Tafsir of Surah Al-Anfal - Verse 25

Warning against an encompassing Fitnah

Allah warns His believing servants of a Fitnah, trial and test, that encompasses the wicked and those around them. Therefore, such Fitnah will not be restricted to the sinners and evildoers. Rather, it will reach the others if the sins are not stopped and prevented. Imam Ahmad recorded that Mutarrif said, "We asked Az-Zubayr, `O Abu `Abdullah! What brought you here (for the battle of Al-Jamal) You abandoned the Khalifah who was assassinated (`Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him) and then came asking for revenge for his blood' He said, `We recited at the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and Abu Bakr, `Umar and `Uthman,

وَاتَّقُواْ فِتْنَةً لاَّ تُصِيبَنَّ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ مِنكُمْ خَآصَّةً

(And fear the Fitnah (affliction and trial) which affects not in particular (only) those of you who do wrong,) We did not think that this Ayah was about us too, until it reached us as it did."' `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said that the Ayah,

وَاتَّقُواْ فِتْنَةً لاَّ تُصِيبَنَّ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ مِنكُمْ خَآصَّةً

(And fear the Fitnah (affliction and trial) which affects not in particular (only) those of you who do wrong,) refers to the Companions of the Prophet in particular. In another narration from Ibn `Abbas, he said, "Allah commanded the believers to stop evil from flourishing among them, so that Allah does not encompass them all in the torment (Fitnah). " This, indeed, is a very good explanation, prompting Mujahid to comment about Allah's statement,

وَاتَّقُواْ فِتْنَةً لاَّ تُصِيبَنَّ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ مِنكُمْ خَآصَّةً

(And fear the Fitnah (affliction and trial) which affects not in particular (only) those of you who do wrong,)

"Is for you too!" Several said similarly, such as Ad-Dahhak and Yazid bin Abi Habib and several others. Ibn Mas`ud said, "There is none among you but there is something that represents a Fitnah for him, for Allah said,

إِنَّمَآ أَمْوَلُكُمْ وَأَوْلَـدُكُمْ فِتْنَةٌ

(Your wealth and your children are only a trial (Fitnah)...) 64:15. Therefore, when you seek refuge, seek it with Allah from the Fitnah that causes misguidance." Ibn Jarir collected this Hadith. The view that the warning in this Ayah addresses the Companions and all others is true, even though the speech in the Ayah was directed at the Companions. There are Hadiths that warn against Fitnah in general, thus providing the correctness of this explanation. Similarly there will be a separate book in which this subject will be discussed, Allah willing, as also is the case with the Imams, there being a number of writings about this. Of the most precise things that have been mentioned under this topic, is what was recorded by Imam Ahmad from Hudhayfah bin Al-Yaman that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَتَأْمُرُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَلَتَنْهَوُنَّ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ أَوْ لَيُوشِكَنَّ اللهُ أَنْ يَبْعَثَ عَلَيْكُمْ عِقَابًا مِنْ عِنْدِهِ ثُمَّ لَتَدْعُنَّهُ فَلَا يَسْتَجِيبُ لَكُم»

(By He in Whose Hand is my soul! You will enjoin righteousness and forbid evil, or Allah will send a punishment upon you from Him; you will supplicate then to Him, but He will not answer your supplication.)

Imam Ahmad recorded that Abu Ar-Riqad said, "I heard Hudhayfah saying, `A person used to utter one word during the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and become a hypocrite on account of it. I now hear such words from one of you four times in the same sitting. Surely, you will enjoin good, forbid evil and encourage each other to do good or Allah will surround you all with torment, or make the wicked among you become your leaders. The righteous among you will then supplicate, but their supplication will not be accepted."' sImam Ahmad recorded that An-Nu`man bin Bashir said that the Prophet gave a speech in which he said, while pointing to his ears with two of his fingers,

«مَثَلُ الْقَائِمِ عَلَى حُدُودِ اللهِ وَالْوَاقِعِ فِيهَا وَالْمُدَاهِنِ فِيهَا كَمَثَلِ قَوْمٍ رَكِبُوا سَفِينَةً فَأَصَابَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَسْفَلَهَا وَأَوْعَرَهَا وَشَرَّهَا وَأَصَابَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَعْلَاهَا فَكَانَ الَّذِينَ فِي أَسْفَلِهَا إِذَا اسْتَقَوُا الْمَاءَ مَرُّوا عَلَى مَنْ فَوقَهُمْ فَآذُوْهُمْ فَقَالُوا: لَوْ خَرَقْنَا فِي نَصِيبِنَا خَرْقًا فَاسْتَقَيْنَا مِنْهُ وَلَمْ نُؤْذِ مَنْ فَوْقَنَا: فَإِنْ تَرَكُوهُمْ وَأَمْرَهُمْ هَلَكُوا جَمِيعًا وَإِنْ أَخَذُوا عَلَى أَيْدِيهِمْ نَجَوْا جَمِيعًا»

(The parable of the person abiding by Allah's order and restrictions in comparison to those who violate them, or sit idle while they are being violated, is that of those who drew lots for their seats in a boat. Some of them got seats in the lower part, which is the most rough and worst part, and the others in the upper. When the former needed water, they had to go up to bring water and that troubled the others, so they said, `Let us make a hole in our share of the ship and get water, saving those who are above us from troubling them, so, if the people in the upper part let the others do what they suggested, all the people of the ship would be destroyed, but if they prevented them, both parties would be safe.)

This was recorded by Al-Bukhari, but not Muslim, in the Book of Partnerships and the Book of Witnesses. It was also recorded by At-Tirmidhi through a different route of narration.

Imam Ahmad recorded that Umm Salamah, the Prophet's wife, said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying,

«إِذَا ظَهَرَتِ الْمَعَاصِي فِي أُمَّتِي عَمَّهُمُ اللهُ بِعَذَابٍ مِنْ عِنْدِه»

(If sins become apparent in my Ummah, Allah will surround them with punishment from Him.) I said, `O Allah's Messenger! Will they have righteous people among them then' He said,

«بَلَى»

(Yes.) I asked, `What will happen to them' He said,

«يُصِيبُهُمْ مَا أَصَابَ النَّاسَ ثُمَّ يَصِيرُونَ إِلَى مَغْفِرَةٍ مِنَ اللهِ وَرِضْوَان»

(They will be striken as the people, but they will end up with Allah's forgiveness and pleasure.)"

Imam Ahmad recorded that Jarir said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«مَا مِنْ قَوْمٍ يُعْمَلُ فِيهِمْ بِالْمَعَاصِي هُمْ أَعَزُّ وَأَكْثَرُ مِمَّنْ يَعْمَلُونَ ثُمَّ لَمْ يُغَيِّرُوهُ إِلَّا عَمَّهُمُ اللهُ بِعِقَاب»

(Every people among whom sins are being committed, while they are mightier and more numerous than those who do wrong, yet they did nothing to stop them, then Allah will surround them all with punishment.)

Ibn Majah collected this Hadith.

Commentary

After having described some details of the battle of Badr and Divine blessings conferred on Muslims therein, the Holy Qur'an has offered words of good counsel to Muslims as based on the outcome of the Battle. This presentation begins from: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّـهِ وَلِلرَّ‌سُولِ (0 those who believe, respond to Allah and His Messenger - 8:24). The verses cited immediately above appear in continuation to the same.

Out of these, the first verse (25) carries an instruction to stay safe from a sin particularly, a sin the severe punishment of which does not remain restricted to only those who commit sins in a society. In fact, people who have committed no sin also get afflicted by it.

Which sin is that? The answers given by commentators vary. Some say: This sin is the forsaking of the struggle to Bid the Fair and Forbid the Unfair (amr bi'l-ma` ruf and nahy'l-munkar). Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ said: Allah Ta` ala has commanded Muslims that they should not allow any crime or sin to take roots in their social environment because, if they failed to do so, that is, did not forbid it despite seeing such crimes and sins and despite having the ability or capacity to stop it or to forbid it, then, Allah Ta` ala will universalize His punishment for all of them which will spare neither the sinners nor the sinless.

The sinless mentioned here are people who are no accomplices of sinners in their initial sin, but they have certainly committed the sin of avoiding or abandoning the Divinely ordained duty of Bidding the Fair. Therefore, let there be no doubt here about the statement made. For example, here it is not valid to say that the passing on of the punishment of a sin committed by someone else to another person is injustice and that it is contrary to the Qur'anic injunction: لَا تَزِرُ‌ وَازِرَ‌ةٌ وِزْرَ‌ أُخْرَ‌ىٰ (No bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another person - 35:18) - because, here the sinners have been seized for the initial sin they themselves had committed while the sinless were seized for the sin of having abandoned the obligation of Bidding the Fair. Thus, no one's sin was placed on the shoulders of someone else.

According to a narration of Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn Masud ؓ and Sayyidah ` A'ishah ؓ appearing in Sharh al-Sunnah and Ma’ alim of Imam al-Baghawi, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been reported to have said : Allah Ta` ala does not subject common people with the punishment of some sin committed by a particular group among them - unless, there emerges a situation in which they see sin being committed around them and have the ability to stop it as well, yet, if they did not stop it, then, at that time, the punishment from Allah surrounds all of them.

Also reported authentically in Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud and elsewhere is that Sayyidna Abu Bakr ؓ said in one of his sermons: I have heard the Holy Prophet ﷺ say: When people see an oppressor and do not step forward and hold his hand from inflicting injustice, then, the time is near that Allah Ta` ala makes His punishment fall on all of them alike.

According to a narration from Sayyidna Nu` man ibn Bashir reported in the Sahih of al-Bukhari, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: Those who commit the sin of transgressing the limits set by Allah and those who ignore them knowingly or accommodate them psychophantly, that is, they do not try to stop them from that sin, are like passengers on two decks of a ship, the upper and the lower. People on the lower deck come up to procure water from the upper deck which causes discomfort for people there. Keeping this in view, the people of the lower deck opt for making a hole in the bottom of the boat and get their sup-ply of water from there. Now, if the people of the upper deck see this misconduct and elect not to check and stop them from doing something like that, then, it is obvious, the water will fill into the whole boat and when the people of the lower deck will drown in it, those on the upper deck will not remain safe either, for they too will drown with the others.

It is on the basis of these narrations that many commentators have declared that the word: فِتنَہ (fitnah) in this verse refers to this very sin, that is, the forsaking of the obligation of Bidding the Fair and Forbidding the Unfair.

It appears in Tafsir Mazhari that this sin means the sin of the abandonment of Jihad especially at a time when a general call for Jihad is given to common Muslims from their Amir, a call on which depends the security and defence of Islamic hallmarks. The reason is that this is a time when the curse of forsaking Jihad does not fall only on those who forsake Jihad but it also falls on the whole body of Muslims. Because Kuffar run over Muslim areas, women and children and old people and many innocent Muslims become victims of their killing and plunder. Their lives and properties are endangered. If that be the situation, 'punishment' would mean worldly distress and hardships.

The factual evidence of this explanation is that those who forsake Jihad have been condemned in the previous verses as well. Previous verses, such as: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا لَقِيتُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُ‌وا زَحْفًا فَلَا تُوَلُّوهُمُ الْأَدْبَارَ‌ ﴿15﴾ (while a group from the believers were averse to it - 8:5) and: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا لَقِيتُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُ‌وا زَحْفًا فَلَا تُوَلُّوهُمُ الْأَدْبَارَ‌ ﴿15﴾" ( O those who believe, when you face the disbelievers marching to battle, then do not turn your backs on them - 8:15) have appeared in support of this approach to the problem.

The same thing happened at the battle of Badr when some Muslims wavered with their choice of suitable conduct. They left their security post on the hills and came down. When this happened, the ill effects of their action did not remain restricted to those who had made the error, in fact, they hit the entire Muslim army, so much so that the Holy Prophet ﷺ was himself injured in this battle.

Here the ‘call of life’ means the call for the struggle to convey the Truth to others. Initially this struggle starts by preaching by word of mouth or by means of the pen. But the belligerent attitude of those to whom the call is given takes this struggle to various other stages, even to the extent of migration or war. Man formulates his religious life in accordance with his ideas, at the individual level. He makes his life so consistent with his circumstances that it appears to be an island of safety for him. He has the feeling that if he exerts himself to reform others, this well-established abode will be destroyed; his well organised life will be disturbed and the regulation of his time and the system devised by him to govern his property—keeping his personal requirements in view—will be upset. Such fears prevent him from making efforts to call upon others to the Truth and to sacrifice his life and property for that cause. But this is utter stupidity. The fact is that the abode of peace which he considers his ‘life’ is his graveyard, and hidden in the sacrifice in which he sees his death, lies the secret of his life. Giving the call to the people and their reformation are extremely important tasks, provided that they are aimed at the Hereafter and are not for worldly purposes. It makes a dead religion a living religion. It links man with God at the highest level. It introduces man to such religious experiences as he could never have if he remained in his individual shell. If, in spite of hearing such an important call on behalf of God, people are still unmindful of it, they incur the risk of creating a psychological barrier between themselves and the Truth; they risk losing their natural capacity to hear the voice of Truth, to rush towards it and discover their Lord. Man’s life is social in nature. Nobody can go on living on his own on an isolated island. If a man is content with his personal righteousness, he always incurs the risk that, as a result of perversion in society, he himself will also be affected, for he is also a part of the same society. His struggle to reform the people would serve as a practical demonstration that he was not involved directly or indirectly with evil people. Every evil starts in a small way and then gradually becomes greatly enlarged. If it happens that when an evil is in the initial stages, it is opposed by a number of people at that time, it will be easily crushed. But once the evil has spread, it becomes so deep-rooted that it becomes impossible to eliminate it.