9. At-Tawba

Verses 21 and 22 tell us about the great reward and ranks these successful people shall have in the life to come:

يُبَشِّرُ‌هُمْ رَ‌بُّهُم بِرَ‌حْمَةٍ مِّنْهُ وَرِ‌ضْوَانٍ وَجَنَّاتٍ لَّهُمْ فِيهَا نَعِيمٌ مُّقِيمٌ ﴿21﴾ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا ۚ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ عِندَهُ أَجْرٌ‌ عَظِيمٌ ﴿22﴾

Their Lord gives them the happy news of Mercy from Him, and Pleasure, and of Gardens having an everlasting bliss for them, where they shall dwell forever. Surely, 'it is Allah with whom there is a great reward.

Verses 21 and 22 tell us about the great reward and ranks these successful people shall have in the life to come:

يُبَشِّرُ‌هُمْ رَ‌بُّهُم بِرَ‌حْمَةٍ مِّنْهُ وَرِ‌ضْوَانٍ وَجَنَّاتٍ لَّهُمْ فِيهَا نَعِيمٌ مُّقِيمٌ ﴿21﴾ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا ۚ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ عِندَهُ أَجْرٌ‌ عَظِيمٌ ﴿22﴾

Their Lord gives them the happy news of Mercy from Him, and Pleasure, and of Gardens having an everlasting bliss for them, where they shall dwell forever. Surely, 'it is Allah with whom there is a great reward.

Commentary

This verse of Surah At-Taubah was revealed essentially about people who did not migrate from Makkah at the time migration was made obligatory for them. Their love for family and property had stopped them from carrying out their obligation to migrate. In their case, Allah Almighty asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ to tell them what appears in the verse cited above.

As for the statement: "Wait until Allah comes with His command," Tafsir authority Mujahid has said that 'command' referred to here, means the command to carry out Jihad and conquer Makkah. The sense of the statement is that the time is near when the evil end of those who sacrifice their relationship with Allah and His Messenger for the sake of worldly bonds shall become visible to all. That is the time when Makkah shall stand conquered, those who chose to discard their appointed duty shall face disgrace and their bonds with people and things they fancied shall be of no avail to them.

Then, there is the interpretation of the famous Hasan al-Basri (رح) who has said that ` command' at this place means the command of punishment. The sense is that those who sacrificed their spiritual bonds as related to the Hereafter just for the sake of their attachment to what was blandly material and did not migrate as instructed were people who would be seized by the Divine command of punishment fairly soon. Either this punishment would come upon them right here in this mortal world, or they shall have to face the punishment of the Hereafter - which is certain. The purpose at this place is to serve a note of warning against the abandonment of the obligation of migration - but, what has been mentioned here is ` Jihad' and not Hijrah (migration), which is the next step after Hijrah. The hint embedded here is that the real thing has not happened yet. What has come up right now is no more than the initial command to migrate. There are people who did not have the courage to do even that. Ahead of them is the forthcoming command of Jihad following which they would have to surrender all worldly attachments for the sake of love for Allah and His Messenger, even stake their lives for that noble cause. And it is also possible that this may be a place where migration itself has been made to stand for Jihad - because, in reality, that too is nothing but a department of Jihad.

Finally, by saying: وَاللَّـهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْفَاسِقِينَ (And Allah does not lead the sinning people to the right path) at the end of the verse, it was made amply clear that those who, despite the standing command of migration, opted for their temporal relationships and kept clinging to their family, relatives, wealth and property, shall soon find out that this conduct of theirs was not going to serve their purpose even in this mortal world. If they were thinking that they would keep basking in the sunshine of family, wealth and property in everlasting peace and tranquility, then, they would never realize this dream. Once the command of Jihad comes, these very attractions will turn into burdens too cumbersome to go along with - because, Allah Ta` ala does not allow the sinning and the disobedient to achieve their desired …

Commentary:

Described in the verses cited about are events relating to the scenario of defeat and victory at the battle of Hunain. Along with it, several primary and subsidiary problems have also been resolved as a corollary. As the verse opens, Allah Ta` ala mentions His favour and grace which has descended upon Muslims on all occasions and under all conditions. It was said: لَقَدْ نَصَرَ‌كُمُ اللَّـهُ فِي مَوَاطِنَ كَثِيرَ‌ةٍ (Allah has surely blessed you with His help on many battlefields). Particularly cited soon after this opener was: وَيَوْمَ حُنَيْن (and on the day of Hunain) that is, Muslims were blessed with the help of Allah on the day of the battle of Hunain as well.

The battle of Hunain was specially mentioned because many events and circumstances unfolded unexpectedly and extraordinarily during the course of this encounter. If you were to think about these happenings, you would realize that they make one stronger in faith and bolder in deed. Therefore, before we take up a literal explanation of the verses under study, it is appropriate to describe the major events of this battle. They appear in authentic books of Hadith and history. We are describing them in a somewhat detailed manner so that it becomes easier to understand not only the verses mentioned above but also the lessons that these events teach. The major portion of these events has been taken from Tafsir Mazhari. Necessary references to books of Hadith and history may be seen there.

Hunain is the name of a place between Makkah al-Mukarramah and Ta'if. It is located at a distance of about ten miles from Makkah. When Makkah was conquered in Ramadan of Hijrah 8, the Quraysh of Makkah laid down their arms before the Holy Prophet ﷺ . This alarmed the tribe of Banu Thaqif from Ta'if who were a branch of the tribe of Hawazin known all over Arabia as big, brave, rich and warring. They got together and considered the challenge posed by the newly gained strength of Muslims after their conquest of Makkah. Once the Muslims settled down, they concluded, they would turn to them. Therefore, they decided, the wisest course for them was to launch a pre-emptive attack on Muslims much before they came upon them. To carry out this plan, the tribe of Hawazin brought all its branches spread out from Makkah to Ta'if together. Included there were all big and small units of this tribe - except a few individuals who were less than a hundred in number.

The leader of this movement was Malik ibn ` Awf who became a Muslim later on and rose to be a major standard-bearer of Islam. However, at that particular time, his zeal to attack Muslims was the highest. Going along with him, the overwhelming majority of the tribe started preparing for war. Two small branches of this tribe, Banu Ka'b and Banu Kilab, did not approve of this action plan. Allah Ta` ala had blessed them with some foresight. They said: Even if the forces of the whole world from the East to the West came together against Muhammad ﷺ ، he would still overcome all of them. We cannot fight the power of God (with him). As for the rest of them, they all gave their pledges to fight. Malik ibn ` Awf devised a plan to ensure that all of them …

It will be useful to explain the statement: ثُمَّ أَنزَلَ اللَّـهُ سَكِينَتَهُ عَلَىٰ رَ‌سُولِهِ وَعَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِين (Then Allah sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and upon the believers) appearing in verse 26 a little further. It means that Allah Ta` ala sent down His tranquility upon the hearts of the noble Companions who had lost their foothold on the battlefield during the initial attack of the enemy at Hunain. This caused their feet to become firm again and those who had run away came back. As for the sending of tranquility upon the Holy Prophet ﷺ and the Companions ؓ who had stayed on the war front with firmness and determination, it means that they could see victory close at hand. And since the tranquility mentioned here was of two kinds - one for those who ran, and the other for those who stayed on with the Holy Prophet ﷺ with firmness and determination - it is to point out to this refinement that the expressions: عَلَىٰ رَ‌سُولِهِ وَعَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِين (...upon His Messenger and upon the believers) have been placed separately and introduced one after the other with the repetition of the preposition علی ) ’ ala: upon).

After that, it was said: وَأَنزَلَ جُنُودًا لَّمْ تَرَ‌وْهَا (... and sent down forces which you did not see). This means that the people at large did not see. That some reports mention the ` seeing' of these ` forces' should not be taken as contrary to this.

After that, in conclusion, it was said: وَعَذَّبَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُ‌وا ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ جَزَآءُ الْكَافِرِ‌ينَ. It means that Allah punished those who disbelieved - and those who disbelieved deserved that punishment. This punishment or recompense refers to their subjugation at the hands of Muslims which was some-thing witnessed openly. In sum, what was their worldly punishment, they received promptly. As for their fate in the Hereafter, it has been mentioned in verse 27:

: ثُمَّ يَتُوبُ اللَّـهُ مِن بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ (Yet Allah relents, after that, to whomsoever He wills). As for the details of events that came to pass during the battle of Hunain, part of it has been mentioned in the Qur'an while the rest has been taken from authentic narrations of Hadith. (Mazhari and Ibn Kathir)

Injunctions and Rulings

Many injunctions, rulings and subsidiary elements of guidance appear here under the shadows of these events. In fact, they are the very purpose of the narration of these events.

The very first instruction given in these verses is that Muslims should never wax proud of their power or numerical superiority. They should realize that the way they look towards Allah and His help at times when they are weak and deficient, very similarly, when they are strong and powerful, their total trust should also remain on nothing but the help of Allah alone.

In the battle of Hunain, Muslims enjoyed numerical superiority. They had sufficient weapons and supplies. This led some Companions to utter words of pride to the effect that no one could dare defeat them on that particular day. Allah Ta` ala did not like that a group of people so dear to him would say something like that. The result was that Muslims lost their foothold on the battlefield at the time the enemy launched the initial attack. They started running. Then, it was only with unseen help from Allah that this battle was won.

Properties of defeated non-believers: The need for justice and caution

The second instruction given here relates to the need for observing caution and justice when handling properties owned by non-believers who have been defeated and overpowered. This is illustrated by the action taken by the Holy Prophet ﷺ when he had taken war materials for the battle of Hunain from the vanquished non-Muslims of Makkah. This was an occasion when these supplies could have been taken from them by force too. But the Rasul of Allah, ﷺ took these as borrowing - and then, he returned everything so borrowed back to them.

This event taught Muslims an essential lesson - that they should maintain perfect justice and show mercy and magnanimity even when they are dealing with enemies.

The third instruction is embedded in what he said while making a stopover at Khaif bani' Kinanah enroute Hunain. ` Tomorrow', he said, ` we shall be staying at a place where our enemies, the Quraysh of Makkah, had once sat and resolved to excommunicate Muslims!' The hint given here is clear - when Allah Ta` ala has blessed Muslims with victory and power, they should not forget about the days of distress in the past, so that they remain grateful to Allah under all conditions. It will also be recalled that the defeated Hawazin forces had taken refuge in the Ta'if fortress from where they were shooting arrows against Muslims repeatedly. The Holy Prophet ﷺ was requested to pray for a curse to fall on them. He did not respond to their arrows in that manner. He prayed that they be guided to the right path. Being mercy for all the worlds, this prayer for his enemies is teaching Muslims the lesson that Muslims, when they fight in a Jihad, do not intend to subdue the enemy, instead, their …

Commentary

A proclamation of withdrawal was made against Mushriks and disbelievers at the beginning of Surah At-Taubah. The verse appearing above describes injunctions related to this proclamation. In substance, it stipulated that treaties with disbelievers should be terminated or fulfilled within a year and after the passage of one year from this proc-lamation, no Mushrik should remain within the sacred precincts of the Haram.

This has been stated in the present verse in a particular manner that accomplishes two objectives simultaneously. It points out to the wisdom behind this injunction and it also alleviates the apprehensions of some Muslims about its implementation. Here, the word: نَجَس (najas) has been used with fathah on the letter jeem ج which carries the sense of filth and filth denotes every impurity which one averts naturally. Imam Raghib al-Isfahani has said: It also includes impurity that is perceived through the senses, such as the eye, the nose or the hand as well as that which one is able to know about through knowledge and reason. Therefore, the word: ` najas' is inclusive of filth or impurity of three types. The first one is real. Everyone perceives it as such. Then, there is the second type. This is known as legal because it makes wudu وُضُو (ablution) or ghusl غُسُل (bath) legally necessary. Examples are the state of Janabah (intercourse, ejaculation or wet-dream etc.), as well as, the post-menstruation and post-childbed states known as haidh حیض and nifas نفاس . And then, there is the spiritual impurity that relates to the human heart, for example, false beliefs and evil morals. The word ` najas' covers all of these.

The word, اِنَّمَا (innama) introduced in this verse has been used for hasr or restriction. Therefore, the sentence comes to mean that Mushriks (those who ascribe partners to Allah) are impure indeed (in the sense of ` are but filth' ). The truth of the matter is that all three types of impurities are found in Mushriks because they just do not take a lot of impure things as really impure. The outcome is that they do not make any effort to stay away from smearing themselves with obvious impurities - such as, liquor and things made with it. As for the modalities of purification against acquired impurities provided by religious codes - such as, the prescribed bath after having fallen into the state of Janabah - they simply do not believe in them! Similarly, spiritual impurities like false beliefs and evil morals do not make much sense to them.

Therefore, by declaring Mushriks to be impure in this verse, the injunction given was: فَلَا يَقْرَ‌بُوا الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَ‌امَ بَعْدَ عَامِهِمْ هَـٰذَا (so let them not come near Al-masjid-al-Haram after this year of theirs).

The word: اَلمَسجِد اَلحَرَام Al-masjid-al-Haram is generally used to denote the place that is surrounded by a walled structure around the Baytullah. But, in the Qur'an and Hadith, this word, at times, has been used for the sacred precincts of the entire Haram of Makkah as well - which is an area of several square miles and is hemmed in by limits originally ap-pointed by Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) . It is in this very sense that words of …

Commentary

Verse 28 appearing earlier referred to Jihad against the Mushirks of Makkah. The present verses talk about Jihad against the People of the Book. In a sense, this is a prelude to the battle of Tabuk that was fought against the People of the Book. In Tafsir al-Durr al-Manthur, it has been reported from the Qur'an commentator, Mujahid that these verses have been revealed about the battle of Tabuk. Then, there is the reference to ` those who were given the Book.' In Islamic religious terminology, they are referred to as ` ahl al-Kitab' or People of the Book. In its literal sense, it covers every disbelieving group of people who be-lieve in a Scripture but, in the terminology of the Holy Qur'an, this term is used for Jews and Christians only - because, anly these two groups from the People of the Book were well-known in and around Arabia. Therefore, addressing the Mushriks of Arabia, the Holy Qur'an has said:

أَن تَقُولُوا إِنَّمَا أُنزِلَ الْكِتَابُ عَلَىٰ طَائِفَتَيْنِ مِن قَبْلِنَا وَإِن كُنَّا عَن دِرَ‌اسَتِهِمْ لَغَافِلِينَ ﴿156﴾

lest you should say, "The Book was sent down only upon two groups before us, and we were ignorant of what they studied." - 6:156

As for the injunction of Jihad against the People of the Book given in verse 29, it is really not particular to the People of the Book. The fact is that this very injunction applies to all disbelieving groups - because, the reasons for the injunction to fight mentioned next are common to all disbelievers. If so, the injunction has to be common too. But, the People of the Book were mentioned here particularly to serve a purpose. Since, it was possible that Muslims may hesitate to fight against them on the ground that they too are believers in a certain degree, believers in Torah and Injil, and in Sayyidna Musa and ` Isa (علیہما السلام) may peace be upon them both. So, it was possible that their connection with past prophets and their Books may become a factor in dissuading them from Jihad. Therefore, fighting with them was mentioned particularly.

There is yet another element of coherence at this place. This particularization of the People of the Book in the verse is also releasing a hint that, in a certain way, these people are deserving of greater punishment. The reasons were simple. They were people with knowledge. They had the knowledge of Torah and Injil. These Scriptures referred to the Last among prophets, Sayyidna Muhammad al-Mustafa ﷺ giving his blessed identity in details. They knew all this, yet elected to reject the truth and went on to mount conspiracies against Islam and Muslims. When they did what they did, their crime became much more serious. That explains why fighting against them was mentioned particularly.

The injunction to fight spells out four reasons in this verse:

1. لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّـهِ : They do not believe in Allah.

2. وَلَا بِالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ‌: They do not believe in the Hereafter.

3. لَا يُحَرِّ‌مُونَ مَا حَرَّ‌مَ اللَّـهُ : They do not take as prohibited what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited.

4. لَا يَدِينُونَ دِينَ الْحَقِّ : They do not submit to the Faith of Truth.

This raises a doubt. Is it not that the People of the …

In the second verse (30), the subject taken up briefly in verse 29 (where it was said that these people do not believe in Allah) has been enlarged. In the second verse, it has been said that the Jews take Sayyidna ` Uzayr (علیہ السلام) to be the Son of God.l So do the Christians. They say that Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) is the Son of God. Therefore, their claim that Allah is One and that they have faith turns out to be false.

1. This is not the belief of all the Jews; it was the belief of some Jews of the Arabia. Now, the Dead Sea Scrolls have also proved the fact that some Jewish sects believed Ezra to be the son of God. It is learnt from some scholars who have studied the Scrolls. وَاللہُ اعلم ، (Muhammad Taqi Usmani)

After that, it was said: ذَٰلِكَ قَوْلُهُم بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ. (That is their saying [ invented ] by their mouths). This could also mean that these people profess it openly and clearly through their own tongues. There is nothing secret about it. Then, it could also mean that this blasphemy they utter re-mains the work of their tongues. They can give no reason or justification for it.

Finally, it was said: یضَاهِئُونَ قَوْلَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُ‌وا مِن قَبْلُ ۚ قَاتَلَهُمُ اللَّـهُ ۚ أَنَّىٰ يُؤْفَكُونَ (They (They resemble the earlier disbelievers in their saying. Be they killed by Allah, how far turned away they are! ). It means that the Jews and Christians, by calling prophets sons of Allah, became the same as disbelievers and Mushriks of past ages, for they used to say that the angels, and their idols, Lat and Manat, were daughters of God.