Name

The Sūrah takes its name from the sentence Idhā jā'kal-munāfiqūna of verse 1. This is the name of the Sūrah as well as the title of its subject-matter, for in it a review has been made of the conduct and attitude of the hypocrites themselves.

Period of Revelation

As we shall explain below, this Sūrah was sent down either during the Holy Prophet's return journey from his campaign against Banī al-Mustaliq, or immediately after his arrival back at Madīnah, and

Juhani,¹ whose tribe was an ally of a clan of the Khazraj. Harsh words between them led to fighting and Jehjāh kicked Sinān, which the Anṣār, on account of their ancient Yamanite tradition, took as a great insult and disgrace. At this Sinān called out the men of Anṣār and Jehjāh the Emigrants for help. Hearing about the quarrel Ibn Ubayy started inciting and calling the men of the Aus and the Khazraj to come out and help their ally. From the other side some Emigrants also came out. The dispute might have led to a fight between the Anṣār and the Muhājirīn themselves at the very place where they had just fought an enemy tribe jointly and crushing it had halted in its own territory. But hearing the noise the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace) emerged and said: "What is this call of paganism? What have you to do with such a call? Leave it: it is a dirty thing."² Thereupon the leading men of the two sides met and settled the dispute; Sinān pardoned Jehjāh and peace was restored.

After this every person whose heart was disaffected came to 'Abdullah bin Ubayy and they all said to him, "Until now we had our hopes attached to you and you were protecting us, but now it seems you

¹ Different names of the two men have been mentioned in different traditions. We have taken these names from the tradition related by Ibn Hishām.

² This is an important thing that the Holy Prophet said on this occasion. One should understand it well in order to grasp the true spirit of Islam. The method taught by Islam is that if two men want to call the people to help solve their dispute, they should say: "O Muslims, come and help us; or O people, come to our help." But if each of them calls out to the people in the name of his own separate tribe, brotherhood, race, colour or region, this would be the call of pre-Islamic paganism, and if those who respond to this call do not realize who is the oppressor and who is the persecuted, and enter the conflict in support of the man of their own group instead of supporting the oppressed on the basis of justice and truth, this would be an act of paganism, which would cause great mischief. That is why the Holy Messenger of Allah (upon whom be peace) called it a dirty, abhorrent thing and said to the Muslims: "You have nothing to do with this call of paganism. You became a community on the basis of Islam; how are you then being called in the name of the Anṣār and the Muhājirīn and where are you rushing out in response to this call?" 'Allāma Suhailī has written in _Rawḍ al-Unuf_: "The jurists of Islam regard giving out the call of paganism in a quarrel or dispute as a criminal offence. One section of them has proposed fifty lashes as punishment for it, another ten lashes and another says that the offence should be punished according to the circumstances. In some cases, only a reprimand would be enough, and in others the offender should be put in the prison, and if it is likely to cause more mischief, the offender should be whipped."

Or, if you do not think it is fit to give me the permission you may tell' Mu'ādh bin Jabal, or 'Abbās bin Bishr, or Sa'id bin Mu'ādh, or Muḥammad bin Maslamah from among the Anṣār, to go and kill him." But the Holy Prophet said: "No, the people will say Muḥammad kills his own Companions." After this he ordered the people to set off immediately, although it was at a time when the Holy Prophet was not accustomed to travel. The forced march continued for 30 hours at a stretch so that the people became exhausted. Then he halted, and as soon as they touched the ground they fell asleep. This he did to distract their minds from what had happened at the well of al-Muraisi'. On the way Ḥaḍrat Usaid bin Hudair, an Anṣār chief, met the Holy Prophet, and said: "O Messenger of Allah, today you ordered the people to set off at a time which was disagreeable for travelling, a thing you have never done before." The Holy Prophet replied: "Have you not heard of what your friend said?" When he asked who he meant, the Holy Prophet replied: "'Abdullah bin Ubayy." He asked what he had said. The Holy Prophet answered: "He has asserted that when he returns to Madinah the honourable ones will drive out from it the mean ones." He answered: "By God, O Messenger of Allah, you are the honourable one and he is the mean one; you will drive him out whenever you want to."

By and by the news spread among the Anṣār soldiers and it enraged them against Ibn Ubayy. The people advised him to go to the Holy Prophet (upon whom be Allah's peace) and request for his forgiveness, but he retorted: "You asked me to believe in him, and I believed in him; you asked me to pay the zakāt on my property, and I paid the zakāt too; now the only thing left is that I should bow down to Muḥammad." This further enraged the believing Anṣār and everyone started reproaching and cursing him roughly. When the caravan was about to enter Madinah, 'Abdullah, the son of 'Abdullah bin Ubayy, stood before his father with a drawn out sword, and said: "You had said that when you reached Madinah, the honourable ones would drive out the mean ones. Now, you will know who is honourable, you or Allah and His Messenger. By God, you cannot enter Madinah until the

1. Different names of the Anṣār elders have been mentioned in the traditions about whom Ḥaḍrat 'Umar had said that any of them might be asked to do the job if he himself could not be permitted to do it, being an Emigrant, for that could cause a greater mischief.

Messenger of Allah (upon whom be Allah's peace) permits you to enter." At this Ibn Ubayy cried out: "O people of Khazraj, look, my own son is preventing me from entering Madinah." The people conveyed this news to the Holy Prophet, and he said: "Tell 'Abdullah to let his father come home." Abdullah said, "If this is the Holy Prophet's order, then you may enter." Thereupon the Holy Prophet said to Hadrat 'Umar: "Now what do you think, 'Umar? Had you killed him on the day when you asked my permission to kill him, many people would have trembled with rage. Today if I order them to kill him, they will kill him immediately." Hadrat 'Umar replied; "By God, I realize there was greater wisdom behind what the Apostle of Allah said than when I said."¹

These were the circumstances under which this Sūrah was sent down most probably after the Holy Prophet's return to Madīnah.

1. This throws light on two important questions of legal import. First, that if a person being a member of the Muslim community, adopts an attitude like Ibn Ubayy, he deserves to be put to death. Second, that if a person deserves to be put to death under the law, it does not mean that he must necessarily be put to death. Before taking such a decision it should be seen that his execution might not lead to greater mischief and trouble. Blind application of the law, regardless of the circumstances, sometimes produces results contrary to the object for which the law was enforced. If a hypocritical and mischievous person has a significant political following his punishment may be deferred if it is likely to lead to further mischief. It would rather be better to destroy the actual political power which causes him to commit mischief. This was the reason why the Holy Prophet did not punish 'Abdullah bin Ubayy even at the time when he had full power of the hypocrites in Madinah was completely broken within the next two or three years.

O Prophet, when the hypocrites come to you, they say, “We bear witness that you are indeed Allah's Messenger.” Yes, Allah knows that you are indeed His Messenger, but Allah bears witness that these hypocrites are utter liars.¹ They have made their oaths as a shield² and so they hinder themselves and others from the Way of Allah.³ Evil indeed are the deeds that they do. This is because they believed and then they disbelieved. Therefore, a seal has been set on their hearts, and so they do not understand anything.⁴

1. That is, “Although the thing they are uttering with the tongue is true by itself, it does not reflect their belief. Therefore they lie when they say that they bear witness that you are a Messenger of Allah.” Here, one should clearly understand that an evidence or witness is composed of two things: first, the actual thing to which one bears the witness; second, the concerned person's own belief about the thing to which he bears the witness. Now, if the thing by itself is true, and the belief of the bearer of witness also corresponds to what he says, he will be truthful in every respect. And if the thing in itself is false, but the bearer of the witness believes it to be right and true, he will be regarded as truthful in one way, for he is truthful in expressing his belief, and liar in another way, for the thing he is bearing witness to is by itself false. Contrary to this, if the thing by itself is true, but the belief of the bearer of the witness is opposed to it, he will be regarded as truthful because he is testifying to the right thing, and a liar because his own belief is contrary to what he is saying with the tongue. For instance, if a Believer states that Islam is a true religion, he is truthful in every respect, but if a Jew, while he is steadfast in his Judaism, states the same thing, he would be stating the right thing but his evidence would be regarded as false, for he is testifying against his faith and belief. And if he calls it a false religion, he would be uttering a false thing but he would be bearing a true witness according to his belief.

2. That is, they use the oaths that they swear to convince others of their Islam and faith as a shield to save themselves from the wrath of the Muslims so that they do not treat them as they treat their open enemies.

These oaths may imply the oaths which they usually swear to convince others of their faith as well as those which they swore when they were caught committing some hypocritical act, and also those oaths which ʿAbdullah bin Ubayy had sworn to contradict the report given by Ḥaḍrat Zaid bin Arqam. Besides these, there is another probability that Allah might have regarded this statement of theirs as an oath: “We bear witness that you are Allah's Messenger.” This last probability has given rise to a dispute among the jurists, namely: If a person states something with the words: “I bear witness,” will it be regarded as an oath or not? Imam Abu Hanifah and his companions (except Imam Zufar), Imam Sufyan Thauri and Imam Auza'i regard it as an oath (Yamīn in the Sharī'ah terminology). Imam Zufar says that it is not an oath. Two sayings from Imam Malik have been reported in this connection: first, that it is an oath absolutely, and second, that if while saying: “I bear witness,” his intention was to say: “by God, I bear witness,” or “I bear witness before God,” it would be a statement on oath, otherwise not. Imam Shafe'i says: “Even if the person says the words: “I bear witness before God,” it would not be a statement made on oath, unless he uttered these words with the intention of swearing an oath,” (Al-Jaṣṣāṣ, Aḥkām al-Qur'ān; Ibn al-'Arabi, Aḥkām al-Qur'ān).

3. The verb sadd in Arabic is transitive as well as intransitive. Therefore, saddū 'an sabīl-Allāh means: “They turn away from the Way of Allah,” as well as: “they turn others away from the Way of Allah.” According to the first meaning the verse would mean: “By means of these oaths they first plant themselves firmly among the Muslims and then invent ways to escape fulfilling demands of the faith and to avoid obedience to Allah and His Messenger.” According to the second meaning it would mean: “They use their false oaths as a cover for committing evil deeds. Posing as Muslims they weaken the Muslim community from within: find out the secrets of the Muslims and convey these to their enemies, create doubts about Islam among the non-Muslims and use such devices for inspiring the simple Muslims with evil suggestions which a hypocrite in the guise of a Muslim only could do, for an open enemy of Islam cannot use them.”

4. In this verse “believing” means professing the faith in order to be counted among Muslims, and “disbelieving” means not to believe sincerely and to persist in disbelief as usual. The verse means to say that when they, after due thought, decided to adopt this hypocritical attitude instead of adopting either belief or disbelief plainly, Allah caused a seal to be set on their hearts and deprived them of the grace to adopt the attitude and conduct of a true, sincere and noble person. Now, their power of understanding has been lost, their moral sense has become dead, and while following this way they never even feel that their habit of always telling lies, their deceitful behaviour and the ever present contradictions between their word and deed is a wretched state in which they have involved themselves.

This is one of those verses in which the meaning of ‘causing a seal to be set on the heart of somebody by Allah” has been made clear. These people did not become hypocrites because Allah had set a seal on their hearts; so faith did not enter them, and they became hypocrites under compulsion. But, in fact, Allah set a seal on their hearts only when they decided to persist in disbelief in spite of professing the faith outwardly. Then, they were deprived of the capacity to believe sincerely and of the grace of the moral attitude resulting from it, and were helped to persist in the hypocrisy and hypocritical morals, which they had chosen to adopt for themselves.

And when you see them, their figures would look marvellous; when they speak you would love to listen to what they say.⁵ But in reality they are like blocks of timber propped up against a wall.⁶ They deem every shout to be directed against them.⁷ They are the real enemies,⁸ so beware of them.⁹ May Allah destroy them¹⁰! How are they being perverted?¹¹

5. Ḥaḍrat ʿAbdullah bin ʿAbbās has stated that ʿAbdullah bin Ubayy was a strongly built, healthy, handsome and smooth-tongued person, and the same was the case with most of his companions. They were all the nobles of Madinah. When they came to sit in the Holy Prophet's assembly, they would sit reclining on cushions against the walls and would talk agreeably and convincingly. From their outward appearance and manner of speech no one could imagine that those honourable people of the city would be so wretched and degraded in their character.

6. That is, “Those who sit reclining on cushions against the walls, are not men but pieces of timber. Comparing them to timber is meant to imply that they are devoid of the moral sense which is the essence of humanity. Then, by comparing them to blocks of timber propped up against the wall, it has also been pointed out that they are absolutely worthless, for the timber would be useful only when it has been utilized in making of a ceiling, or a doorframe, or a piece of furniture. A block of timber that has just been placed against a wall serves no useful purpose at all.”

7. This brief sentence portrays the state of their guilty conscience. Since they fully well knew what game of hypocrisy they were playing under the screen of their superficial faith, they always remained in a state of alarm, thinking as to when the secret of their treason might be exposed, or the believers might feel disgusted with their evil deeds and machinations and take them to task for them. If ever a cry was raised anywhere in the city, or a noise was heard, they immediately grew alarmed and thought it was directed against themselves.

8. In other words, these hidden enemies are more dangerous than the open enemies.

9. That is, “Do not be deceived by their outward appearances. Beware of them, for they can deceive you any moment.”

10. This is not a curse but a declaration of the verdict about them by Allah that they have become worthy of His punishment and He will certainly inflict His punishment on them. It is also possible that Allah may not have used these words in their literal sense but in the meaning of a curse and condemnation according to Arabic idiom.

11. It has not been pointed out as to who perverts them from belief to hypocrisy. This by itself makes it clear that there is not one but many factors responsible for their perversion. There is Satan, there are their evil friends, and

And when it is said to them, “Come, the Messenger of Allah will pray for your forgiveness,” they shake their heads and you see them turning away with arrogance.¹² O Prophet, whether you pray for their forgiveness, or not, it is the same for them. Allah shall never forgive them,¹³ for Allah does not guide the transgressors.¹⁴

They are the same people who say, “Do not spend anything on the Companions of the Prophet so that they disperse,” though Allah is the Owner of the treasures of the heavens and the earth, but the hypocrites do not understand. They say, “When we return to Madinah, the honourable ones shall drive out from it the mean ones”,¹⁵ although honour belongs to Allah and His Messenger and the believers,¹⁶ but the hypocrites do not know.

16. That is, "All honour belongs to Allah in virtue of His essence, to the Apostle in virtue of his Apostleship, and to the Believers in virtue of their faith. As for the disbelievers and the wicked people and the hypocrites, they have no share whatever in the real, true honour."

O you¹⁷ who have believed, let not your possessions and your children distract you from the remembrance of Allah.¹⁸ Those who do so shall indeed be the losers. Spend from the provisions that We have given you before death should come to any of you and then he should say, “O my Lord, why did You not reprieve me awhile that I should have given in charity and become of the righteous?” But Allah does not at all reprieve a person when his term comes to an end, and Allah is well aware of what you do.

17. Now a word of admonition is being addressed to all those people, who have entered Islam, whether they are true and sincere believers, or those who profess the faith merely verbally. As we have explained at several places above, the words alladhīna āmanū in the Qur'an are sometimes used to address the true believers and sometimes to address the hypocrites, for they profess the faith only with the tongue, and sometimes to address the Muslims of all kinds in general. The context itself shows which group is the audience at a particular place.

18. The mention of the possessions and the children, in particular, has been made, for man mostly turns away from the demands of the faith for the sake of their well-being and interests and becomes involved in hypocrisy, weakness of faith, or wickedness and disobedience; otherwise it implies everything of the world that allures and absorbs man so completely that he becomes heedless of the remembrance of God. This heedlessness in respect of the remembrance of God is indeed the root cause of all evil. If man only remembers that he is not free but the servant of One God, and that God is fully aware of all his actions and deeds, and he will by held accountable one day before Him for all his actions and deeds, he would never be involved in any deviation and wickedness, and if ever he commits an error due to a human weakness, he will immediately rectify it as soon as he comes to realize his wrongdoing and repent.