Surah An Nur Tafseer

أَفِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ

Is there a disease in their hearts...

meaning, their situation cannot be anything else, they must necessarily have a disease in their hearts,

أَمِ ارْتَابُوا أَمْ يَخَافُونَ أَن يَحِيفَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَرَسُولُهُ

Or do they doubt or fear lest Allah and His Messenger should wrong them in judgement.

or else they have some doubts about the religion, or they are afraid that Allah and His Messenger will be unjust in their ruling against them.

Whichever it is, it is pure disbelief, and Allah knows which of these characteristics each one of them has.

بَلْ أُوْلَيِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ

Nay, it is they themselves who are the wrongdoers.

means, they are the evildoers who commit immoral actions, and Allah and His Messenger are innocent of the injustice and unfairness that they imagine; exalted be Allah and His Messenger above such a thing.

Then Allah tells us about the attributes of the believers who respond to Allah and His Messenger and who seek no other way apart from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger.

Allah says