Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:10
In their hearts is disease, so Allah has increased their disease; and for them is a painful punishment because they [habitually] used to lie.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the saying of Him, exalted is His praise: فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ ("In their hearts is a disease")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The root meaning of "disease" (maraḍ) is infirmity, sickness (saqam); thereafter this word is used both with respect to the bodies and to the religions. Allah, exalted is His praise, has thus reported that in the hearts of the hypocrites (munāfiqīn) there is a disease. Blessed and exalted is He, by His report about the disease of their hearts He actually intended the report about the disease of that which is in their hearts of conviction (iʿtiqād). But since, through the report about the disease of the heart, it is known that what is intended thereby is the disease of that which they believe of conviction, the report about the heart was sufficient for this, and it had no need of an explicit mention of the report about their inner disposition and their convictions. As ʿUmar ibn Lajaʾ said:
"And the city (al-Madīna) glorified [Allah] — do not reproach her —, she saw a moon in their market by day."
He means: and the inhabitants of the city glorified [Allah]. He left it, because the hearers would understand his report, at the report about the city in place of the report about her inhabitants. And similar to this is the saying of ʿAntara al-ʿAbsī:
"Why did you not ask the horses, O daughter of Mālik? If you were ignorant of what you did not know."
He means: why did you not ask the riders of the horses? And to this belongs their saying: "O horses of Allah, mount!" — by which is meant: O riders of the horses of Allah, mount [them]! The testimonies for this are more numerous than a book can enumerate, and in what we have mentioned there is sufficiency for whoever is granted to understand it.
Such, then, is the meaning of the saying of Allah, exalted is His praise: فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ ("In their hearts is a disease"). He means only: in the conviction of their hearts which they adhere to in religion, and in [their relation to] the affirmation of Muḥammad ﷺ and of what he has brought from Allah, there is a disease and infirmity. He made do with the indication of the report about their hearts toward its intent, in place of the explicit report about their conviction.
And the disease of which Allah, exalted is His praise, mentioned that it is in the conviction of their hearts which we have described: that is their doubt concerning the affair of Muḥammad and what he has brought from Allah, and their confusion regarding it. They are neither certain of it with the certainty of faith (īmān), nor do they reject it with the rejection of shirk (the ascribing of partners to Allah), but they are, as Allah, mighty and exalted, has described them, tossed back and forth between the two, neither toward these nor toward those. As one says: so-and-so "sickens" (yumarriḍu) in this matter, that is to say: he weakens the resolve and does not bring the deliberation about it to clarity.
And in accordance with what we have said about the explanation of this, the interpreters (mufassirūn) have mutually reinforced one another in their explanation.
* Mention of who said that:
322 — Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the client (mawlā) of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "In their hearts is a disease", that is to say: doubt.
323 — And it was related to me on the authority of al-Minjāb, saying: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: The disease is hypocrisy (nifāq).
324 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī in a report which he mentioned, on the authority of Abū Mālik, and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and on the authority of Murra al-Hamdānī, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of some men from among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: "In their hearts is a disease" — he says: in their hearts is doubt.
325 — Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd said, concerning His saying: "In their hearts is a disease", he said: This is a disease in religion, and not a disease in the bodies. He said: And they are the hypocrites (munāfiqīn).
326 — Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, [it being] read aloud, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying "In their hearts is a disease", he said: In their hearts is suspicion and doubt concerning the affair of Allah, exalted is His praise.
327 — And it was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: "In their hearts is a disease", he said: They are the people of hypocrisy (nifāq), and the disease which is in their hearts is the doubt concerning the affair of Allah, exalted is His remembrance.
328 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd said: وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ ("And among the people are those who say: we believe in Allah and in the Last Day") until he came to: فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ ("In their hearts is a disease"). He said: The disease is the doubt which has crept into them concerning Islam.
The explanation of the saying of Him, exalted is His praise: فَزَادَهُمُ اللَّهُ مَرَضًا ("Allah has increased their disease")
We have just demonstrated that the explanation of the disease of which Allah, exalted is His praise, described that it is in the hearts of the hypocrites, is the doubt in the convictions of their hearts and their religions, and in that upon which they persist concerning the affair of Muḥammad, the messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the affair of his prophethood and what he has brought.
The disease of which Allah, exalted is His praise, reported about them that He increased it for them on top of their disease, is of the same kind as what was in their hearts of doubt and confusion before the increase. Allah thus increased them — by means of what He brought into being of prescribed limits (ḥudūd) and obligations (farāʾiḍ), which He had not prescribed before the increase that He increased the hypocrites — with doubt and confusion, when they doubted and grew suspicious concerning that which He brought into being for them of it; [and this came] on top of the disease and the doubt which was in their hearts in the past, concerning His limits and obligations which He had prescribed before that. Just as He increased the believers who believed in Him, on top of their faith in which they were before that, by means of that which He brought into being for them of obligations and limits, when they believed in it — [an increase] on top of their faith in what preceded of His limits and His obligations — a [increase in] faith. As He, exalted is His praise, said in His sending down: وَإِذَا مَا أُنْـزِلَتْ سُورَةٌ فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَقُولُ أَيُّكُمْ زَادَتْهُ هَذِهِ إِيمَانًا فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فَزَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا وَهُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ * وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ فَزَادَتْهُمْ رِجْسًا إِلَى رِجْسِهِمْ وَمَاتُوا وَهُمْ كَافِرُونَ ("And when a sūra is sent down, there are among them those who say: which of you has this increased in faith? As for those who believe, it has increased them in faith and they rejoice. But as for those in whose hearts is a disease, it has increased them in abomination upon their abomination, and they died while they were unbelievers") [Sūrat al-Tawba: 124, 125]. The increase, then, by which the hypocrites were increased in abomination upon their abomination, is that which we have described. And that by which the believers were increased on top of their faith, is that which we have expounded. And that is the explanation upon which there is agreement.
Mention of some of the people of explanation who said that:
329 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the client (mawlā) of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Allah has increased their disease", he said: doubt.
330 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād informed us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, in a report which he mentioned, on the authority of Abū Mālik, and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and on the authority of Murra al-Hamdānī, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of some men from among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: "Allah has increased their disease", he says: Allah has increased their suspicion and doubt.
331 — Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, [it being] read aloud, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda: "Allah has increased their disease", he says: Allah has increased their suspicion and doubt concerning the affair of Allah.
332 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning the saying of Allah: "In their hearts is a disease, and Allah has increased their disease", he said: He increased their abomination. And he recited the saying of Allah, mighty and exalted: فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فَزَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا وَهُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ * وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ فَزَادَتْهُمْ رِجْسًا إِلَى رِجْسِهِمْ ("As for those who believe, it has increased them in faith and they rejoice. But as for those in whose hearts is a disease, it has increased them in abomination upon their abomination"). He said: evil upon their evil, and error upon their error.
333 — And it was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: "Allah has increased their disease", he said: Allah increased their doubt.
The explanation of the saying of Him, exalted is His praise: وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ("And for them is a painful punishment")
Abū Jaʿfar said: "Alīm" (painful) is "that which causes pain" (al-mūjiʿ). And its meaning is: and for them is a pain-causing punishment (ʿadhāb muʾlim), where "muʾlim" is transformed into "alīm". As one says: "a painful (wajīʿ) blow" in the meaning of "pain-causing (mūjiʿ)", and والله بَديع السموات والأرض ("Allah is the Originator (badīʿ) of the heavens and the earth") in the meaning of "originating (mubdiʿ)". And to this belongs the saying of ʿAmr ibn Maʿdīkarib al-Zubaydī:
"Does the caller, the [herald] making-heard of Rayḥāna, keep me awake, while my companions slumber?"
— in the meaning of "the one making-heard (al-musmiʿ)". And to this belongs the saying of Dhū al-Rumma:
"And they raise up from the breasts of fine [she-camels], their faces being warded off by a painful (alīm) blaze."
It is also transmitted as "yaṣukku" (strikes). And "alīm" is only an attribute of the punishment, as though He said: and for them is a pain-causing punishment. It is derived from "al-alam" (the pain), and "al-alam" is the pain (al-wajaʿ). As —:
334 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, he said: "Alīm" is "that which causes pain".
335 — Yaʿqūb related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, he said: "Alīm" is "that which causes pain".
336 — And it was related to me on the authority of al-Minjāb ibn al-Ḥārith, saying: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His saying "alīm", he said: It is the pain-causing punishment. And everything in the Qurʾān that is [derived] from "al-alīm", is "that which causes pain".
The explanation of the saying of Him, exalted is His praise: بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْذِبُونَ (10) ("because of what they used to lie")
The reciters (qaraʾa) differed in the recitation of this. Some of them read it: بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْذِبُونَ with softened dhāl and opened yāʾ ("yakdhibūn" — to lie), and this is the recitation of the great majority of the people of Kūfa. Others read it: "yukadhdhibūn" with closed yāʾ and doubled dhāl ("they deny, accuse of falsehood"), and this is the recitation of the great majority of the people of Medina, the Ḥijāz and Baṣra.
It is as though those who read it with the doubling of the dhāl and the closing of the yāʾ held the view that Allah, exalted is His praise, imposed the painful punishment upon the hypocrites only because of their denial (takdhīb) of His prophet ﷺ and of what he has brought, and that lying, were it not for the denial, would not impose upon anyone even the least of the punishment — so how then the painful part of it? But the matter in this is, in my view, not as they said. And that is because Allah, mighty and exalted, at the beginning of the report about them in this sūra, gave a report about the hypocrites, that they lie with their claim of faith and their open display of it with their tongues, as a deception against Allah, mighty and exalted, and against His messenger and against the believers. He thus said: وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَمَا هُمْ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ * يُخَادِعُونَ اللَّهَ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ("And among the people are those who say: we believe in Allah and in the Last Day, while they are not believers. They seek to deceive Allah and those who believe") — by that of their saying, together with their concealment of the doubt and the suspicion. وَمَا يَخْدَعُونَ ("And they deceive") by their acting in that manner إِلا أَنْفُسَهُمْ ("only themselves"), and not the messenger of Allah ﷺ and the believers; وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ ("and they do not perceive") — namely the place of their deceiving of themselves, and the gradual leading to ruin by Allah, mighty and exalted, by granting them respite — فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ ("in their hearts") is the doubt of hypocrisy and its suspicion. And Allah is the One who increases their doubt and suspicion because of what they used to lie against Allah and His messenger and the believers with their saying with their tongues: "we believe in Allah and in the Last Day", while they are, in that saying of theirs, liars, because of their concealment of the doubt and the disease in the convictions of their hearts concerning the affair of Allah and the affair of His messenger ﷺ. It is thus more fitting in the wisdom of Allah, exalted is His majesty, that the threat from Him against them should pertain to that with which the report about them was opened of their shameful deeds and their blameworthy character traits, and not to that of their deeds of which no mention preceded. For all the remaining verses of His sending down came down in that manner, namely: that He opens the mention of the good deeds of a people, and then concludes that with the threat concerning that with which the mention of it was opened of their deeds; and that He opens the mention of the evil deeds of others, and then concludes that with the threat concerning that with which the mention of it was begun of their deeds.
Such, then, is the correct view of the saying — concerning the verses in which the mention of some of the evil deeds of the hypocrites was opened — that this is concluded with the threat concerning that with which the mention of it was opened of their shameful deeds. So this, then, is so — alongside the indication of the other verse upon the correctness of what we have said, and its testimony that the obligatory recitation is the one which we have preferred, and that the correct view of the explanation is that which we have explained, namely that the threat of Allah against the hypocrites in this verse with the painful punishment pertains to lying, which comprises the meaning of both doubt and denial. And that is the saying of Allah, blessed and exalted is He: إِذَا جَاءَكَ الْمُنَافِقُونَ قَالُوا نَشْهَدُ إِنَّكَ لَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ إِنَّكَ لَرَسُولُهُ وَاللَّهُ يَشْهَدُ إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَكَاذِبُونَ * اتَّخَذُوا أَيْمَانَهُمْ جُنَّةً فَصَدُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ إِنَّهُمْ سَاءَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ ("When the hypocrites come to you, they say: we testify that you are truly the messenger of Allah. And Allah knows that you are truly His messenger, and Allah testifies that the hypocrites are truly liars. They have taken their oaths as a shield and have thus turned away from the path of Allah; truly, evil is what they used to do") [Sūrat al-Munāfiqūn: 1, 2]. And the other verse in [Sūrat] al-Mujādala: اتَّخَذُوا أَيْمَانَهُمْ جُنَّةً فَصَدُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُهِينٌ ("They have taken their oaths as a shield and have thus turned away from the path of Allah; for them, then, is a humiliating punishment") [Sūrat al-Mujādala: 16]. He, exalted is His praise, thus reported that the hypocrites — with their saying of what they said to the messenger of Allah ﷺ, together with their conviction concerning him of that which they believe — are liars. Then He, exalted is His remembrance, reported that the humiliating punishment is for them, because of that of their lying. And if the correct recitation were as the reciters read it in Sūrat al-Baqara: "and for them is a painful punishment because of what they used to deny (yukadhdhibūn)", then the recitation in the other sūra would be: "and Allah testifies that the hypocrites are truly deniers (mukadhdhibūn)", so that the threat against them, which immediately follows upon it, would be a threat because of the denial and not because of the lying. And in the consensus of the Muslims that the correct view of the recitation in His saying وَاللَّهُ يَشْهَدُ إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَكَاذِبُونَ ("And Allah testifies that the hypocrites are truly liars") is in the meaning of lying — and that the threatening by Allah, blessed and exalted is He, therein of the hypocrites with the painful punishment pertains to that of their lying — lies the clearest indication that the correct view of the recitation in Sūrat al-Baqara is: "because of what they used to lie (yakdhibūn)" in the meaning of lying, and that the threat of Allah, exalted is His remembrance, against the hypocrites therein pertains to lying — in truth — and not to the denial of which no mention preceded — exactly equal to that which is in Sūrat al-Munāfiqūn.
And some grammarians of Baṣra have claimed that the "mā" in the saying of Allah, blessed is His name, "bimā kānū yakdhibūn", is a noun (ism) for the verbal noun (maṣdar), just as "an" and "the verb" are both nouns for the verbal noun in your saying "I love that you come to me" (an taʾtiyanī), and that the meaning is only: because of their lying and their denying. He said: And "kāna" was inserted to report that it took place in the past, as one says: "how good was ʿAbd Allāh" (mā aḥsana mā kāna ʿAbd Allāh), while you marvel at ʿAbd Allāh, not at his existence; but the marveling falls, in the wording, upon his existence (kawnihi). And some grammarians of Kūfa rejected that of his saying and counted it against him as an error, and said: "Kāna" is [grammatically] rendered inoperative in the marveling, because the verb precedes it, as though he said: "ḥasanan kāna Zayd" and "ḥasan kāna Zayd" — that renders "kāna" inoperative, and the [noun] operates grammatically with the nouns and the attributes which have the wording of nouns, when they come before "kāna" and "kāna" falls between them and the nouns. As for the reason for rendering it inoperative when it is rendered inoperative in this state: that is because of the resemblance of the attributes and the nouns to "faʿala" (he did) and "yafʿalu" (he does), in which the grammatical operation of "kāna" does not become visible. Do you not see that you say: "yaqūmu kāna Zayd", and the operation of "kāna" does not become visible in "yaqūmu", and likewise "qāma kāna Zayd"? Therefore its operation was rendered inoperative with "fāʿil" (the agent noun), by way of comparison with "faʿala" and "yafʿalu", and it was sometimes made operative with "fāʿil" because it is a noun, just as it is operative with the nouns. But when "kāna" precedes the nouns and the verbs, and the noun and the verb come after it, then in his view it is an error that "kāna" should be rendered inoperative. Therefore he rejected the saying of the Baṣran which we have transmitted, and he explained the saying of Allah, mighty and exalted, "bimā kānū yakdhibūn" in such a way that it has the meaning: "that which they lie".
