ٱلْمُنَٰفِقُونَ وَٱلْمُنَٰفِقَٰتُ بَعْضُهُم مِّنۢ بَعْضٍ
Al-munāfiqūna wa'l-munāfiqātu baʿḍuhum min baʿḍ; yaʾmurūna bi'l-munkari wa yanhawna ʿani'l-maʿrūfi wa yaqbiḍūna aydiyahum; nasu'llāha fa-nasiyahum; inna'l-munāfiqīna humu'l-fāsiqūn · Waʿada'llāhu'l-munāfiqīna wa'l-munāfiqāti wa'l-kuffāra nāra jahannama khālidīna fīhā; hiya ḥasbuhum; wa laʿanahumu'llāh; wa lahum ʿadhābun muqīm
"The hypocrite men and the hypocrite women are of one another: they enjoin what is wrong and forbid what is right, and they hold their hands shut. They forgot God, so He forgot them. The hypocrites are the ones who have gone out of the way. · God has promised the hypocrite men, the hypocrite women and those who reject the fire of Gehenna, abiding in it. It is enough for them. God has cursed them; and for them there is a lasting punishment."
I rely on al-Munāfiqūn
The detailed analysis of the concept of hypocrisy — the root ن-ف-ق, the description of "a nest with two doors", the behavioural portrait, and why the phenomenon appeared in Medina — was made in al-Munāfiqūn. I do not repeat it here and rely on that treatment.
I record this as an observation of grammar: the expression does not state a being together — it states a likeness. Between them there is not a bond but a sameness. And in verse 71 this expression will change; it will be given there in a table.
| Verb | What |
|---|---|
| Yaʾmurūna bi'l-munkar | Enjoining what is wrong |
| Wa yanhawna ʿani'l-maʿrūf | Forbidding what is right |
| Wa yaqbiḍūna aydiyahum | Holding the hands shut |
The third verb must be recorded. The root ق-ب-ض: to close the palm, to take hold of a thing and draw it in. Qabḍ — the closing of an open hand.
I record this as an observation about the language: miserliness is named by the physical state of the hand. And its opposite will come in verse 71 as yuʾtūna'l-zakāt (they give the alms).
The root ن-س-ي: to forget; and to abandon. The lexicographers record the root's second sense (to leave a thing and take no interest in it).
This pattern — the same verb returned upon the other party — has been treated in many places in this series. The same structure was present in al-Naml at 27/50 (wa makarū makran wa makarnā makrā) and in al-Anfāl at 8/30 (wa yamkurūna wa yamkuru'llāh). I rely on that treatment.
And in ascribing the verb to God a note of transcendence is required: the Qurʾān itself says wa mā kāna rabbuka nasiyyā (Maryam 19/64). For this reason the fa-nasiyahum here is explained, by the common note of the lexicographers and the exegetes, in the root's second sense — abandoning, taking no interest. The verse in question was treated in Maryam; I rely on that treatment.