(140, 141). “He has already revealed to you in the Book that when you hear Allah’s verses being denied and ridiculed, do not sit with them until they engage in some other conversation. Otherwise, you would be like them. Indeed, Allah will gather the hypocrites and the disbelievers all together in Hell.”
That is, in what He revealed to you, Allah has already made clear His religious ruling concerning attendance at gatherings of disbelief and sin: “When you hear Allah’s verses being denied and ridiculed”—that is, treated with contempt. Every morally responsible person is obligated to believe in Allah’s verses, honor them, revere them, and hold them in the highest esteem. This is the purpose for which they were revealed, and it is why Allah created creation. The opposite of believing in them is denying them, and the opposite of honoring them is mocking and belittling them. This includes the disbelievers and hypocrites arguing in order to invalidate Allah’s verses and champion their disbelief.
The same applies to innovators of every kind, for the arguments they advance in support of their falsehood necessarily involve contempt for Allah’s verses, since those verses point only to the truth and entail nothing but truthfulness. This also includes attending gatherings of sin and wickedness in which Allah’s commands and prohibitions are treated with contempt and the limits He has prescribed for His servants are violated. This prohibition against sitting with them remains in force “until they engage in some other conversation”—that is, something other than denying and ridiculing Allah’s verses.
“Otherwise, you would be like them.” That is, if you sit with them under the circumstances described, you are like them because you have approved of their disbelief and mockery. Whoever approves of a sin is like the one who commits it. In sum, anyone present at a gathering in which Allah is disobeyed must denounce those present if he is able, or leave if he is unable to do so.
“Indeed, Allah will gather the hypocrites and the disbelievers all together in Hell,” just as they joined together in disbelief and mutual alliance. Merely being outwardly among the believers will not benefit the disbelievers (1), as Allah Most High says: “On the Day when the hypocrite men and women will say to those who believed, ‘Wait for us so that we may take some of your light’”—to the end of the verses.