9. At-Tawba

Commentary

The four verses cited above mention how astray the learned and the devoted and the abstaining among the Jews and Christians had gone and what blasphemies of word and deed they had come up with. The word: اَحبَار (ahbar) is the plural form of حبر (hibr) and رھبان (ruhban) is the plural of راھب (rahib). Hibr refers to a religious scholar among the Jews and Christians while a rahib denotes someone who devotes to worship and abstains from a worldly role in life.

In the first verse (31), it has been said that these people have taken their rabbis and monks as gods beside Allah and they have done the same with Sayyidna ` Isa ibn Maryam (علیہما السلام) whom they have given the status of their Lord. This is, of course, obvious in the case of Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) whom they took to be the son of God and did not demur from saying so. As for the charge against them that they had taken their rabbis and monks as gods, it has its reason. They used to call them as their Lord in clear terms, but even if it is presumed that they did not believe their religious leaders to be their gods, they had virtually transferred to them the right to be obeyed which is the right of Allah Jalla Thana'uh, absolutely and exclusively. They would, so to say, follow the dictates of these leaders under all circumstance - even if their dictates happen to be against Allah and His Messenger. With that attitude, one is bound to land in a valley of no return. How can one go about obeying someone even if that person says things contrary to the dictates of Allah and His Messenger? And how can one who has reached this ultimate limit still not refuse to obey that person? This is like taking someone as god - an act of flagrant blasphemy, an open kufr.

This tells us that the present verse is not related in any way to the popular religious issue of following a particular juristic school (taqlid) which has two main aspects. Firstly, common people who are not aware of religious precepts and their details trust ` Ulama' and follow their fatawa. Secondly, Mujtahid Imams are followed in juristic issues requiring Ijtihad. So, this verse has no bearing on that count because such following is, in real terms, nothing but the following of the dictates of Allah and His Rasul Those whom Allah has blessed with knowledge and insight have a direct access to the original resources of Shari'ah whereby they know what Allah and His Rasul have said. They see it and act accordingly. The unaware masses act in accordance with the same injunctions by asking those who have knowledge. Then, there are those who have knowledge but are not competent enough to occupy the station of Ijtihad, they too follow the Mujtahid Imams in matters requiring ijtihad. This following is in accordance with the injunction of the Holy Qur'an and is nothing but obedience to Allah Ta` ala - as says the Qur'an: فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ‌ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ. It means: ` If you yourself are not aware of the injunctions of Allah and the Messenger, act by asking the people of knowledge 1- 16:43.'

1. The basic point of difference is that the one who follows an imam does not believe him to be an independent point …

Then, it was said that these people chose to take the way of error although they were asked by Allah to worship only one God who is free and pure from what they associated with Him. This verse limits itself to saying that they followed the false and obeyed people other than Allah, something they were not permitted to do. In the verse that follows (32), mentioned there is another error they make. It is said that they do not stop at the error they have already made. They, rather, like to compound their errors when they try to subvert Divine guidance and black out the Faith of Truth. The statement has been dressed in a si-militude - ` they want to blow out the Light of Allah with their mouths' - although, this is something they cannot do. Allah Ta` ala has already decided that He shall see to it that His Light, that is, the Religion of Islam, reaches its perfection, no matter how displeasing this may turn out to be for those who disbelieve.

In the fourth verse (34), the address is to Muslims but the subject taken up concerns the conduct of rabbis and monks among the Jews and Christians, a conduct which led common people astray. Perhaps, the address to Muslims indicates a purpose behind the description of the conduct of Jewish rabbis and Christian monks. The purpose is to warn them as well in order that they too remain alert against such conditions prevailing among Muslims.

The verse states that many rabbis and monks among the Jews and Christians eat up the wealth of the people by false means and prevent (them) from the way of Allah.

Most rabbis and monks among the Jews and Christians were involved in this practice - and under such conditions, people generally tend to make a sweeping statement and call everyone bad. But, at this place, the Holy Qur'an, by adding the word: کَثیِرا (kathira: many), has prompted Muslims to mind their words even when dealing with enemies. It was clearly demonstrated here by not attributing the practice to all of them. Instead, what was said here was that many of them do so. Then, it was said that they were not doing the right thing when they eat up the wealth of people by false means. ` False means' refers to their practice of giving fatwa (religious edict or ruling) counter to the injunction of Torah, for money. In doing so, on occasions, they would misinterpret Divine injunctions through concealment and falsification. Further on from here, yet another error of their conduct was pointed out by saying that they were unfortunate people who, not only that they themselves had gone astray but were also ready to prevent others from seeking the way of Allah in the hope of finding right guidance. The reason is that people, when they see their leaders doing things like that, the inherent love for truth in them dies out. In addition to that, when they start basing their conduct on such false rulings, they end up taking that error and waywardness to be as good as correct.

Since this disease among the rabbis and monks of the Jews and Christians - that they give false rulings for money - showed up because of worldly greed and love for money, the verse takes up the subject in its own way. It says that excess in love for money and property produces bad results, even punishment if not spent in the way of Allah, and suggests how to get rid of this disease. The exact words of the text are:

وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلَا يُنفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّـهِ فَبَشِّرْ‌هُم بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ

As for those who accumulate gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah, give them the ` good' news of a painful punishment.

The words: وَلَا يُنفِقُونَهَا (and do not spend it) indicate that people who spend in the way of Allah as necessary, for them the rest of their accumulated wealth brings no harm.

In Hadith too, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has said: Wealth for which Zakah has been paid is not included under: کَنَزتُم (kanaztum: you have accumulated). (Abu Dawud, Ahmad and others)

This tells us that keeping wealth which remains after taking out Zakah is no sin.

The majority of Muslim jurists and Imams have taken this approach. It should be noted …

Explained in the fifth verse (35) is the detail of the ` painful punishment' referred to at the end of verse 34. There, it has been said: يَوْمَ يُحْمَىٰ عَلَيْهَا فِي نَارِ‌ جَهَنَّمَ فَتُكْوَىٰ بِهَا جِبَاهُهُمْ وَجُنُوبُهُمْ وَظُهُورُ‌هُمْ ۖ هَـٰذَا مَا كَنَزْتُمْ لِأَنفُسِكُمْ فَذُوقُوا مَا كُنتُمْ تَكْنِزُونَ ﴿35﴾(on the day it will be heated up in the fire of Jahannam, then their foreheads and their sides and their backs shall be branded with it: "This is what you had accumulated for yourselves. So, taste what you have been accumulating". It means that this ` painful punishment' will be for those who do not pay Zakah. It will come on a day when the gold and silver accumulated by them will be heated up in the Fire of Jahannam.

Then, their foreheads, sides and backs shall be branded with it, and they shall be told, as a sort of verbal punishment, that it was what they had accumulated for themselves, and in consequence, they better have a taste of what they had accumulated. The return of a deed is the deed itself. That which was accumulated illegally or that which was accumulated legally but without having paid its Zakah ultimately became, by itself, the punishment of these people.

In this verse, mention has been made of branding foreheads, sides and backs. Either it means the whole body or these three parts have been particularized for the reason that a miser who does not like to spend his wealth in the way of Allah would usually greet a needy visitor looking for charity or Zakah with a forehead all wrinkled with distaste. After that, when to avoid him, he tries to turn away to the right or the left side. And if the needy person still persists, he would turn his back on him. Perhaps, the forehead, the sides and the back were thus particularized for this punishment.

Commentary

Mentioned in the previous verses were the errors and misdeeds of disbelievers and Mushriks who persisted with their disbelief and kept associating others in the pristine divinity of Allah. In the present two verses, mentioned there is another bad custom prevailing in Arabia since its age of ignorance - which Muslims have been instructed to ab-stain from. That bad custom relates to a chain of happenings. Details go back to the distant past since when a year was accepted as having twelve months by the religious codes of all past prophets. Out of these twelve months, four were considered sacred, therefore, worthy of great reverence. They were three consecutive months of Dhu al-Qa'dah, Dhu al-Hijjah, Muharram, and the month of Rajab.

All religious codes of past prophets agree that every act of worship during these four months is more reward-worthy - and should someone commit a sin during these months, the curse and punishment resulting from it is also more blameworthy. Under these past religious codes, fighting and killing was prohibited during these months.

Since the Arabs of Makkah al-Mukarramah are the progeny of Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) through Sayyidna Ismail (علیہ السلام) they all professed belief in Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) as a prophet and messenger of Allah and claimed to follow his Shari` ah. However, as fighting, killing and hunting was also prohibited during these four sacred months among the followers of the Ibrahimi community, the people of the Arab age of ignorance found the implementation of this injunction extremely hard. The reason was that, during the pagan period, fighting and killing had become the only vocation for them. Therefore, in order to make this restriction somewhat easy on them, they spun out all sorts of excuses to satisfy their self-serving motives. Whenever they needed to fight during one of the sacred months, or whenever a sacred month approached while they were already fighting, then, they would say: This year, this month is not sacred. The next month will be the sacred one. For example, when Muharram arrived, they would say that ` this year, the month of Muharram is not sacred, instead of that, the month of S afar will be sacred'. And if they had some other exigency, they would say, ` this year, the month of Rabi' al-Awwal will be sacred;' or say, ` this year the month of Safar has come earlier and Muharram will come later.' Thus, in one stroke, they made the month of Muharram the month of Safar! In short, they would somehow complete the count of four month during one year, but would not bother to retain the order and signification of what was divinely determined. It was up to them to give any name to any month, call it Dhu al-Hijjah or call it Ramadan or make one come earlier and make the other come later. If another emergency came, for example, when they would remain en-gaged in fighting for a period as long as ten months leaving only two months to the year, then, on this occasion, they would increase the number of months in a year saying, ` this year will be of fourteen months.' In this way, they would make the remaining four months the sacred months.

In short, they did show …

The second verse (37) also refers to this very custom of Jahiliyyah by saying: اِنَّمَا الںَّسِٓیُ زِیَادَۃُ فِی الکُفرِ (... is nothing but an increase in the infidelity). The word: نَسِیی (nasi’) is a verbal noun that means to move back or postpone. It is also used in the sense of that which is delayed (mu'akhkhar).

By putting these months back and forth, the Mushriks of Arabia thought, they would be achieving two things - that it will serve their material interests and that it would also give them the credit of complying with the Divine injunction. This approach was not approved by Allah Ta` ala for their act of postponing and moving months from where they belonged was nothing but an addition to their stance of denial which was going to lead them further astray. That they go about declaring that a sacred month was not sacred in some year and then be ready to name it as sacred in some other year was simply unacceptable. The sentence: لِّيُوَاطِئُوا عِدَّةَ مَا حَرَّ‌مَ اللَّـهُ (so that they may conform [ only ] to the number of what Allah has sanctified) following soon after means that a mere act of conforming to the given number cannot stand for the correct compliance of the injunction. The truth of the matter is that the month for which the injunction has been given should be the month in which the injunction must be carried out. This is imperative.

Injunctions and Rulings

The verses cited above prove that the order of months and the names by which they are known in Islam should not be taken as terms coined by human beings. In fact, the day the Lord of all the worlds created the heavens and the Earth, He had also settled this order and these names and, along with it, particular injunctions to be carried out during particular months. From here, we also come to know that, in all Islamic legal injunctions, only lunar months are credible in the sight of Allah Ta'ala. In other words, all injunctions of the Shari’ ah of Islam - such as, fasting, Hajj, Zakah and many others - relate to the lunar calendar. But, when it comes to finding out the day, date and year, the way the Holy Qur'an has declared the Moon as its indicator, it has, very similarly, identified the Sun too as the other sign: لِتعلَمُوا عَدَہَ السِّنِینَ وَالحِسَاب (so that you may know the number of years and the count [ of time ] - 10:5). Therefore, keeping track of days and years through a lunar or solar calendar is equally permissible. But, Allah Ta` ala has favored the lunar calendar for His injunctions and has made it the pivot round which the laws of the Shari’ ah of Islam revolve. Therefore, the preservation of the lunar calendar is Fard al-Kifayah (a religious obligation which, if fulfilled by some, will absolve others). If the entire community of Muslims were to abandon the lunar calendar and forget all about it, then, everyone will be a sinner. However, if it remains viably preserved, the use of another calendar is also permissible - but, there is no doubt that it is against the way of Allah and the way of the worthy forbears of Islam - therefore, it is not good to opt for it unnecessarily.

The month intercalated to complete the count of years has also been …

Commentary

The verses quoted above describe an important battle from among those fought by the Holy Prophet As a corollary, also given there are many injunctions and instructions. This battle is known as the battle of Tabuk and is almost the last battle of the Holy Prophet ﷺ .

Tabuk is the name of a place located close to the Syrian border towards the north of Madinah. Syria was, at that time, a province of the government controlled by Byzantine Christians. When the Holy Prophet ﷺ reached Madinah in the 8th year of Hijrah after the conquest of Makkah and the battle of Hunain, that was a time major parts of the Arabian Peninsula had come under the control of the Islamic state. This was a period of some peace Muslims could enjoy after their eight year long battles against the Mushriks of Makkah.

But, destiny has its own workings. Is it not that Allah had already revealed about the blessed person of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . لِیُظھِرَہ عَلَی الدِّینِ کُلِّہِ (so that He makes it prevail over every faith - 9:33, 48:28, 61:9) which was the glad tidings of a world of victories and the ascendancy of the Faith of Truth? The Prophet ﷺ and his companions in the mission would hardly have the respite to relax. Soon after they reached Madinah, Syrian traders of olive oil informed them that the Byzantine ruler, Hiraql had assembled his forces at Tabuk on the border of Syria. They were also told that soldiers of the Byzantine army had been placated by the payment of advance salaries for one year and that they had sinister understanding with some Arab tribes and that they all had plans to mount a surprise attack on Madinah.

When this information reached the Holy Prophet ﷺ he decided that their attack plans should be pre-empted and they should be challenged where they are gathered together with their forces. (Tafsir Mazhari, with reference to Muhammad ibn Yusuf Salihi)

By chance, this was a terribly hot summer. People in Madinah were generally devoted to agriculture. Their farms were close to being harvested. On this depended their economy, rather the sustenance of the whole year. Like people in vocations who have empty pockets by the end of the month, people who depend on agricultural produce are empty-handed close to the harvesting time. On the one hand, they have poverty while on the other, they have hopes of income in the near future. Then, there was this scorching heat of the summer for a people who had their first breather after eight years of incessant wars. No doubt, this was an exacting trial.

But, equally crucial was the time. This Jihad was different. It was not like the wars they had fought before. At that time, they were fighting common people like them. Here, they were to confront the trained armed forces of Hiraql, the ruler of Byzantine. Therefore, the Holy Prophet ﷺ ordered all Muslims of Madinah to come out for this Jihad. He also invited some other tribes living around Madinah to join in.

This general call was a tough test for those who were willing to make sacrifices for Islam as well as a challenge to the hypocrites who would have to prove their claim to be Muslims by joining the Jihad or be exposed as false pretenders. Apart from this …

It is interesting that the modern world would very much like to eradicate crimes but it would do so by not having to bother about God and the Hereafter. To achieve this purpose, it invents, introduces and surrounds itself with things to live with - a lifestyle which would never allow human beings to turn their attention towards God and Hereafter. The result of this negative approach is no mystery. We are watching it with our own eyes. Even in the face of ever better laws, all legal systems seem to be failing. Crimes are there as they were, in fact, they are increasing with dangerous speed. To conclude, we wish that intelligent people among countries and nations of the world would think of using this Qur'anic prescription, at least for once, and discover for themselves how easily crimes can be controlled.

Now, as we move to the second verse (39), the text has, after serving a notice of warning to the lazy and the listless about their disease and its treatment, delivered its verdict by saying:

` If you do not come out for Jihad, Allah will have you go through a painful punishment and bring in your place a nation other than you, and (by your refusal to follow Islam) you can bring no loss to Allah (or His Messenger) because Allah is powerful over everything.'

In the third verse (40), by citing the event of the Hijrah of the Holy Prophet, it has been stressed that the Rasul of Allah has no need to depend on any human help and support. Allah can help him directly through unseen factors - as it happened at the time of Hijrah when his own people had forced him to leave his homeland. On this journey, the only companion he had was Sayyidna Abu Bakr ؓ the true one. Enemy foot soldiers and riders were looking for them in hot pursuit. The place to hide he had found was no fortified fortress. It was just a cave and the enemy search party had reached close to its edges. Inside it, the companion of the cave, Sayyidna Abu Bakr ؓ was worried, not for his own safety, but about his master. He was in fear lest the enemy outside were to harm the Holy Prophet ﷺ . But, the master himself was sitting calm like a mountain at peace. Not simply that he was himself cool and collected, he was telling his companion, Sayyidna Abu Bakr: ؓ لَا تَحْزَنْ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ مَعَنَا (` la tahzan innallaha ma` ana': Do not grieve. Allah is with us).

What has been said here is composed of a couple of words, easy and effortless as they sound. But, let those listening place the blueprint of conditions prevailing before their eyes, cross their hearts and ask: Can someone dependent on mere material means be that tranquil? Every honest person would say that it was just not possible. The reason for this was no other but that which the Qur'an has given in the next sentence:

So, Allah sent down His tranquility on him and strengthened him with troops you did not see ...

These troops could be troops of angels, and of the elemental forces of the entire universe too - for they are, so to say, a virtual army of Allah. When this happened, the ultimate came to be. The word of disbelievers was rendered low and the word of Allah remained the highest.