Surah Al-Hujurat 49:11-18 - Quran Translation Commentary

11. O you who believe! Let not men deride other men, it may be that they are better than they are. Nor let women deride other women, it may be that they are better than they are.¹⁸ nor taunt one another’¹⁹ nor call one another by hateful nicknames ²⁰ wickedness is a very bad name following Faith.²¹ And those who do not repent are the wrongdoers.²²

12. O you who beleive! Refrain from much suspicions because some suspicions are sins.²³ and do not spy on each other²⁴ nor should anyone of you backbite others.²⁵ Does anyone of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You will surely abhor it.²⁶ Fear Allah. No doubt, Allah is the Acceptor of repentance, Most Merciful.

13. O people! We created you from a male and a female, then made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another.²⁸ The most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is the most God-fearing of you.²⁹ Verily Allah is knowing, Aware.³⁰

14. The desert Arabs say: We believe.³¹ Tell them: you have not believed. Rather say: We accepted Islam (submission).³² Belief has not yet entered into your hearts.³³ If you will obey Allah and His messenger, HE will not curtail your deeds.³⁴ Verily Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.³⁵

15. The believers, really are those who believed in Allah and His messenger, then did not doubt and strived with their wealth and their lives in the path of Allah. They are the truthful.³⁶

16. Say: Do you inform Allah of your religion? When Allah knows whatever is in the skies and whatever is in the earth. And Allah knows everything.

17. These people make it a favour to you that they have accepted Islam. Say: Do not put upon me the favour of your Islam. No, it is Allah’s favour upon you that HE guided you on the right path if you are truthful.³⁷

18. Allah knows all the hidden things of the heaven and the earth and Allah sees whatever you are doing.³⁸

Commentary

18. There was a directive in the above ayat to keep and maintain religious brotherhood. Now is the discussion of those evils which spoil mutual relations and create enmity and hatred. One of these moral misbehaviors is making mockery of one another. The mocker insults another fellow which is contrary to God-fearing ness. Says a Hadith :-

“Pointing thrice to his chest the holy prophet said God-fearingness (Taqwa) remains here. For a man this one evil is enough (to destroy him) that he may look down upon his Muslim brother. It is prohibited for a Muslim to encroach upon a Muslim’s blood, property and honour.” (Muslim, Kitabul Birr)

An individual mocks another individual. Likewise a group mocks another group. Both things are disdainful. This evil is rather more widespread among women who often mock and laugh at other women. Hence they have been, here, especially asked to refrain from this activity. One who mocks others considers oneself higher than the one mocked. But it is quite possible that the one who is being mocked may be better than the mocker. Therefore the mentality of considering oneself better than other is in itself wrong.

19. Taunting injures hearts. Therefore our tongues must not be allowed to inflict such verbal wounds on others hearts. Making personal attacks on others by using insulting and taunting words and phrases causes much pain to others which cuts off mutual love and relationship.

20. It is highly immoral to give bad nicknames to others and so also to call them or refer to them by such bad names. One who gives a bad name to a Muslim ruins his honour. It should never be considered an ordinary sin.

As a result of carelessness on this account one group of Muslims, today, tries to defame other group of Muslims and so do the parties so much so that those who are strict adherents to pure monotheism (Tawheed) and who are against ‘Vaastah-Vaseelah’ (mediatory means for intercession), ‘Nazro-niyaaz to Gairullah’(gifts and oblation to anyone other than Allah), personality cult, hero worship or grave worship are being called and given the title of “Wahabiyat” and are being called by the number “24” which, according to Abjad calculation, indicates “Wahabi”. Such gestures are made by those who are deeply indulged in ‘Bida’at, innovations).They have no idea as to how many hindrances they are putting up in the path of Islam.

21. One who gives bad name to others, in fact, attaches that bad name to one’s own self because these gestures are ‘fisq’ (sin and disobedience) and one who gains a name for fisq after entering Islam makes a very bad gesture. Hence acquiring impiety through giving bad names to others is a very bad evil or vice. This directive gives us an idea of the importance given by Islam to moral purity. It shows us the extent of cleanliness desired for an Islamic society. But when the foundations of Godfearingness became weak in the Muslim society, satire became a distinction of poets and literature became full of dirt. In today’s journalism the most successful is one who defames others most, assassinates others characters, spreads distrust for responsible persons and creates scandals. All these misdeeds are being committed by Muslims against Muslims both individually and collectively. They have gone so far that now there remains no difference between Muslim journalism and non-Muslim journalism. Very few people have kept themselves clean.

It is also a very lamentable state of affairs that the habit of abusing and giving (or calling by) bad names has become common among Muslims. These words too are so much obscene that one who hears has to bow down his head in shame. Further, even mothers and sisters of the one so verbally attacked are being targeted without any fault of theirs, so much so that those who are no more in this world too are being attacked. While indulging in such disgraceful deeds their awareness becomes dead that Allah hears each and every word of theirs which is also being recorded. Through such misuse of their tongues they are committing sheer impiety and shamelessness which attracts severe divine punishment.

22. That is: Those who do not repent and do not stop such sins even after these clear-cut instruction are wrongdoers and Allah’s grip on such wrongdoers is indeed very tight” In this last phrase of the ayah there is inducement to repentance for every Muslim so that he may ask Allah’s forgiveness for his previous mistakes and may amend ways for future.

23. A believer most always entertain a good idea about another believer, Surah Noor guides us thus:- “When you heard it, why did, the believer men and women, not think well of their own People, and say, This is an obvious falsehood?’’ (Noor: 12)

But among Muslims all do not possess high character. There are some bad characters too They cause trouble and loss also So this does not mean that man must remain fanciful. He can entertain doubts due to some reasonable causes For instance, looking to a man’s habit of breaking promise, he can think that the promise being made to him might not be kept. Such thought is no sin. Similarly if it is found that a certain physician is careless and if, on the basis of experience, some body thinks that physician will not treat Him properly and hence he does not approach him, his suspicion cannot be called a sin, punishable under Shariat rules In fact, Shariat takes into cognizance those suspicions which are baseless and which cause rift in mutual relations Such evil thinking is called sheer sin in this ayah. Hadith names it sheer falsehood:-

“Refrain from suspicion as suspicion is the worst falsehood.” (Saheehul Bukhari, Kitabul Adab) Carefulness calls upon us to refrain from suspicion as far as possible. Hence the ayah orders us to refrain from much suspicion. This automatically makes it clear that every suspicion is not a sin. But since some suspicions are clear sins man must be careful in thinking bad about someone.

24. That is : Do not dig for somebody’s defects and shortcomings A righteous man always looks at his own defects and he worries about his own salvation first. Why should he take interest in others evils? Hadith also prohibits it:-

“Do not spy and do not look for secrets” (Saheehul Bukhari, Kitabul Adab). Bible has also given a very effective advice regarding fault-finding:

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother,

“Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew,7: 1-6) Regarding the question that is it not unlawful on the part of an Islamic government to detect secret crimes? The reply is: This directive does not come in the way of executing the responsibilities of an Islamic state in the matter of maintaining public peace, stopping evils, and eradicating corruption Adopting proper methods of detection for this aim is no evil, rather it is essential to prevent destructive activities. ‘Otherwise conspiracies dangerous to the Islamic state and society will not come to light This kind of crime detection is not covered by this ayah.

25. Back-biting means to talk evil of somebody in his absence When that defect does exist in him. Hadith explains it thus:-

“Back-biting is that you describe your brother in a way which may displease him. Asked some one: If the thing I say is in my brother, even then its description amounts to back-biting? Came the reply: If the thing said by you exists in him you have back-bitten him. And if that thing does not exist in him then you have slandered him. (Muslim, Kitabul Birr)

But if it becomes necessary to expose somebody’s defect really and religiously then it is not called “back-biting’ either in the Quran or in Hadith. Therefore, we cannot agree with those scholars who have described ‘lawful’ kinds of ‘back-biting’(Gheebat). Such kinds are indeed lawful, and some of them are even essentially ordered. But it is not correct to say that though it is “back-biting” and “talking evil” yet lawful which virtually amounts to say that though it is prohibited to eat the flesh of a brother, in such and such circumstance this flesh becomes eatable. This a very awkward explanation of facts. ‘Mafradaat-e- Raaghib’ the authentic and famous Quranic dictionary describes the meaning of “Gheebat” thus :- “Back-biting is that a man describes someone’s defects when it is not necessary to describe it.” (Mafradat, p.373)

To protect people from somebody’s evil, to give witness in a court of law, to raise a voice against oppression, to caution the government about corrupt and destructive activities, to file a complaint against a criminal, to stop a bad deed, to agitate against someone’s mischief, to cross examine the narrators of traditions, to criticize judges and journalists, to stop propagation of innovations, waywardness and non-sense, etc. it is necessary, rather compulsory to describe relevant shortcomings of concerned persons. So such things (description) cannot be termed ‘Gheebat’ (back- biting). The Muhadditheen (writers of hadith books) did not open files of “back-biting” while compiling “ Asmaa-ur-Rijal (containing description of people). Rather, in order to spare traditions from unreliable narrations, they did this noble job.

26.This is a very eloquent metaphor which expresses the nauseating nature of back-biting and which creates terrible abhorrence for it. A Muslim, while back-biting his Muslim brother, reviles him in his absence. In other words he attacks his dead brother’s honour. It is also a fact that a back-biter gets pleasure in describing defects of others. Hence the simile of eating (test fully) the flesh of one’s dead brother. One who is habituated of this nauseating sin will have to test a very bitter punishment. Hadith has picturized it thus:-

“The prophet of Allah says: (During Meraj’s celestial journey) When I was taken up I went past some people who had copper nails. They were scratching their faces and chests with those nails. I asked Jibril as to who were they. He replied that those were the people who used to devour dead people’s flesh and attack their honour”. (Riyaazus Swaliheen : Narration-Abi Dawud) Today, back-biting is common among Muslims. In homes, especially, it has become a routine business of the woman folk. Men too, unnecessarily, describe others defects in their meetings. They comment thereon very irresponsibly. But, in view of these clear and explicit command of the holy Quran, it is necessary for Muslims to sweep their homes and gatherings clean of this kind of back- biting. They should very strictly refrain from dishonouring any Muslim.

27. The way of refraining from back-biting is to fear Allah. The advice of begging forgiveness from Allah has been given to those who are afflicted by illnesses like back-biting etc. They have been hereby informed that if they turn toward Allah and reform themselves, then Allah will pardon them and will shed His Mercy on them.

28. In this ayah, by addressing the entire mankind, and referring to tribes and clans, it has been brought to their mind that all of them had, originally, only one pair of man and woman as their parents. All are the offspring’s of Adam and Eve. And when the origin of all of them is one and the same, there is no room for any kind of superiority or inferiority on the basis of colour, race or country. All these false barriers of distinctions only create hatred.

It was the natural outcome of mankind’s expansion on earth that they reside in various lands. When they resided in different zones of this earth their complexions also became different. Their races differed from one another. These natural dissimilarities classified them into various tribes having different languages. The strategy behind this natural and apparent or outwardly variation was that they should recognize one another, the nearer ones may become dearer and all may respect their mutual rights. But people turned these differences into causes of division and hatred and raised walls of prejudices between nations.

The current conflicts based on the difference of colour, linguistic troubles, racial struggles and the curse of nationalism etc. which have divided humanity into hostile groups are the direct result of non-compliance with the aforesaid Quranic ordinance presented through this ayat.

The polytheist community of India believes in racial superiority and inferiority on the basis of their religion. Therefore the so called upper class caste people look down upon the lower caste people and term them ‘shudras’ (base mean, despicable) History testifies that they were treated very badly making them untouchable throughout ages and kept suppressed and deprived of all human rights.

The social system of Islam is clean of all such evils. There is neither any idea of high and low nor any consideration of racial superiority. Hence no room for apartheid. Social equality can be observed during daily five time prayers wherein there is no distinction of class or race or colour.

All stand lined up shoulder to shoulder: ‘Ek Hi Saff Me Khade Ho Gaye Mehmood O Ayaaz Na Koi Banda Raha Aur Na Koi Banda Nawaaz’ Regarding the question of kafaa’t (level of family status and occupation etc.)it is only a social strategy so that the husband and wife may be able to live harmoniously. It is not a religious law which cannot be breached. A clear example of it is the marriage of Lady Zainab who belonged to the Quraishi family. She was married to Zaid who was a freed slave of the holy prophet (peace be upon him). This shows that the observance of ‘kufva’ is not obligatory .Arabs and non-Arabs all can marry one-another’s women. Basically Quran has termed piousness, morality and chastity the standard of ‘kufva’ (equality).

‘‘Clean women are for clean men and clean men for clean women.” (An Noor:26)

29. In the sight of Allah the criteria of nobility and greatness is piety. The more a fellow is higher in fearing Allah and in righteousness the higher is his status. True honour and respect is attained through fear of Allah, not through other things like race and lineage etc.

30. Allah knows best who among you is fearing Him more. HE is fully aware of his deeds and thoughts and everything. Hence HE alone will fix his correct position. It is quite possible that a man has no value in the eyes of the people but, due to his being on a higher level of Godfearingness (Taqwa), Allah may grant him a very high status.

31. These are the concluding ayah of the Surah, Here those people have been criticized who having accepted the belief of Islam, entered the Muslim society but faith had not yet penetrated their hearts. Hence their attitude toward Allah and His prophet was not consistent with true faith. It was rather against it.

32. Here the word ‘Islam’ is in its preliminary meaning, that is: to recite Kalimah and enter the fold of Islam and express submission. Obviously, being devoid of the true spirit, this kind of Islam is mere superficial, not real and total. So far as faith is concerned it is related to attestation by heart. Therefore, mere verbal claim is meaningless if it is not supported by the heart.

33. It has become clear that by reciting the Kalimah and through verbal proclamation a man becomes a Muslim but until faith goes deep down his heart he is not a Momin in the sight of Allah.

34. Total obedience of Allah and His prophet is possible only when there is faith in one’s heart and Allah Almighty will surely give reward of each and every good deed of the true obedient. HE will curtail it.

35. This is an incentive to people so that they may reform themselves and become worthy of Allah’s Forgiveness and Mercy.

36. This is the sign of a true Momin. He believes in Allah and His prophet in such a way that not even an iota of doubt remain in his heart. Rather he is full of trust and confidence which prepares him for sacrificing anything in the path of Allah. Consequently he challenges anti-Islam forces and, in order to raise the Word of Allah, invests his entire belongings and risks even his life.

Muslims of this age mostly do not have the true idea of religion. Being the recitors of the Kalima they are Muslims. But their talks and attitudes betray that they do not know what is real Faith (Iman). They are under the faulty impression that recitation of the Kalima is enough to get entry into Paradise or for final salvation. Had they pondered over these ayah they would have realised the truth.

37. That is: If you are true in your claim of being Faithful you must realise that you have not done any favour to Allah and His holy Messenger by believing in them. Rather it is Allah’s favour upon you that HE guided you to the path of Faith.

38. Herein is a warning to those who rest assured that mere superficial Islam is sufficient for them. They are informed that your internal condition cannot remain hidden from Allah. If your hearts are devoid of Faith, then an apparent Islam has no value in the sight of Allah.