Verses 1–13
Based on the tone of this sūrah’s verses, and especially those at its opening, it appears that some of those who had believed in the Prophet in Mecca before the migration (hijra) withdrew from him out of fear of the persecution with which the polytheists had threatened them. This is because the polytheists used to call them to return to their religion and promised to bear for them their sins in return for following their path. However, if they refused, they would persecute and harass them to force them back into their religion.
God alludes to this with the words:
The faithless say to the faithful: Follow our way and we will bear [responsibility for] your iniquities. ()
Among the people there are those who say: We have faith in Allah; but when such a one is tormented in Allah’s cause, he takes persecution by the people for Allah’s punishment. ()
Amongst those who gave up their faith were those who gave it up because their parents pressured them to come back to their religion and implored them to renounce their beliefs, like some of the children of the polytheists according to the rebuke delivered in the verse: We have enjoined man to be good to his parents. But if they urge you to ascribe to Me as partner that of which you have no knowledge, then do not obey them (). And this sūrah was sent down concerning the matter of these persons.
So, based on what we can glean from its beginning, its conclusion and the general tenor of its verses, the goal of the sūrah is to say that what God means by “faith” is not merely to utter the words: “We have faith in God” () but to have the reality of faith (ḥaqīqat al-īmān) which does not shake with storms of persecution, nor change with the changing of time, rather which stands firm and immovable in the face of trials and tribulations. People will not be let off just because they say “We have faith in God” without being tried and tested to make visible what their heart contains of the reality of faith or the blemish of infidelity. God surely knows those who are truthful and He knows the liars too.
Such trials and persecution are a divine habit (sunna ilāhiyya) that cannot be avoided; they happen to people today just as they happened to peoples past, like the peoples of Noah, ʿĀd, Thamūd, Abraham, Lot, Shuʿayb and Moses. Some of these went aright and others perished; God did not wrong them, rather they used to wrong themselves.
So whoever says: “I have faith in God” must remain steadfast upon his faith and worship God alone. And if he cannot fulfil his religious duties, then he should emigrate to a land where he can do that, for God’s earth is expansive. And he should not fear a hard life because sustenance is upon God and how many an animal there is that does not carry its own provision. God provides for it, and for mankind.
As for the polytheists who persecute the faithful without their having committed any crime save to say “Our Lord is God,” they should not fancy that they are thwarting God or vying with Him. As for their treatment, harassment and persecution of the faithful, it is only a test for them and the faithful which is not outside of God’s knowledge or determination. It is a test and it will be preserved for them; if He wishes he will seize them by its evil consequences in this world, and if He wishes he will put them off until the Day on which they return to Him and they shall have no escape.
And as for whatever arguments they contrive and falsehoods they rely upon, they are refuted and cast back upon them; the proof has been clearly established for them.
This summarizes the goal of the sūrah. The corollary of this is that the whole sūrah must be Meccan. Those who say it is Medinan, whether in whole, most or part—and we shall discuss this further in the study of narrations below—are incorrect. The contents of this sūrah are only compatible with the time of great pressure and hardship before the migration.
Commentary
الم ١ أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَنْ يُتْرَكُوا أَنْ يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ ٢
(29:1-2) Alif, Lām, Mīm. Do the people suppose that they will be let off because they say (an yaqūlū): We have faith, and they will not be tested?
“To suppose” (ḥisbān) means “to think.” The sentence that they will be let off functions as both of its objects. An yaqūlū carries the meaning of the bāʾ of causation (sababiyya). “To test” (fitna) means to examine (imtiḥān). While sometimes it is used for afflictions and persecution, the first meaning best fits the context. The question in the verse is rhetorical, implying a denial.
So the meaning is: “Do people think that they will be let off without anything happening to them or being tested in a way to determine their truthfulness when they claim to have faith just because they say: we have faith?”
It is said that it means:
“Do people think that they will be let off and not afflicted with any tribulation just because they have said we have faith? Do they think that this faith entitles them to God’s generosity such that nothing bad will ever happen to them?” This is unlikely, however, given the tenor of the verses around it.
وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ ۖ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَاذِبِينَ ٣
(29:3) Certainly We tested those who were before them. So Allah shall surely know (la-yaʿlamanna) those who are truthful, and He shall surely know (la-yaʿlamanna) the liars.
Both of the lāms in this verse are for swearing an oath. Certainly We tested those who were before them is an adverb (ḥāl) for “people” in Do the people suppose… () or for the pronoun “they” in …they will not be tested? (). In the first instance, the repudiation and rebuke is directed to their supposition that they will not be tested in spite of the divine habit of testing and trying [the people]; in the second, it is directed to their supposition that God would behave inconsistently by testing one people but not another. However, the first seems more suitable for the tenor.
It appears that Certainly We tested those who were before them means that testing and trying the people is a continuous habit for God; it happened to those who came before them and will happen to them too—one will not find any change in God’s habit.
So Allah shall surely know those who are truthful…: This explains the rationale for what comes immediately before it. When God says He will “know” the truthful and the liars here, He means that He will make apparent the effects of their truthfulness or lying at the level of action through these tests and trials according to whether faith is truly established in their hearts or not. The happiness that results from the faith to which they are called, and also the divine reward, only results from the reality of faith that has apparent effects such as patience in the face of hardships, persistence in obeying God and steadfastness in avoiding sins, not from the mere claim of faith.
And perhaps “knowledge” here refers to God’s knowledge as a divine act (al-ʿilm al-fiʿlī) which is identical with objective fact (nafs al-amr al-khārijī), for such facts are themselves a level of God’s knowledge. As for His essential knowledge (al-ʿilm al-dhātī), this does not depend on any kind of testing whatsoever.
This renders the meaning: Do they think that they will be left alone without being tested just because they claim to have faith and make an outward show of it, when testing people is Our habit which applied to those who came before them too? It is necessary to distinguish the truthful from the liars by bringing to light the practical effects of the former’s truthfulness and of the latter’s deception, which corresponds to faith abiding in the hearts of the first group and its false simulacra being erased from the hearts of the latter.
Regarding the transition (iltifāt) to the name Allah in So Allah shall surely know…, it is said that this is used to inspire awe and teach veneration. It appears that it is used in similar situations to evoke a kind of rationale for what is being said. In this case, the rationale is that the calling and guiding to faith, and the divine reward that awaits for it, all return to the Being named Allah, from Whom all things begin, by Whom all things subsist, and to Whom all things return in their reality. It is because God has such a quality and position that true faith must be distinguished in His sight from empty claims. The fact of the matter must cannot remain in a state of ambiguity to Him, but must manifest. This is why instead of saying “So We shall surely know…” He says So Allah shall surely know.
أَمْ حَسِبَ الَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السَّيِّئَاتِ أَنْ يَسْبِقُونَا ۚ سَاءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ ٤
(29:4) Or do those who commit misdeeds suppose that they can outmaneuver Us? Evil is the judgement that they make.
Or (am) is disjunctive. Those who commit misdeeds are the polytheists who persecuted the faithful and barred them from God’s way, just as the meaning of “the people” in Do the people suppose () are those who said: “We have faith…” while they are renouncing their faith out of fear of persecution or harassment.
According to the tenor of the verses, that they can outmanuever Us means to overcome and thwart God by persecuting the faithful and barring them from God’s way.
Evil is the judgement that they make declares erroneous the supposition that they can outmaneuver God with their scheming to persecute and obstruct the faithful, for this in itself is actually a trial from God for them that will bar them from the way to happiness. After all, an evil scheme will only harm the ones who make it.
It is said: The verse is intended as a rebuke to the sinful believers and it is they who are meant by those who commit misdeeds. “Misdeeds” here means the sins they commit other than polytheism (shirk). However it is obvious that the tenor of the verses does not match this meaning.
It is said: Commit misdeeds is more general than polytheism or any other sin. Therefore, this verse is general and there is no need to restrict it only to polytheism or only to sins other than polytheism.
However, the meaning of this verse insofar as it occurs in a specific context is one matter, and its meaning when read in isolation is something else entirely. What determines the first meaning is how the verse fits in with the overall goals of the sūrah as we have discussed above, whereas the second meaning is determined by reading the verse as a general statement, and there is no problem with it in that case.
مَنْ كَانَ يَرْجُو لِقَاءَ اللَّهِ فَإِنَّ أَجَلَ اللَّهِ لَآتٍ ۚ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ ٥ وَمَنْ جَاهَدَ فَإِنَّمَا يُجَاهِدُ لِنَفْسِهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَغَنِيٌّ عَنِ الْعَالَمِينَ ٦ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَنُكَفِّرَنَّ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَحْسَنَ الَّذِي كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ ٧
(29:5-7) Whoever expects to encounter Allah, Allah’s time will indeed come, and He is the All-hearing, the All-knowing. Whoever strives, strives only for his own sake. Indeed Allah has no need of the creatures. As for those who have faith and do righteous deeds, We will absolve them of their misdeeds, and We will surely reward them by the best of what they used to do.
So far, God has rebuked the people for trivializing the matter of faith and retreating from it at the slightest persecution or harassment by the polytheists, and He has rebuked the polytheists for persecuting and harassing the faithful and barring them from the way of God desiring to put out God’s light and thwart His will. Both groups were shown to be mistaken in their suppositions.
Now, God returns to expound the inescapable truth and inevitable necessity. In these three verses [], He explains that whoever has faith in God will expect to return to Him and encounter Him, so He will know that this time is coming without doubt and that God hears his speech, and knows his conditions and his deeds. Therefore he will be vigilant and will believe with a true faith that no persecution or harassment could turn him aside from, and he will strive for the sake of God in a manner worthy of Him, and he will know that the only one who benefits from this striving is himself as God has no need of his faith or that of any other member of the worlds. What’s more, he will know that if he believes in God and does righteous deeds, then God will forgive him for his misdeeds and recompense him for the best of his acts. The latter two varieties of knowledge serve to strengthen and reaffirm the first kind; they will make him cling to faith and remain steadfast in the face of persecution and trials beside God.
Whoever expects to… signals that the discourse has returned to explaining the state of one who says I have faith… as, if there is any truth to this claim, he will expect to return to God on the Day of Resurrection. After all, were it not for the Resurrection, there would be no purpose for religion in the first place. So Whoever expects to encounter Allah actually means “Whoever has faith in God…” or “Whoever says: I have faith in God…” So this sentence is a case of using the cause in place of the effect.
“Encountering God” (liqāʾ allāh) means when a servant stands in a station where there is no veil between him and his Lord, as will be the case on the Day of Resurrection which is the arena in which the realities will become manifest. God says: …and they shall know that Allah is the Manifest Reality ().
It is said:
- “Encountering God” refers to the Resurrection.
- It means arriving in the afterlife; encountering the Angel of Death, accounting and recompense.
- “Encountering God” means God’s recompense, whether reward or punishment.
- It means encountering His judgement on the Day of Resurrection.
In some of the aforementioned interpretations, “to expect” (rajāʾ) takes on the meaning “to fear” (khawf). However all of these interpretations are figurative and far from the original meaning; there is no need for them unless they are explaining the corollaries of the verse’s original meaning.
Allah’s time will indeed come: “Time” (ajal) means the deadline for the repayment of a loan or the like thereof, although it can also be used for the entire duration of a loan. However, the first meaning is more common.
Allah’s time then is the deadline which God has set for mankind to encounter Him and it is coming without doubt. This statement has been given the utmost emphasis and, because this deadline—which is the Day of Resurrection—is a thing foreordained, this means there should be no lenience about it, nor should anyone disregard having true faith in God or remaining steadfast in the face of persecution and trials and not forsaking their religion and turning apostate. This is further emphasized by the words and He is the All-hearing, the All-knowing because if He hears their speech and knows their states, no one should say “I have faith in God” unless they are speaking from the heart and are prepared to endure every trial and tribulation.
Hence it is clear that the rest of the verse is a case of using the cause in the place of its effect, the same as its opening Whoever expects to encounter Allah… The original meaning is: “Whoever says: I have faith in God, then let him say it directly, with a determination to hold fast to it and ready to struggle for the sake of his Lord.”
Whoever strives, strives only for his own sake. Indeed Allah has no need of the creatures: “To strive” (mujāhada and jihād) is the emphatic form of jahd, which means “to expend energy.” This is a reminder for them that their striving for God as required by their faith and their steadfastness in the face of the resultant hardships are not for the benefit of God, such that they can safely ignore it with regards to themselves. Rather, these actions are to their own benefit because God has no need of the creatures. Therefore they should hold fast to their faith and endure difficulties for its sake.
Whoever strives, strives only for his own sake serves to emphasize the argument of the previous verse, and Indeed Allah has no need of the creatures explains the rationale of what comes before it.
The transition from speaking in the third-person to the name Allah in both verses is akin to the transition we have already seen in the verse: So Allah shall surely know those who are truthful… ().
As for those who have faith and do righteous deeds, We will absolve them of their misdeeds and We will surely reward them by the best of what they used to do: This verse [] depicts the ultimate outcome of their true faith accompanied by their striving for the sake of God. It illustrates how their faith benefits them rather than God and that it is actually a gift and a blessing from Him. With this in mind, the verse appears to suggest that “striving for God” is faith and righteous deeds, as this is the meaning given by the substitution of And whoever strives… () in the previous verse with those who have faith and do righteous deeds in this one.
To “absolve misdeeds” (takfīr al-sayyiʾāt) means to forgive them and the original meaning of kufr is to cover. Some say that “absolving misdeeds” means replacing their previous disbelief (kufr) with faith and replacing their previous acts of disobedience with acts of obedience; however, this is not correct.
Rewarding them with the best of what they used to do means to elevate them to the level that befits their best deeds. Alternatively, it could mean there will be no dispute about their deeds when they are held to account. This means that although some of their deeds have blemishes and deficiencies, each of their deeds will be treated as though it was done in the best way possible. So their prayer will be considered the best prayer, even if it contains some deficient aspects. And so on.
وَوَصَّيْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ حُسْنًا ۖ وَإِنْ جَاهَدَاكَ لِتُشْرِكَ بِي مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ فَلَا تُطِعْهُمَاۚ إِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَأُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ ٨
(29:8) We have enjoined man to be good to his parents. But if they urge you to ascribe to Me as partner that of which you have no knowledge, then do not obey them.
To “enjoin” (tawṣiyya) means “to take a pledge,” but here it means “a divine command.”
Here, the word “good” (ḥusnan) is a verbal noun (maṣdar) used in the sense of an adjective (ṣifa), taking the place of an omitted absolute object (mafʿūl muṭlaq), the meaning being: “We have enjoined the human to being kind to his parents, a good enjoining” or “an enjoining endowed with goodness.” In other words, we commanded him to be good to them. This is like when God says: “…and speak kindly to people…” (wa qūlū li al-nās husnan, ), which means to say good things to them. It is also possible that the verbal noun has been placed in the position of an adjective for hyperbole, as we might do when saying: “Zayd is just” by using the verbal noun “justice” (ʿadl) instead of the adjective ʿādil. And there could be other interpretations too.
But if they urge you to ascribe to Me as partner… is an addendum to the above instruction. Here, God speaks directly to the human being to forbid him from obeying his parents should they invite him to associate partners with Him. The reason for this is that tawṣiyya has been used as a command, so it is as if to say: “We told the human being: Be good to your parents, but if they urge you to ascribe to Me as partner that of which you have no knowledge, then do not obey them.”
God does not say “And that he should not obey them if they urge him to associate partners with Me…” in the third-person because directly addressing the human being is more explicit and removes ambiguity. That is why He also says …to ascribe to Me… using the singular first-person pronoun, so grasp this! In essence, the meaning of the sentence is: “We forbade him from associating partners with us in obedience to them and we removed all ambiguity about this.”
…that of which you have no knowledge… alludes to the reason for the prohibition on obeying them, namely that their urging you to associate a partner with God by worshiping some other deity is an invitation to embrace ignorance (jahl), and worshiping that of which you have no knowledge is to invent a lie against God. God has forbidden people from following anything other than knowledge, saying: Do not follow that of which you have no knowledge. () And it is in this regard that God appends the words To Me will be your return, whereat I will inform you concerning that which you used to do. In other words, I will inform you of the significance of your deeds, including your worshiping of idols and associating partners with God.
Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: “We bade the human being a good bidding towards his parents—and we commanded him to treat them kindly—but if they try to urge you to associate partners with Me, do not obey them because this is to follow that which you have no knowledge of.”
And this verse, as we have already pointed out, contains a subtle rebuke to some of those who had believed only to give up their faith at their parent’s urging.
وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَنُدْخِلَنَّهُمْ فِي الصَّالِحِينَ ٩
(29:9) Those who have faith and do righteous deeds, We will surely admit them among the righteous.
The meaning of this verse is clear. Its occurrence after the previous verse and in this context signifies a beautiful promise by God and a reassurance for the heart of those believers who have been tried through having parents who associate partners with God and urge them to do likewise but disobeyed them and separated from them. God says: “If they urge him to associate partners with Me but he disobeys them and separates from them and they lose him as a result, there is no problem with that, for We shall provide him with something better than them and admit him amongst the righteous on account of his faith and righteous deeds.” And the righteous (ṣāliḥūn) are the servants (ʿibād) blessed with paradise, as God says elsewhere: O soul at peace! Return to your Lord, pleased, pleasing! Then enter among My servants! And enter My paradise! ().
There is a view that it refers to a righteous society in this world, but this does not match the context.
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ فَإِذَا أُوذِيَ فِي اللَّهِ جَعَلَ فِتْنَةَ النَّاسِ كَعَذَابِ اللَّهِ وَلَئِنْ جَاءَ نَصْرٌ مِنْ رَبِّكَ لَيَقُولُنَّ إِنَّا كُنَّا مَعَكُمْ ۚ أَوَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِأَعْلَمَ بِمَا فِي صُدُورِ الْعَالَمِينَ ١٠ ٣
(29:10) Among the people there are those who say: We have faith in Allah; but when such a one is tormented in Allah’s cause, he takes persecution by the people for Allah’s punishment. Yet if there comes any help from your Lord, they will say for sure, We were indeed with you. Does not Allah know best what is in the breasts of the creatures?
Because the faith of these people is contingent upon their well-being and safety and erased by persecution and hardship, God does not call it “faith” (īmān) in an unqualified sense. He does not say: “Among the people are those who have faith…” Rather He says: Among the people there are those who say: We have faith in Allah…, so in one respect this verse is similar to the verse: And among the people are those who worship Allah on an edge: if good fortune befalls him, he is content with it; but if an ordeal visits him he makes a turnabout ().
…but when such a one is tormented in Allah’s cause (ūdhiya fī allāh)… meaning if he is tormented because of his faith in God as fī is used here for causation (sababiyya), as some have said. And there is a delicate point being made here, as God makes “faith in Him” a receptacle (ẓarf) for torment and for those who are tormented, to show that this torment is ascribed to Him in the same way as to a container is ascribed its contents, and this correlates to the meaning of a cause (sabab) or purpose (gharaḍ). We can see a similar device operating in the verses: Alas for my negligence in the vicinage of Allah! () and As for those who strive in Us… ().
It is said: The meaning of “torment in God” is tormented in the way of God (fī sabīl allāh). It appears as though this reading rests on the understanding of an implicit possessive construct in the verse.
However, the problem with this reading is that it is at odds with the concern of the discourse; the reason they are being tormented in Allah is purely because of their faith in God and their saying: “Our Lord is Allah.” On the other hand, being tormented “in the way of God” means being tormented because of their behavior (sulūk), which is the religion, as God says elsewhere: …So those who migrated and were expelled from their homes, and were tormented in My way… (). One piece of evidence for the distinction between the two outlooks is what God says at the end of this sūrah: As for those who strive in Us, We shall surely guide them in Our ways (), as striving “in God” is made a means of being guided to His ways (subul), and if striving “in God” were the same as “striving in the way of God,” this would not be correct.
…he takes persecution by the people for Allah’s punishment: It means: He tries to avoid the torment and harassment he suffers from people as though he was trying to avoid the punishment of God, forsaking his faith and returning to polytheism out of fear and apprehension of their persecution. However, their torment is fleeting and ends with either escape or death. This cannot be compared to the awesome punishment that God metes out for all eternity and from which follows everlasting ruin.
Yet if there comes any help from your Lord, they will say for sure, We were indeed with you: It means: if there comes any relief or ease for you from God after the hardship and severity you suffered at the hands of His enemies, those people will say to you: “We were with you, so we should have a share of it too!”
They will say for sure (layaqūlunna): The ḍamma on the [final] lām is for the plural, and the pronoun “they” refers to “those” (man) in Among the people are those who say… at the beginning of the verse. This is with regards to the meaning of man (as it is grammatically singular), and the singular pronouns refer to it with regards to the word itself (as it is semantically plural).
Does not Allah know best what is in the breasts of the worlds? This is a rhetorical question which rejects their claim to be faithful on the basis that God knows best what is in their hearts and that their hearts do not contain faith.
Worlds (ʿālamīn) means the communities of human beings, the communities of various rational creatures, human or otherwise (such as the jinn and angels), and if it refers to all living creatures, whether aware or not, then the meaning of “breasts” (ṣudūr) is “cores” (bawāṭin), but this is unlikely.
وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ ١١
(29:11) Allah shall surely know those who have faith, and He shall surely know the hypocrites.
This belongs to the conclusion of the above verse, in other words: “With that, God can distinguish between the faithful and the hypocrites through testing and trials.”
This verse also alludes to the fact that those [who renounced their faith] are hypocrites and that is because their faith is contingent the absence of it being tested while they make a show of it being absolute and without limitation. However, testing the faithful is a divine habit which cannot be avoided.
It has been argued based on these two verses that this sūrah, or at least these verses of it, are Medinan. This is because the verse speaks about hypocrisy and hypocrisy only appeared in Medina after the migration. On the other hand, in Mecca before the migration, Islam had no power, the Muslims were weak, subjugated and suffering persecution, and the Prophet had no nobility or prominence in Arab society, especially amongst the Quraysh. With this in mind, what could possibly motivate someone to make a show of faith while he actually disbelieved? After all, God says in the previous verse: Yet if there comes any help from your Lord, they will say for sure, We were indeed with you (). This help means victory and spoils, and this took place in Medina, not Mecca.
Like these two verses is the verse Whoever strives, strives only for his own sake (). Again, this must necessarily be Medinian because fighting and jihād only took place in Medina after the migration.
This opinion is ill-considered for several reasons. Firstly, the discussion of hypocrisy (nifāq) that arises in this verse is a textbook example of hypocrisy; they claim “We have faith in God” but when they are tormented for their faith, they forsake it. This obviously could have happened as readily in Mecca as elsewhere but, in fact, the mention of torment and persecution could only refer to the situation of the Muslims in Mecca as this did not exist in Medina after the migration.
Secondly, God’s assistance (naṣr) is not limited only to conquest and spoils; it has many other instances in which God grants relief to His servants. However, the verse does not say anything to indicate this divine assistance has come to pass. When God says, …but when such a one is tormented in Allah’s cause, he takes persecution by the people for Allah’s punishment. Yet if there comes any help from your Lord, they will say for sure, We were indeed with you (), this indicates that persecution and harassment have occurred because God introduces them with the particle “when” (idha), which signifies their occurrence. Conversely, the coming of God’s help is introduced with the jussive conditional particle “if” (in), which signifies the possibility of something occurring rather than its actual occurrence.
As for the verse Whoever strives… (), we have already seen that this means the struggle of the self (jihād al-nafs) rather than armed struggle against the disbelievers. So the truth is that there is nothing in any of these verses to indicate that any part of this sūrah was revealed in Medina.
وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّبِعُوا سَبِيلَنَا وَلْنَحْمِلْ خَطَايَاكُمْ وَمَا هُمْ بِحَامِلِينَ مِنْ خَطَايَاهُمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ ۖ إِنَّهُمْ لَكَاذِبُونَ ١٢
(29:12) The faithless say to the faithful: Follow our way and we will bear your iniquities. They will not bear anything of their iniquities. They are indeed liars.
The faithless are the Meccan idolaters who persisted in disbelief from the first time they were invited to truth, and the faithful are those who believed in it from the first. Follow our way and we will bear your iniquities is an attempt to win the faithful over to their side and reassure them that if they do come back to polytheism and follow the way of the idolaters there will not be any negative consequences for them in any case; as if there is no iniquity in it, then there is no problem, and even if there is, they will bear responsibility for it on their behalf. This is why they did not say: “We will bear your iniquities if there are any” but instead made a categorical statement, saying they will bear all of their iniquities.
It is as though they mean to say: “Let us suppose that you following our way is a mistake, we will bear all the consequences for that on your behalf” or “…we will bear all your iniquities, including this one.”
They will not bear anything of their iniquities: It is a rejection of their offer we will bear your iniquities. And this is a rejection surrounded by an argument, namely that if following the way of the idolaters and forsaking their faith in God is an iniquity then the iniquity in the eyes of God belongs to those who gave up. Transferring the responsibility for this iniquity from them to someone else is something that requires God’s permission and consent, for it is He who will punish and requite them for that! So he states explicitly: They will not bear anything of their iniquities, and this negation includes all of their iniquities, not merely that of following the idolaters.
They are indeed liars because of their promise we will bear your iniquities, as this promise contains the implicit claim that their iniquities will be transferred to them if they agree to bear them, and that God will permit this.
وَلَيَحْمِلُنَّ أَثْقَالَهُمْ وَأَثْقَالًا مَعَ أَثْقَالِهِمْ ۖ وَلَيُسْأَلُنَّ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ عَمَّا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ١
(29:13) But surely they will carry their own burdens and other burdens along with their own burdens, and they will surely be questioned on the Day of Resurrection concerning that which they used to fabricate.
This verse continues the previous discussion rejecting the claim of the polytheists and serves as an addendum. In other words, they will not carry the actual iniquities of the faithful, as these belong to their doers. However, they will bear a burden similar to that of those who performed these iniquities without any weight being relieved from their doers; they will carry them in addition to their own burdens because they are not only astray (ḍāll) but have led others stray (muḍill) also.
This is verse is of a similar meaning to the verse: that they may bear their entire burdens on the Day of Resurrection, along with some of the burdens of those whom they lead astray without any knowledge ().
…and they will surely be questioned on the Day of Resurrection concerning that which they used to fabricated: Their polytheism is a form of fabricating a lie against God, as is their claim to have the power to alleviate the sins of others and that God will allow them to do that.
Examining narrations
- Ibn ʿAbbās and ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Zubayr said: Sūrah al-ʿAnkabūt was revealed in Mecca.
- Ibn ʿAbbās said: Sūrah al-ʿAnkabūt was revealed in Medina.
- Ibn Jurayj [Jarīḥ] said: The verse, Do the people suppose…was revealed about ʿAmmār b. Yāsir, who was persecuted due to [faith in] God.
- Al-Shaʿbī says: The verses, Alif, Lām, Mīm. Do the people suppose… were revealed about people in Mecca who had accepted Islam. When the verse of migration was revealed, the Companions of God’s Messenger in Medina wrote to them saying that their conversion to Islam would not be accepted until they emigrated. So those in Mecca set off for Medina, but the idolaters pursued them and detained them, so this verse was revealed. So the Companions wrote to them again saying “such and such a verse was revealed about you.” They responded: “We will set off [to Medina] and if anyone follows us, we will fight them.” So they set out, the idolaters pursued them and the two sides fought; some were slain and others were saved. Then the verse was revealed: Then indeed your Lord, to those who migrated, after they were persecuted, and waged jihad and were patient—indeed, after that, your Lord will surely be all-forgiving, all-merciful ().
- Qatādah said: Among the people there are those who say: We have faith in Allah …and He shall surely know the hypocrites (). These verses were revealed about people whom the idolaters had [forcibly] returned to Mecca, and these ten verses are Medinan.
- Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said concerning the verse Among the people there are those who say: We have faith in Allah (): Hypocrites in Mecca who believed but returned to disbelief and polytheism when they were persecuted and tormented by the idolaters out of fear that harm would come to them. They made the punishment inflicted by people in this world like the punishment of God in the next.
- Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ said: My mother said: “I will not eat food or drink water unless you disbelieve in Muḥammad!” So she stopped eating and drinking to the point that they had to force-feed her using a stick. Then the verse was revealed: We have enjoined man to be good to his parents… ().
- Al-Kalbī says: The verse Among the people there are those who say… () was revealed about ʿAyyāsh b. Abī Rabīʿa al-Makhzūmī. This is because he embraced Islam but feared his family, so he emigrated to Medina before the Prophet. His mother, Asmāʾ bt. Mukhrima b. Abī Jandal al-Tamīmī, swore that she would not eat or drink, nor wash her head, nor cover herself with a blanket until he returned to her. When her sons, Abū Jahl and Hārith b. Hishām (the maternal half-brothers of ʿAyyāsh), saw her distress, they set off after him until they came to Medina. There, they met him and told him what had happened. They remained with him until he took a pledge from them that they would not force him to renounce his faith and follow theirs—and his mother had gone three days before she ate and drank.
However, once they were clean of Medina, they seized him and bound him in manacles before each of them lashed him a hundred times until he renounced the religion of Muḥammad out of fear of another beating and said what he should not have said, then this verse came down. Ḥārith was the hardest on him, so ʿAyyāsh swore that if he ever found the opportunity outside of the Holy Sanctuary, he would surely strike his neck.
When they returned to Mecca, they remained a while. Then the Prophet and the faithful emigrated to Medina. ʿAyyāsh emigrated with them and his faith was sound. Then Ḥārith b. Hāshim embraced Islam and emigrated to Medina, but ʿAyyāsh was not present when he gave his pledge of allegiance to the Prophet Then, one day, ʿAyyāsh came upon him at Qabā and, not knowing he had converted, struck his neck. Someone told him that Ḥārith had converted, at which point ʿAyyāsh recoiled and began to weep. ʿAyyāsh went to the Prophet and told him what had happened, whereat the verse was revealed: A believer may not kill another believer, unless it is by mistake ().
Author’s comment: The divergence of the various narrations regarding the occasion of these verses’ revelation is plain to see, and we have already said that the tenor of these verses mark them out as being entirely Meccan in character.
- Muʿammar b. Khilād said: I heard Abū al-Ḥasan [Imam al-Riḍā] say: Alif, Lām, Mīm. Do the people suppose that they will be let off because they say, We have faith, and they will not be tested [yuftanūna]? () Then he said to me: “What is fitna?” I said: “May I be your sacrifice! Being tested (fitna) in religion!” He said: “They will be put into fire (fitna) as gold is put into fire.” Then he said: “They will be purified as gold is purified.”
- Imam al-Ṣādiq said: The meaning of tested is that they will suffer tribulations in their persons and their possessions.
- Al-Kalbī says concerning the verse …or confound you as factions … (): When this verse was revealed, the Prophet stood up, performed ablutions thoroughly, got up and prayed properly, then asked God not to send punishment from above them, nor from beneath their feet, nor confound them as factions, nor to make some of them taste the violence of others. Then Gabriel descended, but he did not rule out the last two punishments. So the Prophet said: “O Gabriel! How shall my umma endure while they kill one another?” Then he stood up and repeated his supplication and the two verses came down: Do the people suppose that they will be let off… (). He said: “There is no avoiding a test that will afflict the umma after its Prophet to determine the one who is truthful and the one who is a liar. For while revelation will be cut off, the sword will still remain. And the word will be disjointed until the Day of Resurrection.”
- Once a man stood up and asked Imam ʿAlī: “Tell us about the test (fitna). Did you ask the Messenger of God about it?” He replied: “When God sent down the verse Do the people suppose that they will be let off because they say: We have faith, and they will not be tested?,” I knew that the test would not befall us while God’s Messenger was amongst us. I said: “O Messenger of God! What is this test of which God informs us?” He said: “O ʿAlī! My umma will be tested after me.”
- Once a man asked Imam ʿAlī about some verses of the Qur’an, including the verse, Whoever expects to encounter Allah, Allah’s time will indeed come… (). He said: “It means whoever believes that He shall be resurrected, then God’s promise of reward and punishment is coming. Encountering God here is not through sight (ruʾya); encounter (liqāʾ) is the Resurrection. So know that whenever the Qur’an speaks about ‘encountering God,’ this means the Resurrection.”
Author’s comment: He intends by this to negate a sensory apprehension of God or any explanation of the Qur’an in line with this meaning.
- Tafsīr al-Qummī says regarding the verse, Whoever expects to encounter Allah…: Whoever likes to encounter God, its time will come. Whoever strives… against the pleasures and desires of his own self to avoid sinning …strives only for his own sake. Indeed Allah has no need of the creatures (). We have enjoined man to be good to his parents… ()—they are those who gave birth to him.
- Tafsīr al-Qummī says regarding the verse, The faithless say to the faithful: Follow our way and we will bear your iniquities (): “The faithless would say to the faithful: Be with us, for there is nothing for you to fear in the first place. If it is true, we will carry your sins for you! So God will punish them twice, once for their sins and once for the sins of others.”
- Abū Jahl and the worthies of the Quraysh would meet people when they went to the Prophet, greet them and say: “Do you know he forbids alcohol, fornication and the ways of the Arabs? Come back to us and we will bear your burdens!” So the verse came down: But surely they will carry their own burdens and other burdens along with their own burdens ().
- Ḥudhayfah said: At the time of the Messenger of God, once a man asked for help, but no one gave him anything. Then someone gave him something, whereby others followed suit. The Prophet said, “Whoever establishes a good custom that is practiced [afterwards] will have the reward of his act and the reward of anyone who follows him, without reducing anything from their reward. And whoever establishes an evil custom that is practiced [afterwards] will have the burden of his act and the burden of anyone who follows him, without reducing anything from their burden.”
Author’s comment: There are further narrations which convey the same meaning, some of which interpret the verse, But surely they will carry their own burdens and other burdens along with their own burdens ()—in like manner.
This means knowledge (ʿilm) as one of the divine attributes of act (ṣifāt al-fiʿl) as opposed to knowledge as one of the divine attributes of essence (ṣifāt al-dhāt). (Trans.) ↩︎
Al-Durr al-Manthūr, on the authority of Ibn al-Ḍarīs, al-Nuḥḥās, Ibn Mardawayh and al-Bayhaqī’s al-Dalāʾil. ↩︎
Rūḥ al-Maʿānī, on the authority of al-Baḥr al-Muḥīṭ. ↩︎
Majmaʿ al-Bayān. ↩︎
Al-Durr al-Manthūr, on the authority of ʿAbd b. Ḥumayd, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Ḥātim. ↩︎
Al-Durr al-Manthūr, on the authority of Ibn Jarīr. ↩︎
Al-Durr al-Manthūr, on the authority of Ibn Jarīr. ↩︎
Al-Durr al-Manthūr, on the authority of Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim and Ibn Mardawayh. ↩︎
Majmaʿ al-Bayān. ↩︎
Al-Kāfī, on the authority of “some of our companions,” on the authority of Aḥmad b. Muḥammad. ↩︎
Majmaʿ al-Bayān. ↩︎
Majmaʿ al-Bayān. ↩︎
This question was especially pertinent to the time of Imam ʿAlī, as the various civil wars that erupted between the Muslims were called fitna. Therefore the questioner is not asking for a theoretical explanation but rather is trying to understand the events unfolding in his own lifetime. (Trans.) ↩︎
Nahj al-Balāgha. ↩︎
Al-Tawḥīd, part of a longer hadith. ↩︎
Al-Durr al-Manthūr, on the authority of Ibn Abī Shaybah’s al-Muṣannaf and Ibn al-Mundhir, on the authority of Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah. ↩︎
Al-Durr al-Manthūr, on the authority of Aḥmad. ↩︎