indulged in vain talking

Society Religion & Philosophy
1

What is “vain talking”?

In Quran, chapter 74 (sura al-Mudaththir):

[42] “What led you into Hell-Fire?”

[43] They will say, "We were not of those who prayed;

[44] "Nor were we of those who fed the indigent;

[45] "But we used to talk vanities with vain talkers;

[46] "And we used to deny the Day of Judgment,

[47] “Until there came to us (the Hour) that is certain.”

There are several commands/lessons for us to learn. I was trying to access a tafseer, but its not handy right now.

“But we used to talk vanities with vain talkers AND we used to deny the Day of Judgment”. <<<< There is an AND here.

Does this AND mean that if you believe in the Day of Judgment and still “talk vanities with vain talkers” you may get away with it?

The other question is, in this newspaper, a translation means that “vain talk” means “talk against the truth (religion of Islam)”.

Is this translation correct?

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Re: indulged in vain talking

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Changez_like: *
**The other question is, in this newspaper, a translation means that "vain talk" means "talk against the truth (religion of Islam)".

Is this translation correct?**
[/QUOTE]

I briefly looked in a couple of the books of Tafsir and in summary this is what they said:

Ibn Kathir (d.774H) explains the verse about vain talk by saying that it means they talked about things that they had no knowledge of. He also quotes Qatadah, a very early Qur'an commentator, that it refers to misleading talk that they indulged in with vain talkers which led them to stray. (Tafsir ibn Kathir 4/p.476)

Ash-Shawkani (d.1250H) explains the verse to mean that these people mingled with people of falsehood, sharing in their falsehood. He also cites ibn Zayd as saying that it refers to their vain talk about the Prophet (s) that he was a liar, insane, a magician and a poet. (Fath al-Qadir p.778, with Dr. Sulayman al-Ashqar's abridgement)

And Allah knows best.

Iqbal

3

What's vain talk? I believe its any discussion/work/time spent that takes an individual away from his/her essential (farad) duties.

For instance, if someone is hanging around with his/her friends than saying prayers at the right time or is busy watching TV while he should be taking care of his old parents would fall under it.

Though this interpretation is not absolute.

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Vain talking & Love of this World = things that often seem harmless yet, sometimes can beome the root to all evils, and are a shortcut for Satan to reach us...