Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:204
And of the people is he whose speech pleases you in worldly life, and he calls Allah to witness as to what is in his heart, yet he is the fiercest of opponents.
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 the Exalted: وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يُعْجِبُكَ قَوْلُهُ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيُشْهِدُ اللَّهَ عَلَى مَا فِي قَلْبِهِ وَهُوَ أَلَدُّ الْخِصَامِ ("And among the people is one whose speech pleases you in the life of this world, and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart, while he is the most contentious of disputants").
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a description by Allah — blessed and exalted is He — of the hypocrites (munāfiqīn), with His saying — exalted be His praise: and among the people is one whose outward speech and open declaration please you, O Muḥammad, and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart, while he is the most contentious of disputants, a disputant by means of falsehood.
* * *
Then the people of interpretation differed concerning the one about whom this verse was revealed.
Some of them said: it was revealed about al-Akhnas ibn Sharīq; he came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and claimed that he desired Islam, and swore that he had come only for that, and then he went off and wrought harm among the possessions of the Muslims.
* Mention of those who said that:
3961 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "And among the people is one whose speech pleases you in the life of this world, and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart, while he is the most contentious of disputants," he said: it was revealed about al-Akhnas ibn Sharīq al-Thaqafī — and he was an ally of Banū Zuhra. He came to the Prophet ﷺ in Medina and displayed Islam to him, and that pleased the Prophet ﷺ in him, and he said: "I have come only because I desire Islam, and Allah knows that I am sincere!" And that is His saying: "and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart." Then he went off from the Prophet ﷺ and passed by a field belonging to a group of Muslims, and some donkeys, and he burned the field and hamstrung the donkeys (by cutting their tendons). Then Allah — mighty and exalted is He — revealed: وَإِذَا تَوَلَّى سَعَى فِي الأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا وَيُهْلِكَ الْحَرْثَ وَالنَّسْلَ ("And when he turns away, he strives throughout the earth to cause corruption therein and to destroy the crop and the offspring"). And as for "the most contentious of disputants": that is the crooked one in dispute. And concerning him was revealed: وَيْلٌ لِكُلِّ هُمَزَةٍ لُمَزَةٍ ("Woe to every slanderer and backbiter") [al-Humaza: 1], and concerning him was revealed: وَلا تُطِعْ كُلَّ حَلافٍ مَهِينٍ ("And do not obey every contemptible habitual swearer") up to عُتُلٍّ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ زَنِيمٍ ("a coarse fellow and, moreover, a bastard") [al-Qalam: 10-13]. (20)
* * *
And others said: no, it was revealed about a group of the people of hypocrisy who spoke about the raiding party (sariyya) of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that was struck down at al-Rajīʿ.
* Mention of those who said that:
3962 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, he said: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, related to me, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr or ʿIkrima related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: when this raiding party — the companions of Khubayb — was struck down at al-Rajīʿ, between Mecca and Medina, some men of the hypocrites said: "Woe to these slain ones who have perished thus! They neither remained sitting in their houses, nor did they fulfill the message of their master!" Then Allah — mighty and exalted is He — revealed concerning that, regarding the saying of the hypocrites and what befell those men of martyrdom and good from Allah: "And among the people is one whose speech pleases you in the life of this world" — that is to say: what he displays with his tongue of Islam — "and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart" — that is to say: of hypocrisy — (22) "while he is the most contentious of disputants," that is to say: a disputant when he speaks to you and answers you back — وَإِذَا تَوَلَّى ("And when he turns away") — that is to say: he goes off from you — سَعَى فِي الأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا وَيُهْلِكَ الْحَرْثَ وَالنَّسْلَ وَاللَّهُ لا يُحِبُّ الْفَسَادَ ("he strives throughout the earth to cause corruption therein and to destroy the crop and the offspring, and Allah does not love corruption") — that is to say: He does not love his action and is not pleased with it — وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُ اتَّقِ اللَّهَ أَخَذَتْهُ الْعِزَّةُ بِالإِثْمِ فَحَسْبُهُ جَهَنَّمُ وَلَبِئْسَ الْمِهَادُ * وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَشْرِي نَفْسَهُ ابْتِغَاءَ مَرْضَاةِ اللَّهِ ("And when it is said to him, 'Fear Allah,' pride in sin takes hold of him. Hell (jahannam) is then sufficient for him, and it is a wretched resting place. And among the people is one who sells himself seeking the pleasure of Allah") — those who sold themselves to Allah through fighting in the way of Allah and the fulfillment of His right, until they perished therein — by this is meant this raiding party.
3963 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freedman of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, the freedman of Ibn ʿAbbās — or: on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — he said: when the raiding party in which ʿĀṣim and Marthad were present was struck down at al-Rajīʿ, some men of the hypocrites said — then he mentioned something similar to the report of Abū Kurayb. (23)
* * *
And others said: no, by it were meant all the hypocrites, and by His saying "And among the people is one whose speech pleases you in the life of this world, and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart" was meant the contradiction between their inner and their outer.
* Mention of those who said that:
3964 — Muḥammad ibn Abī Maʿshar related to me, saying: my father, Abū Maʿshar Najīḥ, informed me, saying: I heard Saʿīd al-Maqburī exchanging views with Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb, and Saʿīd said: in some of the (sacred) Books it is stated that Allah has servants whose tongues are sweeter than honey, but whose hearts are more bitter than aloe; they clothe themselves before the people in the skins of sheep on account of their gentleness, (24) but they devour this world by means of religion. Allah — blessed and exalted is He — said: "Against Me are they brazen, and by Me are they deceived! By My might, I shall surely send upon them a trial that will leave the discerning one among them bewildered!" Then Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb said: this is in the Book of Allah — exalted be His praise. Saʿīd said: and where in the Book of Allah is it? He said: the saying of Allah — mighty and exalted is He: وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يُعْجِبُكَ قَوْلُهُ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيُشْهِدُ اللَّهَ عَلَى مَا فِي قَلْبِهِ وَهُوَ أَلَدُّ الْخِصَامِ * وَإِذَا تَوَلَّى سَعَى فِي الأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا وَيُهْلِكَ الْحَرْثَ وَالنَّسْلَ وَاللَّهُ لا يُحِبُّ الْفَسَادَ ("And among the people is one whose speech pleases you in the life of this world, and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart, while he is the most contentious of disputants. And when he turns away, he strives throughout the earth to cause corruption therein and to destroy the crop and the offspring, and Allah does not love corruption"). Saʿīd said: you know about whom this verse was revealed! Then Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb said: indeed, the verse is revealed about a (particular) man, and thereafter it is of general application.
3965 — Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: al-Layth ibn Saʿd informed me, on the authority of Khālid ibn Yazīd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī Hilāl, on the authority of al-Quraẓī, on the authority of Nawf — and he used to read the (sacred) Books — he said: indeed, I find the description of people of this community in the revealed Book of Allah: "A people who plunder this world by means of religion, (25) their tongues are sweeter than honey, but their hearts are more bitter than aloe; they clothe themselves before the people in the garb of sheepskins, but their hearts are the hearts of wolves. Against Me are they brazen! And by Me are they deceived! I have sworn by Myself that I shall surely send upon them a trial that will leave the discerning one among them bewildered." Al-Quraẓī said: I pondered it in the Qurʾān, and behold, it is the hypocrites, and I found it: "And among the people is one whose speech pleases you in the life of this world, and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart, while he is the most contentious of disputants," وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ عَلَى حَرْفٍ فَإِنْ أَصَابَهُ خَيْرٌ اطْمَأَنَّ بِهِ ("And among the people is one who worships Allah on the edge; if good befalls him, he is reassured by it") (26) [al-Ḥajj: 11].
3966 — And al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "And among the people is one whose speech pleases you in the life of this world, and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart," he said: it is the hypocrite.
3967 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "And among the people is one whose speech pleases you," he said: his open declaration in this world, and he calls Allah to witness in the dispute that he desires only the truth.
3968 — It was related to me, on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His saying: "And among the people is one whose speech pleases you in the life of this world, and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart, while he is the most contentious of disputants," he said: this was a servant with fine speech but an evil deed; he came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and spoke finely to him, وَإِذَا تَوَلَّى سَعَى فِي الأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا ("and when he turns away, he strives throughout the earth to cause corruption therein").
3969 — And al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: I said to ʿAṭāʾ: "And among the people is one whose speech pleases you in the life of this world, and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart," he said: he speaks a saying while in his heart is something else, and Allah knows that.
* * *
And concerning His saying "and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart" there are two modes of reading. Most of the readers read it: "wa-yushhidu llāha ʿalā mā fī qalbihi" (and he calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart), with the meaning that the hypocrite whose speech pleases the Messenger of Allah ﷺ calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart, that his speech accords with his conviction and that he believes in Allah and His Messenger — while he is lying. As:
3970 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: "And among the people is one whose speech pleases you in the life of this world" up to وَاللَّهُ لا يُحِبُّ الْفَسَادَ ("and Allah does not love corruption"): there was a man who came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: O Messenger of Allah, I bear witness that you have come with the truth and the sincerity from Allah! — until the Prophet ﷺ was pleased by his speech. Then he said: but by Allah, O Messenger of Allah, indeed, Allah knows that in my heart is the same as what my tongue uttered! And that is His saying: "and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart." He said: these are the hypocrites, and he read the saying of Allah — blessed and exalted is He: إِذَا جَاءَكَ الْمُنَافِقُونَ قَالُوا نَشْهَدُ إِنَّكَ لَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ ("When the hypocrites come to you, they say: 'We bear witness that you are indeed the Messenger of Allah'") until he reached: إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ لَكَاذِبُونَ ("Indeed, the hypocrites are surely liars") [al-Munāfiqūn: 1] in that whereof they bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah.
* * *
And al-Suddī said: "and who calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart," he says: Allah knows that I am sincere, that I desire Islam.
3971 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related that to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Asbāṭ.
* * *
And Mujāhid said: and he calls Allah to witness in the dispute, that he desires only the truth.
3972 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related that to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on his authority.
* * *
And others read that: "wa-yashhadu llāha ʿalā mā fī qalbihi" (and Allah bears witness over what is in his heart), with the meaning: and Allah bears witness over the hypocrisy that is in his heart, and that he conceals in his heart something other than what he displays with his tongue, and over his lie in his heart. This is the reading of Ibn Muḥayṣin, and upon that meaning Ibn ʿAbbās interpreted it. And we have already mentioned the report concerning that from him in what preceded, in the report of Abū Kurayb, on the authority of Yūnus ibn Bukayr, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, which we mentioned just now. (27)
* * *
And what we prefer in this of the sayings of the readers is the reading of him who read: "wa-yushhidu llāha ʿalā mā fī qalbihi" (and he calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart), with the meaning: he calls Allah to witness over what is in his heart, on account of the consensus of the proof of the readers thereupon.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَهُوَ أَلَدُّ الْخِصَامِ (204) ("while he is the most contentious of disputants").
Abū Jaʿfar said: "al-aladd" among men is the one severe in dispute. One says for the "fiʿalta" form of it: "qad ladadta yā hādhā" (you have become contentious, O you), while you were not yet "aladd," so you are contentious (taluddu) with contentiousness (ladadan) and contentiousness (ladādatan). (28) But when he overcame the one who contended with him in dispute, then one says of that only: "ladadta yā fulān fulānan" (you have overcome so-and-so in dispute, O so-and-so), so you overcome him (taludduhu) overcoming (laddan). And of that is the saying of the poet:
"Then I strike down with them whoever strikes down, I overcome the adversaries, the contentious disputants." (29)
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: the people of interpretation differed concerning the interpretation of that.
Some of them said: its interpretation is that he is a disputant.
* Mention of those who said that:
3973 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, he said: Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad related to me, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr or ʿIkrima related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "while he is the most contentious of disputants," that is to say: a disputant, when he speaks to you and answers you back. (30)
3974 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "while he is the most contentious of disputants," he says: severe in harshness in disobedience to Allah, a disputant by means of falsehood; and when you wish, you see him learned of tongue but ignorant of deed, he speaks with wisdom but acts with sin.
3975 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "while he is the most contentious of disputants," he said: a disputant by means of falsehood.
* * *
And others said: the meaning of that is that he is not upright in dispute, but crooked therein.
* Mention of those who said that:
3976 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "while he is the most contentious of disputants," he said: unjust, he is not upright.
3977 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: ʿAbdullāh ibn Kathīr informed me, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: "the most contentious of disputants" is the one who is not upright in dispute.
3978 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "the most contentious of disputants," the crooked one in dispute. (31)
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: and these two sayings are close in meaning, for the crookedness in the dispute proceeds from contentiousness and obstinacy.
* * *
And others said: the meaning of that is: while he is a liar in his speech.
* Mention of those who said that:
3979 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of some of his companions, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: "the most contentious of disputants," the liar in speech.
* * *
And this saying may have the same meaning as the two preceding sayings, if the one who made it meant by it that he disputes with the falsehood of speech and its lie, out of contentiousness and crookedness away from the truth.
* * *
And as for "al-khiṣām": that is the verbal noun of one's saying: "khāṣamtu fulānan khiṣāman wa-mukhāṣamatan" (I disputed with so-and-so in dispute and in contention).
* * *
And this is a report from Allah — blessed and exalted is He — about the hypocrite, concerning whom He informed His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ that he pleases him when his word and his speech please him, and who calls Allah to witness that he speaks the truth in that saying of his, on account of the severity of his dispute and his contentiousness by means of falsehood and the lie of speech.
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Footnotes:
(20) The report no. 3961 — al-Ṭabarī did not mention in the tafsīr of "Sūrah al-Humaza" and "Sūrah al-Qalam" this report, that the two verses were revealed about al-Akhnas ibn Sharīq. This is a further proof of the truth of what was reported about him, that he abridged this tafsīr strongly, as is transmitted in the reports about him.
And a part of this report will come under no. 3978.
(21) In the printed edition it states "these slain ones" (hāʾulāʾi l-maqtūlīn). And the correct reading is from the Sīra of Ibn Hishām. And after this, in Ibn Hishām it states: "They did not remain sitting with their families."
(22) The place of this interpretation in the text of Ibn Hishām is: "and he is in contradiction with what he says with his tongue."
(23) The reports 3962, 3963 — Sīrat Ibn Hishām 3: 183-184. And a part of it will come under no. 3973, then no. 3980.
(24) Al-ṣabr (with fatḥa on the ṣād and kasra on the bāʾ): the sap of a bitter tree (aloe). And al-musūk is the plural of misk (with fatḥa and sukūn): the skin, the skin of sheep and otherwise.
(25) In the original it states "yaḥtālūn" (they employ tricks), and the correct reading is what is established here. Ijtāla l-rajulu l-shayʾa: when he carries it off, drives it off, and chases it away. And ijtāla l-jayshu amwālahum: the army carried off their possessions.
(26) The report no. 3965 — Khālid ibn Yazīd al-Jumaḥī, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Miṣrī, was a jurist and mufti. Trustworthy (thiqa), died in the year 139. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb. And "Nawf" is Nawf ibn Faḍāla al-Ḥimyarī al-Bikālī; he was trustworthy and a transmitter of narratives, and he was the stepson of the wife of Kaʿb al-Aḥbār. He died between the year ninety and one hundred. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb.
(27) See no. 3962.
(28) His saying "ladādatan" is a verbal noun that I have not found in the linguistic works available to me.
(29) I do not know the poet of it. And the second verse is in al-Lisān (l-d-d), with the transmission "alladd aqrān." And both verses appear together in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 123, with the second verse before the first, and with the transmission:
"The contentious adversaries, the contentious men."
And it is as though it is a slip of the pen and an error, and the correct reading is "alladd" as in al-Lisān. And in al-Ṭabarī it stated "thumma ardī wa-bihim..." with an added wāw, and the correct reading is what is in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān.
(30) This is a part of the preceding report no. 3962.
(31) This is a part of the preceding report no. 3961.
