Documents of the Right Word

meeting for sinning, for (stirring up) enmity, opposition to
Rasûlullah.’ Their disobeying the prohibition and meeting again
means opposition.
(I went on), “The blessed meaning of the eighth âyat of
Mujâdala sûrâ is, ‘When they greet thee, they do not do so (in the
same manner) as Allâhu ta’âlâ greets thee.’ Jews are reproached in
this âyat-i-kerîma. Whenever Jews met Rasûlullah they would say,
‘May sam be to you,’ instead of saying, ‘May salâm be on you.’
And Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wasallam’ would reply, ‘And
the same to you!’ Thus, instead of saying, ‘salâm’, which means
‘safety, security’, they would say, ‘sam’, which means ‘death’. They
thought they could deceive Fakhr-i-kâinât, who is the highest of all
creatures and of all the past and future human beings. When they
left him they would say that they had deceived him and that if he
had been a Prophet they would have incurred (Allah’s) scourge on
account of this atrocity of theirs. It is for this reason that it was
declared, ‘Their calculation shall add up to torment in Hell’, at the
end of the âyat-i-kerîma. (Bukhârî) states in his book that when
Jews entered the presence of our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ alaihi
wasallam’ they would pronounce their doubtful, wicked word of
greeting, as it was their vicious custom. Âisha ‘radiy-Allâhu anhâ’
understood this and became angry. Our master, Rasûlullah, stated
that there was no reason for becoming angry and that his
invocation, ‘May the same be to you!’, was accepted (by Allâhu
ta’âlâ).
“The expression, ‘When the munâfiqs (hypocrites) come to
thee...’, in the first âyat of Munâfiqûn sûra, refers to Abdullah bin
Selûl and his friends. It has nothing to do with As-hâb-i-kirâm.
(I went on), “The meaning of the sixteenth âyat of Muhammad
sûra is, ‘Of them, the ones who listen to thee; when they leave
thee...’ This âyat-i-kerîma, too, was revealed for the hypocrites.
The hypocrites would appear in the presence of Rasûlullah ‘sall-
Allâhu alaihi wasallam’, hear his statements, and yet they would
be unwilling to understand what he was saying. Imâm-i-Muqatil
[Of Belh; passed away in Basra in 150] states as follows in his
Tafsîr: As Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wasallam’ preached
during the Khutba, they would pretend not to understand, asking
Abdullah ibni Abbâs ‘radiy-Allâhu anhumâ’, ‘What does this man
want to say?’ Abdullah ibni Abbâs ‘radiy-Allâhu anhumâ’ reports
that they would ask him from time to time. Allâhu ta’âlâ, who is
the (real) owner of justice, revealed the sixteenth âyat of
Muhammad sûra, thus distinguishing the faithful Believers who
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