Surah Muhammad 47:29-38 - Quran Translation Commentary

30. (O prophet!) If We so willed, we would have shown them to you and you would have recognised them by their marks. And you shall know them by their style of talking.⁴⁹ Allah knows your deeds.

31. Verily We shall try you until We see who among you strive hard and persevere in patience and till We test your conditions.⁵⁰

32. Those who disbelieved ⁵¹ and hindered (people) from the path of Allah and opposed prophets after the guidance had been quite clear to them will not hurt Allah at all, and Allah will make their deeds of no-effect.

33. O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the prophet and do not make your deeds vain.⁵²

34. Those who disbelieved and hindered others from the path of Allah and then died in the state of disbelief, Allah will never pardon them. ⁵³

35. So be not weak nor cry out for peace.⁵⁴ You will be uppermost.⁵⁵ Allah is with you and He will not destroy your deeds. ⁵⁶

36. The life of the world is but a play and amusement. And if you believe and fear Allah He will grant you your recompense⁵⁷ and will not demand from you your possessions.⁵⁸

37. If He were to ask you for possessions and to demand all of your wealth you will be stingy and He will expose your malice.⁵⁹

38. You are those ⁶⁰ who are called to spend in the way of Allah, yet among you there are some who are miserly.⁶¹ Though who is miserly is a miser with his own soul. ⁶² Allah is free of all wants and you are the needy. And if you will turn away He will substitute in your stead some other people and they will not be like you.⁶³

Commentary

47. Means the illness of Munafiqat (hypocrisy).

48. Will HE not expose the bitter hate and rancour against Islam which they are hiding in their hearts?

49. That is: If We would, we would have shown you the condition of each and every hypocrite individually in such a way that you could have known their internal condition merely by looking at their faces. It should be kept in mind that this is being said about those people who were Muslims apparently but who were hiding disbelief in their hearts. They are real hypocrites. They are worse than the infidels because the mischief which they are playing while remaining hidden in Muslim society is more dangerous than that of the outspoken and apparent disbelievers. The condition of hypocrites had begun to be exposed when this Surah was reaveald. But it was not possible to explicitly declare anyone a disbeliever. However, they could be recognised by their tone of talking and way of discussing. But in the following stages there remained no doubt about their being hypocrites in view of their behaviour. Hence the holy prophet was given the order of waging jihad (war) against them and of being harsh toward them in Surah Taubah :- “O prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and deal strictly with them.” (At Taubah; 73)

50. That is: We see as to what extent your outward is consistent with your inward and how true you are in your claim of being faithful.

51. Be their disbelief open or hidden.

52. This is a word of warning to Muslims that if you do not make it a point to obey Allah and to obey His prophet in every field of life your deeds will go in vain.

53. For being pardoned that condition of a man will be taken into account in which he breathed his last. The doors of pardon are closed for one who dies in disbelief.

54. It is a sign of cowardice to call for peace when the infidels are bent upon fighting. Hence it has been prohibited. Of course, when the disbelievers themselves invite you to truce that proposal can be accepted. Surah Anfal says:- “If they incline to peace, you also incline to it, and put your trust in Allah”. (Anfal:61)

55. And it is a fact that the Muslims remained uppermost in every war and they won over the infidels. Thus Quran’s prophecy came true word by word.

56. That is: your efforts for raising the word of Allah will not be ineffective either in this world or in the Hereafter.

57. It automatically becomes clear from this that the lives of those who accept faith and live fearful of Allah are not like a play or pastime. Rather they are serious and purposeful. Of course the life of this world is not more than mere play and pastime for those who make it their aim and who are negligent about Allah and the Hereafter.

58. That is: HE will not demand your entire possessions as is described later.

59. That is: If He were to ask you to spend your entire possession in the way of Allah and not to save anything for yourselves, you would have become niggardly and it would have become obvious that even in the event of war between Islam and infidelity your wealth is dear to you. But Allah did not put you to such severe test and called upon you to depart with only a portion of your wealth to be spent in His path so that you may have an opportunity to improve yourselves and so that your hearts may be purified. It should be remembered that the address in this Ayah is to those hypocrites who were shirking from spending in the way of Allah.

60. This is an address to general Muslim masses.

61. These were insincere Muslims who were hesitating to spend in the way of Allah.

62. He is harming only himself by such misery,

63. That is: the opportunity of spending in the way of Allah which is being offered to you is, in fact, a great blessing for you. If you will not appreciate it then Allah will bring in some other group for raising His word and they will not be weak like you. Ayah 54 of Surah Maaidah explains this:- “O you who believe! Whoever turns away from his religion, (he will not in any way harm Allah), soon Allah will bring forth a people whom He will love and they will love Him, humble towards believers, stern towards disbelievers, striving in the cause of Allah, and fearing not the reproaching of the reproachers.”