9. Surah At Tawbah

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَمِنْهُم مَّنْ عَاهَدَ اللّهَ لَئِنْ آتَانَا مِن فَضْلِهِ لَنَصَّدَّقَنَّ...   

9: 75.  Amongst them are men who made a Covenant with Allah that if He bestowed on them of His bounty, they would give (largely) in charity,

...وَلَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ ﴿٧٥﴾

and be truly amongst those who are righteous.

فَلَمَّا آتَاهُم مِّن فَضْلِهِ بَخِلُواْ بِهِ وَتَوَلَّواْ وَّهُم مُّعْرِضُونَ ﴿٧٦﴾

9: 76.  But when He did bestow of His bounty, they became covetous, and turned back (from their Covenant), averse (from its fulfillment).

فَأَعْقَبَهُمْ نِفَاقًا فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ إِلَى يَوْمِ يَلْقَوْنَهُ بِمَا أَخْلَفُواْ اللّهَ...   

9: 77.  So He hath put as a consequence hypocrisy into their hearts, (to last) till the day whereon they shall meet Him:

C1332. If men are false to their covenants and words, the natural consequence will be hypocrisy to cover their falsehood. Such consequences will last till the Day of Judgment, when they will have to account for their deeds.

They may think that they are deceiving men by their hypocrisy, but they cannot deceive Allah, to Whom all their most secret thoughts and plots and doings are known.

...مَا وَعَدُوهُ وَبِمَا كَانُواْ يَكْذِبُونَ ﴿٧٧﴾

because they broke their Covenant with Allah, and because they lied (again and again).

Asad’s Version:

Not Keeping Vows – Promise – Agreement terms – covenants

9: 75-77 And among them are such as vow unto God, “If indeed He grant us out of His bounty, we shall most certainly spend in charity, and shall most certainly be among the righteous!” But as soon as He has given them out of bounty, they cling to it niggardly, and turn away in their obstinacy: whereupon He causes hypocrisy to take root in their hearts, until the Day on which they shall meet Him – because they have failed to fulfill

the vow which they had made unto God, and because they were wont to lie.