Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:114
No good is there in much of their private conversation, except for those who enjoin charity or that which is right or conciliation between people. And whoever does that seeking means to the approval of Allah - then We are going to give him a great reward.
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: وَمَنْ يُشَاقِقِ الرَّسُولَ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ الْهُدَى وَيَتَّبِعْ غَيْرَ سَبِيلِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِ مَا تَوَلَّى وَنُصْلِهِ جَهَنَّمَ وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا ("And whoever opposes the Messenger after the guidance has become clear to him and follows a path other than that of the believers, We shall turn him toward that to which he has turned and make him burn in Hell (jahannam); and what an evil destination!") (4:115).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted be His praise, means by His word "and whoever opposes the Messenger": and whoever separates himself from the Messenger Muḥammad ﷺ, being hostile toward him, and severs himself from him in enmity against him = "after the guidance has become clear to him," that is to say: after it has become clear to him that he is the Messenger of Allah and that what he has brought from Allah leads to the truth and to a straight path = "and follows a path other than that of the believers," He says: and follows a path other than the path of the people of affirmation (of faith), and treads a way other than their way, and that is disbelief in Allah, for disbelief in Allah and His Messenger is a path other than that of the believers and a way other than their way = "We shall turn him toward that to which he has turned," He says: We shall make his helper that from which he sought aid and support, of the idols and the false deities, while they avail him nothing and ward off nothing of Allah's punishment from him and are of no benefit to him, as in:
10427 — 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 concerning His word: "We shall turn him toward that to which he has turned," he said: of the false deities.
10428 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to me, 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.
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= "and make him burn in Hell," He says: and We shall make him fuel for the fire of Hell (jahannam), that is to say: We shall burn him with it.
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And we have already previously expounded the meaning of "al-ṣalā" (the burning/the fuel), in a manner that makes it unnecessary to repeat it in this place.
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= "and what an evil destination!", He says: and Hell is an evil = "destination," a place to which returns whoever returns to it.
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And this verse was revealed concerning the traitors whom Allah mentioned in His word: وَلا تَكُنْ لِلْخَائِنِينَ خَصِيمًا ("And be not a defender of the traitors"), when the one among them who refused to repent refused that — and that was Ṭuʿma ibn al-Ubayriq — and joined the polytheists (mushrikīn) among the idolaters at Mecca, as an apostate (murtadd), who severed himself from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his religion.
