Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:101
And among those around you of the bedouins are hypocrites, and [also] from the people of Madinah. They have become accustomed to hypocrisy. You, [O Muhammad], do not know them, [but] We know them. We will punish them twice [in this world]; then they will be returned to a great punishment.
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: وَمِمَّنْ حَوْلَكُمْ مِنَ الأَعْرَابِ مُنَافِقُونَ وَمِنْ أَهْلِ الْمَدِينَةِ مَرَدُوا عَلَى النِّفَاقِ لا تَعْلَمُهُمْ نَحْنُ نَعْلَمُهُمْ سَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ ثُمَّ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى عَذَابٍ عَظِيمٍ (101) (And among those around you of the bedouins there are hypocrites, and among the inhabitants of Medina there are those who persist in hypocrisy. You do not know them; We know them. We shall punish them twice, then they will be returned to a tremendous punishment) (9:101).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: And among the people who dwell around your city of the bedouins there are hypocrites (munāfiqūn), and likewise among the inhabitants of your city there are their like, people who are hypocrites.
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And His word: مَرَدُوا عَلَى النِّفَاقِ ("they persist in hypocrisy") — He says: they became trained in it and skilled at it.
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From this comes: "a rebellious (mārid) and recalcitrant (marīd) devil", and that is the malicious one, the tyrannical one. And from this it is said: "so-and-so rebelled (tamarrada) against his Lord", that is: he showed himself obstinate, and he became trained in His disobedience and accustomed to it.
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And Ibn Zayd said the following concerning this:
17119 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: وَمِنْ أَهْلِ الْمَدِينَةِ مَرَدُوا عَلَى النِّفَاقِ ("and among the inhabitants of Medina there are those who persist in hypocrisy"): they persisted in it and showed no repentance as the others repented.
17120 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: وَمِنْ أَهْلِ الْمَدِينَةِ مَرَدُوا عَلَى النِّفَاقِ, that is: they remained obstinate in it and refused anything else.
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لا تَعْلَمُهُمْ ("you do not know them") — He says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: You do not know, O Muḥammad, these hypocrites, whose description I have given you, among those who are around you of the bedouins and among the inhabitants of Medina; but We, We know them, as:
17121 — Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His word: وَمِمَّنْ حَوْلَكُمْ مِنَ الأَعْرَابِ مُنَافِقُونَ ("and among those around you of the bedouins there are hypocrites") up to His word: نَحْنُ نَعْلَمُهُمْ ("We know them"), he said: What then is the matter with people who claim for themselves knowledge about mankind? So-and-so is in Paradise and so-and-so is in the Fire! But if you ask one of them about himself, he says: "I do not know!" By my life, you are better acquainted with yourself than with the deeds of mankind, and you have claimed for yourself something that the prophets before you did not claim! The prophet of Allah, Nūḥ, peace be upon him, said: وَمَا عِلْمِي بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ ("And what knowledge have I of what they used to do") [Sūrat al-Shuʿarāʾ: 112], and the prophet of Allah, Shuʿayb, peace be upon him, said: بَقِيَّةُ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ وَمَا أَنَا عَلَيْكُمْ بِحَفِيظٍ ("What remains of Allah is better for you, if you are believers; and I am not a keeper over you") [Sūrat Hūd: 86], and Allah said to His Prophet, peace be upon him: لا تَعْلَمُهُمْ نَحْنُ نَعْلَمُهُمْ ("you do not know them; We know them").
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And His word: سَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ ("We shall punish them twice") — He says: We shall punish these hypocrites twice, the one of them in this world, and the other in the grave.
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Then the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning which one is in this world, what it is.
Some of them said: it is their exposure; Allah exposed them by disclosing their affairs and making their hidden matters public to the people by the tongue of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
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* Mention of who said that:
17122 — Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAmr al-ʿAnqazī related to us, saying: my father related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning the word of Allah: وَمِمَّنْ حَوْلَكُمْ مِنَ الأَعْرَابِ مُنَافِقُونَ وَمِنْ أَهْلِ الْمَدِينَةِ مَرَدُوا عَلَى النِّفَاقِ ("and among those around you of the bedouins there are hypocrites, and among the inhabitants of Medina there are those who persist in hypocrisy") up to His word: عَذَابٍ عَظِيمٍ ("a tremendous punishment"), he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood up to deliver a sermon on Friday, and he said: "Go out, O so-and-so, for you are a hypocrite. Go out, O so-and-so, for you are a hypocrite." And he drove a number of them out of the mosque and exposed them. Then ʿUmar met them as they were going out of the mosque, and he hid himself from them out of shame, because he had not been present at the Friday prayer, and he supposed that the people had already departed; and they hid themselves from ʿUmar, supposing that he already knew their affair. Then ʿUmar came and entered the mosque, and behold, the people had not yet prayed. Then a man of the Muslims said to him: "Rejoice, O ʿUmar, for Allah has today exposed the hypocrites!" This, then, is the first punishment, when he drove them out of the mosque. And the second punishment is the punishment of the grave.
17123 — Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik: سَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ ("We shall punish them twice"), he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to deliver a sermon and mention the hypocrites, and he punished them with his tongue, he said; and the punishment of the grave.
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[And others said: it is what befalls them of captivity (sabī), killing, hunger, and fear in this world.]
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Mention of who said that:
17124 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: سَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ, he said: the killing and the captivity (sibāʾ).
17125 — 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: سَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ, with the hunger and the punishment of the grave. He said: ثُمَّ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى عَذَابٍ عَظِيمٍ ("then they will be returned to a tremendous punishment"), on the Day of Resurrection.
17126 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn, and al-Qāsim, and Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His word: سَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ, he said: with the hunger and the killing. And Yaḥyā said: the fear and the killing.
17127 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: with the hunger and the killing.
17128 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik: سَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ, he said: with the hunger and the punishment of the grave.
17129 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: سَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ, he said: the hunger and the killing.
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And others said: the meaning of it is: We shall punish them with a punishment in this world, and with a punishment in the hereafter.
* Mention of who said that:
17130 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: سَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ, the punishment of this world and the punishment of the grave, ثُمَّ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى عَذَابٍ عَظِيمٍ ("then they will be returned to a tremendous punishment"). It was related to us that the prophet of Allah ﷺ confided to Ḥudhayfa, naming twelve men of the hypocrites, and he said: "Six of them the dubayla will suffice you against — a flame of the fire of Hell (jahannam), which seizes the shoulder of one of them until it penetrates to his chest — and six will die a natural death." It was related to us that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah have mercy on him, when a man died whom he supposed to be among them, would look to Ḥudhayfa; if he prayed over him, [ʿUmar prayed too], and if not, then he left him. And it was related to us that ʿUmar said to Ḥudhayfa: "I adjure you by Allah, am I among them?" He said: "No, by Allah, and after you I shall clear no one of it!"
17131 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: سَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ, he said: the punishment of this world and the punishment of the grave.
17132 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār and Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAlāʾ related to us, both saying: Badal ibn al-Muḥabbar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: سَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ, he said: a punishment in this world and a punishment in the grave.
17133 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: the punishment of this world and the punishment of the grave, and afterward they are returned to the punishment of the Fire.
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And others said: one of the two times of their punishment were their calamities in their possessions and their children, and the other time in Hell (jahannam).
* Mention of who said that:
17134 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: سَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ, he said: as for the punishment in this world, those are the possessions and the children, and he recited the word of Allah: فَلا تُعْجِبْكَ أَمْوَالُهُمْ وَلا أَوْلادُهُمْ إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُعَذِّبَهُمْ بِهَا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ("So let not their possessions and their children amaze you; Allah only wishes to punish them therewith in the life of this world") [Sūrat al-Tawba: 55], with the calamities therein; those are for them a punishment, and they are for the believers a reward. He said: and a punishment in the hereafter, in the Fire. ثُمَّ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى عَذَابٍ عَظِيمٍ ("then they will be returned to a tremendous punishment"), he said: the Fire.
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And others said: no, one of the two times are the prescribed penalties (ḥudūd), and the other is the punishment of the grave. This is related from Ibn ʿAbbās along a path that is not accepted as reliable.
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And others said: no, one of the two times is the taking of the obligatory alms (zakāh) from their possessions, and the other is the punishment of the grave. This is related from Sulaymān ibn Arqam, on the authority of al-Ḥasan.
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And others said: no, one of the two times is their punishment by the wrath that overtakes them in the matter of Islam.
* Mention of who said that:
17135 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: سَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ, he said: the punishment that He promised them twice is, according to what has reached me, their grief over that in which they find themselves regarding the matter of Islam, and the wrath that overtakes them concerning it without reckoning; then their punishment in the grave when they go there; and then the tremendous punishment to which they are returned, the punishment of the hereafter, and the eternal abiding therein.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the statements concerning this, in my view, is that one says: Allah announced that He will punish these who persist in hypocrisy twice, but He has not given us a proof by which one may attain knowledge of the nature of those two punishments. And it is possible that a part of what we have mentioned of those who made statements is that which we have been informed of from them. But we have no knowledge which of them is the correct one. Except that in His word, mighty is His praise: ثُمَّ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى عَذَابٍ عَظِيمٍ ("then they will be returned to a tremendous punishment"), there lies an indication that the punishment in both times is before their entry into the Fire. And the most probable of one of the two times is that it is in the grave.
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And His word: ثُمَّ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى عَذَابٍ عَظِيمٍ ("then they will be returned to a tremendous punishment") — He says: then these hypocrites, after Allah has punished them twice, are returned to a tremendous punishment, and that is the punishment of Hell (jahannam).
