102 Page Notes

04 Surah An-Nisa (continued)

Page 102 - Related Hadith/Sunnah

4:148

4:149

4:150

4:151

4:152

4:153

4:154

Translation of the meaning by Sahih International.

Page 102 - Related Hadiths and Sunnah

Page 102 of the Quran begins the sixth juz’ (section) and contains Surah An-Nisa, verses 148 through 154.

This page covers critical social dynamics, including the speech ethics of the oppressed vs. the oppressor, the divine criteria for accepting messengers, and an extensive historical review of the challenges Prophet Musa (Moses) faced with the Children of Israel.

1. Uttering Evil and the Exception for the Oppressed (Verse 148)

"Allah does not like the public mention of evil except by one who has been wronged. And ever is Allah Hearing and Knowing." (4:148)

Islam generally forbids backbiting, slandering, or broadcasting people's sins. However, this verse provides a crucial legal and moral exception: an oppressed person (Mazlum) has the divine right to speak out publicly against their oppressor (Zalim) to seek justice or warn others.

• Hadith on the Right of the Oppressed to Speak Out:
  A man came to the Prophet ﷺ complaining about his neighbor who was harming him. The Sunnah shows the Prophet ﷺ guiding the victim to make the issue public:

The Prophet ﷺ said: "Go and take your belongings out into the street." The man did so, and people began gathering around him, asking what happened. When he told them about his neighbor's abuse, the people began cursing the neighbor, saying, "May Allah curse him! May Allah do such-and-such to him!"

The abusive neighbor quickly came running out, saying, "Return your things inside! By Allah, I will never repeat what I did." (Sunan Abi Dawud 5153; graded Sahih by Al-Albani).

• Hadith on the Invocation of the Wronged:
  Because Allah is "Hearing and Knowing" of the cries of the oppressed, the Sunnah severely warns oppressors that the prayers of the victim bypass all barriers.

The Prophet ﷺ sent Mu'adh ibn Jabal to Yemen and told him: "Fear the supplication of the oppressed, for there is no barrier between it and Allah." (Sahih al-Bukhari 2448; Sahih Muslim 19).

2. Differentiating and Dividing Between Prophets (Verses 150–152)

"Indeed, those who disbelieve in Allah and His messengers and wish to discriminate between Allah and His messengers and say, 'We believe in some and disbelieve in others,' and wish to adopt a way in between - Those are the disbelievers, truly..." (4:150–151)

These verses outline a fundamental pillar of Islamic theology: belief in the prophets is an all-or-nothing requirement. Rejecting even one prophet (like Moses or Jesus) is legally equivalent to rejecting Allah and all of His messengers entirely.

• Hadith on Not Elevating Prophets to Cause Division:
  The Prophet ﷺ strictly forbade Muslims from boasting about him in a manner that belittled other prophets or created sectarian hostility, emphasizing their shared cosmic brotherhood. A Muslim and a Jewish man once had an argument in the market, and the Muslim slapped the Jewish man for saying "By Him who chose Moses over all humanity."

The Jewish man complained to the Prophet ﷺ, who corrected the Muslim companion by saying: "Do not declare me better than Moses, for on the Day of Resurrection, all people will fall unconscious, and I will be the first to wake up. Behold! I will see Moses holding one of the pillars of Allah's Throne. I will not know whether he woke up before me or if he was spared because he had already fallen unconscious at Mount Tor." (Sahih al-Bukhari 2411).

3. Demanding Sensational Miracles & The Golden Calf (Verse 153)

"The People of the Scripture ask you to bring down to them a book from the heaven. But they had of Moses [even] greater than that and said, 'Show us Allah outright,' so the thunderbolt struck them for their wrongdoing. Then they took the calf [for worship] after clear evidences had come to them..." (4:153)

This verse comforts the Prophet ﷺ by highlighting that the stubborn demands of his detractors were not unique to him; their ancestors demanded to physically see God and turned to idolatry (the Golden Calf) immediately after witnessing miracles.

• Hadith on Asking Too Many Unnecessary Questions:
  The Prophetic Sunnah regularly discouraged communities from demanding constant metaphysical signs or digging into pedantic, stubborn hypotheticals, as it historically led to the downfall of previous nations.

The Prophet ﷺ delivered a sermon saying: "Leave me as I have left you (do not ask about things I haven't mentioned). For those who came before you were destroyed only because of their excessive questioning and their disputing with their Prophets." (Sahih al-Bukhari 7288; Sahih Muslim 1337).

4. Raising the Mountain Over Them and the Sabbath (Verse 154)

"And We raised over them the mount for [refusing] their covenant; and We said to them, 'Enter the gate bowing humbly', and We said to them, 'Do not transgress on the Sabbath', and We took from them a solemn covenant." (4:154)

This verse recalls the profound moment Mount Sinai (Tor) was physically suspended above the Children of Israel as an ultimatum to uphold their covenant, alongside their subsequent violation of the sacred Saturday (Sabbath) laws.

• Hadith on the Sanctity of Covenants:
  While the specific historical event of the hovering mountain belongs to the history of the Israelites, the Prophet ﷺ continuously linked these Quranic reminders to the absolute necessity of Muslims maintaining their own oaths and treaties.

"Four traits, whoever possesses them is a pure hypocrite...: when he speaks, he lies; when he makes a covenant, he acts treacherously; when he makes a promise, he breaks it; and when he argues, he behaves wickedly." (Sahih al-Bukhari 34).

References

• Al-Albani, N. (Ed.). Sahih Sunan Abi Dawud.

• Al-Bukhari, M. (n.d.). Sahih al-Bukhari.

• Al-Naysaburi, M. (n.d.). Sahih Muslim.

• Sijistani, Abu Dawud. (n.d.). Sunan Abi Dawud.