Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:142
Indeed, the hypocrites [think to] deceive Allah, but He is deceiving them. And when they stand for prayer, they stand lazily, showing [themselves to] the people and not remembering Allah except a little,
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: إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ يُخَادِعُونَ اللَّهَ وَهُوَ خَادِعُهُمْ وَإِذَا قَامُوا إِلَى الصَّلاةِ قَامُوا كُسَالَى يُرَاءُونَ النَّاسَ وَلا يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ إِلا قَلِيلا (4:142) (Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, while He deceives them; and when they stand up for the ritual prayer, they stand up listlessly, making a show before the people, and they remember Allah only a little.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: We have already, earlier, indicated the meaning of "the hypocrite's (munāfiq) seeking to deceive his Lord" and the manner of "Allah's deceiving them," in a way that makes it unnecessary to repeat it in this place, together with the disagreements of those who differed about that.
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So the explanation of it is: verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, in that through their hypocrisy (nifāq) they secure their blood and their possessions, while Allah deceives them through what He has decreed concerning them regarding the sparing of their blood on the basis of the faith (īmān) that they openly professed with their tongues, despite His knowledge of the hidden state of their inner selves and their clinging to unbelief (kufr) — as a gradual luring (istidrāj) on His part toward them in the worldly life, until they meet Him in the Hereafter, whereupon He causes them to enter the Fire of Hell (jahannam) on account of the unbelief that they kept hidden, as:
10721- 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: "Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, while He deceives them." He said: He gives them on the Day of Resurrection a light by which they proceed along with the Muslims, just as they were with them in the worldly life; then He takes that light away from them and extinguishes it, so that they remain standing in their darkness, and a wall is erected between them.
10722- Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: "Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, while He deceives them." He said: it was revealed concerning ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy and Abū ʿĀmir ibn al-Nuʿmān and concerning the hypocrites. "Seek to deceive Allah, while He deceives them" — he said: like His word in "al-Baqarah": يُخَادِعُونَ اللَّهَ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَمَا يَخْدَعُونَ إِلا أَنْفُسَهُمْ [sūrat al-Baqarah: 9] (they seek to deceive Allah and those who believe, yet they deceive only themselves). He said: and as for His word "while He deceives them," that refers — so he says — to the light given to the hypocrites together with the believers; the light is thus given to them, but when they reach the wall it is taken away — and that is what Allah mentions in His word انْظُرُونَا نَقْتَبِسْ مِنْ نُورِكُمْ [sūrat al-Ḥadīd: 13] (wait for us, that we may obtain something of your light). He said: that is His word "while He deceives them."
10723- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Sufyān ibn Ḥusayn, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: that he, when he read "Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, while He deceives them," would say: To every believer and hypocrite a light is given by which they proceed, until, when they reach the Bridge (al-Ṣirāṭ), the light of the hypocrites is extinguished, while the believers proceed with their light; then they call out to them: انْظُرُونَا نَقْتَبِسْ مِنْ نُورِكُمْ up to His word وَلَكِنَّكُمْ فَتَنْتُمْ أَنْفُسَكُمْ [sūrat al-Ḥadīd: 13, 14] (wait for us, that we may obtain something of your light … but you put yourselves into temptation). Al-Ḥasan said: that, then, is Allah's deceiving of them.
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As for His word "and when they stand up for the ritual prayer, they stand up listlessly, making a show before the people": that means that the hypocrites perform none of the deeds that Allah has imposed upon the believers in the manner of seeking nearness to Allah thereby, because they are not convinced of any return, nor of reward, nor of punishment; they perform only that which they perform of outward deeds for the preservation of themselves, and out of fear of the believers for their lives, that they might be killed or deprived of their possessions. So when they stand up for the ritual prayer (ṣalāh), which is among the outward obligations, they stand up for it listlessly, out of show before the believers so that the latter would count them among themselves, while they are not of them, for they do not believe in its being obligatory and binding upon them; in their standing up for it they are therefore listless, as:
10724- Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "and when they stand up for the ritual prayer, they stand up listlessly." He said: By Allah, were it not for the people, the hypocrite would not pray, and he prays only out of show and to be heard.
10725- Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word "and when they stand up for the ritual prayer, they stand up listlessly, making a show before the people." He said: they are the hypocrites; were it not for the show, they would not pray.
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As for His word "and they remember Allah only a little": perhaps someone might say: is there then in the remembrance of Allah anything that is little?
To him it is said: the meaning of it is — contrary to what you supposed —: and they remember Allah only with a remembrance of show, in order thereby to ward off from themselves death, captivity, and the seizure of possessions; not the remembrance of one who is convinced, who holds the oneness of Allah to be true and ascribes lordship purely to Him. For this reason Allah called it "little," because thereby Allah is not intended, nor is nearness to Allah sought thereby, nor is the reward of Allah and what is with Him meant thereby. It is therefore, however much it may be, from the standpoint that it wearies the one who performs it and remembers it, equivalent to the mirage that has an outward appearance without the reality of water.
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And in agreement with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation also spoke.
*Mention of those who said that:
10726- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Abū al-Ashhab, who said: al-Ḥasan read "and they remember Allah only a little," and he said: it was only little because it was for other than Allah.
10727- Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "and they remember Allah only a little." He said: the remembrance of the hypocrite was only little, because Allah did not accept it. And everything that Allah rejects is little, and everything that Allah accepts is much.
