O You Who Believe

45)

"O you who have believed, obey Allah and His Messenger and do not turn from him while you hear [his order]."

[Al-Anfal 8:20]

As this surah was revealed during various points of a battle, the commands are mostly about preparing Muslims to persevere and be firm in their stand.

Some of the believers wavered due to the outnumbering enemy even after Allah had ordered for there to be a battle and thus when the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasallam) would give some orders regarding the battle, the believers would refrain from accepting. Mainly referred here are the hypocrites as the next two verses say;

"And do not be like those who say, 'We have heard,' while they do not hear. Indeed, the worst of living creatures in sight of Allah are the deaf and dumb who do not use reason."

[Al-Anfal 8:21-22]

These two verses explain that a group of people from within the believers are the worst of the living creatures. These are the hypocrites (munafiqeen). These are the people who know the truth and claim to be among the righteous but beneath the upper exposed layer, the hidden layer is their true nature.

When these people concile with the believers, they talk about how great Allah and His Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) are but when they secretly concile with the disbelievers, they mock Islam and expose the future plans of the believers. This means they betray the believers. This is why Allah refrains us from trusting such people.

These are the people that say 'We believe,' but in reality, they don't. They are the worst creations because even after knowing the truth and recognizing it, they choose not to listen to it. They are illogical and don't use reasoning. The reason they are called worst creations and not worst humans is because even animals use reasoning better than them.

The hypocrites, on the Day of Judgement will be in the deepest pit of Hellfire. Allah says in the Qur'an;

"We have certainly created man in the best of stature. Then we return him to the lowest of the low. Except those who believe and do righteous deeds, for they will have a reward uninterrupted."

[At-Tin 95:4-6]

Hence the hypocrites are referred in the verse and the command is for them as well as for the believers who had wavering resolve that they should trust Allah to Whom all affairs return to and Who is the Creator of the entire universe.

Obey Allah and His Messenger (salAllahu alayhi wasallam) means that the commands from Allah are absolute. Personal inclination should not stand in the way of following Allah's orders because they should be of prime importance to a true believer.

The next order is to not turn our backs from the orders of Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasallam). The previous verse was regarding disallowance of turning backs during battle and this verse is related to keenly hearing and obeying Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasallam) while he dictates an order. Thid is because his orders are directly from Allah and Allah's orders are absolute.

This can be implied even today. The orders our beloved Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasallam) gave us, the things he prohibited us from and the things he encouraged us to do must be done wholeheartedly without turning our back on him.

Allah's Messenger (salAllahu alayhi wasallam) had been loyal to us in this life and would still be questioning about us in the Hereafter, refusing to go to Jannah because he would want Allah to let everyone go there as well. He is the person who sent greetings to his ummah (people) and ummati was the word on his tongue when he last spoke. Similarly, on the Day of Resurrection when each soul will be worried about it's own well-being, crying 'O Allah, me, O Allah, me' i.e save me save me, a single person would be crying 'O Allah, ummati, ummati' i.e O Allah, my people, my people'.

A person who remained loyal to us in this world and wouldn't forget about us in the Hereafter, the person who is the best creation of Allah, the person who cried for hours, praying for us, the person who taught us Allah's deen and how to live in this world, is he not worthy that we listen to him? Indeed he is.

He (salAlahu alayhi wasallam) is the one to whom Allah gave the title of 'Habib Allah' i.e Allah's beloved. Should we then not love him when Allah loves him?

Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasallam) said, "Love me due to the love of Allah."

The first rule of love is to obey. To listen. So the person who loves Allah and His Messenger (salAllahu alayhi wasallam) should obey Allah and Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasallam) and not turn his back on him.

Things we learnt:

> The Muslims wavered and the hypocrites wanted to escape from the battle of badar, the former due to the outnumbering enemy and the latter due to their unreasonable preference of life over martyrdom.

> Thus they would neglect the orders from Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu  alayhi wasallam) and would not listen to him due to the fear.

> Allah commanded His believing servants to obey His commands and His Messenger's (salAllahu alayhi wasallam) commands because true success is always in obeying Allah's commands. This is because all matters and affairs return to Him.

> Allah also commanded the believers to listen keenly and not turn their backs on Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasallam) because hid commands are Allah's commands.

May Allah guide us to the right path.
Ameen.
Wama alayna illal balaghul mubeen.