Repentance (Al-Tawbah)
Verses 53-57 GROUP_344 9.53-57
53
قُلْ أَنفِقُواْ طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا لَّن يُتَقَبَّلَ مِنكُمْ إِنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ قَوْمًا فَاسِقِينَ
Say, ‘Whether you give willingly or unwillingly, your offerings shall not be accepted by God, for you are indeed a disobedient people.’
54
وَمَا مَنَعَهُمْ أَن تُقْبَلَ مِنْهُمْ نَفَقَاتُهُمْ إِلاَّ أَنَّهُمْ كَفَرُواْ بِاللّهِ وَبِرَسُولِهِ وَلاَ يَأْتُونَ الصَّلاَةَ إِلاَّ وَهُمْ كُسَالَى وَلاَ يُنفِقُونَ إِلاَّ وَهُمْ كَارِهُونَ
The only reason their contributions are not accepted is that they have denied God and His Messenger, they come to the prayer half heartedly, and they offer contributions unwillingly.
55
فَلاَ تُعْجِبْكَ أَمْوَالُهُمْ وَلاَ أَوْلاَدُهُمْ إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللّهُ لِيُعَذِّبَهُم بِهَا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَتَزْهَقَ أَنفُسُهُمْ وَهُمْ كَافِرُونَ
Do not let their wealth and children impress you. For God seeks to punish them through these things in the life of this world, so that their souls shall depart while they are still denying the truth.
56
وَيَحْلِفُونَ بِاللّهِ إِنَّهُمْ لَمِنكُمْ وَمَا هُم مِّنكُمْ وَلَـكِنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ يَفْرَقُونَ
They swear by God that they are believers like you; but they are not. They are afraid [to appear in their true colours]:
57
لَوْ يَجِدُونَ مَلْجَأً أَوْ مَغَارَاتٍ أَوْ مُدَّخَلاً لَّوَلَّوْاْ إِلَيْهِ وَهُمْ يَجْمَحُونَ
if they could find a place of refuge, or a cave or any hiding-place, they would run there with frantic haste.
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) In Madinah the majority of all the people who had embraced Islam, were sincere believers. However, there were a number of people who had embraced Islam to go with the tide of the times, but who lacked that spirit of surrender which is the characteristic of true faith in and true attachment to God. These are the people who are known as hypocrites. These hypocrites consisted mostly of the wealthy class. It was this wealth which was behind their hypocrisy. Those who do not have anything to lose are ready and willing to accept that Islam in which one has to lose one’s all. But those who have something to lose generally become anxious about their worldly considerations. They somehow carry out those commandments of Islam which do not involve any sacrifice, but they find themselves unable to go ahead and accept any requirements of Islam which might involve loss of life and property, or when the question of becoming a believer at the level of sacrifice arises. But lagging behind in accepting the Islam of sacrifice renders even their prayers and fasting valueless. The rite of prayer (‘ibadah)—the worship performed in mosques—is intimately related with worship outside the mosque. If the individual’s life outside the mosque is devoid of the real spirit of religion, his life inside the mosque will also be empty of the true religious spirit and, obviously, action without such spirit has no value before God. God accepts nothing but righteous action. All else is devoid of merit in His eyes.