Surah Al-Ahzab 33:21-27 - Quran Translation Commentary

22. When the (true) believers saw the confederates, they said: “This is what Allah and His messenger had promised us, and Allah and His messenger had spoken the truth.” And this only increased their faith and submission.⁴⁵

23. Among the believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah.⁴⁶ Some of them have paid their vow with death,⁴⁷ and some of them still are waiting ; ⁴⁸ and they have not made any change in the least;

24. (All this happened) So that Allah may reward the true men for their truth, and punish the hypocrites if He will or accept their repentance.⁴⁹ Verily, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

25. And Allah repulsed the disbelievers in their wrath; they gained no advantage.⁵⁰ And Allah sufficed for the support of the believers in the battle.⁵¹ Allah is strong, mighty.⁵²

26. And He brought those of the People of the Book who supported them down from their fortifications, and cast panic into their hearts. Some you slew and some you made captive.⁵³

27. And He caused you to inherit ⁵⁴ their land, and their houses and their wealth, and land ⁵⁵ on which you had never set foot before. Allah has power over all things.

Commentary

43. The sufferings through which Allah’s messenger had to pass, the dangers which he invited, the manner in which he stuck to his place on the front and the courage and bravery which he showed, all this provided the best example for his followers. Therefore, on this occasion you should have done the same thing which Allah’s messenger did.

Although the ayah hints at this particular event, the generality of the wording of the ayah points to a very important principle and guideline, and it is that the action of the Messenger of Allah is ever an example for the people of faith. Therefore, they should keep the life of the Prophet before them and follow the example of the Prophet.

From this it also becomes clear that any one who deviates from the example of the Prophet, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, then his example is not worth following by the Muslims, even if such example may be of devout worshippers or the sufis.

44. That is: The followers of the Messenger of Allah will be only those who will be hopeful of meeting Allah in the Hereafter, of getting reward for the righteous deeds, and in whose hearts Allah’s remembrance is present, and on their tongues is His name always. Those who do not have these qualifications, cannot have such courage as to the support the Prophet in times of emergency, and keeping his good example before their eyes, they should shape their character accordingly.

There is no dearth of Muslims today who will praise the good example of the Prophet’s excellent life in glowing terms, but they will not make it a guide for shaping their own lives according to that example, but they would make the ‘bad example’ of the worst lives of the misguided people as their guide; so that their life in this world may be comfortable and the people of the world may also be pleased with them.

45. In the Battle of the Ahzab the behaviour of the sincere people of faith has been presented here, which shows their loyalty to Allah and His messenger, their care for their covenant, their courage and their readiness for sacrificing themselves. The hypocrites, as stated in the Ayah Nos.11and 12. started having misgivings in respect of Allah and said that the promise of Allah and His messenger was only a deception. But the sincere Muslims spontaneously said: ‘It is what Allah and His messenger had promised us.’ It is a hint at the fact that the path of success lies through trials and tribulations, as is stated in the Surah’ Baqarah:

“Do you think that you will enter Paradise without such trials as came to those who passed away before you ? ...” - (Surah Baqarah 214) And in Surah Ankaboot stated :-

“Do people think that they would be left alone if they (merely) say: ‘We believe,’ and they would not be tried ? And verily We tested those who have gone before them. So Allah will surely see those who are truthful and will surely see those who are liars.”-(Surah Ankaboot-2,3).

And when they expressed these feelings of faith, their intensity of faith and their desire for obedience increased.

46. This covenant that they will risk their lives in the path of Allah.

47. That is: By risking their lives, they became martyrs.

48. That is: They are waiting as to when they would get a chance to risk their lives for the sake of Allah.

49. After stumbling they should take care and should seek Allah’s repentance. The idea is to let the hypocrites know that there was still time for them to seek Allah’s repentance and why should they make themselves liable to receive His punishment?

50. Allah’s plan resulted in the disbelievers returning in wrath, fuming and fretting. They were not able to harm the people of Madina in any way nor did they benefit from their campaign in any way.

51. The disbelievers had presented a united front and mounted an attack on Muslims, but Allah caused such circumstances to occur that the Muslims were not required to fight at all. Allah was sufficient to fight for them. On the occasion of Hajj, these words, which are uttered at Safa and Marwah, refresh the memory of this divine help only: “There is no god except one Allah. He fulfilled His promise and helped His slave, and defeated (the armies of) the confederates single-handed.” -(Muslim Kitabul Hajj).

52. Allah has power, therefore, it is not at all difficult for Him to defeat a huge army, and He is Mighty, therefore, whatever He plans, it is successfully executed.

53. Refers to Bani Quraizah, who lived in the eastern part of Madina and were Jews. The Prophet (S.A. W.) had made an agreement with them after migration, but they did not keep their part of the covenant, and at the time of the Battle of the Trench they broke their covenant and assisted the enemy. When the Prophet (S.A. W.)returned from the Battle of the Trench, Jibril (Peace be upon him)came with the message from Allah that he should turn to Bani Quraizah without delay and military action be taken against the said tribe. Therefore, the Prophet at once turned to go towards their colony with his companions, and there he surrounded their place. The siege lasted for twenty five days, after which they came down from their fortress on this condition that their matter should be decided by the chief of the tribe of Aus, Sa’ad bin Ma’az, who was their ally. Accordingly the judgment given by Sa’ad (R) was:

“All their males who are able to fight should be killed, their women and children should be made captive, and their properties should be distributed.” (Bukhari-Kitabul Mughazi).

On this Prophet(S.A.W.) said that he gave judgment according to the divine command. This judgment of Sa’ad bin Ma’az (R) is according to the Torah, in which this law of fighting has been enunciated :

“When you draw near to a city to fight against it ------- But it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it; and when the LORD your God gives it into your hand you shall put all its males to the sword, but the women and the little ones, the cattle, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourselves;” (Det.20 :10 to 14).

In this way the Jewish Bani Quraizah were removed from Madina. Such a harsh attitude was taken against them because before this a tribe of the Jews, Bani Nadir, had also broken their covenant and they were allowed to leave with their women and children with some property, in spite of their conspiracies and broken promises. They left Madina and settled in Khyber. But from here also they continued hatching conspiracies against Muslims and troubling them. Then Bani Quraizah broke their covenant in such an emergent situation that the idolaters had laid a siege with a very huge army and were about to attack Muslims, on such an occasion the jews stabbed their allies in the back, therefore, it was inevitable that such traitors were given the severest punishment.

It may be noted that the number of those who were killed was not more than eight hundred and the number of women and children who were taken prisoners was about one thousand. (Ghazwah Bani Quraizah - Muhammad Ahmed Bashmeel,P.197)

54. Along with the property, Muslims got a huge haul of weapons. Narratives state that Muslims got fifteen hundred swords, two thousand pears, three hundred coats of arms and five hundred shields. (Ghazwah Bani Quraizah-page 229).

55. This was a glad tidings of the victories over such lands where they had never stepped before after this, the first place which was overrun by Muslims was Khyber, thereafter other places.

Thus the prophecies of the Quran proved to be true.