This Ramadan, MuslimMatters is pleased to host the Institute Of Knowledge‘s daily Ramadan series: Keys to the Divine Compass. Through this series, each day we will spend time connecting with the Qur’an on a deeper, more spiritual, uplifting level.

Previous in the series: Juz 1 Juz 2 Juz 3 Juz 4 Juz 5 Juz 6 Juz 7 Juz 8 Juz 9 Juz 10

Juzʾ 11: Becoming People of Truth

Bismillah-ir Raḥmān-ir Raḥīm. All praise to Allah and peace and salutations upon his servant and final messenger Muḥammad (pbuh), Assalāmu ‘Alaykum wa Raḥmatullāhi wa Barakātuh!

Welcome to another episode of our Ramaḍān Reflection series, Keys to the Divine Compass, where we go over verses of the Qur’an from every Juz throughout the month of Ramaḍān so that we can derive lessons and apply them to our lives.

InshaAllah today I will be going over verse 119 from Sūrah al-Tawbah (Sūrah 9) in which Allah (swt) says, “Oh you who believe, fear Allah (swt) and be with those who are truthful.” This verse can be understood by its context. On the surface, it is simple: those who believe should fear Allah (swt), be with those who are truthful, and speak the truth. For the believer, the biggest truth that we can proclaim, acknowledge, and speak of is the truth of Allah (swt) creating us, creating us with a purpose, and giving us guidance to that purpose through revelation and the prophets. That is the biggest truth that every creation of Allah (swt) can acknowledge and the biggest truth that any creation of Allah (swt) can ignore. So, at a very basic level, Allah (swt) is instructing the believers to be with the people who continuously acknowledge Allah (swt), believe in Him, and obey Him.

However, this verse also comes at the conclusion of a particular incident that we know from the Hadith. You see, in verse 119 Allah (swt) reminds us to be with those who are truthful and in verse 118 Allah (swt) refers to the three individuals who did not participate in the campaign of Tabuk, the most prominent of them being Ka‘b bin Mālik (R). If you look in, for example, Imam Nawawī’s Riyādh al-Ṣaliḥīn, in the second chapter, the chapter of repentance, one of the longest narrations is where Ka‘b (R) recounts how he had procrastinated leaving Madinah and joining the Prophet (pbuh) and the ṣaḥābah for the campaign, and had procrastinated to the point where the Prophet (pbuh) was already on his way back. When he returned, he presented himself to the Prophet (pbuh) and was truthful. He told him that he had no legitimate reason for staying back even though the Prophet (pbuh) ordered everyone to join the campaign. The other two companions, Murārah ibn Rabī‘ (R) and Hilāl bin Umayyah (R), did not have legitimate excuses for staying behind either. The hypocrites, on the other hand, were coming to the Prophet (pbuh) and giving all sorts of excuses which the Prophet (pbuh) just accepted. The Prophet (pbuh) did not call them out on their excuses even though he knew they were making it up. The Prophet (pbuh) told the companions that their judgment would be given by Allah (swt) and they were socially boycotted until then. In verse 118 Allah (swt) talks about how the earth felt constricted upon them despite its vastness, and they knew that the only refuge they had was from Allah (swt). When Allah (swt) revealed this verse, it was an indication that their Tawbah (repentance) had been accepted and they were subsequently welcomed back into the community.

So, these verses talk about the difference between the believers and the hypocrites who stayed behind and did not join the campaign of Tabuk, but one group was honest about why they stayed behind and the other group made excuses. Allah (swt) follows that with a verse that instructs us to be with those who are truthful, as in the believers should not be like the hypocrites. Be like those who are honest, be like those who stick to the truth even when the truth is difficult to say. This is of course applicable to our practice as well. As Muslims, when we acknowledge Allah (swt) and acknowledge our obligation to follow the revelation and the example of the Prophet (pbuh), we are acknowledging that our actions and our words are supposed to align, that our hearts and our bodies are supposed to align, that our public lives and private lives are supposed to align. When we say the things that we do not do ourselves this is having hypocrisy within ourselves. When we do things that we should not do and then tell others to do the opposite, that this is a sin. When we commit a sin ourselves and encourage people to worship but we ourselves do not worship, this is the edge of hypocrisy. It is something that can have devastating consequences for a person because it deludes a person into thinking that they are an obedient believer, that if I know what should be done but do not do what should be done, I am still okay. But it is not okay. Allah (swt) reminds us that being truthful means having every aspect of our lives be aligned with what is the truth, to be like those ṣaḥābah who confronted the truth and stuck with the truth even though they knew the potential consequences of it. The hypocrites who really had no care or concern had no problem saying something and doing the opposite, and we do not want to be from amongst that group.

May Allah (swt) guide us, protect us, give us the ability to always stay with what is the truth, acknowledge the truth, see the truth for what it is, apply the truth to our lives, have our actions be aligned with our words, have our hearts be aligned with our words, and have our public lives and private lives be in alignment with each other. Assalāmu ‘Alaykum wa Raḥmatullāhi wa Barakātuh.