33. Al-Ahzab (The Confederates)[73 verses]

Medina Period 90 [3-7 Hijrah]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

لَئِن لَّمْ يَنتَهِ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ...

33: 60. Truly, if the Hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease,

...وَالْمُرْجِفُونَ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ لَنُغْرِيَنَّكَ بِهِمْ...

and those who stir up sedition in the City, desist not, We shall certainly stir thee up against them:

C3768. It was necessary to put down all kinds of unseemly conduct in the Prophet's City. And here is the wanting in the plainest terms. And the warning had its effect.

The "Hypocrites" were men who pretended to be in Islam but whose manners and morals were anti-Islamic. Those "with diseased hearts" may have been the ones that molested innocent women.

"Those who stiffed up sedition" put false rumours in circulation to excite the crowd.

Alas! we must ask ourselves the question: "Are these conditions present among us to-day?"

...ثُمَّ لَا يُجَاوِرُونَكَ فِيهَا إِلَّا قَلِيلًا ﴿٦٠﴾

then will they not be able to stay in it as thy neighbors for any length of time:

مَلْعُونِينَ...

33: 61. They shall have a curse on them:

C3769. They will be deprived of the blessing and guidance of Allah.

They sought to cause disorder in Allah's world-moral as well as material; but they will themselves be destroyed.

Those who become outlaws, rebels against the Law, will themselves be destroyed by the Law. Capital punishment is the only adequate punishment for treason and crimes of sustained concerted violence - for the protection of the hearts and homes of innocent citizens and the honour of their women.

...أَيْنَمَا ثُقِفُوا أُخِذُوا وَقُتِّلُوا تَقْتِيلًا ﴿٦١﴾

wherever they are found, they shall be seized and slain (without mercy).

Asad’s Version:

33:60 THUS IT IS: if 7S the hypocrites, and they in whose hearts is disease, 77 and they who, by spreading false rumours, would cause disturbances 78 in the City [of the Prophet] desist not [from their hostile doings], We shall indeed give thee mastery over them, [O Muhammad] - and then they will not remain thy neighbours in this [city] for more than a little while: 79

(33:61) bereft of God's grace, they shall be seized wherever they may be found, and slain one and all."

[[ Asad’s notes --

76 For my above rendering of la'in, see surah 30, note 45. With this passage, the discourse returns to the theme touched upon in verse 1 and more fully dealt with in verses 9-27: namely, the opposition with which the Prophet and his followers were faced in their early years at Yathrib (which by that time had come to be known as Madinat an-Nabi, "the City of the Prophet").

77 See note 16 above.

78 Thus Zamakhshari, explaining the term al-murjifun in the above context.

79 I.e., "there will be open warfare between thee and them", which will result in their expulsion from Medina: a prediction which was fulfilled in the course of time.

80 Lit., "slain with [a great] slaying". See in this connection note 168 on 2:191. For my rendering of mal'unin as "bereft of God's grace", see note 73 above. Such has been God's way with those who [sinned in like manner and] passed away aforetime and never wilt thou find any change in God's way!" ]]