The Family of ‘Imran (Al-‘Imran)
Verses 165-168 GROUP_107 3.165-168
165
أَوَلَمَّا أَصَابَتْكُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَدْ أَصَبْتُم مِّثْلَيْهَا قُلْتُمْ أَنَّى هَـذَا قُلْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ أَنْفُسِكُمْ إِنَّ اللّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
What! When a misfortune befalls you, after you had yourself inflicted twice as heavy losses, you say, ‘How has this come about?’ Say, ‘It was your own fault.’ Truly, God has the power to will anything:
166
وَمَا أَصَابَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْتَقَى الْجَمْعَانِ فَبِإِذْنِ اللّهِ وَلِيَعْلَمَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
the misfortune which befell you on the day when the two armies met happened by God’s leave, so that He might mark out the [true] believers
167
وَلْيَعْلَمَ الَّذِينَ نَافَقُواْ وَقِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْاْ قَاتِلُواْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ أَوِ ادْفَعُواْ قَالُواْ لَوْ نَعْلَمُ قِتَالاً لاَّتَّبَعْنَاكُمْ هُمْ لِلْكُفْرِ يَوْمَئِذٍ أَقْرَبُ مِنْهُمْ لِلإِيمَانِ يَقُولُونَ بِأَفْوَاهِهِم مَّا لَيْسَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ وَاللّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يَكْتُمُونَ
and know those who acted hypocritically.’ When they were told, ‘Come, fight in God’s cause and defend yourselves,’ they replied, ‘If we knew that fighting would take place, we would surely follow you.’ They were that day nearer to unbelief than to belief. The words they utter bear no relation to what is in their hearts. God knows well what they conceal.
168
الَّذِينَ قَالُواْ لإِخْوَانِهِمْ وَقَعَدُواْ لَوْ أَطَاعُونَا مَا قُتِلُوا قُلْ فَادْرَؤُوا عَنْ أَنفُسِكُمُ الْمَوْتَ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
Those who stayed behind, said of their brothers, ‘Had they listened to us, they would not have been killed.’ Say to them, ‘Ward off death from yourselves, then, if what you say be true!’
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) In the confrontation between truth and untruth, truth is always destined to have the final victory, because truth always has God on its side. However, this world being a world of trial, mischief-mongers too have full freedom of action. That is why at times, by exploiting some weakness of the believers—for instance, mutual dissension—they are able to inflict temporary harm on them. Yet such happenings, though tragic in appearance, have a good side to them as well, for in this way Muslims are put to the test. In the face of unfavourable situations, the insincere fall away, while the true believers persevere because of their total trust in God. In this way, it becomes clear who are the trustworthy and who are not. Furthermore, God’s mercy is all the more focussed upon them, when, after incurring loss due to their inadvertent mistakes, the believers turn to God once again in all patience and humility. (a) Those who participate in the encounter of truth and untruth in such a way as to make real sacrifices for the sake of truth, are scorned by worldly people as having destroyed themselves for no good reason. But this is a foolish assessment. Incurring a seeming loss in God’s path is a positive happening, because those who have sacrificed everything for God are the ones most deserving of God’s rewards. The foolish speak of those who sacrifice their lives in the path of God as if it is only they who die, as if those who are striving towards worldly ends do not taste death. This is entirely meaningless and those who speak of such things are never serious. Their hearts tell them that they have made a great mistake in not making sacrifices for the cause of truth, but by speaking ill of those who have done so, they want to keep up a pretence that they are in the right. But death is decreed for all human beings by God. It will certainly visit everyone at the appointed time. Whichever path one follows, none can escape from the clutches of death. People realize their mistake in their hearts, but they do not want to acknowledge it. In order to justify their course of action, they utter such words as even their own hearts attest to as being false.