Surah Al-Hadid (57) — Ayah 16

(Ayah 16) ➊ {اَلَمْ يَاْنِ لِلَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْۤا …:’’ اَلَمْ يَاْنِ ‘‘ ’’أَنٰي يَأْنِيْ أَنْيًا وَ إِنًي‘‘} (ض) From the defective yaa, it is a known jussive form of negation, the arrival of the time of something, as He said: « غَيْرَ نٰظِرِيْنَ اِنٰىهُ » [ الأحزاب : ۵۳ ] “Those who do not wait for the (food) at its (cooking) time.” In the previous verse, the condition of believing men and women and hypocrite men and women on the Day of Resurrection was mentioned, upon hearing which hearts tremble and, being fearful, humble themselves before their Lord. Despite this, for not being affected as they should, the believers are warned: Has not the time come yet for their hearts to humble themselves before Allah due to His remembrance and admonition, and because of the truth that has been sent down from Him? By “believers” is meant all those believers who were previously commanded to believe, spend in the way of Allah, and fight, and for being lazy and negligent in this, they were reproached. The purpose is: After hearing so much reproach in Allah’s verses and hearing about the evil end of the hypocrites on the Day of Resurrection, has the time not come for the believers to humble themselves before Allah and act diligently upon His commands? Whereas the demand of faith is that upon hearing Allah’s verses, the heart becomes soft and, remembering Allah, immediately accepts the admonition, because this is the characteristic of the believers, as He said: « اِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُوْنَ الَّذِيْنَ اِذَا ذُكِرَ اللّٰهُ وَ جِلَتْ قُلُوْبُهُمْ وَ اِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ اٰيٰتُهٗ زَادَتْهُمْ اِيْمَانًا وَّ عَلٰى رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُوْنَ» [ الأنفال : ۲ ] “The (true) believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts tremble, and when His verses are recited to them, it increases them in faith, and upon their Lord they rely.” And He said: «اَللّٰهُ نَزَّلَ اَحْسَنَ الْحَدِيْثِ كِتٰبًا مُّتَشَابِهًا مَّثَانِيَ تَقْشَعِرُّ مِنْهُ جُلُوْدُ الَّذِيْنَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُمْ ثُمَّ تَلِيْنُ جُلُوْدُهُمْ وَ قُلُوْبُهُمْ اِلٰى ذِكْرِ اللّٰهِ » [ الزمر : ۲۳ ] “Allah has sent down the best statement, a Book consistent and oft-repeated. The skins of those who fear their Lord shiver from it, then their skins and their hearts soften to the remembrance of Allah.”

➋ {وَ لَا يَكُوْنُوْا كَالَّذِيْنَ اُوْتُوا الْكِتٰبَ … : ’’قَسَتْ‘‘} Originally {’’قَسَوَتْ‘‘}, its form in the verb is {’’ قَسَا يَقْسُوْ قَسْوَةً وَقَسَاوَةً ‘‘}, meaning to become hard. That is, has the time not come for the believers that... and that they do not become like those who were given the Book before, that is, the Torah and after it the Gospel, that in the beginning their condition was such that upon hearing Allah’s verses, their hearts would soften and they would fear, and instead of following their desires, they would act upon Allah’s commands. Then, as the time of the prophets became more distant, they began to follow desires and the pleasures of the world, and despite knowing Allah’s commands, they abandoned acting upon them, which caused their hearts to become hard, and they knowingly made lawful what Allah had forbidden. Shirk, adultery, unjust killing, theft, usury, and other sins became common. Instead of their hearts softening and humbling upon hearing Allah’s verses, they began to distort them, as a result of which they went far astray and, in mutual opposition and enmity, split into many sects.

➌ { وَ كَثِيْرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فٰسِقُوْنَ:} That is, even now their condition is such that many of them are defiantly disobedient. In {’’ فَقَسَتْ قُلُوْبُهُمْ ‘‘} their inner state is described, and in {’’ فٰسِقُوْنَ ‘‘} their practical state is described. Elsewhere, the cause and result of this hardness of heart is explained in more detail, where along with breaking other covenants, the breaking of the covenant of giving a goodly loan is also mentioned. For details, see the commentary of Surah Al-Ma’idah, verses (13, 12).

16. 1. The address is to the believers, and the purpose is to further direct them towards the remembrance of Allah and to exhort them to seek guidance from the Noble Quran. The meaning of khushu‘ is that the hearts become soft and incline towards Allah. By "the truth" is meant the Noble Quran.

16. 2. Like the Jews and Christians, that is, do not become like them.

16. 3. Thus, they altered and changed the Book of Allah, made acquiring a paltry worldly gain their motto in exchange for it, cast its commands behind their backs, and adopted the imitation of people in the religion of Allah.

16. 4. That is, their hearts are corrupt and their deeds are invalid.

Has the time not come for those who have believed that their hearts should humble themselves to the remembrance of Allah and to what has come down of the truth? And let them not be like those who were given the Scripture before, and a long period passed over them, so their hearts became hardened [29], and many of them are defiantly disobedient.

[28] It has already been mentioned that the probable period of revelation of this Surah is after the Battle of Ahzab and before the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. By that time, several signs of the dominance of Islam had appeared before the people. In the Battle of Badr, the disbelievers had suffered a crushing defeat. Even in the Battle of Uhud, ultimately the field remained in the hands of the Muslims, and in the Battle of Ahzab, Allah Almighty, through unseen means, helped the Muslims and forced the disbelievers to flee. From these events, the general people and neutral tribes were getting the impression that Islam and disbelief were equally matched, and everyone was waiting to see which side would prevail. In such circumstances, the hypocrites are being warned by this verse that after seeing such clear signs of the help and support of Islam, do you still not believe that the revelation and invitation being sent down from Allah is true and correct? Also, that the fate of the disbelievers and, along with them, the hypocrites, which is soon to come before you, has the time not yet come that the hearts of the Muslims should tremble because of it, and that their hearts should become soft with the remembrance of Allah and fear of Him?

[29]
The Quranic Verse That Changed the Course of Fudayl bin ‘Iyad’s Life:

What happens is that as long as the Prophet remains among his Ummah, the hearts of the believers become soft due to the Prophet’s company, the remembrance of Allah, and piety, and the hearts and natures of these people remain inclined towards excelling in goodness. But when the Prophet departs from this world, gradually, as time passes, people’s natures begin to become heedless of the remembrance of Allah. Instead of piety, the germs of wickedness, disobedience to Allah, and rebellion against Him begin to develop among them. Both the Jews and the Christians have gone through this condition. In this verse, Muslims in general and hypocrites in particular are being warned that heedlessness of the remembrance of Allah is such a disease that it hardens the hearts and wickedness and immorality begin to enter them. Therefore, it is obligatory upon you to remember Allah at all times; only through this will piety develop within you and your hearts remain soft. It is said that in the era of the Tabi‘in, Fudayl bin ‘Iyad was a bandit. Once, while he was engaged in his occupation of robbery and looting, someone recited this very verse: ﴿اَلَمْ يَاْنِ لِلَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْٓا اَنْ تَخْشَعَ قُلُوْبُهُمْ لِذِكْرِ اللّٰهِ﴾ in a loud voice. The effect of this verse and its sweet style of expression was such upon him that he trembled, repented at that very moment, abandoned his profession of banditry, and became engaged in the remembrance of Allah. Then, by adopting piety, he attained such a status that his name is at the forefront among the righteous of that era.