Overview (Verses 62 - 66)

Dreading Exposure

“They swear to you by God in order to please you. Yet it is God and His Messenger that they should strive to please, if indeed they are believers.” (Verse 62) They are always ready to swear by God in order to persuade others to believe them. Here the aim of their swearing is also to please the believers. This is typical of the hypocrites everywhere. They say and do whatever they want behind people’s backs, but they are too cowardly to admit to their real attitude. They will not say openly what should be said. Hence, they try to seek every sort of cover and put on any false appearance in the hope of pleasing other people.

“Yet it is God and His Messenger that they should strive to please, if indeed they are believers.” (Verse 62) Why should they care about other human beings? What power or influence do they have? But a person who does not believe in God and does not submit to Him will always fear and submit to a human being like him. He would be much better off submitting to God in front of whom all people are alike. A person who submits to God will never suffer any humiliation. The only people who are humiliated and who feel their own inadequacy are those who turn away from God and fear their fellow human beings.

“Do they not know that anyone who defies God and His Messenger shall have the fire of hell, therein to abide? That is the ultimate disgrace.” (Verse 63) This is a question of censure and rebuke. They profess to be believers, and a believer knows for certain that there can be no offence greater than defying God and His Messenger and taking a stand in opposition to Him. Hell stands in waiting for anyone who commits such an offence. Moreover, humiliation is the fitting reward of rebellion. If they are truly believers, as they claim to be, how is it then that they do not know such an elementary fact?

They fear God’s creatures and swear to them in order to please them and to deny what the others have heard about them. How is it, then, that they do not fear the Creator when they hurt His Messenger and oppose the faith He has chosen for human beings? Their attitude is the same as being at war with God Himself. Most sublime is God for anyone to choose to be at war with Him. These verses, then, simply magnify their wickedness and aim to strike fear into the hearts of those who hurt God’s Messenger and scheme against His faith.

They are much too cowardly to confront the Prophet and the believers openly. They fear that God will expose their reality and reveal their intentions to His Messenger: “The hypocrites dread lest a sūrah be revealed about them, making clear to them what is really in their hearts. Say: Scoff if you will; God will surely bring to light the very thing you are dreading.’ Should you question them, they will say: ‘We have only been indulging in idle talk and jesting.’ Say: ‘Was it, then, at God, His revelations and His Messenger that you have been mocking?’ Make no excuses. You have disbelieved after you have professed to be believers. Though We may pardon some of you, We shall punish others, on account of their being guilty.” (Verses 64-66)

This is a general statement that applied to all hypocrites who feared that revelations might be sent down to expose what they entertained in their hearts. They would then be out on a limb, with all that they had carefully concealed being brought out into the open. However, we have several reports of certain events that led to the revelation of these verses.

One report tells that one of the hypocrites said: “I see that those among us who are most keen to read the Qur’ān are gluttons, liars and cowardly.” This was reported to the Prophet. When the man learned of this, he went to the Prophet to find him having mounted his camel, ready to depart. He said to him: “Messenger of God, we were only engaged in idle talk and jesting.” The Prophet said to him: “Was it, then, at God, His revelations and His Messenger that you have been mocking? Make no excuses. You have disbelieved after you have professed to be believers. Though We may pardon some of you, We shall punish others, on account of their being guilty.” (Verses 65-66) As the Prophet replied, he did not face the man who kept holding on to the Prophet’s sword, his feet hitting the rocks.

Another report mentions that a group of hypocrites, including Wadī`ah ibn Thābit, as well as a man called Makhshī ibn Ĥimyar, an ally of the tribe of Salamah, were with the Muslim army when the Prophet headed for Tabūk. Some of them tried to frighten the believers and spread doubt in their ranks. They said: “Do you think fighting the Byzantines the same as internal warfare between Arabian tribes? We can even now see how you will all be taken captive tomorrow and be put in chains.” Makhshī said: “I wish we could escape with only 100 lashes each, without having verses of the Qur’ān revealed to expose us as a result of what you have said.”

The Prophet was informed of this and he said to `Ammār ibn Yāsir: “Rush to those people for they are burnt. Ask them about what they have said and if they deny it, tell them that they have said these very words.” `Ammār went to them and told them exactly what the Prophet said. They came to the Prophet to apologize. Wadī`ah ibn Thābit said to the Prophet as he mounted his camel, and Wadī`ah holding its reins: “Messenger of God, we were only talking idly and jesting.” Makhshī said: “Messenger of God, my name and my father’s name prevented me from leaving these people.” (This is a reference to the fact that he was only an ally occupying a weak position.) He was the one, among those to whom this verse refers, who was pardoned. He changed his name to `Abd al-Raĥmān and appealed to God to grant him martyrdom where his body would not be found. He was killed when he was fighting with the Muslim army at Yamāmah against the apostates. His body was lost without trace.

Another report says that a group of hypocrites were in the army going to Tabūk, and some of them said: “Does this man (meaning the Prophet) hope to take hold of the palaces and forts of Syria? Far be it from him.” God informed His Messenger of what they said. The Prophet ordered his Companions to have them isolated and he came to them and confronted them with what they had said. They replied: “Messenger of God, we were only engaged in idle talk and jesting.” God then revealed these verses.

“We have only been indulging in idle talk and jesting.” (Verse 65) As if such important matters which are closely related to the very fundamentals of faith can at all be the subject of idle talk and careless jesting. Hence the reply: “Say: ‘Was it, then, at God, His revelations and His Messenger that you have been mocking?’” (Verse 65) Their offence is grave indeed. Hence they are confronted with the reality that they have disbelieved after they had professed to be believers. They are warned of grave suffering which some of them might escape because they have hastened to declare their repentance and were keen to maintain the path of the faithful. Others who remained hypocrites and continued to mock at God’s revelations as well as His Messenger and His faith could never escape that torment, on account of their being genuinely guilty.