Tafseer 4:66

In the Name of Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful

And if We had decreed upon them, ‘Kill yourselves” or “Leave your homes” they would not have done it, except for a few of them. But if they had done what they were instructed, it would have been better for them and firmer position (for them in faith)[1]. (An-Nisa 4:66)


All praise is due to Allah. The peace and blessings of Allah be upon Muhammad the Messenger of Allah. Although this assignment is supposedly a tafseer of the verse 66 in Soorah an-Nisaa’, what is written below is hardly a tafseer and represents only the thought process of the student as he tried to understand the verse.

Background of the Verse

It seems that the overall theme of the verse is about obedience to the Judgment of Allah and His Messenger as apparent in few verses preceding it,

O you who believe, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best [way] and best in result. (4:58)

An important question that should be asked in this verse is who are those who will not obey Allah’s commandment of “Kill your selves” and “Leave your homes”?

If one reads from verse 59 to 70 it appears that those who will disobey the commandments (especially of killing one’s self) mentioned in this verse primarily refers to the hypocrites as the few verses before it suggests,

Have you not seen those who claim to have believed in what was revealed to you [O Muhammad], and what was revealed before you? And when it is said to them, “Come to what Allah has revealed and to the Messenger,” you see the hypocrites turning away from you in aversion. So how [will be] when disaster strikes them because of what their hands have put forth and then they come to you swearing by Allah, “We intended nothing but good conduct and accommodation.”4:59-62

Further, the verse that immediately precedes it negates the possession of Imaan unless judgment concerning dispute is referred back to the Messenger, peace be upon him and find no hesitation in accepting his judgment,

But not, by your Lord, they will not [truly] believe until they make you, [O Muhammad], judge concerning that over which they dispute among themselves and then find within themselves no discomfort from what you have judged and submit in [full, willing] submission. 4: 65

The two verses following the verse being discussed suggest that the “them” referred are not in yet in guidance from Allah:

And then we would have given them for Us a great reward. And we would have guided them to a straight path. (4:67-68)

Hence, it can be understood from the context that those who will not follow the order are the hypocrites. Although Allah did not command them to kill themselves, yet had He commanded them, then this could be as a form of testing to those who claim Imaan to see if they really believe in their hearts what they say on their tongues. The goal of such testing is not for Allah to know who the real believers are but probably to expose the hypocrites to the Muslims, to bring fear in their hearts and to warn them. Allah’s knowledge encompasses the pass, present, future, and events that could have happened but did not happen, as evident in His saying, “…they would not have done it, except for a few of them. But if they had done what they were instructed, it would have been better for them and firmer position (for them in faith)”. But it is possible that the harm of exposing these hypocrites to the Muslims is greater than concealing them, that is why in a preceding verse Allah said to the Prophet (s),

“Those are the ones of whom Allah knows what is in their hearts, so turn away from them (use not violence against them) but admonish them and speak to them a far-reaching [i.e. effective] word”. (4:63)

There are instances during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace be upon him) where exposing and chastising the hypocrites would do more harm than good to the nascent Muslim state. There is a specific principle in the Shari’ah concerning the prohibition of removing evil if the consequential result is even more evil. Shaykhul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned:

An example of this issue from the Sunnah is the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) leaving Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salool and others like him among the leaders of hypocrisy and corruption because of their many helpers and people loyal to them. The removing of their evil through punishment would have brought on the removal of other good of greater degree because of the anger of his tribe and the arousal of their tribalistic hostility against the Prophet and the Muslims.

Also, this would have resulted in the repulsion of the people when they heard that the Prophet of Allah kills his companions. Thus when he spread among the people that which he spread in the slander against A'isha (May Allah be pleased with her) and then denied it, and when Sa'ad ibn Mu'adh spoke to him harshly as he deserved, and pointed out his hypocrisy, and then Sa'ad ibn Ubadah - though he was a believer and companion and righteous man - invoked his protection that Abdullah ibn Ubayy be left alone, the tribe of each of these two men gave their loyalty to the position of their tribesman until chaos and bloodshed nearly resulted.[2]

The problem with the understanding that those who will disobey the command and trial of this verse refers to the hypocrites is the word of Allah “except for a few of them”. Does the verse imply that there are few hypocrites who are so bent in hiding their hypocrisy that they are willing to die for it? This is highly unlikely.

The command was for everyone with the Prophet at that time. And those who would have comply with the order, had it been given, are the elite amongst the companions of the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam (see the tafseer of the scholars below that agrees with this understanding). Therefore at this stage the verse could mean that aside from the hypocrites, there are still some Muslims who might not be able to comply with the order, had it been promulgated. This understanding is feasible because if we take the words of Allah “except for a few of them” refers only to the believers, it would imply that the majority of those who surrounds the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam are hypocrites and this is not so[3]. And perchance, it is also the reason why Allah did not command it - out of mercy to the believers.

Interpreting the Qur’aan should not be done according to opinions thus we turn to the scholars of Tafseer.

Tafseer of the Mufassiroon

Abu Jaafar At-Tabari[4] mentioned a narration from Mujahid, the student of Ibn Abbas:

Muhammad bin Amr told us saying: Abu ‘Aasim told us, from ‘Eesa, form Ibn Abee Najeeh, from Mujaahid concerning the saying of Allah, the Most High: “And if We had decreed upon them, ‘Kill yourselves”, they are about the Jews, meaning: wal ‘Arab - just like what was commanded to the companions of Musa alaihis salam.[5]

At Tabari is referring to the verse in Soorah al Baqarah,

And [recall] when Moses said to his people, “O my people, indeed you have wronged yourselves by your taking the calf [for worship]. So repent to your Creator and kill yourselves [i.e. the guilty among you]. That is best for [all of you] in the sight of your Creator.” Then He accepted your repentance; indeed, He is the One Who accepts repentance, the Merciful. (2:54)

Ibn Katheer[6] quoted at-Tabaree saying:

Allah ordered Musa to command his people to kill each other. He ordered those who worshipped the calf to sit down and those who did not worship the calf to stand holding knives in their hands. When they started killing them, a great darkness suddenly overcame them. After the darkness lifted, they had killed seventy thousand of them. Those who were killed among them were forgiven, and those who remained alive were also forgiven.[7]


Al Qurtubi[8] in his Tafsir of the verse mentions:

The reason of revelation (for this verse) is what was narrated from Thaabit ibn Qays bin Shammaas (while) he was boasting with a Jew. So the Jew said: By Allah! Truly it was decreed for us to kill ourselves so we killed ourselves, (until) those who were killed reached seventy thousand. So Thaabit said: By Allah if Allah decrees for us “Kill your selves” indeed we would have killed ourselves.

Abu Is-haaq As Sabi’ee said: When the verse “and if we had decreed upon them ‘Kill yourselves’” (until the end of the verse) was revealed, a man said: If we were commanded, we would have done so, and praise be to Allah who forgives us (alladhee afaana). This has reached the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him, so he said: Verily there are men from my Ummah whose Imaan in their hearts is firmer than the unshakeable mountains[9].

Ibnul Wahhab said that Malik said: The one who said that is Abu Bakr as Siddeeq radiallahu anhu; and this is also what Makkee mentioned that certainly he is Abu Bakr. An Naqqaas mentioned that he is Umar ibnul Khattab radiallahu anhu. It was mentioned from Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu that he said: If that were decreed for us, certainly I would have started with myself and my family.
Al Qurtubi quoted another scholar of Tafseer Abul Layth As-Samarqandee[10] who said:

From amongst those who were (the saying of the Prophet Muhammad about the men of his Ummah who will kill themselves if they were told to) were Ammaar Ibn Yaasir, Ibn Mas’ood and Thaabit ibn Qays, so they said: Indeed had Allah commanded us to kill ourselves and leave our homes we would have done it. That is why the Messenger of Allah said: Verily there are men from my Ummah whose Imaan in their hearts is more firm than the unshakeable mountains.

The word “If” points to the prohibition of something lil imtinaa’ ghairihi[11]. Indeed Allah subhanahuwataala informed us that He did not command us to do that (kill ourselves) as a clemency toward us so as not to expose our sins. How many from the commandments that we have broken while we fear Him, so how about carrying out the burden of this commandment?

Alhamdulillah, just as we have thought that those who will abide by this commandment are the elite from amongst the Sahaabah. Indeed it requires special Imaan like Ibraaheem sacrificing Ismaa’eel.

Consequently the following categories of this issue can possibly be derived:

1. Killing one’s own self

a. Suicide: This is unequivocally forbidden in Islam. Allaah said in Soorah an-Nisaa’,

O you who have believed, do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly but only [in lawful] business by mutual consent. And do not kill yourselves [or one another]. Indeed, Allaah is to you ever Merciful. (4: 29)

The Messenger of Allah forbade suicide in no uncertain terms:

"He who commits suicide by throttling shall keep on throttling himself in the Hell Fire (forever) and he who commits suicide by stabbing himself shall keep on stabbing himself in the Hell-Fire."[12]

There is a narration wherein a Muslim military commander ordered his troops to jump in to the fire. His troops were ready to enter it until a young man said to bring this matter to the Messenger of Allah. Ibn Katheer mentioned in his tafseer a narration collected by Imaam al Bukhaaree,

Ibn Abbas said that the Áyah, “Obey Allaah and obey the Messenger, and those of you who are in authority”, was revealed about ‘Abdullah bin Hudháfah bin Qays bin ‘Adi, who the Messenger of Allah sent on a military expedition.

This statement was collected by the Group[13], with the exception of Ibn Majah. At-Tirmidhi said, “Hasan, Ghareeb”. [14]

Imam Ahmad recorded that ‘Ali said, “The Messenger of Allah sent a troop under the command of a man from Al-Ansár. When they left, he became angry with them for some reason, and said to them, ‘Has not the Messenger of Allah commanded you to obey me?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Collect some wood’, and then started a fire with the wood, saying, ‘I command you to enter the fire.’ The people almost entered the fire, but a young man among them said, ‘You only ran away from the Fire to Allah’s Messenger. Therefore do not rush until you go back to Allah’s Messenger, and if he commands you to enter it, then enter it.’ When they went back to Allah’s Messenger, they told him what had happened, and the Messenger said,

“Had you entered it, you would never have departed from it. Obedience is only in righteousness.” [15]

Obedience to this military commander is a form of suicide as hinted by the words of the Messenger of Allaah, “Had you entered it, you would never have departed from it” possibly alluding to the entrance into the hellfire, which is the punishment of those who commit suicide. The order of this military commander has no military objective whatsoever; hence it cannot be included as a military tactics.

2. Attacking overwhelming enemy forces that tantamount to sure death
The story of Az-Zubair in the battle of Yarmouk is an excellent example of this category:

In this battle the Muslim Army was 30,000[16] strong and the Romans were 200,000. It was a great and fierce battle and one of the Muslims said “ what is more abundant then the Romans “ and “ who is less than the Muslims ” meaning - look how many the Romans are against our small numbers and so Az Zubair said “ don ’ t be afraid for verily victory is with Eemaan ” and when the battle got very fierce Zubair stood up and said to the Muslims “ who will give me Ba’aih until death ” and go and fight the Romans.

So a group of Muslims stood up with him and they went straight into the ranks of the Romans they were all killed except Zubair. He returned by himself, he said this a second time to the Muslims encouraging them to fight, “who will, give me Ba’aih until death”. So another group stood up like the first and went straight into the thicket of the Romans and all of them were killed except Zubair. He returned by himself, he said this a third time trying to kindle the love for death, and the spirit of Jihad among the souls of the Muslims saying “who will give me Ba’aih until death” and none of them stood up because they had seen what had happened the first two instances: that all of them were killed. So Zubair did something which was very, very remarkable, he took his son Abdullah, who was only ten years old and put him on his horse and he took two swords, something which only he and Khalid Ibn Waleed could do and went into the thicket of the Romans and thereby he achieved victory.[17]

Perhaps the Juramentados of Bangsamoro during the Moro-Spanish wars (that lasted from 16th until the late 18th century) can also be mentioned in this category[18]. For a fuller account see The Swish of the Kris by Vic Hurley published in http://www.bakbakan.com/swishkb.html.

In the contemporary Islaamic world, there is a difference of opinion whether suicide bombing is legal in Islam or not. This issue is beyond the scope of this article but it merits a brief mention. It seems that the issue can be furthered divided into 2 sub issues:

a. Suicide Bombing is not allowed in Islam as involves two sins: suicide and indiscriminate killing of non combatants. As far as I know, the scholars of Saudi Arabia hold this view. http://www.fatwa-online.com/. (free e-book can be downloaded). I think this is the strongest opinion and this is the opinion I follow.

b. Suicide Bombing is allowed everywhere it is needed and justified. I think the Al Qaeda group and their ilk is of this opinion.

Should there be a Khaleefa, difference of opinion in Fiqh matters such as this is avoided for his decision is binding on Muslims as long as it is not in sin. Perhaps sections of this Ummah don’t have to resort to such desperate measures if Khilaafa is established.

2. Kill others amongst your own group

The command “Kill yourselves” could also mean “kill others among your own group”. As previously stated, this was what happened between the children of Israel when some of them worshipped the calf while Moses was away in the mountains.

Allah said in Soorah al An’aam

“…And do not kill the soul which Allaah has forbidden [to be killed] except by [legal] right…” (6:151)

Thus, it includes Qisaas for premeditated murder and Hudood or prescribed punishment for crimes punishable by death such as adultery.

4. The case of Ibraheem alaihis salam and Khidr.

There is a fourth type of a command to kill that is seemingly quite separate from the first three above categories. This is because the reason behind command to kill here is not retribution.

The story of Ibraheem on the verge of sacrificing Ismaa’eel is recalled:

And when he reached with him [the age of] exertion (i.e. the ability to work and be of assistance), he said, “O my son, indeed I have seen in a dream that I [must] sacrifice you, so see what you think.” He said, “O my father, do as you are commanded. You will find me, if Allah wills, of the steadfast.” 37:102

This commandment to Ibraheem is a revelation from Allah as the dreams of the Prophets are true dreams.

Another strange story is that of al Khidhr when he killed a young lad to the bewilderment of Moosa alaihis salam.

So they set out, until when they met a boy, he [i.e. al Khidhr] killed him, [Moses] said, “Have you killed a pure soul for other than [having killed] a soul? You have certainly done a deplorable thing. (18: 74)

And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared that he would overburden them by transgression and disbelief. So we intended that their Lord should substitute for them one better than him in purity and nearer to mercy. [19](18:80-81)

Al Khidhr’s action is based on a revelation from Allah as it involves matters of the future over which only Allah has knowledge of.

“And they found a servant from among our servants [i.e. al-Khidhr] to whom We had given mercy from Us and had taught him form Us a [certain] knowledge.” (18:65)

The Islamophobes

Missionaries promoting Islamophobia have actually used this very verse to point that Islam makes a fanatic out of a Muslim. They quote the verse in discussion and say that in Islam, Allah commands Muslims to kill their own selves. This is a shallow argument because even in their bible, the story of Ibraheem sacrificing his son is mentioned and they don’t have any problem with that. As we have came to know, that the verse in hand is more of a trial to test the Imaan of those who are around the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam as it was a trial to Ibraheem and Allah didn’t actually command it to us.

Hijrah: Another issue of this verse

Detailed discussion concerning Hijrah is also beyond the scope of this article. It is noteworthy to mention that the trials of this verse have parallelism between the children of Israel in the time of Moosa and the Muslims at the time of the Prophet.

As for the first part of the command “kill your selves” then it is already discussed above. The second parallelism is the command to migrate. As we know, the Prophet and the Muslims migrated from Makkah to Madeenah – thus they were called the Muhaajiroon. Similarly, the children of Israel were also told to migrate from the land of Egypt to the promise land.




Abu Khalid








[1] Translations of the meanings of Qur’aan in this work are taken from Saheeh International unless otherwise stated.
[2] Enjoining Right and Forbidding Wrong by Ibn Taymiyyah. Translated into English by Salim Morgan.
[3] Read Soorah an Nasr when the Prophet was told by Allah that people will be entering Islam in great numbers. This implies that when the Prophet died and his mission is done, people indeed entered Islam and became Muslims, contrary to the views of the Rawaafida Shi’a.
[4] He is Abu Jaafar Muhammad Ibn Jareer at-Tabaree (839-923 CE/225-310 AH) (who) was from Tabreez, in what is now western Iran, and was a well known legalist, hadeeth scholar, and historian. Although originally a Shaafi’ee scholar, he reached the level of ijtihaad and became independent of the school. His tafseer is the oldest to reach us intact. All later tafseers have depended on this tafseer in one way or another. Usool at Tafseer (The Methodology of Qur’aanic Explanation by Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, pg. 54.) His tafseer is considered those type of tafseer based upon narrations (Tafseer bil Riwaayah).
[5] See http://www.thenoblequran.com/ for the Tafsir of 4:66
[6] He is Abul-Fidaa ’Ismaa’eel ibn Katheer ad-Dimashqee (1300-1373 CE/699-774 AH) was a Shaafi’ee fiqh scholar and a student of Ibn Taymeeyah. He was also an eminent hadeeth scholar and historian. His historical work, al Bidaayah wa a-Nihaayah, is considered the most authentic Islaamic history book. Tafseer ibn Katheer is also considered the most authentic book of tafseer and is second only to tafseer at Tabaree in popularity among scholars. (Usool at Tafseer , The Methodology of Qur’aanic Explanation by Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, pg. 56)
[7] Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Eng. Trans.) vol. 1, pg. 230.
[8] He is Aboo Abdillaah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al Ansaaree al Qurtubee (d. 1273 CE/671 AH) who was born in Cordoba in what is now Spain. His Tafseer is characterized by a heavy emphasis on fiqh issues. His tafseer is considered one of the monumental works in this field, and is indispensable for the fiqh issues of the Qur’aan. (Summarized from Usool at Tafseer, The Methodology of Qur’aanic Explanation by Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, pg. 559-61).
[9] No reference of the hadeeth was cited by al Qurtubee.
[10] He is Abul Layth Ibn Ibraaheem as-Samarqandee (d. 983 CE/372 AH) was a fiqh scholar of the Hanafee school and was nicknamed “Imaam al Hind”. His tafseer was based on hadeeths and narrations from the Sahaabah, the taabióon and later scholars. However it does contain some weak narrations and the chain of narrations for statements from the Sahaabah and taabi’oon were not mentioned, nor were their opinions analyzed. This tafseer consists of four volumes and is in print. (At Tafseer wal Mufassiroon, vol. 1, pp. 235-7. Quoted in Usool at Tafseer by Dr Bilal Philips, pg. 53)
[11] I’m still waiting for help to translate these sentences.
[12] Saheeh al Bukhaaree, the Book of Funerals hadeeth no: 1284
[13] Or the Seven (As-Sab’ah) Al Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawood, An-Nasaa’ee, At-Tirmidhee and Ibn Majah.
[14] Muslim 3:1465, Abu Dawood 3:92, Tuhfat Al-Ahwadhi 5:364 and An-Nasaa’ee 7:154 (Quoted in Tafsir Ibn Kathir [Eng Trans] pg 495.
[15] Ahmad 1:82 (Quoted in Tafsir Ibn Kathir [Eng Trans] pp. 495-96
[16] According to ar-Raheeq al Makhtoom, the number of Muslim fighters was only 3000.
[17] The Life of Abdullah Ibn Az-Zubair by Shaikh Muhammad al Anjaaree. Transcribed for http://www.salafipublications.com/ by bint Ahmed ibn Sulaiman Dhul Hijjah 1419 (April 1998), pg. 3.
[18] The purpose of mentioning the Juramentados is not pride of ancestry by the student but upon consideration that this article will also be presented to Bangsamoro readers.
[19] From the benefits of knowing the story of Moosa and al Khidhr is that whatever seemingly evil things may have befallen us, if we are believers, it is good for us. This gives us Imaan in what Allah has decreed and be patient with it.