Sūrat al-Ḥajj
Section 6 of 18 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Worshipping on the Edge
Verse 11 is of interest, for it speaks of a certain kind of people — and may Allah not make us of them, for, subḥānAllāh, some resemblance to them can at times be found in ourselves:
وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَعْبُدُ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ حَرْفٍ ۖ فَإِنْ أَصَابَهُۥ خَيْرٌ ٱطْمَأَنَّ بِهِۦ ۖ وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ فِتْنَةٌ ٱنقَلَبَ عَلَىٰ وَجْهِهِۦ خَسِرَ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَٱلْـَٔاخِرَةَ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ ٱلْخُسْرَانُ ٱلْمُبِينُ
“And among men there is one who worships Allah (standing) on the verge: so if some good thing happens to him, he is satisfied with it, and if a trial befalls him, he turns his face back. He loses both this world and the Hereafter. That is the manifest loss.” (22:11)
Among people are those who worship Allah ʿalā ḥarf — on the edge, as it were; that is the gist of the phrase. It means that they worship Allah half-heartedly. When good comes to them, they hasten to the masjid and are content: they render shukr to Allah, they give thanks to Allah (swt), they may offer a prayer, they may give ṣadaqah.
But wa-in aṣābathu fitnatun — if a trial comes upon them in life, and matters cease to go smoothly — inqalaba ʿalā wajhih: they turn upon their faces. They are no longer doing what is good. Khasira al-dunyā wa-l-ākhirah: for such people, both their dunyā and their ākhirah are ruined. Dhālika huwa al-khusrān. May Allah not make us of them.
يَدْعُوا۟ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ مَا لَا يَضُرُّهُۥ وَمَا لَا يَنفَعُهُۥ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ ٱلضَّلَـٰلُ ٱلْبَعِيدُ
“He prays to someone, instead of Allah, who can neither harm him nor benefit him. That is the error that takes him too far from the right path.” (22:12)
They call upon, besides Allah, that which can neither harm them nor benefit them — an extreme deviance indeed.