25:72 Al-Furqaan (The Criterion)

{ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ } أي: لا يحضرون الزور أي: القول والفعل المحرم، فيجتنبون جميع المجالس المشتملة على الأقوال المحرمة أو الأفعال المحرمة، كالخوض في آيات الله والجدال الباطل والغيبة والنميمة والسب والقذف والاستهزاء والغناء المحرم وشرب الخمر وفرش الحرير، والصور ونحو ذلك، وإذا كانوا لا يشهدون الزور فمن باب أولى وأحرى أن لا يقولوه ويفعلوه. وشهادة الزور داخلة في قول الزور تدخل في هذه الآية بالأولوية، { وَإِذَا مَرُّوا بِاللَّغْوِ } وهو الكلام الذي لا خير فيه ولا فيه فائدة دينية ولا دنيوية ككلام السفهاء ونحوهم { مَرُّوا كِرَامًا } أي: نزهوا أنفسهم وأكرموها عن الخوض فيه ورأوا أن الخوض فيه وإن كان لا إثم فيه فإنه سفه ونقص للإنسانية والمروءة فربأوا بأنفسهم عنه. وفي قوله: { وَإِذَا مَرُّوا بِاللَّغْوِ } إشارة إلى أنهم لا يقصدون حضوره ولا سماعه، ولكن عند المصادفة التي من غير قصد يكرمون أنفسهم عنه.

وهذه أيضا من صفات عباد الرحمن أنهم لا يشهدون الزور قيل هو الشرك وعبادة الأصنام وقيل الكذب والفسق والكفر واللغو والباطل وقال محمد بن الحنفية هو اللغو والغناء وقال أبو العالية وطاوس وابن سيرين والضحاك والربيع بن أنس وغيرهم هو أعياد المشركين وقال عمرو بن قيس هي مجالس السوء والخنا وقال مالك عن الزهري: شرب الخمر لا يحضرونه ولا يرغبون فيه كما جاء في الحديث "من كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر فلا يجلس على مائدة يدار عليها الخمر" وقيل المراد بقوله تعالى "لا يشهدون الزور" أي شهادة الزور وهي الكذب متعمدا على غيره كما في الصحيحين عن أبي بكرة قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم "ألا أنبئكم بأكبر الكبائر؟" ثلاثا - قلنا بلى يا رسول الله قال "الشرك بالله وعقوق الوالدين" وكان متكئا فجلس فقال "ألا وقول الزور ألا وشهادة الزور" فما زال يكررها حتى قلنا ليته سكت والأظهر من السياق أن المراد لا يشهدون الزور أي لا يحضرونه ولهذا قال تعالى "وإذا مروا باللغو مروا كراما" أي لا يحضرون الزور وإذا اتفق مرورهم به مروا ولم يتدنسوا منه بشيء ولهذا قال "مروا كراما" وقال ابن أبي حاتم حدثنا أبو سعيد الأشج حدثنا أبو الحسن العجلي عن محمد ابن مسلم أخبرني إبراهيم بن ميسرة أن ابن مسعود مر بلهو فلم يقف فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم "لقد أصبح ابن مسعود وأمسى كريما" وحدثنا الحسين بن محمد بن سلمة النحوي ثنا حبان أنا عبدالله أنا محمد بن مسلم أخبرني ميسرة قال بلغني أن ابن مسعود مر بلهو معرضا فلم يقف فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم "لقد أصبح ابن مسعود وأمسى كريما" ثم تلا إبراهيم بن ميسرة "وإذا مروا باللغو مروا كراما".

More Attributes of the Servants of the Most Gracious

These are further attributes of the servants of the Most Gracious. They do not bear witness to falsehood, including lies, immorality, disbelief, foul speech and false words. `Amr bin Qays said, this refers to gatherings of sexual immorality. It was said that the Ayah,

لاَ يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ

(And those who do not bear witness to falsehood,) refers to giving false testimony, which means lying deliberately to someone else. It was recorded in the Two Sahihs that Abu Bakrah said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said three times:

«أَلَا أُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِأَكْبَرِ الْكَبَائِرِ؟»

(Shall I not tell you of the greatest of major sins) We said, "Of course, O Messenger of Allah." The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

«الشِّرْكُ بِاللهِ وَعُقُوقُ الْوَالِدَيْن»

(Associating others in worship with Allah and disobeying one's parents.) He was lying down, then he sat up and added:

«أَلَا وَقَوْلُ الزُّورِ، أَلَا وَشَهَادَةُ الزُّور»

(Beware false speech, and bearing witness to falsehood.) and he kept repeating it until we thought, would that he would stop." From the context it seems that what is meant by those who do not bear witness to falsehood is those who do not attend it or are not present when it happens. Allah says:

وَإِذَا مَرُّواْ بِاللَّغْوِ مَرُّواْ كِراماً

(and if they pass by some evil play or evil talk, they pass by it with dignity.) They do not attend where falsehood occurs, and if it so happens that they pass by it, they do not let it contaminate them in the slightest. Allah says:

مَرُّواْ كِراماً

(they pass by it with dignity.)

وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِّرُواْ بِـَايَـتِ رَبِّهِمْ لَمْ يَخِرُّواْ عَلَيْهَا صُمّاً وَعُمْيَاناً

(And those who, when they are reminded of the Ayat of their Lord, fall not deaf and blind thereat.) This is also a characteristic of the believers,

الَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ اللَّهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَـتُهُ زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَـناً وَعَلَى رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ

(Those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a fear in their hearts and when His Ayat are recited unto them, they increase their faith; and they put their trust in their Lord.) (8:2) Unlike the disbelievers. When they hear the Words of Allah, they are not affected by them or moved to change their ways. They persist in their disbelief, wrongdoing, ignorance and misguidance, as Allah says:

وَإِذَا مَآ أُنزِلَتْ سُورَةٌ فَمِنْهُمْ مَّن يَقُولُ أَيُّكُمْ زَادَتْهُ هَـذِهِ إِيمَـناً فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ ءامَنُواْ فَزَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَـناً وَهُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ فَزَادَتْهُمْ رِجْسًا إِلَى رِجْسِهِمْ

(And whenever there comes down a Surah, some of them say: "Which of you has had his faith increased by it" As for those who believe, it has increased their faith, and they rejoice. But as for those in whose hearts is a disease, it will add doubt to their doubt) (9:124-125).

لَمْ يَخِرُّواْ عَلَيْهَا صُمّاً وَعُمْيَاناً

(fall not deaf and blind thereat.) means, unlike the disbelievers who, when they hear the Ayat of Allah, are not moved by them, but continue as they are, as if they did not hear them but are deaf and blind. His saying:

وَالَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّـتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍ

(And those who say: "Our Lord! Bestow on us from our wives and our offspring the comfort of our eyes...") means those who ask Allah to bring forth from their loins offspring who will obey Him and worship Him and not associate anything in worship with Him. Ibn `Abbas said, "This means (offspring) who will strive to obey Allah and bring them joy in this world and the Hereafter." Imam Ahmad recorded that Jubayr bin Nufayr said: "We sat with Al-Miqdad bin Al-Aswad one day, and a man passed by and said, "How blessed are these two eyes which saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ! Would that we had seen what you saw and witnessed what you witnessed." Al-Miqdad got angry, and I was surprised, because the man had not said anything but good. Then he turned to him and said, "What makes a man wish to be present when Allah had caused him to be absent, and he does not know how he would have behaved if he had been there By Allah, there are people who saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and Allah will throw them on their faces in Hell because they did not accept him or believe in him. Are you not grateful that Allah brought you forth from your mothers' wombs believing in your Lord and in what your Prophet brought, and that the test went to others and not to you Allah sent His Prophet during the most difficult time that any Prophet was ever sent, after a long period of ignorance, when the people could see no better religion than the worship of idols, and he brought the Criterion which distinguishes truth from falsehood and which would separate a father from his son. A man would realize that his father, son or brother was a disbeliever, and since Allah had opened his heart to Faith, he knew that if his relative died he would go to Hell, so he could not rest knowing that his loved one was in the Fire. This is what Allah referred to in the Ayah,

وَالَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّـتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍ

(And those who say: "Our Lord! Bestow on us from our wives and our offspring the comfort of our eyes...") Its chain of narrators is Sahih, although they did not report it.

وَاجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَاماً

(and make us leaders of those who have Taqwa.) Ibn `Abbas, Al-Hasan, As-Suddi, Qatadah and Rabi` bin Anas said: "Leaders who would be taken as examples in good." Others said: "Guides who would call others to goodness." They wanted their worship to be connected to the worship of their children and offspring, and their guidance to go beyond themselves and benefit others. This would be more rewarding and a better end, as it was recorded in Sahih Muslim from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

«إِذَا مَاتَ ابْنُ آدَمَ انْقَطَعَ عَمَلُهُ إِلَّااِمنْ ثَلَاثٍ: وَلَدٍ صَالِحٍ يَدْعُو لَهُ، أَوْ عِلْمٍ يُنْتَفَعُ بِهِ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ، أَوْ صَدَقَةٍ جَارِيَة»

(When a son of Adam dies, his deeds cease apart from three: a righteous child who will pray for him, knowledge from which others may benefit after him, or ongoing charity.)

and those who do not give false testimony that is testimony containing mendacity and falsehood and when they come across senseless talk in the way of vile speech and otherwise they pass by with dignity shunning such vanity;

The tenth characteristic

وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ‌ (And those who do not witness falsehood - 25:72). That is they do not participate in the meetings where lie and falsehood has currency. The biggest falsehood is the kufr (disbelief) and shirk, and the next in order comes the common lie and acts of sin. In other words the blessed and favoured servants of Allah avoid attending such meetings. Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ has said that these meetings or assemblies refer to infidels festivals, carnivals and field days; while Sayyidna Mujahid and Muhammad Ibn Hanifah رحمۃ اللہ علیہما are of the view that they relate to music concerts. According to ` Amr Ibn Qais they refer to vulgar and cheap dance parties Zuhri and Imam Malik (رح) term them as liquor drinking parties (Ibn Kathir). In any case there is no contradiction in all these explanations because all such gatherings come under the definition of assembly of falsehood. The righteous people should avoid such gathering, as even 'an intentional look at them is tantamount’ to participation in them. (Mazhari)

Some commentators have taken the sentence يَشْهَدُونَ الزُّورَ‌ to mean that they do not give false evidence, which is one of the possible meaning of the word َشْهَدُونَ (The English translation of the sentence given in the text as "do not witness falsehood" has a slight indication to this interpretation also). It is a well known fact that both Holy Qur'an and Sunnah declare the false evidence as a great sin and an enormous evil. Bukhari and Muslim have recorded Sayyidna ` Abbas ؓ quoting that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said that false evidence is the gravest of the major sins.

Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ said that if the offence of giving false evidence is proved against someone, he should be flogged with forty stripes, and then his face be painted black and taken round the market place, and after that put in jail for a long time. (Mazhari)

The Eleventh Characteristic

وَإِذَا مَرُّ‌وا بِاللَّغْوِ مَرُّ‌وا كِرَ‌امًا (and when they pass by the absurd things, Pass by with dignity - 72). That is if by chance they happen to pass by immoral gatherings, they walk away with dignity and grace. In other words as they do not attend such gatherings intentionally, if they happen to pass by them sometimes by chance they just walk away from there in a dignified manner. That is despite their belief that their evil acts are hateful, they do not take pride or regard themselves superior for not indulging in them. Once Sayyidna Abdullah Ibn Masud ؓ happened to pass by an absurd and dissolute gathering, so he did not stop there but simply walked away. When the Holy Prophet ﷺ learnt about this incidence he remarked "Ibn Masud has become کریم (dignified) " and then recited this verse wherein it is enjoined to walk away from dissolute gatherings with dignity. (Ibn Kathir)