Tafsir of Surah Al-Anfal - Verse 36

The Disbelievers spend Their Wealth to hinder Others from Allah's Path, but this will only cause Them Grief

Muhammad bin Ishaq narrated that Az-Zuhri, Muhammad bin Yahya bin Hibban, `Asim bin `Umar bin Qatadah, and Al-Husayn bin `Abdur-Rahman bin `Amr bin Sa`id bin Mu`adh said, "The Quraysh suffered defeat at Badr and their forces went back to Makkah, while Abu Sufyan went back with the caravan intact. This is when `Abdullah bin Abi Rabi`ah, `Ikrimah bin Abi Jahl, Safwan bin Umayyah and other men from Quraysh who lost their fathers, sons or brothers in Badr, went to Abu Sufyan bin Harb. They said to him, and to those among the Quraysh who had wealth in that caravan, `O people of Quraysh! Muhammad has grieved you and killed the chiefs among you. Therefore, help us with this wealth so that we can fight him, it may be that we will avenge our losses.' They agreed." Muhammad bin Ishaq said, "This Ayah was revealed about them, according to Ibn `Abbas,

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَلَهُمْ

(Verily, those who disbelieve spend their wealth...) until,

هُمُ الْخَـسِرُونَ

(they who are the losers. )" Mujahid, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Al-Hakam bin `Uyaynah, Qatadah, As-Suddi and Ibn Abza said that this Ayah was revealed about Abu Sufyan and his spending money in Uhud to fight the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Ad-Dahhak said that this Ayah was revealed about the idolators of Badr. In any case, the Ayah is general, even though there was a specific incident that accompanied its revelation. Allah states here that the disbelievers spend their wealth to hinder from the path of truth. However, by doing that, their money will be spent and then will become a source of grief and anguish for them, availing them nothing in the least. They seek to extinguish the Light of Allah and make their word higher than the word of truth. However, Allah will complete His Light, even though the disbelievers hate it. He will give aid to His religion, make His Word dominant, and His religion will prevail above all religions. This is the disgrace that the disbelievers will taste in this life; and in the Hereafter, they will taste the torment of the Fire. Whoever among them lives long, will witness with his eyes and hear with his ears what causes grief to him. Those among them who are killed or die will be returned to eternal disgrace and the everlasting punishment. This is why Allah said,

فَسَيُنفِقُونَهَا ثُمَّ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسْرَةً ثُمَّ يُغْلَبُونَ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ إِلَى جَهَنَّمَ يُحْشَرُونَ

(And so will they continue to spend it; but in the end it will become an anguish for them. Then they will be overcome. And those who disbelieve will be gathered unto Hell. )

Allah said,

لِيَمِيزَ اللَّهُ الْخَبِيثَ مِنَ الطَّيِّبِ

(In order that Allah may distinguish the wicked from the good.), meaning recognize the difference between the people of happiness and the people of misery, according to Ibn `Abbas, as `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported from him. Allah distinguishes between those believers who obey Him and fight His disbelieving enemies and those who disobey Him. Allah said in another Ayah,

مَّا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَذَرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ عَلَى مَآ أَنتُمْ عَلَيْهِ حَتَّى يَمِيزَ الْخَبِيثَ مِنَ الطَّيِّبِ وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُطْلِعَكُمْ عَلَى الْغَيْبِ

(Allah will not leave the believers in the state in which you are now, until He distinguishes the wicked from the good. Nor will Allah disclose to you the secrets of the Ghayb (Unseen).) 3:179, and,

أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُواْ الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَعْلَمِ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ جَـهَدُواْ مِنكُمْ وَيَعْلَمَ الصَّـبِرِينَ

(Do you think that you will enter Paradise before Allah (tests) those of you who fought (in His cause) and (also) tests those who are the patient)3:142.

Therefore, the Ayah (8:37) means, `We tried you with combatant disbelievers whom We made able to spend money in fighting you,'

لِيَمِيزَ اللَّهُ الْخَبِيثَ مِنَ الطَّيِّبِ وَيَجْعَلَ الْخَبِيثَ بَعْضَهُ عَلَى بَعْضٍ فَيَرْكُمَهُ

(in order that Allah may distinguish the wicked from the good, and put the wicked one over another, heap them together) put in a pile on top of each other,

فَيَجْعَلَهُ فِى جَهَنَّمَ أُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْخَـسِرُونَ

(and cast them into Hell. Those! It is they who are the losers.) 8:37, in this life and the Hereafter.

قُل لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ إِن يَنتَهُواْ يُغْفَرْ لَهُمْ مَّا قَدْ سَلَفَ وَإِن يَعُودُواْ فَقَدْ مَضَتْ سُنَّتُ الاٌّوَّلِينِ

At the end of the verse (36), given there is the evil end of these people in terms of the Hereafter: وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُ‌وا إِلَىٰ جَهَنَّمَ يُحْشَرُ‌ونَ (And those who disbelieve shall be gathered into Jahannam).

In the verse under study, the mention of an evil end of spending wealth to stop people from following the true faith also includes the disbelievers of today who spend enormous wealth in the name of hospitals, educational institutions and charities only to stop people from following Islam and to attract them to their call for the false. Similarly, also included here are all those who have gone astray, those who spend their wealth to invite people to listen to doubts and superstitions they have generated into the established collective beliefs of Is-lam. But, Allah Ta` a1a has His ways of keeping the faith revealed by Him protected. There are many occasions when it is openly noticed that such people fail to achieve their objective despite having spent huge amount of money and materials.

Among human beings some are clean and pure, while some are unclean. Some souls draw nourishment from the things that are liked by God, while others have a taste for things that are the favourites of their base selves or of Satan.Under normal conditions, both types of people live together. On the face of it, there appears to be no difference between them. So, Almighty God causes a struggle between True and false, so that the people of both types separate from each other and it becomes clear as to who is who. During this struggle it becomes clear as to who immediately accepts the Truth when it comes before him and who rejects it; who, in dealing with others remains within the limit of justice, and who resorts to injustice; who remains modest and humble in the world and who becomes arrogant, who spends money for the cause of Truth and who spends as a matter of prejudice and show.The actions of those who expend their efforts in ways other than the way of Truth are glorified and made handsome in their eyes by Satan in such a way that they start thinking that they are performing superior acts; that they are proceeding towards a glorious future. But this misunderstanding is short-lived. Very soon man reaches the stage when he comes to know that whatever he had done was merely a wastage of his energy and money. The future towards which he was proceeding was only one of unfulfilled longing and frustration, though on the basis of false hopes he had considered it a journey towards a bright future. When the call for pure religion is given, all those people who had gained a position of leadership on the basis of adulterated religion feel adversely affected by that call. So, they spend all their energy in protecting the custom-based, traditional structure which had conferred the position of superiority on them. But such people necessarily fail when opposed by the unadulterated Truth, sometimes in the field of argument and sometimes in the field of action as well.The activities of this world have been designed just to separate pure and impure souls from each other. When this process of sorting out is over, God will send the pure souls to paradise and assemble the impure souls and thrust them into hell.