⦗124–126⦘ “Whenever a surah is revealed, some of them say, ‘Whose faith has this increased?’ As for those who believe, it increases them in faith, and they rejoice. But as for those in whose hearts is a disease, it adds defilement to their defilement, and they die as disbelievers. Do they not see that they are tested once or twice every year? Yet they neither repent nor take heed.”
Allah Most High explains the condition of the hypocrites and that of the believers when the Quran is revealed, and the great difference between the two groups. He says: “Whenever a surah is revealed” containing commands, prohibitions, information concerning His noble Self and unseen matters, and exhortation to jihad,
“some of them say, ‘Whose faith has this increased?’” That is, the question is raised as to which of the two groups has gained faith through it.
Allah Most High then explains what actually occurs: “As for those who believe, it increases them in faith” through their knowledge and understanding of it, their belief in it and adherence to it, their eagerness to do good, and their restraint from doing evil.
“And they rejoice.” That is, they give one another glad tidings of the favor Allah has bestowed upon them through His signs and of His granting them success in understanding and acting upon them. This indicates that they welcome Allah’s signs with open hearts, that their hearts find reassurance in them, and that they readily submit to what those signs urge them to do.
“But as for those in whose hearts is a disease”—that is, doubt and hypocrisy—“it adds defilement to their defilement”; that is, sickness to their sickness and doubt to their doubt. This is because they disbelieved in it, stubbornly opposed it, and turned away from it. Consequently, their sickness increased and drove them ever closer to ruin and to having their hearts sealed, until “they died as disbelievers.”
This was a punishment for them because they disbelieved in Allah’s signs and disobeyed His Messenger; thus, He caused hypocrisy to remain in their hearts until the Day they meet Him.
Allah Most High rebukes them for persisting in their disbelief and hypocrisy: “Do they not see that they are tested once or twice every year?” This occurs through the calamities and illnesses that afflict them and through the divine commands by which they are tested.
“Yet they neither repent” of the evil upon which they persist “nor take heed” of what benefits them so that they may do it, and of what harms them so that they may abandon it.
Allah Most High tests them—as is His customary way with all other nations—through prosperity and adversity, and through commands and prohibitions, so that they may return to Him. Yet they neither repent nor take heed.
These verses provide evidence that faith increases and decreases, and that the believer should examine and tend to his faith, renewing and nurturing it so that it continues to grow.