Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Surah An-Nur
Surah 24 · An-Nur · verse 21 of 64

Quran 24:21 · An-Nur

۞يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ لَا تَتَّبِعُواْ خُطُوَٰتِ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنِۚ وَمَن يَتَّبِعۡ خُطُوَٰتِ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنِ فَإِنَّهُۥ يَأۡمُرُ بِٱلۡفَحۡشَآءِ وَٱلۡمُنكَرِۚ وَلَوۡلَا فَضۡلُ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيۡكُمۡ وَرَحۡمَتُهُۥ مَا زَكَىٰ مِنكُم مِّنۡ أَحَدٍ أَبَدٗا وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُزَكِّي مَن يَشَآءُۗ وَٱللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٞ

O you who have believed, do not follow the footsteps of Satan. And whoever follows the footsteps of Satan - indeed, he enjoins immorality and wrongdoing. And if not for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, not one of you would have been pure, ever, but Allah purifies whom He wills, and Allah is Hearing and Knowing

Translation: Sahih International
Maulana’s commentary · Tazkirul Quran

To follow in the footsteps of Satan means acting upon his secret evil promptings. When for no reason at all the mind of an individual is suddenly flooded by feelings of suspicion, when a man begins harbouring negative thoughts about his opponents, it is the insidious work of Satan. Therefore, when such thoughts and feelings take shape, man should, instead of cultivating them, immediately root them out from his heart. To cultivate such feelings amounts to following Satan.To raise a hue and cry against others is inconsistent with humility. There are certain individuals who have very high opinions of themselves, while holding unduly bad opinions about others. Neither trait is in consonance with faith. If a man cultivates faith-oriented humbleness, he becomes so engrossed in introspection that he has absolutely no time to engage himself in unfair criticism of others or in calling others to account.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Tazkirul Quran

In the lectures

Maulana does not cite this verse in the lectures indexed so far. The verses of this surah Maulana does cite →