“I am convinced about the veracity of my opinions, but I do consider it likely that they may turn out to be incorrect. Likewise, I am convinced about the incorrectness of the views different from mine, but I do concede the possibility that they may turn out to be correct.” — Imam Shafa’i

This is a long ayah conveying two strong messages. That is why I have divided the ayah into two. The first part defines a very high bar for the guided Sahaabaa to achieve Eemaan; most of them if not all, cleared it. The second part then declares in flowing terms the rewards and benefits that they, the Sahaba will be awarded for this clearance.

The ayah starts لا تَجِدُ قَومًا  You will not find people يُؤمِنونَ بِاللَّهِ وَاليَومِ الآخِرِ who believe in Allah and the Last Day يُوادّونَ مَن حادَّ اللَّهَ وَرَسولَهُ and yet love those who oppose Allah and HIS Apostle وَلَو كانوا آباءَهُم أَو أَبناءَهُم أَو إِخوانَهُم أَو عَشيرَتَهُم even though they are their fathers, or sons, or brothers or relatives. A clear and unambiguous statement that religious loyalties are far above any other relationship. 

The ayah then proceeds to describe the rewards for this sort of behavior. It says أُولٰئِكَ كَتَبَ في قُلوبِهِمُ الإيمانَ these are they in whose hearts HE has written Faith وَأَيَّدَهُم بِروحٍ مِنهُ and strengthened them with a spirit from HIM وَيُدخِلُهُم جَنّاتٍ تَجري مِن تَحتِهَا الأَنهارُ and HE will admit them into gardens تَجري مِن تَحتِهَا الأَنهارُ beneath which rivers flow خالِدينَ فيها wherein they abide eternally رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنهُم Allah is well pleased with them, وَرَضوا عَنهُ and they are pleased with Him أُولٰئِكَ حِزبُ اللَّهِ they are the party of Allah أَلا إِنَّ حِزبَ اللَّهِ هُمُ المُفلِحونَ Verily, it is the Party of Allah that will be the successful.

The message that the love and respect for  Allah and HIS Rasool take  precedence over all others including self, parents and children is frequently repeated in the Holy Text. The bond of belief transcends all other bonds, even the close ties of blood. As a principle these two—love of Allah and friendship with HIS enemies— are contradictory things and cannot coexist. It amounts to to riding in two boats simultaneously. This principle was very forcibly practiced by the holy sahaabaa and witnessed by entire Arabia in the battles of Badr and Uhud.  

We see in the sahaabaa, as a model  actual examples of one slaying his father or brother or a son. The Muslim had fought against their own tribe and closest kinsmen only for the sake of Allah and His Religion. Hadrat Abu Ubaidah killed his father, Abdullah bin al-jarrah;   Hadrat Mus`ab bin Umair killed his brother, Ubaid bin Umair;   Hadrat Umar killed his maternal uncle, Aas bin Hisham bin Mughirah;   Hadrat Abu Bakr became ready to fight his son Abdur Rahman;   Hadrat Ali, Hadrat Hamzah and Hadrat Ubaidah bin al-Harith killed Utbah, Shaibah and Walid bin Utbah, who were their close kinsmen.  About the prisoners of war captured at Badr, Hadrat Umar gave the opinion that they should all be put to the sword, and proposed that a relative should kill a relative. In the same battle of Badr when Hadrat Mus’ab bin Umair saw that an Ansari Muslim had captured his real brother, Abu ‘Aziz bin `Umair, and was tying him, he shouted out to him, saying: “Tie him tight: his mother is a rich woman. She will pay you a large ransom.” Abu Aziz said: “You are a brother and say this?” Hadrat Mus’ab replied: “Not you, but this Ansari Muslim is my brother now, who has captured you.”  In the same battle of Badr Abul Aas, the son-in-law of the Holy Prophet, was taken a prisoner and was shown no special favor any different from the other prisoners on account of his relationship with the Holy Prophet. 

This history reveals the character of the sincere Muslims and their profound relationship with Allah and His Messenger. “If anyone believes in God and His goodness and justice, and in the Hereafter, in which all true values will be restored he will never love evil or wrongdoing or rebellion against God, even if these things are found in his nearest kith and kin. Faith in God is indelibly written on the tablets of their hearts and they can never be false to God” says Allaamaa Yousuf Ali in his popular tafseer. Dr. Mohammed Asad endorses this opinion in his well known tafseer “The Messaage of the Quran” “Thou canst not find people who [truly] believe in God and the Last Day and [at the same time] love anyone who contends against God and His Apostle – even though they be their fathers, or their sons, or their brothers, or [others of] their kind”

That God has “inscribed faith upon their hearts” indicates that He has established it firmly in believers’ hearts and expanded their breasts for it  or that He has consolidated faith in their hearts so that they believe in it fully, rather than believing some parts of it but not others.

 This teaching is part of  the broader Quranic theme that one must not love anything of this world at the expense of one’s love for God and His Messenger. Elsewhere in the Quran, the the Holy Prophet is strongly required to convey this point and idea to the Muslims:^[3]

“Say, [O Muhammad], “If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your relatives, wealth which you have obtained, commerce wherein you fear decline, and dwellings with which you are pleased are more beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger and jihad in His cause, then wait until Allah executes His command (or decree or decision). And Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient (or rebellious or transgressing)  people”.

Mufti Mohamed Shafi points out in his glorious tafseer Ma’aariful Quran: “Many jurists have ruled that this rule applies equally to all Muslims who transgress or violate the sacred laws of Shari’ah or in their practical life turn away from them, in that the sincere Muslims should not maintain an intimate friendship or relationship with such transgressors. As explained earlier, Muwalah [intimate friendship] with a fasiq [transgressors] is not possible because intimacy with them is possible if and only if the germs of fisq [transgression] are lurking in the people befriending them. Muwasah [sympathy] and Mu’amalat [dealings] or Mudarah [cordiality] are, however, a different matter to the degree of necessity.”

This ayah highlights a very crucial rule in interpreting the Quran viz. one must exactly define who are the addressee in an ayah (ta’weele Khas) before making any generalization (ta’weele aam).  The operative and limiting  phrase of this passage is expressed  in the words مَن حادَّ اللَّهَ وَرَسولَهُ who oppose Allah and HIS Apostle. God Almighty is addressing here only those who are actively belligerent against God’s message or the person and teachings of the Holy Prophet. Non-believers who are not actively hostile to Islam and Muslims are a different category; “the Qur’an explicitly permits and implicitly ordains in many places kindness and friendliness towards them”. Let me give an example. In the following successive two ayahs God Almighty clearly identifies and contrasts two different groups of non-believers and ordains different and opposing reactions of Muslims to these groups:^[4]
  “God forbids you not, as regards those who have not fought you in religion’s cause, nor expelled you from your habitations, that you should be kindly to them, and act justly towards them; surely God loves the just.” And in the second ayah

“God only forbids you, with regard to those who fight you for (your) Faith, and drive you out of your homes, and support (others) in driving you out, from turning to them (for friendship and protection). It is such as turn to them (in these circumstances), that do wrong.”

The verdict of God Almighty is very clear. That the Quraish do not trust and follow the the Holy Prophet should not be made an issue. Let them alone. It is their attitude and behavior towards Islam and Muslims that matters. If they are hostile and aggressive, stop them and if necessary fight them.  

And now to the other part of the index ayah. After declaring the high bar, notice the lavish and magnanimous style and language of God Almighty to describe the honor and rewards of successfully getting over this obstacle. Allow me to quote Allaamaa Yousuf Ali from his memorable tafseer when he beautifully and succinctly summarises this message fo God Almighty: “Whenever anyone offers his heart in faith and purity to God, God accepts it, engraves that Faith on the seeker’s heart, and further fortifies him with the divine spirit (“a spirit from Himself”) which we can no more define adequately than we can define in human language the nature and attributes of God.”  To attain God’s Good Pleasure is the highest goal of man which he can  achieve by a life of purity and faith. Ultimately and ideally, he is so transformed that his own good pleasure coincides with God’s Good Pleasure. Figuratively, they are labelled as the Party of God (Hizb-ul-Allaah) as opposed to  to the “Party of the Evil One”(Hizb-ul-Shaytaan) mentioned earlier in the same surah. The latter will perish. 

The ayah says that “God has inscribed or written faith upon their hearts”. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein et al elaborate in their modern tafseer The Study Quran “indicates that HE has established it firmly in believers’ hearts and expanded their breasts for it  or that He has consolidated faith in their hearts so that they believe in it fully, rather than believing some parts of it but not others”.

Next the ayah adds وَأَيَّدَهُم بِروحٍ مِنهُ “and strengthened them with a Ruh from HIM”. This word “Ruh” has multiple meanings. Dr. Mohammed Asad renders Ruh  as “inspiration” or, occasionally, as “divine inspiration”. Mufti Mohammed Shafi, however defines it as “The word ruh, according to some authorities on Tafsir, stands for ‘light’, which radiates or emanates from Allah and enters the heart of a believer which urges him to perform righteous deeds, and is the source of peace and contentment of the heart. This tranquility and satisfaction is the source of great strength and power. Other authorities say that this word stands for the Holy Qur’an and the arguments of the Holy Quran.This is the real strength and power of a believer. (Qurtubi). Allah, the Pure and Exalted, knows best!” 

An additional opinion on this word Ruh. Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi translates it as “His special spiritual grace” when he states “The words refer to the fact that the ties of father, son, brother and family and tribe are ingrained in the heart. Cutting them off is not an easy task, but those who keep the pride of faith alive in them, when they are faced with such a delicate ordeal, Allah Almighty strengthens them with His special spiritual grace and they also come out of this ordeal with a success”.

Nasr Sayyid Hussain et al have described Ruh in a composite manner: “ That He has strengthened them with a Spirit from Him is understood in various ways. Some say it indicates the manner in which God aids believers in overcoming their enemies. Others say that a Spirit from Him refers to the Quran and its proofs; to light and faith; to clear proof and guidance; to the Mercy of God; or to the Archangel Gabriel, all of which are profoundly interrelated. It can also be seen as a reference to the light of certainty. In this vein, the commentator al-Ālūsī writes, “What is intended [here] by Spirit is the light of the heart, which is the light that God casts into the hearts of whomsoever He will among His servants, and by which hearts attain peace and ascend to the heights of realization (taḥqīq).” The pronominal suffix from Him ( مِنهُ minhu), here interpreted as a reference to God, could also be read “from it,” in which case it would refer to the faith that He has inscribed upon their hearts.”

The ayah further says “God content with them and they content with Him”. What does this mean. It indicates that God is content with their obedience to Him and they are content with His Recompense for them in the Hereafter and with what He has ordained for them in the world. According to al-Rāzī, the items mentioned in this verse can be seen as four blessings from God: faith in the heart, support through a Spirit from Him, being admitted to the Garden, and mutual contentment with God; he also says, “The blessing of contentment is the greatest of blessings and the most distinguished of [spiritual] ranks.” Regarding this state of contentment, a ḥadīth states, “Whosoever has submitted is provided for sufficiently, and whomsoever God has caused to be content with that which He has given him has succeeded”.

Take home message from this session: Contrary to a very common notion in our society, we Muslims have to live, associate and interact with non-Muslims and n0n-believers with kindness, friendliness and justice. We are all descendants of Prophet Adam and members of the human race. We Muslims, one fourth of humanity have to share gracefully this planet with the other three fourth of mankind. However if they decide to oppose us and fight us in matters of Faith, we are free and encouraged to resist and fight back.

……..and Allah knows best. 

May Allah Ta’aala bless us with true understanding–“fahm”–of our Deen, Aameen.

Dr. Khalid Mitha