2
اَلْبَقَرَۃِ
The Cow

وَ مِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَّقُوْلُ اٰمَنَّا بِاللّٰهِ وَ بِالْيَوْمِ الْاٰخِرِ وَ مَا هُمْ بِمُؤْمِنِيْنَ۔ يُخٰدِعُوْنَ اللّٰهَ وَ الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا وَ مَا يَخْدَعُوْنَ اِلَّآ اَنْفُسَهُمْ وَ مَا يَشْعُرُوْنَ۔ؕ فِيْ قُلُوْبِهِمْ مَّرَضٌ فَزَادَهُمُ اللّٰهُ مَرَضًا وَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ اَلِيْمٌ٘ بِمَا كَانُوْا يَكْذِبُوْنَ۔ وَ اِذَا قِيْلَ لَهُمْ لَا تُفْسِدُوْا فِي الْاَرْضِ قَالُوْٓا اِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُصْلِحُوْنَ۔ اَلَآ اِنَّهُمْ هُمُ الْمُفْسِدُوْنَ وَ لٰكِنْ لَّا يَشْعُرُوْنَ۔ وَ اِذَا قِيْلَ لَهُمْ اٰمِنُوْا كَمَآ اٰمَنَ النَّاسُ قَالُوْٓا اَنُؤْمِنُ كَمَآ اٰمَنَ السُّفَهَآءُ ؕ اَلَآ اِنَّهُمْ هُمُ السُّفَهَآءُ وَ لٰكِنْ لَّا يَعْلَمُوْنَ۔ وَ اِذَا لَقُوا الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا قَالُوْٓا اٰمَنَّا وَ اِذَا خَلَوْا اِلٰى شَيٰطِيْنِهِمْ قَالُوْٓا اِنَّا مَعَكُمْ اِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِءُوْنَ۔ اَللّٰهُ يَسْتَهْزِئُ بِهِمْ وَ يَمُدُّهُمْ فِيْ طُغْيَانِهِمْ يَعْمَهُوْنَ۔ اُولٰٓىِٕكَ الَّذِيْنَ اشْتَرَوُا الضَّلٰلَةَ بِالْهُدٰى فَمَا رَبِحَتْ تِّجَارَتُهُمْ وَ مَا كَانُوْا مُهْتَدِيْنَ۔ مَثَلُهُمْ كَمَثَلِ الَّذِي اسْتَوْقَدَ نَارًا فَلَمَّآ اَضَآءَتْ مَاحَوْلَهُ ذَهَبَ اللّٰهُ بِنُوْرِهِمْ وَ تَرَكَهُمْ فِيْ ظُلُمٰتٍ لَّا يُبْصِرُوْنَ۔ صُمٌّ٘ بُكْمٌ عُمْيٌ فَهُمْ لَا يَرْجِعُوْنَ۔ اَوْ كَصَيِّبٍ مِّنَ السَّمَآءِ فِيْهِ ظُلُمٰتٌ وَّ رَعْدٌ وَّ بَرْقٌ يَجْعَلُوْنَ اَصَابِعَهُمْ فِيْٓ اٰذَانِهِمْ مِّنَ الصَّوَاعِقِ حَذَرَ الْمَوْتِ ؕ وَ اللّٰهُ مُحِيْطٌ٘ بِالْكٰفِرِيْنَ۔ يَكَادُ الْبَرْقُ يَخْطَفُ اَبْصَارَهُمْ ؕ كُلَّمَآ اَضَآءَ لَهُمْ مَّشَوْا فِيْهِ وَ اِذَآ اَظْلَمَ عَلَيْهِمْ قَامُوْا ؕ وَ لَوْ شَآءَ اللّٰهُ لَذَهَبَ بِسَمْعِهِمْ وَ اَبْصَارِهِمْ ؕ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ عَلٰى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيْرٌ۔

Some people say: “We believe in God and the Last Day,” while they are not believers. They would like to deceive God and those who believe, while they merely outwit themselves and do not even notice it! Their hearts contain malice so God has increased their [share of] malice. They will have painful torment because they have been lying.

Whenever someone tells them: “Don’t act so depraved on earth,” they say: “We are only improving matters!” They are indeed mischief makers, but they are not aware of it. When someone tells them: “Believe just as other people believe,” they say: “Are we to believe just as simpletons believe?” Surely they are the fools even though they do not realize it! 

Whenever they meet those who believe, they say: “We believe;” while once they go off alone with their ringleaders, they say: “We are with you; we were only joking!” God will joke with them and let them go on acting arrogantly in their blind fashion! Those are the ones who have purchased error at the price of guidance, while their bargain does not profit them nor have they been guided.

They may be compared to someone who kindles a fire, and once it lights up whatever lies around him, God takes away their light and leaves them in darkness. They do not see—deaf, dumb and blind will never respond!

Or to a raincloud from the sky containing darkness, thunder and lightning; they stick their fingers in their ears to ward off death of the thunderclaps, for God will soon be rounding up disbelievers. Lightning almost snatches their sight away—each time it lights things up for them, they walk along in it, while when darkness settles down on them, they stand stock-still. If God wanted, He would take away their hearing and eyesight; God is capable of everything!

For those who put worldly interests and expediency first, total and unconditional devotion to truth appears unwise, for their true allegiance is to their worldly interests; only on a superficial level can they attach themselves to the truth. They consider themselves clever. They think they are safeguarding themselves in this world, and also qualifying to be considered among the pious. But this is no more than wishful thinking; it is a figment of their imagination rather than a real fact of life. Every test in life removes them further from the path of true religion and brings them closer to their own world-oriented ‘religion’. Their hypocrisy is like a cancer which keeps on growing. They consider true believers, who act in the interests of truth, to be ruining themselves for no good reason. They call their own policy, on the other hand, one of reform; they prize it because it enables them to pursue a safe course without clashing with anyone; but this just shows how distorted their reasoning is. If they were to think deeply, they would realize that on earth reform can only come from man giving himself up to God alone, while obstructing any movement aimed at consolidating man’s relationship with the will of his Lord amounts to creating disorder on earth. Their seemingly profitable business is in fact running at a loss. For, they are forsaking pure truth for an adulterated version of it, which can benefit none.

They deceive themselves by imagining that their duplicity will safeguard their interests but obviously their policy will prove harmful in this world as well as in the next. A hypocrite might succeed in deceiving some people for some time but he cannot deceive all people for all times. When such a person is exposed, he loses all honor once and for all. As to the Hereafter, mere lip-service will carry no weight there because it is deeds alone that matter there.

A disease, the disease of hypocrisy; and “God is increasing their disease all the more” means that He does not punish the hypocrites for their hypocrisy immediately, but gives them respite so that when their duplicity appears to succeed apparently they become more and more convinced of its efficiency and they go on becoming more and more hypocritical in their attitude and conduct.

“Just as the other people of your nation have accepted Islam truly and sincerely, so should you also accept it truly and honestly, if you profess to accept it.”

They regarded as tools the people who had accepted Islam sincerely and exposed themselves to troubles, hardships and dangers. In their opinion it was nothing but folly to earn the hostility of the whole country merely for the sake of truth and righteousness. They considered it wisdom not to bother about the right and the wrong at all but to look only after one’s own interests.

Shayatin plural of Shaitan (Satan), is an insurgent, haughty and devilish person, or an evil genius. This word is used both for the men and the jinn (beings made of smokeless fire). Though it has mostly been used in the Koran for the jinn devils, in some places it has also been applied to human devils, and from the context it can easily be judged where it refers to human and where to jinn devils. Here it refers to the Arab chiefs who were in the fore-front in their opposition to Islam.

In a dark room black and white look the same, but as soon as the lights are turned on, black appears as black, and white as white. The same is true of the message of God, which was revealed to the prophets. The divine scriptures are God’s beacons to the world. When this light is shed upon mankind, guidance and error clearly appear for what they are. It becomes evident what good and evil deeds consist of, and what their consequences are. But some people, instead of bowing to the truth, want the truth to be subservient to them. The light of God only serves to confuse them. Their hidden jealousy and pride take hold of them. As soon as they see themselves in the divine mirror, their negative sentiments are aroused. Deep-rooted prejudices overcome their senses. They have eyes, but cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear; they have tongues, but cannot speak. They can neither hear the call of truth, nor respond to it in any way, nor can they find their way by any sign from God. Instead of reflecting upon the call of truth, as they should do, they evade it either by attaching no importance to it, or by not listening to it at all.

The first parable means that when a person, Muhammad (God’s peace be upon him), spread the light of Truth that discriminated right from wrong and virtue from vice, those who used their faculties properly began to distinguish between these things. But the hypocrites, who were blinded by self-interest, could not see the right path even with the help of this light. “God took away the light from their eyes” should not cause one the misunderstanding that the responsibility of not seeing the truth did not lie on them. God deprives of the sight only him who is not himself a seeker after truth, who chooses error for himself instead of guidance, who shuts his eyes to the truth. When they themselves turned away from the light of truth and chose to wander only in the darkness of falsehood, God also let them go astray. 

They are like the “deaf” to hear the Truth, “dumb” to speak the Truth and “blind” to see the Truth—even though they entirely possess these senses. By thrusting their fingers into their ears, they delude themselves for a while that they have escaped destruction. But they cannot, in fact, save themselves because God, with all His powers, is encircling them on all sides.

The first parable depicts those hypocrites who in their inmost hearts did not believe in Islam at all, but had become ‘Muslims’ for the sake of self-interest or expediency. The second parable gives a description of those hypocrites who were suffering from doubt, suspicion and lack of faith. Though they were not wholly unbelievers, they practiced Islam only to the extent which might not involve them in trouble. In this parable rainfall stands for Islam which came as a blessing to humanity; pitch darkness, thunder and lightning stand for the impending obstacles, the threatening dangers and the glaring difficulties which were being experienced on account of the strong resistance from the opponents of Islam. When the situation eased a little, they began to move onward on the path of Islam, but when the clouds of difficulties began to appear, or when they were given such commands as were against their self-interest or their superstitious beliefs and prejudices, they again stood still in sheer perplexity.

Fear is another factor which prevents them from acknowledging the truth. Rain is a wonderful blessing of God. But with rain, come thunder and lightning, which terrify faint-hearted people. God’s word as revealed to His prophets affects them similarly. On the one hand, it holds out to man the promise of great success, but on the other hand, its acceptance places man temporarily at risk: there is the fear of losing one’s worldly position; of clashing with the conventional set-up. Fear of these things sometimes makes one halt, and sometimes makes one move hesitantly on. But such caution cannot help one. Those who do not respond to God’s call open-heartedly shall be deprived of God’s blessings in this world as well as in the Hereafter.

God could, if He so willed, totally deprive these hypocrites also of the power to see the Truth just as He deprived the hypocrites described in the first parable. But God does not do so because it is His will to give them respite to see the Truth and hear the Truth to the extent they want to see and hear it. That is why He left them with only as much power as they made use of in seeing and hearing the Truth.