Surah An-Nisaa: Verse 81 - ويقولون طاعة فإذا برزوا من... - English
Tafsir of Verse 81, Surah An-Nisaa
English Translation
And they say, "[We pledge] obedience." But when they leave you, a group of them spend the night determining to do other than what you say. But Allah records what they plan by night. So leave them alone and rely upon Allah. And sufficient is Allah as Disposer of affairs.English Transliteration
Wayaqooloona taAAatun faitha barazoo min AAindika bayyata taifatun minhum ghayra allathee taqoolu waAllahu yaktubu ma yubayyitoona faaAArid AAanhum watawakkal AAala Allahi wakafa biAllahi wakeelanTafsir of Verse 81
That obedience to the Holy Prophet ﷺ is obligatory was the subject of verse 80. Here, the Prophet ﷺ was comforted in case the disbelievers rejected his message. Now comes a mention of some hypocrites who used to wriggle out of this obligation.
Commentary
The first verse (81) which begins with the words: وَيَقُولُونَ طَاعَةٌ فَإِذَا بَرَزُوا مِنْ عِندِكَ بَيَّتَ طَائِفَةٌ مِّنْهُمْ غَيْرَ الَّذِي تَقُولُ (And they say, "Obedience (we observe)..." condemns those who practice a policy of double-dealing. They will say something verbally and have something else hidden in their hearts. Once this is established, what should be the attitude of the Messenger of Allah towards such a set of people? The latter part of the verse carries a special instruction about it.
An important instruction for a leader
The verse: فَأَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّـهِ ۚ وَكَفَىٰ بِاللَّـهِ وَكِيلًا refers to the hypocrites who, when they came face to face with the Holy Prophet ﷺ said that they were quite obedient to him and had accepted what he had commanded them with. But, when they left his company, they got together and conspired as to how they could disobey him. This duplicity of theirs caused great pain to him. Thereupon, Allah Almighty instructed him to ignore them and continue with his mission placing his trust in Allah because Allah is all-sufficient for him.
From here we know that one who leads people has to go through all sorts of hardships. People tend to level absurd allegations against him. Then, there are enemies in the garb of friendship and trust around him. Despite the presence of all such obstacles, this leader must display determination and steadfastness and devote to his mission with full trust in Allah. If his objective and orientation is right, he will, Insha’ Allah, succeed.
