Who are those who can make others forget remembrance of God?

Question

This verse says there are some slaves of God who can make other people forget remembrance of Allah:

فَاتَّخَذْتُمُوهُمْ سِخْرِ‌يًّا حَتَّى أَنسَوْكُمْ ذِكْرِ‌ي وَكُنتُم مِّنْهُمْ تَضْحَكُونَ

But you took them in mockery to the point that they made you forget My remembrance, and you used to laugh at them.

http://tanzil.net/#23:110 (Sahih International translation)

According to Arabic grammar the word "Ansahum" in this verse means causing/making other one forget something. As we know, ordinary Muslims can not do such thing. So who are them exactly? Is there any hadith interpreting this verse?

This seems a very bad punishment. Such people will never think to God and this cause them go Hell because of forgetting God and being trapped by Satan in different deviated ways and religions and isms and sects and ideologies. Who are those that have such a power? And can we reach such a rank to have such powers?

Answer 1

It is not a power or a certain type of believer that can make someone forget Allah. In this Ayah it is the people who mocked the believers because of their Dua to Allah and worship. So the disbelievers forgot Allah because of themselves and by themselves because they mocked so much they forgot.

Tafseer al-Muyassar:

فاشتغلتم بالاستهزاء بهم حتى نسيتم ذكر الله, فبقيتم على تكذيبكم، وقد كنتم تضحكون منهم سخرية واستهزاء.

and you wasted your time in mocking them until you forgot to remember Allah, so you stayed on your ignorance/lies, and you used to laugh at them mockingly.

So this is no special power, it was the disbelievers that made themselves forget because they mocked too much.

For deeper reading about this, read this, this and this

Sources: 1

Answer 2

Fundamental problem:

A very important question here is why would a muslim cause someone to forget the remembrance of Allah? Even if we had the power to make someone forget and we hate that person, why would we stop that person from praising Allah?

Rather we could make them forget bad things like riba, zina etc. Wouldn't it account hindering men from the path?

Does satan have special powers?...

There are verses in the Quran that imply forgetfulness is from the satan. I will list a few of them below.

He said, "Did you see when we retired to the rock? Indeed, I forgot [there] the fish. And none made me forget it except Satan - that I should mention it. And it took its course into the sea amazingly".(Quran 18:63)

And he said to the one whom he knew would go free, "Mention me before your master." But Satan made him forget the mention [to] his master, and Joseph remained in prison several years. (Quran 12:42)

How does Satan make people forget?

The satan does not have a "memory eraser" or some special powers (else he would make us forget Allah altogether ;-) ) RATHER the satan simply makes us busy in something else so that we forget.

In the verse you quoted...

Allah talks about people mocking the believers. While these people mocked the believers they forgot the remembrance of Allah as they were BUSY in mocking. This has nothing to do with special powers.

They were simply overzealous in mocking that they forgot the remembrance of Allah. This simply implies the degree of obsessiveness of those people who mocked.

Example: I was on youtube...

I was watching youtube the other day and realized I had missed my zohar salaat. Does that mean youtube has special powers to make me forget the "remembrance of Allah" or satan made me busy in youtube to forget?

Answer 3

This Ayah was not talking to Muslims, it was talking to Kuffar Quraish, who were mocking the people (mainly Bilal, Suhaib, Ammar Ben Yasser, and Salman) because of their prayers and Dua'a, so this mocking let the Kuffar forget, so they will enter to Hell.

It is important when we explain a verse to know the reason of coming and to know the environment why was it stated, and with whom is this conversation, to understand the fully meaning.

For more explanation check this site.