Tafseer of The Pilgrimage · Al-Hajj · 22:11
And of the people is he who worships Allah on an edge. If he is touched by good, he is reassured by it; but if he is struck by trial, he turns on his face [to the other direction]. He has lost [this] world and the Hereafter. That is what is the manifest loss.
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.
By His word وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ عَلَى حَرْفٍ ('And among the people there are those who worship Allah merely on the edge'), Allah, exalted be His mention, means: Bedouins who came to the Prophet ﷺ as emigrants from their desert. If, after the emigration and entering Islam, they found prosperity in their livelihood, they remained in Islam; if not, they turned back on their heels. So Allah says: وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ upon doubt — فَإِنْ أَصَابَهُ خَيْرٌ اطْمَأَنَّ بِهِ — that is: ease in livelihood and similar worldly circumstances: he is set at rest thereby — meaning: he settles into Islam and perseveres in it — وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ فِتْنَةٌ — that is: constriction in livelihood and similar worldly circumstances — انْقَلَبَ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ — meaning: he apostatizes and turns back to the face he formerly had, of disbelief in Allah.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes spoke.
Report of who said this: Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my paternal uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ عَلَى حَرْفٍ ... up to His word انْقَلَبَ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ : he said: the trial (fitna) is the affliction (balāʾ). When one of them entered Medina — a sickly region — and his body remained healthy there, and his mare bore a fine foal, and his wife bore a boy, he was content and set at rest and said: 'I have met nothing but good since I have been in this religion.' But if the sickness of Medina struck him, and his wife bore a girl and his alms were delayed, the devil came to him and said: 'By Allah, since you have been in this religion of yours, you have met nothing but evil.' That is the trial.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Ḥakkām related to us, he said: ʿAnbasa related to us, on the authority of Abū Bakr, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ عَلَى حَرْفٍ : he said: upon doubt.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both together — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word عَلَى حَرْفٍ : he said: upon doubt. فَإِنْ أَصَابَهُ خَيْرٌ — ease and well-being — اطْمَأَنَّ بِهِ — he settles down — وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ فِتْنَةٌ — affliction and calamity — انْقَلَبَ — apostatized — عَلَى وَجْهِهِ — as a disbeliever.
Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it.
Ibn Jurayj said: Certain tribes of the Arabs and the inhabitants of the villages around them said: 'We will go to Muḥammad ﷺ; if we find a good livelihood, we will remain with him; otherwise we will return to our kinsfolk.'
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: مَنْ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ عَلَى حَرْفٍ : he said: doubt. فَإِنْ أَصَابَهُ خَيْرٌ — he says: his property becomes more abundant and his cattle more numerous — he is set at rest and says: 'I have met nothing but good since I entered this religion of mine.' وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ فِتْنَةٌ — he says: when his property and cattle have vanished — انْقَلَبَ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ خَسِرَ الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةَ .
Al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, the like of it.
It was related to me by al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ عَلَى حَرْفٍ : certain tribes of the Arabs and the inhabitants of the villages around Medina said: 'We will go to Muḥammad ﷺ and observe his affair; if we find good, we will remain with him; otherwise we will return to our dwellings and kinsfolk.' They came to him and said: 'We are in your religion!' If they found prosperity, and their horses bore foals and their wives bore boys, they were set at rest and said: 'This is a true religion.' But if livelihood failed them, and their horses miscarried and their wives bore girls, they said: 'This is an evil religion' and turned back on their faces.
Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ عَلَى حَرْفٍ فَإِنْ أَصَابَهُ خَيْرٌ اطْمَأَنَّ بِهِ وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ فِتْنَةٌ انْقَلَبَ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ خَسِرَ الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةَ : he said: this is the hypocrite (munāfiq); when his world goes well with him, he holds fast to worship; when his world becomes corrupt and changes, he turns away; he perseveres in worship only so long as his world is good. If adversity, trial, tribulation, or constriction strikes him, he abandons his religion and returns to disbelief (kufr).
As for His word خَسِرَ الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةَ — he says: he whom Allah, exalted be His praise, has thus described has squandered his world, for he did not attain his need from it through his worship of Allah with doubt, and he suffered loss in his trade without making a profit — and the Last World: he says: he has also squandered the Last World, for he will be punished therein by the Fire kindled by Allah. His word ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْخُسْرَانُ الْمُبِينُ — he says: his loss of the world and the Last World — that is the loss, that is: the manifest ruin: he says: it is clearly evident to whoever reflects upon it and considers it, that he has squandered the world and the Last World.
The Qurʾān reciters differed in the reading of this. All the Qurʾān reciters of the great cities, except Ḥumayd al-Aʿraj, read خَسِرَ الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةَ in the past-tense form. Ḥumayd al-Aʿraj read it as خَاسِرًا — in the accusative, as a circumstantial expression on the pattern fāʿil.
