Surah al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2 : 114

وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّن مَّنَعَ مَسَٰجِدَ ٱللَّهِ أَن يُذْكَرَ فِيهَا ٱسْمُهُۥ وَسَعَىٰ فِى خَرَابِهَآ ۚ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ مَا كَانَ لَهُمْ أَن يَدْخُلُوهَآ إِلَّا خَآئِفِينَ ۚ لَهُمْ فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا خِزْىٌ وَلَهُمْ فِى ٱلْءَاخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ

Translations

 
 Muhsin Khan
 Pickthall
 Yusuf Ali
Quran Project
And who are more unjust than those who prevent the name of Allāh from being mentioned [i.e., praised] in His mosques and strive toward their destruction. It is not for them to enter them except in fear. For them in this world is disgrace, and they will have in the Hereafter a great punishment.

1. Lessons/Guidance/Reflections/Gems

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Explanatory Note 

There follow further denunciations of the Jews’ and Christians’ attempts to raise doubts in Muslim minds about the veracity of the Prophet’s teachings and instructions, especially those concerned with the change of the direction of prayer, or the qiblah. These attempts are considered tantamount to obstructing places of worship and keeping people out of them, or even seeking to destroy them.

The immediate impression one gets from these two verses is that they relate to the qiblah issue and to Jewish efforts to dissuade the Muslims from turning in prayer towards the Ka`bah, in Makkah. Other accounts, however, speak of different circumstances for their revelation.

The verses are phrased in general terms and may therefore be interpreted generally. The same applies to the consequences of hindering the use of God’s places of worship or destroying them. Those who perpetrate such acts deserve to be unceasingly pursued and relentlessly harassed, unless they seek refuge in the sanctuary of places of worship. It was in this spirit that on the day the Muslims conquered Makkah in August 630 CE, the Prophet Muĥammad ordered a general amnesty declaring that anyone who entered the sacred mosque would be safe. Many of the Arab enemies of Islam did exactly that. These were the very people who prevented the Prophet and his followers from entering the sacred mosque in Makkah, making it clear that they would go to war, if necessary, to stop the Muslims from entering. Furthermore, they are now warned of a double punishment: “They shall suffer ignominy in this world and awesome suffering awaits them in the life to come.”

However, another interpretation of the statement “Such people have no right to enter them except with fear in their hearts” emphasises the fact that those who hinder or impede the use of places of worship should themselves only enter such places in fear of God and in total submission to Him. That would be the most appropriate way for them to show respect for these places and to acknowledge God’s power and glory.

  • من أعلام قيام الساعة: تضييع المساجد؛ لذلك كل أمة وكل طائفة وكل شخص معين تطرق بجُرم في مسجد يكون فعله سبباً لخلائه فإن الله عز وجل يعاقبه بروعة ومخافة تناله في الدنياالبقاعي: 1/225 [Be the first to translate this...]
  • وسعى)؛ أي: اجتهد وبذل وسعه. (في خرابها): الحسي والمعنوي؛ فالخراب الحسي: هدمها وتخريبها، وتقذيرها، والخراب المعنوي: منع الذاكرين لاسم الله فيها. وهذا عام لكل من اتصف بهذه الصفة. السعدي: 63  [Be the first to translate this...]

    Practical Implications
  •  تعاون مع إخوانك في ترتيب المسجد، وتهيئة أسباب الترغيب فيه؛ فذلك من تعظيم شعائر الله، ﴿ وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّن مَّنَعَ مَسَٰجِدَ ٱللَّهِ أَن يُذْكَرَ فِيهَا ٱسْمُهُۥ وَسَعَىٰ فِى خَرَابِهَآ ۚ   [Be the first to translate this...]
  • اجلس في المسجد ذاكراً الله تعالى من الصلاة إلى الصلاة، ﴿ وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّن مَّنَعَ مَسَٰجِدَ ٱللَّهِ أَن يُذْكَرَ فِيهَا ٱسْمُهُۥ [Be the first to translate this...]

2. Linguistic Analysis

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Frequency of Root words in this Ayat used in this Surah *


3. Surah Overview

4. Miscellaneous Information

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5. Connected/Related Ayat

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6. Frequency of the word

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7. Period of Revelation

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The scholars are unanimous that Surah al-Baqarah is Madani and that it was the first Surah revealed in Madinah. [Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in Fath al-Bari no. 160/8].

Despite it being the first Surah to be revealed in Madinah, it contains Ayaat from a later period also. In fact, according to Ibn Abbas [as mentioned in Ibn Kathir] the last Ayat revealed to the Prophet was Ayat no. 281 from Surah al-Baqarah and this occurred 8 days or so before his death [which corresponds to the year 11 Hijri].

8. Reasons for Revelation

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In order to understand the meaning of this Surah, we should know its historical background:

1. At Makkah, the Quran generally addressed the polytheist Quraysh who were ignorant of Islam, but at Madinah it was also concerned with the Jews who were acquainted with the creed of Monotheism, Prophethood, Revelation, the Hereafter and Angels. They also professed to believe in the law which was revealed by God to their Prophet Moses, and in principle, their way was the same (Islam) that was being taught by Prophet Muhammad. But they had strayed away from it during the centuries of degeneration and had adopted many un-Islamic creeds, rites and customs of which there was no mention and for which there was no sanction in the Torah. Not only this: they had tampered with the Torah by inserting their own explanations and interpretations into its text. They had distorted even that part of the Word of God which had remained intact in their Scriptures and taken out of it the real spirit of true religion and were now clinging to a lifeless frame of rituals. Consequently their beliefs, their morals and their conduct had gone to the lowest depths of degeneration. The pity is that they were not only satisfied with their condition but loved to cling to it. Besides this, they had no intention or inclination to accept any kind of reform. So they became bitter enemies of those who came to teach them the Right Way and did their utmost to defeat every such effort. Though they were originally Muslims, they had swerved from the real Islam and made innovations and alterations in it and had fallen victims to hair splitting and sectarianism. They had forgotten and forsaken God and begun to serve material wealth. So much so that they had even given up their original name “Muslim” and adopted the name “Jew” instead, and made religion the sole monopoly of the children of Israel. This was their religious condition when the Prophet went to Madinah and invited the Jews to the true religion. That is why more than one third of this Surah has been addressed to the children of Israel. A critical review of their history, their moral degeneration and their religious perversions has been made. Side by side with this, the high standard of morality and the fundamental principles of the pure religion have been put forward in order to bring out clearly the nature of the degeneration of the community of a prophet when it goes astray and to draw clear lines of demarcation between real piety and formalism, and the essentials and non-essentials of the true religion.

2. At Makkah, Islam was mainly concerned with the propagation of its fundamental principles and the moral training of its followers. But after the migration of the Prophet to Madinah, where Muslims had come to settle from all over Arabia and where a tiny Islamic State had been set up with the help of the ‘local supporters’ (Ansar), naturally the Quran had to turn its attention to the social, cultural, economic, political and legal problems as well. This accounts for the difference between the themes of the Surahs revealed at Makkah and those at Madinah. Accordingly about half of this Surah deals with those principles and regulations which are essential for the integration and solidarity of a community and for the solution of its problems.

After the migration to Madinah, the struggle between Islam and disbelief (Kufr) had also entered a new phase. Before this the Believers, who propagated Islam among their own clans and tribes, had to face its opponents at their own risk. But the conditions had changed at Madinah, where Muslims from all parts of Arabia had come and settled as one community, and had established an independent city state. Here it became a struggle for the survival of the Community itself, for the whole of non-Muslim Arabia was bent upon and united in crushing it totally. Hence the following instructions, upon which depended not only its success but its very survival, were revealed in this Surah:

a. The Community should work with the utmost zeal to propagate its ideology and win over to its side the greatest possible number of people.

b. It should so expose its opponents as to leave no room for doubt in the mind of any sensible person that they were adhering to an absolutely wrong position.

c. It should infuse in its members (the majority of whom were homeless and indigent and surrounded on all sides by enemies) that courage and fortitude which is so indispensable to their very existence in the adverse circumstances in which they were struggling and to prepare them to face these boldly.

d. It should also keep them ready and prepared to meet any armed menace, which might come from any side to suppress and crush their ideology, and to oppose it tooth and nail without minding the overwhelming numerical strength and the material resources of its enemies.

e. It should also create in them that courage which is needed for the eradication of evil ways and for the establishment of the Islamic Way instead. That is why God has revealed in this Surah such instructions as may help achieve all the above mentioned objects.

At the time of the revelation of Al-Baqarah, all sorts of hypocrites had begun to appear. God has, therefore, briefly pointed out their characteristics here. Afterwards when their evil characteristics and mischievous deeds became manifest, God sent detailed instructions about them. [REF: Mawdudi]

9. Relevant Hadith

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  • Seeking refuge from disgrace in this life and the torment of the Hereafter. 

    اللَّهُمَّ أَحْسِنْ عَاقِبَتَنَا فِي الْأُمُورِ كُلِّهَا وَأَجِرْنَا مِنْ خِزْيِ الدُّنْيَا وَعَذَابِ الْآخِرَة

    On the authority of Busr bin Artah who reports that the Messenger of Allah used to supplicate, "O Allah! Make our end better in all affairs, and save us from disgrace in this life and the torment of the Hereafter." [Imam Ahmad]

10. Wiki Forum

Comments in this section are statements made by general users – these are not necessarily explanations of the Ayah – rather a place to share personal thoughts and stories…

11. Tafsir Zone

 


12. External Links

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