Al Mizan an Exegesis of the Quran (volume Seven)

Volume 7: Ale-imran, Verses 156-164

O you who believe! be not like those who disbelieve and say of their brethren when they travel in the earth or engage in fighting. "Had they been with us, they would not have died and they would not have been slain;" so Allah makes this to be an intense regret in their hearts; and Allah gives life and causes death; and Allah sees what you do (156). And if you are slain in the way of Allah or you die, certainly forgiveness from Allah and mercy is better than what they amass (157). And if indeed you die or you are slain, certainly to Allah shall you be gathered together (158). Thus it is due to mercy from Allah that you are lenient to them, and had you been rough, hard-hearted, they would certainly have dispersed from around you; pardon them therefore and ask forgiveness for them, and take counsel with them in the affair; but when you have decided, then place your trust in Allah; surely Allah loves those who trust (in him) (159). If Allah assists you, then there is none that can overcome you, and if He forsakes you, who is there then that can assist you after Him? And on Allah should the believers rely (160). And it is not attributable to a prophet that he should defraud; and he who defrauds shall bring (with him) that which he has defrauded, on the Day of Resurrection; then shall every soul be paid back fully what it has earned, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly (161). Is then he who follows the pleasure of Allah like him who has brought upon himself the wrath from Allah, and whose abode is hell? And it is an evil destination (162). They are of (diverse) grades with Allah, and Allah sees what they do (163). Certainly Allah conferred (His) favor upon the believers when He raised among them a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His signs and purifying them, and teaching them the Book and wisdom, although before that they were surely in manifest error (164).

COMMENTARY

It is the continuation of the verses revealed especially about the battle of Uhud. It deals with another affair affecting them, i.e., the grief and sorrow that had overwhelmed them because so many of their braves and notables had been slaughtered. The overwhelming majority of the martyrs was from the Helpers; as reportedly no more than four of the Emigrants were martyred. It gives rise to the surmise that most of the resistance was from the Helpers' side and that the Emigrants had left the battleground long before them.

In short, these verses explain the error and mistake in sorrowing and grieving; then turn to another matter resulting from that grief, that is, their critical attitude towards the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a), thinking that it was he who had brought them to that disaster and put them into that perdition. It may be inferred from their talk alluded to herein: "Had they been with us, they would not have died and they would not have been slain." In other words, if they had listened to them and not obeyed the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a) they would have been alive today. It means that it was he who had led them to the slaughter.

The verses make it clear that it was not meet for the Prophet that he should deceive anyone; he is Allah's Messenger, noble of heart, sublime in character; he is lenient to them by mercy of Allah, pardons them and seeks Allah's forgiveness for them and takes their counsel by permission of Allah; and Allah has conferred His favor on them by sending him to them in order that he may take them out of error bringing them to the guidance.

QUR'AN: O you who believe! be not like those who disbelieve . . . and Allah sees what you do:

The word, "those who disbelieve", refers to the unbelievers not to the hypocrites, as some people think. It is not the hypocrisy, per se, which incites such talks — although the hypocrites had uttered these words. Such talk, in reality, is a product of disbelief. Thus it was necessary to ascribe it to the unbelievers.

ad-Darb fil-ard (lit., striking in the earth) metaphorically means travelling. Al-Ghuzza is plural of al-ghaizi (fighter) like at-talib and at-tullab or ad-darib and ad-durrab "so Allah makes this to be an intense regret in their hearts", i.e., so that Allah may punish them through this intense regret; it has thus put the means in place of the end. The words, "Allah gives life and causes death", explain the reality about which the unbelievers had gone astray, and had said, "Had they been with us, they would not have died and they would not have been slain.

" The words, "death", as used here, covers natural death as well as slaughter - we have explained earlier that when used alone, this word covers every type of death. The clause, "and Allah sees what you do", explains the reason for the prohibition contained in the words, "be not like those who disbelieve".

In the clause, "they would not have died and they would not have been slain", death is mentioned before slaying; the sequence follows that of the preceding clause, "when they travel . . . or engage in fighting". Also, unlike slaying (which is an abnormal happening) death is a natural and normal phenomenon; therefore the normal was mentioned before the abnormal.

The verse, in short, admonishes the believers not to be like the unbelievers; they should not say about someone who dies outside his home town or among strangers, or is slain when engaged in jihad, that if he had been with them he would not have died or been killed. This type of talk throws one into mental agony and divine punishment - it is the intense grief put in their hearts. Moreover, it emanates from sheer ignorance: Being near them or away from them neither gives life nor causes death. Giving life and death is among the affairs exclusively reserved for Allah - the One Who has no partner or colleague. Therefore, the believers should fear Allah and not be like the unbelievers; and Allah sees what they do.

QUR'AN: And if you are slain in the way of Allah or you die, certainly forgiveness from Allah and mercy is better than what they amass:

Obviously, "what they amass", refers to property and wealth as well as to its concomitants, as these are the best objects of desire in this life.

This verse mentions martyrdom before normal death, because being slain in the way of Allah is nearer to divine forgiveness compared to other deaths. This fine point has caused this change of sequence. Thereafter, the next verse, "And if indeed you die or you are slain. ..", reverts to the normal pattern, putting death before slaughter, because there is no such fine point there to justify any change.

QUR'AN: Thus it is due to mercy from Allah. . . should the believers rely:

"al-Fazz" (rude, rough); hard-heartedness metaphorically means unkindness, ill-nature and intolerance; al-infidad (to disperse).

The verse turns away from the believers, addressing the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) directly, although the real import is as follows: It is due to Our mercy that Our Messenger is lenient to you; that is why We have ordered him to pardon you, ask forgiveness for you and take counsel with you in the affair, and to place his trust in Us when he has taken any decision.

In spite of that meaning, the mode of address was changed (and we have explained this reason in the beginning of this topic of Uhud) because there is a current of censure, admonition and stricture running throughout the narrative, and the Qur'an turns its face from the believers whenever a chance occurs. This situation is one of them, because it touches a condition of theirs, which tends to put blame on the Prophet.

Their grieving for the slaughter of their martyrs might sometimes lead them to find fault with the Prophet's actions and to accuse him of bringing them to the hazardous eventuality where they were killed and extirpated. That is why Allah turned away from them and addressed His Prophet directly: "Thus it is due to mercy from Allah that you are lenient to them. . ."

This talk is based on another implied one which may be understood from the context: "If they are entangled, as you see, in such undesirable condition that they resemble the unbelievers and intensely grieve for their martyrs, then it is only due to Our mercy that you are lenient to them, otherwise, they would have dispersed from around you." (And Allah knows better).

The clauses, "pardon them therefore and ask forgiveness for them, and take counsel with them in the affair", endorse the precedent established by the Prophet, as he was doing all this from the beginning, and he had taken their counsel shortly before the battle of Uhud. The verse points to the fact that the Prophet does what he is told by Allah to do, and Allah is pleased with his performance.

Allah told His Prophet to pardon them (i.e., he should not mete out to them the consequences of their disobedience), and to ask Allah to forgive them (and in that case He would certainly do so). The word, although general and unrestricted, does not include the shari'ah's penal code and things like that; otherwise it would result in discarding the whole shari'ah. Moreover, the next clause, "and take counsel with them in the affair", implies that the preceding two orders too are related to the matters of government and public affairs — in which he is required to take counsel with them.

Now we have reached the last sentences: "but when you have decided, then place your trust in Allah, surely Allah loves those who trust (in Him)." When He loves, He will be your Guardian and Helper; and will never forsake you. The next verse makes it clear and even invites the believers to have trust in Him:

"If Allah assists you, then there is none that can overcome you, and if He forsakes you, who is there then that can assist you after Him?" Then He orders the believers to have trust in Him and says: "and on Allah should the believers rely." The sentence metaphorically puts the effect in place of the cause. They should rely on Allah because they believe in Him, and there is no helper or supporter except Him.

QUR'AN: And it is not attributable to a prophet that he should defraud . . . and Allah sees what they do:

"al-Ghill " (to defraud, to act faithlessly). We have mentioned in verse 3:79 (It is not meet for a man that Allah should give him the Book and the wisdom and prophethood, then he should say to men: "Be my servants rather than Allah's") that this mode of speech is intended to declare the purity and blamelessness of the Prophet showing that he was far removed from evil and indecency. This verse means as follows: Far be it from a prophet to defraud or be faithless to his Lord or the people (and defrauding the people too is another form of defrauding Allah); it is because he who defrauds will have to meet his Lord with that which he has defrauded and shall be paid back fully what he has earned.

Then He declares that accusing the Prophet of defrauding is an unjust and untenable idea, because he follows the pleasure of Allah, he never goes beyond His pleasure; and the man who defrauds, brings upon himself severe wrath of Allah and his abode is the hell, and it is an evil destination. The verse, "Is then he who follows the pleasure of Allah . . . ", gives the above connotation.

Then He says that the various groups (i.e., those who follow the pleasure of Allah and those who bring wrath of Allah upon themselves) are of diverse grades; and Allah sees what they do. The people should not think that Allah loses sight of even an iota of good or evil done by them; they should not be careless in following His pleasure or avoiding His wrath.

QUR'AN: Certainly Allah conferred (His) favor. . . they were surely in manifest error:

Again the mode of address has changed, taking the believers as absent. The general reason of such changes has already been explained. As for this particular verse, the reason is as follows: The verse intends to describe Allah's favor upon the believers - because of their belief. That is why it has used the adjective, "the believers", and not the verb, "those who believe", because only an adjective shows inseparable relationship, and only the adjective could show the causality (as has been said) or could show it more perfectly. The verse's meaning is clear.

There are other matters worth explaining in this verse; and, God willing, some will be given in appropriate places.