The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 52
CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH PT. 1 وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ أَمِنُوْا كَمَا أَمَنَ النَّاسُ قَالُوا And when it is said to them. 14 أَنُؤْمِنُ كَمَا أُمَنَ السُّفَهَاءُ أَلَا إِنَّهُمْ هُمُ السُّفَهَاءُ وَلَكِنْ لا يَعْلَمُوْنَ ) 'Believe as other people have believed,' they say: 'Shall we believe as the foolish people have believed?' Beware! it is surely they that are foolish but they do not know. 20 would have sufficed, but they have been used together to intensify the meaning. Commentary: In the last verse the hypocrites insinuated that it was not they but the main body of Muslims who caused disorder. The reply to this insinuation is given in the present verse in the emphatic words, Beware! it is surely they who create disorder. The last words of the verse signify that the hypocrites lack the faculty of insight. If, instead of fabricating a defence for their duplicity, they had tried only to study their own mind, they could have easily perceived that it was not the desire of peace or reform but cowardice and jealousy that prompted their loathsome conduct. 20. Important Words: (foolish people) which is the plural of is derived from dew i. e. he was or became light-witted or ignorant. The word w means: 1. simple or light-witted or foolish; 2. ignorant; 3. fickle and inconstant; 4. weak in intelligence; 5. one whose opinion is of no consequence; 6. one who squanders away his wealth and property without consideration (Aqrab, Mufradāt & Lisān). 52 (they know) is derived from i. e. he knew. dal means: 1. he knew it or became acquainted with it; 2. he knew it thoroughly so as to base his belief on it (Aqrab). Commentary: The verse means that when the believers asked the hypocrites to be sincere in their faith, the hypocrites would say that the believers were like fools squandering away their lives and property, a mere handful of men who had taken up the fight against the whole country. The hypocrites called true Muslims "fools" because they thought they (the hypocrites) could protect their own lives and property by maintaining friendly relations with the disbelievers; while the true Muslims, on account of their complete estrangement from disbelievers, were exposing their lives and possessions to constant danger. Muslims were also given to spending recklessly on religion. Such allegations are contained in 5:59; 8:50; 9:79 & 63:8. God replies to them by saying: Their possessions and their children should not excite thy wonder; Allah only intends to punish them therewith in this world, that their souls may depart while they are disbelievers (9:85). The verse