Al Imran: (119) Hā antum ulā'i...

Know that this is another type of warning to the believers concerning mixing with the hypocrites. In it are several issues:

The First Issue

The master, al-Sarakhsi (may God keep him safe), said: {Hā} is for alerting. {Antum} (You all) is the subject (mubtada'), and {ulā'i} (these) is its predicate (khabar). {Tuḥibbūnahum} (You love them) is in the accusative case (naṣb) as a circumstantial clause (ḥāl) describing the demonstrative pronoun. Alternatively, {ulā'i} can mean "those who" (alladhīna), and {tuḥibbūnahum} is the relative clause (ṣilah) connected to it. The relative clause and the relative pronoun together form the predicate of {antum}. Al-Farrā' said that {ulā'i} is the predicate, and {tuḥibbūnahum} is a second predicate (khabar ba'da khabar).

The Second Issue

In this verse, the Almighty mentioned three matters, each indicating that a believer should not take anyone other than a believer as a confidant (biṭānah).

The First Matter: His saying: {Tuḥibbūnahum wa lā yuḥibbūnakum} (You love them, but they do not love you). There are several interpretations for this:

1. Al-Mufaḍḍal said: {Tuḥibbūnahum} means you desire Islam for them, which is the best of things. {Wa lā yuḥibbūnakum} means they desire your persistence in disbelief, which undoubtedly leads to ruin.
2. {Tuḥibbūnahum} is due to the ties of kinship (suckling or marriage) between you and them. {Wa lā yuḥibbūnakum} is because you are Muslims.
3. {Tuḥibbūnahum} is because they outwardly profess faith to you. {Wa lā yuḥibbūnakum} is because disbelief is firmly established in their inner selves.
4. Abu Bakr al-Aṣamm said: {Tuḥibbūnahum} means you do not wish to cast them into calamities and tribulations. {Wa lā yuḥibbūnakum} means they wish to cast you into calamities and tribulations and await ruin for you.
5. {Tuḥibbūnahum} is because they show you love for the Messenger, and the lover of the beloved is beloved. {Wa lā yuḥibbūnakum} is because they know that you love the Messenger, while they hate the Messenger, and the lover of the hated is hated.
6. {Tuḥibbūnahum} means you mix with them and disclose your secrets regarding your religion to them. {Wa lā yuḥibbūnakum} means they do not do the same for you.

Know that these interpretations point to the reasons causing the believers to love them and causing them to hate the believers. All are covered by the verse. When God informed them that the hypocrites hate the believers and that their hatred is baseless, this naturally and legally compels the believers to hate these hypocrites in return.

The Second Matter: His saying, the Almighty: {Wa tu'minūna bi-l-kitābi kullihi} (And you believe in all the Scripture). In this, there are issues:

There is an implied meaning (iḍmār) in the verse. The meaning is: "And you believe in all the Scripture, while they do not believe in it." The omission is appropriate because, as we have explained, when two opposites are mentioned, mentioning one suffices for the other.

The mention of (al-Kitāb) (the Scripture) in the singular form has several reasons:

1. It is taken as a generic term (jins), like saying, "The dirham has become plentiful in people's hands."
2. The verbal noun (maṣdar) is not pluralized except through interpretation. Therefore, He did not say al-Kutub instead of al-Kitāb, although saying it would have been permissible as an extension of usage.

The intended meaning of the statement is: "You believe in all their scriptures, yet despite this, they hate you. So what is wrong with you that you love them, while they do not believe in anything of your Scripture?" This contains a severe reprimand, indicating that they are more steadfast in their falsehood than you are in your truth. This is analogous to His saying: {Fa-innahum ya'lamūna kamā ta'lamūna wa tarjūna mina Allāhi mā lā yarjūn} (For they suffer as you suffer, but you hope from Allah what they do not hope for) (An-Nisā: 104).

The Third Reason for the ugliness of this association is His saying: {Hā antum ulā'i tuḥibbūnahum wa lā yuḥibbūnakum wa tu'minūna bi-l-kitābi kullihi wa idhā laqūkum qālū} (Here you are, loving them, but they do not love you, and you believe in all the Scripture, and when they meet you, they say...).

The meaning is that when some of them are alone with others, they reveal intense enmity and extreme rage toward the believers, to the extent of biting their fingertips, as one does when intense anger and great sorrow over a missed objective overcome them. Since this action is common among the angry, it became a metaphor for anger, so it is said of an angry person that he bites his hand in rage, even if no actual biting occurs. The exegetes said that this intense rage arose because they saw the unity, agreement, and reconciliation among the believers.

Then the Almighty said: {Qul mūtū bi-ghayẓikum} (Say: Die in your rage!). This is a curse upon them that their rage increases until they perish by it. What is meant by the increase of rage is the increase of what causes that rage: the strength of Islam, the honor of its adherents, and the humiliation and disgrace they suffer because of it.

If it is argued: His saying {Qul mūtū bi-ghayẓikum} is an order for them to persist in rage, and that rage is disbelief, so this would be an order to persist in disbelief, which is impermissible.

We reply: We have already explained that it is a supplication for an increase in what causes this rage, which is the strength of Islam. Thus, the question is nullified.

Furthermore, it is a supplication for their death before they achieve what they desire.

Then He said: {Inna Allāha ‘alīmun bi-dhāti aṣ-ṣudūr} (Indeed, Allah is knowing of what is within the breasts). In this, there are issues:

(Dhāt) is a word used to attribute something to a feminine noun, just as (Dhū) is used for a masculine noun. Dhāt aṣ-ṣudūr (the essence/nature of the breasts) refers to the thoughts residing in the heart and the motivations and deterrents present within it. Because these states reside in the heart, they are attributed to it, hence they are dhāt aṣ-ṣudūr. The meaning is that the Almighty knows every thought, impulse, and deterrent that occurs in your hearts.

The author of Al-Kashshāf suggested that this verse might be included in the reported speech (i.e., what the Prophet is commanded to say) or it might not be.

If it is included: The meaning is: Inform them about what they conceal by biting their fingertips in rage when they are alone, and tell them: "Indeed, Allah knows what is more hidden than what you conceal among yourselves, which are the secrets of the breasts. Do not think that any of your secrets are hidden from Him."

If it is not included: The meaning is: Tell them that, O Muhammad, and do not be astonished by My informing you of what they conceal, for I know what is more hidden than that, which is what they have resolved in their breasts but have not uttered with their tongues.

It is also possible that the command {Qul mūtū bi-ghayẓikum} is an order to the Messenger (peace be upon him) to be content, strong in hope, and joyful regarding God's promise that they will perish in their rage due to the exaltation of Islam and their own degradation. It is as if He is saying: "Resolve this within yourself, and Allah Almighty knows best."

7. {In tamassaskum ḥasanatun tasū'hum wa in tuṣibkum sayyi'atun yafraḥū bihā wa in taṣbirū wa tattaqū lā yaḍurrukum kayduhum shay'an inna Allāha bi-mā ya‘malūna muḥīṭ.}

(If a good thing befalls you, it grieves them; but if a bad thing befalls you, they rejoice at it. And if you are patient and fear God, their plot will not harm you at all. Indeed, Allah is encompassing of what they do.)