أَفِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ أَمِ ٱرْتَابُوٓا۟ أَمْ يَخَافُونَ أَن يَحِيفَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَرَسُولُهُۥ ۚ بَلْ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ 50
Translations
Is there disease in their hearts? Or have they doubted? Or do they fear that Allāh will be unjust to them, or His Messenger? Rather, it is they who are the wrongdoers [i.e., the unjust].
Transliteration
Afi qulubihim maradun am irtabū am yakhāfūna an yahīfa Allāhu alayhim wa rasūluh. Bal ulā'ika hum al-zālimūn.
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah addresses those who reject the judgment of Allah and His Messenger, questioning their true motivations through three rhetorical questions: whether they have sickness in their hearts, doubt in the message, or fear of injustice from Allah and His Prophet. According to Ibn Kathir and Al-Qurtubi, all three conditions are refuted because Allah is perfectly just and His Messenger is infallible in delivering divine guidance. The ayah concludes that those who turn away from Allah's judgment are indeed the true wrongdoers (zālimūn), emphasizing that rejection of divine law stems from internal spiritual corruption rather than rational objection.
Revelation Context
This ayah appears in the context of Surah An-Nur (Chapter 24, a Medinan surah), which addresses legal and moral conduct in the Muslim community. The ayah specifically responds to those who refuse to submit to Allah's judicial rulings and the Messenger's decisions, likely referencing incidents during the Prophet's lifetime when some hypocrites questioned or resisted his verdicts.
Related Hadiths
The hadith from Sahih Bukhari where the Prophet ﷺ said: 'Whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not from me' relates to the theme of accepting the Messenger's judgment. Additionally, the hadith in Sahih Muslim about the hearts containing disease (marad) connects directly to the ayah's reference to spiritual sickness in the hearts of rejectors.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah reminds believers that resistance to Allah's laws and the Messenger's guidance stems from spiritual illness and corruption within the heart, not from legitimate intellectual concerns. True submission requires purifying the heart of doubt, arrogance, and fear of worldly consequences, trusting completely in Allah's perfect justice and wisdom.