alam tara ilā alladhīna yazʿumūna annahum āmanū bimā unzila ilayka wamā unzila min qablika yurīdūna an yataḥākamū ilā l-ṭāghūti waqad umirū an yakfurū bihi wayurīdu l-shayṭānu an yuḍillahum ḍalālan baʿīdan
Translation
Have you not seen those who claim to have believed in what was revealed to you, [O Muḥammad], and what was revealed before you? They wish to refer legislation to ṭāghūt,195 while they were commanded to reject it; and Satan wishes to lead them far astray.
Notes
[195] False objects of worship or those transgressors who usurp the divine right of government.
Verse 60 of Surah An-Nisa (4:60), a Medinan surah, is in juz 5, on page 88 of the mushaf. Read it in Arabic with its transliteration, translations and tafsir, and listen to it recited by 72 reciters.
Listen to verse 60 of Surah An-Nisa
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Tafsir of verse 60
Al-Mukhtasar
Have you not seen, O Messenger, the contradiction of the hypocrites among the Jews, who claim falsely that they have faith in what was revealed to you and in what was revealed to the messengers before you, but in resolving their disagreements want to refer back to what Allah has not legislated, and what people have invented, when they were instructed to reject such things. Satan wants to lead them far away from the truth, and they will not be guided through this.
Have you not seen [O Prophet] those45 who claim that they believe in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down before you, yet they seek the judgment of Tāghoot46 [i.e., false judges]47, even though they were commanded to reject them? Satan wants to lead them far astray.
Notes
[45] i.e., the hypocrites.
[46] Tāghūt: See 2:256. [47] This verse was revealed about a group of the Aslam tribe, who professed Islam, then went to Abu Zurārah al-Aslamī, the soothsayer, to settle a dispute.
Have you not seen those (hypocrites) who claim that they believe in that which has been sent down to you, and that which was sent down before you, and they wish to go for judgement (in their disputes) to the Tâghût 24 (false judges) while they have been ordered to reject them. But Shaitân (Satan) wishes to lead them far astray25.
Notes
[24] (V.4:60) Tâghût: See the footnote of (V.2:256)
[25] (V.4:60) This verse was revealed in connection with a hypocrite claiming to be a Muslim, who had a dispute with a Jew and he wanted to take his case to a soothsayer rather than to the Prophet (Muhammad صلى الله عليه (وسلم for judgement - For details, see Tafsir At- Tabari.
Hast thou not seen those who pretend that they believe in that which is revealed unto thee and that which was revealed before thee, how they would go for judgment (in their disputes) to false deities when they have been ordered to abjure them? Satan would mislead them far astray.
Hast thou not turned Thy vision to those who declare that they believe in the revelations that have come to thee and to those before thee? Their (real) wish is to resort together for judgment (in their disputes) to the Evil One, though they were ordered to reject him. But Satan's wish is to lead them astray far away (from the right).
Have you not seen those who assert that they believe in what has been revealed to you and what was revealed before you? They desire to summon one another to the judgment of the Shaitan, though they were commanded to deny him, and the Shaitan desires to lead them astray into a remote error.
Have you not regarded (the ones) who assert that they have believed in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down before you, (that they) would (go) for judgment to Taghut, (An idol worshiped by pagan Arabs) and they have already been commanded to disbelieve in it? And Ash-Shaytan (The all-vicious, i.e., the Devil) would (like) would (like) to lead them into far error.
And when it is said to them, "Follow what Allāh has revealed," they say, "Rather, we will follow that upon which we found our fathers." Even if Satan was inviting them to the punishment of the Blaze?
The only statement of the [true] believers when they are called to Allāh and His Messenger to judge between them is that they say, "We hear and we obey." And those are the successful.
Verses with similar wording
They share a sequence of words with this verse: useful for telling them apart when memorising.
But those firm in knowledge among them and the believers believe in what has been revealed to you, [O Muḥammad], and what was revealed before you. And the establishers of prayer [especially] and the givers of zakāh and the believers in Allāh and the Last Day - those We will give a great reward.
Have you not seen those who claim themselves to be pure? Rather, Allāh purifies whom He wills, and injustice is not done to them, [even] as much as a thread [inside a date seed].
