يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّـهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ ۖ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّـهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَأَنَّهُ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ ﴿24﴾ وَاتَّقُوا فِتْنَةً لَّا تُصِيبَنَّ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنكُمْ خَاصَّةً ۖ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّـهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ ﴿25﴾وَاذْكُرُوا إِذْ أَنتُمْ قَلِيلٌ مُّسْتَضْعَفُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ تَخَافُونَ أَن يَتَخَطَّفَكُمُ النَّاسُ فَآوَاكُمْ وَأَيَّدَكُم بِنَصْرِهِ وَرَزَقَكُم مِّنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ﴿26
O you who believe! Answer Allah (by obeying Him) and (His) Messenger when he (SAW) calls you to that which will give you life, and know that Allah comes in between a person and his heart (i.e. He prevents an evil person to decide anything). And verily to Him you shall (all) be gathered. [8:24]
Explanation of some phrases
That which will give you life – That which will cause you to have a good life in this world and the hereafter.
And fear the Fitnah – Put a border or divider between you and this fitnah. This fitnah could be a trial in this life, some punnishment in the hereafter or both. This divider or border is established by being obedient to Allah.
A Basic Meaning
Allah directs His believing worshipers to being steadfast about learning the Islamic belief system and with the rest of that which the Prophet was sent. This is because in doing this one will have a good life both in this world as well as in the hereafter. We find this because the call to Islam includes good mannerisms and basic human decensy. The one that works by these things will live a good life in both this world and the next.
In these verses, Allah brings our attention to the fact that He knows what is going on, even in our souls and is all powerful over us in every situation. As well as bringing our attention to the fact that we will return to Him on the last day for judgement for our actions.
He warns us from disobeying His commands and leaving those who leave off His commands committing all types of atrocities. It is upon us to be obedient to Him. It is upon us to stop the wrongdoers from going against Allah’s commands. If we don’t do these things we should be warned that Allah punishment could come upon all of us.
Imam Ahmad reports on Hudhaifa bin al Yamaan, that the Prophet said, “I swear by The One in whom my soul is in His hands, that you will command with the good and forbid the evil, or Allah will make worst one from you have power over you, so the best from among you will supplicate or call out and they will not be answered.”
Allah reminds us about the blessings that He has given to the first of the believers from the people of Makkah. They were a small number and in a situation of weakness. They were in fear of their enemies form the people of shirk, fire worshipers and the Romans. This is because they used to kick them out of their homes. So Allah legislated for them the migration to Medina and strengthened and aided them. He increased their provisions and they became leaders once they became firm on their religion.
We would be like that if were were to hold fast to our religion and thank Allah for His blessings upon us. Allah said {And if the people of the towns had believed and had the Taqwa (piety), certainly, We should have opened for them blessings from the heaven and the earth, but they belied (the Messengers). So We took them (with punishment) for what they used to earn (polytheism and crimes, etc.).} [7:96]
Benefits extracted from these verses
- That in the teachings of Islam there is a good life in both this life and the here after.
- The obligation of remember that Allah is watching us when we are alone as well as with the people, which is done by fearing His punishment if we disobey Him and hoping for His reward if we obey Him. We need to do this and remember that he knows what is in the chests of mankind and will bring us to account for that which we do.
- Staying away from evil things ourselves and forbidding the evil doers from these things as well. Other then this, it is possible that the punishment will come to everyone, not just them.
- The obligation of thanking Allah for His blessings upon us and meeting it with obedience so that it will remain and increase. Other then this it will go away.
- On the one that has a sound mind is that he does not put himself in from of the anger, displeasure and punishment of Allah because of his partaking in evil deeds and disobedience. Rather it is upon him to stay away from these things and disobedience, and to give advise to those that are in disobedience to stay away from these matters so that the fitnah does not come to everyone.
