Surah 9. At-Tauba, Ayah 37
| إِنَّمَا النَّسِيءُ زِيَادَةٌ فِي الْكُفْرِ ۖ يُضَلُّ بِهِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُحِلُّونَهُ عَامًا وَيُحَرِّمُونَهُ عَامًا لِيُوَاطِئُوا عِدَّةَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ فَيُحِلُّوا مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ ۚ زُيِّنَ لَهُمْ سُوءُ أَعْمَالِهِمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ |
| Transliteration | : | 'inna-maa an- nase' ziyaadah fe al- kufr yud.all bi- -hi 'alladhena kafaro yuh.illon -hu caam(an) wa- yuh.arrimon -hu caam(an) li- yuwaat.i'o ciddah maa h.arrama 'allaah fa- yuh.illo maa h.arrama 'allaah zuyyina la- -hum so' acmaal -hum wa- 'allaah laa yahde al- qawm al- kaafiren |
| Pickthall | : | Postponement (of a sacred month) is only an excess of disbelief whereby those who disbelieve are misled, they allow it one year and forbid it (another) year, that they may make up the number of the months which Allah hath hallowed, so that they allow that which Allah hath forbidden. The evil of their deeds is made fair-seeming unto them. Allah guideth not the disbelieving folk. |
| Asad | : | The intercalation [of months] is but one more instance of [their] refusal to acknowledge the truth56 - [a means] by which those who are bent on denying the truth are led astray. They declare this [intercalation] to be permissible in one year and forbidden in [another] year,57 in order to conform [outwardly] to the number of months which God has hallowed: and thus they make allowable what God has forbidden.58 Goodly seems unto them the evil of their own doings, since God does not grace with His guidance people who refuse to acknowledge the truth. |
| Malik | : | Transposing a prohibited month is only an addition to unbelief, thereby the disbelievers are misguided. They make a certain month lawful one year and in another year they make the same a forbidden month, so that they make up for the months which Allah has sanctified, thus making lawful what Allah has forbidden. Their evil actions seem pleasing to them. Allah does not guide the disbelieving people. |
| Yusuf Ali | : | Verily the transposing (of a prohibited month) is an addition to unbelief: the unbelievers are led to wrong thereby: for they make it lawful one year and forbidden another year in order to adjust the number of months forbidden by Allah and make such forbidden ones lawful. The evil of their course seems pleasing to them. But Allah guideth not those who reject faith. 1297 1298 |
Note - 56Lit., "is but an increase in denying the truth (kafr)".
The term nasi', rendered by me as "intercalation", may
also be translated as "postponement" - i.e., the
postponement of lunar months by means of the periodical
intercalation of a thirteenth month, as practiced by the
pre-Islamic Arabs with a view to bringing the traditional
lunar calendar, for purely worldly reasons, into accord
with the solar year (see note [54] above). The Qur'an
describes this practice as an additional instance of kafr
because it contravenes God's declared will as regards the
observance of the lunar calendar in respect of various
religious duties (cf. the preceding verse, as well as
2:189 and the corresponding note [165]).
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Note - 57An allusion to the arbitrary manner in which the
pre-Islamic Arabs intercalated a thirteenth month in the
third, sixth and eighth year of every eight-year period.
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Note - 58By means of the intercalation spoken of above, the pagan
Arabs did in most years keep the number of months to
twelve; but by divorcing the four "sacred months"
(Muharram, Rajab, Dhu 'l-Qa'dah and Dhu 'l-Hijjah), from
their proper lunar context they obviously profaned and
perverted the natural law.
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Note - 1297To meddle with an old-established custom of close time
for warfare during Prohibited or Sacred Months was not
only a demonstration of the Unbelievers against the
Muslims on account of their Faith, but was wrong and
unjust in itself, as it abolished a wholesome check on
unregulated warfare, and prejudiced the law-abiding side
by arbitrary decisions.
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Note - 1298Cf. vi. 122. The lawless man thinks he is doing a great
thing in getting the better of those who are careful to
observe a law they believe in. But the lawless man loses
the guidance of Faith he will therefore lose in the end.
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Lit., "is but an increase in denying the truth (kafr)". The term nasi', rendered by me as "intercalation", may also be translated as "postponement" - i.e., the postponement of lunar months by means of the periodical intercalation of a thirteenth month, as practiced by the pre-Islamic Arabs with a view to bringing the traditional lunar calendar, for purely worldly reasons, into accord with the solar year (see note [54] above). The Qur'an describes this practice as an additional instance of kafr because it contravenes God's declared will as regards the observance of the lunar calendar in respect of various religious duties (cf. the preceding verse, as well as 2:189 and the corresponding note [165]). |
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An allusion to the arbitrary manner in which the pre-Islamic Arabs intercalated a thirteenth month in the third, sixth and eighth year of every eight-year period. |
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By means of the intercalation spoken of above, the pagan Arabs did in most years keep the number of months to twelve; but by divorcing the four "sacred months" (Muharram, Rajab, Dhu 'l-Qa'dah and Dhu 'l-Hijjah), from their proper lunar context they obviously profaned and perverted the natural law. |
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To meddle with an old-established custom of close time for warfare during Prohibited or Sacred Months was not only a demonstration of the Unbelievers against the Muslims on account of their Faith, but was wrong and unjust in itself, as it abolished a wholesome check on unregulated warfare, and prejudiced the law-abiding side by arbitrary decisions. |
