Tafsir of Surah Hood - Verse 15

Whoever wants the Worldly Life, then He will have no Share of the Hereafter

Al-`Awfi reported that Ibn `Abbas said concerning this verse, "Verily those who show off, will be given their reward for their good deeds in this life. This will be so that they are not wronged, even the amount equivalent to the size of the speck on a date-stone." Ibn `Abbas continued saying, "Therefore, whoever does a good deed seeking to acquire worldly gain - like fasting, prayer, or standing for prayer at night - and he does so in order to acquire worldly benefit, then Allah says, `Give him the reward of that which he sought in the worldly life,' and his deed that he did is wasted because he was only seeking the life of this world. In the Hereafter he will be of the losers." A similar narration has been reported from Mujahid, Ad-Dahhak and many others. Anas bin Malik and Al-Hasan both said, "This verse was revealed concerning the Jews and the Christians." Mujahid and others said, "This verse was revealed concerning the people who perform deeds to be seen." Qatadah said, "Whoever's concern, intention and goal is this worldly life, then Allah will reward him for his good deeds in this life. Then, when reaches the next life, he will not have any good deeds that will be rewarded. However, concerning the believer, he will be rewarded for his good deeds in this life and in the Hereafter as well." Allah, the Exalted, says,

مَّن كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْعَـجِلَةَ عَجَّلْنَا لَهُ فِيهَا مَا نَشَآءُ لِمَن نُّرِيدُ ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا لَهُ جَهَنَّمَ يَصْلَـهَا مَذْمُومًا مَّدْحُورًا - وَمَنْ أَرَادَ الاٌّخِرَةَ وَسَعَى لَهَا سَعْيَهَا وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَأُولَـئِكَ كَانَ سَعْيُهُم مَّشْكُورًا - كُلاًّ نُّمِدُّ هَـؤُلاءِ وَهَـؤُلاءِ مِنْ عَطَآءِ رَبِّكَ وَمَا كَانَ عَطَآءُ رَبِّكَ مَحْظُورًا - انظُرْ كَيْفَ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَى بَعْضٍ وَلَلاٌّخِرَةُ أَكْبَرُ دَرَجَـتٍ وَأَكْبَرُ تَفْضِيلاً

(Whoever desires the quick-passing (transitory enjoyment of this world), We readily grant him what We will for whom We like. Then, afterwards, We have appointed for him Hell; he will burn therein disgraced and rejected. And whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it, with the necessary effort due for it while he is a believer - then such are the ones whose striving shall be appreciated. On each - these as well as those - We bestow from the bounties of your Lord. And the bounties of your Lord can never be forbidden. See how We prefer one above another, and verily, the Hereafter will be greater in degrees and greater in intricacy.) 17:18-21 Allah, the Exalted, says,

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الاٌّخِرَةِ نَزِدْ لَهُ فِى حَرْثِهِ وَمَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الدُّنْيَا نُؤْتِهِ مِنْهَا وَمَا لَهُ فِى الاٌّخِرَةِ مِن نَّصِيبٍ

(Whosoever desires the reward of the Hereafter, We give him increase in his reward, and whosoever desires the reward of this world, We give him thereof, and he has no portion in the Hereafter.) 42:20

Commentary

When warnings of punishment were given to opponents of Islam, they referred to the charities they contributed to and the social welfare work they did. With this testimonial of good deeds in their hands, why would they be punished? It is interesting that, in our time too, there are a lot of unaware Muslims who seem to be suffering from the same doubt. They look at disbelieving non-Muslims who impart a good image of their outward deeds and morals, are active in social work, give out in charities, and make roads, bridges, hospitals, free drinking water counters. This view leads them to hold the opinion that they were better than Muslims. This has been answered in the first (15) of the three verses cited above.

In gist, the answer is that every deed, in order to be accepted as a source of salvation in the Hereafter, must fulfill the first condition of absolute sincerity - that this deed should have been done for the sake of Allah. And the only valid way of doing it for Allah is that it is done in accordance with the way taught and shown in practice by His Messenger. A person who simply does not believe in Allah and His Messenger is a person the sum total of whose deeds and morals is a skeleton without soul. It may look handsome (even slim) but because it has no soul or spirit, it has no weight or effect in the home of the Here-after. Yes, the contribution of such a person in the mortal world has benefited people. At least in terms of its outward form, what he had done was good, therefore, Allah, the Lord Almighty has, in consideration of His supreme equity and justice, not allowed this deed to go to waste totally. Instead, things were arranged in terms of the objectives the doers of these deeds had before them. If they had worked for recognition in society or an image as philanthropist, man of charity, good-will or distinction, or had simply aspired for health and material wealth and comfort, Allah Ta` ala lets them have all this right here in this world. They had no concept of the Hereafter. They had never cared to think of salvation there, nor their deeds, being without the essential spirit, could have qualified them to become deserving of it. Therefore, no return waits for them there, against their deeds, while the added burden of disbelief and disobedience will keep them in Hell. This was a gist of what was said in the first verse. Now, we can have a look at some of the words used there.

It was said that a person who kept striving for the life of this world and its embellishments gets from Allah the full return for his or her deeds right here in this world. For them, nothing is cut short in Dunya. These are the kind of men and women for whom there is nothing in Akhirah (Hereafter), except the Hell.

It is noteworthy at this point that the expression opted for in the Qur'an is: مَن کَانَ یُریدُ (those who have been intending) which bypasses something brief like: مَن اَرَادَ (those who wanted). The Qur'anic expression denotes continuity and carries the sense of ` kept striving for' as trans-lated a little earlier. This tells us that it is the condition of people who never wanted to have anything out of what they did but the good of this world. They just never bothered to worry about what would hap-pen in the life to come. As for the person who feels concerned about the Hereafter and does what would bring salvation there and, along with it aims and plans to have his share from the world, then, it is not included in the purview of this verse.

Is this verse related to kafirs or Muslims or to both Muslims and kafirs? Major authorities in Tafsir differ about it.

The words in the last sentence of the verse - for whom there is nothing in the Hereafter except the fire of Hell - seem to suggest that it is related to kafirs, because a Muslim, no matter how sinning, would ultimately go to Paradise after having undergone the punishment of sins. Therefore, Dahhak and other commentators have interpreted it as related to kafirs only.

Some commentators have said that it refers to Muslims who, through their good deeds, aim to acquire only the comfort, wealth and recognition from this worldly life. In other words, they do their good deeds with the sole intention of having comfort and recognition in the world they live in. And the sentence we are talking about would thus mean that, until they undergo the punishment of their evil deeds, they would have nothing except the fire of Hell.

However, the weightier and clearer approach is to take this verse as relating to people who do their good deeds only with the intention of acquiring worldly benefits, such as wealth, health and recognition. Those who do so may be kafirs or disbelievers who do not believe in the Hereafter from the very outset. Or, they may be Muslims who believe in the Hereafter theoretically but do not apply their belief to what they do practically. In fact, they would keep all concerns of their life exclusively attached to worldly benefits and interests. From among the ear_ ly commentators, Mujahid, Maimun ibn Mihran and Sayyidna Mu’ awiyah ؓ have gone by this view.

This meaning is also supported by the well-known Hadith of the Holy Prophet ﷺ : اِنَّما الاَعمال بِالنِّیَات (Actions are [ judged ] according to Intentions). What one intends to have by his action gets exactly that. Whoever intends to have Dunya (worldly benefits) gets Dunya. Whoever intends to have Ahhirah gets Akhirah. Whoever intends to have both gets both. That all actions depend on intention is a principle approved of in every community and religion. (Qurtubi)

Therefore, says a Hadith, those who devoted themselves to acts of worship in the mortal world to look respectable before others will be brought forth on the day of Qiyamah. It would be said to them: ` you said your prayers, gave in charity, fought in Jihad, recited the Qur'an, but you did all that with the intention that you should be known as devotees to prayers, givers in charity, veteran warriors of Jihad and great reciters of Qur'an. Now you have had what you wanted to have. The honors you were looking for have already come to you in the mortal world. Now, there is no return for your deeds here. And these people will be the first to be thrown into the Hell.'

While reporting this Hadith, Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ broke into tears and said, ` the verse of the Qur'an: مَن كَانَ يُرِ‌يدُ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتَهَا (Those who have been intending (to achieve) the worldly life and its beauty –11:15 ) confirms this Hadith.

Sahih Muslim reports on the authority of Sayyidna Anas ؓ that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, ` Allah Ta` ala does no injustice to anyone. For the good deed a believer does, he gets some return for it in the mortal world while gets the real reward in the Hereafter. As for a kafir (since he does not bother about what would happen to him in the Hereafter), his account is cleared within his life in the mortal world. The return for his good deeds, if any, is given to him in the form of worldly wealth, recognition, health and comfort - until comes the time when he reaches the stage of the Hereafter where he is left with nothing that could bring any return there.

It appears in Tafsir Mazhari that, though a believer looks forward to having prosperity in the mortal world as well, but his intention to have the best of the Hereafter remains on top of everything. Therefore, he gets what he does in the mortal world only to the measure of his needs. However, he does get the larger return and reward in the Here-after.

Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ عنہ once visited the home of the Holy Prophet ﷺ When he saw virtually nothing in the house but a few things here and there, he said to him: ` please pray that Allah Ta` ala blesses your Ummah too with extended material means. We see Persia and Byzantine. They are very prosperous in this world although they do not worship Allah Ta` ala.' The Holy Prophet ﷺ was reclining on a pillow behind his waist. When he heard these words of Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ he sat up straight and said, ` O ` Umar, you are still lost in those thoughts. As for these people, they are the ones who have been given the return of their good deeds right here in this world.' (Mazhari)

Jami` Tirmidhi and the Musnad of Ahmad report on the authority of Sayyidna Anas ؓ that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, ` Whoever intends to have (the best of) the Hereafter through his deeds, Allah Ta` ala makes his heart need-free in this world. He (Himself) takes care of what he must have, and (the desire of) the world comes to him all humbled. And whoever intends to have (the best of) the present world, Allah Ta’ ala makes want and need stand before him to the effect that they can never shake them off. There is no end to his needs because he is constantly being driven by worldly greed. No sooner does one need gets fulfilled, another gaping need stands before him. Countless concerns gang upon him but what he gets is what Allah Ta'ala has written for him.

Regarding what has been said in this verse: ` those who aimed for worldly life are fully recompensed for their deeds within this world,' someone may raise a doubt. It could be said that there are many people who, despite aiming and striving to have worldly benefits, fail to achieve their objective even in this world and, on occasions, they would get just about nothing. The answer is that, in this verse, the Qur'an has dealt with the subject briefly. Details appear in the following verse of Surah al-Isra' (Banu Isra'i1) where it was said: مَّن كَانَ يُرِ‌يدُ الْعَاجِلَةَ عَجَّلْنَا لَهُ فِيهَا مَا نَشَاءُ لِمَن نُّرِ‌يدُ (whoever keeps aspiring for the immediate, We shall give soon what We will to whom We will). It means whoever keeps aiming for nothing but worldly life, Allah gives it to him right here within the world, but this giving is restricted by two conditions. Firstly, He gives as much as He wants. It is not necessary to let them have what matches their desires. Secondly, He gives only to a person it is appropriate to give him according to His wisdom. Giving to everyone is not necessary.

There are two kinds of religion—one adulterated and the other unadulterated. The former, although a compromise between religion and worldliness, displays the label of religion. This is why in every period big institutions come into existence on its basis and through them, people with vested interests receive worldly benefits in the name of ‘religion’. The case of unadulterated religion is just the opposite. When its call goes out, it is to project a purely theoretical Truth; it is not surrounded by economic interests and leadership considerations. This being so, when the call of unadulterated religion reaches those who have attained a high status and great respect in the name of adulterated religion, they are horrified, because they feel that, on adopting it, they will lose all their worldly benefits. People often engage themselves in worldly activities in the name of religion. The call of pure religion among such people amounts to exposing them for what they really are. The call of truth is, in fact, a subtle test paper for its addressees. Now the very people who were engaged in activities in the name of religion resist the call of truth. Their resistance to the divine message shows that their ‘religious’ observances were, in fact, interest-oriented worldly activities. Had they been sincere in their service to religion, they would have lost no time in recognizing the Truth in its unadulterated form. The call of Truth thus serves as a discriminator between sincere and insincere people. The sincere are ready to make any sacrifice for the true cause of religion. But the insincere favour only that religion which ensures the safety of their worldly gains. They cannot even contemplate losing their material assets. They want to spend their time and energy only on those religious activities which bring them fame, honour and all other worldly benefits. Obviously such efforts cannot bear fruit in the Hereafter.