Transliteration:( Qad kaanat lakum uswatun hasanatun feee Ibraaheema wallazeena ma'ahoo iz qaaloo liqawmihim innaa bura 'aaa'u minkum wa mimmaa ta'budoona min doonil laahi kafarnaa bikum wa badaa bainanaa wa bainakumul 'adaawatu wal baghdaaa'u abadan hattaa tu'minoo billaahi wahdahooo illaa qawla Ibraheema li abeehi la astaghfiranna laka wa maaa amliku laka minal laahi min shai; rabbanaa 'alaika tawakkalnaa wa ilaika anabnaa wa ilaikal maseer )
13. In that a believer will send the parents to Paradise and the infidel children to Hell. Also, the believer will have no love and affection for the infidel reiatives.
14. All the Muslims are being addressed that dislike the infidels with much vehemence, as was shown by Hazrat Ebrahim (On whom be peace). It should be remembered that obedience to the Holy Prophet absolutely obligatory upon every believer, while that of the other Prophets is in respect of certain special deeds, and that too if of Allah and His Rasool صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم have given an instruction for it. Thus, this verse does not contradict the following verse: "You have in the Messenger of Allah an excellent example" ($33 V21). Here, under certain conditions. order is given for certain obedience, but there command is given for absolute obedience,
15. Hazrat Surah and Hazrat Lut (On them be peace) and those who had believed in them. It should be remembered there here, fellowship denotes religious fellowship. If Allah wills, the believers, until the Day of Judgement are together with the Blessed Prophets.
16. This means we dislike you a great deal. In matters of belief and practices we are separate from you. This dislike for the infidels is part of faith.
17 This tells us that practising deliberate concealment of truth (TAQIYYAH is either an act of infidelity or a forbidden act). The practice of the Blessed Prophets is to reveal your faith through your word and deed.
18. We are your enemies in the world and in the Hereafter. This tells us that keeping enmity with the infidels is just as important as keeping friendship with the believers.
19. Declaring faith in Allah Almighty entails declaring faith in His Messengers, His angels, His Books, Paradise, Hell, the Day of Resurrection, etc.
20. It means regarding this issue do not follow Hazrat Ebrahim (On whom be peace) because he had offered a prayer of forgiveness for his uncle Azar due to a special reason. He had hoped that perhaps due to this he might accept faith. When he found out that Azar is firm on his infidelity. Ebrahim (On whom be peace) separated from him. Thus do not make this dus of Ebrahim (On whom be peace) as a proof for friendship with the infidels.
21. This means I can only pray for your forgiveness. But if you remain an infidel, I will not be able to ward off Divine punishment from you. From this we learn that the Blessed Prophets, with the permission of Allah Almighty, would be able to remove punishment of the sinful believers and due to their intercession punishment would be removed. Therefore, the word "for you" is being used here. What the Holy Prophet had said to his daughter Bibi Faatimah was the same, and its meaning too, was the same ie. if you do not accept faith then I will not be able to save you from the punishment of Allah Almighty. Thus, this verse cannot be regarded as a proof of no intercession in favour of the believers. Consult Tafseer Khazain regarding this issue.
The tafsir of Surah As-Saff verse 4 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Saff ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 4.
6. That is, we reject you. We neither consider you to be inthe right nor your religion. The inevitable demand of thefaith in Allah is denial of taghut (Satan): Whoever rejectstaghut and believes in Allah has taken a firm support thatnever gives way. (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayat 256).
7. In other words, it means: Though there is an excellent example for you in Abraham’s (peace be upon him) conduct in that he expressed disapproval of his pagan people and broke off all connections with them, yet his promise to pray for the forgiveness of his pagan father and then carrying it out practically is not worth following, for the believers should not have even this much relationship of love and sympathy with the disbelievers. In (Surah At-Taubah, Ayat 113), Allah has clearly warned: It does not behoove the Prophet (peace be upon him) and those who have believed that they should pray for the forgiveness of the polytheists even though they be near kinsmen. Thus, no Muslim is allowed to pray for the forgiveness of his unbelieving kinsmen on the basis of the argument that the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) had done so. As for the question, why did the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) pray thus, and did he carry out his promise practically. The answer has been provided by the Quran in full detail. When his father expelled him from the house, he had said on his departure: I bid you farewell: I will pray to my Lord for your forgiveness.(Surah Maryam, Ayat 47). On the basis of this very promise he prayed for him twice. One prayer is contained in (Surah Ibrahim, Ayat 41): Lord, forgive me and my parents and the believers on the Day when reckoning will be hold. And the second prayer is in (Surah Ash Shuara, Ayat 86): Forgive my father, for indeed he is from among those who have strayed and do not disgrace me on the Day when the people will be raised back to life. But afterwards when he realized that the father for whose forgiveness he was praying, wan an enemy of Allah, he excused himself from it and broke off even this relationship of love and sympathy with him.
As regards to the prayer of Abraham for his father, it was only to fulfill a promise he bad made to him, but when he realized that he was an enemy of Allah, he disowned him. The fact is that Abraham was a tender-hearted, God fearing and forbearing man. (Surah At-Taubah, Ayat 114).
A study of these verses makes the principle manifest that only that act of the prophet is worthy of following, which they persistently practiced till the end. As regards to those acts which they themselves gave up or which Allah restrained them from practicing or which were forbidden in the divine Shariah, they are not worth following, and no one showed follow such acts of theirs on the basis of the argument that that was such and such a prophet’s practice.
Here also another question arises which may create confusion in some minds. In the verse under discussion, the saying of the Abraham (peace be upon him), which Allah has declared as not worth following, has two parts. The first part is that he said to his father: I will pray for your forgiveness, and the second: I have no power to get anything for you from Allah. Of these the first thing of not being a worthy examples to be followed is understandable, but, what is wrong with the second thing that that too has been made an exception from being an example worthily of imitation, whereas it by itself is a truth? The answer is that the saying of the Abraham (peace be upon him) has been included in the exception for the reason that when a person after making a promise with another to do something, says that it is not in his power to do anything beyond that for him, it automatically gives the meaning that if it were in his power to do anything further for him, he would have done that too for his sake. This makes his relationship of sympathy with the other person even more manifest. On that very basis this second part of the saying of the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) also deserved to be included in the exception, although its subject was true in so far as it does not lie even in the power of a Prophet to have a person forgiven by Allah. Allama Alusi in his Ruhal-Maani has also given this same answer to this question.
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