Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:141
And that Allah may purify the believers [through trials] and destroy the disbelievers.
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 His word: وَلِيُمَحِّصَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَيَمْحَقَ الْكَافِرِينَ (141) ("And that Allah may purify those who believe and may blot out the disbelievers") (3:141)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His mention — means by His word: "and that Allah may purify those who believe," that Allah would test those who have believed in Allah and His Messenger, by putting them to the trial of allowing the polytheists (mushrikīn) to gain the upper hand over them, until the sincere believer with pure, sound faith (īmān) among them is distinguished from the hypocrite (munāfiq). As:
7918 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: "and that Allah may purify those who believe," he said: that He may test them.
7919 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
7920 — Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me, saying: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, on the authority of ʿAbbād, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: "and that Allah may purify those who believe," he said: that Allah may purify the believer until he becomes a sincere believer.
7921 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "and that Allah may purify those who believe," he says: He tests the believers.
7922 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: "and that Allah may purify those who believe," he said: He tests them.
7923 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "and that Allah may purify those who believe and may blot out the disbelievers," thus it was a purification for the believers and a blotting out for the disbelievers.
7924 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: "and that Allah may purify those who believe," that is to say: He tests those who believe, until He purifies them through the trial that has descended upon them, and [until it becomes apparent] how their patience and their certainty were.
7925 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "and that Allah may purify those who believe and may blot out the disbelievers," he said: He blots out whoever is blotted out in this world, and the remnant of whoever is blotted out is in the Hereafter in the Fire (al-nār).
* * *
As for His word: "and may blot out the disbelievers," by it He means: that He diminishes them and causes them to perish.
* * *
It is said concerning this: "so-and-so blotted out (maḥaqa) this food," when he diminished it or caused it to perish, "yamḥaquhu maḥqan." And derived from it is that one says concerning the waning of the moon: "muḥāq," and that is its diminishing and its disappearing. As:
7926 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: "and may blot out the disbelievers," he said: He diminishes them.
7927 — Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me, saying: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, on the authority of ʿAbbād, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: "and may blot out the disbelievers," he said: He blots out the disbeliever until he makes [himself] a liar.
7928 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: "and may blot out the disbelievers," that is to say: He nullifies, of the hypocrites, that which they say with their tongues but do not carry in their hearts, until their disbelief (kufr) that they conceal from you becomes manifest from them.
