Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:53
And those who believe will say, "Are these the ones who swore by Allah their strongest oaths that indeed they were with you?" Their deeds have become worthless, and they have become losers.
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 the statement: وَيَقُولُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَهَؤُلاءِ الَّذِينَ أَقْسَمُوا بِاللَّهِ جَهْدَ أَيْمَانِهِمْ إِنَّهُمْ لَمَعَكُمْ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ فَأَصْبَحُوا خَاسِرِينَ (53) (And the believers will say: "Are these the ones who swore by Allah their most solemn oaths that they were truly with you?" Their works have come to nothing, and they have become losers. (5:53))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differ regarding the reading of His statement: "And the believers will say". The reciters of the people of Medina read it: فَيُصْبِحُوا عَلَى مَا أَسَرُّوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ نَادِمِينَ يَقُولُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَهَؤُلاءِ الَّذِينَ أَقْسَمُوا بِاللَّهِ ("so that they become regretful over what they concealed within themselves. The believers say: Are these the ones who swore by Allah …") — without the "wāw".
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The explanation of the words according to this reading is: Then the hypocrites (munāfiqūn), when Allah brings the victory or a decree from Himself, become regretful over what they had concealed within themselves; the believers say, out of astonishment at them and at their hypocrisy, their lying, and their audacity toward Allah with their false oaths by Allah: Are these the ones who swore to us by Allah that they were truly with us, while they lied in their oaths to us? And this is the meaning that Mujāhid intended in his explanation of it, namely that which:
12176 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: فَعَسَى اللَّهُ أَنْ يَأْتِيَ بِالْفَتْحِ أَوْ أَمْرٍ مِنْ عِنْدِهِ ("It may be that Allah brings the victory or a decree from Himself"), then, "the believers say: Are these the ones who swore by Allah their most solemn oaths that they were truly with you? Their works have come to nothing, and they have become losers."
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And so it is also in the codices (maṣāḥif) of the people of Medina, without the "wāw".
And some of the Basrans read it: وَيَقُولُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ("And the believers say") with the "wāw", and with the naṣb (accusative ending) on "yaqūl", connecting it to فَعَسَى اللَّهُ أَنْ يَأْتِيَ بِالْفَتْحِ ("It may be that Allah brings the victory"). And the one who read it thus mentioned that he used to say: by this is only meant: it may be that Allah brings the victory, and it may be that the believers say — and anything else is impossible, for it is not permissible to say: "it may be that Allah says: the believers". And he used to say: that is like their statement: "I ate bread and milk", as in the saying of the poet:
And I saw your husband in the thick of battle girded with a sword and a lance.
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The explanation of the words according to this reading is therefore: It may be that Allah brings the victory to the believers, or a decree from Himself by which He gives them the upper hand over the disbelievers among their enemies, so that the hypocrites become regretful over what they had concealed within themselves — and it may be that the believers then say: Are these the ones who falsely swore by Allah their most solemn oaths that they were truly with you?
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And in the codices of the people of Iraq it stands with the "wāw": وَيَقُولُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا.
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And the reciters of Kūfa read it: وَيَقُولُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ("And the believers say") with the "wāw", and with the rafʿ (nominative ending) on "yaqūl", in the future sense and free of the jawāzim (apocopating particles) and the nawāṣib (accusative-making particles).
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And the explanation of whoever read it thus: so that they become regretful over what they had concealed within themselves, and the believers say — thus he begins "yaqūl" and places it in the rafʿ.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And our reading, which we adopt, is "wa-yaqūl" with the retention of the "wāw" in "wa-yaqūl", for so it stands in our codices, the codices of the people of the East, with the "wāw", and with the rafʿ on "yaqūl" as a new beginning (ibtidāʾ).
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The explanation of the words is therefore — since the reading with us is as we have described —: so that they become regretful over what they had concealed within themselves, and the believers say: Are these the ones who falsely swore to us by Allah their most solemn oaths that they were truly with us?
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Allah, the Exalted whose mention is exalted, says, informing us of their condition before Him on account of their hypocrisy and the wickedness of their deeds: "Their works have come to nothing", that is to say: the works that they performed in this world have gone in vain, without reward and without recompense, for they did not perform them out of conviction that they were an obligation imposed upon them by Allah, nor on the basis of a valid faith in Allah and His Messenger; they performed them only in order thereby to turn the believers away from themselves, their possessions, and their offspring, and so Allah rendered their reward void, since it was not for Him. "And they have become losers", that is to say: these hypocrites, at the coming of Allah's decree to give the believers the upper hand over the disbelievers, have become a people who fell short in their exchange of the Hereafter for this world, whose trade has failed, and who have perished.
