Tafsir of Muhammad 47:38

Surah Muhammad (47): Verse 38

{هَا أَنْتُمْ أُولَاءِ . . . . .}

This means: "I have asked of you the little, and you have been stingy; so how about if I asked you for everything?"

The phrase {أُولَاءِ} (these) has two possible interpretations:

1. It is a relative pronoun, as if He is saying: "You are those who are called upon to spend in the cause of Allah."
2. {أُولَاءِ} alone is the predicate for {أَنْتُمْ} (you), similar to saying "You are this (the very embodiment of it)," confirming their notoriety and prominence. Your state is so apparent that there is no need to describe you with anything else. Then, the sentence begins anew with {تُدْعَوْنَ} (you are called).

The phrase {تُدْعَوْنَ} means you are called to spend, either in the cause of Allah (Jihad) or in giving to the deserving among your brethren. In both cases, it involves disheartening the enemies and supporting the allies.

{فَمِنْكُمْ مَنْ يَبْخَلُ} (But among you is he who is stingy).

Then, He clarifies that this stinginess results in harm returning to themselves. Do not think they withhold it for others; rather, they withhold it from themselves. For whoever is stingy about paying the physician's fee and the cost of medicine while he is sick, he is only being stingy with himself.

He confirms this with His statement: {وَاللَّهُ الْغَنِيُّ} (And Allah is the Self-Sufficient), needing nothing of your wealth, and completes it with: {وَأَنْتُمُ الْفُقَرَاءُ} (and you are the needy), so that you do not say, "We too are self-sufficient regarding fighting and meeting the needs of the poor." For the poor have no self-sufficiency in this matter, neither in this world nor the Hereafter.

• In this world: Because if they did not fight, they would be killed. If the disbeliever attacks, he attacks; and if the needy person does not have his need met, he will seek to take it, especially since the Lawgiver has permitted the desperate to do so.
• In the Hereafter: This is self-evident. How can one not be poor when he will be made to stand and questioned on the Day when wealth and sons will not avail?

Then the Almighty said: {وَإِنْ تَتَوَلَّوْا يَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْمًا غَيْرَكُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَكُونُوا أَمْثَالَكُمْ} (And if you turn away, He will substitute in your place another people; then they will not be like you).

This statement clarifies the sequence in two ways:

1. It is mentioned to explain His Self-Sufficiency, just as He said: {إِنْ يَشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُمْ وَيَأْتِ بِخَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ} (If He wills, He can remove you and bring forth a new creation) [Ibrahim: 19]. It has been mentioned that this is a confirmation following acceptance (of faith). It is as if Allah is saying: Allah is self-sufficient from the entire universe; He has no need for you. If you claim that His dominion over the world, His might displayed through it, and His greatness depend on His servants—we say: Suppose this falsehood were true—yet you are not uniquely designated for Him. Rather, Allah is capable of creating other people who will take pride in worshipping Him, and another world that testifies to His Greatness and Majesty.
2. Since Allah has explained the matters, established the proofs, and clarified them with examples, He states: If you obey, you will have your rewards and an increase. But if you turn away, nothing remains for you except destruction. For no Prophet warned his people, and they persisted in denying him, except that the decree of destruction was justly applied to them, Allah purified the earth of them, and brought forth other, pure people.

Regarding His statement {ثُمَّ لَا يَكُونُوا أَمْثَالَكُمْ} (then they will not be like you), there is a grammatical issue from which precious benefits emerge:

The grammarians state that when the consequence of a conditional sentence is conjoined with waw (و), fa' (ف), or thumma (ثُمَّ), both jussive (cutting off the final vowel/noon) and indicative (raising the verb) moods are permissible.

Allah says here: {وَإِنْ تَتَوَلَّوْا يَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْمًا غَيْرَكُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَكُونُوا أَمْثَالَكُمْ} (with the verb in the jussive mood, yakūnū). And He says elsewhere: {وَإِنْ يُقَاتِلُوكُمْ يُوَلُّوكُمُ الْأَدْبَارَ ثُمَّ لَا يُنْصَرُونَ} (And if they fight you, they will turn their backs to you; then they will not be helped) [Al 'Imran: 111] (with the verb in the indicative mood, yakūnūna, by affirming the noon).

Given that both are permissible, there is a subtlety here: In this verse, {لَا يَكُونُوا} (they will not be) is related to the condition (turning away), because if they do not turn away, they will be among those whom Allah brings to obedience. But if they turn away, they will not be like the previous ones because they (the new ones) are disobedient, while those brought by Allah are obedient.

However, in the other verse (regarding not being helped), whether they fight or not, they will not be helped. Thus, there was no basis for relating it to the condition there, so the verb is raised (indicative) as a new sentence. Here, it is in the jussive mood because it is tied to the condition.

The phrase {ثُمَّ لَا يَكُونُوا أَمْثَالَكُمْ} (then they will not be like you) has two possible meanings:

1. It means they will not be like you in description, nor in species. This aligns with the second interpretation.
2. It has several interpretations:
   • They will be a people of non-Arabs ('Ajam).
   • They will be a people from Persia. It is narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was asked whom Allah would substitute if the current people turned away, while Salman was beside him. He replied: "(This man) and his people." Then he said: "If faith were tied to the Pleiades, men from Persia would attain it."
   • They will be the people of the Ansar (Helpers).

And Allah knows best.