Ali 'Imran · Madani · ayah 149 of 200

Ali 'Imran 3:149

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِن تُطِيعُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ يَرُدُّوكُمْ عَلَىٰٓ أَعْقَـٰبِكُمْ فَتَنقَلِبُوا۟ خَـٰسِرِينَ

“O you who have believed, if you obey those who disbelieve, they will turn you back on your heels, and you will [then] become losers.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Believers: if you obey those who deny, they will turn you back on your heels, and you will end up the losers.

A reflection

If this were true, it would be working

A man whose son has been ill for two years is told something by a colleague who means no harm. This is what happens, she says, when you put your weight on something that cannot be checked.

The ayah is a warning about obedience, and the commentaries are specific about what was being said at the time.

They differ on who is meant. One early authority reads the hypocrites, and the words they used when the line broke. Go back to your brothers and enter their religion. Some read it as the leader of the army that day, and then obeying him means submitting and asking him for safe conduct. Others read it as people in Medina who were putting doubts into Muslim hearts, particularly after that event. One classical commentator says the nearest reading covers all deniers. The wording is general, and a specific occasion does not restrict a general expression.

And two commentaries record the actual argument that was used, which is the part worth having.

If Muhammad were truly a prophet, they said, he would not have been overcome. What happened to him and his companions would not have happened. He is only a man whose situation is like anyone else's: a day for him, a day against him. So go back to the religion you came from.

Read that again as a piece of reasoning, because it is not a stupid one.

It has a premise everyone shares: a true thing should work. It has an observation that is simply accurate: it did not work on Saturday. And it has a conclusion that follows, if the premise is right.

That is still the argument. It arrives now as a colleague's kind remark, or a cousin's question at a funeral. If prayer worked, the business would not have failed. The grammar has changed and nothing else has.

And the surah has already answered the premise, which is why this ayah can simply forbid the obedience rather than argue. Three ayat back: the days are turned about among people. Two back: so that He may purge the believers. The premise is false. A true thing does not have to prevail by Saturday, and nothing in the promise ever said it would.

What the ayah adds is a warning about what happens if you let that argument set your direction while you are still winded.

So write the argument out in its strongest form, in your own words, on a day when nothing is wrong. Then write the answer underneath it. You will not be able to do either while winded.

The full entry has 4 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.