Tafseer Ibn Kathir of AN NUUR [47]

47. They say: ”We have believed in Allah and in the Messenger, and we obey,'' then a party of them turn away thereafter, such are not believers. 48. And when they are called to Allah and His Messenger, to judge between them, lo! a party of them refuses and turns away. 49. But if the truth is on their side, they come to him willingly with submission. 50. Is there a disease in their hearts Or do they doubt or fear lest Allah and His Messenger should wrong them in judgement. Nay, it is they themselves who are the wrongdoers. 51. The only saying of the faithful believers, when they are called to Allah and His Messenger, to judge between them, is that they say: ”We hear and we obey.'' And such are the successful. 52. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, fears Allah, and has Taqwa of Him, such are the successful.   Allah tells us about the characteristics of the hypocrites who show one thing while hiding another, and who say with their tongues,

(”We have believed in Allah and in the Messenger, and we obey,'' then a party of them turn away thereafter,) meaning, their actions contradict their deeds, and they say that which they do not do. Allah says:

(such are not believers.)

(And when they are called to Allah and His Messenger, to judge between them...) means, when they are asked to follow the guidance which Allah has revealed to His Messenger , they turn away and are too arrogantly proud of themselves to follow him. This is like the Ayah:

(Have you not seen those who claim that they believe in that which has been sent down to you, and that which was sent down before you,) until His saying:

(you see the hypocrites turn away from you with aversion) ï´¿4: 60-61ï´¾.

(But if the truth is on their side, they come to him willingly with submission.) means, if the ruling will be in their favor and not against them, then they will come and will listen and obey, which is what is meant by the phrase

(willingly with submission.) But if the ruling will go against him, he turns away and demands something that goes against the truth, and he prefers to refer for judgement to someone other than the Prophet so that his false claims may prevail. His acceptance in the beginning was not because he believed that it was the truth, but because it happened to be in accordance with his desires. So when the truth went against what he was hoping for, he turned away from it. Allah said:

(Is there a disease in their hearts...) meaning, their situation cannot be anything else, they must necessarily have a disease in their hearts, or else they have some doubts about the religion, or they are afraid that Allah and His Messenger will be unjust in their ruling against them. Whichever it is, it is pure disbelief, and Allah knows which of these characteristics each one of them has. d

(Nay, it is they themselves who are the wrongdoers.) means, they are the evildoers who commit immoral actions, and Allah and His Messenger are innocent of the injustice and unfairness that they imagine; exalted be Allah and His Messenger above such a thing. Then Allah tells us about the attributes of the believers who respond to Allah and His Messenger and who seek no other way apart from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger . Allah says:

(The only saying of the faithful believers, when they are called to Allah and His Messenger, to judge between them, is that they say: ”We hear and we obey''.) meaning, to hear to obey. Allah describes them as having attained success, which is achieving what one wants and being saved from what one fears. So Allah says:

(And such are the successful.) Concerning the Ayah:

(they say: ”We hear and we obey''.), Qatadah said: ”We were told that when `Ubadah bin As-Samit, who had been present at Al-`Aqabah and at Badr, and was one of the leaders of the Ansar, was dying, he said to his nephew Junadah bin Abi Umayyah: `Shall I not tell you what you must do and what is your due' He said, `Yes.' He said: `You have to listen and obey when times are easy and when they are hard, when you feel energetic and when you do not want to, and when you feel selfish. You have to train your tongue to speak the truth. Do not go against those who are in authority, unless they openly command you to commit acts of disobedience to Allah. Whenever you are commanded to do something that goes against the Book of Allah, then follow the Book of Allah.''' Qatadah said: We were told that Abu Ad-Darda' said, ”There is no Islam except through obedience to Allah, and no goodness except in Jama`ah. Sincerity is to Allah and His Messenger , and to the Khalifah and all the believers.'' He said: ”And we were told that `Umar bin Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, used to say; `The bonds of Islam are La ilaha illallah, establishing prayer, paying Zakah and obeying those whom Allah has given authority over the affairs of the Muslims.''' This was recorded by Ibn Abi Hatim. There are very many Hadiths and reports which state that it is obligatory to obey the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger, the Rightly-Guided Khalifahs and the Imams when they command us to obey Allah; there are too many of these reports to quote them all here.

(And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger,) in what he is commanded with, and avoid what he is forbidden,

(fears Allah, ) means, for his past sins,

(and has Taqwa of Him,) regarding sins he may commit in the future.

(such are the successful.) means, those who will attain all goodness and be saved from all evil in this world and the Hereafter.