Surah Al-Hajj (22) — Ayah 38

(Ayah 38) ➊ {اِنَّ اللّٰهَ يُدٰفِعُ عَنِ الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا:} The connection of this subject with the previous verses is that in this surah, before this, the disbelievers and the painful punishment for them have been mentioned, who prevent people from Islam and the Sacred Mosque, in which worshipping Allah is everyone's right. Then in verse (19) {’’ هٰذٰنِ خَصْمٰنِ اخْتَصَمُوْا فِيْ رَبِّهِمْ ‘‘}, the conflict between the polytheists and the monotheists has been mentioned. After that, the construction of the House of Allah, the beginning of Hajj, the virtue of sacrifice, and other acts of Hajj have been described, which naturally created in the hearts of the emigrant Muslims the desire to see their homeland, to visit the House of Allah, and to perform Umrah and Hajj, and also the thought that how long will the disbelievers continue to oppress and prevent Muslims from the House of Allah. Upon this, Allah Almighty has comforted the Muslims that those who have believed should not consider themselves helpless; Allah Almighty is defending them and will continue to do so. Very soon, Muslims will be granted dominance, and the disbelievers, who inflicted mountains of oppression upon them and forced them to migrate from their homeland, the sacred Mecca, will be subdued.

➋ {اِنَّ اللّٰهَ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ خَوَّانٍ كَفُوْرٍ : ’’ خَوَّانٍ ‘‘ ’’خَانَ يَخُوْنُ‘‘} is an intensive active participle, and {’’ كَفُوْرٍ ‘‘ ’’كَفَرَ يَكْفُرُ‘‘} is also an intensive active participle. In this, Allah Almighty has stated the reason for defending the Muslims against the disbelievers: Allah does not like anyone who is extremely treacherous and very ungrateful, while both these qualities are found in the disbelievers.

➌ Here is a question: Allah does not like anyone who is extremely treacherous and very ungrateful, so does He like an ordinary treacherous or ordinary ungrateful person? The answer is that Allah does not like any treacherous or any ungrateful person, whether he is only treacherous and ungrateful or extremely treacherous and extremely ungrateful, as He said: «{ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْخَآىِٕنِيْنَ}» [الأنفال : ۵۸ ] "Indeed, Allah does not love those who are treacherous." And He said: «{ فَاِنَّ اللّٰهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْكٰفِرِيْنَ }» [ آل عمران : ۳۲ ] "Indeed, Allah does not love the disbelievers." There are two benefits in using the intensive forms here: one is that the condition of the disbelievers of Mecca is intended to be described, that they were given the trust of the custodianship of the House of Allah and the blessing of residing in the Sanctuary, but they insisted on polytheism and disbelief, inflicted severe oppression on the Muslims, expelled them from their homes, and prevented them from coming to the House of Allah for Hajj, Umrah, prayer, circumambulation, and other acts of worship. This is extreme treachery in trust and great ingratitude for the blessing. Remember that in {’’ خَوَّانٍ ‘‘}, there is more emphasis than in {’’ كَفُوْرٍ ‘‘}. Instead of {’’خَؤُوْنٌ‘‘}, {’’ خَوَّانٍ ‘‘} has been used because the root of disbelief and other defects is also treachery. The second benefit is that it is not possible for the defects found in humans to be free from exaggeration. Take treachery itself! When a person intends to betray someone and then acts upon it, in reality, he first betrays his own soul, then people, and also his Lord, and the same is the case with disbelief.

38. 1. Just as in 6 AH, due to their dominance, the disbelievers did not allow the Muslims to go to Makkah and perform Umrah, Allah Almighty, just two years later, ended the dominance of the disbelievers, removed their enemies from the Muslims, and made the Muslims prevail over them.

38. Surely Allah defends those who believe. Indeed, Allah does not like anyone who is treacherous and ungrateful [64].

[64] Allah Almighty becomes the supporter of the people of truth because the second party is treacherous, dishonest, and ungrateful. They are dishonest and treacherous in the sense that Allah entrusted them with the custodianship of the Ka'bah, yet they imposed a ban on the people of truth from entering the Ka'bah. They are ungrateful in the sense that all blessings were given to them by Allah, but instead of expressing gratitude to Allah, they devoted all their supplications and acts of worship to idols.