استَحوَذَ عَلَيهِمُ الشَّيطانُ فَأَنساهُم ذِكرَ اللَّهِ ۚ أُولٰئِكَ حِزبُ الشَّيطانِ ۚ أَلا إِنَّ حِزبَ الشَّيطانِ هُمُ الخاسِرونَ
Satan has prevailed upon them, so he has caused them to forget the remembrance of Allah. They are Satan’s confederates. Look! Indeed it is Satan’s confederates who are the losers!
EXEGESIS
The term istaḥwadha with which this verse begins, is a perfect tense verb, and with its preposition ʿalā (istaḥwadha ʿalā) means to prevail over, to take complete control over, to overcome, overwhelm, and overpower someone. It also means to drive or urge forward with speed, such as when shepherds drive or urge forward their animals by hitting them on their thighs. This verb occurs in this verse in relation to Satan, and therefore means: Satan has overcome and overwhelmed the hypocrites, urging and driving them forward with speed and violence.
The term ansā in this verse is a perfect tense verb and means to cause to forget. It occurs here in relation to Satan and therefore means: Satan has caused the hypocrites to forget.
The term ḥizb is a noun and means group, party, supporters, faction, and partisans. Its plural is aḥzāb.
EXPOSITION
Satan has overcome and overwhelmed the hypocrites, and he has been able to do so because the hypocrites insistently obeyed his dictates. He called them towards whims and passions and they obeyed him. Consequently, Satan caused them to forget God’s remembrance; so much so that they no longer feared God or remembered Him, having been blinded by Satan from guidance and towards misguidance. These therefore are the party or army of Satan.
It is suggested that Satan overcomes a person in stages. He first causes the person to follow in his footsteps. Thereafter, he rides the person, thereby gaining further control over him, and ultimately overwhelms the person totally.
Finally, the verse cries out emphatically in warning that the party of Satan is surely the loser. It will lose paradise and shall instead obtain the punishment of the fire, which is manifest and clear loss. Indeed, whoever submits himself to Satan will have him inevitably lead him towards every evil, and throw him into perdition sooner or later.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- Ibn Shahrāshūb records a sermon of Imam al-Husayn (a) in his Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib, which the Imam delivered in Karbala when he witnessed the rows of Kufans arrayed against him like the black night and the inundating flood, part of which says: ‘What an excellent Lord our Lord is, and what wretched servants [of God] you are! You agreed to obey, and you believed in the Messenger, Muhammad. Then you turned to his progeny and offspring intending to kill them! Surely Satan has overcome and overwhelmed you all and has therefore made you all forget God’s great remembrance. So woe be to you all and to that which you intend to do. Indeed, we are from God and to Him do we return. These people have disbelieved after having believed, so away with the unjust people!’
- Kulaynī records the following report in Uṣūl al-Kāfī from Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) who reported that the Messenger of God said: ‘While Moses (a) was seated once, there came to him Iblīs who had a long multicoloured coat with a hood on. When he drew near to Moses (a), he removed his coat and hood and went to him [and greeted him]. Moses (a) asked him: “Who are you?” He replied: “I am Iblīs!” Moses (a) reacted, saying: “Is that really you?! May God not bring your abode closer [to me].” Iblīs said: “I have come to you so that I may greet you due to your station near God.” So Moses (a) asked him: “What is this long multicoloured coat with a hood?” He replied: “It is a means by which I hijack the hearts of the children of Adam.” So Moses (a) asked: “Tell me about the sin, which when committed by the son of Adam, allows you to overcome and overwhelm him?” He replied: “It is when he becomes vainglorious and begins to admire himself, when he overestimates his good deeds, and underestimates his sins.”’
- God, the mighty and glorified, said to Prophet David (a): ‘David, give glad tidings to the sinners and warn the truthful ones.’ Prophet David (a) asked: ‘How do I give glad tidings to the sinners and warn the truthful ones?’ God said: ‘David, give glad tidings to the sinners that I accept repentance and forgive sins, and warn the truthful ones not to marvel at their good deeds for there is not a servant [of Mine] whom I subject to accounting save that he perishes!’
- Imam al-Bāqir (a) narrated: ‘The Commander of the Faithful, Ali (a), delivered the following sermon one day, saying: “O people! The onset of tumult and strife [in society] lies in the pursuit of whims and desires, and in rules being innovated, due to which the book of God is contravened and men overcome other men. So if falsehood was unmixed and unalloyed, it would not be obscure to the intelligent, and if truth was unmixed and unalloyed there would be no disagreement. However, some things are taken from this and some from that. These are then mixed together and come forth together. That is when Satan overcomes and overwhelms his friends while those for whom goodness has preceded from their Lord, are saved.’
[1] Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 241.
[2] Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 241; Tibyan, 9/554; Razi, 29/498; Tabrisi, 9/382.
[3] Tabrisi, 9/382.
[4] Amthal, 18/143.
[5] Amthal, 18/143.
[6] Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 936.
[7] Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 204.
[8] Arabic-English Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p. 204.
[9] Tabrisi, 9/382.
[10] Tibyan, 9/55; Tabrisi, 9/382.
[11] Tibyan, 9/55; Tabrisi, 9/382.
[12] Furqan, 28/217.
[13] Tibyan, 9/55; Tabrisi, 9/382.
[14] Tibyan, 9/55.
[15] Cited in Daqaiq, 13/146.
[16] Cited in Daqaiq, 13/147.
[17] Cited in Daqaiq, 13/147.
[18] Cited in Daqaiq, 13/147-148.