Wallatheena amanoo billahi warusulihi ola-ika humu assiddeeqoona washshuhadao AAinda rabbihim lahum ajruhum (surah Hadid: 19)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(57:19) In Allah's sight only those who truly believe in Allah and His Messengers *32 are utterly truthful *33 and true bearers of witness(for the sake of Allah). *34 For them is their reward and their light. *35 As for those who gave the lie to Our Signs, they are the people of Hell.

Wallazeena aamanoo billaahi wa Rusuliheee ulaaa`ika humus siddeeqoona wash shuhadaaa`u `inda Rabbihim lahum ajruhum wa nooruhum wallazeena kafaroo wa kazzaboo bi aayaatinaaa ulaaaika As haabul jaheem

*32) Here, the believers imply those people of true faith whose attitude and conduct was absolutely different from that of the people of weak faith and the false claimants to Islam, and who were at that time vying with one another in making monetary sacrifices and were struggling with their lives in the cause of the true Faith.
*33) Siddiq (most truthful) is the superlative from sidq; however, one should clearly understand that sidq Is not merely a statement conforming to the truth, but a statement which is not only true in itself but its Bayer also upholds it as a truth sincerely. For instance, if a person says that Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings) is Allah's Messenger, this is by itself precisely according to 'the truth for the Holy Prophet is truly Allah's Messenger, but the person would be true in his statement only if he also believed and upheld him as Allah's Messenger. Therefore, a thing would be sidq if what was said was in conformity with the truth as well as with the Bayer's own conscience. Likewise, sidq also contains the sense of faithfulness, sincerity and practical righteousness. Sadiq-ul-wa d would be the person who kept his promise practically, who never broke it. Sadiq (true friend) would be he who did full justice to friendship in the time of need, and who never proved faithless to any, body in any way. In war, sadiq fil-qital (true soldier) would be the one who fought with all his heart and body and established his valour practically. Thus, sidq in essence implies that one's deed should fully conform to one's word. The one who acts contrary to his word cannot be Sadiq. On that very basis, the one who preaches one thing and acts contrary to it, is regarded as a false preacher. With this meaning of sidq and sadiq in view one can fully appreciate the meaning of the superlative sadiq. It would inevitably imply a righteous person who is free from every impurity, who has never swerved from the truth and piety, who could never be expected to say anything against his conscience. who believed in whatever he believed with full sincerity and remained faithful to it under all circumstances, and who has practically proved that he is a true believer in the full sense of the word. (For further explanation, see E.N. 99 of An-Nisa).
*34) The early commentators have differed about the explanation of this verse. Ibn 'Abbas, Masruq, Dahhak, Muqatil bin Hayyan and others say that the previous sentence ended with humsssiddiqun; and wash-shuhada'-u `inda Rabbihim la-hum ajru-hum wa nuru-hum is a separate and independent sentence According to this explanation, the translation of the sentence would be: "Those who have believed in Allah and His Messenger, are indeed the most truthful (as siddiqun); as for the true witnesses (ash-shuhada ), they will have their reward and their light from their Lord. " Contrary to this, Mujahid and several other commentators regard this whole expression as one sentence. According to them the translation would be that which we have given in the text above. The two commentaries differ because the first group has taken the word Shahid in the meaning of the martyr in the way of Allah. and seeing that every believer is not a shahid in this sense, has taken wash-shuhada'-u `inda Rabbi-him as a separate sentence. But the other group takes shahid in the meaning of the witness of the Truth, and not in the sense of the martyr, and in this sense every believer is a shahid. We are of the opinion that this second commentary is preferable and this is
"Thus have We made you a community of the 'Golden Mean' so that you may be witnesses in regard to mankind and the Messenger may be a witness in regard to you." (AI-Baqarah; 143).
"AIIah had called you "Muslims" before this ant has called you (by the same name) in this (Qur'an) also so that the Messenger may be a witness in regard to you and you may be witnesses in regard to the rest of mankind." (Al-Hajj: 78)
In a Hadith, Hadrat Bara' bin 'Azib has related that he heard the Holy Prophet (upon whom be Allah's peace) say: 'The believers of my Ummah are shahid (the witnesses); then he recited this very verse of Surah AI-Hadid. " (Ibn Jarir). Ibn Marduyah has related on the authority of Hadrat Abu ad-Darda' the tradition that the Holy Prophet (upon whom be Allah's peace) said: "The one who emigrates from a land in order to save his life and his faith from temptation, is recorded as a Siddiq (most truthful), and when he dies, AIIah takes his soul as a shahid (true witness). Then aftar this, the Holy Prophet recited this very verse. " (For 'the explanation of this meaning of shahadat, see E:N. 144 of AI-Baqarah, E.N 99 of An-Nisa', E.N. 82 of Al-Ahzab).
*35) That is, "Each one of them will receive the reward and the light of the measure and degree he deserves. They will all get their own respective rewards and lights, and their shares have already been reserved for them,"