Al-Hadid · Madani · ayah 13 of 29

Al-Hadid 57:13

يَوْمَ يَقُولُ ٱلْمُنَـٰفِقُونَ وَٱلْمُنَـٰفِقَـٰتُ لِلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱنظُرُونَا نَقْتَبِسْ مِن نُّورِكُمْ قِيلَ ٱرْجِعُوا۟ وَرَآءَكُمْ فَٱلْتَمِسُوا۟ نُورًا فَضُرِبَ بَيْنَهُم بِسُورٍ لَّهُۥ بَابٌۢ بَاطِنُهُۥ فِيهِ ٱلرَّحْمَةُ وَظَـٰهِرُهُۥ مِن قِبَلِهِ ٱلْعَذَابُ

“On the [same] Day the hypocrite men and hypocrite women will say to those who believed, "Wait for us that we may acquire some of your light." It will be said, "Go back behind you[1630] and seek light." And a wall will be placed between them with a door, its interior containing mercy, but on the outside of it is torment.”

Saheeh International

Essence

On that Day light cannot be borrowed from another's fire; a wall rises with one door, mercy within, punishment without.

A reflection

The animal that always kept a back door

Al-munāfiqūna wa al-munāfiqāt: the hypocrite men and women. The word had a vivid picture behind it for the first hearers. The jerboa, a small desert animal, digs a main entrance to its burrow. Then it digs a second tunnel, the nāfiqāʾ, which it keeps hidden. It stops the inner end just short of the surface, leaving a thin crust of earth. When a hunter comes to the front door, the jerboa butts through that crust with its head and escapes. From that back door came nifāq, hypocrisy: entering the faith by one door and keeping another ready for leaving. The lexicons record this plainly, and note that the religious sense was new with Islam, though the picture was old.

Picture a man at every family gathering who sits in the chair nearest the door, coat still on. He laughs at the jokes and eats the food, but some part of him is always ready to go. He is never quite in the room. Everyone senses it, though nobody says so.

Hypocrisy in this ayah is not first of all a lie told to others. It is a life lived with a back tunnel. Prayer with the believers, and a private exit. Faith professed, and a hidden crust ready to be broken through if faith ever costs too much.

Now look at what this ayah does with that habit. On the Day it describes, a wall is set up with a door, one door, and on the far side of it, mercy. The hypocrites, who spent their lives keeping two exits, find themselves outside a wall with no back tunnel anywhere.

The ayah is not only about them. Most of us keep some hidden crust: a commitment to Allah that we have quietly made conditional. It is worth asking where yours is, and filling it in while digging is still possible.

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.