Tafheem-ul-Quran - Abul Ala Maududi

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Tafheem-ul-Quran - Abul Ala Maududi translation for Surah Al-Mumtahanah — Ayah 4

60:4
قَدۡ كَانَتۡ لَكُمۡ أُسۡوَةٌ حَسَنَةٞ فِيٓ إِبۡرَٰهِيمَ وَٱلَّذِينَ مَعَهُۥٓ إِذۡ قَالُواْ لِقَوۡمِهِمۡ إِنَّا بُرَءَٰٓؤُاْ مِنكُمۡ وَمِمَّا تَعۡبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ كَفَرۡنَا بِكُمۡ وَبَدَا بَيۡنَنَا وَبَيۡنَكُمُ ٱلۡعَدَٰوَةُ وَٱلۡبَغۡضَآءُ أَبَدًا حَتَّىٰ تُؤۡمِنُواْ بِٱللَّهِ وَحۡدَهُۥٓ إِلَّا قَوۡلَ إِبۡرَٰهِيمَ لِأَبِيهِ لَأَسۡتَغۡفِرَنَّ لَكَ وَمَآ أَمۡلِكُ لَكَ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ مِن شَيۡءٖۖ رَّبَّنَا عَلَيۡكَ تَوَكَّلۡنَا وَإِلَيۡكَ أَنَبۡنَا وَإِلَيۡكَ ٱلۡمَصِيرُ ٤
You have a good example in Abraham and his companions: they said to their people: “We totally dissociate ourselves from you, and from the deities that you worship instead of Allah. We renounce you1 and there has come to be enmity and hatred between us and you until you believe in Allah, the One True God.” (But you may not emulate) Abraham's saying to his father: “Certainly I will ask pardon for you, although I have no power over Allah to obtain anything on your behalf.”2 (And Abraham and his companions prayed): “Our Lord, in You have we put our trust, and to You have we turned, and to You is our ultimate return.
Footnotes
  • [1] That is, we reject you. We neither consider you to be in the right nor your religion. The inevitable demand of the faith in Allah is denial of taghut (Satan): Whoever rejects taghut and believes in Allah has taken a firm support that never gives way. (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayat 256).
  • [2] In other words, it means: Though there is an excellent example for you in Abraham’s (peace be upon him) conduct in that he expressed disapproval of his pagan people and broke off all connections with them, yet his promise to pray for the forgiveness of his pagan father and then carrying it out practically is not worth following, for the believers should not have even this much relationship of love and sympathy with the disbelievers. In (Surah At-Taubah, Ayat 113), Allah has clearly warned: It does not behoove the Prophet (peace be upon him) and those who have believed that they should pray for the forgiveness of the polytheists even though they be near kinsmen. Thus, no Muslim is allowed to pray for the forgiveness of his unbelieving kinsmen on the basis of the argument that the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) had done so. As for the question, why did the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) pray thus, and did he carry out his promise practically. The answer has been provided by the Quran in full detail. When his father expelled him from the house, he had said on his departure: I bid you farewell: I will pray to my Lord for your forgiveness.(Surah Maryam, Ayat 47). On the basis of this very promise he prayed for him twice. One prayer is contained in (Surah Ibrahim, Ayat 41): Lord, forgive me and my parents and the believers on the Day when reckoning will be hold. And the second prayer is in (Surah Ash Shuara, Ayat 86): Forgive my father, for indeed he is from among those who have strayed and do not disgrace me on the Day when the people will be raised back to life. But afterwards when he realized that the father for whose forgiveness he was praying, wan an enemy of Allah, he excused himself from it and broke off even this relationship of love and sympathy with him.