Surah Mumtahanah >> Currently viewing Surah Mumtahanah Ayat 4 (60:4)

Surah Mumtahanah Ayat 4 in Arabic Text

قَدۡ كَانَتۡ لَكُمۡ أُسۡوَةٌ حَسَنَةٞ فِيٓ إِبۡرَٰهِيمَ وَٱلَّذِينَ مَعَهُۥٓ إِذۡ قَالُواْ لِقَوۡمِهِمۡ إِنَّا بُرَءَـٰٓؤُاْ مِنكُمۡ وَمِمَّا تَعۡبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ كَفَرۡنَا بِكُمۡ وَبَدَا بَيۡنَنَا وَبَيۡنَكُمُ ٱلۡعَدَٰوَةُ وَٱلۡبَغۡضَآءُ أَبَدًا حَتَّىٰ تُؤۡمِنُواْ بِٱللَّهِ وَحۡدَهُۥٓ إِلَّا قَوۡلَ إِبۡرَٰهِيمَ لِأَبِيهِ لَأَسۡتَغۡفِرَنَّ لَكَ وَمَآ أَمۡلِكُ لَكَ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ مِن شَيۡءٖۖ رَّبَّنَا عَلَيۡكَ تَوَكَّلۡنَا وَإِلَيۡكَ أَنَبۡنَا وَإِلَيۡكَ ٱلۡمَصِيرُ
Qad kaanat lakum uswatun hasanatun feee Ibraaheema wallazeena ma’ahoo iz qaaloo liqawmihim innaa bura ‘aaa’u minkum wa mimmaa ta’budoona min doonil laahi kafarnaa bikum wa badaa bainanaa wa bainakumul ‘adaawatu wal baghdaaa’u abadan hattaa tu’minoo billaahi wahdahooo illaa qawla Ibraheema li abeehi la astaghfiranna laka wa maaa amliku laka minal laahi min shai; rabbanaa ‘alaika tawakkalnaa wa ilaika anabnaa wa ilaikal maseer

English Translation

Here you can read various translations of verse 4

Sahih International
There has already been for you an excellent pattern in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people, “Indeed, we are disassociated from you and from whatever you worship other than Allah. We have denied you, and there has appeared between us and you animosity and hatred forever until you believe in Allah alone” except for the saying of Abraham to his father, “I will surely ask forgiveness for you, but I have not [power to do] for you anything against Allah. Our Lord, upon You we have relied, and to You we have returned, and to You is the destination.

Yusuf Ali
There is for you an excellent example (to follow) in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people: “We are clear of you and of whatever ye worship besides Allah: we have rejected you, and there has arisen, between us and you, enmity and hatred for ever,- unless ye believe in Allah and Him alone”: But not when Abraham said to his father: “I will pray for forgiveness for thee, though I have no power (to get) aught on thy behalf from Allah.” (They prayed): “Our Lord! in Thee do we trust, and to Thee do we turn in repentance: to Thee is (our) Final Goal.

Abul Ala Maududi
You have a good example in Abraham and his companions: they said to their people: “We totally dissociate ourselves from you, and from the deities that you worship instead of Allah. We renounce you and there has come to be enmity and hatred between us and you until you believe in Allah, the One True God.” (But you may not emulate) Abraham’s saying to his father: “Certainly I will ask pardon for you, although I have no power over Allah to obtain anything on your behalf.” (And Abraham and his companions prayed): “Our Lord, in You have we put our trust, and to You have we turned, and to You is our ultimate return.

Muhsin Khan
Indeed there has been an excellent example for you in Ibrahim (Abraham) and those with him, when they said to their people: “Verily, we are free from you and whatever you worship besides Allah, we have rejected you, and there has started between us and you, hostility and hatred for ever, until you believe in Allah Alone,” except the saying of Ibrahim (Abraham) to his father: “Verily, I will ask for forgiveness (from Allah) for you, but I have no power to do anything for you before Allah.” Our Lord! In You (Alone) we put our trust, and to You (Alone) we turn in repentance, and to You (Alone) is (our) final Return,

Pickthall
There is a goodly pattern for you in Abraham and those with him, when they told their folk: Lo! we are guiltless of you and all that ye worship beside Allah. We have done with you. And there hath arisen between us and you hostility and hate for ever until ye believe in Allah only – save that which Abraham promised his father (when he said): I will ask forgiveness for thee, though I own nothing for thee from Allah – Our Lord! In Thee we put our trust, and unto Thee we turn repentant, and unto Thee is the journeying.

Dr. Ghali
You have already had a fair example in Ibrahîm (Abraham) and the ones with him as they said to their people, “Surely we are completely quit of you and whatever you worship apart from Allah. We disbelieve in you, and between you and us enmity has appeared, and abhorrence forever, until you believe in Allah alone.” Except that Ibrahîm said to his father, “Indeed I will definitely ask forgiveness for you; and in no way do I possess anything for you from Allah.” “Our Lord, in (Literally: no You) You we trust, and to You we turn penitent, and to You is the Destiny.

Abdel Haleem
You have a good example in Abraham and his companions, when they said to their people, ‘We disown you and what you worship besides God! We renounce you! Until you believe in God alone, the enmity and hatred that has arisen between us will endure!’––except when Abraham said to his father, ‘I will pray for forgiveness for you though I cannot protect you from God’––[they prayed] ‘Lord, we have put our trust in You; we turn to You; You are our final destination.

Muhammad Junagarhi
(مسلمانو!) تمہارے لیے حضرت ابراہیم میں اور ان کے ساتھیوں میں بہترین نمونہ ہے، جبکہ ان سب نے اپنی قوم سے برملا کہہ دیا کہ ہم تم سے اور جن جن کی تم اللہ کے سوا عبادت کرتے ہو ان سب سے بالکل بیزار ہیں۔ ہم تمہارے (عقائد کے) منکر ہیں جب تک تم اللہ کی وحدانیت پر ایمان نہ ﻻؤ ہم میں تم میں ہمیشہ کے لیے بغض وعداوت ﻇاہر ہوگئی لیکن ابراہیم کی اتنی بات تو اپنے باپ سے ہوئی تھی کہ میں تمہارے لیے استغفار ضرور کروں گا اور تمہارے لیے مجھے اللہ کے سامنے کسی چیز کا اختیار کچھ بھی نہیں۔ اے ہمارے پروردگار تجھی پر ہم نے بھروسہ کیا ہے اور تیری ہی طرف رجوع کرتے ہیں اور تیری ہی طرف لوٹنا ہے

Quran 60 Verse 4 Explanation

For those looking for commentary to help with the understanding of Surah Mumtahanah ayat 4, we’ve provided two Tafseer works below. The first is the tafseer of Abul Ala Maududi, the second is of Ibn Kathir.

Ala-Maududi

(60:4) You have a good example in Abraham and his companions: they said to their people: “We totally dissociate ourselves from you, and from the deities that you worship instead of Allah. We renounce you[6] and there has come to be enmity and hatred between us and you until you believe in Allah, the One True God.” (But you may not emulate) Abraham’s saying to his father: “Certainly I will ask pardon for you, although I have no power over Allah to obtain anything on your behalf.”[7] (And Abraham and his companions prayed): “Our Lord, in You have we put our trust, and to You have we turned, and to You is our ultimate return.


6. That is, we reject you. We neither consider you to be inthe right nor your religion. The inevitable demand of thefaith in Allah is denial of taghut (Satan): Whoever rejectstaghut and believes in Allah has taken a firm support thatnever gives way. (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayat 256).

7. In other words, it means: Though there is an excellent example for you in Abraham’s (peace be upon him) conduct in that he expressed disapproval of his pagan people and broke off all connections with them, yet his promise to pray for the forgiveness of his pagan father and then carrying it out practically is not worth following, for the believers should not have even this much relationship of love and sympathy with the disbelievers. In (Surah At-Taubah, Ayat 113), Allah has clearly warned: It does not behoove the Prophet (peace be upon him) and those who have believed that they should pray for the forgiveness of the polytheists even though they be near kinsmen. Thus, no Muslim is allowed to pray for the forgiveness of his unbelieving kinsmen on the basis of the argument that the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) had done so. As for the question, why did the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) pray thus, and did he carry out his promise practically. The answer has been provided by the Quran in full detail. When his father expelled him from the house, he had said on his departure: I bid you farewell: I will pray to my Lord for your forgiveness.(Surah Maryam, Ayat 47). On the basis of this very promise he prayed for him twice. One prayer is contained in (Surah Ibrahim, Ayat 41): Lord, forgive me and my parents and the believers on the Day when reckoning will be hold. And the second prayer is in (Surah Ash Shuara, Ayat 86): Forgive my father, for indeed he is from among those who have strayed and do not disgrace me on the Day when the people will be raised back to life. But afterwards when he realized that the father for whose forgiveness he was praying, wan an enemy of Allah, he excused himself from it and broke off even this relationship of love and sympathy with him.

As regards to the prayer of Abraham for his father, it was only to fulfill a promise he bad made to him, but when he realized that he was an enemy of Allah, he disowned him. The fact is that Abraham was a tender-hearted, God fearing and forbearing man. (Surah At-Taubah, Ayat 114).

A study of these verses makes the principle manifest that only that act of the prophet is worthy of following, which they persistently practiced till the end. As regards to those acts which they themselves gave up or which Allah restrained them from practicing or which were forbidden in the divine Shariah, they are not worth following, and no one showed follow such acts of theirs on the basis of the argument that that was such and such a prophet’s practice.

Here also another question arises which may create confusion in some minds. In the verse under discussion, the saying of the Abraham (peace be upon him), which Allah has declared as not worth following, has two parts. The first part is that he said to his father: I will pray for your forgiveness, and the second: I have no power to get anything for you from Allah. Of these the first thing of not being a worthy examples to be followed is understandable, but, what is wrong with the second thing that that too has been made an exception from being an example worthily of imitation, whereas it by itself is a truth? The answer is that the saying of the Abraham (peace be upon him) has been included in the exception for the reason that when a person after making a promise with another to do something, says that it is not in his power to do anything beyond that for him, it automatically gives the meaning that if it were in his power to do anything further for him, he would have done that too for his sake. This makes his relationship of sympathy with the other person even more manifest. On that very basis this second part of the saying of the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) also deserved to be included in the exception, although its subject was true in so far as it does not lie even in the power of a Prophet to have a person forgiven by Allah. Allama Alusi in his Ruhal-Maani has also given this same answer to this question.

Ibn-Kathir

The tafsir of Surah As-Saff verse 4 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Saff ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 4.

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