Surah At-Taubah Ayat 55 (9:55 Quran) With Tafsir

Ala-Maududi

(9:55) Let neither their riches nor their children excite your admiration. Allah only wants to chastise them through these things in the present life,^[54] and to cause them to die while they are unbelievers.^[55]

54. “Allah only intends to punish them through them in the life of the world”, because of their great love for their children and wealth as these misled them to adopt the hypocritical attitude which, in turn, degraded them in the Muslim society. Consequently, in the Islamic system they would lose the respect, tire reputation and the prestige they enjoyed in the pre-lslamic society. On the contrary, even the Muslim slaves and the sons of slaves, the farmers and the shepherds, who proved the sincerity of their faith would win honor in the new system, and the big hereditary chiefs, who refrained from this because of their love of the world, would lose their fame, honor and prestige.

In order to illustrate the above, we cite an incident that happened during the caliphate of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). Once some big chiefs of the Quraish including Suhail-bin-Amr and Harith-bin-Hisham, went to see caliph Umar and took their seats near him. Soon after this some humble people from among the Muhajirin and the Ansar came there. The caliph asked those chiefs to make room for them, and seated these humble people near his own seat. This went on for some time till these chiefs reached the remotest corner in the assembly. When they came out, Harith-bin-Hisham said to his companions, “You have noticed what a humiliating treatment has been meted out to us today!” Suhail-bin-Amr replied, “It is no fault of Umar but it is our own fault. When we were invited to Islam, we turned away from it, but these humble people accepted it and made sacrifices for it.” Then both of them returned to the meeting and said, “Today we have noticed your treatment and we feel that it is all due to our own shortcomings, but tell us if there is a way for us to make atonements for our past failures”. The caliph did not give any reply but merely pointed towards the Roman territory, which meant that the only way of regaining their prestige was to expend their lives and wealth in doing Jihad there.

55. “Their souls shall pass away while they are disbelievers” because of their hypocrisy, which would not let them attain sincere faith till they die. Thus after ruining their moral and spiritual lives in this world, they would leave it in the state of unbelief, which will ruin their lives in the Hereafter in a far worse way.

Ibn-Kathir

55. So let not their wealth nor their children amaze you; in reality Allah’s plan is to punish them with these things in the life of this world, and that their souls shall depart (die) while they are disbelievers.) Allah says to His Messenger ,

(So let not their wealth nor their children amaze you…) In similar Ayat, Allah said,

(And strain not your eyes in longing for the things We have given for enjoyment to various groups of them, the splendor of the life of this world, that We may test them thereby. But the provision (good reward in the Hereafter) of your Lord is better and more lasting) ﴿20:131﴾, and,

(Do they think that in wealth and children with which We enlarge them. We hasten unto them with good things. Nay, but they perceive not.) ﴿23:55-56﴾. Allah said next,

(in reality Allah’s plan is to punish them with these things in the life of this world,) by taking the Zakah due on their money from them and spending it in Allah’s cause, according to the meaning given by Al-Hasan Al-Basri. Allah’s statement,

(and that their souls shall depart while they are disbelievers) means, so that when Allah brings death to them, they will still be disbelievers, to make matters worse for them and the torment more severe. We seek refuge from such an end, which includes being led astray gradually by these things which they have.