Surah 60: Al-Mumtahanah
The Holy Qur’an with English Translation and Commentary (Five Volume Commentary)
[a]In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful.
[a] See 1:1.
O ye who believe! take not My enemy and your enemy for friends,[b] offering them love, while they disbelieve in the truth which has come to you and[c] drive out the Messenger and yourselves merely because you believe in Allah, your Lord. If you go forth, to strive in My cause and seek My pleasure, take them not for friends, sending them messages of love in secret, while I know best what you conceal and what you reveal. And whoever of you does it, has, surely, lost the right path.[4210]
[b] 3:119; 4:145; 5:58.
[c] 17:77.
[4210] Commentary:
The prohibitory injunction contained in the verse is of a very strict character. Muslims are not to have friendly relations with the avowed enemies of God—those who drove out the Prophet and the Muslims from their hearths and homes and sought to destroy Islam. The prohibition is all-comprehensive in this respect that no consideration of bonds or ties of even the nearest blood relationships is allowed to interfere with it. The enemy of Islam is God’s enemy, whosoever he may be.
The immediate occasion of the revelation of the verse under comment was that when the Quraish did not honour the Treaty of Hudaibiyyah, and the Holy Prophet had to take stern punitive action against them, Hatib bin Abi Balta‘h had written a secret letter to the Meccans informing them of the Holy Prophet’s intended march on Mecca. The Prophet, informed by revelation about it sent ‘Ali, Zubair and Miqdad, in search of the bearer of the letter. They overtook the messenger—she was a woman—on the way to Mecca and the letter was brought back to Medina. Hatib’s offence was extremely grave. He had sought to divulge an important State secret. He deserved exemplary punishment. Incidentally, the episode of the letter fixes the date of revelation of the Surah.
If they get the upper hand of you, they will be your active enemies, and will stretch forth their hands and their tongues towards you with evil intent; and they ardently desire that you should become disbelievers.[4211]
[4211] Important Words:
یثقفو کم (get the upper hand of you) is derived from ثقف and ثقفه means, he perceived it or attained it by deed or by knowledge; he reached him; he found him; he overtook him; he gained mastery over him; he overcame him and got possession of him (Lane).
Commentary:
The verse indicates how bitter the feelings of disbelievers are towards Muslims. They would use all means, their hands and tongues, etc. and would spare no effort to harm Muslims, and the greatest desire of their hearts is to see them revert to disbelief.
[a]Neither your ties of kindred nor your children will avail aught on the Day of Resurrection. He will decide between you. And Allah sees all that you do.[4212]
[a] 3:11; 31:34.
[4212] Commentary:
The verse constitutes a severe warning to those Muslims who, in defiance of the above clear Divine commandment, maintain friendly relations with their relatives, if the latter are at war with them or entertain hostile feelings towards Islam. The commandment makes no exception even of the nearest blood relations.
[a]There is a good model for you in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people, [b]‘We have nothing to do with you and with that which you worship beside Allah. We disbelieve all that you believe. There has arisen enmity and hatred between us and you for ever, until you believe in Allah alone’—except that Abraham said to his father, [c]‘I will surely ask forgiveness for thee, though I have no power to do aught for thee against Allah.’ They prayed to God saying, ‘Our Lord, in Thee do we put our trust and to Thee do we turn repentant, and towards Thee is the final return.[4213]
[a] 60:7.
[b] 6:79; 43:27.
[c] 9:114; 19:48; 26:87.
[4213] Commentary:
Abraham, as elsewhere stated in the Holy Qur’an (11:76), was a model of forbearance and tender-heartedness. His example has been mentioned here to emphasize the fact that whenever it becomes clear that a certain person or people are inimically disposed towards Truth and are bent upon extirpating it, all friendly relations with them are to be given up. The verse also implies that when God has brought into being a better brotherhood—the Brotherhood of Faith—than blood relationships, then why should Muslims be anxious to have friendly relations with those who are the enemies of God and His Prophet?
The expression کفرنا بکم which is generally translated as, "we disbelieve all that you believe" may also mean, "we have nothing to do with you;" the words کفر بکذا meaning, he declared himself to be clear or quit of such a thing (Lane).
‘Our Lord, make us not a trial for those who disbelieve,[a] and forgive us, our Lord; for Thou alone art the Mighty, the Wise.’[4214]
[a] 10:86.
[4214] Commentary:
In the preceding verses believers were enjoined not to have friendly relations with those disbelievers who were at war with them as it was calculated to weaken the solidarity of the former. The verse under comment, teaches them to pray that God may save them from disobeying this wise Divine commandment, as its disregard is sure to weaken Muslim solidarity and thus to provide encouragement to disbelievers to attack them.
Surely, there is a good example in them for you[b]—for all who have hope in Allah and the Last Day. And whosoever turns away—truly, Allah is Self-Sufficient, Worthy of all praise.
[b] 60:5.
It may be that Allah will bring about love between you and those of them with whom you are now at enmity; and Allah is All-Powerful; and Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful.[4215]
[4215] Commentary:
The verse implied a prophecy. The Companions of the Holy Prophet were told that if they were enjoined to renounce all friendly relations with the enemies of their Faith, even though the latter were their very near blood relations, the prohibition was indeed destined to be very short-lived. The time was fast approaching when the erstwhile enemies would become their loving friends. The prophecy was soon fulfilled. After the Fall of Mecca, the Quraish joined the fold of Islam en masse and became united with Muslims into one brotherhood.
Allah forbids you not, respecting those who have not fought against you on account of your religion, and who have not driven you forth from your homes, that you be kind to them and deal equitably with them; surely, Allah loves those who are equitable.[4216]
[4216] Commentary:
The verse makes it clear that the commandment to Muslims to have nothing to do with disbelievers has a proviso. It applies only to those disbelievers, as the next verse shows, who are at war with Muslims and are inimically disposed towards Islam. Friendly relations as such with non-Muslims are not forbidden. Besides, extra emphasis has been laid, in this verse, on kind and equitable treatment of non-Muslims.
The fact that this and the following verse were revealed at a time when relations between Muslims and disbelievers were highly strained helps to understand the real purpose and object of the prohibitory commandment.
[a]Allah only forbids you, respecting those who have fought against you on account of your religion, and have driven you out of your homes, and have helped others in driving you out, that you make friends with them, and whosoever makes friends with them—it is these that are the transgressors.[4217]
[a] 4:145; 5:52.
[4217] Commentary:
See preceding verse.
O ye who believe! when believing women come to you as Refugees, examine them. Allah knows best their faith. Then, if you find them true believers, send them not back to the disbelievers. These women are not lawful for them, nor are they lawful for these women. But give their disbelieving husbands what they have spent on them. Thereafter it is no sin for you to marry them, when you have given them their dowries.[a] And hold not to your matrimonial ties with the disbelieving women;[b] but demand the return of that which you have spent; and let the disbelievers demand that which they have spent. That is the judgement of Allah. He judges between you. And Allah is All-Knowing, Wise.[4218]
[a] 4:5, 25.
[b] 2:222.
[4218] Commentary:
Here is a testimony to the irresistible appeal of the Message of Islam. At a time when Muslims were being bitterly persecuted and it was not safe to leave Mecca and join the Muslim Community at Medina, a continuous stream of believers was pouring into Medina, leaving behind in Mecca their dear and near ones. These Refugees contained a fair number of women among them. The verse under comment refers to such refugee Muslim women. The verse also constitutes an eloquent commentary on the Holy Prophet’s anxiety not to accept into the Muslim Community any woman who had fled from Mecca unless there was proof available, after subjecting her to searching examination, that she was sincere, and honest in her faith and that she was accepting Islam out of no ulterior or otherwise objectionable motives. The verse further states that the marriage-tie between a refugee believing woman and her disbelieving husband becomes dissolved when she joins the Muslim Community, and a believer is allowed to marry such a woman, provided he fulfils two conditions: (a) He should have paid back to the disbelieving husband of such woman what the latter had spent on her, and (b) he should also have fixed or paid her dowry. Similarly, the marriage-tie between a Muslim and his wife who gives up Islam could not continue and the same procedure would be adopted if such an apostate woman marries a disbeliever as in the case of marriage between a Muslim and a refugee believing woman. The reciprocal arrangement prescribed in this verse is not the private affair of the individuals concerned but is to be carried out by the State, as is the practice in time of war, to which the verses particularly apply; there could not and should not continue any social relations between individual believers and individual disbelievers.
And if any of your wives goes away from you to the disbelievers, and you have your turn of triumph and get some spoils from them, then give to those believers whose wives have gone away the like of that which they had spent on their wives. And fear Allah in Whom you believe.[4219]
[4219] Important Words:
عاقبتم (you have your turn) is derived from عقب. They say عقب الرجل i.e. he took from the man’s property the like of what the latter had taken from him. عاقبه means, he did a thing with the man alternately and taking his turn; he retaliated (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
If the wife of a Muslim deserts to disbelievers and thereafter a woman from among disbelievers is taken by Muslims as prisoner of war, or she flees from disbelievers and joins the Muslim Community, then the believing husband is to be compensated for the loss of the dowry paid by him to his deserting wife from the sum due to the disbelieving husband whose wife has joined the Muslim Community if the dowries are equal, but the deficiency, if any, is to be made up collectively by Muslims, or, as some authorities say, from the booty acquired by Muslims in war; the word عاقبتم meaning غنمتم i.e. you have acquired booty. This arrangement was necessary as disbelievers refused to return the dowries paid by their believing husbands to the women who had deserted to them.