Surah An-Nisa, Ayah 108

The Necessity of Referring to What Allah has Revealed for Judgement

Allah says to His Messenger, Muhammad ﷺ,

إِنَّآ أَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الْكِتَـبَ بِالْحَقِّ

(Surely, We have sent down to you the Book in truth) meaning, it truly came from Allah and its narrations and commandments are true. Allah then said,

لِتَحْكُمَ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ بِمَآ أَرَاكَ اللَّهُ

(that you might judge between men by that which Allah has shown you,) In the Two Sahihs, it is recorded that Zaynab bint Umm Salamah said that Umm Salamah said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ heard the noise of disputing people close to the door of his room, and he went out to them saying,

«أَلَا إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ، وَإِنَّمَا أَقْضِي بِنَحْوٍ مِمَّا أَسْمَعُ، وَلَعَلَّ أَحَدَكُمْ أَنْ يَكُونَ أَلْحَنَ بِحُجَّتِهِ مِنْ بَعْضٍ فَأَقْضِيَ لَهُ، فَمَنْ قَضَيْتُ لَهُ بِحَقِّ مُسْلِمٍ، فَإِنَّمَا هِيَ قِطْعَةٌ مِنْ نَارٍ، فَلْيَحْمِلْهَا أَوْ لِيَذَرْهَا»

The fourth verse (108) describes the condition of people who betray trust and act treacherously. It is strange that these people feel shy before other people like them and conceal their theft from them while they do not feel shy before Allah who is with them all the time and watches over everything they do, specially the occasion when they mutually conspired to put the blame on the Jew, went to the Holy Prophet ﷺ complained against Rifa` ah and Qatadah ؓ ، charged them of false accusation and appealed to the Holy Prophet for support against the Jew.

Abandoning the truth is like abandoning oneself. A man is dishonest to himself before he is dishonest to someone else. This is so because, in the hearts and minds of every human being, God has implanted a conscience as His representative. Whenever any individual intends to go against the truth, he is stopped by this invisible representative of God. He has first to suppress and ignore this inner voice, and only then is it possible for him to leave the path of justice for that of injustice. All too often he lends support to some erring person due to importance having been attached to him. Social relations and expediencies lead him to turn a blind eye to the other’s misdeeds and, therefore, knowing full well that the other is not on the right path, he becomes his supporter. Refusal to distance himself from a person known to be following the path of untruth happens at the cost of distancing himself from God. When one supports untruth to seek the esteem of another human being in this world, one loses God’s company in the Hereafter.