Sura ’Aal-’Imran: Verses 86 – 91
كَيْفَ يَهْدِى ٱللَّهُ قَوْمًا كَفَرُوا۟ بَعْدَ إِيمَـٰنِهِمْ وَشَهِدُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱلرَّسُولَ حَقٌّ وَجَآءَهُمُ ٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتُ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِى ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ
“How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their believing, and they have borne witness that the Messenger was true and clear arguments had come to them? And Allah does not guide the unjust people.” (3:86).
أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ جَزَآؤُهُمْ أَنَّ عَلَيْهِمْ لَعْنَةَ ٱللَّهِ وَٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ وَٱلنَّاسِ أَجْمَعِينَ
“(As for) these, their reward is that upon them is the curse of Allah and the angels and of men, all together.” (3:87).
خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا لَا يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمُ الْعَذَابُ وَلَا هُمْ يُنْظَرُونَ
“Abiding in it; their chastisement shall not be lightened, nor shall they be given respite.” (3:88).
إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ تَابُوا۟ مِنۢ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ وَأَصْلَحُوا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
“Except those who repent after that and amend, then surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful” (3:89).
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ بَعْدَ إِيمَـٰنِهِمْ ثُمَّ ٱزْدَادُوا۟ كُفْرًا لَّن تُقْبَلَ تَوْبَتُهُمْ وَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلضَّآلُّونَ
“Surely those who disbelieve after their believing, then increase in unbelief, their repentance shall never be accepted, and these are they that have gone astray.” (3:90).
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ وَمَاتُوا۟ وَهُمْ كُفَّارٌ فَلَن يُقْبَلَ مِنْ أَحَدِهِم مِّلْءُ ٱلْأَرْضِ ذَهَبًا وَلَوِ ٱفْتَدَىٰ بِهِۦٓ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ وَمَا لَهُم مِّن نَّـٰصِرِينَ
“Surely, those who disbelieve and die while they are unbelievers, the earth full of gold shall not be accepted from one of them, though he should offer to ransom himself with it; these it is who shall have a painful chastisement, and they shall have no helpers” (3:91).
Commentary
The verses may possibly be connected to the preceding ones dealing with the People of the Book; but apparently, they are separate and revealed in another context.
Verse 86
Qur’an: “How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their believing, and they have borne witness that the Messenger was true and clear arguments had come to them? And Allah does not guide the unjust people” (3:86).
The question shows the improbability of the situation; that it is impossible for them to get guidance. The verse ends with the sentence, “and Allah does not guide the unjust people” (3:86). We have explained somewhere earlier that in such sentences the adjective explains the reason, that is, Allah does not guide them because they are unjust, and as long as they persist in injustice, they will not get Divine Guidance. Of course, they could not be debarred from that guidance if they repented and returned to Allah.
The clause “and they have borne witness that the Messenger was true” (3:86): If the verse refers to the People of the Book, then the ‘bearing of witness’ would refer to their realization that the signs foretold of the awaited prophet perfectly fit the Messenger of Allah (S); and the next clause, “and clear argument had come to them” (3:86), would refer to that reality.
If, on the other hand, it refers to those who apostatized after professing Islam, then the “witness” refers to their affirmation of the truth of the Prophet - not only a ritual affirmation resulting from ignorance or tribal influence, but the one based on clear understanding, as the clause “and clear arguments had come to them” (3:86) indicates.
In any case, as the verse contains the clause “and they have borne witness that the Messenger was true” (3:86), it shows that the disbelief refers to their rejection of Faith after the truth was made clear to them, after the proof was completed against them. They had disbelieved only because they hated the truth, because they haughtily wrangled with the believers and transgressed the limit unjustly. It is this injustice which does not let its people find their way to safety and deliverance.
There is another syntactic explanation given for the clause, “and they have borne witness” (3:86). It has been said that it is in conjunction with the word ‘Imanihim’ ( اَيْمَانِهِمْ = their belief) and it means ‘who disbelieved after they had believed and after they had borne witness.’ Yet another explanation: The conjunctive, “and”, in the clause, “and they have borne witness”, has a circumstantial connotation, and the sentence means, ‘while they have borne witness’. In this case it would be a circumstantial clause.
Verses 87 - 88
Qur’an: “(As for) these, their reward is that upon them is the curse of Allah and the angels and of men, all together” (3:87).
Qur’an: “Abiding in it; their chastisement shall not be lightened, nor shall they be given respite” (3:88).
We have earlier explained how all the curse returns to such people. For detail see the Commentary of the following verse 2:159. 1
Verse 89
Qur’an: “Except those who repent after that and amend, then surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful” (3:89).
“Aslahu” ( اَصْلَحُوا = amended, changed to better); it points to sincerity of repentance; that they repent with true heart, by which the impurity of disbelief is removed and their soul is purified by true belief. This word does not refer to doing good deeds; of course, good deeds follow the sincere repentance and are inseparable from it, yet they are not a part of repentance.
The clause, “then surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful” (3:89), puts the reason to point to its unspoken result. Its connotation is as follows: then Allah forgives them and has mercy on them, because Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
Verses 90 - 91
Qur’an: “Surely those who disbelieve after their believing, then increase in unbelief, their repentance shall never be accepted, and these are they that have gone astray” (3:90).
Qur’an: “Surely, those who disbelieve and die while they are unbelievers, the earth full of gold shall not be accepted from one of them, though he should offer to ransom himself with it; these it is who shall have a painful chastisement, and they shall have no helpers” (3:91).
The two verses together explain the reason of the verse in the beginning, “How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their believing.” (3:86). It applies a general rule to a particular case. A man, who disbelieves after truth has been made manifest to him and proof completed against him, and who then does not sincerely return to Allah, belongs to either one of the two categories:
Either he is an apostate who disbelieves after believing, then increases in unbelief and goes on transgressing without ever thinking of amending his ways; Allah shall not guide such a person nor will He accept his insincere repentance, because he does not turn to God with sincerity; he is totally lost, and there is no hope at all of his returning to the right path.
Or he is an unbeliever who dies in his disbelief, in his aversion to truth, without ever repenting; Allah shall not guide him in the hereafter to the Garden, because he himself never tried to return to his Lord; and there is no substitute for this returning to Lord, for repentance. He therefore will have nothing to offer as ransom, nor will any intercessor or helper intercede on his behalf or help him.
In this context, look at the sentence:
“And these are they that have gone astray” (3:90).
In Arabic it is a “nominal sentence”, because its predicate is a nomen agentis, ‘ad-dallun’ ( اَلضَّآلُّوُنَ = lit: strayers); such a sentence indicates permanence. Then there is the demonstrative pronoun ‘ula’ika’ ( اُولئِكَ = lit: those) which is used for distant objects; and it shows that they are removed far from mercy of Allah. Thus there are three modes of emphasis which have been combined here: addition of a separate personal pronoun, “they”, use of a noun (nomen agentis) for predicate; and the definite article ‘al’ ( اَلْ = the) before the said predicate - all these together prove that they are hardened wrongdoers and transgressors for whom there is no hope of guidance.
Likewise, the last sentence, “and they shall have no helpers” (3:91), proves that they will not get benefit of intercession - it is the intercessors who shall be the helpers on the Day of Resurrection. We have earlier explained that the use of plural, e.g., intercessors, in the verse “So we have no intercessors” (26:101) proves that there shall be intercessors on the Day of Judgement, but the unbelievers shall not be able to avail themselves of their intercession.2 The same is the import of the plural, “helpers”, in this place.
The second verse says that no ransom shall be accepted from them, nor will they get any helper. It is because these things are substitutes, which are used when the original thing is not available. They lost their chance of repentance in this life and there is nothing that can be a substitute for repentance in the hereafter.
It also shows that the clause “and die while they are unbelievers” (3:91) implies that they died without repentance. As such, there is no conflict between this apparently exclusive statement and the following verse:
“And repentance is not for those who go on doing evil deeds, until when death comes to one of them, he says. “Surely now I repent “; nor (for) those who die while they are unbelievers. These are they for whom We have prepared a painful chastisement” (4:18).
In this verse ‘when death comes’ means, when the death approaches and man see the signs of the next world and his ties with this world are cut off. Obviously at this point of time the door of repentance is closed on him.
‘al-Mil’ ’ ( اَلْمِلْءُ = a quantity that fills a pot); ‘mil’ al-ardi dhahaban’ ( مِلْءُ الْاَرْضِ ذَهَباً = a quantity of gold that would fill the earth); in this phrase, the earth is taken for a pot that is filled by gold. It is an imaginative ‘al-isti‘arah bi ’l-kinayah, ( اَلْاِسْتِعَارَةُ بِالْكِنَايَةِ = extended metaphor).
Traditions
It is reported in Majma‘ al-bayan about the verses ‘How shall Allah guide a people...:’ (3:86). It is said that the verses were revealed about a man from the Ansar, al-Harith Ibn Suwayd Ibn as-Samit by name; he had treacherously killed al-Mujadhdhar Ibn Dhiyad al-Balawi, fled (from Medina), renounced Islam and reached Mecca. Thereafter he felt remorse and sent a message to his people to ask the Messenger of Allah (S) whether he would be allowed to repent. They asked (the Messenger of Allah); so the verses were revealed: How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their believing... Except those who repent after that and amend... A man from his clan took these verses to him. (Hearing them) he said: ‘I surely know that you are truthful, and the Messenger of Allah is truer than you, and Allah is the most truthful of the three.’ So, he returned to Medina, repented and his Islam was good. It is reported from Mujahid and as-Suddi; and the same is narrated from Abu ‘Abdillah (‘a).”
Ibn Ishaq and Ibn al-Mundhir have narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas that he said: “Verily al-Harith Ibn Suwayd killed al-Mujadhdhar Ibn Dhiyad and Qays Ibn Zayd (from Banu Dubay‘ah) during the Battle of Uhud, and then went over to Quraysh, and remained at Mecca. Thereafter he sent message to his brother, al-Julas, expressing his desire of repentance, so that he could return to his people. Thereupon, Allah sent these verses about him: How shall Allah guide a people...” (Then the story continues as above.)3
The author says: This story has been narrated through other chains, and there are many differences among them: For example, ‘Ikrimah says that it was revealed about Abu ‘Amir ar-Rahib, al-Harith Ibn Suwayd Ibn as-Samit and Wahwah Ibn al-Aslat (among twelve persons) who had renounced Islam and went over to Quraysh. Later they wrote to their families whether their repentance would be accepted. Then these verses were revealed.
Another example is found in Majma‘ al-bayan, that the verse, Surely those who disbelieve after their believing, then increase in unbelief..., was revealed about the eleven companions of al-Harith Ibn Suwayd. When al-Harith returned (to Medina), they said: ‘We shall remain in Mecca in our disbelief as long as we wished; later on, if and when we wanted to return (to Medina) we would return, and there would come for us too what had been revealed about al-Harith.’ When the Messenger of Allah (S) conquered Mecca, some of them re-entered into Islam and their repentance was accepted. And it was revealed about those of them who had died in disbelief, Surely, those who disbelieve and die while they are unbelievers... (This report has been attributed to some exegetes.)
There is a third view that it was revealed about the People of the Book. Others say that the verse, Surely, those who disbelieve after their believing, then increase in unbelief..., was revealed particularly for the Jews, because at first, they believed (in Musa), then disbelieved in ‘Isa, then increased in unbelief by rejecting Muhammad (blessings of Allah be on him and his progeny and the two prophets).
There are other explanations given by other people.
If you ponder on these views, explanations, and traditions, you will realize that all are based on personal opinions of the ancient exegetes - as some later ones have remarked. As for the tradition attributed to as-Sadiq (‘a), it is al-mursalah and weak. Moreover, it is possible for a verse to have more than one cause for its revelation; and Allah knows better.
