Al-Furqan 25:67–72

The Sixth Characteristic

وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا أَنفَقُوا لَمْ يُسْرِ‌فُوا وَلَمْ يَقْتُرُ‌وا (and those who, when they spend, are neither extravagant nor miserly - 25:67). That is Allah's blessed servants are neither spendthrifts nor misers but they spend moderately. The words اسراف (israf, i.e. extravagance) and إقتَار (iqtar, i.e. miserliness) are used in the verse for the two opposite traits. Israf means to cross the limits. According to Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ ، Mujahid, Qatadah and Ibn Juraij رحمۃ اللہ علیہم any spending on something sinful, however little it may be, is israf, while others say that even overspending in the rightful and allowed things which is wasteful would fall under the definition of israf. It is because any wasteful spending is by itself a sin and hence israf. Allah Ta’ ala has said إِنَّ الْمُبَذِّرِ‌ينَ كَانُوا إِخْوَانَ الشَّيَاطِينِ (Surely squanderers are brothers of Shaitan - 17:27). In this way the latter explanation is also covered in the explanation given by Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ that is any spending on some sinful thing is اِسرَاف . (Mazhari)

اِقتَار (iqtar) means to spend with miserliness. In Islamic jurisprudence it means to be tight fisted where a believer is directed to spend. In case one does not spend at all at a place where he has been directed to spend, then that is the worst situation. This explanation is also given by Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ ، Qatadah etc. (Mazhari) Therefore, the message of the verse is that Allah's blessed servants are neither spendthrifts nor misers but in the matter of spending they take the middle path.

There is a saying of the Holy Prophet ﷺ :

مِن فِقہِ الرَّجُلِ قَصدُہ ، فِی مَعِیشَتِہٖ

That is "It is the sagacity of man to adopt the middle path in spending" In another Saying quoted by

Sayyidna Abdullah Ibn Masud the Holy Prophet ﷺ said:

مَا عال من اقتصد

That is "The person who sticks to the middle path and moderation in spending will never become a destitute and poor". (Imam Ahmad - Ibn Kathir)

The Seventh Characteristic

وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَدْعُونَ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَٰهًا آخَرَ‌ (And those who do not invoke any other god along with Allah - 25:68). The first six characteristics included the principles of obedience and now the characteristics of disobedience are described. Among these the very first one relates to belief, that is these blessed servants do not associate any one with Allah Ta’ ala in His worship. This point establishes that shirk (شِرک) is the biggest sin of all.

The Eighth and Ninth characteristic

لَا يَقْتُلُونَ النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّ‌مَ اللَّهُ (do not kill a person whom Allah has given sanctity - 25:68). This is the description of the major and grave sins pertaining to one's deeds. It is mentioned that Allah's blessed servants do not go even near them; neither they indulge in adultery nor do they kill innocent people. After describing the beliefs and big sins of one's deeds the verse says وَمَن يَفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ يَلْقَ أَثَامًا (25:68) that is, whoever will involve himself in the above mentioned sins will get punished accordingly. Abu Ubaidah has described the meaning of the word اَثَام (atham) in this verse as punishment of sin. But some other commentators have said that اَثَام is the name of a valley in the Hell which is full of severe and rigorous punishments, and they have quoted a few sayings in support of this contention. (Mazhari)

The next verse mentions some details of the punishment to be faced by the aforementioned sinners. In the context of these verses it is certain that this chastisement will be exclusive to those who were infidels and also indulged in adultery or homicide. In the first place the phrase يُضَاعَفْ لَهُ الْعَذَابُ (The punishment will be doubled for him - 69) cannot be applied on Muslim sinners because they are told both in the Qur'an and in the Sunnah that they will get only one punishment against a sin. Any increase in the intensity of chastisement will not be in the case of believers. Doubling of chastisement will be exclusive to infidels i.e. the first chastisement will be for infidelity and in case they have also committed sins the chastisement will be doubled. Secondly, it is also mentioned about this chastisement that it will be perpetual وَيَخْلُدْ فِيهِ مُهَانًا - 25:69) i.e. the punished will be placed there forever after being disgraced and condemned. On the other hand no believer will be condemned for ever in the Jahannam, no matter how big a sin he has committed. Muslims will be taken out of the Jahannam when they have completed their term there. In brief, those infidels who reject monotheism and also commit adultery and homicide will be awarded doubled chastisement which will increase in intensity and will last forever. In the next verse there is a solace for the above type of sinners in that if they seek Allah's forgiveness and act righteously, then Allah Ta’ ala is expected to change their sins into righteous deeds. In other words, once they have repented on their past sins and accepted Islam, their past sins will be taken away from their record and all that will be left in the record would be nothing but righteous deeds. It is because Allah Ta'ala has promised that when an infidel accepts Islam, all sins he might have committed during infidelity are pardoned. Hence their previous record which was full of sins and evil deeds will be forgiven and scraped, and will be replaced with a fresh record of good and righteous deeds which they would perform after submitting to Islam. This explanation of conversion of sins into virtues is given by Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ ، Hasan al-Basri, Said Ibn Jubair and Mujahid رحمۃ اللہ علیہم (Mazhari).

Ibn Kathir has given another explanation for conversion of sins into virtues. He says that when they will remember all those sins which they had committed during the period of their infidelity, they will repent and seek Allah's forgiveness. This act of repentance will replace their sins into virtues. In support of this explanation some traditions have also been quoted.

وَمَن تَابَ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَإِنَّهُ يَتُوبُ إِلَى اللَّهِ مَتَابًا (And whoever repents and does righteous deeds he turns to Allah truly - 25:71). On the face of it, it looks repetition of the same subject as described in the preceding verse i.e. تَابَ وَآمَنَ وَعَمِلَ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا . But Qurtubi while quoting Qaffal has explained that this repentance is different and separate from the repentance described in the previous verse. It is because the previous verse related to deniers of monotheism and infidels who indulged in adultery and homicide and then submitted to Islam. Hence their sins were converted into virtues. But here the second verse speaks about the repentance of the Muslim sinners. This may be explained by the fact that in the previous verse the repentance was combined with the word آمَنَ which means that they accepted Islam whereas in the second verse the word آمَنَ is not there, which means that in the second verse the repentance is related to those sinners who had already converted to Islam or that they were Muslims, but by negligence indulged in adultery and homicide. Hence this verse relates to those Muslims who commit sins, but then repent on their folly sincerely and seek Allah's forgiveness and then keep themselves away from sins and evil deeds. Such repentance by the Muslims will be regarded in order and accepted. It should be understood here that the word تَوبَہ (taubah) is used here in conditional clause as well as in principal clause. In the conditional clause it means verbal repentance, and in the principal clause it refers to the practical repentance in the sense of correcting one's deeds. Hence it means that if someone repented on his sins and proved his sincerity by not indulging in those sins again would be regarded as on the right path towards Allah Ta’ ala. As against this the one who repented on his past sins but continued indulging in those sins, is like the one who has not repented.

In brief if a Muslim indulged in a sin by negligence and then realized that he has done wrong and repented and after that kept himself away from the sin, his repentance will be accepted by Allah Ta’ ala, and hopefully he will get the same benefit as described in the first verse i.e. his sins will be converted into virtues.

Some rules of taubah (repentance) from sins had been mentioned during the traits of Allah's favoured servants. The next verses are back to the original subject.

The tenth characteristic

وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ‌ (And those who do not witness falsehood - 25:72). That is they do not participate in the meetings where lie and falsehood has currency. The biggest falsehood is the kufr (disbelief) and shirk, and the next in order comes the common lie and acts of sin. In other words the blessed and favoured servants of Allah avoid attending such meetings. Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ has said that these meetings or assemblies refer to infidels festivals, carnivals and field days; while Sayyidna Mujahid and Muhammad Ibn Hanifah رحمۃ اللہ علیہما are of the view that they relate to music concerts. According to ` Amr Ibn Qais they refer to vulgar and cheap dance parties Zuhri and Imam Malik (رح) term them as liquor drinking parties (Ibn Kathir). In any case there is no contradiction in all these explanations because all such gatherings come under the definition of assembly of falsehood. The righteous people should avoid such gathering, as even 'an intentional look at them is tantamount’ to participation in them. (Mazhari)

Some commentators have taken the sentence يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ‌ to mean that they do not give false evidence, which is one of the possible meaning of the word َشْهَدُونَ (The English translation of the sentence given in the text as "do not witness falsehood" has a slight indication to this interpretation also). It is a well known fact that both Holy Qur'an and Sunnah declare the false evidence as a great sin and an enormous evil. Bukhari and Muslim have recorded Sayyidna ` Abbas ؓ quoting that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said that false evidence is the gravest of the major sins.

Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ said that if the offence of giving false evidence is proved against someone, he should be flogged with forty stripes, and then his face be painted black and taken round the market place, and after that put in jail for a long time. (Mazhari)

The Eleventh Characteristic

وَإِذَا مَرُّ‌وا بِاللَّغْوِ مَرُّ‌وا كِرَ‌امًا (and when they pass by the absurd things, Pass by with dignity - 72). That is if by chance they happen to pass by immoral gatherings, they walk away with dignity and grace. In other words as they do not attend such gatherings intentionally, if they happen to pass by them sometimes by chance they just walk away from there in a dignified manner. That is despite their belief that their evil acts are hateful, they do not take pride or regard themselves superior for not indulging in them. Once Sayyidna Abdullah Ibn Masud ؓ happened to pass by an absurd and dissolute gathering, so he did not stop there but simply walked away. When the Holy Prophet ﷺ learnt about this incidence he remarked "Ibn Masud has become کریم (dignified) " and then recited this verse wherein it is enjoined to walk away from dissolute gatherings with dignity. (Ibn Kathir)