Surah Al-Baqara 2:10 — Meaning, Translation & Reflection
سُورَةُ البَقَرَةِ · Medinan · Verse 10 of 286
فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌۭ فَزَادَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ مَرَضًۭا ۖ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌۢ بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَكْذِبُونَ
English: There is a disease in their hearts, to which God has added more: agonizing torment awaits them for their persistent lying.
Bengali: তাদের অন্তঃকরণ ব্যধিগ্রস্ত আর আল্লাহ তাদের ব্যধি আরো বাড়িয়ে দিয়েছেন। বস্তুতঃ তাদের জন্য নির্ধারিত রয়েছে ভয়াবহ আযাব, তাদের মিথ্যাচারের দরুন।
Meaning & Reflection
'In their hearts is a disease, so God has increased their disease; and for them is a painful punishment for the lie they used to tell.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the diagnosis — hypocrisy is a *sickness* ('marad') of the heart, and left untreated it *worsens*: each act of duplicity deepens the disease, and God's letting it increase is the natural law of a sickness fed rather than cured. Ask yourself: the verse treats spiritual duplicity as a disease that progresses — the more I indulge the gap between my outer show and inner reality, the sicker the heart becomes, until pretence is second nature. Diseases untreated do not stay still; they spread. It presses me to see my small hypocrisies not as static flaws but as an *infection* that grows with every feeding. What sickness of the heart am I feeding rather than treating — and do I realise it is not holding steady, but advancing?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, Ibn Kathir.
Reflect with the Five Lenses
Maani's framework for Tadabbur (heart-centred reflection) on Surah Al-Baqara 2:10:
- Wording. Look closely at the specific words and structure. Which word stands out, and why might Allah have chosen it here?
- Quranic Worlds. Place the verse in its context — what is happening around it, and what world does it open up?
- Personal Experience. Ask not just what this means, but what it means TO me and FOR me, right now in my life.
- Connections. How does this verse connect to other verses, to the Sunnah, or to themes across the Quran?
- General Lessons. What timeless lesson or action point can I carry away and live by?