When Sin Surrounds the Soul
“Yes, whoever earns
evil and his sin has encompassed him - those are the companions of the Fire;
they will abide therein eternally.” (Al-Baqarah: 81) This ayah
refutes the claims of the People of the Book, especially the Jews, who killed
the prophets, spread corruption throughout the land, and were arrogantly
defiant, not in one era but across all ages. Yet, despite all this, they claim
to be the allies of Allah and His chosen people, and that even if they are
punished with the Fire, it would be only for a few numbered days.
There are lessons and indications
in this ayah that become clear with reflection:
1.
First, the response to
them came in a general form, it applies to them and to anyone else who does the
same actions and makes the same claims, because the standard of Allah the
Exalted is justice: “And We place the scales of
justice for the Day of Resurrection.” (Al-Anbiya’: 47).
2.
Second, the avoidance of
addressing them directly and instead answering in the third person form
indicates belittlement of them and a rejection of their claims and assertions
that they are superior to others and have a status with Allah that no one else can
attain.
3.
Third, in Allah’s saying: “Whoever earns evil”—the word “earns”
implies profit and gain. This is perhaps what Shaitan whispers to the human
being: he beautifies sin for him until truth becomes confused with falsehood,
and he sees evil as good and good as evil: “Then is
one to whom the evil of his deed has been made attractive so he considers it
good [like one rightly guided]?” (Faṭir: 8) “Those whose effort is lost
in worldly life, while they think that they are doing well in work.” (Al-Kahf:
104)
4.
Fourth, in His saying: “And his sin has encompassed him”—this is a
metaphor, an explicit simile, where the error becomes a wall that
surrounds the person, leaving no way for escape or salvation. It becomes a full
prison in which a person loses his freedom and dignity. The metaphor conveys
control, restriction, humiliation, and dominance.
5.
Fifth, the mention of the
sin in the singular form, which is the recitation of the majority, suggests
that this sin is associating partners with Allah (shirk), as mentioned by the
scholars of tafsir, and they infer this from the threat of eternal punishment
in the Fire.
There may also be another
indication here: that a person may be overtaken by a single sin, even if it is
not shirk, and it may dominate him and prevent him from Allah’s mercy. He then
becomes heedless of acts of worship, takes sins lightly, and forgets to repent.
And in the recitation of Nafiʿ, with
the plural: “And his sins have encompassed him,”
it indicates that a single sin opens the doors to other sins. One moves from
sin to sin until they accumulate upon him, surround him, and take control of
him.
There is yet another indication
in the word “his sin”: the pronoun “his” implies that each of these people has
his own particular sin that surrounds him—this one is surrounded by arrogance,
that one by greed and stinginess, another by lying, or usury, or adultery. And
the wise one is the one who becomes alert to himself, purifies it, frees it
from slavery to sins, and uplifts it through obedience to Allah the Exalted, by
turning sincerely to Him and holding fast to His firm rope and straight path.
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