Surah An-Nisa 4:43-50 - Quran Translation Commentary

43. O you who believe ! Approach not prayers while you are intoxicated⁹⁷ until you know what⁹⁸ you say, nor in a state when you are polluted⁹⁹, except when travelling on the road, until you have bathed.¹⁰⁰ And if you are ill, or on a journey, or one of you has come from answering the call of nature, or you have touched (had intercourse with)¹⁰¹ women, and you find no water,then make use of clean earth, touch it with your hands passing them over your faces and your hands.¹⁰² Verily, Allah is Pardoning, Forgiving.¹⁰³

44. Have you not seen¹⁰⁴ those who were given a portion of the book ?¹⁰⁵ They are purchasing misguidance (error) and wish you to go astray from the right path.

45. And Allah knows your enemies well. Allah suffices as a Friend,and Allah suffices as a Helper.

46. From among the Jews are those who pervert words from their places and say: “We hear and disobey,” and ‘’Hear, you may not be made to hear,”and “Rai’na” (O Our goat-herd), with twisting their tongues and scoffing at the religion¹⁰⁶, ¹⁰⁷. If only they had said: “We have heard and we obey,” and ‘’Isma” (Do hear) and “Unzurna”(Do look at us) it would have been better for them, and more proper. But Allah has cursed them ¹⁰⁸ for their infidelity, so little it is that they believe.

47. O you people whom the Book has been given, believe in the Book. We have now sent down confirming the Book which is already with you before we disfigure the faces and turn them hindwards,¹⁰⁹ or curse them as we cursed the Sabbath breakers.¹¹⁰ And the command of Allah is always executed.

48. Verily, Allah shall not forgive Shirk (that partner should be associated with Him¹¹¹) and will forgive any other sin, to whom He will please¹¹² and whosoever associates any partner with Allah does commit a sin most heinous¹¹³.

49. Have you not seen those who claim purity for themselves¹¹⁴? Nay, Allah purifies whom He pleases, and no injustice will be done to them in the least.

50. Behold! how they invent lies against Allah. That of itself is a flagrant sin.

Commentary

97. In the text the word Sukara has been used. which means an intoxicating thing whether it be wine or some other solid thing or matter, is haram, (forbidden).

The command for declaring wine haram has been given in verse No. 219 of surah Baqarah. In this verse the command is given not to offer prayers in an intoxicated state.(For further explanation. please see note. 316, Surah Baqarah).

98. It means that for offering prayers consciousness and a state of being awake is necessary.

99. By ‘janabat’ (pollution) is meant that uncleanliness which results from the satisfaction of sexual desire or emission during sleep. In such a state offering prayers is prohibited and the method of removing this state is to take bath (Ghusl). The simple way suggested by Islam of taking a ghusl is to pass water over the whole body, to gargle and to wash the inside of the nose.

100. That is : While on a journey, exception can be made in the matter of taking a bath, as is mentioned furthur in this verse. Here it is meant to clarify that in the state of uncleanliness on account of not finding water while on a journey, prayers offered without taking the ghusl, provided ”tayammum”is performed as is stated in the verse further on.

101.The word used in the text is ‘’La mastum’ which means you have touched but this word used in Arabic to connotes sexual intercourse, (Lisanul Arab), and this explanation is also reported to have been given by Ibn Abbas.

102. In the Shariah terminology it is called ‘tayammum,’ which is a substitute for wazu (ablution) and ghusl (bathing). The method of performing tayammum is to touch the clean earth or soil with the palms and to pass both the hands over the face and the hands. This keeps one mindful of the real method of cleanness and also gives one a sense of cleanness.

Since during illness there is a danger of some harm from the use of water for ablution or bathing, the concession of performing tayammum has been granted. Similarly such a contingency can occur while on a journey that one cannot find water. So in such a condition also the necessary concession is given. On the basis of these two conditions, other conditions can also be thought of where benefit of this concession can be derived, for example when in extreme cold, man is polluted and bathing is likely to cause harm, at another time water may be available but in very small quantity, requiring it to be preserved for drinking, or during the journey by air or rail, bathing is found to be extremely difficult, advantage of the concession given by the Shariah can be taken.

Here two conditions of uncleanliness have been mentioned, one answering the call of nature and sexual intercourse. But other conditions of uncleanliness are also included in this and for every kind of uncleanliness, ‘when water is not available, “tayammum” can be performed.

103. That is: These attributes of the Lord demand that softness should be shown for you and concession be given to you in the Shariah command.

104. In these verses mention is made of those people who oppose the muslims in connection with the commands of Shariah given above.

105. The relationship between the holy Quran and the earlier divine Scripture is that of the whole and the part. So the divine book sent down to the People of the Book was a part or portion of the whole Divine Book. While the Divine Book revealed to Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is a whole and complete Book from every standpoint.

106. The Jews who were hurling every kind of insult at the prophet have been referred to as indulging in slandering the religion. It shows that every taunt and insult against the Last prophet is a direct attack on the religion.

107: Please see Note No. 122. Surah Baqarah.

108. It means that only those dare indulge in insulting the Prophet who are disbelievers and transgressors, and there is a curse of Allah on them on account of their disbelief and transgression.

109. Face is a nobler part of the body and a special manifestation of the favour of God. The favour with which man is blessed demands that he should be grateful to his Creator. But those who adopt the line of infidelity and disbelief, they are ungrateful for this great favour of the Creator. They are unable to see the reality inspite of having eyes, and they become mute to acknowledge the great favours and the gratitude for the Creator’s gifts to them. They make use of their sight, their speech and their hearing for quite the opposite purpose. Therefore, they rightly deserve to have their faces disfigured and turned hindwards. Accordingly on the Day of Judgment they will have to undergo this terrible punishment. If man would think on the right lines, this severe warning is sufficient for him to make him sit up and take notice. Ka’ab Ahbar, a well known Jew of his time embraced Islam on hearing this verse.

110. A mention of People of Sabbath has been made in Verse No. 65 of Surah Baqarah.

111. It is “shirk” (polytheism) to associate any partners either with the person or attributes of Allah, whether it be sun or stars, fire or cobra, idol or man, angels or jinns, saints or prophets, material things or spiritual things or some imaginary devi or devta.

And example of associating some one with person of Allah is that which is found in the Christianity. The Christians believe in three gods instead of one God: Father, Son and the Holy (Ghost). The second example is that of the belief of a great religious group of India, which makes no difference between the Creator and the creatures but believes in only one existance.

That is this group considers everything as god and man is also a part of god. This theory is known as The Theory of Unity of Existence or Wahdatul Wujood.

One example of the association of partners to Allah in His attributes is the belief that others also are sharers with Him in the administration of the world and in His sovereignty, for example to believe that some one is the devta of rain, and some one of the winds, one is a devi of disease and the other of wealth, etc. Similarly there are such concepts about saints and awliya that some one is a ghaus (helper) and some one a mushkil kusha (remover of difficulty), and that they meet the needs of men. It is obvious that the attribute of providing for the needs of men is that of Allah, and believing others, to be so attributed is to consider them as partners with Allah in this attribute. A grand attribute of Allah is that He and only He is worthy of worship and it is His right that His slaves should worship Him alon. Polytheism in this regard is to consider others also worthy of worship or to perform puja or worship of some devi or devta, idol or sun etc. All these are the forms of polytheism. Besides this, it is also an open case of polytheism that some one else besides Allah should be regarded as worthy of being obeyed totally and absolutely, that some one else should be considered as to have the right to change or modify the laws of the Shariah or the claim of the democrats should be considered right, ignoring the commands and laws of Allah that the people have the absolute legislative right and can make every kind of law.

Since polytheism is against the nature on which Allah has created man, and since this is total transgression and rebellion against Him, it is considered as the greatest of sin and is unforgivable.

Here it is necessary to understand that rejection of faith (infidelity) and apostasy also constitute polytheism, since it also means rejection and rebellion against Allah. By denying and rejecting Allah man places himself and others on the pedestal of god. It is obvious in this way he becomes essentially guilty of polytheism. The only difference being that polytheism appears in the religious form and apostasy in the secular form. Since in the background of the verse are the Jews who inspite of their believing in God, were guilty of committing polytheism therefore it has been clear here that polytheism is an unforgiveable sin.

112. That is: The sins which would be lesser than polytheism have a chance of being forgiven. But if a man persists in polytheism and if he does not repent and turn away from it and dies in the same state, then the decision of Allah in the matter of this sin is that it will never be pardoned.

113. That is do not regard polytheism and idolworship as ordinary sins In fact this is a very great sin, and on the Day of Judgment the polytheists and idolworshippers will have to answer for their crime of rebellion.

114. That is: By putting on a garb of religiosity they pretend to be highly religious, while actually they are dirty with the pollution of polytheism, and they have become so much shameless that they do not feel any recrimination on presenting imaginary stories in the name of religion and ascribing them to God.

It may be noted that inspite of all these defects and corruption of belief and conduct, the Jews believed that they were the favourites of God.