Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:74
So let those fight in the cause of Allah who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter. And he who fights in the cause of Allah and is killed or achieves victory - We will bestow upon 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 statement concerning the interpretation of His saying: Let those who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter fight in the way of Allah. And whoever fights in the way of Allah, and is killed or is victorious, We shall give him a great reward (4:74).
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is an exhortation from Allah to the believers toward jihād against His enemy among those who harbor disbelief against Him, at all their times — whether they be victors or vanquished — and toward disdaining the sayings of the hypocrites (munāfiqīn) concerning the fight against the polytheists (mushrikīn) whom they were fighting, [and (the declaration) that] in their fight against them — vanquished or victorious — they have an exalted standing with Allah.
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Allah says to them, exalted is His praise: "Let them then fight in the way of Allah," that is to say: in the religion of Allah, and in the call to it, and in entering into what He has commanded those who harbor disbelief against Him = "those who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter," that is to say: those who sell their worldly life for the reward of the Hereafter and for what Allah has promised the people of His obedience therein. And their selling of it in exchange for that is: their expending of their possessions in seeking the good pleasure of Allah, for the sake of jihād against those against whom He has commanded them to fight from among His enemies and the enemies of His religion, and their sacrificing of their lifeblood for that.
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He, exalted is His praise, has informed about what they attain in this when they do that, and said: "And whoever fights in the way of Allah, and is killed or is victorious, We shall give him a great reward." He says: and whoever fights — in seeking to establish the religion of Allah and to raise high the word of Allah — against the enemies of Allah = "and is killed," He says: and the enemies of Allah kill him, or he overcomes them and prevails over them = "We shall give him a great reward," He says: then We shall give him in the Hereafter a great reward and recompense. And for what He, exalted is His praise, has called "great," there is no measure that the servants of Allah are able to know so as to comprehend its extent.
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We have already demonstrated that the predominant meaning of "sharaytu" in the language of the Arabs is "I sold," with what frees us [from repetition].
And already:
9942 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Let those who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter fight in the way of Allah," he says: they sell the life of this world for the Hereafter.
9943 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: "those who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter," "yashrī" means: he sells, and "yashrī" means: he takes = and indeed, the foolish have sold the Hereafter for the life of this world.
