Tafsir of Al-Hujurat 49:6

'Abd bin Humayd narrated from al-Hasan, who said: A tribe from among the Arab tribes came to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and he had some reservations about them. They were new to Islam; they had abandoned prayer, apostatized, and disbelieved in Allah the Exalted. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) did not hasten, but called Khalid bin al-Walid and sent him to them, then said: "Observe them at the times of prayer. If they have abandoned the prayer, then deal with them, otherwise do not encroach upon them."

He approached them at sunset and hid until he could hear the call to prayer. He watched them, and behold, the caller stood at sunset, made the call, then performed the prayer (iqamah), and they prayed the Maghrib prayer. Khalid said: "I see they are praying; perhaps they only abandoned a prayer other than this." He hid until the night deepened and the twilight vanished. Their caller made the call and they prayed. He said: "Perhaps they abandoned another prayer." He hid until, in the middle of the night, he advanced until his horses reached their dwellings. Behold, the people were studying something of the Qur'an, performing the Tahajjud prayer with it, and reciting it.

He came to them at dawn, and when the day broke, the caller made the call and performed the iqamah. They stood and prayed. When they finished and the day brightened for them, they saw the horses’ forelocks in their homes. They asked: "What is this?" It was said: "Khalid bin al-Walid." They asked: "O Khalid, what is your business?" He said: "By Allah, you are my business. I came to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and it was said to him that you had abandoned prayer and disbelieved in Allah." They fell down crying, saying: "We seek refuge in Allah the Exalted from ever disbelieving!" He withdrew the horses and turned them away from them until he came to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Allah the Exalted then revealed: {O you who have believed...} to the end of the verse.

Al-Hasan said: "By Allah, even if it was revealed regarding these people specifically, it is a message sent until the Day of Resurrection; nothing has abrogated it." The previous narration is more authentic and famous. The author of al-Kashf explicitly states that the sending of Khalid bin al-Walid was regarding the case of al-Walid bin 'Uqbah, and that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) sent him to that tribe of Khuza'ah after al-Walid returned and said what he said. The one who asserts this said: "They had handed over the charities to him, so he returned."

The address in the saying of the Exalted: {O you who have believed} includes the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the believers from his nation, the perfect among them in fine manners and others. Specifying the address according to what occurs in the command following it, as it befits the state of some of them, does not exclude it from the general rule, as it exists among them—so do not be heedless.

The Fasiq (disobedient/sinner) is the one who goes outside the boundaries of the Law, derived from the saying: "The date became fasiq (exceeded its skin)," meaning when it exited its peel. Al-Raghib said: "Fisq is more general than disbelief. It applies to few sins and many, but it has become conventional for when they are many." Most often, Fasiq is said of one who committed to the ruling of the Law and affirmed it, then failed in all or some of its provisions. If it is said of an original disbeliever that he is a Fasiq, it is because he failed in the ruling of what his intellect mandated and his nature necessitated. According to Ibn al-A'rabi, describing a human with it was not heard in the speech of the Arabs.

What is apparent is that the intended meaning here is the Muslim who fails in some of the rulings of the Law or chivalry (muru'ah), based on it being contrasted with the 'Adl (the just/upright). In defining justice, the lack of failure in chivalry is considered, though the famous definition limits it to the failure in some of the rulings of the Law—so do not be heedless. Tabayyun (investigation) is the seeking of clarification and verification. Close to it is tathabbut (firmness/verification), as in the reading of Ibn Mas'ud, Hamzah, and al-Kisa'i: {Fathabathu} (verify), which is a request for firmness and deliberation until the situation is clear.

'Abd bin Humayd and Ibn Jarir narrated from Qatadah that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said on the day the verse was revealed: "Verification is from Allah the Exalted, and haste is from the Devil." The indefiniteness of {Fasiq} is for generalization, because it is an indefinite noun in the context of a condition, and it is like an indefinite noun in the context of negation, yielding generalization, as established in the Principles (of Jurisprudence). The same applies to naba' (news), which, as in al-Qamus, is information. Al-Raghib said: "Originally, information is not called naba' unless it has great benefit from which knowledge or dominant conjecture is obtained." His saying: {If there comes to you a Fasiq with news, then verify} is an alert that if the news is something great and significant, it is proper to pause regarding it—even if its correctness is known or dominant in conjecture—until it is re-examined and clarified.

Since the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and those with him were in such a station that no one would dare report a lie to them, and what occurred from al-Walid happened only rarely, it was said: {If there comes to you} using the particle of doubt. In the call {O you who have believed} is a proof that if faith mandates verification regarding the news of a Fasiq, it mandates even more strongly the avoidance of fisq (disobedience). In excluding the Fasiq from the address, there is evidence of the severity of the matter regarding him, similar to the saying: "The fornicator does not fornicate while he is a believer, and the believer does not lie."

The verse is used as evidence that a Fasiq is fit to bear witness; otherwise, there would be no benefit in the command to verify. Do you not see that if a slave testifies, his testimony is rejected and one does not verify it—contrary to the view of al-Shafi'i? It is also used as evidence for the permissibility of accepting the report of a single upright person. The jurists established this with two ways: First: If his report were not accepted, its non-acceptance would not be caused by his fisq. For if the report of a single person necessitated non-acceptance by its very essence—being a report of a single person—then it would be impossible for its non-acceptance to be caused by something else. This is because a ruling caused by an essence cannot be caused by something external. The validity of this is that the command to verify is conditional upon the arrival of the Fasiq; the concept of the condition is considered according to the correct view, so one must act upon it when he is not a Fasiq. Second: The command to verify is conditional, and the concept of the condition is acted upon.

The Hanafis used it as evidence for the acceptance of the report of an unknown person whose justice is not known, and that verification is not mandatory, because it indicated that fisq is a condition for the obligation of verification. When fisq is absent, the obligation of verification is absent. Here, fisq is outwardly absent, and we judge by that, so verification is not mandatory. This is countered by the fact that we do not concede that fisq is absent here; rather, the knowledge of it is absent.

It is also used as evidence that among the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) are those who are not just, because Allah the Exalted applied the term Fasiq to al-Walid bin 'Uqbah. The cause of revelation is definitively included, and he is a Companion by consensus. This is used as a refutation of those who say: "All of them are just, and their justice is not searched for in narration or testimony." This is one of the views on the matter, to which the majority of scholars of the predecessors and successors have gone.

The truth is what the majority have gone to. They say that if a defaming factor occurs to one of them—such as lying, theft, or adultery—it is acted upon in his case. However, it does not harm what is established of their justice, based on what has come in praise of them in the verses and reports, and the frequency of virtuous traditions. It is not permissible for us to judge that one of them who committed a sin died in a state of fisq. We do not deny that some of them committed a sinful act during their life, as they are not claimed to be infallible, and that he might have been called a Fasiq before his repentance. But it is not said that this description continues for him, trusting in the blessing of the companionship of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the abundance of Allah's praise for them.

Then, know that the Fasiq is of two types: a Fasiq who is not engaging in interpretation (of the Law)—he is obvious, and there is no dispute that his report is not accepted. And a Fasiq who is engaging in interpretation, such as the Jabri and the Qadari—he is called an innovator with a clear innovation. Some jurists rejected his testimony and narration due to the verse, among them al-Shafi'i and the Judge. Others accepted it. As for testimony, its rejection is due to the accusation of lying, and fisq due to belief does not indicate that; rather, it is a sign of truthfulness because his position in it is his depth in religion. Lying is forbidden in all religions, especially for one who says that the liar is a disbeliever or has exited faith.

{Lest you harm a people} is an explanation for the command to verify. That is: Verify, fearing that you might harm, or so that you do not harm, a people—any people—due to ignorance—involved in ignorance, meaning being ignorant of their state—{and become, over what you have done, regretful.}

{Regretful} means saddened by a persistent sadness, wishing that it had not happened. For regret is sadness over an event while wishing it had not occurred. It implies persistence. Some claimed that the verse contains an indication that it is incumbent upon a person to renew regret whenever he remembers a sin, and this is attributed to al-Zamakhshari, but it is nothing. In al-Kashf, the truth is that regret is a specific sadness, and its persistence may occur due to its intensity at the beginning of the matter, or because its cause does not vanish from the mind, or because of frequent recollection, and other reasons. Renewing regret is not mandatory in repentance, but the sincere repentant must inevitably do so.