English Translation of Al-Quran
[37].Surah As-Saffat (Those Ranged in Ranks)
Ayat 26. Nay, but that Day they shall surrender,
Ayat 27. And they will turn to one another and question one another.
Ayat 28. They (followers) will say: “It was you who used to come to us from the right side [i.e. from the right side of one of us and beautify for us every evil, order us for polytheism, and stop us from the truth i.e. Islamic Monotheism and from every good deed].”
Ayat 29. They (Preachers) will reply: “Nay, you yourselves were not believers.
Ayat 30. “And we had no authority over you. Nay! But you were transgressing people (disobedient, polytheists, and disbelievers).
Ayat 31. “So now the Word of our Lord has been justified against us, that we shall certainly (have to) taste (the torment).
Ayat 32. “So (Preachers will say) we led you astray because we were ourselves astray.”
Tafseer of Surah As-Saffat (Those Ranged in Ranks) Ayat 26 to 32. Nay, but that day they shall submit (to Judgment); All the previous arrogance of this life will be gone, but they will face each other, and those who were given a false lead, as in the story of Pharaoh (Cf. 20:79), will question their misleaders as in the following verses. Ayat 27. And they will turn to one another, and question one another. Ayat 28. They will say: “It was ye who used to come to us from the right hand (of power and authority)!”This is the mutual recrimination of the sinners-those who sinned, against those whose instigation or evil example led them into sin. The misleaders in the life here below often used their power and influence to spread evil. The “right hand” is the hand of power and authority. Instead of using it for righteous purposes, they used it for evil,-selfishly for their own advantage, and mischievously for the degradation of others (Cf. 37:93). Ayat 29. They will reply: “Nay, ye yourselves had no Faith! But the fact that others mislead, or that evil example is before us, does not justify us falling from right conduct. Faith should save us from the fall. But if we have ourselves no Faith-in righteousness, or a future life, or the reality of Allah’s Law, how can we blame others? The misleaders can well say, ‘You will be judged according to your misdeeds!” The responsibility is personal, and cannot be shifted on the other. The others may get a double punishment,—for their own evil, and for misleading their weaker brethren. But the weaker brethren cannot go free from responsibility for their own deeds; for evil means a personal rebellion against Allah, if we believe in a personal God. Evil has no authority over us, except insofar as we deliberately choose it. Ayat 30. “Nor did we have any authority over you. Nay, it was ye who were a people in obstinate rebellion! Ayat 31. “So now has been proved true, against us, the word of our Lord that we shall indeed (have to) taste (the punishment of our sins). Allah’s decree of justice requires that every soul should taste the consequences of its own sins, and that decree must be fulfilled. No excuses can serve. It is only Allah’s mercy that can save us. Ayat 32. “We led you astray: for truly we were ourselves astray.” Further, the misleaders can well urge against those who reproach them for misleading them: “How could you expect anything better from us? You were warned by Allah’s Message that we were astray.”
English Translation of Hadith
Hazrat Usamah bin Zaid (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: Messenger of Allah ﷺ [SAWW](PBUH) said, “A man will be brought on the Day of Resurrection and will be cast into Hell, and his intestines will pour forth and he will go round them as a donkey goes round a millstone. The inmates of Hell will gather round him and say: `What has happened to you, O so-and-so? Were you not enjoining us to do good and forbidding us to do evil?’ He will reply: “I was enjoining you to do good, but was not doing it myself; and I was forbidding you to do evil, but was doing it myself”.
[Al-Bukhari Book 04, Chapter 54, Hadith # 489].
Lesson: as mentioned above in Surah As-Saffat Ayat 32. “So (Preachers will say) we led you astray because we were ourselves astray.”
This Hadith serves a stern warning for such `Ulama’, preachers so called scholars and reformers of the Ummah whose own conduct is contrary to the sermons they give from the pulpit.