Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:67
The hypocrite men and hypocrite women are of one another. They enjoin what is wrong and forbid what is right and close their hands. They have forgotten Allah, so He has forgotten them [accordingly]. Indeed, the hypocrites - it is they who are the defiantly disobedient.
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.
Explanation of His word: الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ مِنْ بَعْضٍ يَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمُنْكَرِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَقْبِضُونَ أَيْدِيَهُمْ نَسُوا اللَّهَ فَنَسِيَهُمْ إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ (9:67) (The hypocrite men and the hypocrite women are one as the other: they enjoin what is reprehensible and forbid what is proper, and they keep their hands closed. They have forgotten Allah, and He has forgotten them. Verily, the hypocrites, they are the corrupt ones (al-fāsiqūn).)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted be His mention, says: the hypocrite men and the hypocrite women, and they are those who display faith with their tongues before the believers, while concealing disbelief (kufr) in Allah and His Messenger = are one as the other, He says: they are of one kind, and their affair is one, in their open display of faith and their concealed harboring of disbelief = they enjoin upon whoever accepts them = what is reprehensible (al-munkar), and that is disbelief in Allah and in Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and in what he brought, and the denial of it = and forbid what is proper (al-maʿrūf), He says: and they forbid them faith in Allah and His Messenger, and in what he brought them from Allah.
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And His word: and they keep their hands closed, He says: and they hold back their hands from spending in the way of Allah, and withhold them from charity, and thus they deny those for whom Allah has ordained a share in their wealth — what He has ordained of zakāh — their rights, as in:
16923 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: and they keep their hands closed, he said: they do not open them for any spending in a rightful matter.
16924 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
16925 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
16926 — 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, the like of it.
16927 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: and they keep their hands closed, they do not open them for any good.
16928 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: and they keep their hands closed, he said: they hold back their hands from every good.
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As for His word: they have forgotten Allah, and He has forgotten them, its meaning is: they have abandoned Allah, instead of obeying Him and following His command, so Allah has abandoned them and withheld from them His support, His guidance, and His mercy.
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And we have already shown previously, with the proofs for it, that the meaning of "al-nisyān" (forgetting) is "abandonment"; that makes its repetition in this place unnecessary.
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And Qatāda used to say concerning this what:
16929 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, (on the authority of) Qatāda, concerning His word: they have forgotten Allah, and He has forgotten them, they were forgotten with respect to good, but not forgotten with respect to evil.
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His word: verily, the hypocrites, they are the corrupt ones, He says: verily, those who deceive the believers by displaying to them faith in Allah with their tongues, while concealing the harboring of disbelief — they are those who have abandoned obedience to Allah, who have departed from faith in Him and in His Messenger.
