تَوَلّٰی

Important Words:

تولی (he is in authority) is derived, from ولی. تولی means: (1) he turned his back, he went away from one’s presence; (2) he held command, or he was in authority; he became a والی or ruler (Aqrab & Taj).

سعی (runs about) means: (1) he walked briskly or he ran; (2) he made an effort; or he strove to obtain an object (Aqrab).

الحرث (the crops) is the noun-infinitive from حرث i.e. he ploughed or tilled the soil; he sowed seeds or planted plants in it; he acquired or earned or laboured for wealth or sustenance; he worked or laboured for the goods of the world. حرث means: (1) a tilth or a piece of land ploughed for sowing, or land actually sown with some crop; (2) land under crop; (3) crop or produce of land whether field crop or garden crop; (4) gain, acquisition or earning; (5) reward or recompense; (6) worldly goods; (7) wife or wives, because a wife is like a tilth in which seed is sown to bear crop in the form of children; (8) a much used road or a beaten track (Lane).

النسل (progeny). نسل الولد means, he begot a child. نسل الرجل means, the man had many children; the progeny of the man increased. نسل means: (1) creatures; (2) children; (3) progeny, whether of man or beast (Aqrab & Lane).

Commentary:

This verse further develops the idea contained in the preceding one. The type of man described in the previous verse (i.e. one whose talk about the affairs of this world is very pleasing but who is selfish at heart) becomes unmasked when he happens to be in authority, or when he goes away from the presence of the people and meets his associates in private. Thus both the meanings of the word تولی as mentioned under Important Words are appropriate here: (1) While he is in the presence of those who are sincere lovers of mankind, he says pleasing things; but when he goes away from them and meets his comrades in private, he strives to create disorder on the earth. (2) Similarly, when he happens to come to power, he becomes exposed and all his talk about improving the affairs of the world vanishes like smoke, and instead of acting like a reformer, he actually becomes a source of disorder.

The clause, destroy the crops and the progeny, means that all his efforts are directed towards harming people and their property. The words حرث and نسل have a number of meanings and all are applicable here. They refer to all kinds of damage relating to person and property.

The words, Allah loves not disorder, come as a fitting reply to the clause in the preceding verse, i.e. he calls Allah to witness as to that which is in his heart. Allah’s evidence goes against him, for the man is after disorder, and Allah loves not disorder.

5:48; 24:56.

Commentary:

The word فاسقون (transgressors) used in this verse may also be rendered as disobedient or breakers of promise. Both these meanings are applicable here.

Important Words:

حفیظ (keeper) is derived from حفظ. They say حفظ الشیء i.e. he kept the thing or preserved it or guarded it or protected it or took care of it; he prevented it from becoming lost. حافظ or حفیظ (the latter having more intensive meaning) means, keeper, preserver or guardian. When used about God, the attributive name besides giving the above meanings, also means, the Preserver of all things; One Who preserves the good and evil works of His creatures (Lane).

Commentary:

The words, Whoso obeys the Messenger obeys Allah indeed, further explain the meaning of the expression, Say, All is from Allah, occurring in 4:79 above. The verse purports to say that obedience to the Prophet is really obedience to God, and if Muslims get into trouble by obeying the Prophet, it is all subject to God’s own will and must not be attributed to the Prophet and such trouble can never result in evil; God’s dealings with the Prophet come under His special providence, and, therefore, he who finds fault with him really finds fault with God.

7:4.

Commentary:

The verse means that people who oppose the Prophet openly or secretly and seek for themselves a way other than that of believers, in spite of the fact that the divine guidance has become clear to them, will be deprived of the means of guidance, and God will let them follow the wrong course they are pursuing, i.e. they will increase in their hypocrisy and disbelief.

Important Words:

إفک (a lie) is infinitive noun from افک (afaka). They say أفکه i.e. (i) he changed his or its condition or manner of being; (ii) he turned him or it away or back from a thing; (iii) he turned him away or back by lying; (iv) he changed or perverted his judgement; (v) he deceived or beguiled him; (vi) he lied or said what was untrue. أفک الناس means, he told the people a big lie. إفک (ifkun) means, a lie; a great lie; a falsehood (Lane & Aqrab). See also 5:76.

Commentary:

The extremely painful incident referred to in this verse took place when on the Holy Prophet’s return from the expedition against Bani Mustaliq in 5 A.H., the Muslim army had to halt for the night at a place, a short distance from Medina. In this expedition, the Holy Prophet was accompanied by his noble wife, ‘A’ishah. As it happened ‘A’ishah went out some distance from the camp to attend to the call of nature. When she returned, she discovered that she had dropped her necklace somewhere. The necklace itself was of no great value, but as it was a loan from a friend, ‘A’ishah went out again to search for it. On her return, to her great grief and mortification she found that the army had already marched away with the camel she was riding, her attendants supposing that she was in the litter as she was then very young and light of weight. In her helplessness she sat down and cried till sleep overpowered her. Safwan, a Muhajir, who was coming in the rear recognized her as he had seen her before the verse enjoining "purdah" was revealed and brought her on his camel to Medina, himself walking behind the animal (Bukhari, Kitabun-Nikah). The hypocrites of Medina, led by ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul, were always on the lookout to create some mischief and cause distress to the Holy Prophet. They made capital out of this incident and spread a malicious scandal against ‘A’ishah and unfortunately some of the Muslims also became associated with it. ‘A’ishah’s innocence was at last established in the present and the following few verses of the Quran. Those who had taken part in fabricating and spreading the accusation were punished and injunctions were revealed effectively to deal with scandal-mongers and their evil designs and activities.

The words "who took the chief part," are understood to refer to ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy, the leader of the hypocrites of Medina, who had invented the lie and gave it wide publicity. He died an ignominious death, frustrated in all his designs against Islam and in his ambition and aspiration to become the crowned king of Medina.

The words, "think it not to be an evil for you, nay it is good for you," signify that the incident contained a great lesson for the Muslims. They were warned to be on their guard against falling victim to the machinations of scandal-mongers and against accusing Muslim men and women of crimes of which they were quite innocent.