Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:14
And when they meet those who believe, they say, "We believe"; but when they are alone with their evil ones, they say, "Indeed, we are with you; we were only mockers."
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 commentary on the explanation of His words, exalted is His praise: وَإِذَا لَقُوا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قَالُوا آمَنَّا وَإِذَا خَلَوْا إِلَى شَيَاطِينِهِمْ قَالُوا إِنَّا مَعَكُمْ
(And when they meet those who believe, they say: "We believe"; and when they withdraw to their devils, they say: "We are with you")
Abū Jaʿfar said: This verse is similar to the other verse in which Allah, exalted is His praise, informs concerning the hypocrites (munāfiqūn) that they deceive Allah, His Messenger, and the believers. He, the Exalted, 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"). Then He, exalted is His mention, declared them liars with His words: وَمَا هُمْ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ (while they are not believers), and that by that statement of theirs they deceive Allah and those who believe. In the same way He informs concerning them in this verse that they say with their tongues — to the believers who hold Allah, His Book, and His Messenger to be true: "We believe and we hold Muḥammad to be true, and that which he has brought from Allah," as deception for the protection of their blood, their possessions, and their offspring, and to ward off all of that from themselves; and that, when they withdraw to their seditious ones and the people of arrogance, evil, and malice among them and among the rest of the polytheists (mushrikīn) — who are in the same state as themselves with respect to disbelief (kufr) in Allah, in His Book, and His Messenger, and they are their devils (shayāṭīn), and we have already shown earlier in our book that the devils of every thing are its seditious ones — to them they say: "We are with you," that is to say: we are with you upon your religion, and we are your helpers against whoever opposes you therein, and we are your allies and not those of the companions of Muḥammad ﷺ; إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِئُونَ (we are only mocking) Allah, His Book, His Messenger, and his companions. That is as:
349 — Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAlāʾ related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, 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, concerning His words: وَإِذَا لَقُوا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قَالُوا آمَنَّا (And when they meet those who believe, they say: "We believe"), he said: There were men of the Jews who, when they met the companions of the Prophet ﷺ or some of them, said: "We follow your religion." And when they withdrew to their comrades, who are their devils, they said: (We are with you, we are only mocking).
350 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama ibn al-Faḍl related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the mawlā of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَإِذَا لَقُوا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قَالُوا آمَنَّا وَإِذَا خَلَوْا إِلَى شَيَاطِينِهِمْ (And when they meet those who believe, they say: "We believe"; and when they withdraw to their devils), he said: when they withdraw to their devils among the Jews, who command them to denial and to opposing that which the Messenger has brought, (they say: "We are with you"), that is to say: we are in the same state as that in which you are, إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِئُونَ (we are only mocking).
351 — 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 a number of people among the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: (And when they withdraw to their devils), as for their devils, they are their leaders in disbelief.
352 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh al-ʿAqadī related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words: (And when they withdraw to their devils), that is to say: their leaders in evil, (they say) إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِئُونَ (we are only mocking).
353 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar communicated to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words: (And when they withdraw to their devils), he said: the polytheists (mushrikīn).
354 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr al-Bāhilī related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā ibn Maymūn related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Najīḥ related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the words of Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He: (And when they withdraw to their devils), he said: when the hypocrites withdraw to their comrades among the disbelievers (kuffār).
355 — Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, on the authority of Shibl ibn ʿAbbād, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (And when they withdraw to their devils), he said: their comrades among the hypocrites and the polytheists.
356 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq ibn al-Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: (And when they withdraw to their devils), he said: their brethren among the polytheists, قَالُوا إِنَّا مَعَكُمْ إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِئُونَ (they say: "We are with you, we are only mocking").
357 — Al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn ibn Dāwūd related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said concerning His words: (And when they meet those who believe, they say: "We believe"), he said: when prosperity befalls the believers, they say: "We are with you, we are only your brethren," and when they withdraw to their devils, they mock the believers.
358 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: And Mujāhid said: their devils: their comrades among the hypocrites and the polytheists.
If someone were to say to us: What is your view concerning His words (And when they withdraw to — ilā — their devils)? Why was it said (khalaw ilā shayāṭīnihim — they withdrew towards their devils), and not (khalaw bi-shayāṭīnihim — they withdrew with their devils)? For you know that what is current among people in their speech — "khalawtu bi-fulān" (I withdrew with so-and-so) — is more frequent and more widespread than "khalawtu ilā fulān" (I withdrew towards so-and-so); and along with that, your assertion that the Qurʾān is the most eloquent mode of expression!
Then we say: The people of knowledge concerning the language of the Arabs have differed about this. Some grammarians of Basra said: one says "khalawtu ilā fulān" when one means by it: I withdrew to him for a particular need. It can — when it is said thus — only indicate withdrawal to him for the fulfilment of a need. But when one says "khalawtu bihi" (I withdrew with him), then that can bear two meanings: the one is withdrawal with him for a need, the other is making him an object of ridicule. According to this view, وَإِذَا خَلَوْا إِلَى شَيَاطِينِهِمْ (And when they withdraw towards their devils) is without doubt more eloquent than if it had been said "wa-idhā khalaw bi-shayāṭīnihim," because of the confusion of meaning among the hearers that would arise from the utterance "idhā khalaw bi-shayāṭīnihim," which confusion is absent in His words "wa-idhā khalaw ilā shayāṭīnihim." This is one of the views.
The other view holds: that one directs the meaning of His words (And when they withdraw towards their devils) to "and when they withdraw with their devils," since the particles (ḥurūf al-ṣifāt) take one another's place, as Allah has said, informing concerning ʿĪsā the son of Maryam that he said to the disciples: مَنْ أَنْصَارِي إِلَى اللَّهِ [Surah al-Ṣaff: 14] (Who are my helpers towards Allah), by which is meant: with Allah. And as "ʿalā" is placed in the position of "min," and "fī," and "ʿan," and the "bāʾ," as the poet said:
When the Banū Qushayr are pleased with me (ʿalayya), by the life of Allah, their pleasure pleases me,
in the meaning of "ʿannī" (with me / about me).
As for some grammarians of the people of Kufa, they explained it thus: that it has the meaning of: and when they meet those who believe, they say: "We believe," and when they direct their seclusion to their devils — whereby he asserts that what "ilā" brings with it is the meaning at which the wording points: namely the turning away of the hypocrites from meeting with the believers, towards their devils, secluding themselves with them — and not His word "khalaw" (they withdrew). According to this interpretation, no other particle is fitting in the place of "ilā," because the wording would change by the insertion of another particle in its place.
And this last view, in my judgment, is most in accord with what is correct, because each of the particles of meaning has an application for which it is more suited than another, and it is not fitting to transfer that from one to the other, except on the basis of a proof to which one must submit. And "ilā" has, in every place where it enters into the wording, a function of its own, and it is not permissible to strip it in its places of its meanings.
The commentary on the explanation of His words, exalted is His praise: إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِئُونَ (14)
(We are only mocking)
The people of interpretation are all in agreement — without any disagreement among them — that the meaning of His words (we are only mocking) is: we are only mockers. The meaning of the wording is then: and when the hypocrites withdraw, secluding themselves with their seditious ones among the hypocrites and the polytheists, they say: "We are with you in that in which you are, in denying Muḥammad ﷺ and that which he has brought, and in enmity towards him and enmity towards his followers; we are only mocking the companions of Muḥammad ﷺ by our statement to them, when we meet them: 'We believe in Allah and in the Last Day.'" That is as:
359 — Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAlāʾ related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, 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: They said: إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِئُونَ (We are only mocking), mocking the companions of Muḥammad ﷺ.
360 — 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 mawlā of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (We are only mocking), that is to say: we are only mocking that people and we play with them.
361 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh al-ʿAqadī related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda: (We are only mocking), we are only mocking this people and we ridicule them.
362 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq ibn al-Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: (We are only mocking), that is to say: we mock the companions of Muḥammad ﷺ.
