Tafseer Surah Baqarah Verse 74 | Surah Baqarah explanation in English | Surah Baqarah explained | Surah Baqarah Ayat 74

Tafseer Surah Baqarah Verse 74 | Surah Baqarah explanation in English | Surah Baqarah explained | Surah Baqarah Ayat 74 Translation

Surah Al-Baqarah

Verse 74

2:74 Al-Baqara

ثُمَّ قَسَتْ قُلُوبُكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ فَهِيَ كَالْحِجَارَةِ أَوْ أَشَدُّ قَسْوَةً ۚ وَإِنَّ مِنَ الْحِجَارَةِ لَمَا يَتَفَجَّرُ مِنْهُ الْأَنْهَارُ ۚ وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَشَّقَّقُ فَيَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ الْمَاءُ ۚ وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَهْبِطُ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَمَا اللَّهُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ

Then, after that, your hearts were hardened and became as stones or even worse in hardness. And indeed, there are stones out of which rivers gush forth, and indeed, there are of them (stones) which split asunder so that water flows from them, and indeed, there are of them (stones) which fall down for fear of Allah. And Allah is not unaware of what you do.

Surah Baqarah Verse 74

☘️Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala criticizes the Children of Israel that they witnessed His tremendous Signs including bringing the dead back to life, and yet they were not moved. 

☘️Why did their hearts harden? It was due to their continuous disobedience and mockery of the ayaat of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. When a person disobeys Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, turns away from His commands, argues in the religious matters, then the heart hardens. No goodness is left in such a heart and it is blocked from receiving guidance.

☘️Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala compares the hearts of the Children of Israel to stones and forbids us from imitating them. It is because of their hearts being hard like stones that they were unable to believe in Muhammad ﷺ despite witnessing all the signs and acknowledging that indeed it was him mentioned in their Book.

☘️Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala tells us about the different types of stones:

Type One

وَإِنَّ مِنَ الْحِجَارَةِ لَمَا يَتَفَجَّرُ مِنْهُ الأَنْهَـرُ

“And indeed, there are stones out of which rivers gush forth…”

Imagine a person whose heart is filled with the reverence and fear of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. He hears the commands of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala or remembers Him and tears flow from his eyes. He is a pious person with an extremely soft heart. Yatafajr [يَتَفَجَّرُ] is gushing forth on a large scale. Such a person only spreads goodness. He leaves no good deed behind and tries to serve Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala with whatever skills or resources he has. May Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala grant us such a heart, ameen.

☘️Type Two

وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَشَّقَّقُ فَيَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ الْمَآءُ

“…and indeed, there are of them (stones) which split asunder so that water flows from them…”

Imagine a person who is distant from Allah, but an incident in life causes his heart to split asunder just like the land splits in an earthquake. They breakdown and turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.

Some people are going on with their lives without thinking about the Creator or the purpose of their creation. Then, something happens in their life, a divorce, death of a loved one or something else and they collapse. Their collapsing is only a mean to rise back up. It is a wake-up call from Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala – a form of His favor to help us correct our ways before we are held accountable in the Hereafter. It is a test to take people out of their sweet slumber and allow them to reflect on the reality of this life.

☘️Type Three

وَإِنَّ مِنْهَا لَمَا يَهْبِطُ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ

“…and indeed, there are of them (stones) which fall down for fear of Allah…”

Imagine a person who is a man of his own mind. He does not blindly follow people, but when he is shown evidence from the Qur’an or Sunnah, he surrenders. When the stones have the awareness of their Creator they fall down, for example, land sliding or avalanches. Apparently, they are strong-willed, but when they hear a command of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala they submit.

☘️Type Four

There are people whose hearts have hardened. They have sinned so much that no goodness is left in them. When they are not bothered about the commands of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala then Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala too chooses not to guide them. Remember, one must have the yearning to be guided and to seek what pleases Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. If we are not concerned about the Master and the Hereafter, and we are disobedient and rebellious, we will be left on our own. May Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala protect us and not deprive us of His Love and Rahmah (mercy), ameen.

☘️Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala ends the ayah saying that He is not unaware of what we do. If He has not broken us down or guided us that does not mean He does not see us. He is Al-Aleem, Al-Khabeer and Al-Baseer, He knows and sees everything.

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