Surah Al-Baqarah 2:16
سُورَةُ البَقَرَةِ · Medinan · Verse 16 of 286
أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱشْتَرَوُا۟ ٱلضَّلَٰلَةَ بِٱلْهُدَىٰ فَمَا رَبِحَت تِّجَٰرَتُهُمْ وَمَا كَانُوا۟ مُهْتَدِينَ
Translation
They have bought error in exchange for guidance, so their trade reaps no profit, and they are not rightly guided.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Those are the ones who have bought error in exchange for guidance, so their trade has brought no profit, and they were not guided.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the image of faith as commerce, and hypocrisy as the worst possible trade: selling away guidance, the one asset of infinite value, to acquire error, which is pure loss. Ask yourself: every choice is a transaction, I give up one thing to get another. This verse names the ruinous deal at the heart of hypocrisy: trading certainty for confusion, God's guidance for the fleeting approval of the crowd, a clear path for a comfortable lie. It invites me to audit my own trades: what am I selling off, my integrity, my prayers, my clarity, and what am I buying with it? A person can be a shrewd dealer in every worldly market and still be making, with his soul, the single worst trade there is.
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, Ibn Kathir.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Baqarah 2:16 is discussed in 5 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
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