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The meaning of the phrase 'O you who believe!'


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۞ Imam ibn Kathir said:

Ibn Masood and other scholars of the Salaf said: ❝When you hear Allaah تعالى saying in the Qur’aan,

"يَـأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ" {O you who believe!}, then listen with full attention, for it is either some goodness that Allaah تعالى is enjoining, or an evil that He is forbidding.❞

Tafseer Ibn Kaseer, Surah al-Baqarah (2), Ayah- 23.

۞ Shaikh Ibn al-Uthaymeen said:

❝The phrase {O you who believe!} indicates that acting upon the command with firm belief or complete obedience is one of the requisites of Imaan. 

Similarly, it also indicates that opposing the command or doubting it or belying it is the negation of Imaan – either in total or in perfection (i.e. either a person may lose his Imaan completely or there will be deficiency in it).

Thirdly, in this there is motivation and allurement for the one being addressed, as if He تعالى is saying: If you truly believe, then hear and obey.❞

Tafseer of Surah al-Maidah (5), Ayah- 90 by Shaikh Ibn al-`Uthaymeen.

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