4. Sura an-Nisa

Medina 92 [Hijra 4]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ قِيلَ لَهُمْ كُفُّواْ أَيْدِيَكُمْ ...

4: 77.  Hast thou not turned thy vision to those who were told to hold back their hands (form fight)

C595. Before the command for fighting was issued there were some who were impatient, and could scarcely be held back. They wanted fighting from human motives,- pugnacity, hatred against their enemies, the gaining of personal ends. Fighting from such motives is wrong at all times.

When the testing time came, and they had to fight, not for their own hand, but for a Sacred Cause, in which there was much suffering and little personal gain, the Hypocrites held back and were afraid.

... وَأَقِيمُواْ الصَّلاَةَ وَآتُواْ الزَّكَاةَ...  

but establish regular prayers and spend in regular charity?

... فَلَمَّا كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقِتَالُ إِذَا فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَخْشَوْنَ النَّاسَ كَخَشْيَةِ اللّهِ أَوْ أَشَدَّ خَشْيَةً...  

When (at length) the order for fighting was issued to them, behold! a section of them feared men as, or even more than, they should have feared Allah:

... وَقَالُواْ رَبَّنَا لِمَ كَتَبْتَ عَلَيْنَا الْقِتَالَ...  

they say: "Our Lord! why hast Thou ordered us to fight?

... لَوْلا أَخَّرْتَنَا إِلَى أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ ...

Wouldst Thou not grant us respite to our (natural) term, near (enough)?"

C596. "Our natural term of life," they would say, "is short enough; why should we jeopardize it by fighting in which there is no personal gain?"

The answer is begun in this verse and continued in the next. Briefly, the answer is:

1.     in any case the pleasures of this world are short; this life is fleeting; the first thing for a righteous man to do is to emancipate himself from its obsessions;

2.     to do your duty is to do right; therefore turn your attention mainly to duty;

3.     when duty calls for self-sacrifice, be sure that Allah's call is never unjust, and never such as to exceed your capacity; and

4.     if you fear death, you will not by fear escape death; it will find you out wherever you are; why not face it boldly when duty calls?

... قُلْ مَتَاعُ الدَّنْيَا قَلِيلٌ ...

Say: "Short is the enjoyment of this world:

... وَالآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لِّمَنِ اتَّقَى وَلاَ تُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلاً ﴿٧٧﴾

the Hereafter is the best for those who do right: never will ye be dealt with unjustly in the very least!

Asad’s Version:

4 : 77 Say: Brief is the enjoyment of this world, whereas the life to come is the best for all who are conscious of God - since none of you shall be wronged by as much as a hair's breath .