Tafsir of Al-Hujurat 49:15

Al-Hujurat (49): 15

[The verse begins:]

(Translation/Exegesis based on Fakhr al-Din al-Razi's approach):

This verse serves as guidance for the Bedouins (A'rab) who claimed, "We have believed." Allah clarifies the true nature of faith (Iman).

If you desire true faith, then the believers are those who:

1. Believed in Allah and His Messenger.
2. Then did not doubt (ثُمَّ لَمْ يَرْتَابُوا).
   • This implies that true faith is certainty (إيقان).
   • The particle ثُمَّ (then) here indicates a sequence in the narration, as if to say: "You claimed belief, and then I will state the next necessary quality: they did not doubt."
   • Alternatively, it signifies a delay in action: "They believed in Allah and His Messenger, and then they did not doubt what the Prophet (PBUH) stated regarding the Resurrection and the Afterlife."
   • The subsequent command, {وَجَاهِدُوا بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ} (and strive with their wealth and themselves in the cause of Allah), confirms this meaning. It means they were certain that after this worldly abode there is another, and thus they strove seeking the reward of the Hereafter.
3. {أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الصَّادِقُونَ} (Those are the truthful ones) in their faith—not the Bedouins who merely spoke words without sincere action.

[Next Section of the Verse/Contextual Shift:]

(Translation/Exegesis):

This is a rebuke. Do you think you can teach Allah about the sincerity of your faith through your mere declaration?

Allah already knows the reality of your inner state, whether you are truthful or not, because He encompasses all knowledge in the heavens and the earth. Therefore, informing Him of your religion is futile; He already knows it perfectly.