Tafsir of Surah An-Nisa' - Verse 55

The Envy and Miserly Conduct of the Jews

Allah asked the Jews if they have a share in the dominion. That is merely a statement of rebuke, since they do not have any share in the dominion. Allah then described them as misers,

فَإِذاً لاَّ يُؤْتُونَ النَّاسَ نَقِيراً

(Then in that case they would not give mankind even a Naqir.) Meaning, if they had a share in the sovereignty and dominion, they would not give anyone anything, especially Muhammad , even if it was the speck on the back of a date-stone, which is the meaning of Naqir according to Ibn `Abbas and the majority of the scholars. This Ayah is similar to another of Allah's statements,

قُل لَّوْ أَنتُمْ تَمْلِكُونَ خَزَآئِنَ رَحْمَةِ رَبِّى إِذًا لأمْسَكْتُمْ خَشْيَةَ الإِنفَاقِ

(Say: "If you possessed the treasure of the mercy of my Lord, then you would surely withold it out of fear of spending it.) meaning, for fear that what you have might end, although there is no such possibility here. This only demonstrates their greedy and stingy nature. This is why Allah said,

وَكَانَ الإنْسَـنُ قَتُورًا

(And man is ever Qatur) meaning Bakhil (stingy). Allah then said,

أَمْ يَحْسُدُونَ النَّاسَ عَلَى مَآ ءَاتَـهُمُ اللَّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ

(Or do they envy men for what Allah has given them of His Bounty) referring to their envy of the Prophet for the great prophethood that Allah entrusted him with. Their envy made them reject him, because he was an Arab and not from the Children of Israel. At-Tabarani recorded that Ibn `Abbas said that,

أَمْ يَحْسُدُونَ النَّاسَ

(Or do they envy men) means, "We are the worthy people, rather than the rest of the people." Allah said,

فَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَآ ءَالَ إِبْرَهِيمَ الْكِتَـبَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَءَاتَيْنَـهُمْ مُّلْكاً عَظِيماً

(Then, We have already given the family of Ibrahim the Book and Al-Hikmah, and conferred upon them a great kingdom.) meaning, We gave the prophethood to the tribes of the Children of Israel, who are among the offspring of Ibrahim and sent down the Books to them. These Prophets ruled the Jews with the prophetic tradition, and We made kings among them. Yet,

فَمِنْهُمْ مَّنْ ءَامَنَ بِهِ

(Of them were (some) who believed in it;) referring to Allah's favor and bounty (Prophets, Books, kingship),

وَمِنْهُمْ مَّن صَدَّ عَنْهُ

(and of them were (some) who rejected it) by disbelieving in it, ignoring it, and hindering the people from its path, although this bounty was from and for them, the Children of Israel. They disputed with their own Prophets; so what about you, O Muhammad , especially since you are not from the Children of Israel Mujahid said,

فَمِنْهُمْ مَّنْ ءَامَنَ بِهِ

(Of them were (some) who believed in him,) "Muhammad ,

وَمِنْهُمْ مَّن صَدَّ عَنْهُ

(and of them were (some) who rejected him.)" Therefore, O Muhammad, the rejection of you because of their disbelief is even more severe and they are even further from the truth that you brought them. This is why Allah threatened them,

وَكَفَى بِجَهَنَّمَ سَعِيراً

(and enough is Hell for burning (them).), meaning, the Fire is a just punishment for them because of their disbelief, rebellion and defiance of Allah's Books and Messengers.

Commentary

Admonishing Jews for being unreasonably envious

The knowledge, the grace, the high rank and the grandeur of mission given by Allah Almighty to the Noble Prophet ﷺ made Jews all too jealous. Verses 53 and 54 strongly admonish this attitude of theirs, giving two reasons why their envy was unreasonable. The first reason appears in verse 53, while the second, in verse 54. But, the outcome of both is the same. The drift of the argument is: 'What is the basis of your envy? If this is because you think you are the real inheritors of the kingdom and what he has been blessed with is actually yours, obviously then, this is all wrong. As it is, right now you have no kingdom. Even if you came to have some of it, you are not the kind to give anything to anybody. If your envy is based on the realization that the kingdom, no doubt, did not pass from you onto him, still, the question remains, why did it have to go to him at all. What relevance does he have with having a kingdom? The answer given was: He too comes from the family of prophets who have ruled over kingdoms before him. So, the kingdom has really not come to a stranger. Your envy, therefore, is unreasonable.'

The definition and rules of envy

` Allamah al-Nawawi, the Commentator of Muslim, defines Hasad as : اَلحَسَدُ تَمَیّ زَوَّالِ النِّعمَۃ (Muslim, v.2). It means that Hasad (envy) is a desire to see the other person's blessing somehow disappear, and this is harm (forbidden).

The Holy Prophet ﷺ has said:

لا تباڈضواولا تحاسدوا ولا تدابروا ، وکونوا عباد اللہ اخواناً ، ولا یحل لمسلم ان یھجر اخاہ فوق ثلاث

"Do not hate and do not envy and do not turn your backs on each other. Instead, become servants of Allah, as brothers. And it is not lawful for a Muslim that he abandons his brother for more than three days." (Muslim, v.2)

In another hadith, he has said:

اِیاکم والحسد، فإن الحسد یأکل الحسنات کما تاکل النار الحطب

"Beware of envy, for envy eats up good deeds as the fire eats up wood." (Abu Dwud, cited by Mishkat)

Sayyidna Zubayr ؓ ، narrates that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said:

عن الزبیر ؓ قال : قال رسول اللہ ﷺ : دب الیکم داء الامم قبلکم، الحسد والبغضاء ھی لحالقۃ، لا إقول تحلق الشعر، ولکن تحلق الدین

"Stealthily creeping into you is the disease of earlier peoples - envy; and hatred, which is a shaver. I do not say that it shaves hair, but it does shave the religion off." (Ahmad and Tirmidhi, cited by Mishkat)

Envy, whether it be on account of someone's worldly, or spiritual excellence, is harem (forbidden) on both counts, as the words أَمْ لَهُمْ نَصِيبٌ مِّنَ الْمُلْكِ (Is it that they have a share in the kingdom?) seem to point out towards worldly excellence, while the words الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ (54) (the Book and the wisdom) are indicative of spiritual excellence.

In real life, the hypocrites tread the path of selfish desires and give in to satanic inducements, but outwardly, bearing the label of religion, they think that their actions are truly guided by God’s religion. In such an atmosphere, whenever the pure Truth is presented to them, they become its bitterest opponents. They feel that their religious status is being negated by that call. On the other hand, the existence of non-believers around them poses no such challenge and, therefore, their attitude towards them remains lax. But the preacher of truth cannot expect any leniency from them, for they become infuriated with jealousy over someone else having been granted religious representation, when they alone had formerly had a monopoly of religion. They quite forget that God chooses the representatives of His religion on the basis of purity of soul, inner piety and a sound heart, and not because of any outward show of piety. Being accursed is to be deprived of the grace and succour of God. Just as starvation and thirst wreck one’s physical existence, similarly deprivation of God’s grace and succour wrecks one’s spiritual existence. A cursed person becomes so insensitive that he loses the ability to distinguish between truth and untruth. He fails to recognize and accept explicit signs and cannot differentiate between absurd argumentation and logical argument.