Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo lima taqooloona ma la tafAAaloona
English
Ahmed Ali
O you who believe, why do you profess what you do not practise?
2
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (o ye who believe) in muhammad (pbuh) and the qur'an! (why say ye that which ye do not?) why do you speak about that which you do not act upon? this is because they said: “o messenger of allah! if we knew the most beloved deed to allah, we would certainly do it”. but when he informed them about the works which are dear to him in his saying (o ye who believe! shall i show you a commerce that will save you from a painful doom?) whose pain extends to the hearts, they waited for as long as allah willed, but allah did not explain further. they then said: “if only we knew what it is so that we give for it our wealth, persons and families”. allah answered by saying (ye should believe in allah and his messenger, and should strive for the cause of allah with your wealth and your lives…), and so allah explained to them what to do, saying: you should be firm in your belief in allah and his messenger and you should also strive to obey allah using your wealth and own persons. but when they were tried in the battle of uhud and ran away from the battlefield, leaving the prophet (pbuh) behind, allah reproached them saying: why do you promise that which you cannot fulfil and why talk about that which you cannot perform?
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : o you who believe, why do you say, in demanding [to participate in] the struggle, what you do not do?, for you retreated at uhud.
Sahl al-Tustari
تفسير : you who believe, why do you say [you will do] what you do not do?[sahl] said:truly god warns his servants about making claims that they do not substantiate. such claims require of [the servant] that from this day on he fulfil one of the rights of god, which is that he becomes free of (barāʾa), and repents from (tawba), every sin that he has committed.[the one who makes claims] says ‘i will act tomorrow’, but there is no one who makes a claim without overlooking the right of god from two points of view: both outwardly and inwardly. the one who makes claims (muddaʿī) has no fear; the one who has no fear is not safe (āmin); and the one who is not safe is one who has not acquainted himself with the recompense (jazāʾ).he also said:those who desire the hereafter are many. however, there are but two [kinds of] servant whose sufficiency (kifāya) god takes care of: [one is] the simple servant who is nonetheless sincere in his quest, puts his trust in god (mutawakkil), and is true to him; his master will suffice him and take care of all of his affairs. the other is the servant who is knowledgeable about god, his days, his commandments and his prohibitions; god will suffice him with all he needs in this world and, when he passes on to the hereafter, ⸢he will have ease (istirāḥa)⸣. god will pay no attention to any other than these two [kinds of servant], because the others claimed what they did not have.ibn ʿayniyya said concerning this verse:why do you speak about a matter which does not concern you, for you do not know whether you will do that or not.his words, exalted is he:
