Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 204 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:204

وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يُعْجِبُكَ قَوْلُهُۥ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَيُشْهِدُ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا فِى قَلْبِهِۦ وَهُوَ أَلَدُّ ٱلْخِصَامِ

“And of the people is he whose speech pleases you in worldly life, and he calls Allāh to witness as to what is in his heart, yet he is the fiercest of opponents.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Some words dazzle, are sworn on Allah's name, and hide a heart that will never turn; being impressed is not knowing.

A reflection

Charisma is not character

A community chooses the most eloquent speaker as chair of its mosque committee. His speeches at the annual meeting bring people to tears. Within a year the accounts are in chaos, and the quiet treasurer has resigned.

'Among people is one whose speech impresses you in the life of this world'. The verb is yuʿjibuka: it dazzles you. One lexicon defines wonder as what comes over a person who does not know a thing's cause. To be dazzled is, by definition, not yet to see what lies behind.

A concise commentary notes the limit hidden in the phrase 'in the life of this world'. His speech impresses you here. It will not impress anyone on the Last Day, where words are weighed against hearts.

An early scholar recalled a description he had read in an older scripture. People who use religion to win the world: tongues sweeter than honey, hearts more bitter than aloes. They wear sheepskins for the public, with the hearts of wolves. He said he found them described in this very ayah. An ayah may come down about one man, he added, and then apply to all.

This is one of the hardest lessons in leadership. We choose people for how they sound: at interviews, at hustings, in pitches. Eloquence is a real gift. It is not evidence of character.

The ayah does not tell us to distrust every good speaker. It tells us to look past the speech: at what someone does when no one is applauding.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.