Al-Qur'an Surah Al-Baqarah Verse 14

Mufti Taqi Usmani

When they meet those who believe, they say, “We have entered Faith;” but when they are alone with their satans, they say, “Indeed, we are with you; we were only mocking.”

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

When they meet the believers they say, “We believe.” But when alone with their evil associates they say, “We are definitely with you; we were only mocking.”

Ruwwad Translation Center

When they meet those who believe, they say, “We believe.” But when they are alone with their evil ones, they say, “We are certainly with you; we were only mocking.”

A. J. Arberry

When they meet those who believe, they say, 'We believe'; but when they go privily to their Satans, they say, 'We are with you; we were only mocking.'

Abdul Haleem

When they meet the believers, they say, ‘We believe,’ but when they are alone with their evil ones, they say, ‘We’re really with you; we were only mocking.’

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

And when they meet those who have believed, they say: We believe. And when they are alone with their Satans, they say: verily we are with you, we were but mocking.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

When they meet those who believe, they say; "We believe;" but when they are alone with their evil ones, they say; "We are really with you; We (were) only jesting."

Abul Ala Maududi

When they meet those who believe, they say, "We, too, are believers", but when they privily meet their evil geniuses, they say, "Indeed we are with you: we are only mocking at these people".

Ahmed Ali

When they meet the faithful they say: "We believe;" but when alone with the devils (their fellows), they say: "We are really with you; we were joking."

Ahmed Raza Khan

And when they meet with the believers, they say, “We believe”; and when they are alone with their devils, they say, “We are undoubtedly with you, we were just mocking!”

Ali Quli Qarai

When they meet the faithful, they say, ‘We believe,’ but when they are alone with their devils, they say, ‘We are with you; we were only deriding [them].’

Ali Ünal

When they meet those who believe, they declare (hypocritically), "We believe;" but when they are alone in secret with their (apparently human) satans (to whom they hasten in need to renew their unbelief and their pledge to them for fear of losing their support), they say: "Assuredly we are with you; we only mock (those others)."

Amatul Rahman Omar

And when they meet those who have believed they say, `We (too) have believed.´ But when they are alone with their ring-leaders they say, `We are, in reality, with you, we were simply making light of them (- the believers).´

English Literal

And if they met/found those who believed, they said: "We believed". And if they were alone/together with to their devils they said: "That we are with you, but we are mocking ."

Faridul Haque

And when they meet with the believers, they say, "We believe"; and when they are alone with their devils, they say, "We are undoubtedly with you, we were just mocking!"

Hamid S. Aziz

And when they meet those who believe, they say, "We do believe;" but when they go aside with their devils, they say, "We are with you; we were but mocking!"

Hilali & Khan

And when they meet those who believe, they say: "We believe," but when they are alone with their Shayatin (devils - polytheists, hypocrites, etc.), they say: "Truly, we are with you; verily, we were but mocking."

Maulana Mohammad Ali

And when they meet those who believe, they say, We believe; and when they are alone with their devils, they say: Surely we are with you, we were only mocking.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

And when they meet those who believe, they say: We believe; and when they are alone with their Shaitans, they say: Surely we are with you, we were only mocking.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

And when they fall in with those who believe, they say: We believe; but when they go apart to their devils they declare: Lo! we are with you; verily we did but mock.

Muhammad Sarwar

To the believers they declare belief and, in secret to their own devils, they say, "We were only mocking".

Qaribullah & Darwish

When they meet those who believe, they say, 'We, too believe.' But when they are alone with their devils, they say to them: 'We follow none but you, we were only mocking

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And when they meet those who believe, they say: "We believe," but when they are alone with their Shayatin (devils), they say: "Truly, we are with you; verily, we were but mocking."

Wahiduddin Khan

When they meet those who believe, they say, "We believe." But when they are alone with their evil leaders, they say, "We are really with you; we were only mocking."

Talal Itani

And when they come across those who believe, they say, “We believe”; but when they are alone with their devils, they say, “We are with you; we were only ridiculing.”

Tafsir jalalayn

When they meet (laq is actually laquy, but the damma has been omitted, being too cumbersome for pronunciation; likewise the y' [is omitted], because it is unvocalised and is followed by a ww); those who believe, they say, `We believe'; but when they go apart, away from them and return, to their devils, their leaders, they say, `We are with you, in religion; we were only mocking, them [the believers] by feigning belief.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

The Hypocrites' Cunning and Deceit

Allah said,

وَإِذَا لَقُواْ الَّذِينَ امَنُواْ قَالُواْ امَنَّا

And when they meet those who believe, they say;"We believe,"

Allah said that when the hypocrites meet the believers, they proclaim their faith and pretend to be believers, loyalists and friends. They do this to misdirect, mislead and deceive the believers. The hypocrites also want to have a share of the benefits and gains that the believers might possibly acquire.

Yet,

وَإِذَا خَلَوْاْ إِلَى شَيَاطِينِهِمْ

But when they are alone with their Shayatin,

meaning, if they are alone with their devils, such as their leaders and masters among the rabbis of the Jews, hypocrites and idolators.
Human and Jinn Devils

Ibn Jarir said,

"The devils of every creation are the mischievous among them. There are both human devils and Jinn devils.

Allah said,

وَكَذَلِكَ جَعَلْنَا لِكُلِّ نِبِىٍّ عَدُوّاً شَيَـطِينَ الاِنْسِ وَالْجِنِّ يُوحِى بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَى بَعْضٍ زُخْرُفَ الْقَوْلِ غُرُوراً

And so We have appointed for every Prophet enemies ـ Shayatin (devils) among mankind and Jinn, inspiring one another with adorned speech as a delusion (or by way of deception). (6;112)
The Meaning of `Mocking

Allah said,

قَالُواْ إِنَّا مَعَكْمْ

They say;"Truly, we are with you".

Muhammad bin Ishaq reported that Ibn Abbas said that the Ayah means,

"We are with you,
إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِوُونَ
(Verily, we were but mocking), meaning, we only mock people (the believers) and deceive them."

إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُسْتَهْزِوُونَ



Verily, we were but mocking,

Ad-Dahhak said that Ibn Abbas said that the Ayah, means,

"We (meaning the hypocrites) were mocking the Companions of Muhammad."

Also, Ar-Rabi` bin Anas and Qatadah said similarly.

Allah's statement,

اللّهُ يَسْتَهْزِىءُ بِهِمْ وَيَمُدُّهُمْ فِي طُغْيَانِهِمْ يَعْمَهُونَ