Verses 106–111
The verses contain a warning against disbelief after having faith, which refers to apostasy (irtidād). There is also a beautiful promise for those who migrate after being persecuted, as well as for those who are steadfast in striving in the way of God. Additionally, the verses address the ruling on taqiyya (the practice of concealing one’s belief in times of persecution).
Commentary
مَن كَفَرَ بِاللَّهِ مِن بَعْدِ إِيمَانِهِ إِلاَّ مَنْ أُكْرِهَ وَقَلْبُهُ مُطْمَئِنٌّ بِالإِيمَانِ وَلَكِن مَّن شَرَحَ بِالْكُفْرِ صَدْرًا فَعَلَيْهِمْ غَضَبٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ ١٠٦
(16:106) Whoever renounces faith in Allah after affirming his faith—barring someone who is compelled while his heart is at rest (muṭmaʾinn) in faith—but those who open up their breasts to unfaith (sharahā bi al-kufr ṣadran), upon such shall be Allah’s wrath, and there is a great punishment for them.
Muṭmaʾinn is the active participle of the verb itmiʾnān, which conveys tranquillity, calmness, and stability. Sharḥ signifies expansion. In his Mufradāt, al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī explains that the original meaning of sharḥ is to spread out meat or something similar. It is said: “I spread out the meat” (sharaḥtu al-laḥm). This is related to the phrase sharḥ al-ṣadr (“the expansion of the chest”), which means to expand a person’s chest with divine light, tranquillity from God, and a spirit from Him. He says: My Lord! Open my breast for me (); Did We not open your breast for you (); Is someone whose breast Allah has opened to Islam … (). “To expand difficult speech” means to explain it and reveal its hidden meanings.
Regarding the verse: Whoever renounces faith in Allah after affirming his faith …, it is a conditional statement whose response is in the verse: upon such shall be Allah’s wrath, and it is further elaborated with and there is a great punishment for them. The plural pronoun “them” in the consequent refers back to the conditional subject (“whoever”), as it is generically inclusive of multiple individuals.
… barring someone who is compelled while his heart is at rest in faith is an exception to the general condition. It refers to being compelled to utter a statement of disbelief or to demonstrate it outwardly, as a person’s heart cannot be forced to accept something. The meaning is except those who, after having faith, are coerced into disbelief outwardly, while their heart remains content with faith.
And regarding His statement: but those who open up their breasts to unfaith, this refers to those who have willingly accepted disbelief, embracing it willingly and fully. This sentence is a correction to the exception, returning to the meaning of what is being excepted. The intended meaning of His statement: Whoever renounces faith in Allah after affirming his faith … refers to someone who is coerced while his heart is at peace with faith. However, what is actually meant here is those who willingly accept disbelief in their hearts. The combination of the exception and this correction provides a complete explanation of the condition, which is why the exception is interjected between the condition and its consequence, rather than being postponed until after the condition is complete.
Some have said that His statement: Whoever renounces faith in Allah … is a permutation (badal) of who do not believe in the signs of Allah in the preceding verse, and His statement: and it is they who are the liars, is an intervening sentence. His statement: barring someone who is compelled is an exception from that, and His statement: but those who open up their breasts to unfaith begins a new thought, the implied consequence of which is His statement: upon such shall be Allah’s wrath.
The meaning, according to this reading, is that only those who fabricate lies are those who disbelieve after their belief, except for those who are forced while their hearts are content with faith. At this point, the statement is complete, then it begins anew with: However, those who open their hearts to disbelief, upon them is the wrath of God.
However, common sense renders this explanation unnecessary, given its obvious absurdity.
ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمُ اسْتَحَبُّواْ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا عَلَى الآخِرَةِ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ ١٠٧
(16:107) That, because they preferred the life of the world to the Hereafter and that Allah does not guide the faithless lot.
This explains why God’s wrath befalls them and why they face a great punishment. It is because they have chosen the material life of this world, which is aimed solely at animalistic pleasure and indulgence in personal desires, over the life of the Hereafter, which is an eternal life in the proximity of the Lord of the Worlds, and the ultimate goal of human life.
In other words, these people desired only the worldly life, disconnected from the Hereafter, disbelieving in it. God does not guide such disbelieving people. Since God did not guide them, they strayed from the path of happiness, paradise, and divine pleasure, falling into the wrath of God and a great punishment.
أُوْلَئِكَ الَّذِينَ طَبَعَ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ وَسَمْعِهِمْ وَأَبْصَارِهِمْ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْغَافِلُونَ ١٠٨
(16:108) They are the ones on whose hearts Allah has set a seal, and on their hearing and their sight, and it is they who are the heedless.
This indicates that choosing the worldly life over the Hereafter and being deprived of God’s guidance characterizes those whose hearts, hearing, and vision God has sealed, and who are considered heedless.
By choosing the worldly life as their ultimate goal and depriving themselves of guidance to the Hereafter, they have severed their connection to the Afterlife, attaching themselves to the material world and making it their sole pursuit. Consequently, their senses and intellect are confined within the bounds of this world, unable to transcend to considerations of the Afterlife. They are thus unable to see what should be learned, hear advice that should be heeded, or comprehend arguments that would guide them to the Afterlife.
They are marked by a divine seal upon their hearts, hearing, and vision. Thus, their hearts, ears, and eyes are impervious to anything that could lead them to the Afterlife, remaining oblivious to it, without any awareness of its significance.
The previous verse’s description thus serves as an identification of the divine sealing (of the heart) and obliviousness mentioned in this verse. Their lack of divine guidance following their attachment to the worldly life is the essence of this divine sealing and ignorance. The sealing is a divine act attributed to God as a form of retribution, while ignorance is a trait attributed to themselves.
لاَ جَرَمَ أَنَّهُمْ فِي الآخِرَةِ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ ١٠٩
(16:109) Undoubtedly, they are the ones who will be the losers in the Hereafter.
They are losers because they squandered their capital in the worldly life, they remain without any provision to sustain them in their Hereafter. A similar context is found in Surah Hud: Undoubtedly, they are the ones who will be the biggest losers in the Hereafter (). The emphasis there might be due to the additional trait of obstructing the path of God, which He ascribes to them.
ثُمَّ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لِلَّذِينَ هَاجَرُواْ مِن بَعْدِ مَا فُتِنُواْ ثُمَّ جَاهَدُواْ وَصَبَرُواْ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ مِن بَعْدِهَا لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ١١٠
(16:110) Then indeed your Lord, to those who migrated, after they were persecuted (min baʿd mā futinū), and strived and were patient—indeed, after that, your Lord will surely be all-forgiving, all-merciful.
Fitna (from whence futinū is derived) originally refers to the act of testing gold by fire to reveal its quality, and later came to be used to denote any form of trial or torture. The Quraysh and the polytheists of Mecca persecuted the believers to force them to renounce their religion, subjecting them to various forms of cruelty. Some believers even died under torture, like the case of ʿAmmār and his parents. ʿAmmār outwardly renounced his faith under duress, thus justifying dissimulation (taqiyya), about which the preceding verses were revealed, as will be discussed later in the narrational analysis.
Hence, this verse is connected to the context of the preceding verses, especially to the part: barring someone who is compelled while his heart is at rest in faith. The verse implies: After all this, God is indeed Forgiving, Merciful to those who emigrated after being persecuted, then strived and were patient.
Therefore, his statement: Then indeed your Lord, to those who migrated, after they were persecuted, is a beautiful promise of forgiveness and mercy on the Day of Judgement for the emigrants who were persecuted. This is in contrast to the complete loss threatened to others on that day. The condition of striving and patience after migration is emphasized for this promise.
His statement: … indeed, after that, your Lord will surely be all-forgiving, all-merciful, is like a summary of the earlier lengthy statement and also serves as its conclusion. It suggests a meaning of confirmation, similar to saying, “Zayd is in the house, Zayd is in the house …” It also indicates that the conditions mentioned in the statement are integral to the meaning here, as God is not pleased with them unless they migrate, nor with their migration unless they subsequently strive in His path and show patience.
يَوْمَ تَأْتِي كُلُّ نَفْسٍ تُجَادِلُ عَن نَّفْسِهَا وَتُوَفَّى كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَّا عَمِلَتْ وَهُمْ لاَ يُظْلَمُونَ ١١١
(16:111) The day when every soul (nafs) will come pleading for itself (ʿan nafsi-hā) and every soul will be recompensed fully for what it has done, and they will not be wronged.
The soul “coming” on the Day of Judgement signifies its presence before the Divine Judge, as stated: So they will indeed be arraigned (). The pronoun in “for itself” (nafsi-hā) refers to the soul itself. It is common to add the soul to its own pronoun, as the term “soul” (nafs) can mean the human person, like in the verse: that whoever kills a soul not in retaliation for another (), or it can be used for emphasis, equivalent to the preceding term, whether it refers to a person or not, as in “the person himself” (al-insān nafsu-hu), “the horse itself”, “the stone itself”, and “the darkness itself.” One can also phrase this as “the same person” (nafs al-insān), “the same horse”, “the same stone”, “the same darkness.” When God says, for itself (ʿan nafsi-hā), the nafs in this phrase is used in this second sense, while the pronoun -hā refers back to soul, which is used in the sense of a person. The expression with the pronoun avoids the awkwardness of repeating the word through addition. We will omit the lengthy discussions of the commentators here for the sake of brevity.
His statement: The day when every soul will come pleading for itself relates to the previous verse, all-forgiving, all-merciful. The soul’s defence on its own behalf is its attempt to justify itself, having forgotten everything else in contrast to its worldly life, where it was concerned with everything but itself. This is due to the realization of the truth that one has no real business beyond oneself and should primarily be concerned with oneself.Thus, on that day, the soul arrives and is present for accountability, defending itself with all the excuses it can muster.
… and every soul will be recompensed fully (tuwaffā) for what it has done, and they will not be wronged—tawfiya (“Recompense in full”) means giving the full due without any reduction. The compensation is directly linked to the act itself, as it is stated: what it has done, indicating that what is given is the exact deed without any alteration or substitution, embodying perfect justice. Hence, there is neither addition nor subtraction from what they deserve, followed by the reassurance that, they will not be wronged.
This verse indicates the following:
Firstly, that on the Day of Judgement, no soul will defend or argue on behalf of another, but will be solely preoccupied with itself, having no concern for others. This is as stated: the day when a friend will not avail a friend in any way, nor will they be helped (), and also: the day when neither wealth nor children will avail (), and: a day on which there will be no bargaining, neither friendship, nor intercession ().
Secondly, that arguing will not benefit the soul in averting the recompense it has earned. What it is recompensed is precisely what it has acted upon, and there is no way to alter this correlation, and it does not constitute any form of injustice.
Examining Narrations
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, and Ibn Mardawayh reported from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When the Messenger of God intended to migrate to Medina, he told his companions: “Disperse from me; those who are strong should delay until the end of the night, and those who are not should go at the beginning of the night. When you hear that I have settled on the land, then join me.”
Bilāl the muezzin, Khabbāb, ʿAmmār, and a Qurayshī woman who had converted to Islam were left in Mecca. The polytheists and Abū Jahl captured them. They offered Bilāl to renounce his faith, but he refused. They then put an iron armor in the sun and made him wear it. When they did, he said, “Aḥad, Aḥad (One, One).” As for Khabbāb, they dragged him through thorns.
ʿAmmār said some words to them under duress to save himself (taqiyya) that pleased them, and the woman was tortured by Abū Jahl who stretched her with four stakes and then killed her with a spear. They then released Bilāl, Khabbāb, and ʿAmmār, who joined the Messenger of God and informed him of what had happened. The Prophet, peace be upon him, asked ʿAmmār, “How was your heart when you said what you said? Was it at ease with what you said or not?” ʿAmmār replied, “No.” The verse was then revealed: barring someone who is compelled while his heart is at rest in faith.
Author’s comment: The woman mentioned in the narrative is Sumayya, ʿAmmār’s mother. It is also said that ʿAmmār’s father, Yāsir, was the first martyr in Islam. The narratives about their deaths following torture are numerous, ʿAmmār’s renunciation of faith in taqiyya, and the revelation of the verse about him.
- In the same source, ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Ibn Saʿd, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, Ibn Mardawayh, al-Ḥākim—who declared it authentic—and al-Bayhaqī in Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwa reported from Abū ʿUbayda b. Muḥammad b. ʿAmmār, who said: The polytheists captured ʿAmmār b. Yāsir and did not release him until he insulted the Prophet and praised their gods. When ʿAmmār came to the Prophet he asked, “What happened?” ʿAmmār replied, “Bad. I did not stop until I insulted you and praised their gods.” The Prophet asked, “How do you find your heart?” ʿAmmār said, “At peace with faith.” The Prophet said, “If they return to you, do the same,” and the verse was revealed: barring someone who is compelled while his heart is at rest in faith ().
- In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, al-Ṭabrisī narrates that Ibn ʿAbbās and Qatāda said that the verse was revealed about a group who were subject to persecution, including ʿAmmār, Yāsir his father, his mother Sumayya, Ṣuhayb, Bilāl, and Khabbāb. They were tortured; Yāsir and his wife were killed, and ʿAmmār told their torturers what they wanted to hear from him. Then God informed His Messenger of this. Some people said ʿAmmār had disbelieved, but the Prophet said, “No, ʿAmmār is filled with faith from his head to his feet, and faith is mixed with his flesh and blood.”
ʿAmmār came to the Prophet crying. The Prophet asked, “What’s wrong?” ʿAmmār replied, “I spoke blasphemously to save myself. I disavowed you and praised their deities.” The Prophet comforted him and said, “If they return to you, do the same,” and the verse was revealed.
In al-Durr al-Manthūr, Ibn Saʿd reports from ʿUmar b. al-Ḥakam who said: ʿAmmār b. Yāsir was tortured until he did not know what he was saying, and so was Ṣuhayb, and so was Abū Fukayha, and Bilāl, and ʿAmmār, and Ibn Fuhayra, and a group of Muslims—and in their case, this verse was revealed: Then indeed your Lord, to those who migrated, after they were persecuted …
Author’s comment: Among them, in some narrations, ʿAbbās b. Abī Rabīʿa is named, and in others, both he and Walīd b. Abī Rabīʿa, and Walīd b. Walīd b. Mughīra, and Abū Jandal b. Suhayl b. ʿAmr are mentioned. The most comprehensive narration on this matter is from Ibn Abbas, namely, that this verse was revealed concerning those companions of the Prophet who were persecuted: Then indeed your Lord, to those who migrated, after they were persecuted …
- In al-Kāfī, al-Kulaynī transmits via his chain of narrators, from Abū ʿAmr al-Zubayrī, from Abū ʿAbd Allāh: “As for what is incumbent upon the heart from faith—acknowledgement, recognition, commitment, satisfaction, and submission—that there is no deity except God alone, without a partner, a single God, that He has not taken a spouse nor a child, and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, and the acknowledgement of what he brought from God, whether a prophecy or a scripture: that is what God has made incumbent upon the heart in terms of acknowledgement and recognition—and that is its action and it is the saying of God, the Almighty and Glorious: barring someone who is compelled while his heart is at rest in faith—but those who open up their breasts to unfaith, upon such shall be Allah’s wrath, and there is a great punishment for them.”
- In the same source, al-Kulaynī narrates via his chain of narrators from Masʿada b. Ṣadaqa: “It was said to Abū ʿAbd Allāh: ‘People narrate—that ʿAlī said on the pulpit of Kūfa: “O people, you will be called to insult me, so insult me—then you will be called to disavow me, but do not disavow me.”’ Imām al-Ṣādiq said: ‘How much do people lie about Ali, peace be upon him!’ Then he said: ‘He only said: “You will be called to insult me, so insult me, then you will be called to disavow, and I am upon the religion of Muhammad and he did not say: and do not disavow me.”’
The questioner then asked: ‘What do you think if one chooses death over disavowal?’ He said: ‘By God, that is not upon him, and he has no duty besides what happened with ʿAmmar b. Yāsir when the people of Mecca forced him to renounce his beliefs while his heart was at peace with faith. The Prophet then said to him: “O ʿAmmār, if they return to you, do the same, for God has revealed your excuse: barring someone who is compelled while his heart is at rest in faith, I command you to do this.”
Author’s comment: A narration to this effect is narrated by al-ʿAyyāshī in his Tafsīr, from Muʿammar b. Yaḥyā b. Sālim from Abū Jaʿfar and his saying: “if they return to you, do the same” is derived from the verse since the exception in it is not from the person but is stated as a general rule, which is an attempt to coerce someone whose heart is secure in faith. As for it being a command from Him, the Almighty, as the Prophet commanded, perhaps the reason is that the explicit exception is a permission, and with the permissibility of that, there is no room for refusal, which is exposing oneself to death and throwing oneself into destruction, so this permission encompasses obligation rather than just permissibility.
- In the Tafsīr of al-ʿAyyāshī, it is narrated from ʿAmr b. Marwān, who said: “I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh say: “The Messenger of God said: ‘Four things are lifted from my community: what they commit in error, what they forget, what they are coerced into, and what they cannot endure, and that is in the book of God: … while his heart is at rest in faith.’”