الآية رقم (9) - يُخَادِعُونَ اللّهَ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَمَا يَخْدَعُونَ إِلاَّ أَنفُسَهُم وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ

(9) - “They [think to] deceive Allah and those who believe, but they deceive not except themselves and perceive [it] not.”

In the book Lisanul Arab by Ibn Manzhur, deceit is defined as portraying something which is different from that which you hide.

How do we understand the meaning of this verse and the following verse:

﴾يُخَادِعُونَ اللَّهَ وَهُوَ خَادِعُهُمْ ﴿

“[the hypocrites think to] deceive Allah, but He is deceiving them” [Surah An-Nisaa’: 142]

And similar to this verse too is the following verse:

﴾وَمَكَرُوا وَمَكَرَ اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ﴿

“And the disbelievers planned, but Allah planned. And Allah is the best of planners.” [Surah Ali ‘Imran: 54]

whereas Allah U does not need to deceive nor to plot?

Proficiency in the Arabic Language is a must for the interpreter of the  Holy Qur’an as understanding these type of verses needs full command of the language.

In the third verse above, the first plotting mentioned is the plotting carried out by the people mentioned. The second plotting actually describes the uncovering of their plotting by Allah U and then making void its effects.

In the verse in Surah Al-Baqarah, Allah U says:

﴾وَمَا يَخْدَعُونَ إِلاَّ أَنفُسَهُمْ﴿

“but they deceive not except themselves”.