Transliteration:( Yaaa ayyuhal lazeena aamanoo la tulhikum amwaalukum wa laa awlaadukum 'anzikril laah; wa mai-yaf'al zaalika fa-ulaaa'ika humul khaasiroon )
“O you who believe! Let not your wealth or your children divert you from the remembrance of Allah. And whoever does that, they are the losers.”
This verse addresses the believers directly, warning them not to become so engrossed in worldly possessions (wealth) or emotional attachments (children) that they become heedless of the remembrance of Allah.
In Islamic jurisprudence, the “obligatory Zikr” primarily refers to:
The Five Daily Prayers (Salaah), which are the foundation of a Muslim’s spiritual connection with Allah.
In the Sufi path (Tareeqat), the concept of obligatory remembrance is more expansive and includes:
Salaah, recitation of the Qur’an, sending blessings (Darood Shareef) upon the Prophet ﷺ, seeking forgiveness (Istighfar), and invocations (Azkaar).
🧭 The message is not to abandon your responsibilities toward your children or family, but not to let them consume your heart and life to the point that your relationship with Allah suffers.
❝ The heart must always remain turned toward the Beloved (Allah), no matter what the hands are engaged in. ❞
Those who allow temporal pleasures and distractions to overtake their eternal responsibilities are described as “the losers”.
This loss refers to:
Spiritual decline in this life
Missed rewards in the Hereafter
Potential punishment due to negligence
The verse specifically says “those who believe”, indicating that even believers are not immune to heedlessness.
Hence, it is a reminder for self-accountability, not just a condemnation of open sinners.
The great Sufi saints emphasize that the tongue and heart must always remain moist with the remembrance of Allah:
Keep your tongue in constant Dhikr, whether in public or in solitude.
If your last breath departs while remembering Allah, then your ending is blessed.
A famous saying from the Sufis:
"Fire does not burn wet wood, likewise the fire of Hell will not burn a tongue that remained wet with the Dhikr of Allah."
9. O you who believe! Let not your properties or your children divert you from the remembrance of Allah. And whosoever does that, then they are the losers. 10. And spend of that with which We have provided you before death comes to one of you, and he says: “My Lord! If only You would give me respite for a little while, then I should give Sadaqah from my wealth, and be among the righteous. 11. And Allah grants respite to none when his appointed time comes. And Allah is All-Aware of what you do.
Allah the Exalted orders His faithful servants to remember Him frequently and to refrain from being distracted from His remembrance by indulging in their properties and children excessively. Allah informs them that those who engage in this life, its delights and attributes and were busied from the obedience and remembrance of Allah, for which they were created, will be among the losers. They will lose themselves and their families on the Day of Resurrection. Allah encourages the believers to spend in His cause,
(And spend of that with which We have provided you before death comes to one of you, and he says: “My Lord! If only You would give me respite for a little while, then I should give Sadaqah from my wealth, and be among the righteous.) Surely, every person who fell into shortcomings will regret it by the time of his death and will ask for respite, even a short period, so that he does better and attains what he missed. No, rather what occurred, has occurred and what is coming, shall indeed come. Each will be held accountable for his mistakes. As for the disbelievers, they will be as Allah said about them,
(And warn mankind of the Day when the torment will come unto them; then the wrongdoers will say:”Our Lord! Respite us for a little while, we will answer Your call and follow the Messengers!” (It will be said): “Had you not sworn aforetime that you would not leave.”) (14:44), and,
(Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: “My Lord! send me back. So that I may do good in that which I have left behind!” No! It is but a word that he speaks; and behind them is Barzakh (a barrier) until the Day when they will be resurrected.) (23:99-100) Then Allah said;
(And Allah grants respite to none when his appointed time comes. And Allah is All-Aware of what you do.) meaning, when the time of death comes, no one will be granted respite. Surely, HSe is the Most Knowledgeable and t an what they did before. Allah said,
(And Allah is All-Aware of what you do.) This is the end of the Tafsir of Surat Al-Munafiqun. All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and all success and immunity from error come from Him.
(63:9) Believers,[17] let your possessions and your offspring not make you negligent of Allah’s remembrance.[18] For whoso does that, they will be the losers.
17. Now a word of admonition is being addressed to all those people who have entered Islam, whether they are true and sincere believers, or those who profess the faith merely verbally. As we have explained at several places above. the words alla-dhina amanu in the Quran are sometimes used to address the true believers and sometimes to address the hypocrites, for they profess the faith only with the tongue, and sometimes to address the Muslims of all kinds in general. The context itself shows which group is the audience at a particular place.
18. The mention of the possessions and the children, in particular, has been made for man mostly turns away from the demands of the faith for the sake of their well being and interests and becomes involved in hypocrisy, weakness of faith, or wickedness and disobedience; otherwise it implies everything of the world that allures and absorbs man so completely that he becomes heedless of the remembrance of God. This heedlessness in respect of the remembrance of God is indeed the root cause of all evil. If man only remembers that he is not free but the servant of One God, and that God is fully aware of all his actions and deeds, and he will be held accountable one day before Him for all his actions and deeds, he would never be involved in any deviation and wickedness, and if ever he commits an error due to a human weakness, he will immediately rectify it as soon as he comes to realize his wrongdoing and repent.
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