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Tafsir

Scholarly commentary explaining a verse — its context, its meaning and how the scholars have understood it.

Al-Munafiqun 63:9

Word by word

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تُلْهِكُمْ أَمْوَٰلُكُمْ وَلَآ أَوْلَـٰدُكُمْ عَن ذِكْرِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَمَن يَفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْخَـٰسِرُونَ

O you who have believed, let not your wealth and your children divert you from the remembrance of Allāh. And whoever does that - then those are the losers.

Ibn Kathir (Abridged) English Ma'arif al-Qur'an English Tafsir Muyassar Arabic Tafsir Ibn Kathir Arabic All sources

Ibn Kathir (Abridged)

Hafiz Ibn Kathir

The Importance of not being too concerned with the Matters of the Worldly Life, and being Charitable

Allah the Exalted orders His faithful servants to remember Him frequently and to refrain from being distracted from His remembrance by indulging in their properties and children excessively. Allah informs them that those who engage in this life, its delights and attributes and were busied from the obedience and remembrance of Allah, for which they were created, will be among the losers. They will lose themselves and their families on the Day of Resurrection. Allah encourages the believers to spend in His cause,وَأَنفِقُواْ مِن مَّا رَزَقْنَـكُمْ مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِىَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّ لَوْلا أَخَّرْتَنِى إِلَى أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ فَأَصَّدَّقَ وَأَكُن مِّنَ الصَّـلِحِينَ (And spend of that with which We have provided you before death comes to one of you, and he says: "My Lord!

If only You would give me respite for a little while, then I should give Sadaqah from my wealth, and be among the righteous.) Surely, every person who fell into shortcomings will regret it by the time of his death and will ask for respite, even a short period, so that he does better and attains what he missed. No, rather what occurred, has occurred and what is coming, shall indeed come. Each will be held accountable for his mistakes. As for the disbelievers, they will be as Allah said about them,وَأَنذِرِ النَّاسَ يَوْمَ يَأْتِيهِمُ الْعَذَابُ فَيَقُولُ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ رَبَّنَآ أَخِّرْنَآ إِلَى أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ نُّجِبْ دَعْوَتَكَ وَنَتَّبِعِ الرُّسُلَ أَوَلَمْ تَكُونُواْ أَقْسَمْتُمْ مِّن قَبْلُ مَا لَكُمْ مِّن زَوَالٍ (And warn mankind of the Day when the torment will come unto them; then the wrongdoers will say:"Our Lord!

Respite us for a little while, we will answer Your call and follow the Messengers!" (It will be said): "Had you not sworn aforetime that you would not leave.") (14:44), and,حَتَّى إِذَا جَآءَ أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ رَبِّ ارْجِعُونِ - لَعَلِّى أَعْمَلُ صَـلِحاً فِيمَا تَرَكْتُ كَلاَّ إِنَّهَا كَلِمَةٌ هُوَ قَآئِلُهَا وَمِن وَرَآئِهِمْ بَرْزَخٌ إِلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ (Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: "My Lord! send me back. So that I may do good in that which I have left behind!" No! It is but a word that he speaks; and behind them is Barzakh (a barrier) until the Day when they will be resurrected.) (23:99-100) Then Allah said;وَلَن يُؤَخِّرَ اللَّهُ نَفْساً إِذَا جَآءَ أَجَلُهَآ وَاللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ (And Allah grants respite to none when his appointed time comes. And Allah is All-Aware of what you do.) meaning, when the time of death comes, no one will be granted respite. Surely, HSe is the Most Knowledgeable and t an what they did before.

Allah said,وَاللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ(And Allah is All-Aware of what you do.) This is the end of the Tafsir of Surat Al-Munafiqun. All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and all success and immunity from error come from Him.

Ma'arif al-Qur'an

Mufti Muhammad Shafi

Commentary

Linkage between Sections [ 1] and [ 2]يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تُلْهِكُمْ أَمْوَالُكُمْ وَلَا أَوْلَادُكُمْ عَن ذِكْرِ‌ اللَّـهِO those who believe, your riches and your children must not divert you from the remembrance of Allah. (63:9)The preceding section dealt with the hypocrites, their false oaths and their conspiracies. In sum, their nefarious activities were based on their excessive love for the worldly gains. They outwardly claimed to be Muslims, and might share the spoils of war with them. One of the consequences of this mentality was their design to stop spending on the Emigrant Companions. Now, this second section addresses the sincere and faithful believers, and warns them against being intoxicated with the love of this world, as the hypocrites foolishly did. There are two major objects in this world that divert a person from the remembrance of Allah: [ 1] wealth; [ 2] children. Therefore, these two things have been named in particular. Otherwise, it refers to all the means of enjoyments in the world.

The import of the verse is that love of wealth and children to some extend is not bad. Being engaged with them to a certain degree is not only permissible but also obligatory. But there is a dividing line between permissible and impermissible love that must always be borne in mind. This criterion is that this love must not deviate one from Allah’ s remembrance. The word dhikr (remembrance) in this context has been variously interpreted by different commentators. Some say it refers to the five daily prayers, while others say it refers to Zakah or Hajj. Some refer it to the Qur’ an. Hasan Basri (رح) expresses the view that the word dhikr here refers to all forms of obedience and worship. This is the most comprehensive interpretation. [ Qurtubi ]In short, we are permitted to be involved in the material wealth up to the degree that it does not divert us from Allah’ s obedience.

If one becomes engrossed in the material wealth or become absorbed in the forbidden or abominable things, which divert him from our duties and obligations towards Allah, the sentence أُولَـٰئِكَ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُ‌ونَ “…they are the losers” will apply, because he has sold the great and eternal reward of the Hereafter for the petty and perishable enjoyment of this world. What loss could be greater than this!

Tafsir Muyassar

Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Saudi Arabia

يا أيها الذين صدَّقوا الله ورسوله وعملوا بشرعه، لا تَشْغَلْكم أموالكم ولا أولادكم عن عبادة الله وطاعته، ومن تشغَله أمواله وأولاده عن ذلك، فأولئك هم المغبونون حظوظهم من كرامة الله ورحمته.

Tafsir Ibn Kathir

Hafiz Ibn Kathir

يقول تعالى آمرا لعباده المؤمنين بكثرة ذكره وناهيا لهم عن أن تشغلهم الأموال ، والأولاد عن ذلك ، ومخبرا لهم بأنه من التهى بمتاع الحياة الدنيا وزينتها عما خلق له من طاعة ربه وذكره ، فإنه من الخاسرين الذين يخسرون أنفسهم ، وأهليهم يوم القيامة

Tafsir is provided for educational reference. Paragraph breaks are added for readability — the wording of each commentary is unchanged. For religious guidance, consult a qualified scholar.