Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:119
O you who have believed, fear Allah and be with those who are true.
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَكُونُوا مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ (O you who believe, fear Allah and be with the truthful) (9:119).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is lofty, says to the believers, making known to them the path of deliverance from His punishment and of salvation from His painful torment: (O you who believe) — in Allah and His Messenger — (fear Allah), and keep Him in view by fulfilling His obligations and avoiding His bounds (ḥudūd) — (and be), in this world, among the people who take Allah as protector and obey Him, so that in the Hereafter you will be — (with the truthful), in Paradise (janna). That is to say: with those who were truthful toward Allah in their faith in Him, and who confirmed their word by their deed, and who were not among the people of hypocrisy (nifāq) in that, whose deeds belie their words.
The meaning of the statement, then, is: and be with the truthful in the Hereafter through fearing Allah in this world, just as He, exalted is His praise, said: وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَالرَّسُولَ فَأُولَئِكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنَ النَّبِيِّينَ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَاءِ وَالصَّالِحِينَ (And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, those are with those upon whom Allah has bestowed favor, of the prophets, the truthful, the witnesses, and the righteous) [Surah An-Nisāʾ: 69].
We have stated that to be the meaning of the statement, because the hypocrite's (munāfiq) being together with the believers profits him in no way as regards being together with them, if he does not perform their deeds. And when he performs their deeds, then he is among them, and when he is among them, then the import of the statement is that it is said: (fear Allah and be with the truthful). And on account of directing the statement toward the explanation that we have indicated, those who have explained it thus among the people of exegesis explained it so by saying: its meaning is: and be with Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, or: with the Prophet ﷺ and the emigrants (muhājirūn), may Allah's mercy be upon them.
* Mention of who said that or something else thereabout in his explanation:
17451 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, concerning Allah's statement: (fear Allah and be with the truthful), he said: with the Prophet ﷺ and his companions.
17452 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ḥabwayh Abū Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Yaʿqūb al-Qummī, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, he said: To the three who were left behind it was said: (O you who believe, fear Allah and be with the truthful), [namely] Muḥammad and his companions.
17453 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq ibn Ismāʿīl related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Muḥāribī, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His statement: (and be with the truthful), he said: with Abū Bakr and ʿUmar and their companions, may Allah's mercy be upon them.
17454 — …… he said: Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: Isḥāq ibn Bishr al-Kāhilī related to us, saying: Khalaf ibn Khalīfa related to us, on the authority of Abū Hāshim al-Rummānī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning Allah's statement: (fear Allah and be with the truthful), he said: with Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, may Allah's mercy be upon them both.
17455 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His statement: (fear Allah and be with the truthful), he said: with the truthful emigrants (muhājirūn).
And Ibn Masʿūd read it — according to what has been transmitted from him — as: (وَكُونُوا مِنَ الصَّادِقِينَ) (and be among the truthful), and he explained it thus: that this is a prohibition from Allah against lying.
* Mention of the report concerning him thereabout:
17456 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam al-ʿAsqalānī related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra, he said: I heard Abū ʿUbayda ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd say: Ibn Masʿūd said: Indeed, lying is not permitted, neither in earnest nor in jest; recite, if you wish: (O you who believe, fear Allah and be among the truthful). He said: and so reads the reading of Ibn Masʿūd: (among the truthful). Do you then see any license for lying?
17457 — …… he said: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra, he said: I heard Abū ʿUbayda, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, something similar.
17458 — …… he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra, he said: I heard Abū ʿUbayda transmit on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, he said: Lying is not sound, neither in earnest nor in jest; recite, if you wish: (O you who believe, fear Allah and be among the truthful) — and so it stands in the reading of ʿAbd Allāh — do you then see any license for lying?
17459 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, he said: Lying is not sound, neither in jest nor in earnest. Then ʿAbd Allāh recited: (fear Allah and be), I do not know whether he said: (among the truthful) or (with the truthful), and in my book it stands: (with the truthful).
17460 — …… he said: My father related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Abū Maʿmar, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, something similar.
17461 — …… he said: My father related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra, on the authority of Abū ʿUbayda, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, something similar.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct view of the explanation thereabout is the explanation that we have mentioned on the authority of Nāfiʿ and al-Ḍaḥḥāk. That is because the scripts of all the muṣḥafs agree upon: (and be with the truthful), and that is the reading which I permit no one to recite contrary to.
And the explanation of ʿAbd Allāh, may Allah's mercy be upon him, thereabout according to his reading, is a correct explanation, except that the [accepted] reading is contrary to it.
------------------------ Footnotes:
(57) In the printed edition it reads: "there can be no import in the statement that it is said", differing from what stands in the manuscript; and what stands therein is what I have adopted, and that is right and correct. What he introduced of his own corrupts the statement.
(58) The report 17454 — "Abū Hāshim al-Rummānī" is trustworthy (thiqa), the group [of the six collectors] transmitted from him. There is disagreement about his name; he has already passed under number 10818.
