Women (Al-Nisa’)
Verses 77-79 GROUP_131 4.77-79
77
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ قِيلَ لَهُمْ كُفُّواْ أَيْدِيَكُمْ وَأَقِيمُواْ الصَّلاَةَ وَآتُواْ الزَّكَاةَ فَلَمَّا كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقِتَالُ إِذَا فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَخْشَوْنَ النَّاسَ كَخَشْيَةِ اللّهِ أَوْ أَشَدَّ خَشْيَةً وَقَالُواْ رَبَّنَا لِمَ كَتَبْتَ عَلَيْنَا الْقِتَالَ لَوْلا أَخَّرْتَنَا إِلَى أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ قُلْ مَتَاعُ الدَّنْيَا قَلِيلٌ وَالآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لِّمَنِ اتَّقَى وَلاَ تُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلاً
Have you not seen those to whom it was said, ‘Restrain your hands, say your prayers and pay the prescribed alms?’ And when they have been ordered to fight, some of them have felt afraid of human beings just as they should be afraid of God, or they are even more afraid. They say, ‘Our Lord, why have You ordered us to fight? If You would only postpone it for a little while longer!’ Say, ‘The benefits of this world are negligible and the Hereafter will be better for one who fears God; and you shall not be wronged in the slightest.
78
أَيْنَمَا تَكُونُواْ يُدْرِككُّمُ الْمَوْتُ وَلَوْ كُنتُمْ فِي بُرُوجٍ مُّشَيَّدَةٍ وَإِن تُصِبْهُمْ حَسَنَةٌ يَقُولُواْ هَـذِهِ مِنْ عِندِ اللّهِ وَإِن تُصِبْهُمْ سَيِّئَةٌ يَقُولُواْ هَـذِهِ مِنْ عِندِكَ قُلْ كُلًّ مِّنْ عِندِ اللّهِ فَمَا لِهَـؤُلاء الْقَوْمِ لاَ يَكَادُونَ يَفْقَهُونَ حَدِيثًا
Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, even if you be in strongly built towers.’ If some good befalls them, they say, ‘This is from God,’ and if ill befalls them, they say, ‘This is from you.’ Tell them, ‘All is from God.’ But what is wrong with these people that they fail to understand anything?
79
مَّا أَصَابَكَ مِنْ حَسَنَةٍ فَمِنَ اللّهِ وَمَا أَصَابَكَ مِن سَيِّئَةٍ فَمِن نَّفْسِكَ وَأَرْسَلْنَاكَ لِلنَّاسِ رَسُولاً وَكَفَى بِاللّهِ شَهِيدًا
Whatever good befalls you, it is from God: and whatever ill befalls you is from yourself. We have sent you forth as a messenger to mankind; and God suffices as a witness.
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) The opponents of Islam in Makkah used to persecute Muslims before the Migration. They resorted to all kinds of aggression and injustice against the Muslims, such as assault, destruction of their means of livelihood, stopping them from praying in the Kabah, not permitting them to spread the word of God, compelling them to leave their homes, etc. Whoever accepted Islam was subjected to all types of pressures to abandon his new faith and return to his ancestral religion. This unjust and aggressive stance of the opponents of Islam had, in principle, made it basically legitimate for the Muslims to take up arms against them; and therefore, the oppressed Muslims approached the Prophet repeatedly to seek his permission to fight. But the Prophet always restrained them, saying that he had not been given permission for armed confrontation. Instead, he advised the Muslims to be patient, say their prayers (salat) and pay the obligatory alms (zakat). The reason for this restraint was that premature and untimely action is not the way of Islam. The Muslims were not powerful enough in Makkah to take decisive action against their enemies. An armed confrontation at that time would have intensified their affliction. It would have amounted to giving the Makkans justification to declare open war against the Muslims, instead of there being just stray incidents of tyranny at the individual level. A practical step may be taken only when the necessary preparations have been made for it. Before reaching this stage, the faithful are required only to fulfil their personal obligations, which must be attended to under all circumstances. These obligations are to seek closeness with God, pay others their rightful dues and endure the difficulties encountered in the path of religion. (a) When the Quranic instructions pertaining to sacrifice were revealed, the opportunists found them to be disturbing to the pattern of their lives. They started pretentious talk to hide their own weakness. The debacle at Uhud, they said, was due to the poor strategy of the Prophet, and thus they tried to misguide people about his ability to lead. Whenever something favourable happened, they associated it with the grace of God, simply to exhibit their faith in Islam; but to escape from the practical demands of Islam, they tried to prove the Prophet wrong. It is possible for man to show faith in God and continue to follow the dictates of his desires; but once he accepts allegiance with the messenger of God, it becomes necessary to stand by the side of the dayee, which is indeed a most difficult proposition.