(47–50) “They say, ‘We believe in Allah and the Messenger, and we obey.’ Then, after that, a group of them turns away; such people are not believers. * When they are called to Allah and His Messenger so that he may judge between them, a group of them suddenly turns away. * But if the right is theirs, they come to him in willing submission. * Is there a disease in their hearts? Or have they fallen into doubt? Or do they fear that Allah and His Messenger will deal unjustly with them? Rather, it is they who are the wrongdoers.”
Allah Most High describes the condition of the wrongdoers—those whose hearts contain disease and weakness of faith, or hypocrisy, doubt, and lack of knowledge. With their tongues, they profess faith in Allah and commit themselves to obedience, but then they fail to uphold what they have said. A group of them turns completely away from obedience, as indicated by His words, “while they turn away.” Someone who merely turns away may still intend to return to that from which he turned, but this person is wholly averse: he neither looks back nor gives any thought to what he turned away from.
You will find that this condition corresponds exactly to that of many who claim faith and obedience to Allah while their faith is weak. You will find them failing to perform many acts of worship, especially those that many souls find burdensome, such as paying zakat, making obligatory and recommended expenditures, engaging in jihad in Allah’s cause, and similar deeds.
“When they are called to Allah and His Messenger so that he may judge between them”—that is, when a legal dispute ⦗572⦘ arises between them and someone else and they are summoned to the judgment of Allah and His Messenger—“a group of them suddenly turns away.” They seek the judgments of Jāhiliyya (ignorance) and prefer the rulings of laws outside the Sacred Law to its rulings because they know that the right belongs to the other party and that the Sacred Law judges only in accordance with reality.
“But if the right is theirs, they come to him”—that is, to the judgment of the Sacred Law—“in willing submission.” They do so not because it is a ruling of the Sacred Law, but only because it accords with their desires. They are therefore not praiseworthy in this state, even if they come in willing submission. A true servant is one who follows the truth in what he likes and dislikes and in what gladdens and saddens him. As for one who follows the Sacred Law when it accords with his desire, casts it aside when it conflicts with his desire, and gives desire precedence over the Sacred Law, he is not a true servant.
Allah says in reproach of their turning away from the judgment of the Sacred Law: “Is there a disease in their hearts?” That is, an ailment that has deprived the heart of its soundness and removed its faculty of perception, leaving it like a sick person who turns away from what benefits him and embraces what harms him.
“Or have they fallen into doubt?” That is, have they doubted, become uneasy about the judgment of Allah and His Messenger, and suspected that he would not judge according to the truth? “Or do they fear that Allah and His Messenger will deal unjustly with them?” That is, that they will be given an unjust and oppressive judgment. In fact, this is their own description: “Rather, it is they who are the wrongdoers.”
As for the judgment of Allah and His Messenger, it is the very height of justice and equity and is fully consistent with wisdom: “And who is better than Allah in judgment for a people who have certainty?”
These verses prove that faith is not mere speech unless accompanied by action. For this reason, Allah denied faith to those who turn away from obedience. They also establish the obligation to submit to the judgment of Allah and His Messenger under all circumstances; that failure to submit to it indicates disease in the heart and doubt in one’s faith; and that it is forbidden to harbor evil thoughts about the rulings of the Sacred Law or to suppose them contrary to justice and wisdom.
After describing those who turn away from the judgment of the Sacred Law, He describes the praiseworthy believers, saying: