58 Al-Mujadalah (The Pleading)

Medina Period [105]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ تَوَلَّوْا قَوْمًا غَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِم...

58:14. Turnest thou not thy attention to those who turn (in friendship) to such as have the Wrath of Allah upon them?

C5354. This refers to the Hypocrites of Madinah who pretended to be in Islam but intrigued with the Jews.

See references as given in n. 5342 above.

C5355. By this time the Jews of Madinah and the Jewish tribes around had become actively hostile to Islam, and were being sharply called to account for their treachery.

...مَّا هُم مِّنكُمْ وَلَا مِنْهُمْ وَيَحْلِفُونَ عَلَى الْكَذِبِ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ ﴿١٤﴾

They are neither of you nor of them, and they swear to falsehood knowingly.

C5356. They knew that as Muslims their duty was to refrain from the intrigues of the enemies of Islam and to assist Islam against them.

أَعَدَّ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا إِنَّهُمْ سَاء مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ ﴿١٥﴾

58:15. Allah has prepared for them a severe Penalty: evil indeed are their deeds.

اتَّخَذُوا أَيْمَانَهُمْ جُنَّةً فَصَدُّوا عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ...

58:16. They have made their oaths a screen (for their misdeeds): Thus they obstruct (men) from the Path of Allah:

C5357. A false man, by swearing that he is true, makes his falsehood all the more heinous. He stands in the way of other people accepting Truth. He gives a handle to the cynics and the skeptics.

... فَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُّهِينٌ ﴿١٦﴾

therefore shall they have a humiliating Penalty.

لَن تُغْنِيَ عَنْهُمْ أَمْوَالُهُمْ وَلَا أَوْلَادُهُم مِّنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئًا...

58:17. Of no profit whatever to them, against Allah, will be their riches nor their sons:

C5358. They may arrogantly boast of riches of alliances and followers in man-power. But what are such worldly advantages before the Throne of the Disposer of all events? They must come to utter misery.

...أُوْلَئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ ﴿١٧﴾

They will be Companions of the Fire, to dwell therein (for aye)!

يَوْمَ يَبْعَثُهُمُ اللَّهُ جَمِيعًا فَيَحْلِفُونَ لَهُ كَمَا يَحْلِفُونَ لَكُمْ...

58:18. One day will Allah raise them all up (for Judgment): then will they swear to Him as they swear to you:

C5359. When Judgment is established, and before they the Truth, they may think (as now) that some oaths or excuses will save them. But they have not now-much less will they have then-any footing to stand upon. Falsehood is falsehood, and must perish. They must learn the worthlessness of their falsehood.

...وَيَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ عَلَى شَيْءٍ...

and they think that they have something (to stand upon):

...أَلَا إِنَّهُمْ هُمُ الْكَاذِبُونَ ﴿١٨﴾

No, indeed! they are but liars!

اسْتَحْوَذَ عَلَيْهِمُ الشَّيْطَانُ ...

58:19. The Evil One has got the better of them:

C5360. Man's original nature as created by Allah is good ( 30:30, and n. 3541). It is because man, in spite of the warnings he has received, allows Evil to get the mastery over him, that man forgets Allah and the divine qualities which Allah give him. The result of the perversion is that man becomes a partisan of Evil, and as such dooms himself to perdition.

... فَأَنسَاهُمْ ذِكْرَ اللَّهِ أُوْلَئِكَ حِزْبُ الشَّيْطَانِ...

So he has made them lose the remembrance of Allah. They are the Party of the Evil One.

...أَلَا إِنَّ حِزْبَ الشَّيْطَانِ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ ﴿١٩﴾

Truly, it is the Party of the Evil One that will perish!

Asad’s Version:

58:14

ART THOU NOT aware of those who would be friends with people whom God has condemned? 25 They are neither of you [O believers] nor of those [who utterly reject the truth]: and so they swear to a falsehood the while they know [it to be false].

58:14 God has readied for them suffering severe [in the life to come]. Behold, evil indeed is what they are wont to do:

(58:16) they have made their oaths a cover [for their falseness], and thus they turn others away from the path of God: 26 hence, shameful suffering awaits them.

58:17 Neither their worldly possessions nor their offspring will be of the least avail to them against God: it is they who are destined for the fire, therein to abide!

58:18 On the Day when God will raise them all from the dead, they will swear before Him as they [now] swear before you, thinking that they are on firm ground [in their assumptions]. 27 Oh, verily, it is they, they who are the [greatest] liars! 28

(58:19) Satan has gained mastery over them, and has caused them to remain oblivious of the remembrance of God. Such as these are Satan's partisans: oh, verily, it is they, the partisans of Satan, who will truly be the losers!

58:17 Neither their worldly possessions nor their offspring will be of the least avail to them against God: it is they who are destined for the fire, therein to abide!

58:20 Verily, those who contend against God and His Apostle - it is they who [on Judgment Day] shall find themselves among the most abject.

(58:21) [For] God has thus ordained: "I shall most certainly prevail, I and My apostles!" Verily, God is powerful, almighty!

[[Asad’s notes -

25 For the meaning of "God's condemnation", see note 4 on the last verse of Al-Fatihah. In this particular context, the ones "who would be friends with people whom God has condemned" are the half- hearted who - while dimly perceiving the truth of God's existence and self-revelation - are nevertheless unwilling to surrender themselves to this truth for fear of estranging themselves from their God-denying environment and, thus, of losing what they regard as the material advantages of a spiritually uncommitted life: and it is this moral falsehood to which the last sentence of this verse refers. (See also the last verse of surah 60.)

26 I.e., by sowing doubts in other people's hearts.

27 Namely, that their preference of worldly benefits to a spiritual commitment is "reasonable" and, therefore, morally "justified". It is to this flagrant self-deception that the next sentence refers.

28 The definite article al prefixed to the participial noun kadhibun indicates that the people thus characterized have reached the utmost degree of self-deception; hence my interpolation of the adjective "greatest" in consonance with Zamakhshari's interpretation of the above phrase. ]]