Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Surah Al-Ma'idah
Surah 5 · Al-Ma'idah · verse 61 of 120

Quran 5:61 · Al-Ma'idah

وَإِذَا جَآءُوكُمۡ قَالُوٓاْ ءَامَنَّا وَقَد دَّخَلُواْ بِٱلۡكُفۡرِ وَهُمۡ قَدۡ خَرَجُواْ بِهِۦۚ وَٱللَّهُ أَعۡلَمُ بِمَا كَانُواْ يَكۡتُمُونَ

And when they come to you, they say, "We believe." But they have entered with disbelief [in their hearts], and they have certainly left with it. And Allah is most knowing of what they were concealing

Translation: Sahih International
Maulana’s commentary · Tazkirul Quran

There were certain of the Jews of Madinah who were impressed by Islam. Moreover, considering the increasing domination of Islam, they did not want to incur its open enmity. Although in their hearts these people were steadfast in the religion of their forefathers, they used to make a show of being believers by their utterances. Such people forget that their dealings are not actually with any human being but with God, and God is the Being who knows what is inside one’s heart. When He deals with anyone, it will be based on reality and not on any words which that person chose to utter to protect his own interests. There were two types of prominent Jews—one the rabbis and the other the holy men. The latter were ahbar, i.e. scholars and interpreters. Both types remained busy day and night in the work of religion, for their leadership was propped up solely by religious work and they received substantial amounts in the name of religion. But, the real secret of their leadership and public acclaim was their presentation of a popular version of religion rather than the true religion favoured by God. They spoke and acted ostensibly for the sake of religion, but in reality their words and deeds were worldly-wise. Worse, they gave to the people, in the name of religion, whatever they wanted for themselves, knowing full well that in actuality those things were unconnected with religion.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Tazkirul Quran

In the lectures

Maulana does not cite this verse in the lectures indexed so far. The verses of this surah Maulana does cite →