An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 161 of 176

An-Nisa 4:161

وَأَخْذِهِمُ ٱلرِّبَوٰا۟ وَقَدْ نُهُوا۟ عَنْهُ وَأَكْلِهِمْ أَمْوَٰلَ ٱلنَّاسِ بِٱلْبَـٰطِلِ ۚ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لِلْكَـٰفِرِينَ مِنْهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا

“And [for] their taking of usury while they had been forbidden from it, and their consuming of the people's wealth unjustly. And We have prepared for the disbelievers among them a painful punishment.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Usury taken despite a clear prohibition and wealth consumed by falsehood close the account; the punishment is reserved for those who persisted in disbelief.

A reflection

Two small words of perfect justice

The ayah closes with a warning, but look closely at two small words inside it: li-l-kāfirīna minhum, for the disbelievers among them.

Not 'for them'. For the disbelievers among them. One commentary spells out what that precision means. The punishment is for those who persisted in disbelief. It is not for those who repented and believed, such as ʿAbd Allah ibn Salam and those like him. It adds a further observation from an earlier scholar. The worldly restrictions fell on the whole community, but the painful punishment of the next life is reserved for the disbelievers alone.

That is majesty of a kind we rarely meet. Human justice is clumsy. It generalises. It punishes groups for the acts of some, because it cannot see inside each person. Allah can. His verdict separates one heart from another with perfect accuracy.

The ego prefers broad strokes. It is easier to condemn 'them' than to think about individuals. Broad condemnation also flatters us, because it puts us safely on the other side.

Picture a shopping centre that bans every teenager from the building after one fight near the food court. Hundreds of children who did nothing are turned away at the doors. The manager calls it security. The children call it unfair, and they are right.

The Quran, describing grave wrongs, still refuses that kind of injustice. In the same breath as its warning, it marks out who the warning is for.

If the Judge of all hearts is that precise, what excuse do we have for being careless with whole peoples?

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.