23:57 Al-Muminoon (The Believers)

إنَّ الذين هم من خشية ربهم مشفقون وَجِلون مما خوَّفهم الله تعالى به.

لما ذكر تعالى الذين جمعوا بين الإساءة والأمن، الذين يزعمون أن عطاء الله إياهم في الدنيا دليل على خيرهم وفضلهم، ذكر الذين جمعوا بين الإحسان والخوف، فقال: { إِنَّ الَّذِينَ هُمْ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ رَبِّهِمْ مُشْفِقُونَ } أي: وجلون، مشفقة قلوبهم كل ذلك من خشية ربهم، خوفا أن يضع عليهم عدله، فلا يبقى لهم حسنة، وسوء ظن بأنفسهم، أن لا يكونوا قد قاموا بحق الله تعالى، وخوفا على إيمانهم من الزوال، ومعرفة منهم بربهم، وما يستحقه من الإجلال والإكرام، وخوفهم وإشفاقهم يوجب لهم الكف عما يوجب الأمر المخوف من الذنوب، والتقصير في الواجبات.

يقول تعالى " إن الذين هم من خشية ربهم مشفقون " أي هم مع إحسانهم وإيمانهم وعملهم الصالح مشفقون من الله خائفون منه وجلون من مكره بهم كما قال الحسن البصري: إن المؤمن جمع إحسانا وشفقة وإن الكافر جمع إساءة وأمنا.

Surely those who for fear of their Lord are apprehensive are fearful of His chastisement

فَتَقَطَّعُوا أَمْرَهُم بَيْنَهُمْ زُبُرًا But they split up ways from one another (dividing themselves) into factions - 23:53). The word زُبُر is the plural of زُبُور meaning a book, and the verse would mean that Allah had commanded all prophets and their followers to adhere to the one and only faith revealed by Him in all matters relating to the basic principles and beliefs. But the followers of different prophets split up into groups and sects and each one of them chose a different way of life and adopted a different book in which the beliefs of each group and sect were recorded. Sometimes زبر is used for the plural of زُبرَہ (zubrah) meaning "fragment" or "group". This meaning is more appropriate here and the meaning of the verse would be that these people were divided into sects even in the matter of fundamental beliefs of their religion. It should be noted that the difference of opinion among the mujtahidin (competent Shari` ah Scholars) in some minor issues is not included in this division which is condemned in this verse, because these differences do not cause a division of the religion, nor do the people maintaining these differences become separate sects. Giving these interpretative and subsidiary differences a sectarian colour is the height of ignorance and no religious scholar would support it.

Surely those who tremble in fear of their Lord… it is they who hurry to good deeds. When an intelligent man ponders the meaning of these verses, he will come to know that the obedi- ent are more fearful in their obedience than the disobedient are fearful in their disobedience. Just as the disobedient need His curtaining, so also the obedient need His curtaining. The Real says, “And repent all together to God, O you who have faith! [24:31]. O faithful, you who are obedient and you who are disobedient! All of you return to Our threshold with the attribute of pleading! In the state of poverty and brokenness ask for Our forgiveness, so that We may cover you with the curtain of Our mercy.” I wonder at the empty-headed Qur'an-reciter who makes two cycles of prayer at night and the next day knits the knot of self-seeing on his brow and places the favor of his own being on heaven and earth. All the motes of existence say to him, “What a simpleton you are! It is here that they make a Kaabah into an idol-temple, turn a seven hundred thousand-year worshiper into the forever accursed Satan, and bind Balaam son of Beor-who had God's greatest name in his breast and whose every prayer was answered-in a kennel for dogs. But you make two cycles of prayer one night and the next day you want the whole world to be full of talk of your prayer!” You poor wretch! The realizer fills the east and the west with prostrations of self-purification. Then he dips everything into the water of unneediness and returns with two empty hands to the end of the street of Muhammad MuṣṬafā's intercession and says, “O exalted man, harm has touched us and our folk, and we come with scant goods” [12:88]. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, I have come with two empty hands. I have burned in the hope of better days. What harm if You place a balm on this wounded heart of mine?”