Surah At-Tawbah, Ayah 35

Warning against Corrupt Scholars and Misguided Worshippers

As-Suddi said that the Ahbar are Jewish rabbis, while the Ruhban are Christian monks. This statement is true, for Ahbar are Jewish rabbis, just as Allah said,

لَوْلاَ يَنْهَـهُمُ الرَّبَّـنِيُّونَ وَالاٌّحْبَارُ عَن قَوْلِهِمُ الإِثْمَ وَأَكْلِهِمُ السُّحْتَ

(Why do not the Ahbar (rabbis) and the religious learned men forbid them from uttering sinful words and eating unlawful things.) 5:63 The Ruhban are Christian monks or worshippers, while the `Qissisun' are their scholars. Allah said in another Ayah,

ذلِكَ بِأَنَّ مِنْهُمْ قِسِّيسِينَ وَرُهْبَاناً

(This is because among them, there are Qissisin and Ruhban...)5:82. This Ayah warns against corrupt scholars and misguided worshippers. Sufyan bin `Uyaynah said, "Those among our scholars who become corrupt are similar to the Jews, while those among our worshippers who become misguided are like Christians." An authentic Hadith declares,

Explained in the fifth verse (35) is the detail of the ` painful punishment' referred to at the end of verse 34. There, it has been said: يَوْمَ يُحْمَىٰ عَلَيْهَا فِي نَارِ‌ جَهَنَّمَ فَتُكْوَىٰ بِهَا جِبَاهُهُمْ وَجُنُوبُهُمْ وَظُهُورُ‌هُمْ ۖ هَـٰذَا مَا كَنَزْتُمْ لِأَنفُسِكُمْ فَذُوقُوا مَا كُنتُمْ تَكْنِزُونَ ﴿35﴾(on the day it will be heated up in the fire of Jahannam, then their foreheads and their sides and their backs shall be branded with it: "This is what you had accumulated for yourselves. So, taste what you have been accumulating". It means that this ` painful punishment' will be for those who do not pay Zakah. It will come on a day when the gold and silver accumulated by them will be heated up in the Fire of Jahannam.

Then, their foreheads, sides and backs shall be branded with it, and they shall be told, as a sort of verbal punishment, that it was what they had accumulated for themselves, and in consequence, they better have a taste of what they had accumulated. The return of a deed is the deed itself. That which was accumulated illegally or that which was accumulated legally but without having paid its Zakah ultimately became, by itself, the punishment of these people.

In this verse, mention has been made of branding foreheads, sides and backs. Either it means the whole body or these three parts have been particularized for the reason that a miser who does not like to spend his wealth in the way of Allah would usually greet a needy visitor looking for charity or Zakah with a forehead all wrinkled with distaste. After that, when to avoid him, he tries to turn away to the right or the left side. And if the needy person still persists, he would turn his back on him. Perhaps, the forehead, the sides and the back were thus particularized for this punishment.

One way of taking wealth from others is by doing so rightfully, i.e. one may offer real service to another or give him some real benefit and then take money from him in return. This is perfectly legitimate. The wrongful way of taking the wealth of others is to obtain it by deceiving them. This latter way is illegitimate and invites God’s wrath. Taking others’ wealth wrongfully is that action which is known as exploitation in modern times. The ancient religious leaders indulged in the large-scale exploitation of the general public. They spread false stories among the people to ensure that they entertained extraordinary hopes of holy persons and, treating them as holy persons, would seek their blessings, and present them with offerings and gifts. In the name of service to religion they used to extract money from people, though the faith they presented to the people was their own brand of religion and not at all that which was sent down by God. They used to collect huge donations in the name of the revival of the community. Whatever they did on this pretext aroused false hopes, so that they could maintain their leadership. They even used to attribute mysterious qualities to the charms and talismans which they prepared and then sold to the people, though they themselves did not rely on these charms in their own crucial affairs. There are only certain legitimate uses of the wealth received by man—spending on his actual needs and giving away for the cause of God whatever is surplus, i.e. exceeding his actual needs. Any ways of spending other than these two will lead to retributive punishment for man—whether he spends his money lavishly or hoards it. Those who have established their leadership in a group on the basis of a self-made religion and exploit people in the name of God’s religion abhor the call for truth which attempts to revive the true and unadulterated religion of God. Within the framework of such a religion, it seems to them that their religious position would lose credibility. They feel that if this religion prevails among the people, their religious trading might come out into the open and be publicly unmasked. As soon as such a movement is set in motion, they come to know of it and set about opposing it.