Surah An-Nur 24:51-57 - Quran Translation Commentary

51. The saying of the people of faith when they are called to Allah and His messenger to judge between them is only that they say : “We hear and we obey.”⁹⁰ These are the people who will prosper.⁹¹

52. He who obeys Allah and His messenger, and fears Allah, and adopts piety: indeed such people are successful.

53.They swear by Allah solemnly that if you order them, they would certainly go forth.⁹² Say : “Do not swear, known obedience.⁹³ (is better).” Verily Allah is aware of what you do.

54. Say: “Obey Allah and obey the messenger.⁹⁴ But if you turn away (then remember) that his responsibility is only that which has been placed on him, and your responsibility is that which has been placed on you. If you obey him you will be rightly guided. And the messenger has no other responsibility than to convey (the message) clearly.”

55. Allah has promised those of you who believe and perform good deeds to make them khalifa (rulers) in the land as He had made rulers those who were before them, and to strengthen the religion He chose for them, and change their fear to safety. They will worship Me alone, and will not associate anything with Me. And whoever will disbelieve after that, then they are the wicked.⁹⁵

56. Offer salat, pay zakat, and obey the messenger so that you may be shown mercy.

57. Do not think that those who disbelieve will be beyond (God’s) reach in this world. Hellfire will be their home, an evil destination!

Commentary

89. This hypocritical attitude of theirs is either due to there being a disease of hypocrisy in their heart, that is why their external behaviour is different from their internal belief, or they are in doubt as to whether these commands are really from Allah ? Or else they do not expect any justice in their case from Allah, and so they are afraid that their interests would suffer. Whatever reason may be applicable to their case, it is contrary to the demands of faith. And the fact is that they have become wrong-doers in their own interest and against themselves, that is their selfishness has made them wrong-doers and tyrants against themselves.

90.This is ‘the attitude or the sincere men of faith, but the attitude of the present day Muslims is such that they are neither prepared to listen to what Allah and His messenger say, nor to obey their commands. There are very few people who have adopted the right attitude in this connection.

It may be noted that those judgments given by the Prophet which are proved to be authentic according to the sahih ahadith, are binding on us in the related matters, and they also provide the guiding principles.

91. That is: For being prosperous of victorious or triumphant it is necessary that Muslims should obey Allah and His messenger in such a way that in their hearts there should be fear of Allah and there should also be a feeling of aversion to committing sins.

93. Generally those people swear whose character is unreliable. Here, the hypocrites are being told that instead of trying to create confidence in others by swearing falsely, they should adopt the known method of obedience which is the way of the true believers.

94.In these ayat great emphasis is laid on obeying the commands of the Prophet along with the commands of Allah, and it has been termed as the demand of faith, for obedience of Allah it is necessary to firmly hold His Book, and for the obedience of the Prophet it is necessary to firmly hold the traditions which he has left behind for the Ummah and which are proved to be authentic ahadith.

95. This ayah carries glad tiding for the people of faith, and a warning for the hypocrite s. The hypocrites were waiting and watching the turn of events. They are warned that they should not be under the spell of any wishful thinking. The state of fear and oppression through which Muslims were passing was not going to last for long. Very soon the people of faith would be given position of power, and there is going to be complete domination of their faith, Islam on this land.

The word ‘Istikhlaf’ used here means to make caliph (Khalifa) and caliph means person of power and authority (ruler).

In Lisanul Arab, the meaning of khilafat is given as rulership. (Lisanul Arab, Vol. 9, page83).

And in the terminology of Qur’an, to make khalifa means to be given power and authority by Allah, and by this position it means that the person concerned is expected to use h is po we r a n d au t ho rit y a cc o rdin g t o Shariah. In other words a khalifa is not an absolute monarch. His position is that of a person who uses his authority as a trust given by Allah. In this sense a prophet also becomes a khalifa after assuming power. Accordingly in the Quran, Prophet Dawood has been called Khalifa (Surah Sad, ayah No.26).

This promise of Allah that He will very soon bless the people of faith who acted righteously with rulership came to be fulfilled very soon. The victory of Makkah (Ramadan 08A. H., 630 A.D.) become the forerunner of this domination, and during the life time of the Prophet itself Islam dominated the whole of Arabia. Then during the caliphate of the righteous khalifas the two great empires of the time clashed with the rising power of Muslims and were destroyed. These were the Persian and the Roman Empires, and the limits of the caliphate reached Iran, Iraq, Syria and Egypt. The lurking threats of attacks on Madina from the disbelievers of Makkah came to an end in this way that now no power in the world could dare attack Madina. Now the Islamic state and the religion attained such power that the state could find no obstacle for running the state administration according to the Islamic shariah and to enforce its rules. The whole of Arabia resounded with the shouts of Allah’s oneness, and the land of Arabia became totally free from the filth of polytheism. Therefore, the period of the righteous Khalifas (May Allah be pleased with them) conformed to this divine promise. But it is amazing that a sect of Muslims hurls curse at the three righteous caliphs. Abu Bakr (R). Umar (R) and Uthman (R), falsely alleging them to be usurpers. If the people belonging to this sect ponder over the problem of Khilafat in the light of this ayah, then the reality of the factionalism to which they have fallen a prey will be realized by them. By the words ‘had made rulers who were before them’ a hint is given at this tradition of Allah that whenever any nation who denied their prophets. Allah destroyed them, and the Prophet and his companions were blessed with power and authority. These examples are Prophet Nooh (Noah), Prophet Hood and Prophet Salih and their companions. Similarly Bani Israil were granted the holy land and through Prophet Dawood and Prophet Sulaiman their kingdom was widened and strengthened.

Those who disbelieve after that are indeed wicked means that the grant of khilafat to the people of faith, thus marking the fulfillment of Allah’s promise and His extraordinary favour those people who would see this and after seeing all this would not appreciate the great bounty of Allah and would try by creating mischief to change safety to unsafety are evil and wicked people. This was indirectly a hint the Sabai mischief which raised its head during the caliphate of Uthman (R), and which totally surrounded the caliphate of Ali (R).

“As for the question whether this promise of power was for the Prophet (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam )and his companions only, or whether it is also available or applicable for the Muslims of the later periods, has been answered by Allama Taimiyah in this way”:

This promise is for all those who possess this attribute. When the predecessors developed these attributes in them, then Allah, according to his promise, granted them khilafat, and after them one group possessed the attribute of true faith and righteous acts. So those who were perfect in their faith and were virtuous in their acts, were granted the said khilafat in all perfection, and those who had defects in their faith and righteous deeds had defects and deficiency in their authority too. This is the compensation for this act. So those who will act in accordance with this (direction) will deserve this compensation.” -(Majmu’ah Fatawa Ibn Taimiyah. Vol. 18, page 302).