Surah Baqarah ayah 8-21

Sahih International

And of the people are some who say, "We believe in Allah and the Last Day," but they are not believers.

2:9

to top

>The 1st category were the people who had taqwa

the 2nd were those who were bent upon disbelief

the 3rd category are those who say that we have come to believe in Allah but they haven't

>there are 2 kinds of hypocrites..nonmuslims pretending to be muslims..spies or double agents

2nd is the muslim who doesnt even know that he is a hypocrite,two-faced people, he could be any of us..this is really scary..even Umar bin khattab was scared that he may be a munafiq when the list of munafiqs was given by Allah swt

The generation of Prophet SAWW had the best believers and the worst of munafiqoon. Allah went out of the way to keep the hypocrites a mystery and not name them. 

When the Prophet SAWW came to Madinah, at that time the different tribes decided to get together to form one city Yasrib(Madinah), and one man Abdullah bin Ubay was going to become the head of Yasrib before Prophet SAWW came. But when Prophet SAWW came then that man could not become the head as Prophet SAWW unanimously became the leader of the people. That man decided to join the Prophet's ranks and become muslim instead of openly opposing him because Prophet SAWW had more support than him. He thought that he could maybe get some other high rank by joining Prophet SAWW. But the closest people to Prophet SAWW were his companions e.g. Hazrat Abu bake, Hazrat Umar etc. So he had no route to become the Vice President. He used to show up to every prayer early and used to be in the first row. Whenever Prophet SAWW were going to make an announcement, he used to say People listen carefully, the prophet is going to speak. He just tried to be in the public eye. He internally hated the Prophet SAWW because his political career ended because of him.
Such hypocrites did not like that the rich and poor and slaves were all equal in Islam and all used to stand together in prayer. Those who were of a high rank were bothered by it and did not like that everyone was equal for him. 

Allah has a wonderful way of addressing different people simultaneously. For e.g. different people in a classroom are doing different mistakes and the teacher says, some people are in trouble here, everybody will think the teacher was addressing them. Allah addressed different types of hypocrites through this ayah
Some hypocrites did not realise that accepting Islam had a lot of consequences and would require a lot of sacrifices. They did not realise they would have to be at war with the Quraiysh. They also had to have a lot of lifestyle changes but those laws came some time later. The primary concern was that they had to be ready to face Quraiysh if the need arose.  These people were ready for ibadah but not ready for the extreme sacrifices.  Then their imaan weakens and they took some steps towards hypocrisy. 

There was another group who was affected by Islam. The scholars of Jews Rabbis by accepting Islam had to submit to Prophet SAWW and from a position of influencing people, they would have to come to the level where they had to accept Prophet SAWW as the ultimate authority and be his student. Such people even used to earn money through religion by staying close to the politicians and they used to maintain ties with people of influence and earn through deen.  So that is why they could not Islam, and they turned everyone against Islam and the Prophet SAWW. Some of their followers when they heard the Prophet SAWW saw the signs of the last Prophet SAWW as told to them, but the rabbis told them not to follow Islam as it would involve a lot of struggle. Even today, some people do not believe in religion because they don't want to take the responsibility of obeying, sacrificing for deen. They suggested that jews were similar to muslims so they could coexist and they did not think they needed to accept Islam(because deep down they knew Islam was right but they didn't want to go through any difficulties).

Minanaas includes hypocrites who have accepted Islam and the hypocrites within jewish community who recognised Islam but did not accept it. Minannaas is an expression just like we say THAT person or that guy or that group etc out of disapproval/disgust, e.g. saying oye Allah k bandy, oye insan

Mann is ism mausoom mubham- which means somebody says. Allah does not specify who is a hypocrite because Allah did not want ANYONE to call anyone a hypocrite by name in future. No one can see inside the heart. We judge people based  on the apparent but we have no right to call anyone a munaafiq. We are not the judge. When we read about munafiqoon we should search in our OWN selves for this disease.

Yaqoolu is muzaray which shows that this person continuously says that. 

>A single person is speaking on behalf of the whole group, he tries to say that we ALL believe because he tries to associate himself with the believers..so Allah uses Mann instead of allazeena to point out that one person speaks on behalf of everyone that WE believe. He just tries to be part of the muslim group

>they make a special effort to CLAIM that they believe..in front of the muslims.. e.g. a kid comes and says that i didnt write anything on the wall..he tries to be overcautious..they become paranoid..they feel that everybody sees what they truly are..they try to go overboard with trying to prove they are sincere..e.g. Abdullah bin ubay the biggest munaafiq used to say before every khutbah of Prophet SAWW that listen to this man,he is the Prophet, he has many things to say etc..he went out of the way to make a show of his imaan. They go out of the way out of paranoia to prove their imaan. Allah uses billahi wa bill yaumil akhiri (two Baas) just to show that they go out of the way to show their imaan. 

This ayah can also refer to jews because they used to say they also believe in God and the last day and they thought that was enough and they don't need to accept the Prophet SAWW. They have so much hatred so they can't say they accept the Prophet SAWW but they tried to hide it by apparently showing that they have a similar faith. They wanted the final revelation to be in their own lineage and not among Arabs. They thought the children of Ismail were cursed by god. 

>Maa with baa shows that they absolutely do not believe, for stress. This is the strongest way to refute. 

Iman is in our heart and on our tongue. We can only judge what is on the tongue and not know what is in the heart. Momin mainly refers to what goes on in the heart. Muslim mainly refers to whats on the tongue. Islam is a black and white thing, either you are a muslim or you are not. Imaaan is like a container so it keeps going up and down and has gradations and keeps increasing and decreasing.  Kufr is the OPPOSITE of imaan as it shows an absence of imaan. Sometimes kufr is the opposite of Islam. But here Allah was talking about the heart and nifaq in the heart. 

Sahih International

They [think to] deceive Allah and those who believe, but they deceive not except themselves and perceive [it] not.

2:10

to top

Sahih International

In their hearts is disease, so Allah has increased their disease; and for them is a painful punishment because they [habitually] used to lie.

2:11

to top

Sahih International

And when it is said to them, "Do not cause corruption on the earth," they say, "We are but reformers."

2:12

to top

Sahih International

Unquestionably, it is they who are the corrupters, but they perceive [it] not.

The mushrikeen of Quraysh did not want the virus of Islam to spread and they wanted to assassinate the Prophet SAWW. But some Quraysh thought that if he goes to Madinah and becomes the leader of Madinah then the power of makkah will spread as he is from Makkah so it might actually be good.

At this time, a caravan was passing and some muslims were keeping an eye out to see what movements they were doing. One of the muslims scouts got caught so a fight broke out and the muslims destroyed their caravan. Now those people had to submit who used to say that it doesn't matter if the power of Makkah is spreading. Now they all agreed to go against war with muslims. So there were 3 reactions in Makkah, extreme hate, extreme love, or something in between.

Musa AS also had two different lives, one under firaun before the drowning of the firaun and one after the splitting of the sea AFTER firaun. This is parallel to the challenges faced by the Prophet SAWW first in Makkah and then in Madinah.

Prophet SAWW is only mentioned by name around 4 times in Quran and Musa As is mentioned over 70 times. There is a deep connection between both prophets and both umma and he is closest to the Prophet SAWW in mission. Both had to deal with internal problems and with a solid enemy. 

There was a similar reaction in Madinah, love, hate and something in between. The ansaar volunteered to be part of Badr. The leaders of jews actively opposed it. 

This is the background in which these verses were revealed. 
In obedience, we have to follow Allah and the messenger and they cannot be separated from each other.  One who is the enemy of the Prophet SAWW is Allahs enemy too. Allah makes himself next to the Prophet SAWW when it comes to obedience and disobedience because there is no imaan without belief in the Prophet SAWW.

>they try to fool Allah but they only end up fooling themselves. The messenger SAWW is not mentioned because messing with the messenger means messing with Allah. 

What is the difference between yukhadioon and yakhdaoon, they are from different barbs and yakhdaoon means they SUCCESSFULLY succeeded(in fooling no one but themselves). Yukhadioon means they are trying to deceive.

The people have signs of suffering from a disease e.g. like in bird flu we have certain signs and symptoms.They have symptoms because there is a disease in their heart. Sometimes there are certain diseases after which you develop anaesthesia and cannot feel anything at all. Such a disease has afflicted their hearts. They also have doubt about Allah. 

Chest is a treasure place inside which the heart is present. Shaytaan has access to the chest but not the heart. Chest is like the fence around the home so shaytaan cannot enter until you open the door when he knocks. If you persistently open the door, Shaytaan moves in and he starts redecorating your heart. If you let Shaytaan in for too long, he will cause your heart to stink and will take over you. 

BY painful punishment it means that they will not develop any tolerance to the punishment or the pain, it will stay persistently painful,thats there worst punishment, its worst than that of kuffaar. Aleem is sift mushaba which means constantly painful

>Surah baqarah talks a lot about imaan, surah al imran talks about islam, because islam follows imaan

>The hypocrites in time of Prophet SAWW used to mingle with both kuffaar and muslims, they wanted to remain in good books of both and show allegiance to both as there were some people in mushrikeen who were willing to find a middle way, and when they were told that they are creating fasaad, they said that they are only trying to create peace between both parties,but they do not realize that the hatred the kuffaar had against muslims was incurable..there is no doubt that THESE are the cause of corruption but they do not have the realisation

Fasaad actually means injustice. The biggest injustice is Shirk. There were a lot of corrupt traditions in their society e.g. discriminating against women and burying children alive and all immoral values.  The kabah was full of idols.Fasaad is MORAL fasaad. Truth cannot compromise with falsehood. We should never try to hide revelation of be embarrassed to proudly tell ANY part of the Quran. Every part of the Quran and deen is beautiful and we need to be proud of it and not mould it to please others and not compromise with kufr. 

When people increase in disobedience to Allah in a society, the corruption affects the barakah of the land and even the crop,rain etc is affected. Corruption increases in the land. 

The jews used to believe in God and afterlife but did not agree to accept the Prophet SAWW, but apparently they used to maintain friendly terms with muslims on face value because of common beliefs, and in reality they were plotting against muslims with the help of the mushirkeen. So they were playing a double game. In their heart, there is a disease and they are selective in imaan. They hid the revelation although their own books mentioned the coming of the Prophet SAWW. They tried to change the Torah. 

We should be proud of our book and we should not try to hide any part of it, even if it seems politically incorrect. Do not try to mould the book to please people. We cannot ignore some part of the Quran and only take the part which benefits and suits us. We often try to hide parts of the Quran under the label of hikmah. These days we don't even know the Quran so how can we even hide it...

2:13

to top

Sahih International

And when it is said to them, "Believe as the people have believed," they say, "Should we believe as the foolish have believed?" Unquestionably, it is they who are the foolish, but they know [it] not.

2:14

to top

Sahih International

And when they meet those who believe, they say, "We believe"; but when they are alone with their evil ones, they say, "Indeed, we are with you; we were only mockers."

2:15

to top

Sahih International

[But] Allah mocks them and prolongs them in their transgression [while] they wander blindly.

2:16

to top

Sahih International

Those are the ones who have purchased error [in exchange] for guidance, so their transaction has brought no profit, nor were they guided.ALAA is a word used in the Quran to draw attention. Allah uses it at some places to make people realise how serious the issue is. Don't try to mix truth and falsehood in the name of compromise.

INNA is used for certainty and to remove all possible doubts. This is followed by innahum lahum mufsidoon so hum is used twice for emphasis. This is equivavalent to the exclamation marks we use in english. The Quran is full of emotions because the tone is conveyed through the way Allah expresses it.

Faasid is a corrupt person. Mufsid is someone who is corrupt himself and wants to corrupt others as well and create fasaad. So some people try to dwindle the confidence of muslims in Islam and spread misinformation about Islam.

They are told by their friends/well wishers that why don't you have true imaan like the other sahaba? But how could someone judge their imaan although imaan is something internal so how can anyone gauge it. It was manifested by their actions because their behaviour was not in conformity with shariah and sunnah. 

THEY say should we believe like those who are foolish?they left their homes..made too many sacrifices..they went overboard..they left everything for Islam and got themselves enemies and opposition because of following Islam. Should we become fools like them?we dont have to be that extreme etc etc 

This happens these days too because when we start to follow Islam seriously or when we convert to Islam, everyone becomes our enemy and we hear all sorts of insults for following deen. People will call us extreme and make us lose confidence in ourselves and deen.

The beauty is that the sahaba dont have to defend themselves.ALLAH DEFENDS THEM..and Allah now says that they have no knowledge whatsoever. In Allahs books sacrifices are done by the wise, by those who follow the legacy of Ibrahim AS, the fools are the one who don't sacrifice. For Allah, fool is the one who says whatever comes in his mouth, and does not think about anything or ponder about his actions, is weak in forming his opinions, involved in ghaflah, quick to do sins, and does not develop any understanding, lacks self respect and is deceived by shaytaan, a prisoner of his own desires, constantly sinning, committed to ingratitude, does not care about consequences. 

Prophet SAWW said about fools: People will suffer for years that are very deceptive. The liar will be believed on those days and the truthful will be considered a liar. The one who cannot be entrusted will be entrusted and one who can be trusted will be considered untrustworthy, and a group ruwaiybida will be doing all the talking. The fool that talks about matters of the public. 

nafaqa means lizard hole..a lizard makes two holes so that it can use the 2nd hole if there is any trouble in the 1st hole and vice versa..if muslims lose they would go on the side of the kuffaar..if kuffaar win they will say we will believe

When they meet muslims, they say we are with you but they make close intimate friends other than muslims. When they are alone and with the shayateen, they show their allegiance to them. Shayateen refers to the leaders of the hypocrites and ilaa shows that they go TOWARDS them which indicates that they are of a higher status than them. The non muslims would want nothing but to harm them and use them as pawns, and the hypocrites say that we are with you,we are on your side. Haza means to make fun of someone, to be sarcastic to someone, poke someone, or kill someone slowly. 

Sha ya taa or shaa taa naa are the root word of shaytaan. It means ready to be set on fire, or to burn someone to death.  SO that means their leaders were fumed when they heard they accepted Islam but then they went to them and clarified that they don't really believe. They are called shaytaan because of their fuming rage which resembles fire or because their eventual home is fire. It also means to pull slowly because shaytaan does shatan and slowly reels and ropes us in to doing sin. It also means one who goes far away from the right path. 

In reality, Allah does istahza of them. It means Allah gives them what they deserve in return of what  they used to do. Allah extends them in they rebellion because Allah allows them to continue in their disobedience. Allah extends them in their rebellion , blind in the heart..Allah keeps giving them opportunities for them to increase in disobedience..Allah doesnt restrict their opportunities..he lets them to dig the hole deeper. Allah plays the same role a teacher plays, He lets the students do everything freely and documenting everything they do and he punishes them when they cross the line. 

A parable to explain this is that of a dog who wants to break his leash and he keeps trying to do that although the master stops him, so the master decides to punish him by tying him with a 300ft leash, now the dog thinks that he is free so he runs at full speed, but you know whats going to happen?he will suddenly be pulled by the leash when he reaches the limit,and Allahs hold on them will be stronger. His punishment for them will be most severe on the day of judgement. This is how Allah will poke fun at them. 

Madda and amadda means to extend. Allah uses both words. Amadda is more emphatic and Allah uses amadda whenever he talks about giving something to humans, and everywhere else he uses madder. The extended word is used whenever Allah extends his mercy. 
Yamahoon means that Allah lets them slip away and they are blind in their ability to think and blind in their hearts.

They sold guidance in exchange of disbelief, although they got the gift of the company of the messenger and the sahaba, their trade gave them no benefit at all.

MUHTAD is someone who makes an effort to be guided, they NEVER made an effort to be guided, they came into islam on a bed of roses,they joined it when islam was on the rise and on its peak,they joined it with a casual attitude without commitment,they were not committed to guidance at all

These ayahs can also be applied to Jews, and not just munafiqeen. They also used to say that should we believe like the fools, because they used to consider themselves superior and educated and they thought Islam was beneath them. Allah says they know nothing.

2:17

to top

Sahih International

Their example is that of one who kindled a fire, but when it illuminated what was around him, Allah took away their light and left them in darkness [so] they could not see.

2:18

to top

Sahih International

Deaf, dumb and blind - so they will not return [to the right path].

2:19

to top

2:21

to top

Allah is like a teacher and through Quran, Allah often presents certain examples to make us understand things better. Their example is the example of a person who is alone TRYING(istaukada) to light a fire in pitch black. When everything around HIM was BRILLIANT with light,Allah took THEIR light away. Zia refers to light which also has heat(intense light). Noor is a light without heat and it is just a reflection of light.  
HIM refers to the prophet SAWW/musa AS who lit the light for the people to see and benefit who were previously in pitch dark with him so when they did not benefit, Allah took away their light, their noor, the ability to appreciate the reflected light,their eyes were gone,even if the light is ON it could not benefit them anymore.Allah did not take away the light so that others could benefit from it.Allah only took their ABILITY to see light. And Allah took it away permanently and it will never come back to them. They are in darkness and there is no possibility of seeing now. 

MASAL is used for a very strange situation by Arabs. It is not used for something normal. Only KA is used for something normal and kamasal means something out of the ordinary.

They become deaf,mute,blind,there is NO ataf in between.It means they are the 3 things at the same time, in the pitch black.So now if somebody calls out to them to come see the light..they cant hear..and they cannot call out for help because they are mute..and they are blind so they cannot see the light..so ALL access to guidance is taken away from them now..now they will not be able to return,or come back,coming back SHOWS that they did have the ability before but now its taken away from them

The jews and the stubborn disbelievers of quraish knew the signs of the last messenger and they were eagerly waiting for him because he was mentioned in their books. Some traditions say that they even moved to this area where they thought the last Prophet would come. Darkness and absence of light represents an absence of revelation. When revelation was sent down, it lit up the light which lighted the world. Allah chose the bedouin arabs and the darkest of civilisations to give his revelation. The only strength of Arabs was the Arabic language. Prophet SAWW was born in that society but he never followed the darkness of that society. He used to contemplate by going to the cave of hira alone. Allah blessed him with light there. When the light illuminated the darkness, the people did not appreciate it and deliberately rejected it and refused to see it, so Allah took their ability to see the light away because they never appreciated it.

Sahih International

Or [it is] like a rainstorm from the sky within which is darkness, thunder and lightning. They put their fingers in their ears against the thunderclaps in dread of death. But Allah is encompassing of the disbelievers.

2:20

to top

Sahih International

The lightning almost snatches away their sight. Every time it lights [the way] for them, they walk therein; but when darkness comes over them, they stand [still]. And if Allah had willed, He could have taken away their hearing and their sight. Indeed, Allah is over all things competent.

SECOND parable:Imagine a dark sky with thunder and lightening and intense pouring rain and these people are stranded.They have placed their fingers in their ears because of the loud explosions of the thunder and because of the fear of death. All light has been extinguished by this thunder. 

They are in a difficult journey and there are scary things happening. This describes the journey to islam which is filled with challenges but these people are SO scared of the challenges that they pretend that those challenges are not there and they dont have any responsibility

When lightning comes they are able to see very little so they walk a few steps.

Then when the lightning stops they stop again and are scared to walk in the dark. So hypocrites only follow what is easy, and they back out when a difficult commandment comes.They are fools because its dumb to put your fingers in your ears in a difficult situation,its of no use.

Every time a warning ayah comes down, it is like a thunder strike which warns them to come to Islam. The warning is paralleled with the  thunder. The ayahs reminded them of the judgement day and their responsibilities. Lightning refers to the ayahs which are about good tidings and ease so they take a few steps in lightning. This refers to hypocrites who only follow what is easy and are scared to follow what is difficult.

Allah will remove their hearing and sight. That means that at least they have weak imaan, at least they walk when theres no lightning and difficulty, they stil have some tiny iman left but if they continue this way Allah may decide to take their hearing and sight completely

>Allah describes munaafiqs in detail because its a gray area. Muslims and kuffaar are clearly distinct but hypocrites  needed to be explained in detail,thats why bani israel is mentioned later in detail, because they were munaafiqs and we should try not to be like them

Allah took their guidance away because they sold guidance for misguidance. Allah sealed their hearts and took away their nor because they refused to see the light. Allah took their ability to see and hear because they deliberately refused to see the truth. Allah said about the munafiqeen that they don't really believe in their heart and later elaborates that they only express belief when they are with muslims and when they are with shayateen their deception is revealed. Allah lets their disease increase because they were rebellious and Allah allows them to extend into their rebellion. They tried to mock the religion but Allah mocks them. The hypocrites thought highly and superiorly of themselves and thought the sahibs and those who followed islam were fools as they made sacrifices.

Sahih International

O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous -

>ENSLAVE yourselves to the master,the one who created you and those who before you so that you can PROTECT Yourselves. This is the summary of the Quran. Rabb abd relationship is the foundation of our life. We are entitled to nothing and everything Allah blesses us with is a GIFT. Our idea of slavery and mastery is  very warped because of the history associated with these words but our relationship with Allah is based on pure love and appreciation. Allah creating us is an act of Allah's mercy and part of Allah being rahman and raheem.  

Taqwa means protection..it includes both fear and the action that is developed out of that fear..even the criminal is afraid of the authorities but he only has fear, he doesnt protect himself..someone who protects is the one who stops at a red light and protects himself from breaking the rule, he doesnt  fear being caught by the authorities and also breaks the traffic signal..so the taqwa includes PROTECTION..like Allah says protect yourself from the fire. Allah asks us to protect us from all the images that Allah has just described by just making a commitment to Allah. TATTAQOON is mutaddi so it means we need to take measures and use tools to protect ourselves. It means we need to take precautions. Taqwa does not drop on anyone's head, rather we need to make an effort for it, and then Allah will help us. 

This ayah suddenly shifts from third person to first person. Third person is farther away, but Allah suddenly directly addresses you and me and all humanity. 
NAAS could be from Nisyan which means forgetfulness. Human beings are forgetful because they have forgotten the promise they made to Allah SWT in aalam e arwah. Naas can also be from anisa which means that which cannot be perceived and seen(opposite to jinn which are unseen). Third meaning is from UNS which is opposite of wash(wildness),because human beings are more civil and have feelings and compassion towards each other. and towards all living things. We are only humans because we care about each other but if we lose that quality, we are worse than animals.  
Allah comes from aliha which means to be excessively in love with someone, when your love is so fulfilling that it fulfils your appetite and extinguishes your loneliness. Allah calls upon us in this ayah with the word naas to arouse our compassion and our desire to seek love. 

In Surah Fatiha, we asked Allah to guide us and said we worship Allah. When we asked Allah to guide us to those he favoured, then we took refuge from maghzoobi alaiyhim and zaaleen. So Allah first mentions those he favoured in Surah baqarah, then he mentions the one he has ghazab on(hardcore disbelievers), and then he mentioned the last parable which is about the one who is not entirely lost but only follows deen partially(hypocrites). Then Allah ends with ubudu(now become an abd of Allah). In Surah Fatiha, we talk to Allah and call him Rabbul Aalameen and Surah baqarah is Allah answering our dua by saying Ya ayyahul naas.  Now that Allah has presented all 3 groups, we have to pick one side now. So this actually completes the conversation between us and Allah. This is a call to us to make changes in life, as there is no excuse for us after Allah has told us about all groups and asked us to protect ourselves.  Our belief in the unseen compels us to take action.