Surah Al-Anfal • Ayah 23

The Command to obey Allah and His MessengerAllah commands His believing servants to obey Him and His Messenger and warns them against defying him and imitating the disbelievers who reject him. Allah said, وَلاَ تَوَلَّوْاْ عَنْهُ(and turn not away from him...), neither refrain from obeying him or following his commands nor indulge in what he forbade, وَأَنتُمْ تَسْمَعُونَ(while you are hearing.) after you gained knowledge of his Message, وَلاَ تَكُونُواْ كَالَّذِينَ قَالُواْ سَمِعْنَا وَهُمْ لاَ يَسْمَعُونَ (And be not like those who say: "We have heard," but they hear not.) Ibn Ishaq said that this Ayah refers to the hypocrites, who pretend to hear and obey, while in fact they do neither. Allah declares that these are the most wicked creatures among the Children of Adam, إِنَّ شَرَّ الدَّوَابِّ عِندَ اللَّهِ الصُّمُّ(Verily, the worst of living creatures with Allah are the deaf) who do not hear the truth, الْبُكْمُ(and the dumb) who cannot comprehend it, الَّذِينَ لاَ يَعْقِلُونَ(who understand not. ) These indeed are the most wicked creatures, for every creature except them abide by the way that Allah created in them. These people were created to worship Allah, but instead disbelieved. This is why Allah equated them to animals, when He said, وَمَثَلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ كَمَثَلِ الَّذِى يَنْعِقُ بِمَا لاَ يَسْمَعُ إِلاَّ دُعَآءً وَنِدَآءً(And the example of those who disbelieve is as that of him who shouts to those that hear nothing but calls and cries.) 2:171, and, أُوْلَـئِكَ كَالأَنْعَـمِ بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ أُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْغَـفِلُونَ(They are like cattle, nay even more astray; those! They are the heedless ones.) 7:179 It was also said that the Ayah (8:22) refers to some of the pagans of Quraysh from the tribe of Bani `Abd Ad-Dar, according to Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid and Ibn Jarir. Muhammad bin Ishaq said that this Ayah refers to hypocrites, as we stated. There is no contradiction here, because both disbelievers and hypocrites are devoid of sound comprehension, in addition to having lost the intention to do good. Allah states here that such are those who neither have sound understanding nor good intentions, even if they have some type of reason, وَلَوْ عَلِمَ اللَّهُ فِيهِمْ خَيْرًا لأَسْمَعَهُمْ(Had Allah known of any good in them, He would indeed have made them listen.) He would have helped them understand. However, this did not happen because there is no goodness in such people, for Allah knows that, وَلَوْ أَسْمَعَهُمْ(even if He had made them listen...) and allowed them to understand, لَتَوَلَّواْ(they would but have turned...), intentionally and out of stubbornness, even after they comprehend, وَهُم مُّعْرِضُونَ(with aversion.), to the truth.

اللہ کی نگاہ میں بدترین مخلوق ٭٭اللہ تعالیٰ اپنے ایماندار بندوں کو اپنی اور اپنے رسول کی فرمانبرداری کا حکم دیتا ہے اور مخالفت سے اور کافروں جیسا ہونے سے منع فرماتا ہے۔ ارشاد ہوتا ہے کہ «لَا تَوَلَّوْا عَنْهُ» ” اطاعت کو نہ چھوڑو، تابع داری سے منہ نہ موڑو۔ جن کاموں سے اللہ اور اس کا رسول روک دے رک جایا کرو۔ “ «وَأَنتُمْ تَسْمَعُونَ» ‏ ” سن کر ان سنی نہ کر دیا کرو، مشرکوں کی طرح نہ بن جاؤ کہ سنا نہیں اور کہدیا کہ سن لیا، نہ منافقوں کی طرح بنو کہ بظاہر ماننے والا ظاہر کر دیا اور درحقیقت یہ بات نہیں۔“ بدترین مخلوق جانوروں، کیڑے مکوڑوں سے بھی برے اللہ کے نزدیک ایسے ہی لوگ ہیں جو حق باتوں سے اپنے کان بہرے کر لیں اور حق کے سمجھنے سے گونگے بن جائیں، بےعقلی سے کام لیں۔ اس لیے کہ تمام جانور بھی اللہ قادر کل کے زیر فرمان ہیں جو جس کام کیلئے بنایا گیا ہے اس میں مشغول ہے مگر یہ ہیں کہ پیدا کئے گئے عبادت کے لیے لیکن کفر کرتے ہیں۔ چنانچہ اور آیت میں انہیں جانوروں سے تشبیہ دی گئی۔ فرمان ہے آیت «وَمَثَلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا كَمَثَلِ الَّذِي يَنْعِقُ بِمَا لَا يَسْمَعُ إِلَّا دُعَاءً وَنِدَاءً صُمٌّ بُكْمٌ عُمْيٌ فَهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ» [ 2-البقرة: 171 ] ‏، یعنی ” کافروں کی مثال ایسی ہی ہے جیسے کوئی انہیں آواز دے تو سوائے پکارا اور ندا کے کچھ نہ سنیں۔ “ اور آیت میں ہے کہ «أُولَـٰئِكَ كَالْأَنْعَامِ بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ ۚ أُولَـٰئِكَ هُمُ الْغَافِلُونَ» [ 7-الأعراف: 179 ] ‏، یعنی ” یہ لوگ مثل چوپایوں کے ہیں بلکہ ان سے بھی زیادہ بہکے ہوئے اور غافل۔“ ایک قول یہ بھی ہے کہ مراد اس سے بنا عبدالدار کے قریشی ہیں۔ [صحیح بخاری:4646] ‏ محمد بن اسحاق رحمہ اللہ کہتے ہیں مراد اس سے منافق ہیں۔ بات یہ ہے کہ مشرک منافق دونوں ہی مراد ہیں دونوں ہی مراد ہیں دونوں میں صحیح فہم اور سلامتی والی عقل نہیں ہوتی نہ ہی عمل صالح کی انہیں توفیق ہوتی ہے۔ اگر ان میں بھلائی ہوتی تو اللہ انہیں سنا دیتا لیکن نہ ان میں بھلائی نہ توفیق الہٰ۔ اللہ جل شانہُ کو علم ہے کہ انہیں سنایا بھی سمجھایا بھی تو بھی یہ اپنی سرکشی سے باز نہیں آئیں گے بلکہ اور اکڑ کر بھاگ جائیں گے۔صفحہ نمبر3258

آیت 23 وَلَوْ عَلِمَ اللّٰہُ فِیْہِمْ خَیْرًا لَّاَسْمَعَہُمْ ط وَلَوْ اَسْمَعَہُمْ لَتَوَلَّوْا وَّہُمْ مُّعْرِضُوْنَ اگر اللہ تعالیٰ ان لوگوں کے اندر کوئی صلاحیت پاتا تو ان کو سننے اور سمجھنے کی توفیق دے دیتا ‘ لیکن اگر انہیں بغیر صلاحیت کے تعمیل حکم میں جنگ کے لیے نکل آنے کی توفیق دے بھی دی جاتی تو یہ خطرے کا موقع دیکھتے ہی پیٹھ پھیر کر بھاگ کھڑے ہوتے۔ یہ خاص طور پر ان لوگوں کے لیے تنبیہہ ہے جو کفار کے لشکر کا سامنا کرنے میں پس و پیش کر رہے تھے۔

In the fourth verse (23), it was said: وَلَوْ عَلِمَ اللَّـهُ فِيهِمْ خَيْرً‌ا لَّأَسْمَعَهُمْ ۖ وَلَوْ أَسْمَعَهُمْ لَتَوَلَّوا وَّهُم مُّعْرِ‌ضُونَ ﴿23﴾ (And had Allah seen in them some good, He would have made them listen. And had He made them listen, they would have turned away paying no heed). In other words, the sense of the verse is: Had Allah seen in them some pliability towards receiving good counsel, He would have blessed them with the ability to listen with faith - and if, in their present state of being with no desire to receive truth, He were to make them listen to what is true, they would have certainly turned away from it paying no heed.The word: خَیر (khayr: good) at this place means the desire to find out the truth, for it is the quest for truth which opens the doors of deliberation and understanding and it is this very quest which enables one to believe and act. Thus, whoever has no quest for truth is as if he has no good in him. If such people did have some good in them, it is obvious that it would have been within the knowledge of Allah Ta` ala. Now, when they have no good in them as borne by the knowledge of Allah Ta` ala, it tells us that they stand deprived of every possible good in the real sense. Therefore, if they were to be invited to ponder, deliberate and believe in the truth within this state of deprivation, they would have never accepted it - rather, they would have turned away from it and run. This aversion, that is, would not be because of any flaw in the religion they may have noticed which made them reject it. In fact, they just did not pay heed to what was the truth.Incidentally, the stipulation made above also helps remove the nagging logical doubt which bothers many a learned people. They surmise that this is the first form of analogical deduction where the surrender of the middle premise seems to be yielding the wrong outcome. The answer is that the middle premise has not been repeated here because the sense of the first word لَّأَسْمَعَهُمْ (la asma'ahum: He would have made them listen) is separate from the second: وَلَوْ أَسْمَعَهُمْ (wa lau asma'ahum: and had He made them listen) which carries its own sense apart from the first. Meant in the first is listening to accept and listening to benefit from, while the sense of the second is bland listening with nothing to it.