Al-Ma'idah 5:100

In the fourth verse (100), it was said: قُل لَّا يَسْتَوِي الْخَبِيثُ وَالطَّيِّبُ (Say, "The bad and the good are not equal ... ). In Arabic, the words "Tayyib" and "Khabith" are antonyms. Tayyib refers to what is the best and purest in everything and Khabith to what is the most condemned and evil. In this verse, as held by the majority of commentators, Khabith means حَرَام haram or impure, while Tayyib means Halal and pure. Thus, the verse would come to mean that with Allah Ta` ala, rather with every-one having sound reason and good taste, pure and impure or Halal and haram cannot be equal.

In view of the general sense of Khabith and Tayyib at this place, it is inclusive of wealth and property which is Halal or حَرَام haram, and human beings who are good or bad, and deeds and morals which are virtuous or vicious, all of the three. The sense of the verse is clear from the truth that good and bad are not equal. According to this natural law, Halal and حَرَام haram and pure and impure things are not equal in the sight of Allah Ta` ala, similar to which, also not equal are good and bad deeds and morals, similarly again, also not equal are virtuous and vicious human beings.

Following immediately in this verse (100), it was said: وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ كَثْرَ‌ةُ الْخَبِيثِ (even though you are attracted by the profusion of the bad). It means that, though onlookers are sometimes awed by the abundance of things evil and impure, they would even go on to take these very things to be good just because they have spread out all over and be-cause they seem to be winning the day, but, this is only a disease of human knowledge and consciousness, and certainly a shortcoming of the inherent feeling for the right.

The Background of the Revelation of the Verse

Reporting the background of the revelation of this verse, some narrations say that when liquor, and its buying and selling too, was prohibited in Islam, a dealer in liquor who had some cash savings from that business asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ Ya Rasul Allah, I have with me this saving from my liquor business, if I were to spend this in some good and pious cause, would that be beneficial for me?

The Holy Prophet ﷺ said: If you will spend it in Jihad or Hajj or something similar, it would not even be worth the weight of the tiny feather of a mosquito, for Allah Ta` ala does not accept anything other than what is pure and Halal (lawful).

This devaluation and depreciation of wealth is in terms of the Hereafter. If we look a little deeper and keep the ultimate end of things in sight, we shall discover that Halal and حَرَام haram wealth or property are not equal even in the businesses of this mortal world. The kind of benefits, favourable consequences, real comfort and bliss which come through Halal, never do and never can come from حَرَام haram.

Citing Ibn Abi Hatim, Tafsir Al-Durr Al-Manthur reports that when Sayyidna ` Umar ibn ` Abd Al-Aziz, the rightly-guided Khalifah of the age of the Tabi` in, stopped impermissible taxes imposed by the oligarchy before him, returned monies and properties taken illegally to the rightful owners, the government treasury became empty and the graph of usual income came very low. Then, the governor of a province wrote a letter to him in which he complained about the low income of the public treasury and asked him as to how would the affairs of the government run under such circumstances. Sayyidna ` Umar ibn ` Abd al-` Aziz رحمۃ اللہ علیہ answered him by quoting this very verse: لَّا يَسْتَوِي الْخَبِيثُ وَالطَّيِّبُ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ كَثْرَ‌ةُ الْخَبِيثِ ; (The bad and the good are not equal, even though you are attracted by the profusion of the bad). He also wrote: People before you had used injustice and oppression to fill the treasury, now you match it by establishing equity and justice and let the holding of your treasury stand reduced. And do not care. The expenditures of our government shall be met within this reduced income.

Though the cause of the revelation of this verse is a particular event, the basic message of the verse is that numbers being low or high do not mean much. Matters cannot be measured by majority and minority and a human hand-count of fifty one against forty nine cannot go on to become the touchstone of that which is right and true.

In fact, if we were to even casually look into the state of affairs prevailing around every section of society in the world, then, we shall see less of good and more of evil. Compare belief with disbelief; godliness, purity, honesty and trust with sinfulness and debauchery; justice and equity with injustice and oppression; knowledge with ignorance; reason with unreason - one is bound to find more of the later in all these comparisons. This leads us to become certain that the numerical abundance of something, group or party cannot be an absolute proof of its being good or true. Instead of that, the good in that thing or group or party depends on relevant particulars and states. If they are good, they are good, and if they are bad, they are bad. This is the reality the Holy Qur'an has stated clearly by saying: وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ كَثْرَ‌ةُ الْخَبِيثِ (even though you are attracted by the profusion of the bad).

Of course, Islam too has declared numerical majority to be decisive on some occasions, and that too where there be no ruling authority competent enough to decide by the power of argument and the assessment of intrinsic qualities. On occasions like this, in order to resolve the disputes among masses of people, majority vote is resorted to. Take the example of the problem of appointing an Imam or leader in a situation when there is no Imam or Amir or leader present to give a decision. Therefore, on some occasions, majority opinion has been preferred to ward off possible dispute and resolve matters peacefully. It never means that what has been adopted by a majority of people should become Halal and permissible and true.

At the end of the verse it was said: فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ يَا أُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ (So, fear Allah, O men of understanding). By addressing the men of understanding this verse indicates that it is not the attitude of the men of wisdom to be attracted to something because of its numerical or quantitative abundance, or to take the majority as the touchstone of what is true and correct. Intelligent people would not do something like that. Therefore, it is to caution all people of understanding against these at-titudes that they have been commanded with: فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ (fear Allah).