And when they are told, ‘Believe as other people believe,’ they answer, ‘Shall we believe as the weak‑minded believe?’ Oh, verily, it is they, they who are weak-minded, but they know it not! (Wa idhā qīla la‑hum āminū ka-mā āmana al-nās qālū a’ nu’minu ka-mā āmana al-sufahā’ a’ lā innahum hum al-sufahā’ wa lākin lā ya‘lamūn)
The Positioning of This Verse and Its Relationship with the Previous One:
Consider this: In so far as these two verses (2:11) (2:13) consist of advice and guidance; the enjoining of what is lawful, adornment (al‑taḥlīyya), and encouragement [in the present verse] are linked to the prohibiting of what is unlawful, purification (al‑takhlīyya), and intimidation in the previous one. And in so far as they both describe [the dissemblers’] crimes, their decrying the believers and pride [in the present verse] are linked to their mischief‑making (ifsād) in the previous one. Just as their mischief‑making is tied to their depravity (fasād), every sort of which is a branch of the Zaqqum tree of dissembling.
The Relationships Between the Verse’s Phrases
Consider this: With the sentence And when they are told, ‘Believe as other people believe’ (Wa idhā qīla la‑hum āminū ka-mā āmana al-nās), [the verse] first suggests with its parts the obligation of calling to sincere belief in emulation of the mass of the people, who are genuine [believers], for indeed the conscience perpetually urges them to do this. It then quotes [the dissemblers’ retort]: they answer, ‘Shall we believe as the weak‑minded believe?’ (qālū a’ nu’minu ka‑mā āmana al-sufahā’), indicating their [pique,] obduracy and pride, and their insistence on their rightness. Yes, all liars look on the false as true and think their ignorance is knowledge. For [the dissemblers’] hearts have been corrupted by dissembling, and pride and the tendency to corrupt spring from depravity, and because of this they have grown obdurate. Due to their corruption, they secretly confabulate and plan to lead others astray. And in their pride, they consider fervent religiosity and perfect belief, the cause of independence and contentment, to be ignominy, foolishness, and indigence. Moreover, because of their duplicity, they dissemble when saying this, also. For outwardly they say: “How should we be like the weak-minded, for we aren’t mad? We are as superior as you could wish.” While inwardly they say: “How could we be like the believers, for most of them are paupers? In our eyes they are the dim-witted rabble of different nations.” You can now supply the fine points to the two parts of this conditional sentence.
The Qur’an then hurls back at them the stone they flung at the believers, ramming it down their throats: Oh, verily, it is they, they who are weak‑minded (a’ lā innahum hum al‑sufahā’). For whoever is obstinate to this degree and ignorant without realizing it, deserves to be paraded among the people and proclaimed the feeble-minded one, for this is an established fact, and their calling the believers weak-minded is due to their own feeble-mindedness.
Then by saying: but they know it not (wa lākin lā ya‘lamūn), it is pointing out that their ignorance is compounded because they are unaware of it. It is therefore useless to offer them advice; they should be shunned entirely. For it is only those who realize that they are ignorant that may benefit from advice.
The Positioning of [and Relationships Between] the Phrases’ Parts
And when they are told, ‘Believe as other people believe’; (Wa idhā qīla la‑hum āminū ka-mā āmana al-nās) In this phrase, the certainty expressed by the word when (idhā)" indicates the necessity of offering guidance [to the people] by ‘enjoining what is lawful.’
[Being] told (Qīla): The passive mood infers that offering advice is an obligation [that may be performed by a number of people in the name of the community (‘alā sabīl al‑kifāya)], as has been mentioned.
The use of the verb believe (āminu) rather than be sincere in your belief (akhliṣū fī īmānikum) indicates that insincere belief is not belief.
The phrase as [others] believe (ka‑mā āmana) is an allusion to the fine examples of admirable men, suggesting that sincerity may be attained by following them.
The word the people (al‑nās) contains two points, which induce the conscience to always enjoin the good.
For as other people believe (ka‑mā āmana an-nās) intimates: “Follow the mass of the people, for to oppose them is an error that the heart is not so bold as to commit.”
Secondly, it infers that those who do not believe should not be counted as true men; only believers are true human beings, as though the others are human only in form. For the believers have advanced in perfections and true humanity is particular to them, and the rest have fallen from the level of humanity.
The phrase: they say: shall we believe as the weak‑minded believe? (qālū a’ nu’minu ka‑mā āmana al-sufahā’) has this meaning: “We don’t accept advice. How could we be like those lowly wretches? How can we people of standing be put on a par with them? We look on them as dim-wits?”
Thus, the word they say (qālū) hints at their self‑justification, their spreading their views, their disdain for advice, and their arrogance and presumption.
The rhetorical question shall we believe (a’ nu’minu) indicates their obstinately sticking to their ignorant views. As though, using the interrogative form, they are saying to the one advising them: “Consult your conscience! Can you in all fairness accept that we reject [religion]?”
Moreover, they say (qālū) contains three consecutive aspects; that is: first of all they address themselves, then their fellows, then the one offering them guidance, for it is usual when offered advice for a person first of all consult himself, then his fellows, then to refer back to you with the results of his reasoning.
Hence, when they are told what was said, they examine their corrupted hearts and rotten consciences and are shown the way of denial. What they say is an interpretation of what is in their hearts. Then with a view to making mischief they refer to their brothers, and are again shown the way of denial, and they begin holding secret confabulations. Then by way of making excuses and to mislead they turn back to the one giving them advice and say provocatively: “The difference between us is so great we can’t be compared with them. They are poor and have to be strong in religion and Sufism; they simply have to be like that. But we are people of high rank and standing.”
In their arrogance they call on the one offering them advice to be fair, and as a ruse and stratagem say deceitfully: “Don’t suppose us to be feeble‑minded; you shouldn’t imagine we’re people like that! No, we act as sincere believers act.” However, inwardly they say: “We aren’t like those impoverished, worthless believers,”
which is an oblique hint at their depravity and spreading of corruption and their arrogance and duplicity.
As the weak‑minded believe (ka‑mā āmana al-sufahā’); that is, “You suppose the believers to be the people of perfection, but in our view they are contemptible mendicants. They’re forced to turn to religion. They’re worthless for all their numbers. They’re the riff-raff of other nations.”
Their claiming that there can be no comparison between them indicates that Islam is the refuge of the downtrodden, the recourse of the poor, the defender of truth, and the preserver of right, the preventer of arrogance, and the restrainer of pride; it is the only measure of perfection and distinction.
The dissemblers’ claim to be different also points to the cause of dissembling, which for the most part is self‑interest, pride, and arrogance, as is explained by the verse, We see [in] you nothing but a man like ourselves; nor do we see that any follow you but the most abject among us, in judgement immature.
It is also a concealed sign that Islam cannot be made an instrument of domination and oppression in the hands of the worldly and high‑ranking; it is rather a means of upholding right at the disposal of the poor and needy, contrarily to other religions. History testifies to this.
Oh, verily, it is they, they who are weak‑minded (a’lā innahum hum al‑sufahā’)
Consider this: The sole reason for the Qur’an’s vigorous assaults on dissembling and its condemnation of it is that its various kinds have been the cause of most of the calamities visited on the Islamic world.
The interjection a’lā – Oh, verily is to attract attention and publicize their folly and call on public opinion to testify to it. The real meaning of a’lā is “Don’t you know that they’re weak‑minded? That is, you ought to know!” The intensifying particle inna acts as a mirror to the truth and is a means to it, as though it were saying: “Refer to the truth and understand that their outward sophistries are baseless.”
The pronoun they (hum) infers restriction [to themselves] and [its purpose] is to reject their self‑justification and repulse their imputation of feeble-mindedness to the believers, indicated by as the weak‑minded believe (ka‑mā āmana al-sufahā’). That is, the weak-minded are those people who give up [working for] the hereafter at the behest of their pride and self-interest and fleeting pleasures, unlike those who earn eternal life by giving up their ephemeral desires.