And when they meet those who believe...

And when they meet those who believe, they say: “We believe ”; and when they are alone with their Satans, they say: “Surely we are with you, we were only mocking” (14). Allah pays them back their mockery, and leaves them alone in their rebellion blindly wandering on (15). These are they who buy error for the guidance, so their bargain brings (them) no gain, nor are they guided aright (16).

Their parable is like the parable of one who kindled afire, but when it had illumined all around him, Allah took away their light, and left them in utter darkness - they do not see (17). Deaf, dumb (and) blind, so they will not turn back (18). Or like an abundant rain from the heaven in which is utter darkness and thunder and lightning; they put their fingers into their ears because of the thunder peals, for fear of death, and Allah encom­passes the unbelievers (19).

The lightning almost takes away their sight; whenever it shines on them they walk in it, and when it becomes dark to them they stand still; and if Allah had pleased He would certainly have taken away their hearing and their sight; surely Allah has power over all things (20) . Commentary These thirteen verses are about the hypocrites. We shall discuss this subject in detail in Chapter 63 (The Hypocrites) and in some other places.

Qur’an: They desire to deceive: “al-Khad'ah” ( الخُدعة ) is deceit, duplicity. Qur’an: When they are alone with their Satans: “ash-Shaytan” ( الشيطان ) means evil, wicked; that is why the Iblīs is called the Satan. Qur’an: Their parable is like the parable of one who kindled a fire . . .

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, Allah, 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.