Tafseer - Concise Commentary of the Holy Quraan
By: Mufti Waseem Khan, Principal, Darul Uloom Trinidad and Tobago
Surah Baqarah Verses 11 - 13
Having explained that the above group of people are hypocrites and are not true believers. Surah Al Baqarah goes further from Verse 11 to highlight some of their wicked deeds and ignominious conduct.
The verse states:-
And when it is said to them, do not make mischief in the land, they say: We are but peace-makers. (Surah Baqarah, Verse 11)
It means that when some of the believers advised them to stop their mischief, and stop putting others to trials by committing kufr (disbelief) and preventing one from the path of Allah, they responded by saying that they were peacemakers. They claimed that they were people who wanted to create peace, and not mischief. They said that they were working for the goodness and reformation of the people. In other words, they did not admit that they were creating mischief. Instead, they claimed to be peacemakers.
While speaking about ‘mischief in the land’ the great companion, Abdullah bin Masood (R.A.) said, ‘the mischief (and corruption) in the land is kufr (disbelief) and sinful actions. Whoever disobeyed Allah has indeed committed mischief on the land. (Safwatut Tafaseer vol.1 page22). On account of this, it is clear that the unbelievers were creating mischief on the land by spreading kufr, committing sins and also prohibiting others from the true faith. Notwithstanding these mischievous deeds, they thought that they were making peace and were not mischief makers. However, the reality was that they were indeed great mischief makers, but due to the sickness of hypocrisy in their hearts, they imagined their mischief to be peace. It is for this reason, Allah condemned them by saying:-
‘Behold! Verily, they are indeed mischief makers, but they do not understand’. (Surah Baqarah verse 12)
Here, Allah lays great emphasis on their ‘mischief making conduct’ by saying ‘Behold! Verily, they are indeed mischief makers, but they do not understand’. He draws the attention of everyone to recognise that certainly, in all truth, these mushrikeen are the ‘real mischief makers. However, they have lost all sense of understanding and so, they do not see that their actions amount to mischief and corruption on the land.
Verse 13 goes further to highlight another one of their wicked acts and states:
And when it is said to them: Believe as the people believe they say: Shall we believe as the fools believe? Now, surely they themselves are the fools, but they do not know. (Surah Baqarah verse 13)
It means that when they are invited to true belief in Allah, and are told to believe in the manner that the companions (sahabah) have believed (with sincerity and obedience to Allah), they respond by using degrading remarks and say that they would not believer as those fools have believed. Here, the blindness of their hearts made them think that the great sahabahs were fools, when they themselves were the real fools.
The commentators have unanimously stated that in the verse ‘believe as people have believed’, the word ‘people’ refers to the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.) (sahabah). In other words, Allah Has directed the unbelievers to believe just as the sahabah have believed. While commenting on the verse, the great commentator of the Holy Quran, Mufti Muhammad Shafi (A.R.) writes, ‘The Verse indicates that the only kind of Iman (belief) acceptable to Allah is the one which should be similar to the blessed companions, and that the Iman (faith) of others will be worthy of the name only when they believe in the same way as the Companions did. In other words, the Iman of the Companions is a touch stone for testing the Iman of all the other Muslims, any belief or deed which departs from their faith and practice, however pleasing in its looks or good in its intention, is not valid according to the shariah. There is a consensus of commentators on this position.
One should also notice that the hypocrites used to call the blessed Companions ‘fools’. This has always been the way of those who go astray. Anyone who tries to show them the right path is, in their eyes, ignorant and stupid. But who could, as the Holy Quran points out, be more stupid than the man who refuses to see clear signs’. (Ma’ariful Quran Vol. 1, page 123)
Having given the response of the polytheists who said that the companions (of the Prophet (S.A.)) were fools, and that they would not believe, as ‘these fools’ believed, Allah makes an open declaration to the whole mankind that ‘the real fools’ are the polytheists (mushrikeen) themselves. He says, ‘Behold! Verily, they themselves are the fools, but they do not know’. It means that in truth and in reality, it is the polytheists / unbelievers who are the fools since they have confused the truth with falsehood, and have opted for falsehood instead of the truth. In a similar manner, they have mixed up ‘peace’ with ‘mischief-making’ and have considered ‘mischief-making’ to be peace. In reality, they are the foolish ones, who do not judge in accordance to the knowledge, wisdom and understanding which they have been given, but instead, judge with ignorance, obeying the dictates of their base desires and by following the misguided thoughts of their forefathers. Owing to their deficiency in intelligence, they remain unmindful of their own state, and they ‘do not even recognize that they are the fools’. It is about this, Allah says, ‘Now, surely they themselves are the fools, but they do not know’. Their inability to recognize their own pitable condition shows the level of their internal blindness and extent of their misguidance.
