight of God; in that case it is nothing but a piece of burning fire; so let him put this fire into his belly if he likes, or let him leave it" (Bukhari).

The verse cuts at the root of the evil that has made its appearance in the present age even among those who lay claim to culture and enlightenment. People generally do not deem it worthwhile to consider what right is. All that is seen is how the judge decides. When a judge awards a property to a man, he eagerly takes possession of it without the slightest compunction, even if it happens not to belong to him by right. It never occurs to him that in the sight of God he is no less a usurper than he who forcibly seizes another man’s property.

Incidentally the verse also forcefully condemns the practice of the giving and taking of bribe which unfortunately is so rampant nowadays. In many countries justice has actually to be bought. What is still worse is that through this evil practice, the door of justice is often closed to a rightful owner. The practice is to be found even in some advanced Western countries and is said to be prevalent in certain parts of the New World. The Holy Prophet has condemned it in the strongest of terms saying: "The taker and giver of a bribe are alike, and both stand accursed" (Tirmidhi).

2:43.

See 2:43.

Commentary:

By means of the signs mentioned in their scriptures about the Holy Prophet, the People of the Book could easily know that Muhammad was indeed the Promised Prophet, yet because of enmity and jealousy they would not recognize him and insisted on mixing up truth with falsehood rather than accept the truth in its unalloyed purity.

4:104; 10:13; 39:10; 62:11.

38:28.

Important Words:

باطلا (in vain) is derived from بطل meaning, it was or became false or vain, or void or futile or devoid of virtue or of no account. They say ذھب دمه باطلا meaning his blood went for nothing, i.e. went unretaliated. بطل فی حدیثه means, he jested or was not serious in his discourse. باطل therefore, means: false, spurious, vain, useless, void and of no account (Lane).

Commentary:

Such a grand system to which an allusion has been made in the previous verse could certainly not have been brought into being without a definite purpose. The phenomenon of day and night referred to in the preceding verse affords an illustration of how this purpose is served. With the rising of the sun the whole world is illuminated, and men begin to work. Then night falls and the light of the sun is hidden from our view and men go to sleep, but even then some heavenly bodies are busy doing their allotted task. Thus both during day and night heavenly bodies perform their appointed functions and loyally serve man. The whole universe having been created to serve man, the creation of man must also have a great purpose. Of men, some are bright in themselves like the sun, and there are others who possess no intrinsic light of their own but borrow it from others. Such men as place themselves in right relation to the Sun of the spiritual realm become enlightened, while those that keep away from it are left in the dark.

When man ponders over the spiritual implication of the physical phenomenon of the creation of heavens and earth, the alteration of day, and night and the consummate order that pervades the universe, he is deeply impressed by the great wisdom of the Creator, and from the inmost depths of his being rises the cry: Our Lord, Thou hast not created this in vain. Then apprehension takes hold of him lest he should become deprived of the light of the spiritual Sun and he cries out: Save us from the punishment of Fire, which is nothing but being overtaken by spiritual darkness and moral degradation.

2:189.

Commentary:

By unlawful means is meant all those means and methods which are forbidden by the Law.

The verse declares all commercial transactions without the mutual consent of seller and buyer to be null and void.

The clause, kill not yourselves, makes it clear that the devouring of other person’s property by unlawful means, or carrying on transaction without the free consent of the parties concerned brings about the moral death of the guilty party.

The words, kill not yourselves, also imply interdiction of suicide. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said, "Whosoever kills himself with a weapon, will be brought on the Day of Judgement with the said weapon in his hand and will be thrown into the Fire wherein he will abide. And whosoever kills himself with a poison will be thrown into the Fire, with that poison in his hand, where he will continue to take it" (Kathir).

2:276, 277; 3:131; 30:40.

9:34.

Commentary:

The Jews were forbidden to lend money on interest to other Jews, but they were permitted to take interest from non-Jews (Exod. 22:25; Lev. 25:36, 37; Deut. 23:19, 20). But they broke the Law and began to exact interest even from Jews (Neh. 5:7). Later they promised Nehemiah to give up taking interest from Jews (Neh. 5:12). But they again broke their word; and so, in accordance with the prophecy of Ezekiel (Ezek. 18:13), they suffered national death and were scattered over the earth to suffer persecution at the hands of their enemies.

Commentary:

The word "these" refers to the idol-worshippers whom the Israelites wished to copy. Moses explains to his men that the people they desired to imitate were a people doomed to perdition.

10:83.

Commentary:

The words, establish the truth, used in the preceding verse have been repeated here for the sake of emphasis and for vividly contrasting the idea contained in these words with that of those that follow, i.e. bring to naught that which is false.

4:162.

4:161.

Commentary:

This verse sheds some light on the moral degradation of the Jewish and Christian religious leaders who were opposed to the Holy Prophet. Their moral depravity and spiritual degeneration was itself evidence of the truth of Islam, because when the leaders of a religion themselves become corrupt and depraved, reformation can come only through a heavenly Messenger. Jewish and Christian leaders opposed the Holy Prophet, but their own depravity testified to the fact that he had appeared at a time when his advent was urgently needed.

The words, those who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah—give to them the tidings of a painful punishment, give a graphic picture of Jews and Christians. They hoard up wealth and do not spend it in the cause of God, i.e. in propagating truth and helping the poor and needy. They are threatened with a painful punishment.

17:19.

Commentary:

Disbelievers are here told that if they do not embrace Islam, they will of course not be deprived of worldly goods which they might have earned by the sweat of their brow, but they will surely remain deprived of God’s blessings.

The pronoun ھا (this) in فیھا (in this) may refer to either the present life mentioned in the previous verse or the Hereafter in the verse under comment. In the former case, the clause, that which they wrought in this life shall come to naught, would mean that, as they had been rewarded in the present life for the works which they did for this life, therefore these works would prove of no avail to disbelievers in the life to come. In the latter case, the clause would mean that, as their deeds for the present life were in accordance with the laws of God, therefore, they got their reward for them; but as the deeds which they did for the next life were in defiance of Divine laws, therefore they would do them no good and would fail to serve the purpose for which they were apparently meant.