Appearance
Verses 77–80
بِسۡمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate
The verses are connected to the preceding ones, and all together are in one context. These verses throw light on the affairs of another group of the believers of weak faith; they contain admonition and remind them that this world is transient while the blessings of the hereafter are ever-lasting; and they explain a Qur’anic reality concerning good and evil.
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ قِيلَ لَهُمْ كُفُّوا أَيْدِيَكُمْ وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ فَلَمَّا كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقِتَالُ إِذَا فَرِيقٌ مِنْهُمْ يَخْشَوْنَ النَّاسَ كَخَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ أَوْ أَشَدَّ خَشْيَةً ۚ وَقَالُوا رَبَّنَا لِمَ كَتَبْتَ عَلَيْنَا الْقِتَالَ لَوْلَا أَخَّرْتَنَا إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ ۗ قُلْ مَتَاعُ الدُّنْيَا قَلِيلٌ وَالْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لِمَنِ اتَّقَىٰ وَلَا تُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلًا ٧٧
(4:77) Have you not seen those to whom it was said: “Withhold your hands, and establish prayer and pay zakāt”; but when fighting is prescribed for them, lo! a party of them fear men as they ought to have feared Allah, or (even) a greater fear, and say: “Our Lord! why hast Thou ordained fighting for us Wherefore didst thou not grant us a delay to a near end?” Say: “The provision of this world is short and the hereafter is better for him who guards (against evil); and you shall not be wronged the husk of a date-stone”
To withhold hands implies refraining from fighting—as the killings (which are a part of fighting) are done by hands. This verse shows that the Muslims, when faced in the beginning with tyrannies and oppressions of the unbelievers, felt unable to restrain themselves and bear the oppressions with patience. They were eager to draw sword. But God ordered them to refrain from fighting; they were rather exhorted to establish the religious rites such as prayer and zakāt, in order to strengthen the religious tenets and faith and establish them on firm footing; only then would God allow them to fight His enemies. Otherwise, the structure of religion would crumble, its pillars would fall down and all its parts would deteriorate.
Obviously, the verses blame those believers: It were they who were impatient to fight the unbelievers, and did not like to withhold their hands even at a time when they did not have any power or armaments to stand before the enemies. But when fighting was prescribed and ordained, a group among them felt terrified of the enemy (who were human beings like themselves) as they should have feared God—or even a greater fear than that.
…and say: “Our Lord! why hast Thou ordained fighting for us”: Apparently, it is in conjunction with, a part of them fear men; this explanation looks more appropriate when we ponder on the change of tense from “fear men” (aorist tense) to “say” (which in original text is “said”, that is, past tense). Therefore, the complainants were those very people who in the beginning were so eager to fight and had claimed that they could not bear patiently all those tyrannies of unbelievers; and who at that time were told to restrain themselves.
Again, the sentence, [“Our Lord! why hast Thou ordained fighting for us Wherefore didst Thou not grant us a delay to a near end?”] may be an exposition of their hidden feelings and real condition. Or, it may be a narration of their actual saying. We find many dramatic expressions in the Qur’an.
The “end”—that is, death in normal way—is called “near”; it does not mean that they wanted deliverance from being killed so that they could live a little longer. Rather, it brings into open their feelings that even if they were not killed until they died a natural death, it would still be a short life and near end; so why was not God willing to let them live that short period? Why did He afflict them with quick death? Why did He put them in danger of being killed?
They speak in this manner because their hearts are entangled with this life—which in Qur’anic view is but a short provision which is going to end quickly without leaving any trace; and then will come the life hereafter which is the eternal and real life, the really good, rather better, life. That is why their views are rebutted in the words: Say: “The provision of this world is short”.
Say: “The provision of this world is short … the husk of a date-stone”: God orders the Prophet to reply to these people of weaker faith by exposing their misconception; by showing to them how mistaken they are in preferring this world’s short life over the dignity of jihād and martyrdom in the way of God. In short, they are expected to be pious in their belief, when compared to the hereafter, is a short provision, and the hereafter is better for pious ones who guard against evil. Therefore, they should opt for the hereafter which is better than the short provision of this world, for they are believers and on the path of piety. Do they fear that God will harm them or do injustice to them? Is it for this fear that they prefer immediate provision in their hands over the promised good? They should not entertain such ideas because God will never do any injustice to them even like the husk of a date-stone.
This description shows that the word, “for him who guards (against evil)”, in a way puts the adjective in place of its qualified noun in order to disclose the underlying reason of this statement and asserts its applicability to the subject in hand. The implication is this—and God knows better: The hereafter is better for you because you, being believers, are supposed to be the people of piety, and the piety makes one achieve the good of the hereafter. In a way, the words, “for him who guards (against evil)”, is an indirect criticism of that group.
أَيْنَمَا تَكُونُوا يُدْرِكْكُمُ الْمَوْتُ وَلَوْ كُنْتُمْ فِي بُرُوجٍ مُشَيَّدَةٍ ۗ وَإِنْ تُصِبْهُمْ حَسَنَةٌ يَقُولُوا هَٰذِهِ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ ۖ وَإِنْ تُصِبْهُمْ سَيِّئَةٌ يَقُولُوا هَٰذِهِ مِنْ عِنْدِكَ ۚ قُلْ كُلٌّ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ ۖ فَمَالِ هَٰؤُلَاءِ الْقَوْمِ لَا يَكَادُونَ يَفْقَهُونَ حَدِيثًا ٧٨
(4:78) Wherever you are, death will overtake you, though you are in lofty towers; and if benefit comes to them, they say: “This is from Allah”; and if a misfortune befalls them, they say: “This is from you.” Say: “All is from Allah;” but what is the matter with these people that they would not understand any matter?
al-Burūj is plural of al-burj (tower). It is constructed on forts with extremely strengthened foundation, for repelling the enemy from it and with its help. Its original meaning is show, appearance; and from it, is derived al-tabarruj (displaying the adornments, etc.). al-Tashyīd (setting up) is derived from al-shayd (mortar), because it strengthens and raises the building and decorates it. al-Burūju al-mushayyadah refers to strong lofty edifices built on forts into which man takes shelter from advancing enemy.
This sentence describes a reality wrapped in an example. The “lofty towers” stands for every strong edifice used as shelter against calamities. In short, it says: Death is something you cannot escape from even if you take refuge in strong shelters. Therefore, you should not think that if you were absent from battle-field or if jihād was not prescribed for you, you would have remained safe from death or that death could not have overtaken you. The death decreed by God will surely reach you.
…and if a benefit comes to them, they say: “This is from Allah;” and if a misfortune befalls them, they say: “This is from you.” Say: “All is from Allah”: Two more examples of their foolish talks have been quoted here, and then God orders His Prophet to give its rebuttal by describing the reality about benefit or harm which comes to a man.
The context shows that it was said by the same believers of weaker faith who are mentioned in preceding verses. It may be based on their actual words, or an inference from their behavior. There is nothing new in it, because Moses also was confronted with a similar accusation; as God has described in the Qur’an: But when good came to them they said: “This is due to us;” and when evil afflicted them, they attributed it to the ill-luck of Moses and those with him; surely their evil omen is only from Allah, but most of them do not know (). The same attitude is reported, from all nations vis-à-vis their prophets; and this ummah in its dealings with its Prophet was not behind other nations. God says: their hearts are all alike… (); moreover, they resemble most of all to the Children of Israel; and the Messenger of God has said: “They (the Israelites) would not have entered a burrow of a lizard but you too would enter it.” We have earlier quoted traditions to this effect from both sects.
Many exegetes have artfully tried to show that these verses were revealed about the Jews, or the hypocrites, or the Jews and the hypocrites together; but obviously the context rejects such interpretation.
In any case, the verse, in this context, shows that the benefit and misfortune here refer to some things which could be attributed to God; but they attributed one group, that is, benefits and good fortunes to God, and the other group, that is, harm and misfortunes to the Prophet. The good fortunes and misfortunes refer to those occurrences which they were faced with when the Prophet came to them and began raising the edifice of religion and spreading his Call through jihād; so these words refer, respectively, to victory and war-booty in the encounters and battles which they won, and being slain and wounded and getting troubles in the others. They attributed the misfortunes to the Prophet saying that it was his ill omen, or accusing him of unsound decision and mismanagement. God, then, ordered His Prophet to refute their claim in these words: Say: “All is from Allah.” These are the happenings and misfortunes arranged by the highest authority of this universe, that is, God alone, Who has no partner or colleague, inasmuch as all things submit to God only—and to no one else—in their existence, continuity and all forthcoming events and incidents. This is what the Qur’an teaches us.
Then He asks, like the one who is astonished to see their petrified understanding and dull mind: but what is the matter with these people that they would not understand any matter, and are unable to know and grasp such a clear reality.
مَا أَصَابَكَ مِنْ حَسَنَةٍ فَمِنَ اللَّهِ ۖ وَمَا أَصَابَكَ مِنْ سَيِّئَةٍ فَمِنْ نَفْسِكَ ۚ وَأَرْسَلْنَاكَ لِلنَّاسِ رَسُولًا ۚ وَكَفَىٰ بِاللَّهِ شَهِيدًا ٧٩
(4:79) Whatever benefit comes to you, it is from Allah, and whatever misfortune befalls you, it is from yourself; and We have sent you (O Prophet) to mankind as a Messenger, and Allah is sufficient as a witness.
It was told that: they would not understand any matter. Therefore, now that God intends to explain the reality, this verse particularly addresses the Prophet [in 2nd person singular] ignoring those people of low understanding. It explains the reality of good fortune and misfortune that come to a man. The Prophet is not different from others in this reality which is common to all existing things, or at least covers all human beings, believers and disbelievers, virtuous and evil, prophets and common men.
Good or beautiful are the things which man likes by nature, like health, bounties, security and comfort; and they are all from God. Evil or ugly are the things which he dislikes, like disease, humiliation, poverty and mischief; all this in final analysis is caused by man, and is not attributed to God. The verse, in this sense, is not very far from the verse: This is because Allah does never change a bounty which He has conferred upon a people until they change their own condition, and because Allah is Hearing, Knowing (). This reality is not contrary to another universal fact—that all good and evil emanates from God, when looked from another angle, as will be explained below.
…and We have sent you (O Prophet!) to mankind as a Messenger, and Allah is sufficient as a witness: Your only distinction, bestowed by Us, is that you are Our Messenger; you are responsible for conveying Our message to them; and your prestige is of the Divine Messengership. You do not have any other status, nor do you have any power in these affairs. Consequently, you are not responsible for any good luck or misfortune coming to them. You could not bring evil to the people nor can you keep any good away from them. It is an indirect refutation of those who attributed bad luck to the Prophet and said: “This is from you”, perceiving him as an ill omen. Then the refutation is strengthened with the words: “and God is sufficient as a witness”.
مَنْ يُطِعِ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدْ أَطَاعَ اللَّهَ ۖ وَمَنْ تَوَلَّىٰ فَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَفِيظًا٨٠
(4:80)Whoever obeys the Messenger, he indeed obeys Allah; and whoever turns back, so We have not sent you as a keeper over them.
A new sentence strengthens and reconfirms the preceding statement: and We have sent you to mankind as a Messenger. It also gives the reason for the order given here: You are but Our Messenger; whoever obeys you because of Messengership he indeed obeys Allah and whoever turns back, so We have not sent you as a keeper over them.
Obviously, the phrase, “Whoever obeys the Messenger”, is a sort of adjective put in place of its noun, and it points to the underlying reason of this declaration, as was the case with the sentence: and the hereafter is better for him who guards (against evil); and you shall not be wronged the husk of a date-stone. Accordingly, the theme continues in the same direction, without turning from 2nd person (and We have sent you) to the 3rd. (Whoever obeys the Messenger) and again to the 2nd (We have not sent you… ).
Discourse
The discussion “Attribution of Good and Evil to God” appears here in the printed volume. Read it in the Al-Mizan App.
Examining Narrations
- It is written in al-Durr al-manthūr under the verse, Have you not seen those to whom it was said: “Withhold your hands…”: It is narrated by al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abī Hātim, al-Hākim (who said that this tradition is ‘correct’) and al-Bayhaqī (in his al-Sunan) from ʿIkrimah from Ibn ʿAbbās that he said: ʿAbdu al-Rahmān b. ʿAwf and his group came to the Prophet and said: ‘O Prophet of God! We did have power when we were polytheists, but since we accepted the faith, we are humiliated.’ The Prophet said: ‘I have been ordered to forgive (them); therefore do not fight (these) people.’ When God brought him to Medina, He ordered him to fight. But then they withheld (their hands). So, God sent down the verse, Have you not seen those to whom it was said:…?
- ʿAbd b. Hamīd, Ibn Jarīr and Ibn al-Mundhir have narrated from Qatādah that he said about this verse: “There were some companions of the Prophet who were in a hurry to wage war while they were at Mecca before hijrah. They said to the Prophet, ‘Allow us to take (our) pickaxes in order to fight these polytheists.’ And we have been told that ʿAbdu al-Rahmān b. ʿAwf was among those who had said it. But the Prophet forbade them to do so and said, ‘I have not been ordered this.’ When hijrah came and they were ordered to fight, those people disliked it, and did in this connection what you have heard. Then God said: Say: ‘The provision of this world is short, and the hereafter is better for him who guard (against evil); and you shall not be wronged the husk of a date-stone.” (ibid.)
- Safwān b. Yahyā narrated from Abu al-Hasan that he said: “God, the High, has said: ‘O son of Adam! By My will you have become such that you wish and say; and by My power you discharged the duties imposed by Me (on you); and by My bounty you got power to disobey Me. Whatever benefit comes to you, it is from Allah; and whatever misfortune befalls you, it is from yourself. And it is so because I have more rights on your good deeds than you have yourself; and you are more liable to your sins than Me. And it is because I cannot be questioned concerning what I do, and they shall be questioned.’” (al-Tafsīr, al-ʿAyyāshī)
Author’s comment: A slightly different version of this tradition has been quoted in volume one of this book under the verse: Surely Allah is not ashamed to set forth any parable (), and we have discussed it there.
- [al-Kulaynī has narrated] through his chains from ʿAbdu al- Rahmān b. al-Hajāj that he said: “Trial and tribulation was mentioned near Abū ʿAbdillāh, and how God reserves it for the believer. [The Imām] said: ‘The Messenger of God was asked as to who was most severely put to trial in the world. He said: “The Prophets, then the closer to perfection, and then the closer; and the believer is put to test in promotion to his faith and the merit of his deeds; he whose belief is correct and his deeds good, his trial is harder, and he whose belief is feeble and his deeds weaker, his trial is lesser”.’ “ (al-Kāfī)
Author’s comment: There is the famous tradition of the Prophet: “The world is the prison of the believer and the paradise of the unbeliever.”
- It is narrated through several chains from the fifth and the sixth Imāms: “Verily when God, the Mighty, the Great, loves a servant, He immerses him in tribulation through immersing.” (ibid.)
al-Ṣādiq said: “The believer is but like the scale of a balance; the more his faith increases, the more his trouble increases.” (ibid.)
al-Bāqir said: “Verily God takes care of a believer through trials as a man takes care of his family through gifts during (his) absence; and denies to him the world as a physician denies harmful food to a patient.” (ibid.)
al-Ṣādiq said: “The Messenger of God has said: ‘God does not need a servant in whose property and body there is no share for God.’”
- ʿAlī b. al-Husayn has narrated from his father (peace be on both) that he said: “The Messenger of God has said: ‘If a believer were to live on a mountain, God, the Mighty, the Great, would surely send someone to him to annoy him, in order that He should give him [the believer] its reward.’ ” (ʿIlal al-sharāiʾ)
- al-Ṣādiq said: “Worries and griefs always remain with a believer until they wipe out his sins.” (Kitāb al-Tamhīs)
- The same Imām said: “A believer does not pass forty nights without some thing sorrowful happening to him, which reminds his Lord to him.” (ibid.)
- ʿAlī said: “Even if a mountain loved me it would break down.” Also, he said: “He who loves us, the Ahl al-bayt, should prepare for himself a cover against tribulation.” (Nahj al-balāghah)
Author’s comment: Ibn Abil-Hadīd says in his Commentary of Nahj al-balāghah: “It is confirmed that the Prophet had said to him [ʿAlī]: ‘No one will love you except a believer, nor will hate you except a hypocrite;’ and also it is definitely known that the Prophet had said: ‘Tribulation runs quicker to the believer than water to a downward slope.’ These two premises together lead us to the correct conclusion that even if a mountain were to love ʿAlī, it would break down.”
You should know that there are so many traditions of this theme, and they support the Commentary written above.
- Ibn al-Mundhir and al-Khatīb have narrated from Ibn ʿUmar that he said: “We were with the Messenger of God together with a group of his companions. He said: ‘O people! Don’t you know that I am the Messenger of God sent to you?’ They said: ‘Certainly.’ He (again) said: ‘Don’t you know that God has revealed in his Book that whoever obeys me, he obeys God’ They said: ‘Certainly. We bear witness that whoever obeys you, he obeys God, and that obeying you is a part of His obedience.’ Then he said: ‘So, it is a part of God’s obedience that you should obey me; and it is a part of my obedience that you should obey your Imāms; if they pray in sitting position, you should pray in sitting position.’ “
Author’s comment: The last sentence shows that it is obligatory to follow them completely.
al-Mīzān, (Eng.), vol.1, p.143. (tr.) ↩︎