Muḥammad

وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَتَعْساً لَهُمْ وَأضَلَّ أعْمَالَهُمْ

ذَلِكَ بِأنَّهُمْ كَرِهُوا مَا أنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأحْبَطَ أعْمَالَهُمْ

8. But those who disbelieve, for them is destruction, and [Allah] will make their deeds vain.

9. That [destruction] is because they dislike thatwhich Allah has sent down; so He has made theirdeeds fruitless.

The word ta’s indicates “slip, stumble, fall into the river.” Comparison is one of the best methods of education. Concerning martyred believers a preceding Verse reads:

“He will never let their deeds be lost.”

Regarding disbelievers the Verse in question reads:

“[He] will make their deeds vain.”

The contrast is a good tiding to the believers struggling in Allah’s Cause. Addressing believers, the Qur’an says:

“[He will] make your foothold firm.”

Concerning disbelievers, the penultimate Verse says:

“For them is destruction,”

which originally denotes that they will stumble over the precipice. According to the last two Verses, those who disbelieved were humiliated and destroyed. God made them stumble on the battlefield thus rendering their attempts vain. They disliked the Qur’an revealed to His Prophet (S) as a consequence of which they were defeated and humiliated and their deeds were rendered fruitless.

According to Manhaj, it is narrated from Imam Muhammad Baqir (as) that the Verse in question indicates that disbelievers disliked ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib’s merits, as a consequence of which they deviated from the Right Path and their deeds were rendered vain, since doing righteous good deeds are based on belief in Divine Unity, sincerity in worshipping God, belief in Divine Guidance, and loving the Prophet (S) and his pure offspring (as). It is worthy of note that:

“What God sent down”

is employed to denote different things one of which is the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib’s (as) Imamate.¹³

Footnotes

1. 13. Majma’ al-Bayan, under the blessed Verse in question.