they will not return...
they will not return: The hypocrites are like a man who is surrounded by a blinding darkness in which he cannot distinguish good from bad, beneficial from harmful; to remove it he kindles a fire, and in its light is able to see to some distance around it; then as soon as it has illumined all around, Allâh, extinguishes it by wind, rain or some other thing like it and he is left as he was before - in utter darkness.
And now he is pressed between two darknesses - that of the night and that of bewilderment and nullity of his endeavour. This parable fits exactly on hypocrites. A hypocrite declares himself to be a Muslim, and through it gains some benefits, as he is treated as a Muslim in matters of marriage and inheritance etc.
But as soon as death approaches - the time when the real and complete benefits of Islam should have appeared - Allâh takes away the light, nullifies his deeds and leaves him in utter darkness in which he cannot see at all. Thus he falls between two darkness - his original one and the one he added with his dark deeds. QUR’?N : Or like an abundant rain . . .
Allâh has power over all things: "as-Sayyib " ( = abundant rain); "al- barq " ( = lightning; flesh of lightning); "ad-ra'd" ( = thunder that is heard after lightning); "as-sâ `iqah " ( = thunderbolt, to strike with lightning). This is another example for the hypocrites. A man is caught in a rainpour; darkness surrounds him, he is unable to see around and loses his bearings.
The rain tells him to run away; to find a shelter somewhere, but darkness prevents him from it; frightening thunder and lightning-bolts have overwhelmed him, yet when lightning appears he tries to take its advantage by walking ahead in its light - but it appears only for a fleeting moment and then disappears; whenever it shines he walks ahead and when darkness I engulfs him again he stops. A hypocrite is exactly in the same position. He does not like Islam, but has to profess to be a Muslim.
His words do not reach his heart; what he says is different from what he believes in his heart. Because of this discrepancy his path is not illuminated as it should have been. The result is that he gropes about aimlessly and stumbles every now and then; he walks a little and then stops. Thus Allâh punishes him with disgrace; and had He wished so, He would have taken away his sight and hearing, thereby disgracing him on the very first day. Previous…