Surah Al-Munafiqun 63:1-8 - Quran Translation Commentary

(63:1) When the hypocrites² come to you they say, ‘We bear witness that you are indeed the Messenger of Allah.’ Allah knows that you are indeed His Messenger,³ and Allah bears witness that the hypocrites are truly liars.

(63:2) They have taken their oaths as a shield, and have obstructed from the path of Allah. Truly, evil are the things they have been doing.

(63:3) That because they believed and then disbelieved,⁴ therefore a seal has been set on their hearts. Consequently, they do not understand.⁵

(63:4) When you look at them, their figures please you.⁶ And, if they speak, you will listen to their words.⁷ They are like propped-up timbers.⁸ They think every cry is against them.⁹ They are the enemy; so beware of them. May Allah destroy them, how are they being deluded!

(63:5) When they are told, ‘Come, the Messenger of Allah will seek forgiveness for you,’ they twist their heads, and you see them turning away, waxing proud.¹⁰

(63:6) It is equal unto them whether you sought forgiveness for them or you did not seek their forgiveness. Allah will never forgive them. Surely Allah does not guide the rebellious people.

(63:7) They are the ones who say, ‘Do not spend on those with the Messenger of Allah until they disperse.’ Yet, to Allah belong the treasures of the heavens and the earth,¹¹ but the hypocrites do not understand.

(63:8) They say, ‘If we return to Madinah, surely, the honorable ones shall expel from there the meaner ones.’¹² But honor belongs to Allah, His Messenger and the believers, but the hypocrites do not know.¹³

Commentary

2. Hypocrisy is to disclose belief while concealing disbelief.

Of hypocrites there were several kinds: (i) The true in hypocrisy who had adopted hypocrisy as a policy; who did not believe in anything that the Prophet had brought, but finding themselves caught in a whirlpool of events, decided to profess faith while their hearts were either with another faith, or no faith at all. They were waiting for the worst to befall the Muslims, ready to offer aid to anyone working to that end; and biding time. (ii) Those who were in doubts. Faith was like a blinking light in their hearts. When Islam flourished, the light came on, when things went awry, it went off. (iii) Those who felt convinced of Islam at one point in their lives and so embraced it in good earnest. But with the passage of time and occurrence of events, they lost faith, but remained professing Islam outwardly. There would have been other kinds. However, most of them could not resist Islam for long and ended up being good Muslims. A few remained die-hard hypocrites to the end. The Prophet had known them and had confided their names to Hudhayfa b. al-Yaman (Au.).

Sayyid writes: “The Prophet knew them by their characteristics, yet observed patience against them, without revealing their names so that the common people may not begin to judge each other by outward signs, while it is Allah alone who knows what the breasts conceal. It is only at the end of his mission that he informed one of his Companions, and him alone, of their names. The common people did not know them, that is, in certain terms; so that even `Umar would go to Hudhayfah and ask him whether he was in the list of hypocrites. Hudhayfah would assure him: ‘Not you, `Umar.’ The Prophet had been ordered not to pray on them nor seek forgiveness for them after they were dead. After his death, `Umar would watch Hudhayfah. If he was there in the final rites, `Umar would pray over the dead man. If Hudhayfah was absent, `Umar stayed away.”

3. That is, the Sender knows that He has sent, no one need inform Him (Au.).

4. That is, outwardly they professed faith, but inwardly they disbelieved (Razi, Qurtubi and others).

5. They do not understand the difference between right and wrong, true and false (Ibn Jarir).

6. They please an onlooker because of their smart figures and attractive carriage (Ibn Jarir).

In Yusuf Ali’s words: “The hypocrites at all times are plausible people, and so were the hypocrites of Madinah. They present a fine exterior; they dress well; they can usually afford the equipage; they try to win the confidence of every one, as they have no scruples in telling lies, and apparently expressing agreement with everyone. Their words are fair-spoken, and as truth does not check their tongues, their flattery and deception know no bounds. But all this is on the outside. As they have no sincerity, nothing that they say or do is worth anything.”

7. Their speech impresses one for the logic, diction and eloquence that it employed.

8. That is, like wood these hypocrites have no knowledge, no understanding, bodies without soul, minds without intellect (Ibn Jarir).

The right place for wooden planks is in the roof, or other functional places in a house. When they are left propped up against a wall, high and dry, then they are hardly of any use except as fire wood (Shabbir).

9. Because they realize deep in their hearts that they are at a game, which can turn dangerous, in that a revelation could come down to the Prophet, revealing them and their attitude and ordering him to capture and execute them, they were always on a pin-prick and, therefore, whenever they heard that a new revelation had come, their hearts jumped in fear and apprehension (Ibn Jarir).

Another ayah portrays them:

“Being niggardly towards you; then, when fear strikes, you see them looking at you, their eyes rolling like one who swoons of death. But when fear subsides, they assail you with sharp tongues, covetous of the good (things). They had never believed, so Allah quashed their deeds; and that was ever easy for Allah.”

And the Prophet gave us the signs wherewith to recognize a hypocrite. He said,

“Hypocrites carry signs by which they can be recognized. Their greeting is curse (i.e. they curse too often), their food is loot, their booty is theft, they do not come to the mosques but to leave (quickly), do not join in the Prayers but at the end, waxing proud, lacking affection for others, nor others have any affection for them, timbers at night, quarrelsome during the day” (Ibn Kathir).

Haythami comments that one of the critics of hadith trusted one of the narrators of this report, while another did not. But there are trustworthy ahadith that condemn the qualities above, without naming the hypocrites, but which could only be the qualities of a hypocrite or of an extremely corrupt person (Au.).

10. This was revealed in reference to `Abdullah ibn Ubayy. When he was told that Allah had sent down reproachful verses in his reference, and that he would do better to go to the Prophet and ask him to seek forgiveness, he twisted his head and taunted back: “Look, you suggested that I should become a Muslim, I did. Then you suggested that I should pay Zakah off my wealth, I did. Now nothing remains for me except to prostrate myself before Muhammad.”

Many intellectuals who have studied Islam find themselves in the same dilemma. They feel convinced that the Qur’an cannot be explained except as having been sent by an outside Agency. For example, the Orientalists quite comfortably quote the Qur’an to prove a point, (see a few articles in The Encyclopedia of Islam). But they realize that acknowledging the Qur’an as a revelation, necessarily demands submission to the Prophet. This they find themselves unable to do. They would all but say, “What! Shall we prostrate ourselves before Muhammad?” (Au.)

An anecdote: Hasan b. `Ali was told:

“People say about you that you are affected by pride.” He answered, “It is not pride, it is self-respect and dignity. This is the self-respect that is not accompanied by humility, and a self-sufficiency which is not affected by poverty,” and then he recited this verse (Zamakhshari, Razi).

A thin line divides arrogance from the sense of self-respect. Those with sight can distinguish between the quality of looking down upon others or defiance against the Truth, and attitude of someone whose self-evaluation results in a carriage that the ignorant attribute to arrogance (Au.).

Imam Razi adds: Self-respect (or dignity) is not the same thing as pride. It is not for a believer to belittle himself. Pride comes from not knowing oneself while self-respect comes from knowing one’s own worth. Apparently, the quality of self-respect resembles pride but is not the same in reality. Humbleness is praiseworthy, but humility is not.

Alusi attributes the above passage to the Sufi Abu Hafs Suhrawardi.

11. With reference to Allah’s words, “To Allah belong the treasures of the heavens and the earth,” Junayd is reported to have remarked beautifully:

“Allah’s treasures in the heavens are the hidden things, while the treasures of the earth are the hearts. Therefore, He is the Knower of the Unseen things, and the Turner of the hearts” (Razi, Qurtubi).

12. It was `Abdullah b. Ubayy b. Sallul who had said that during a military expedition known as Muraysi` or Banu Mustaliq (two names for the same campaign). There are several well-preserved reports covering this incident, some long, some short, one complimenting another – in Bukhari, Muslim and others. We present a brief account in Arabic, filling some details in translation:

What happened was that a Muhajir slapped an Ansari on his buttocks at a watering point, in a dispute over water. The Ansari called the Ansar for help and the Muhajir called the Muhajirun for help. They almost came to blows. The Prophet rushed in and asked, “What’s the matter with you that you appeal in the name of Jahiliyyah?” When told what had happened, he said, “Give it up. It stinks.” It was then that the arch hypocrite ibn Ubayy said to his compatriots, “By God. Our example and that of Muhammad is, as the saying goes,

‘Fatten your dog and it will eat you.’ By God, if we return to Madinah, surely, the honorable ones shall expel the meaner ones.”

People around him were a few of the Ansar but none from the Mujajirun except for Zayd b. Arqam, still a lad, and he flashed up in anger and said that Ibn Ubayy, indeed, was the mean one. Ibn Ubayy realized that he had gone too far. He told him, “Come on, I was only joking.” But Zayd reported to the Prophet. Initially the Prophet would not believe in Zayd and questioned him in a variety of ways to reconfirm. When convinced, he did not like the statement. `Umar b. al-Khattab also flew into a rage and suggested to the Prophet that he should ask `Abbaad b. Bishr to decapitate the man. But he replied,

“What will you say O `Umar when the people say, ‘Muhammad kills his own Companions?’ But rather send the call to resume the march” - although that was not the hour at which he decamped. When Usayd b. Hudayr inquired why he had decamped at an unusual hour, the Prophet explained to him what had happened. Usayd said, “Forgive him Messenger of Allah. The Yethrebites had agreed to crown him king. The crown was getting ready when you entered and the event was cancelled. He is sore on that score. He thinks you deprived him of kingship.”

The Prophet kept marching the whole of the day until evening, as well as the whole of the following night until daybreak. At last when he ordered camp, the people were so exhausted that they did not touch the ground but sleep overtook them. The Prophet had done that to make them forget the affairs of the quarrel and Ibn Ubayy’s behavior.

Later, Ibn Ubayy came up to the Prophet but flatly refused on oath that he had said any such thing. The Prophet believed in Ibn Ubayy and disbelieved in Zayd. That left Zayd pretty aggrieved. No less than his own uncle reproached him for reporting something that could not be proven true. He sat back in his house in fear that if he went out people would say, “Here is a man who carried a lie to the Prophet.” Ultimately, Allah revealed this ayah. The Prophet sent for Zayd and told him that Allah had testified to his report (Ibn Jarir, Kashshaf, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

This man, `Abdullah ibn Ubayy b. Sallul, was quite an interesting bloke. When the Prophet arrived and he saw that the chance of him being crowned as a king were diminishing by the day, he adopted a wait and see policy. The momentum of the Islamic movement required that he profess faith outwardly. Like everyone attempting a show, on Fridays he would take a position in the mosque – more or less reserved for him because of his status in the society – and, before the Prophet would stand up for the sermon, he would rise up and say, “People. Here is Allah’s Messenger before you. Allah has honored you through him, and has exalted you. Therefore, help him, strengthen him, listen to him and obey him.” Then he would sit down and the Prophet would begin his sermon. However, after the battle of Uhud, where he betrayed the Muslims by pulling out with 300 of his followers, when he stood up, as usual, to deliver his short sermon, Muslims pulled him down by his shirt saying, “Sit down man. You do not deserve to address the people after what you have done.” He left the mosque jumping over the people’s shoulders. Outside he met with some people who asked him what the matter was. He said, “I only meant to strengthen (the Prophet) but they behaved with me as if I had done something awful.” They told him, “Go back man. The Prophet will seek forgiveness for you.” He twisted his head and said, “By God. I don’t need that he should seek forgiveness for me” (Ibn Kathir).

13. Ibn Ubayy had a son called Hubab. He was a true Muslim whose name the Prophet had changed to `Abdullah. When they reached Madinah, he blocked Ibn Ubayy’s path with an unsheathed sword and said, “Get back.” He asked, “What’s with you?” He answered, “You claim that the honored ones will expel the meaner ones! Well, you know that the Prophet is the honored one. Therefore, you are not entering Madinah until the Prophet allows.” Ibn Ubayy sought the help of the Khazraj tribe but they thought unwise to interfere in a father-son squabble. Other people kept passing by until the Prophet’s mount neared the scene. On inquiry Ibn Ubayy complained to him of his son’s behavior. The Prophet sent word to `Abdullah to let his father go.

Actually, Ibn Ubayy’s son had on several occasions sought the Prophet’s permission to kill his father since he abused the Prophet. But each time he refused saying, “Do not kill your father.”

But of course, Ibn Ubayy was not the one to reform himself. One day `Abdullah said to the Prophet, “I hear that you intend to order my father killed. By Allah, the Khazraj tribe knows that there is none among them who is so well behaving with his father as I am. So, if you ordered someone to kill him, I do not think I’ll be able to restrain myself. I will kill him in retaliation. Therefore, if you intend to get him killed at all, let me do the job myself.” The Prophet assured him that he had no such intention. But since Ibn Ubayy could not reform himself, great many of the Khazraj began to rebuke him for his bad attitudes and unseemly behavior to a point that Ubayy lost his respect among the people. At that point the Prophet told `Umar: “Do you realize now that had I allowed you to kill him, it would have resulted in a huge commotion. But now, if someone killed him no one will be stirred” (Ibn Jarir, Zamakhshari, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).