وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن یَقُولُ ءَامَنَّا بِٱللَّهِ وَبِٱلۡیَوۡمِ ٱلۡـَٔاخِرِ وَمَا هُم بِمُؤۡمِنِینَ
وقَوْلُهُ تَعالى في شَأْنِ المُنافِقِينَ وإخْبارُهُ عَنْهم بِإظْهارِ الإيمانِ لِلْمُسْلِمِينَ مِن غَيْرِ عَقِيدَةٍ وإظْهارِ الكُفْرِ لِإخْوانِهِمْ مِنَ الشَّياطِينِ في قَوْلِهِ: ﴿ومِنَ النّاسِ مَن يَقُولُ آمَنّا بِاللَّهِ وبِاليَوْمِ الآخِرِ وما هم بِمُؤْمِنِينَ﴾ وقَوْلِهِ: ﴿يُخادِعُونَ اللَّهَ والَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وما يَخْدَعُونَ﴾ [البقرة: ٩] إلى قَوْلِهِ: ﴿وإذا لَقُوا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قالُوا آمَنّا وإذا خَلَوْا إلى شَياطِينِهِمْ قالُوا إنّا مَعَكم إنَّما نَحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِئُونَ﴾ [البقرة: ١٤] يُحْتَجُّ بِهِ في اسْتِتابَةِ الزِّنْدِيقِ الَّذِي اطُّلِعَ مِنهُ عَلى إسْرارِ الكُفْرِ مَتى أظْهَرَ الإيمانَ؛ لِأنَّ اللَّهَ تَعالى أخْبَرَ عَنْهم بِذَلِكَ، ولَمْ يَأْمُرْ بِقَتْلِهِمْ، وأمَرَ النَّبِيُّ عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ بِقَبُولِ ظاهِرِهِمْ دُونِ ما عَلِمَهُ هو تَعالى مِن حالِهِمْ وفَسادِ اعْتِقادِهِمْ وضَمائِرِهِمْ.
And His, the Exalted’s, statement regarding the hypocrites and His informing about them showing faith to the Muslims without belief, and showing disbelief to their brothers from the devils, in His statement: {And of the people are some who say, “We believe in Allah and the Last Day,” but they are not believers.} and His statement: {They [think to] deceive Allah and those who believe, but they deceive not} [Al-Baqarah: 9] up to His statement: {And when they meet those who believe, they say, “We believe”; but when they are alone with their evil ones, they say, “Indeed, we are with you; we were only mockers.”} [Al-Baqarah: 14] is used as evidence for seeking the repentance of the zindīq (heretic) from whom concealed disbelief has been discovered, whenever he manifests faith; because Allah the Exalted informed about them with that, and did not command their killing, and He commanded the Prophet, peace be upon him, to accept their outward appearance, not what He, the Exalted, knew of their state and the corruption of their creed and their inner selves.
ومَعْلُومٌ أنَّ نُزُولُ هَذِهِ الآياتِ بَعْدَ فَرْضِ القِتالِ؛ لِأنَّها نَزَلَتْ بِالمَدِينَةِ، وقَدْ كانَ اللَّهُ تَعالى فَرَضَ قِتالَ المُشْرِكِينَ بَعْدَ الهِجْرَةِ ولِهَذِهِ الآيَةِ نَظائِرُ في سُورَةِ بَراءَةٍ وسُورَةِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ وغَيْرِهِما في ذِكْرِ المُنافِقِينَ وقَبُولِ ظاهِرِهِمْ دُونَ حَمْلِهِمْ عَلى أحْكامِ سائِرِ المُشْرِكِينَ الَّذِينَ أُمِرْنا بِقِتالِهِمْ وإذا انْتَهَيْنا إلى مَواضِعِها ذَكَرْنا أحْكامَها واخْتِلافَ النّاسِ في الزِّنْدِيقِ واحْتِجاجَ مَن يَحْتَجُّ بِها في ذَلِكَ، وهو يَظْهَرُ مِن قَوْلِهِ عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ: «أُمِرْتُ أنْ أُقاتِلَ النّاسَ حَتّى يَقُولُوا لا إلَهَ إلّا اللَّهُ، فَإذا قالُوها عَصَمُوا مِنِّي دِماءَهم وأمْوالَهم إلّا بِحَقِّها، وحِسابُهم عَلى اللَّهِ» وأنْكَرَ عَلى أُسامَةَ بْنِ زَيْدٍ حِينَ قَتَلَ في بَعْضِ السَّرايا رَجُلًا قالَ: لا إلَهَ إلّا اللَّهُ، حِينَ حَمَلَ عَلَيْهِ لِيَطْعَنَهُ، فَقالَ: «هَلّا شَقَقْتَ عَنْ قَلْبِهِ» يَعْنِي أنَّهُ مَحْمُولٌ عَلى حُكْمِ الظّاهِرِ دُونَ عَقْدِ الضَّمِيرِ، ولا سَبِيلَ لَنا إلى العِلْمِ بِهِ.
And it is known that the revelation of these verses was after the obligation of fighting; because they were revealed in Madinah, and Allah the Exalted had obligated fighting the polytheists after the Hijrah. And this verse has parallels in Surah Bara’ah and Surah Muhammad, peace be upon him, and others, in mentioning the hypocrites and accepting their outward appearance, without applying to them the rulings of the rest of the polytheists whom we were commanded to fight. And when we reach their places, we will mention their rulings and the differences of the people regarding the zindīq and the arguments of those who use them as evidence in that. And this is apparent from his, peace be upon him’s, statement: “I have been commanded to fight the people until they say, ‘There is no god but Allah,’ and when they say it, they have protected their blood and their wealth from me, except by its right, and their reckoning is with Allah.” And he condemned Usama ibn Zayd when he killed a man in one of the military expeditions who said, “There is no god but Allah,” when he charged at him to stab him, so he said: “Why did you not split open his heart?” meaning that he is to be judged by the ruling of the outward, not the conviction of the inner self, and we have no way to know it.
قالَ أبُو بَكْرٍ: وقَوْلُهُ تَعالى: ﴿ومِنَ النّاسِ مَن يَقُولُ آمَنّا بِاللَّهِ وبِاليَوْمِ الآخِرِ وما هم بِمُؤْمِنِينَ﴾ يَدُلُّ عَلى أنَّ الإيمانَ لَيْسَ هو الإقْرارَ دُونَ الِاعْتِقادِ؛ لِأنَّ اللَّهَ تَعالى قَدْ أخْبَرَ عَنْ إقْرارِهِمْ بِالإيمانِ ونَفى عَنْهم سَمْتَهُ بِقَوْلِهِ: ﴿وما هم بِمُؤْمِنِينَ﴾ ويُرْوى عَنْ مُجاهِدٍ أنَّهُ قالَ: في أوَّلِ البَقَرَةِ أرْبَعُ آياتٍ في نَعْتِ المُؤْمِنِينَ، وآيَتانِ في نَعْتِ الكافِرِينَ، وثَلاثَ عَشْرَةَ آيَةً في نَعْتِ المُنافِقِينَ.
Abu Bakr said: And His, the Exalted’s, statement: {And of the people are some who say, “We believe in Allah and the Last Day,” but they are not believers.} indicates that faith (īmān) is not profession without conviction; because Allah the Exalted informed of their profession of faith and negated its characteristic from them with His statement: {but they are not believers.} And it is narrated from Mujahid that he said: In the beginning of Al-Baqarah are four verses in description of the believers, and two verses in description of the disbelievers, and thirteen verses in description of the hypocrites.
والنِّفاقُ اسْمٌ شَرْعِيُّ جَعَلَهُ سِمَةً لِمَن يُظْهِرُ الإيمانَ ويُسِرُّ الكُفْرَ، خُصُّوا بِهَذا الِاسْمِ لِلدَّلالَةِ عَلى مَعْناهُ وحُكْمِهِ، وإنْ كانُوا مُشْرِكِينَ إذْ كانُوا مُخالِفِينَ لِسائِرِ المُبادِينَ بِالشِّرْكِ في أحْكامِهِمْ. وأصْلُهُ في اللُّغَةِ مِن نافِقاءِ اليَرْبُوعِ، وهو الجُحْرُ الَّذِي يَخْرُجُ مِنهُ إذا طُلِبَ؛ لِأنَّ لَهُ أجْحِرَةٌ يَدْخُلُ بَعْضُها عِنْدَ الطَّلَبِ ثُمَّ يُراوِغُ الَّذِي يُرِيدُ صَيْدَهُ فَيَخْرُجُ مِن جُحْرٍ آخَرَ قَدْ أعَدَّهُ.
And hypocrisy (nifāq) is a legal term made a mark for one who shows faith and conceals disbelief. They were specified with this name to indicate its meaning and its ruling, even though they are polytheists, as they were different from the rest of those who were open with polytheism in their rulings. And its origin in the language is from the nāfiqā’ of the jerboa, which is the burrow it exits from when sought; because it has burrows, it enters one of them when sought, then it evades the one who wants to hunt it and exits from another burrow it has prepared.