The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 509
PT. 8 AL-AN'ĀM CH. 6 اِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَرَّقُوا دِينَهُمْ وَكَانُوا شِيَعًا As for those who split up. 160 b تَسْتَ مِنْهُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُمْ إِلَى اللهِ ثُمَّ يُنَبِّئُهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْعَلُوْنَ their religion and became divided into sects, thou hast no concern at all with them. Surely their case will come before Allah, then shall He inform them of what they used to do. 899 a30:33. to the punishment of the people through wars; for, in the Quran the coming of angels has been mentioned in connection with the battles that took place between Muslims and their enemies (3:125, 126 & 8:10). The term "coming of the Lord" with regard to disbelievers has been used in the Quran to express death and destruction (2:211). The words thus refer to the punishment of death that I was to overtake the enemies of Islam in other ways than by war. In fact, when an offender is spoken of as having been summoned before God, it is only for punishment. The "coming of the Signs" refers to punishments such as famines, pestilences, etc. Finally, the verse makes it clear that believing at the time when a man is visited by punishment can do him no good. The verse mentions two conditions under which faith is of no avail: firstly, the faith of the man who believes at the time when he is overtaken by punishment; secondly, the faith of the man who has earned no good by his faith, i. e. he whose faith is not accompanied by good works and righteous deeds. The verse 949 does not mean that faith will benefit nobody when the signs of God come. What it means is that at the time when the sign of punishment comes, faith will not avail those for whom this punishment is meant. 899. Important Words: which شيعة sects) is the plural of) شيعا means, a separate or distinct party or sect of men; any people that have combined in or for an affair. The word is derived from ε, which means, it became spread, published, divulged or made known; it became scattered or dispersed. ε also means, he or it followed (him). ab means, he called out to his (straying or lingering) camels, whereupon they went along and followed one another. also means, he encouraged and ,means تشايعت الابل. strengthened him the camels became separate parties; or they went together (Lane). Commentary: The words, split up their religion, signify that when all and sundry begin to follow their own judgement, there are sure to be differences among them and there remains no unity of opinion.