A comparative interpretation of Verse 179 of chapter Al-Imran with Emphasis on the separation of good from bad

One of the necessary branches of knowledge for the happiness of human and society is knowing about one’s enemy. This issue is of great importance in Islam, and one of the concerns of the Prophet of God (PBUH and his family) for his ummah has been the knowledge of the hypocrites from the true believers. The issue of recognizing the true believers from the hypocrites can be deduced from the interpretation of the holy verse "until He has separated the bad ones from the good". In the present article, in order to determine the criteria of distinguishing good from bad, the views of the Shiite and Sunnite commentators are examined. Taking the total opinions of commentators into account, it can be said that, in order to separate the believer from the hypocrite and to determine their sincerity, God Almighty tests the believers with a special test. Each commentator has put forward a point of view for this particular divine test. One of the achievements of this article, which the commentators did not address, is that accepting the succession of Amir al-Mu'minin (AS) and the guardianship of the Imams (AS) is one of the important signs of distinguishing the believer from the hypocrite. This conclusion agrees with the appearance of the verse and many narrations confirm it.