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fa-lā tuʿjibka ʾamwāluhum wa-lā ʾawlāduhum ʾinnamā yurīdu llāhu li-yuʿadhdhibahum bihā fī l-ḥayāti d-dunyā wa-tazhaqa ʾanfusuhum wa-hum kāfirūna
So let not their wealth and children impress you: Allah only desires to punish them with these in the life of this world, and that their souls may depart while they are faithless.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah At-Tawbah – Verse 55
55 . “So let not their possessions and their issues astonish you; verily Allah only desires thereby to chastise them in the life of (this) world, and that their souls depart while they are infidels.”
Some of the hypocrites had both a great deal of wealth, and many children. This status caused the surprise of some Muslims. They might think with themselves how those hypocrites, that did not believe in Allah, had enjoyed so many bounties. In this verse, it is said to the Prophet (S) and all the Muslims that they would not surprise of the abundance of the hypocrites’ wealth and children. That is, they should not imagine that those bounties might cause happiness and comfort for them.
But, on the contrary, those properties and children caused them affliction and punishment. Therefore, the hypocrites and infidels, because of absence of belief in Allah (s.w.t.), which is the origin of the ease of hearts, can not apply those bounties with a pleasure. Sometimes these bounties are the sources of worriment, anxiety, and spiritual torments for them. For the sake of possessing some more possibilities, they think they are free from want. This very imagination causes them to disobey most of divine commandments and take distance more and more from Allah (s.w.t.) and from believing in Him.
The verse says:
Therefore, if wealth and children are purified and righteous, they are some good merits which cause happiness, comfort, and ease. But if the wealth is not purified and the children are impious, they will be a painful torment for their holders.