Conversation between the believers and hypocrites on the Day of Judgement!
It’s a wonder how some ayahs can serve as a powerful reminder every single time you come across it. This one ayah in Suratul Hadid is one of those ayahs that seem like a new reminder to me whenever I come across it.
قَالُوا بَلَىٰ وَلَـٰكِنَّكُمْ فَتَنتُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَتَرَبَّصْتُمْ وَارْتَبْتُمْ وَغَرَّتْكُمُ الْأَمَانِيُّ حَتَّىٰ جَاءَ أَمْرُ اللَّـهِ وَغَرَّكُم بِاللَّـهِ الْغَرُورُ
“….. They will say, “Yes, but you afflicted yourselves and awaited [misfortune for us] and doubted, and wishful thinking deluded you until there came the command of Allah. And the Deceiver deceived you concerning Allah.” Suratul Hadid
This ayah actually describes a scene on Judgement Day where the believers and some hypocrites (people who claimed to believe but actually didn’t) are walking towards Jannah on the Siraath. When suddenly a wall is dropped between the believers and the hypocrites and the hypocrites are not able to move forward. So at that point, the hypocrites will be in shock because they really thought they would get to Jannah. So they ask the believers on the other side of the wall about why they were not on that side. And the part of the ayah that I shared is the response of the believers.
In this ayah, the believers describe the step by step process through which a person gets further and further away from Allah. The first thing that they mention is that the hypocrites had put themselves in fitnah. (فَتَنتُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ ).They put themselves in questionable circumstances. They hung around with people they knew were messed up. Then the next thing that the believers mention is that the hypocrites procrastinated (وَتَرَبَّصْتُمْ). They knew that they should fix themselves and change the company that they were in but they kept putting it off. They kept saying that they will change later, thinking that they could put the brakes on their temptations whenever they liked. But things kept getting worse. And as the believers mention, they started developing doubts (وَارْتَبْتُمْ). They started developing doubts especially about deen because they wanted to justify the sins that they were doing. Because it was only the deen that was stopping them from fulfilling their desires so having doubts about deen made them feel more comfortable with doing sins. And finally, as the believers mention, false hopes had deluded them (وَغَرَّتْكُمُ الْأَمَانِيُّ). This means that they lost all interest in having higher aspirations like gaining the pleasure of Allah and getting to Jannatul Firdaus. And as a result, their hearts became occupied with this life. They started hoping that the things of this temporary world can bring them a pleasure that they could not have in the remembrance of Allah.
This is a process that each and every single one of us may go through. Perhaps right now we are at a stage where we have put ourselves in fitnah. We have habits that we know will take us away from the remembrance of Allah. And perhaps we have moved onto the next stage and have started thinking that we can quit later. And maybe some of us have reached the stage where we have started to develop doubts. And some of us have gone even further where the only things that concerns are the things of this worldly life.
May Allah save us from this no matter which stage of this process that we are in and may He make us of those who are on the right side of the wall on Judgement Day. Ameen!
*Taken from a lecture by Ustadh Nouman
