Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 8 Al-Anfal, Ayat 20-27

يٰۤـاَيُّهَا الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡۤا اَطِيۡعُوا اللّٰهَ وَرَسُوۡلَهٗ وَلَا تَوَلَّوۡا عَنۡهُ وَاَنۡـتُمۡ تَسۡمَعُوۡنَ​ ۖ​ ۚ‏ ﴿8:20﴾ وَلَا تَكُوۡنُوۡا كَالَّذِيۡنَ قَالُوۡا سَمِعۡنَا وَهُمۡ لَا يَسۡمَعُوۡنَ​‏  ﴿8:21﴾ اِنَّ شَرَّ الدَّوَآبِّ عِنۡدَ اللّٰهِ الصُّمُّ الۡبُكۡمُ الَّذِيۡنَ لَا يَعۡقِلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿8:22﴾ وَلَوۡ عَلِمَ اللّٰهُ فِيۡهِمۡ خَيۡرًا لَّاَسۡمَعَهُمۡ​ؕ وَلَوۡ اَسۡمَعَهُمۡ لَـتَوَلَّوْا وَّهُمۡ مُّعۡرِضُوۡنَ‏ ﴿8:23﴾ يٰۤـاَيُّهَا الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوا اسۡتَجِيۡبُوۡا لِلّٰهِ وَلِلرَّسُوۡلِ اِذَا دَعَاكُمۡ لِمَا يُحۡيِيۡكُمۡ​ۚ وَاعۡلَمُوۡۤا اَنَّ اللّٰهَ يَحُوۡلُ بَيۡنَ الۡمَرۡءِ وَقَلۡبِهٖ وَاَنَّهٗۤ اِلَيۡهِ تُحۡشَرُوۡنَ‏ ﴿8:24﴾ وَاتَّقُوۡا فِتۡنَةً لَّا تُصِيۡبَنَّ الَّذِيۡنَ ظَلَمُوۡا مِنۡكُمۡ خَآصَّةً​ ۚ وَاعۡلَمُوۡۤا اَنَّ اللّٰهَ شَدِيۡدُ الۡعِقَابِ‏ ﴿8:25﴾ وَاذۡكُرُوۡۤا اِذۡ اَنۡـتُمۡ قَلِيۡلٌ مُّسۡتَضۡعَفُوۡنَ فِى الۡاَرۡضِ تَخَافُوۡنَ اَنۡ يَّتَخَطَّفَكُمُ النَّاسُ فَاٰوٰٮكُمۡ وَاَيَّدَكُمۡ بِنَصۡرِهٖ وَرَزَقَكُمۡ مِّنَ الطَّيِّبٰتِ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَشۡكُرُوۡنَ‏ ﴿8:26﴾ يٰۤـاَيُّهَا الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا لَا تَخُوۡنُوا اللّٰهَ وَالرَّسُوۡلَ وَتَخُوۡنُوۡۤا اَمٰنٰتِكُمۡ وَاَنۡـتُمۡ تَعۡلَمُوۡنَ‏ ﴿8:27﴾

(8:20) Believers! Obey Allah and His Messenger and do not turn away from him after you hear his command. (8:21) And do not be like those who say: 'We hear', though they do not hearken.16 (8:22) Indeed the worst kind of all beasts in the sight of Allah are the people that are deaf and dumb,17 and do not understand. (8:23) And had Allah known in them any good He would surely, have made them hear; but (being as they, are) even if He made them hear, they would have surely turned away in aversion.18 (8:24) Believers! Respond to Allah, and respond to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life. Know well that Allah stands between a man and his heart, and it is to Him that all of you shall be mustered.19 (8:25) And guard against the mischief that will not only bring punishment to the wrong-doers among you.20 Know well that Allah is severe in punishment. (8:26) And recall when you were few in numbers and deemed weak in the land, fearful lest people do away with you. Then He provided you refuge, strengthened you with His help, and provided you sustenance with good things that you may be grateful.21 (8:27) Believers! Do not be unfaithful to Allah and the Messenger, nor be knowingly unfaithful to your trusts.22

Notes

16. In the present context, 'hearing' means taking heed with a view to obey'. The verse alludes to those hypocrites who professed to believe and yet were not willing to carry out the commands of God.

17. These are the ones who neither hear nor speak the truth. So far as truth is concerned, their ears are deaf and their mouths dumb.

18. Such people have neither any love for the truth nor any desire to strive for it. Hence even if they were enabled by God to go forth to the battlefield. they would have turned on their heels at the very first sight of danger. That such people should be a part of the Muslim army might have led to greater harm than good.

19. The most effective means of preventing man from failing prey to hypocrisy is to implant two ideas in his mind. First, that he will have to face the reckoning and judgement of God Who knows what is in the deep recesses of his heart. Even man's intentions and desires, the purposes which he seeks to achieve, the ideas that he seeks to keep hidden in his heart, are all well known to God. Second, that ultimately every man will be mustered to God; that He is so powerful that none can escape His judgement. The deeper the roots of these convictions. the further is man removed from hypocrisy. Hence, while admonishing Muslims against hypocrisy, the Qur'an frequently resorts to emphasizing these two articles oi belief.

20. This refers to those widespread social evils whose baneful effects are not confined only to those addicted to them, but which affect even those who, although they might not be addicted to those sins, are a part of that society. For example, if filth is found at just a few places in a locality it will possibly affect only those who have not kept themselves or their houses clean. However, if it becomes widespread and no one is concerned with removing uncleanliness and maintaining sanitary conditions, then everything including water and soil will become contaminated. As a result, if epidemics break out, they will not only afflict those who were responsible for spreading filth and themselves lived in unsanitary conditions, but virtually all the residents of that locality.

What is true of unsanitary conditions in a physical sense, also holds true for filth and uncleanliness in a moral sense. If immoral practices remain confined to a few people here and there but the overall moral concern of the society prevents those practices from becoming widespread and public, their harmful effects remain limited. But when the collective conscience of the society is weakened to a point whereby immoral practices are not suppressed, when people indulge in evils without any sense of shame and even go around vaunting their immoral deeds, when good people adopt a passive attitude and are content with being righteous merely in their own lives and are unconcerned with or silent about collective evils, then the entire society invites its doom. Such a society then becomes the victim of a scourge that does not distinguish between the grain and the chaff.

What God's directive seeks to impress upon people is that the reformatory mission of the Prophet (peace be on him) and the cause he was inviting people to was the source of life and well-being for them both individually and collectively. People should bear in mind that if they fail to participate wholeheartedly in the task to which they were invited and remain silent spectators to rampant evils, that would invite a scourge that would embrace all. It would afflict even those individuals who neither themselves committed evils nor were instrumental in spreading them and who might in fact have been righteous in their personal conduct. This point was emphasized earlier see (al-A'raf 7: 163-6)and was illustrated by reference to the Sabbath-breakers, and constitutes the underlying Islamic philosophy for waging war for purposes of reform.

21. The reference to gratefulness in the verse is worthy of reflection. Bearing in mind the subject under discussion, it appears that gratefulness does not simply mean that Muslims should acknowledge God's favour to them insofar as He rescued them from their state of abject weakness. God had not only salvaged them from an insecure life in Makka and provided them with a haven of security in Madina where they enjoyed an abundance of livelihood. Gratefulness does not simply require all that. Apart from acknowledging God's favour, gratefulness also demands that Muslims should faithfully obey God and His Messenger out of a consciousness of God's munificence, out of loyalty and devotion to the Prophet's mission, and should cast aside all dangers, hardships and misfortunes that might confront them. In their struggle for God's cause Muslims should have complete trust in God Who has helped them on earlier occasions and Who has delivered them from dangers. The Muslims should also have faith that if they work sincerely in God's cause He will certainly help and protect them. Hence, the gratefulness expected of the Muslims does not simply consist of a verbal acknowledgement of God's benefaction. Gratefulness to God should manifest itself in actual deeds as well. If someone were to acknowledge the favour of his Lord, and yet is slack in seeking His good pleasure, lacks sincerity in serving Him, and entertains doubts that God's benefaction will continue in the future, then that can hardly be characterized as gratitude.

22. 'Trusts' embrace all the responsibilities which are imparted to someone because he is trusted. These might consist of obligations arising out of an agreement or collective covenant. It might also consist of the secrets of a group. It might also consist of personal or collective property, or any office or position which might be bestowed upon a person by the group. (For further explanation see Towards Undersranding the Qur' an, vol. 11. (al-Nisa' 4, n. 88, pp. 49 f - Ed.)