Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 17: [“Their likeness is as the likeness of one who kindles a fire; and when it lights up all around, Allah goes off with their light, and leaves them in darkness that they cannot see.”] A quick bit of context about this particular example: the first 5 verses of Surah Al-Baqarah pertain to qualities of the believers. Verses 6 and 7 relate to disbelievers, and those that are on the extreme of disbelief. Verses 8 to 16 refer to people that are caught in between – either those who claim to be believers even though they are not, or those who are confused between belief and disbelief. Amongst them is a group that has clearly become hypocritical, so much so that they will claim to believe when they are amongst believers, and when they go to the groups of disbelievers, they will say the opposite. They cause mischief and disturb the community and society, stirring up trouble whenever they have the chance, yet they are not coming forward as accepting that they are disbelievers opening; rather, at that time in Madinah, it is advantageous for them to act like they are believers, because the Muslims have the upper hand and are, generally speaking, controlling the state, even though Madinah at that time is a multifaith and multicultural community. It is advantageous to be a Muslim because they have control, influence, and power at that time, but these people do not like the Muslims or their progress, and it bothers or disturbs them, so they keep looking for secret alliances with these groups. Allah (SWT) says, “These people have sold out their guidance and acquired deviance in its place. This exchange of theirs is not beneficial, nor will it ever be.” And, for the future, “They have closed the doors of guidance for themselves.” Two examples are given about these people; what I recited to you was the first example, verse 17. That example is like someone who has lit a fire. Now, a fire is lit for a number of purposes: for light, for heat, to cook food and so on. There are numerous purposes for fire. These people have set the fire and ignited it, and just when the fire sparks up and the flames start giving off light, and as the light that would have surrounded the person and everything around them, suddenly, the light disappears.
Just when the light was about to illuminate them and their surroundings, Allah (SWT) took away their light and left them in darkness, unable to see. What happened with these people? What is being compared here? This is about the third group of people that was referred to. They are being compared to a person in complete darkness who gathers the means to create a fire and starts it, and just when they are about to enjoy the light, it fades away. What was the light, why did it fade away, and what was the darkness that followed? The light here was the light of Islam. These are people who had exposure to Islam. Now, some of them never agreed to be a Muslim in the first place. Their shahada was a lie and was just for the people around them. There were others amongst them who may have been sincere in the beginning, but before their Iman could solidify, they were taken away. In either case, both groups had the exposure to Islam. Those who were insincere to begin with may have been insincere, but they had enough exposure to Islam and Muslims that they could have become sincere. They may have started out as hypocrites, but they could have become real Muslims and nobody would have known. That was between them and Allah (SWT). Similarly, those who started out as sincere Muslims but who were pulled away by other people also had the exposure. This light and fire refers to the light of Iman that they could have potentially been exposed to. Some Mufassireen have mentioned that this light refers to the possibilities that opened up to them because of Islam; people welcomed them, they were able to make friends and do business, when there were battles in which Muslims were victorious they got a share in the spoils of war, they were able to marry Muslims women and were welcomed to Muslim communities – some Mufassireen have said that the light that is being mentioned is the advantages that came to them being a Muslims.
Interestingly, in the literal translations of the verse, Allah (SWT) does not take the fire away, but rather, the light itself – the enlightenment that they had access or exposure to was taken away. When did Allah (SWT) take it away? Here, some Mufassireen say, are some people who enjoy the advantages of being a Muslim during their lives, and the moment they left this world, it all came to an end. They came to task, and on the Day of Judgement, these people will be raised with no light (Noor). There will be no light for them in their graves, no light when they rise from their graves, and no light for them when they stand on the Day of Judgement; in fact, these are the people who will go looking for light. When they see the true believers on the Day of Judgement, they will go chasing after them, saying “Wait for us, we do not have any light of our own. Please slow down so we can walk in your light.” They will be told, “Go back and seek your light.” They will think that there was some place behind them that they may have missed and that if they go there, they will find light, but what the believers will be referring to is the past world. They would have built all their light of good deeds in the living world, and if the hypocrites want it, they would have to return to the living world and earn it. They will turn around looking for this place of light, and when they turn around and run, a wall will be erected between them and the believers. On the side that the hypocrites are on will be punishment, and on the side of the believers, there is going to be the bounties that come with entering into Jannah. They will call and scream, “We were with you in the world, and we lived together as neighbors and friends.” And the believers will say, “Yes, you were with us physically; you stayed with us and made appearances where you needed to appear, but you put yourself into this test by siding with the disbelievers and choosing to disbelieve deep inside your hearts. You were constantly looking for an opportunity to hurt and undermine the Muslims and their accomplishments. You constantly remained in doubt and suspicion and could not bring yourself out of that mindset and into belief. Shaytan continued to deceive you. Today, there is no way to rescue yourself, and your destination has been designated.” This is one tafsir of this verse, meaning only after the moment their eyes of the world closed was the reality exposed to them and another reality would begin. The other meaning that some Mufassireen have mentioned was that the light here was referring to their guidance; that just when they had a chance to be exposed to guidance and taken advantage of it, they chose not to, and were deprived. Even having exposure to the light of the fire was deprived from them. So, Allah (SWT) took it away, and Allah (SWT) took them in darknesses, the Arabic word here being plural, originally meaning “decrease”. As light is being diminished from something, the word “Zulm”, for darkness, to decrease or injustice, is taking place. Allah (SWT) left them in “zulumat”; many darknesses. These darknesses were doubt, suspicion, and constant fear; fear of being called out, of being a hypocrite, of being seen with the disbelievers and fear of being exposed to be allies with those who are trying to hurt Islam. Many darknesses all around them. Even though, interestingly, these were the people who were trying to line up all of their interests so that their interests would be served by both the Muslims and non-Muslims, but Allah (SWT) surrounded them with darknesses, and were unable to see beyond that. They are locked into so many traps that they do not see any escape. How did these people end up? Even though their ears could hear, they were deaf, no longer able to hear the truth. Even though they could speak, they were mute, because they could not speak the truth. Even though their eyes could see, they were blinded, unable to see the truth, even when it was right in front of them. These people were unable to come back. These descriptions are being used to describe a person who is lost somewhere who could not see in the darkness, could not hear anyone, and could not ask anyone for help. That is the ultimate dilemma. Can this person find their way back to the light? They cannot, because they cannot see it, hear it, or ask anyone to help them find it. May Allah (SWT) save us from being deprived of guidance after we have access to it. One of the major lessons here is that once we have exposure to deen, we should not stop there sitting on the edge; we should move forward and do what we can to take advantage of whatever it is that we have, whether it is a small reminder in the form of a message for us or something that pushes or encourages us to come closer to the deen, we should take advantage of it now, lest a time come when those opportunities no longer remain. May Allah (SWT) enable us to take lessons from his book.
