Spirit of Islam, Oct 2015

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. When the hypocrites come to you, they say, ‘We bear witness that you are indeed the Messenger of God.’ God knows that you are indeed His Messenger, but God bears witness that the hypocrites are surely liars — (63: 1) It is a sign of hypocrisy if an individual indulges in tall talk and resorts to swearing oaths to reassure others of the truth of his words. A sincere man is subdued out of fear of God. He speaks more from his heart than from his tongue. A hypocrite is eager for people to hear his voice, while a sincere man is eager that God hear his voice. — they use their oaths as a cover and thus they bar others from God’s way: what they have been doing is truly evil — that is because they believed and then rejected their faith: their hearts are sealed up, so that they are devoid of understanding. (63: 2-3) When a man embraces the faith, he makes a sincere vow. Thereafter, practical occasions arise in life when he is required to act according to his vow. On such occasions, one who hears the voice of his heart and fulfils the requirements of his vow, has in effect revived and confirmed his vow of faith. On the contrary, ignoring his inner voice and breaching his vow will eventually make him insensitive about his vow of faith. This is the meaning of ‘their hearts are sealed up’. When you see them, their outward appearance pleases you; when they speak, you listen to what they say. But they are like propped up blocks of timber. They think that every shout is directed against them. They THE WORD OF GOD From The Scriptures T HE Quran is the book of God. It has been preserved in its entirety since its revelation to the Prophet of Islam between 610 and 632 A.D. It is a book that brings glad tidings to mankind, along with divine admonition, and stresses the importance of man’s discovery of the Truth on a spiritual and intellectual level. Translated from Arabic and commentary by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan