Quran Universe
2:13

وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمۡ ءَامِنُواْ كَمَآ ءَامَنَ ٱلنَّاسُ قَالُوٓاْ أَنُؤۡمِنُ كَمَآ ءَامَنَ ٱلسُّفَهَآءُۗ أَلَآ إِنَّهُمۡ هُمُ ٱلسُّفَهَآءُ وَلَٰكِن لَّا يَعۡلَمُونَ

Waitha qeela lahum aminoo kama amana alnnasu qaloo anuminu kama amana alssufahao ala innahum humu alssufahao walakin la yaAAlamoona

And when it is said to them, "Believe as the people have believed," they say, "Should we believe as the foolish have believed?" Unquestionably, it is they who are the foolish, but they know [it] not.

Word by word
  1. وَإِذَاAnd when
  2. قِيلَit is said
  3. لَهُمۡto them
  4. ءَامِنُواْBelieve
  5. كَمَآas
  6. ءَامَنَbelieved
  7. ٱلنَّاسُthe people
  8. قَالُوٓاْthey say
  9. أَنُؤۡمِنُShould we believe
  10. كَمَآas
  11. ءَامَنَbelieved
  12. ٱلسُّفَهَآءُۗthe fools
  13. أَلَآBeware
  14. إِنَّهُمۡcertainly they
  15. هُمُthemselves
  16. ٱلسُّفَهَآءُ(are) the fools
  17. وَلَٰكِن[and] but
  18. لَّاnot
  19. يَعۡلَمُونَthey know
Al-Baqarah · 2:13Madinah

Mocking sincere people as simple is its own foolishness.

Who the fools really are

The invitation and the sneer
believe as people believedthe Companions
answered with
like those fools?too proud to join
Who is foolish
the simple believersso the mockers said
those who do not know itblind to their own state

The hypocrites were told to believe as the Companions believed. They called the Companions fools. Ibn Kathir notes that not knowing your own ignorance is a deeper blindness than one who is aware.

A colleague prays in the stairwell. Your aunt gives away money she cannot spare. You might roll your eyes and call it naive. This verse asks you to look again at who is really missing something.

People with simple, sincere faith are a bit naive.

The truly foolish one is the person too proud to see what the sincere see.

Try this

Think of someone whose faith you once looked down on. Say one sincere good word about them today.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir

And when it is said to them: Believe as the people believe," They say: "Shall we believe as the fools have believed?" Verily, they are the fools, but they do not know (13)

Allah said that if the hypocrites are told,

آمِنُوا كَمَا آمَنَ النَّاسُ

("Believe as the people believe,"), meaning, 'Believe just as the believers believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers, Resurrection after death, Paradise and Hellfire, etc. And obey Allah and His Messenger by heeding the commandments and avoiding the prohibitions.' Yet the hypocrites answer by saying,

قَالُوا أَنُؤْمِنُ كَمَا آمَنَ السُّفَهَاءُ

("Shall we believe as the fools have believed?") they meant (may Allah curse the hypocrites) the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. This is the same Tafsir given by Abu Al-'Aliyah and As-Suddi in his Tafsir, with a chain of narration to Ibn 'Abbas, Ibn Mas'ud and other Companions. This is also the Tafsir of Ar-Rabi' bin Anas and 'Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam. The hypocrites said, "Us and them having the same status, following the same path, while they are fools?!" 'The fool' is the ignorant, simple-minded person who has little knowledge in areas of benefit and harm. This is why, according to the majority of the scholars, Allah used the term foolish to include children, when He said,

وَلاَ تُؤْتُواْ السُّفَهَآءَ أَمْوَٰلَكُمُ الَّتِى جَعَلَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ قِيَــٰـمًا

(And do not give your property, which Allah has made a means of support for you, to the foolish)(4:5).

Allah answered the hypocrites in all of these instances. For instance, Allah said here,

أَلَآ إِنَّهُمْ هُمُ السُّفَهَآءُ

(Verily, they are the fools). Allah thus affirmed that the hypocrites are indeed the fools, yet,

وَلَــٰـكِن لاَّ يَعْلَمُونَ

(But they know not). Since they are so thoroughly ignorant, the hypocrites are unaware of their degree of deviation and ignorance, and such situation is more dangerous, a severer case of blindness, and further from the truth than one who is aware.