Surah An-Nisa 4:113-115 - Quran Translation Commentary

113. And were not the grace of Allah on you and His mercy, a party of them had resolved to mislead you, although they are misleading only themselves. They will hurt you not at all. Allah has revealed to you the Book and wisdom, and has taught you that which you did not know. And great is the grace of Allah to you¹⁹².

114. There is no good in much of their secret talks ¹⁹³; but whosoever exhorts to a deed of charity, or justice or conciliation between men, there is definite good in it ¹⁹⁴

115. And whosoever does this, seeking the pleasure of Allah We shall soon give him a great reward. And whosoever opposes the messenger after the guidance has become manifest to him, and follows other than the believer’s way¹⁹⁵, We shall put him in the path he has chosen, and land him in Hell, -an evil abode.

Commentary

192. Here, addressing the Prophet, the faithful are being warned that if Allah had not been kind to them, they could not have remained safe from the conspiracies of the hypocrites; they were regularly making schemes aginst the Muslims and were trying to mislead them. The only way of countering their schemes is to appreciate and follow the Book and wisdom sent down by Allah for guidance.

193. That is: The secret meetings and talks of the hypocrites were for scheming and hatching conspiracies for causing mischief and distur bances.

194. This is an exhortation for talking and planning for good covertly.

195. By believer’s way is meant the way or the method of the true believers in Islam. At the time of the revelation of this verse the companions of the Prophet conformed to this description and were the true believers. They had adopted the way of sincerely following the religion and they were the truely faithful followers of the Prophet. They followed him totally and never deviated a bit in obeying his commands even if they were required to undergo dangers of a severe kind. On the other side was the group of the hypocrites, which also called itself Muslims; but these persons found it disagreeable to sincerely follow the commands of the Prophet and were unable to give proof of their true loyalty to the Messenger of Allah. They wanted to adopt a method which conformed to the needs of the time and which did not call for giving any sacrifice of their wealth and life. They were satisfied with the formal and spiritless religiosity and regarded it sufficient as a ‘shortcut’ to Paradise.

People of this mentality are found among the Muslims even today. The needs of the time have compelled them to find out new ways and means of practising Islam. Therefore there is a lot of difference between their religiosity and that of the sincere Muslims. If one faces the Qibla, the other turns his face to the opposite side. If one tries to follow the teachings of Islam sincerely then the other tries to find excuses for avoiding to follow its teachings. If one revives the spirit of religion then the other throws the veils of materialism over it. One group wants that the social laws of Islam should be kept and followed scrupulously while the other group wants to do away with these laws. While one group insists on putting into practice the commands of Shariah, the other group stresses the necessity of enforcing the man-made laws. Thus, there is a vast difference between their viewpoints and their methods of work. All these people are considered as parts of the Muslim Society, but in reality the second group is not Muslim. People of this kind inspite of their being called Muslims can be considered as deserving of Hell in the Hereafter.