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alladhīna kafarū wa-ṣaddū ʿan sabīli llāhi ʾaḍalla ʾaʿmālahum
Those who are [themselves] faithless and bar [others] from the way of Allah—He has rendered their works fruitless.
— Ali Quli Qarai
47MuḥammadمحمدVerse 1 of 38
Muhammad47. Muḥammadمحمد
Muḥammad
Muhammad
MedinanVerse 1 of 38
Surah Muhammad - Verse 1
1. Those who disbelieve and hinder [men] from the Path of Allah, He will render their deeds vain.
From among the one hundred and fourteen Chapters of the Holy Qur’an, mention is made of reproaching and threatening the enemies in eleven Chapters. The verse in question is one of such instances. The Noble Verse reads:
“Those who disbelieve and hinder men from the Path of Allah, God will render their deeds vain.”
The verse alludes to the Meccan polytheists and leaders of disbelief serving as war mongers waging wars against the Islamic faith. They were not only disbelievers but also employed diverse stratagems to hinder people from the Path of Allah. Some exegets, e.g. Zamakhshari in his Kashshaf, considering the meaning of the following Verse which concerns faith, have interpreted sadd ad hoc in the sense of:
“turning away” (i’radh)
from faith; however, taking the Qur’anic usage of the word into consideration, the dominant sense of the word is “hindering and impeding.”
“Render their deeds vain”
is used in the sense that “He” will make their plans ineffective and fruitless, since reducing something serves as a metaphor for being abandoned which necessitates perdition. At any rate, some exegets take the sentence as an allusion to those who provided people with the meat of the camels slaughtered at the battle of Badr. Abu Jahl, Safwan, and Sahl ibn ‘Amr each slaughtered ten camels as a token of thanksgiving.4 Such acts were of no avail with polytheism and satanic stratagems hence their being rendered totally vain.
It is not apparently restricted to the sense in question rather all their seemingly good deeds, e.g. providing aid to the needy and hospitality, will be rendered vain owing to their faithlessness. Furthermore, God Almighty will render all their acts performed for the obliteration of Islam and defeating Muslims and also impedes them from attaining to their goals.
Footnotes