وَيَقُولُونَ ءَامَنَّا بِٱللَّهِ وَبِٱلرَّسُولِ وَأَطَعْنَا ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّىٰ فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ … أَفِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ أَمِ ٱرْتَابُوٓا۟ أَمْ يَخَافُونَ أَن يَحِيفَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَرَسُولُهُۥ بَلْ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلظَّٰلِمُونَ
Wa yaqūlūna āmannā bi'llāhi wa bi'l-rasūli wa aṭaʿnā thumma yatawallā farīqun minhum min baʿdi dhālik, wa mā ulāʾika bi'l-muʾminīn · Wa idhā duʿū ila'llāhi wa rasūlihī li-yaḥkuma baynahum idhā farīqun minhum muʿriḍūn · Wa in yakun lahumu'l-ḥaqqu yaʾtū ilayhi mudhʿinīn · A fī qulūbihim maraḍun ami'rtābū am yakhāfūna an yaḥīfa'llāhu ʿalayhim wa rasūluh, bal ulāʾika humu'l-ẓālimūn
"They say, 'We believe in God and in the Messenger, and we obey'; then a party of them turns away after that. Those are not believers. When they are called to God and His Messenger, that he may judge between them, at once a party of them turns aside. But if the right is on their side they come to him submissively. Is there a sickness in their hearts, or have they fallen into doubt, or do they fear that God and His Messenger will wrong them? No — it is they who are the wrongdoers."
With the forty-seventh verse the sūra enters a new block, and the subject of the block builds a link with the matter at the head of the sūra.
The verses describe a stance that says a word and does not do what the word requires. And this lies in the same field as the diagnosis of the sūra's fifteenth verse: there too the distance between word and reality was the subject (taqūlūna bi-afwāhikum mā laysa lakum bihī ʿilm).
And the same matter was taken up at al-Ḥujurāt, 49/14-17: there a community had said "we have believed", and an answer had come. The two sūras build the same structure — but in al-Nūr the measure is given by a behaviour: what a man does when he is called to judgement.
The forty-eighth and forty-ninth verses set up a very concrete test, and this is the most striking side of the verses:
| The situation | The behaviour |
|---|---|
| The ruling may go against them | farīqun minhum muʿriḍūn — they turn aside |
| The ruling will go in their favour | yaʾtū ilayhi mudhʿinīn — they come submissively |
The verse, that is, measures a man's attachment to a tribunal by the direction of the ruling that tribunal will give.
And this is an extremely objective measure, which I record as my own reading: whether a man truly trusts an arbiter is known when the arbiter decides against him. Everyone trusts the arbiter who decides in his favour.
أَذْعَنَ — root ذ-ع-ن: the sense the lexicographers record: to submit, to obey, to comply readily. Nāqatun midhʿān — a camel easily driven.
And the choice of the word is worth noting: when they come, they come not unwillingly but submissively. The matter, that is, is not a reluctance; it is a calculation.
The fiftieth verse ranges three possibilities for the cause of this stance, and then gives a fourth answer.
| Order | Possibility | What it conveys |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | a fī qulūbihim maraḍun | Sickness — a disorder in the heart |
| 2 | ami'rtābū | Doubt — irresolution |
| 3 | am yakhāfūna an yaḥīfa'llāhu ʿalayhim | Fear — anxiety at being wronged |
| The answer | bal ulāʾika humu'l-ẓālimūn | None of these: wrongdoing |
And that all three possibilities are rejected is worth noting. The first three could have served as an excuse: sickness is a state, doubt a condition of mind, fear a feeling. The verse accepts none of the three and makes a fourth naming.
يَحِيفَ — root ح-ي-ف: the sense the lexicographers record: to lean to one side, to do injustice. Ḥayf — wrong, injustice.
And the place of the third possibility in the arrangement is worth noting, and I record this as my own reading: the verse puts a ground into the mouths of the men, and then rejects it. The text, that is, itself utters the most plausible excuse the other side could offer.
This is a move like the style recorded in al-Ḥujurāt: the objection is not concealed; it is first said and then met.