Say, "Obey Allāh and obey the Messenger; but if you turn away - then upon him is only that [duty] with which he has been charged, and upon you is that with which you have been charged. And if you obey him, you will be [rightly] guided. And there is not upon the Messenger except the [responsibility for] clear notification."
(Say: "Swear you not...") meaning, do not swear this oath.
طَاعَةٌ مَّعْرُوفَةٌ
(obedience is known.) It was said that the meaning is, your obedience is known, i.e., it is known that your obedience is merely verbal and is not accompanied by action. Every time you swear an oath you lie. This is like the Ayah:
يَحْلِفُونَ لَكُمْ لِتَرْضَوْاْ عَنْهُمْ
(They swear to you that you may be pleased with them...) 9:96 And Allah says:
اتَّخَذْواْ أَيْمَـنَهُمْ جُنَّةً
(They have made their oaths a screen (for their evil actions).) 58:16 It is part of their nature to tell lies, even in the issues they choose, as Allah says:
And whoever obeys, Allah and His messenger and has awe of Him and observes Tagwa of Him, then such people are the victorious. [ 52]
In this verse it is declared that those who bind themselves to follow these four things are the ones who are successful and victorious in this world and the Hereafter.
An astonishing incident
An incident of Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ is reported in Tafsir Qurtubi, which explains the difference between these four things and puts them in right perspective. It so happened that one day Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ was standing in the Prophet's mosque, when suddenly a Roman villager appeared and stood beside him, and said انا اَشھَدُ اَنَّ لا إله إلا اللہ و اَشھَدُ اَنَّ مُحَمَّدَاً رَّسُولُ اَلله . Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ inquired ` What is the matter?' He replied ` I have accepted Islam for Allah's sake'. Then Sayyidna Umar ؓ asked if there was any reason for that, to which he replied in the affirmative, and elaborated that he had read Torah, Injil, Zabur and a number of other books brought by past messengers. But lately he had heard a verse of the Holy Qur'an recited by a Muslim prisoner and realized that in that small verse all the older books have been condensed. So, he was convinced that it was Allah's revelation. Then Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ enquired from him about the verse he was referring to, and he recited this very verse. That Roman villager also gave a very astonishing commentary of the verse, which goes like this:
One whose heart has been deeply permeated by God-realisation always has his eyes downcast. His sense of responsibility prepares him for great sacrifices and makes him a man who is frugal with words as he is conscious of his accountability before God. On the contrary, one who is remiss in his relations with God is assiduous in his relations with other people. He compensates for his shortcomings in deeds by an excess of words. Since he has no proof of good character, he remonstrates with big words in order to promote his image as a trustworthy and respectable person. Those who try to influence others by using the charm of words think that all matters are between human beings. Those who are certain that the real matter is rather between God and man experience a sea-change in their attitude.
Uthmani text of the Madinah mushaf (King Fahd Complex). Translation: Saheeh International. Tafsir via Quran.com.
![Surah An-Nur 24:54 in Arabic with its translation: “Say, "Obey Allāh and obey the Messenger; but if you turn away - then upon him is only that [duty] with which…”](/surah/an-nur/54/image.jpg)