In this section of Surah an-Nisa’, after exposing the hypocrites and their desire to refer judgment to the Taghout rather than to Allah’s Book and His Messenger (saws), Allah states that if He had commanded them to kill themselves as atonement for associating partners with Allah in judgment – just as He had commanded the people of Musa (as) to kill one another as atonement for associating partners with Allah when they worshiped the calf – the hypocrites would not have done so except for a few of them. In his Tafseer of the statement of Allah "And if We had decreed upon them, “Kill yourselves” or “Leave your homes,” they would not have done it, except for a few of them", Imaam at-Tabari (rahimahUllah) paraphrases the meaning, saying, “And if We had obligated upon these ones who claim that they have believed in what has been revealed to you – those who refer judgment to the Taghout – that they must kill themselves, and had ordered them to do that, or that they must leave their lands, emigrating there from to another land, they would not have done so. He is saying: They would not have killed themselves by their hands nor would they have made Hijrah from their lands, departing from them to Allah and His Messenger out of obedience to Allah and His Messenger, except for a few of them.”
At-Tabari then reports that Mujahid (rahimahUllah) – one of the prominent Mufassireen among the Tabi'een – said that if they had been commanded to kill themselves “just as the companions of Musa were commanded to kill one another with daggers, they would not have done so except for a few of them.” [This is in reference to the statement of Allah, "And (recall) when Musa said to his people, “O my people, indeed you have wronged yourselves by your taking of the calf (for worship). So repent to your Creator and kill yourselves. That is best for (all of) you in the sight of your Creator.” Then He accepted your repentance; indeed, He is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful" [2:54]. Ibn ‘Abbas (ra) narrated that Musa (as) conveyed to his people Allah’s command that they must kill themselves, so those of them who had worshiped the calf sat down, and those who did not worship the calf took up daggers in their hands. An intense darkness then engulfed them and they began killing one another. The darkness then cleared away and they found that 70,000 had been killed. Every one of those who had been killed was forgiven, and every one of those who remained was forgiven (At-Tabari)]
At-Tabari also reports that as-Suddi (rahimahUllah) – another prominent mufassir from among the Tabi'een – said, “Thabit Ibn Qays Ibn Shammas (ra) and a man from the Jews boasted (to one another). The Jew said, ‘By Allah, indeed Allah decreed upon us saying, ‘Kill yourselves,’ so we killed ourselves!’ So Thabit said, ‘By Allah, if the statement ‘Kill yourselves’ were decreed upon us we would have killed ourselves!’” According to another Athar mentioned by at-Tabari, when such speech reached the Prophet (saws) he said, “Indeed, from my Ummah are men with Imaan planted more firmly in their hearts than the deep-rooted mountains.”
The
lessons contained in this Ayah are monumental. The Ayah contains a
subtle comparison between shirk in judgment, which has become so
widespread today among those who claim to follow the Prophet Muhammad
(saws), and between shirk in rites, which became widespread among
those who claimed to follow the Prophet Musa (as) when they suddenly
took up the worship of the golden calf. Allah is teaching the
Muslimeen that referring judgment to the Tawagheet is no less severe
in shirk than to worship an idol; thus, there is no difference
between the pro-democracy “Islamist” parties who refer
legislation to several dozen or several hundred elected officials
(“legislators”) and between the pagan Hindus who direct worship
to countless idols. Yet, out of Allah’s mercy, He did not impose
upon our Ummah such a difficult act of atonement for shirk as He did
for Bani Isra'il, but instead only requires that those who fall into
shirk abandon the act of shirk they committed and repent sincerely.
Furthermore,
by stating that only a few of the hypocrites would obey Him if He
were to command them to kill themselves or to perform Hijrah, Allah
is exposing the nature of the hypocrites who merely pay lip service
to the Deen without actually having obedience to their Lord. As such,
if they were to be faced with commands that entail a tremendous level
of difficulty and sacrifice, they would make excuses for
themselves rather than follow the clear revelation. This reinforces
the point that the true slave of Allah is one who neither questions
the wisdom in His commands nor hesitates to carry them out,
regardless of how difficult they may appear. It’s important to note
that many of those who claim to follow Allah and His Messenger (saws)
find it difficult to perform deeds – whether Hijrah or otherwise –
purely out of obedience to Allah and His Messenger (saws). They claim
that they must know the wisdom related to the deed – and
undoubtedly there is wisdom in all Allah’s decrees – but if they
can’t see it, or if they believe that this wisdom no longer applies
to the modern era or to their society, they neglect the deed,
discourage and mock those who perform it, and even wage war against
the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (saws), all the
while still claiming to be Muslimeen!
Those
who do this are of varying levels. There are those who are more
blatant in this regard and have no shame in declaring that the
Shari'ah is “barbaric,” or is inapplicable in our times, and
there are those who are more discreet, including many who reside in
the lands of Kuffr, refuse to perform Hijrah, and make all manner of
excuses in order to avoid such a lofty obligation. This, however, is
not surprising when one considers that the sacrifice and difficulty
entailed in making Hijrah is so great that Allah mentioned it in the
above Ayah alongside the order to kill oneself! Even the Prophets
(as) were not exempt from the difficulty involved in making Hijrah,
including the best of mankind who made Hijrah to a city whose
population included some treacherous Jews and hypocrites and was
surrounded by hostile Bedouin tribes after first leaving the
protection of his own tribe and relatives, facing an assassination
attempt, and seeking shelter in a cave for a number of days.
Performing
Hijrah is often a serious test of one’s Imaan and Tawakkul, and as
such, it requires a believer to prepare himself by ensuring that he
is ready to carry out the commands of Allah with nothing more than a
simple order, even if he doesn’t understand the whole wisdom behind
it. Allah says, "But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for
you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah
Knows, while you know not" [2:216]. Also, one can take
from the aforementioned narration of Thabit Ibn Qays that a believer
must demonstrate confidence in his willingness to obey Allah and His
Messenger (saws) in the most difficult of circumstances and not
second-guess himself, even when facing a hypothetical scenario. Doing
so does not constitute tazkiyat an-nafs (self-promotion) when
accompanied with a correct intention, such as for the purpose of
displaying honor and strength in front of the Kuffaar, as was done by
Thabit in front of the Jew, or for the purpose of inciting one-self
towards the obedience of Allah and His Messenger (saws), and this is
of even greater significance, for in the aforementioned Ayaat, Allah
says, "And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger – those will
be with the ones upon whom Allah has bestowed favor" [4:69], and in the Ayaat preceding this, Allah says, "And We did
not send any Messenger except to be obeyed by permission of Allah"
[4:64]. So the believer must be conscious of his level of
obedience to Allah and His Messenger (saws), and incite himself in
that regard.
Concerning
the words of Allah, "But if they had done what they were
instructed, it would have been better for them and a firmer position (for them in faith)" [4:66], at-Tabari mentions that
as-Suddi explained “a firmer position” to mean “a stronger
tasdeeq (affirmation of the truth).” This is appropriate, for
indeed one can affirm the truth of Islam with his words, but if this
is not backed by lofty deeds such as Hijrah then it is often merely
lip service, as mentioned earlier concerning the hypocrites. As such,
Allah is teaching us that by performing the deeds we’ve been
instructed to do – particularly the difficult ones that require a
greater level of obedience and sacrifice – the Muslim lends more
strength to his claim that he is a believer. As a result, Allah
grants him two tremendous favors, as mentioned in the two subsequent
Ayaat: "And then We would have given them from Us a great
reward. And We would have guided them to a straight path"
[4:67-68]
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