“And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord, and a Garden the extensiveness of which is the heavens and the earth, prepared for those who guard against evil. (Surah 3. Ali 'Imran:132)
Will they not turn to Allah and seek His forgiveness, and Allah is oft-forgiving, Merciful? Surah 5 Al-Ma'idah:74)
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ has been quoted as saying ( reported by Abu Huraira (RA), “Whoever observes fasts during the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah’s rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven.” – Sahih Bukhari 2: 37
So we have this blessed month of Ramadan and lucky will be those whose prayers, supplications and invocations will be accepted and whose repentances will be accepted and thus forgiven.
Today we share the 112th verse of Surah 9. At Tawba in which Allah asks His Prophet ﷺ to give glad tidings to those who will be blessed and will have greater rewards both in this world and in the hereafter. So let us try to be among those in this Ramdan and even after this blessed month is over to be in continuous pursuit to be in the list of those who will be the recipient of glad tidings of Allah. And the verse is appended and explained below:
اَلتَّاۤـئِبُوۡنَ الۡعٰبِدُوۡنَ الۡحٰمِدُوۡنَ السّاۤـئِحُوۡنَ الرّٰكِعُوۡنَ السّٰجِدُوۡنَ الۡاٰمِرُوۡنَ بِالۡمَعۡرُوۡفِ وَالنَّاهُوۡنَ عَنِ الۡمُنۡكَرِ وَالۡحٰـفِظُوۡنَ لِحُدُوۡدِ اللّٰه ِؕ وَبَشِّرِ الۡمُؤۡمِنِيۡنَ
[9:112] Those who constantly turn to Allah in repentance, who constantly worship Him, who celebrate His praise, who go about the world to serve His cause, who bow down to Him, who prostrate themselves before Him, who enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil, and who keep the limits set by Allah. Announce glad tidings to such believers.
The abovesaid eight traits are of those who will be given Allah's glad tidings. We invariable exhibit all these traits but have no consistency and tend to sway away and lose our way to please Allah.
We are to rejoice that by giving up such small things as ourselves and our possessions we are to be rewarded with such a great thing as the eternal life of felicity. The truly righteous, whose lives in various aspects are described in this verse, do so rejoice. The good news is to be proclaimed to all Believers, including the weakest among us, so that they may profit by that example.
Let us now see how some of the eminent Muslim scholars explain this verse and how can we make an endeavour to be among the blessed:
Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi;
(Those who constantly turn to Allah in repentance) The Arabic word (atta-i-bun) literally means "those who repent" . But in the context it occurs it implies "those who possess repentance as their permanent characteristic", that is, they repent over and over again. Moreover, the literal meaning of (taubah) is "to turn to" or "to turn back" . Therefore its explanatory translation will be "....those who turn back to Allah over and over again" . This is the first and foremost characteristic of a true Believer because even a true Believer is liable to forget the bargain he makes with Allah by which he sells his life and property to Him. As this matter does not concern his sense organs but pertains to his mind and heart, he is liable to forget that these things are not really his property but they belong to Allah. Therefore, even the true believer occasionally forgets the bargain, and behaves in a way as if he were their owner. But as soon as he becomes conscious of this transitory lapse and realizes that he had violated the terms of his agreement, he feels sorry and ashamed of his conduct and turns to his God, begs His pardon and renews the terms of the bargain with Him, and pledges his allegiance to Him after every slip of its violation. This kind of repentance alone is the guarantee that one will always come back to one's Faith: otherwise it is not possible for man because of the inherent human weaknesses, to observe strictly and deliberately the terms of the bargain without ever falling a prey to negligence and error. That is why Allah says in praise of the true Believer that ".....he turns back to Allah over and over again" and not that "he never slips into error after making the bargain of obedience and service to Him" . And this is the greatest excellence that man can accomplish. Let us now consider the wisdom of placing this characteristics first in the list of the characteristics of the true Believers. It is to admonish those who had been guilty of crimes after the profession of their Faith, They have been told in v. III that the true Believers are those who sell their lives and property to Allah. After this they are being told that if they sincerely intend to become true Believers they should first of all create in themselves this characteristic and at once turn to Allah without showing any obduracy so that they should not deviate further into error.
(who constantly worship Him, who celebrate His praise, who go about the world to serve His cause) Some commentators are of the opinion that here (Assn `ihun) means " . . . those who observe fast" . As this is not the lexical meaning of the word but only its figurative sense, which has been based on an unauthentic tradition attributed to the Holy Prophet, we are of the opinion that there is no need to depart from its lexical meanings, that is,".....move about in the land (for His sake...,... "). For here the Arabic word does not mean merely to "...move about in the land" but "move about in the land for the sake of noble and high aims, e.g. to propagate Islam, to do Jihad, to emigrate from those places where the unbelievers are in power, and to reform the people, to seek True Knowledge, to earn a lawful livelihood and the like" . This characteristic of the Believers has been especially mentioned here to reprove those who had not gone forth to Jihad, in spite of their claim that they were "Believers" . They have been admonished that a true Believer is the one who goes forth into the land to raise high His Word, and exerts his utmost to fulfill the implications of his Faith, and not the one who stays behind when he is called upon to move about in the land.
(who bow down to Him, who prostrate themselves before Him, who enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil, and who keep the limits set by Allah.) That is those who "strictly observe the limits prescribed by Allah . . . . . " in regard to the Articles of the Faith, worship-morality, social behavior, culture, economics, politics, judiciary, peace and war- in short, in all the aspects of their individual and collective lives. They neither transgress these limits in order to follow their lusts nor invent laws nor replace the Divine Law by other laws. They establish these limits and prevent their violations. Hence, the true Believers are those who not only strictly observe the limits prescribed by Allah, but also do their very best to establish them and safeguard them so as to prevent their violation to the best of their powers and capabilities.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation: The inchoative (mubtadā’) is suppressed here. The actual construction would be: هُمْ التائبون. Here the attributes which every true believer should have so that he is able to decide the requisites of faith and the attitude which is regarded as disbelief and hypocrisy are explained to the hypocrites. Imām Amīn Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī writes:
Of the various components of the character of believers that are mentioned here, the first one is penitence. It means “turning to God.” The first step that a person should do in worshipping and obeying God is that instead of wandering about in satanic ways he turns to his Lord and shows determination in treading the straight path. It is this penitence that gets hold of him in every task. Whenever he deviates from the straight path, it is penitence that comes to his rescue and sets him back on the straight path.
After penitence, worship is mentioned. It is the greatest right of God imposed on the person who turns towards God. And since there is no one else except God Who has this right, hence no one else should have a share in this worship nor in obedience because obedience is a natural requisite of worship. After worship, gratitude is mentioned because it is the essence of all forms of worship. This is precisely why rituals like the prayer and the zakāh ... are manifestations of gratitude to God and an acknowledgement of His favours. If the sentiments of gratitude and acknowledgement of favours are not deeply engendered in a person, he is not able to befittingly worship God nor is His worship braced with its true spirit.
After this, exertion is mentioned ... It is a comprehensive expression of all efforts, exercises and struggles which a person undertakes to reform his inner and outer self, to understand and teach religion and to disseminate and spread it with fervour and altruism and for whose cause he sacrifices the pleasures and comforts of his life without any hesitation.
After that, the prayer is mentioned. The expression used to refer to it is الرّٰكِعُوۡنَ السّٰجِدُوۡنَ. Wherever the prayer is mentioned in this manner in the Qur’ān, it does not merely refer to the obligatory prayer. It also alludes to the ones offered in seclusion. It is these prayers which protect all the attributes mentioned earlier and it is they who enliven and nurture the exertion for the cause of God called sayāḥah by the Qur’ān.
After this, forbidding from evil and urging towards virtue is mentioned. The attributes stated earlier refer to individual reform. Now the collective conduct of people is clarified: they enjoin virtue and forbid vice. They are not unconcerned with the right and wrong of others and in fact have great concern in them to reform others, and according to their capacity try to set right wrongs.
At the end, the bounds of God are mentioned. This in fact is an expression of piety. This is a reference to an attribute which is the most comprehensive: in other words, these people remain very vigilant in every phase of life to abide by the bounds set by God and not to cross them. Neither do they themsleves dare to break any limit nor, as far as they are can, permit others to do so. (Amīn Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī, Tadabbur-i Qur’ān, vol. 3, 647)
Qur'an Wiki:
The first of these qualities is that they “turn to God in repentance.” They appeal to Him for forgiveness, regretting any slip they may make and resolving to turn to Him and follow His guidance in their future days. They will not revert to sin. They will endeavour to do only good actions in order to make their repentance a reality. It is then a means of purging themselves of the effects of temptation and of mending their ways so that they can earn God’s acceptance.
“Who worship and praise Him.” They submit and dedicate their worship to Him alone, acknowledging that He is God, the only Lord. This is a basic quality of theirs which is manifested by their worship, and also by their dedicating all their actions and statements to the pursuit of God’s pleasure. Their worship, then, is meant as a practical confirmation of their belief in God’s oneness. They praise God acknowledging His grace which He bestows on them. They praise Him continuously, in times of happiness and in times of adversity. When they are happy they praise God for His blessings, and when they go through difficult times they praise Him because they know that the difficulty is a test which they need to pass. They realize that God will show them His mercy when they prove their metal by going through the test with their faith unshaken. True praise is not that expressed only in times of ease and happiness. It is the praise genuinely expressed in times of adversity, recognizing that God, the Just and Merciful, would not put a believer through a trial unless it is eventually for his own good. A believer may not know that at the time, but God certainly knows it.
“Who contemplate [God and His creation.]” The meaning of the Arabic term which is translated here in this fashion is not readily apparent. There are several interpretations of what it means.
Some people suggest that it refers to those who leave their homes to support God’s cause, while others suggest that it refers to those who strive hard for its triumph. Other scholars suggest that it refers to those who travel in pursuit of knowledge, and still others say that it refers to people who fast. We feel that the interpretation we have chosen is closer to its meaning. It is in reference to such a quality that God says elsewhere in the Qur’ān: “In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the succession of night and day, there are indeed signs for men endowed with insight, who remember God when they stand, sit and lie down, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: ‘Our Lord, You have not created all this in vain. Limitless are You in Your glory. Guard us, then, against the torment of the fire.’” (3: 190-191) The quality of contemplation and reflection is better suited to the context here. With repentance, worship and praising of God comes the quality of reflecting on God and His dominion which will inevitably lead to turning to Him, acknowledging His wisdom manifested in all His creation. The contemplation and reflection are not meant for their own sake or for gaining more knowledge of the world around us, but they should be made the basis on which human society is built.
“Who bow down and prostrate themselves.” They attend to their prayers which becomes an essential part of their life. Praying is thus made one of their distinctive characteristics.
“Who enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong.” When a Muslim community that conducts its life in accordance with God’s law is established, making clear that it submits to God and no one else, then the quality of enjoining the doing of what is right and forbidding what is wrong is seen to be fully operative within this community. It addresses any errors of implementation of, or deviation from, the code of living God has revealed. But when there is no Islamic community which gives supremacy to the implementation of God’s law, then this quality of enjoining what is right should be addressed totally to the most important thing, which is acceptance of God’s oneness, submission to His authority and the establishment of a truly Islamic community.
Similarly, the forbidding of what is wrong should also address the greatest wrong, namely, submission to authorities other than God’s through enforcing laws that are at variance with His law. Those who responded to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and believed in his message, migrated, and strove to establish the Muslim state that implements God’s law and a Muslim community that is governed on its basis. When this was achieved, they continued to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, addressing matters that related to the details of worship or violation of the Islamic code of living. They never spent any time addressing these details before the establishment of the Islamic state and its Muslim community, because these details only arose as a later and practical development. The concept of doing what is right and forbidding what is wrong must be understood in the light of reality. No matter of detail, whether right or wrong, need be addressed before the basic and essential one is completed, as happened when the first Islamic community came into being.
“And keep within the limits set out by God.” That is to say, they make sure of the implementation of God’s law in their own life and in the life of the community, and they resist anyone who tries to forestall it. Like the previous one, this quality can only work in a Muslim community governed by God’s law in all its affairs. By definition, such a community acknowledges God’s sovereignty as the only God, Lord and Legislator, and rejects any authority which seeks to implement laws that are not revealed by God. Efforts must concentrate first of all on the establishment of such a community. Only when it comes into being, will those who “keep within the limits set out by God” have their rightful place in it, as happened in the first Islamic community.
Such is the Islamic community with whom God has made this deal, and such are its distinctive qualities: repentance brings a human being back to God’s way, stops him from committing sin and motivates him to do what is right; worship maintains a close relationship with God and sets the winning of His pleasure as people’s aim; praising God in times of happiness and in adversity is a manifestation of total submission to Him alone and complete trust in His justice and wisdom; reflecting on God’s attributes and the signs that indicate His wisdom and perfection of creation; enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong to expand people’s role so as to ensure that the whole community is set on the right course; and keeping within the limits set out by God to ensure their implementation and to prevent any violation.
Such is the believing community which is bound by a deal with God which guarantees heaven in return for their lives and property which they sell to God. It thus implements a rule that has been in force since the start of the divine faith, and the revelation of God’s first message to mankind. The deal means fighting for God’s cause with the aim of making His word supreme, killing those who stand in opposition to God’s message or falling as martyrs in the continuing battle between the truth and falsehood, Islam and jāhiliyyah, God’s law and tyranny, divine guidance and error.
Life is not all play, or all enjoyment and eating as animals eat. Nor is it cheap, humble safety and comfort. True living means doing what is necessary in support of the truth, striving for the cause of goodness, the achievement of victory for God’s cause or sacrificing one’s life for that, and then earning God’s pleasure and admittance into heaven. This is the true life which the believers are called upon to seek: “Believers, respond to the call of God and the Messenger when he calls you to that which will give you life.” (8: 24)
May Allah help us understand Qur'ān and help us to act upon the commandments of Allah contained therein. Aameen.
- Towards Understanding the Quran
- Tafsir Ibn Khatir
- Muhammad Asad Translation
- Javed Ahmad Ghamidi / Al Mawrid
- Al-Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation
- Verse by Verse Qur'an Study Circle
