Commentary on the Koran: Surah 49 (No. Q049)

Pickthall Translation; Bible Quotes are from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.

Introduction

Al-Hujarat derives its name from verse 4 meaning the “dwelling” or the “private apartments” and is understood to refer to the many deputations that came to Medinah to consult with, and offer allegiance to, the Prophet (and perhaps less to the faith and the church centred there). This was the Ninth year of the Hijrah and is said to concern the conduct of the deputations and one in particular whose behaviour was unruly. Many of the deputations coming in to profess allegiance to the Prophet were doing so for all the wrong reasons and marked the downward spiral of the church and the doctrines there, and its increasing militarisation, which would ultimately result in the degeneration into the Hadith, and the false doctrines emanating from the worship of Baal as Hubal or “The Lord” at Becca and throughout the Middle East.

It is dated to the Ninth Year of the Hijrah or 630/1 CE.

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49.1. O ye who believe! Be not forward in the presence of Allah and His messenger, and keep your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is Hearer, Knower.

Proverbs 25:6 Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great,

Luke 10:27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

On these two laws hang all the law and the prophets. One cannot get away from the Laws of God.

Refer to Job 28:24 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 31 (No. Q031) at ayat 34; and see Commentary on the Koran: Surah 33 (No. Q033) for Psalm 147:5 at ayat 2 and Philippians 2:3 at ayat 5.

49.2. O ye who believe! Lift not up your voices above the voice of the Prophet, nor shout when speaking to him as ye shout one to another, lest your works be rendered vain while ye perceive not.
49.3. Lo! they who subdue their voices in the presence of the messenger of Allah, those are they whose hearts Allah hath proven unto righteousness. Theirs will be forgiveness and immense reward.

Refer to Micah 6:8 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 30 (No. Q030) at ayat 31.

James 1:19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

1Peter 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Refer to Revelation 20:6 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 30 (No. Q030) at ayat 15.

49.4. Lo! those who call thee from behind the private apartments, most of them have no sense.

49.5. And if they had had patience till thou camest forth unto them, it had been better for them. And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

Proverbs 10:19 When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

Ephesians 4:2 With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

1Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant,

Psalm 86:5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

49.6. O ye who believe! If an evil-liver bring you tidings, verify it, lest ye smite some folk in ignorance and afterward repent of what ye did.

Gossip is forbidden and had to be eradicated from the church. Unfortunately it is endemic even to this day.

1Thessalonians 5:21 but test everything; hold fast what is good.

1John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Isaiah 8:20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn (or light in them).

49.7. And know that the messenger of Allah is among you. If he were to obey you in much of the government, ye would surely be in trouble; but Allah hath endeared the faith to you and hath beautified it in your hearts, and hath made disbelief and lewdness and rebellion hateful unto you. Such are they who are the rightly guided.

49.8. (It is) a bounty and a grace from Allah; and Allah is Knower, Wise.

Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

1Peter 5:5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Job 12:13 With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.

Refer to Galatians 5:22-23 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 31 (No. Q031) at ayat 19 and Luke 8:17 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 32 (No. Q032) at ayat 6.

49.9. And if two parties of believers fall to fighting, then make peace between them. And if one party of them doeth wrong to the other, fight ye that which doeth wrong till it return unto the ordinance of Allah; then, if it return, make peace between them justly, and act equitably. Lo! Allah loveth the equitable.

49.10. The believers are naught else than brothers. Therefore make peace between your brethren and observe your duty to Allah that haply ye may obtain mercy.

Matthew 18:15-17 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

James 4:7-8 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Psalm 9:8 and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.

Hebrews 2:11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,

Refer to Micah 6:8 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 30 (No. Q030) at ayat 31.

49.11. O ye who believe! Let not a folk deride a folk who may be better than they (are), not let women (deride) women who may be better than they are; neither defame one another, nor insult one another by nicknames. Bad is the name of lewdness after faith. And whoso turneth not in repentance, such are evil-doers.

49.12. O ye who believe! Shun much suspicion; for lo! some suspicion is a crime. And spy not, neither backbite one another. Would one of you love to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Ye abhor that (so abhor the other)! And keep your duty (to Allah). Lo! Allah is Relenting, Merciful.

Refer to Philippians 2:3 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 33 (No. Q033) at ayat 5.

Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. ³²Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Colossians 3:8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Colossians 3:12-13 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Daniel 9:9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him.

49.13. O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware.

Refer to Acts 17:26 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 30 (No. Q030) at ayat 22.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Jeremiah 7:23 But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’

Joshua 22:5 Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Refer to Job 28:24 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 31 (No. Q031) at ayat 34 and Luke 8:17 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 32 (No. Q032) at ayat 6.

49.14. The wandering Arabs say: We believe. Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Ye believe not, but rather say "We submit," for the faith hath not yet entered into your hearts. Yet, if ye obey Allah and His messenger, He will not withhold from you aught of (the reward of) your deeds. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

Psalm 145:8 The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

See James 4:7 at ayat 10 above.

Refer also to Commentary on the Koran: Surah 34 (No. Q034) for Psalm 34:10 at ayat 36; and 1Samuel 15:22 and Proverbs 21:3 at ayat 37.

49.15. The (true) believers are those only who believe in Allah and His messenger and afterward doubt not, but strive with their wealth and their lives for the cause of Allah. Such are the sincere.

John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth,

Philippians 3:3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Matthew 6:19-20 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 19:21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Refer to Romans 12:1 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 32 (No. Q032) at ayat 16.

49.16. Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Would ye teach Allah your religion, when Allah knoweth all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, and Allah is Aware of all things?

Refer to Job 21:22 and Hebrews 4:13 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 30 (No. Q030) at ayat 1 and Job 28:24 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 31 (No. Q031) at ayat 34.

Isaiah 40:13-14 Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? ¹⁴Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

Colossians 2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

Note the new converts were arguing over the faith and thought they knew more than they did and were slanderers and defamers of the brethren who were better than they. The Prophet doubted their conversion.

They made it as though they were doing the Church and the Prophet a favour that they were coming to the faith; not that they were to be saved by God from death in the Second Resurrection.

49.17. They make it a favour unto thee (Muhammad) that they have surrendered (unto Him). Say: Deem not your Surrender a favour unto me; but Allah doth confer a favour on you, inasmuch as He hath led you to the Faith, if ye are earnest.

2Timothy 1:9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

Romans 8:13-14 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love,

Refer to Colossians 1:10 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 33 (No. Q033) at ayat 55.

49.18. Lo! Allah knoweth the Unseen of the heavens and the earth. And Allah is Seer of what ye do.

Refer to Job 28:24 and Daniel 2:22 in Commentary on the Koran: Surah 31 (No. Q031) at ayat 34.

Job 12:22 He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.

It is from this time that the idolaters came for reason of success in battle and wealth and not for the faith. It went downhill from here as it increased in strength and military might.

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