In the Name of Almighty Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
11 آية
بِسۡمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Surah Al-Munafiqun is the 63rd chapter of the Quran, containing 11 verses. Revealed in Madinah, it takes its name from the hypocrites whose conduct it exposes: they swear false oaths to appear sincere while concealing disbelief in their hearts, and their fine appearance and eloquent speech mask empty, cowardly hearts. The surah recounts the incident in which a hypocrite leader urged that provisions be withheld from the Prophet’s companions, and it closes with a warning to believers not to let their wealth and children distract them from the remembrance of Allah before death overtakes them. Below you can read the full Surah Al-Munafiqun in Arabic with a clear English translation and a verse-by-verse tafsir (explanation of the meaning) from Aysar al-Tafaseer, with the option to jump to any specific verse.
1. When the hypocrites come to your assembly, O Mohammad, they tell you: “We bear witness that you are truly the Messenger of Allah, and that Allah sent you to all His creatures and sent down to you His revelation and His Quran.” Allah knows that you are His Messenger to convey to men what your Lord revealed to you; He is a witness that the hypocrites are liars, for they do not believe that what they say is true.
2. Those hypocrites have made their false oaths a screen for them so that they can guard their lives and keep their riches. They swear by Allah that they are one of your people and they bear witness that you are Allah’s Messenger. Therefore, he who does not know the truth about them would be deceived, thinking that they were Muslims and trusting them; they take advantage of this trust to turn people away from embracing Islam. Evil are their deeds, for they preferred disbelief to faith, and they showed the contrary of what they believed. They will be punished for their evil deeds in the Hereafter.
3. What they did was due to the bad intentions within them. They underestimated what they were doing and their concern was primarily to safeguard themselves and their riches. It is for this reason that they revealed faith and concealed their disbelief. Allah sealed their hearts so that true faith could never reach them for they do not understand nor do they consider.
4. If you saw the hypocrites, you would like their appearance, and if they spoke to you, you would admire their speech; for they have pleasing looks and they speak eloquently. However, they are in fact ghosts without souls; their hearts are empty of faith like rotten hollow logs eaten by woodworm. They are exceedingly fearful, believing that at every cry, disaster has come to them, and that they have been exposed and are ineluctably doomed. Those are the real enemies of Islam and the Muslims, so do not trust them with any secrets, for their hearts burn with envy and hatred. Allah has cursed them and cast them out of His Mercy. Evil is their state and great their heedlessness. How can they be misled from the truth to falsehood and from faith to disbelief?
5. If they are told, “Come to the Messenger of Allah so that he may pray for your forgiveness for all the faults that you committed,” they turn their heads and move away arrogantly. (It is said that the reason for the revelation of this verse and the following ones is that the Messenger invaded Bani Mustalek. A wage worker of Omar ibn al-Khattab and an ally of Abdulla ibn Ubai ibn Salloul, met at the water side and fought; Omar’s wage worker called out: “O immigrants, help me!” while the ally called out: “O allies, help me!” The people then began to shout, and Abdulla ibn Ubai ibn Salloul said to those around him: “The comparison between the immigrants and ourselves is like the proverb which says: ‘Feed your dog, and he will eat you.’ By Allah if we go back to Medina, the most powerful will expel the most humble.” Then he told his companions: “This is what you have done to yourselves. You let them share your country and your riches. By Allah, if you renounce them, they will leave you and move to another land.” The incident was reported to the Messenger of Allah by a boy called Zaid ibn al-Arkam. Omar ibn al-Khattab asked the Prophet’s permission to behead Abdulla ibn Ubai ibn Salloul, but the Prophet did not give his consent. He called Abdulla ibn Ubai ibn Salloul and inquired into what he had said. However, Abdulla ibn Ubai ibn Salloul denied all and called the boy a liar. Allah Almighty revealed this verse, which led the Messenger of Allah to tell Zaid ibn al-Arkam: “Allah has confirmed the truth of what you have said and proved that the hypocrites are liars.” When the lie of Abdulla ibn Ubai ibn Salloul became apparent, he was told: “Severe verses have been revealed on your account. Go to the Messenger of Allah, therefore, that he may seek forgiveness for you.” He turned his head aside and said: “You commanded me to believe in Allah and I did. You commanded me to pay alms, and I did. All I need to do is to prostrate myself to Mohammad.” After a few days, this hypocrite was taken ill and died.)
6. It is all the same whether you pray for forgiveness for those hypocrites or you do not. Allah will not forgive them because of their faults and sins. Allah decreed that they would be wretched for the evil that they committed and for the hypocrisy which covers their hearts.
7. It is those hypocrites who told their brothers: “Do not expend money on the Messenger of Allah and his companions, the immigrants. They will then turn away from you to another location. The people around Mohammad will leave him once they feel the pangs of hunger.” Those hypocrites are ignorant for they do not know that to Allah Almighty belong the treasures of the heavens and the earth. He has the keys to the subsistence of His servants. Therefore, nothing will reach them except what He chooses. That is why they said what they did.
8. The hypocrites say: “If we return to Medina we will expel from it the believers.” They say this because they think that they are the more powerful by virtue of their greater number and their wealth and that the believers are the weaker and less numerous. Allah Almighty answers them saying: “Power is Allah’s Alone, the Majestic and Might; it is then His noble Messenger’s and then the believers’ who derive their might from Allah’s might and support. Therefore, they are mighty. But the hypocrites do not know this. They think that power comes with wealth and number. (It is said that when Abdulla ibn Abdulla ibn Ubai ibn Salloul, who was a faithful believer, heard his father’s words, he drew his sword and waited at the gate of Medina. He did not allow his father to enter until the Messenger of Allah had permitted him to do so. He then told his father: “By Allah I will not sheathe my sword until you say: ‘Mohammad is the most honourable man and I am the most contemptible.” He did not move from his place until his father had said this. The Messenger of Allah then gave him permission to enter Medina.)
9. Allah Almighty commands His devoted servants to remember Him and not to let their wealth or children divert them from remembering their Lord. He says that he who lets the pleasures of life on earth and its ornaments divert him from the remembrance of his Lord will be a loser. He will lose both his soul and relations on Judgement Day.
10. Allah Almighty urges the believers to expend in His cause from the subsistence which He bestowed upon them before death comes to them. Then those who neglected their religious duties and did not expend in the cause of Allah will say: “O Lord! If you had given me respite for a short while, I would have given charity in obedience to You and obeyed Your order and become one of Your devoted servants whom You are pleased with.”
11. Allah Almighty tells them that they should have performed their duties and given in charity before their appointed time of death. When their appointed time comes, there is no means of delaying it or giving them respite. Allah knows what His servants do.
Tafsir by Dr. Assaad Homad (1917–2011), Syrian scholar and jurist, author of Aysar al-Tafaseer, an accessible interpretation of the Quran reviewed by Sheikh Muhammad Mutwally Al-Shaarawi and certified by the Ministries of Awqaf in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. English translation by the Homad family. Read more about the author and this tafsir →
Source: This series of Tafsir books has been made available online by the family of Dr. Assaad Homad (may Allah have mercy on him). These volumes were entirely digitized to provide an accessible and easy format for todays digital age. Please keep Dr. Assaad and his family in your sincere prayers.
تم إتاحة هذه السلسلة من كتب التفسير عبر الإنترنت من قبل عائلة الدكتور أسعد حومد (رحمه الله). لقد قمنا برقمنة هذه المجلدات بالكامل لتوفير تنسيق يسهل الوصول إليه واستخدامه في عصرنا الرقمي الحالي. نرجو منكم ألا تنسوا الدكتور أسعد وعائلته من صالح دعائكم.