Surah At-Tahrim 66:8-12 - Quran Translation Commentary

8. O Believers! Repent before Allah a sincere repentence.¹² No wonder if your Lord removes your misdeeds from you and causes you to enter paradises beneath which rivers flow.¹³ The Day when Allah will not disgrace the prophet and those who believed along with him. Their light will run in front of them and on their right hands. They will be praying ; O Our Lord! Perfect for us our light.¹⁴ and forgive us. You have power over everything.

9. O Prophet! Fight the disbelievers and the hypocrites and be stern against them.¹⁵ Their abode is Hell and it is a very bad resort.

10. Allah cites for disbelievers the example of the wife of Nooh and the wife of Loot. Both were in the wedlock of our righteous slaves. But they became treacherous to them. So they were of no avail for them against Allah. And both the women were told: Enter the Fire you too along with those who enter.¹⁶

11. And for the believers, Allah cites the example of Firaun’s wife when she prayed: O MY Lord! Build for me a house in nearness to you in the paradise and liberate me from Firaun and his doing and deliver me from the oppressing people.¹⁷

12. And cites the example of Mariyam daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity. Then WE breathed OUR Spirit in it. She accepted the Words of Her Lord and His Books and she was among the obedients.¹⁸

Commentary

12. “Taubat-un- Nasoohaa” means that sincere repentance which comes out from heart truthfully and ashamedly and with a firm resolve never to repeat the concerned sin, in future. This command is given to all Muslims (believers) so that they may realise their past mistakes concerning their family members and so that they may improve themselves.

13. The reward of a truthful Taubah will be that Allah will remove evils and will grant Jannat (Paradise).

14. Explanation of ‘Noor’ (Light) has been given earlier in Surah Hadeed, Note:22.

15. The relevance of giving this order of waging a war (jihad) against disbelievers and hypocrites and of being harsh toward them is that it was these very people who were always trying to raise sedition and create mischief in the Muslim society. This strict order concerning hypocrites was revealed when their hypocrisy and their enmity against Islam had become quite apparent. Order has been issued to kill such open hypocrites who spread corruption in society and also to fight if their group is engaged in conspiracies so that the Islamic society can be cleared of such corrupt elements. This order of waging jihad against hypocrites was revealed after the war of Tabook in the year 9 HE. Please see Surah Taubah, note: 142.

16. Nooh and Loot were Prophets. Their wives did not remain loyal (faithful) to them. This breach of trust was in the matter of religion, that is, they did not accept these prophets’ Deen whole heartedly and continued to support the infidel disbelievers. As a result of it they became worthy of punishment and these prophets could not save them from the Divine Wrath.

There is a very big lesson in the example of these two women, and it is that Allah deals with everybody (in the matter of punishment or reward) on the basis of his or her deeds. Blood relations could not avail in this connection so much so that if even the wife of a prophet is a disbeliever she cannot escape torment. Had they wished so, the wives of Nooh and Loot could have attained a very high status by remaining faithful to these holy prophets. But infidelity and disloyalty pushed them into Hell.

17. Quoted above was the example of two disbelieving women. Here is the example of two such ladies who had, after becoming believers, shown an excellent character. Consequently they attained a very high status. The first one is the wife of Firaun who was living with him in a grand palace full of various luxuries. But as she was a believer so she did not like this atmosphere of disbelief and infidelity. Therefore despite living in a palace she was experiencing suffocation. The prayer which came out from her heart fully interprets her faithful feelings and her trust in the Hereafter. She prayed: O My Lord! I want a house in the Hereafter. So please build for me a house in nearness to you and deliver me from this atmosphere of blasphemy and wrongdoing. She was helplessly constrained to live with Firaun. So she must have endured many wrong things per force. This was a very difficult trial. So she prayed for liberation from that oppressive community and from the pharaoh.

This example furnishes the guidance that if a Muslim man or a Muslim woman is trapped in an infidel environment his or her Imaan(Faith)should make him or her abhorrent of that atmosphere and they should, besides trying their best to refrain from those evils, also pray for their deliverance.

18. This is the example of another Faithful lady who was a living portrait of truthfulness, fidelity and chastity. She was Maryam, the daughter of Imran. She had to pass a very extraordinary test. She was a virgin. But Allah Almighty sent an angel and blew spirit into her and she became pregnant and thus Isa (Peace be Upon Him) was born without a father. This was a very big miracle of God Almighty manifested through Maryam. But she had to suffer very much from her community. She behaved very patiently at this delicate juncture and Allah exhibited her piousness in a very unusual way.

Maryam also believed in the truth of those Words which Allah had revealed to her through the angel, that is, she was given the good tidings of the birth of Isa (Alaihis Salam). She was also given some special instructions at the time of her confinement and immediately after her delivery as mentioned in Surah Maryam. She also believed in the Books which were revealed to prophets and she lived a life of an obedient Mominah (faithful lady). This strong and high character is the sign of her nobility. This character bestowed a very lofty status to her.