Darul Uloom Trinidad & Tobago

Question:

As Saalamu Alaikum,

Were these two verses sorah Al inam6;68 and sorah an Nisa 4;140 commanded to Prophet Muhammad SAW? Or to General Muslims? Or the command from ALLAH is for both the Prophet SAW and to the General Public. And what exactly does the threat you will be like them means? Does it mean you will share the sin and not become a kafir or does it mean by continuing sitting there you will also become a Kafir?

Answer:

Bismillahi Wa Billahi At Tawfeeq

Walaikum As Salaam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh

Allah Most High says in Surah Al Anaam verse 68:

وَإِذَا رَأَيْتَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَخُوضُونَ فِىٓ ءَايَـٰتِنَا فَأَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ حَتَّىٰ يَخُوضُوا۟ فِى حَدِيثٍ غَيْرِهِۦ ۚ وَإِمَّا

يُنسِيَنَّكَ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ فَلَا تَقْعُدْ بَعْدَ ٱلذِّكْرَىٰ مَعَ ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ

‘When you see those who indulge in (blaspheming) Our verses, turn away from them until they become occupied with some other discourse. If Satan should cause you to forget (this instruction), then do not sit with the unjust people after recollection’.

In the present verse, Muslims have been instructed that they should, as a matter of principle, abstain from being a part of the gatherings frequented by those who prefer to follow the false, because a sin is a sin, whether you do it yourself or watch others doing it.

The word: يَخُوْضُوْنَ (translated here as ‘indulge’) in the first verse (68) is from: خَوْض (khawd) which basically means to enter into water and wade through it. Then, it also denotes entering into activities which are vain, absurd or futile. This word has been used in the Qur’an usually in this very sense.

Therefore, the Qur’anic expression referring to: خَوْض فِي الآيَات has been translated by Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanavi and Shaykh al-Hind, Maulana Mahmud al-Hasan (May Allah have mercy upon them) in the sense of fault-finding and disputing, which means: ‘when you see those people meddling in the Ayat of Allah just for fun and ridicule, or trying to find faults in them, turn away from them.’

The address in this verse is general, to everyone which includes the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him), and the members of his community as well. The truth of the matter is that the address to the Holy Prophet is there only to let Muslims at large hear it, otherwise he never participated in any such gatherings even during his childhood days. Therefore, he needed no prohibition.

Then, ‘turning away’ from the gatherings of false people could take many forms. For example, leave the gathering or get busy doing something else while being there without paying any attention to them.

But, at the end of the verse, it was made clear that the first form is what is desirable, that is, one should not keep sitting in their gathering; one should rise and leave from there.

Said at the end of the verse was ‘if Satan makes you forget’, that is, if one went into their gathering unmindfully whether while not remembering the prohibition of participating in such gatherings, or while not recalling that these people talk against the Ayat of Allah and the Rasul of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in their gatherings then, in either situation, once it is remembered, one should leave that gathering immediately. To keep sitting there after having remembered, is a sin. The same subject appears in another verse where, at the end, it has been said: If you kept sitting there, you will be like them (إِنَّكُمْ إِذًا مِّثْلُهُمْ: 4:140).

In Tafsir Kabir, Imam al-Razi has said that the real intent in this verse is to abstain from such sinful gatherings and their participants. The best course is to rise and depart from there. But, should leaving the gathering pose a danger to one’s life, property or honour, it is permissible for common people to “turn away” in some other manner, for instance, they could make themselves busy with something else and pay no attention to them. But, the case is different with particular people who are followed in religious matters for them, the only appropriate way is to rise and leave the gathering.

In Ahkam al-Qur’an, Imam al-Jassas has said: This verse tells that Muslims should abstain from every such gathering where things are being said against Allah Ta’ala, His Rasul (May Peace and Blessings be upon him) and the Shari’ah of Islam and where it is not within one’s power and control to stop or have it stopped, or, at the least, be able to say what is true and right. However, participating in such a gathering with the intention to reform and to carry the message of truth to them does not matter.

As for the statement: فَلَا تَقْعُدْ بَعْدَ ٱلذِّكْرَىٰ مَعَ ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ which prohibits sitting with unjust people after the recollection, Imam al-Jassas has deduced the ruling that participating in the gathering of such unjust, irreligious and big-mouthed people is an absolute sin, whether or not, at that time, they are engaged in talking about what would be considered impermissible because people of such nature could be expected to start their ridiculous ranting all of a sudden. This rule is deduced from this verse on the basis that sitting in the company of unjust people has been prohibited in this verse in an absolute sense. It does not have the condition that they be busy with their act of injustice at that time too.”

Allah Most High says in Surah An Nisa verse 140:

وَقَدْ نَزَّلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِى ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ أَنْ إِذَا سَمِعْتُمْ ءَايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ يُكْفَرُ بِهَا وَيُسْتَهْزَأُ بِهَا فَلَا تَقْعُدُوا۟ مَعَهُمْ حَتَّىٰ يَخُوضُوا۟ فِى حَدِيثٍ غَيْرِهِۦٓ ۚ إِنَّكُمْ إِذًا مِّثْلُهُمْ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ جَامِعُ ٱلْمُنَـٰفِقِينَ وَٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ فِى جَهَنَّمَ جَمِيعًا

He has already revealed to you in the Book that when you hear Allah’s revelations being denied or ridiculed, then do not sit in that company unless they engage in a different topic, or else you will be like them. Surely Allah will gather the hypocrites and disbelievers all together in Hell.

“In verse (140): وَقَدْ نَزَّلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِى ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ (… and He has revealed to you in the Book), referring to another verse of the Holy Qur’an which had already been revealed’ as a verse of the Surah al-An’am before the event of Hijrah in Makkah al-Mukkarrmah, it has been reemphasized that Allah had sent, much earlier, the command that they should not even sit in the company of disbelievers and sinners. Now, surprising as it is, these heedless people have gone much beyond that by establishing friendly relations with them assuming that they were the bearers of honour and the wielders of power in their own right.

The verse of Surah al-Nisa’ under discussion (140) and the verse of Surah al-An’am (68) which has been referred to in Surah al-Nisa’ both carry the same sense. That is, should some people sitting in a group be engaged in denying and deriding the verses revealed by Allah, then, as long as they stay occupied with this vain exercise, sitting in their company to participate or observe is also forbidden (haram). However, the words of Surah al-An’am have some generalization, and a little more detail for it says: And when you see those who indulge in our verses adversely, turn away from them, until such time that they may get busy with some subject other than that. And if Satan makes you forget, do not sit with the unjust people after the recollection.

Here, in the verse cited above, the reference is to disputation in Divine verses which includes disbelief and mockery as well. Also included here is the act of distorting the meaning of a verse, that is, deducing such meanings from the verses of the Holy Qur’an which are contrary to the tafsir or explanation given by the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him) and his blessed Companions, or are against the consensus of the Muslim Community. Therefore, Sayyidna ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him), as reported by Dahhak, has said that included within the sense of this verse are those who explain the Qur’an (tafsir) erroneously or distort its meaning (tahrif) or invent what is not there (bid’ah).

From here we find out that a person who, while talking, explaining or teaching the Holy Qur’an, is not observant of the exegetical authenticity credited to the most righteous elders of the early period (i.e. the Companions of the Holy Prophet (May Allah be pleased with them) or their pupils) instead, indulges in giving meanings of the Qur’an contrary to those stated by them, then, participation in the Dars (teaching sessions) or Tafsir (Exegesis) of such a person shall be impermissible under the authority of the Qur’an, being a sin rather than a source of reward. In Tafsir al-Bahr al-Muhit, Abu Hayyan has said: These verses tell us that what is sinful to say verbally remains equally sinful when heard through the ears voluntarily. He has even put it in a poetic exhortation: Protect your ears from hearing the evil as you protect your tongue from saying it.

After looking at the element of some generalization in the verse of Surah al-An’am, we can now turn to the other element of additional remarks about the possibility of someone having joined the company of such people unknowingly. In that case, once it is realised, the person should immediately leave that gathering. The point is that one should not sit with unjust people when alerted to the situation.

Now, in both verses of Surah al-Nisa’ and Surah al-An’am it has been declared that as long as they remain occupied with their cross-comments, sitting in their company is forbidden. Here, we face another aspect of the problem which is: When they stop talking in that particular strain and digress to some other topic, would sitting with them and taking part in mutual discourse at that time become permissible, or not? The Qur’an has elected not to be explicit on this situation, therefore, on this subject, there is a difference of views among scholars. Some have said that the reason for this prohibition was the disparagement and distortion of Divine verses – when that stopped, the prohibition stopped too. Therefore, once they start talking about something else, sitting in their company is no sin. Some others have said that (sitting in) the company of such disbelieving, sinning and unjust people is not correct even after that. This is the position taken by Hasan al-Basri, may the mercy of Allah be upon him. The argument in support of his position comes from the following sentence of Surah al-An’am: Once you remember, do not sit with the unjust people. It is obvious that an unjust person remains what he is even after having terminated the questionable conversation. Therefore, abstaining from sitting in his company is necessary. (Jassas)

Qadi Thanaullah Panipati has, in his al-Tafsir al-Mazhari, found consistency in both views by saying that should comments laced with disbelief, mockery and distortion of the Qur’an cease and be replaced by some other topic of conversation, then, even at that time, sitting unnecessarily in the company of such people shall, after all, remain forbidden. But, should such participation be prompted by some religious contingency or physical need, it would be permissible.

Imam Abu Bakr al-Jassas has said in Ahkam al-Qur’an: Should a Muslim, who is charged with the duty of forbidding the evil, witness sin being committed in a gathering, then, he should stop it by force, if he has the strength to do that. And should he be lacking in this capability, then, he should, in the least, show his displeasure, the lowest degree of which is that he should rise and leave such company. This is the reason why Sayyidna ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-‘Aziz had some people arrested on the charge that they were drinking wine. On investigation, it was found that one of them was fasting, He did not drink the wine, but he was sitting in the company of those drunkards. Sayyidna ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-‘Aziz punished him too for his unexplained sitting in that sort of company. (al-Bahr al-Muhit p.375, v.3)

What has been said about leaving a gathering as part of a debated issue summarized above is hemmed by a condition. The condition is that leaving such a gathering shall not entail some sin according to Shari’ah. For example, joining the Jama’ah (congregation) in a Masjid is necessary. Should something contrary to the Shari’ah start happening there, one should not abandon praying with the Jama’ah because of that; instead, simple emotional displeasure against what is undesirable shall be considered sufficient. Similarly, there could be some other gathering the necessity of which stands proved in the Shari’ah. If some people there start doing things which are contrary to the Shari’ah, then, leaving that gathering just because of the sin being committed by others would amount to committing a sin of your own. This is neither reasonable, nor correct. Therefore, Hasan al-Basri said: If we were to keep giving up what we must do just because of the sins of other people, we shall be paving the way for all sorts of sinners to come and destroy the Sunnah and Shari’ah.

Towards the later part of the verse (140), it was said: إِنَّكُمْ إِذًا مِّثْلُهُمْ, (You, in that case, would be like them). It means: ‘If you kept sitting in such a gathering where the Word of Allah is being rejected or ridiculed or distorted, quite unruffled, almost willingly, then, you too, by becoming an accomplice in their sin, have become like them.’ The sense of ‘having become like them’ can be explained either as: ‘God forbid, if your own thoughts and feelings are such that you show your liking for and are satisfied with their expressions of disbelief, then, in reality, you too are a disbeliever (kafir), because liking kufr is nothing but kufr.’ Otherwise, if that is not the case, ‘being like them’ would mean: ‘By your participation in the activity of those who are busy hurting Islam and Muslims through their falsification of the Faith, you too, by your abetment of their conspiracy, have become, God forbid, like them.’”

(We have answered your question based on the commentary of Hadhrat Mufti Muhammad Shafi Sahib (May Allah have mercy upon him). For the sake of brevity, selected portions of the tafseer have been mentioned here. For more details kindly refer to Maariful Quraan Vol 3/389 and Vol 2/608.)

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And Allah Knows Best.

Mufti Waheeb Saiyed

Darul Uloom T&T

10/03/2022