ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱلْفَٰسِقِينَ

736

Commentary:

The Arabic words ترد ایمان بعد ایمانھم rendered as "other oaths will be taken after their oaths" literally means: (1) "oaths will be repeated, i.e. taken again, after their oaths"; or (2) "their oaths will be rejected after their (other witnesses’) oaths", the significance in both cases being practically the same, i.e. the oaths of the first two witnesses will be rejected and two other witnesses called in to give true evidence on oath.

The purport of this and the preceding two verses is that when a person is about to make his will at the time of his death, he should have as witnesses to his statement two just men, who should testify to the validity of his will after his death. But if death comes upon a person suddenly when he is away from home and no Muslim witnesses are at hand, then two trustworthy non-Muslims may be asked to serve as witnesses. If, however, the veracity of the witnesses is called into question by the heirs of the deceased, the former should be asked to prove their truthfulness by a statement on oath made after the time of Prayer. But if the persons in whose favour the will was made have good reason to believe that the witnesses have been guilty of perjury, then they can state on oath that their statement is truer than that of the two witnesses, and in that case the qadi or judge, if satisfied, will give his decree in their favour.

An incident is reported to have occurred in the days of the Holy Prophet which throws some light on the verses under comment. A Muslim who died away from home entrusted his goods to two men before his death and asked them to deliver the same to his heirs at Medina. On receiving the goods, the heirs found that a silver bowl was missing. The two men were thereupon called upon to explain the loss of the bowl, but they denied all knowledge of it on oath. Later, the heirs of the deceased person happened to see the bowl with some persons at Mecca who told them that it had been sold to them by the two men to whom the deceased had entrusted his property. Thereupon the two men were again summoned, and in their presence the heirs of the deceased stated on oath that the bowl was theirs, whereupon it was handed over to them (Manthur).

The Prayer mentioned in 5:107 above may be any Prayer but preferably it should be the ‘Asr or late afternoon Prayer, because it was after this Prayer that the Holy Prophet summoned the two witnesses to whom reference has been made above and who were believed to have stolen the silver bowl. The time after Prayer has been chosen with a view to inspiring witnesses with ideas of piety and God-fearingness and inclining their minds to truthfulness. If the witnesses be non-Muslims, then they may be called upon to swear after the time of their own worship, so that the solemnity of the hour may incline them to make a true statement, because the worship of God is calculated to exercise a purifying influence on the human mind, and men fresh from Prayer are expected to fear God and make a true statement.

The word اَولیان (the two, who were in a better position) occurring in 5:108 above is the dual of اولی which means more competent or more worthy. It refers to the first two witnesses and signifies that these two were in a better position to give true evidence, being the persons who were with the deceased at the time of his death and in whose presence the will was made and to whom the property was entrusted to be handed over to the heirs of the deceased. The expression also serves as a sort of veiled reproach to them that, in spite of being in a better position and more competent to give true evidence, they stumbled and drifted away from truth.

The second two witnesses should be from among the deceased person’s heirs, whom the first two witnesses deprived of their right by bearing false witness regarding the will of the deceased.

1185

Commentary:

The idolaters were closely connected with Muslims by ties of blood and relationship. Muslims are plainly told in this verse that these relationships and other worldly considerations of wealth, trade and property should not be allowed to stand in the way when a dearer relationship and a nobler cause and more vital considerations demanded their sacrifice. Love of kith and kin and worldly possessions should not be permitted to hinder the Faithful from serving the cause of Islam. The judgement of God mentioned at the end of the verse came after the death of the Holy Prophet when "the disobedient people," i.e. those who had joined the fold of Islam for worldly considerations, revolted and were punished by God through Abu Bakr, the First Khalifah.

1232

Commentary:

The verse refers to the offering of prayer for the hypocrites while they lived. It does not, however, refer to all hypocrites as a matter of principle; but only to such as were doomed to perish and about whom God had revealed to His Prophet that they would die disbelievers (see 9:77 above). To pray for such hypocrites or disbelievers would virtually be contradicting the purpose of God. As for the injunction about the funeral Prayer, it is contained in 9:84 below. It so happened that before the latter verse was revealed, ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy, the leader of the hypocrites, died; and the Holy Prophet, considering that he was outwardly a Muslim and that his son was a particularly devoted believer, prepared to offer the funeral prayer for him. Thereupon, ‘Umar drew his attention to the verse under comment upon which the Holy Prophet said that the verse left it to him whether or not to say the funeral prayer for a hypocrite and that he would ask forgiveness of God for ‘Abdullah more than "seventy times."

It should be noted that the words, "seventy times," are not here meant literally but are simply intended to intensify the point that such hypocrites as are doomed to perish will never be forgiven; but so great was the mercy of the Holy Prophet for those who professed faith in him that, taking advantage of the fact that God had not so far expressly commanded him to abstain from praying for the hypocrites at all, he interpreted the word "seventy" literally and offered to say the funeral prayer for ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy, whose son was a very devoted Muslim.

4225

Commentary:

Perhaps no Prophet of God suffered so much mental agony at the hands of his followers as did Moses. Among many other signs Moses’s people had seen the mighty hosts of Pharaoh drown before their very eyes and yet they had hardly crossed the sea when they wanted to revert to idolatry, and seeing some people worshipping idols asked Moses to set up one such idol for them. They defied Moses’s brother, the Prophet Aaron, and worshipped the calf (7:149). When asked to march into Canaan which God had promised to them they scornfully and quite brazen-facedly told Moses to go with his Lord upon Whom he had relied so much; they were not going to budge an inch from the place where they had settled (5:25). Thus Moses was repeatedly insulted by, and baulked in his efforts to reclaim from idolatry, the very people whom he had delivered from the crushing bondage of Pharaoh. They even slandered and defamed him. It is to such vexatious act of these ungrateful people that the Quran has referred in 33:70.

4248

Commentary:

The hypocrites are the real enemies of Islam, much worse than the disbelievers (v. 5). By their secret wicked designs and machinations against Islam they irretrievably condemn themselves. As they have no faith, the verse says, asking forgiveness for them cannot benefit them in any way.