Surah 33. Al-Ahzab

'They deserve to be' condemned. 'If they were to persist,' they would get themselves seized and killed relentlessly wherever they are found!¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 This verse is intended to deter the hypocrites. The Prophet (ﷺ) never killed any hypocrite as long as they did not join the enemy to attack and kill Muslims.

They shall have a curse on them: wherever they are found they shall be seized and slain (without mercy). ³⁷⁶⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

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.

That was Allah's way with those 'hypocrites' who have gone before. And you will find no change in Allah's way.

  - Mustafa Khattab

(Such was) the practice (approved) of Allah among those who lived aforetime: no change wilt thou find in the practice (approved) of Allah. ³⁷⁷⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Jewish law was much more severe: see notes 3703 and 3704 to xxxiii. 26. That severity is mitigated in Islam. But it is a universal principle that any element which deliberately refuses to obey law and aggressively tries to subvert all order in society, secretly and openly, must be effectively suppressed, for the preservation of the life and health of the general community.

People ask you 'O Prophet' about the Hour. Say, 'That knowledge is only with Allah. You never know, perhaps the Hour is near.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Men ask thee concerning the Hour: say "The knowledge thereof is with Allah (alone)": and what will make thee understand? Perchance the Hour is nigh! ³⁷⁷¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. vii. 187 and n. 1159, where the idea is further explained. The knowledge of the Final Hour is with Allah alone. The fact of its coming is certain; the exact time when it will come has not been revealed. If it were, it would disturb our thoughts and life. "Heavy were its burden through the heavens and the earth." But at any given moment it cannot be far distant. In theological language, each individual's death is a Final Hour, a Qiyamat Sugra (Lesser Day of Judgement). In that sense it is not the same for all individuals, and is certainly always near.

Surely Allah condemns the disbelievers, and has prepared for them a blazing Fire,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Verily Allah has cursed the Unbelievers and prepared for them a Blazing Fire

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

to stay there for ever and ever- never will they find any protector or helper.

  - Mustafa Khattab

To dwell therein forever: no protector will they find nor helper.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

On the Day their faces are 'constantly' flipped in the Fire, they will cry, 'Oh! If only we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Messenger!'

  - Mustafa Khattab

The Day that their faces will be turned upside down in the Fire they will say: "Woe to us! would that we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Apostle!" ³⁷⁷²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The face is the expression of their Personality, their Self; and turning upside down is a sign of degradation and ignominy. When the Retribution comes, the evil ones will be humiliated, and they will wish that they had followed right guidance when they had the chance. They will then fall to accusing their leaders who misled them. But they forget their own personal responsibility.

And they will say, 'Our Lord! We obeyed our leaders and elite, but they led us astray from the 'Right' Way.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And they would say: "Our Lord! we obeyed our chiefs and our great ones and they misled us as to the (right) path.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Our Lord! Give them double 'our' punishment, and condemn them tremendously.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

"Our Lord! give them Double Penalty and curse them with a very great Curse!" ³⁷⁷³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Cf. xxv. 69 and n. 3129, and xi. 20 and n. 1515. The double Penalty invoked will be because (1) they went wrong themselves and (2) they misled others.

O believers! Do not be like those who slandered Moses, but Allah cleared him of what they said. And he was honourable in the sight of Allah.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 The Quran does not specify how Moses was slandered by some of his people. Some narrations suggest that he was either falsely accused of adultery (see footnote for 28:76), killing his brother Aaron (who died a natural death), or having a skin disease since he, unlike others, used to bathe with his clothes on.

O ye who believe! be ye not like those who vexed and insulted Moses but Allah cleared him of the (calumnies) they had uttered: and he was honorable in Allah's sight. ³⁷⁷⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The people of Moses often vexed him and rebelled against him and against God's Law. Here the reference seems to be to Num. xii. 1-13. It is there said that Moses's own sister Miriam and his brother Aaron spoke against Moses because Moses had married an Ethiopian woman. God cleared Moses of the charge of having done anything wrong: "My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house." Miriam was afflicted with leprosy for seven days as a punishment, after which she was forgiven, as also was Aaron. This is the Old Testament story. The holy Prophet was also attacked because of his marriage with Zainab bint Jahsh, but not by his own circle, his motives were of the highest and were completely vindicated as we have seen above.

O believers! Be mindful of Allah, and say what is right.

  - Mustafa Khattab

O ye who believe! fear Allah and (always) say a word directed to the Right: ³⁷⁷⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

We must not only speak the truth as far as we know it, but we must always try to hit the right point; i.e., we must not speak unseasonably, and when we do speak, we must not beat about the bush, but go straight to that which is right, in deed as well as in word. Then Allah will make our conduct right and cure any defects that there may be in our knowledge and character. With our endeavour directed straight to the goal, we shall be forgiven our errors, shortcomings, faults, and sins of the past.

He will bless your deeds for you, and forgive your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, has truly achieved a great triumph.

  - Mustafa Khattab

That He may make your conduct whole and sound and forgive you your sins: he that obeys Allah and His Apostle has already attained the highest Achievement. ³⁷⁷⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This is salvation, the attainment of our real spiritual desire or ambition, as we are on the highway to nearness to Allah.

Indeed, We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they 'all' declined to bear it, being fearful of it. But humanity assumed it, 'for' they are truly wrongful 'to themselves' and ignorant 'of the consequences',

  - Mustafa Khattab

We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains: but they refused to undertake it being afraid thereof: but man undertook it he was indeed unjust and foolish ^{3777 3778 3779 3780 3781 3782}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Trust is something given to a person, over which he has a power of disposition; he is expected to use it as directed or expected, but he has the power to use it otherwise. There is no trust if the trustee has no power, and the trust implies that the giver of the trust believes and expects that the trustee would use it according to the wish of the creator of the trust, and not otherwise.

Cf. lix. 21, where the hypothetical sending down of the Qur-an to the Mountains is mentioned, and it is mentioned that such Parables are put forth in order to aid men to reflection.

The Heavens, the Earth, and the Mountains, ie., other creatures of Allah, besides man, refused to undertake a Trust or a responsibility, and may be imagined as happy without a choice of good or evil being given through their will. In saying that they refused, we imply a will, but we limit it by the statement that they did not undertake to be given a choice between good and evil. They preferred to submit their will entirely to Allah's Will, which is All-Wise and Perfect, and which would give them far more happiness than a faculty of choice, with their imperfect knowledge. Man was too audacious and ignorant to realise this, and the result has been that man as a race has been disrupted: the evil ones have betrayed the Trust and brought Punishment on themselves, though the good have been able to rise far above other Creation, to be the muqarrabin, the nearest ones to Allah: lvi. 11 and lvi. 88. What can be higher than this for any creature? It follows incidentally from this that the Heavens and the Earth were created before man was created and this is in accordance with what we know of the physical world in science: man came on the scene at a comparatively late stage.

Hamala: to undertake, bear, carry (the Trust or responsibility), to be equal to it. This is the ordinary meaning, and the majority of Commentators construe so. But some understand it to mean "to carry away, run away with, to embezzle (the thing entrusted); hence to be false to the Trust, to betray the Trust." In that case the sense of verses 72-73 would be: "Allah offered the Trust to other creatures, but they refused, lest they should betray it, being afraid from that point of view: but man was less fair to himself: in his ignorance he accepted and betrayed the Trust, with the result that some of his race became Hypocrites and Unbelievers and were punished, though others were faithful to the Trust and received Allah's Mercy". The resulting conclusion is the same under both interpretations.

See ii. 30-34 and notes. Allah intended a very high destiny for man, and placed him in his uncorrupted state even above the angels, but in his corruption he made himself even lower than the beasts. What was it that made man so high and noble? The differentiating quality which Allah gave man was that Allah breathed something of His own spirit into man (xxxii. 9; xv. 29 and n. 1968; and other passages). This meant that man was given a limited choice of good and evil, and that he was made capable of Forbearance, Love, and Mercy. And in himself man summed up Allah's great world: man is in himself a microcosm.

Zalum (translated "unjust") and Jahul (ignorant) are both in the Arabic intensive form; as much as to say, 'man signally failed to measure his own powers or his own knowledge.' But Allah's Grace came to his assistance. Where man did his best, he won through by Allah's Grace, even though man's Best was but a poor Good. How did man generically undertake this great Responsibility, which made him Vicegerent on earth (ii. 30)? Here comes in the doctrine of a Covenant, express or implied, between Allah and Humanity. See vii. 172,73 and notes 1146-48 also v. 1 and n. 682. A Covenant (Mithaq) necessarily implies Trust, and its breach necessarily implies Punishment.

so that Allah will punish hypocrite men and women and polytheistic men and women, and Allah will turn in mercy to believing men and women. For Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.¹

  - Mustafa Khattab

 This is a guarantee from Allah that if the hypocrites and polytheists ever turn to Him in repentance, He is always willing to forgive them.

(With the result) that Allah has to punish the Hypocrites men and women and the Unbelievers men and women and Allah turns in Mercy to the Believers men and women: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful. ^{3783 3784}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Man's generic Covenant, which flowed from his exercising the option given him, choosing Will, Forbearance, Love, and Mercy, made it necessary that breach of it should carry its own punishment. Breach of it is here classed under two heads: those who betray their Trust act either as Hypocrites or as Unbelievers. Hypocrites are those who profess Faith but bring not forth the fruits of Faith. Unbelievers are those who openly defy Faith, and from whom therefore no fruits of Faith are to be expected.

Those who remain firm to their Faith and their Covenant (see notes 3781-82) will receive the aid of Allah's Grace; their faults and weaknesses will be cured; and they will be made worthy of their exalted Destiny. For Allah is Oft-Forgiving and Most Merciful. So ends a Sura which deals with the greatest complications and misunderstandings in our throbbing life here below, and points upwards to the Great Achievement, the highest Salvation.