Surah At-Tawbah 9:1-10 - Quran Translation Commentary

3. And a general proclamation from Allah and His messenger to the people on the Day of the Hajj-e-Akbar (the Great pilgrimage)⁴ that Allah is free from obligation to the polytheists and (so is) His messenger.⁵ So if you repent (even now), it will be better for you; but if you are averse, then know that you cannot escape Allah. And (O prophet!) give tidings of painful punishment to disbelievers;

4. Excepting those idolaters with whom you have a treaty, and subsequently who have not failed you in anything, nor aided anyone against you with these fulfil their treaty to the end of its term.⁶ Verily Allah likes the God-fearing people.⁷

5. Then, when the sacred months are over⁸, slay the idolaters wherever you find them,⁹ and capture them, and besiege them and lie in ambush everywhere for them.¹⁰ Then if they repent, and establish prayer and pay Zakat, then leave their way free.¹¹ Verily Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

6. And if anyone of the polytheists seeks asylum with you, give him protection, till he may hear the word of Allah,¹² then escort him to his place of safety. That is because they are the people who know not.

7. How can there be a treaty with Allah and with His messenger for the polytheists save¹³ those with whom you made a treaty near the Sacred Mosque?¹⁴ So as long as they are straight towards you, be straight towards them. Verily, Allah likes those who fear Him.

8. How (can there be any treaty for the others) when, if they have an upper hand of you, they respect no ties of kinship nor of covenant ?¹⁵ They please you with their mouths, but their hearts are averse. And most of them are transgressors .¹⁶

9. They have accepted a small price in return for Allah’s revelations¹⁷ and debar (others) from Allah’s path.¹⁸ Evil indeed is it what they are doing.

10. They do not respect, in the case of a believer, either the ties of kinship or that of covenant. These are the ones who are transgressors.¹⁹

Commentary

1. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) had entered into peace treaties with different tribes of Arabia, but many of them were violating those treaties. For this reason a declaration for terminating these treaties is made.

2. They were given a time limit of four months so that they might come to a final decision about themselves, either they might give up idolatry and polytheism or might get ready to fight.

3. That is: Allah has decided to disgrace the polytheists. Therefore, those who would stick to their polytheism till the last would be struck by this divine decision. Whatever force they might exert, they would not be able to avert being struck by Allah ‘s decision; and history is a witness that decision of Allah has been enforced on the idolaters of Arabia.

4. The word’ Akbar’ (great) is the qualification of’Hajj’, which distinguishes it from Umrah which was called the ‘Hajj-e-Asghar’ (the smaller Hajj). This qualification hints at the massive gathering of Muslim pilgrims on the occasion of Hajj.

This gathering takes place in Arafat as well as in Mina, but here it refers to ‘Yaumun Nahr’ i.e. the 10th of Zil Hijjah, when the gathering of Hajj takes place in Mina. And since Quraish did not use to go to Arafat, therefore, for this declaration which was to be made on the day of the Hajj, the day of the gathering in Mina was more suitable, when every kind of polytheist used to be present.

Today Muslims consider every day of gathering at Arafat that falls on a Friday as Hajj-i- Akbar, though according to this verse every Hajj is Hajj-i-Akbar, as it is an intrinsic qualification of the Hajj.

5. This declaration of being free from any obligation is in relation to those polytheists with whom the Muslims had no peace treaty, and the meaning of Allah and His messenger’s being free from obligation is that hereafter there is no refuge for them in Allah’s law nor is there any guarantee from the Prophet about the safety of their lives; the period of treaty and peace is over, if they do not give up their polytheistic attitude, force will be used against them.

This declaration was made in 09 (A.H.) on the occasion of Hajj, i.e. 10th of Zil Hijjah in Mina. At that time the idolaters performed the Hajj according to their own rites and customs. and Muslims followed their own rites. This Hajj was performed under the guidance or leadership of Abu Bakr(R), and Ali (R), declared four points on behalf of the Prophet:

(1) None that has not embraced Islam will enter the Paradise.

(2) After that year, no polytheist would perform the Hajj.

(3) Nor can anybody go round the Ka ‘ba in pilgrimage in a naked condition,

(4) The treaties that the prophet has made with the people would be honoured till the date of their due termination.

(5) Abu Hurairah (R) says that when the voice of Ali (R) became hoarse while making this declaration, he began repeating the declaration. (Tafseer Tabri, Vol. 10, Page 45).

6. The treaties of the polytheists with the Prophet which were for a fixed period and which were not dishonoured by them were allowed to stand till the expiry of their periods, as ordained in this verse. These tribes were Khaza ‘ah. Banu Zamrah and Banu Kinanah.

7. The Qur’an directs its followers to adopt the line of righteousness (God-fearing) in every circumstance, whether it be the matter of honouring the treaties or war or peace, or in politics or in social life, in the same manner as it is incumbent for the followers to adopt the line of righteousness in their individual and’ private affairs.

8. The explanation of the sacred months has been given in Note No.269, Surah Baqarah. Here the meaning of the sacred months being over is that when the last of this series. i.e. Muharram may be over, you may settle your account with those polytheists with whom you had no treaty. It may be noted that the time limit of four months in Verse No.2 was given in the case of those polytheists with whom the Muslims had peace treaties and they were dishonouring them.

9. This ultimatum was given only to the polytheists of Arabia specifically because their case Commentary Dawatul Qur’an 599 S.9 S.9 600 Dawatul Qur’an was quite different from the case of other communities. Allah had raised Muhammad (Sallal Lahu Alaihi wa sallam) from amongst the Arabs only and had revealed His Book in their language.The truth had been made clear to them in no uncertain terms and it is the tradition of Allah that whenever, His message is conveyed to a community or a nation through His messenger and if the people of that nation do not accept that message and embrace His religion, He destroys that nation for their persistence in their rebellion against Allah and deprives them of their right to live on His land. Such people are lifeless and for people without life there is no place on the surface of the earth, but under its surface. Therefore, either of the two eventualities confront them, either the Divine wrath descends on them from the heaven or the companions of the Prophet exterminate them. Allah’s decision in the case of the Arab polytheists was, that a large number of them would be blessed for embracing Islam and the small number that would stick to polytheism would be destroyed with the swords of the prophet’s companions.

Those who do not know the circumstances under which these verses were revealed conclude that the Qu’ran commands them to kill the polytheists, wherever and whenever they find them, be it any part of the world, whether the situation is of war or of peace, the message of Allah has not been convincingly conveyed to them. This is a great misunderstanding, which is especially found among the non-Muslims in India. This misunderstanding can be removed only if the whole situation and the background is taken into consideration, and the sense of the verse is understood in its true perspective.

10. That is: Take effective steps against them, and leave nothing to chance in fighting against them.

11. That is: If these idolaters give up their polytheism and idolatry and accept Islam as their faith. and as a proof of their being Muslims they establish salat and pay zakat, then there is no cause for confronting them. They should neither be asked to account for the past behaviour nor should they be harassed in any way.

After the death of the Prophet (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wasallam) when some Arabian tribes, who had earlier embraced Islam, refused to pay zakat. the first Khalifa, Abu Bakr (R) took military action against them. In view of this verse, and had said that those who would discriminate between salat and zakat (i.e. accepting the one and rejecting the other) would surely be opposed by him by use of force. – (Mishkat -Kitabuz Zakat).

This incident clarifies one more aspect of the importance of salat and zakat (prayer and compulsory charity), and that these two aspects of worship have the position of law in Islam, and it is within the duties of an Islamic government to forcefully implement them.

Today the negligence noticed among the Muslims in relation to salat and zakat is on account of the fact that there is no one to shock them out of their negligence.

12. If a polytheist asks for shelter during war in order to hear and understand Quran, then it is the duty of the Muslims that he should be given the required shelter and thereafter he should be safely conducted to his place of safety. And it is the proof of the fact that Islam’s war with the polytheists is for a very sacred cause and not for land grabbing or national enmity. Incidentally, from this verse it points becomes quite clear that for the purpose of propagation and dawah of Islam to introduce Qur’an to non- Muslims, the Muslims should induce them to read the Qu’ran. and to present the meaning of its verses in their languages, is very important and vital work, so that they may understand the words of their Lord.

13. This is a parenthetical sentence, as another point is being mentioned. Originally the discussion was about those polytheists whose treaties were terminated, but in between, through the use of this parenthetical sentence, those polytheists have been exempted from this command who had violated their treaties.

14. Near the Sacred Mosque means the place known as Hudaibiyah, which is within the limits of Haram (Sacred Mosque). In the month of Zil Qa’dah, 06 (A.H.) a treaty was made between the Muslims of Madina and the Quraish of Makkah. One of the conditions of this treaty was that every Arabian tribe was free to become the ally of either party to this treaty. On this occasion the tribe of Banu Khaza‘ah became an ally of the Prophet and his followers. Although in the beginning of 08 (A.H.) the Quraish had dishonoured the treaty of Hudaibiyah and in the month of Ramzan of 08 (A.H.) Makkah was conquered by Muslims, the treaty which was made with Banu Khaza ‘ah was allowed to run its course; and since they had not violated it, the Muslims were here directed to honour it as long as the said tribesmen would honour it.

15. In the Arabian society, tribal system was the order of the day. Therefore in all social affairs, ties of kinship played a very important part. Another thing which helped in keeping the relations smooth between the tribes was the treaty of peace among them. But the idolaters had adopted such a hard attitude in their antagonism towards Islam that they neither cared for any ties of kinship nor for any restrictions on account of any covenant. Whenever they got a chance they acted against the interests of Muslims. In such a situation it was difficult for the Muslims to honour the treaties made with them, since no treaty could survive, if both the parties to it did not honour it.

16. Here ‘Fasiq’ (transgressor) means those who break the pledges.

17. That is: in the revelations of Allah are hidden treasures of both the worlds, but these unknowing detractors preferred the mean worldly gains to Allah’s revelations and thus deprived themselves of the greatest good.

18. When, the worldly gains were fixed as the only aim in life, then how could they tolerate the message of religion, which was being given in order to fix the Hereafter as the aim in life. Therefore, they stood up as the blocking wall to debar others from going on to that path.

19. In Verse No.8 the attitude of the polytheists with the Muslims was described. In this verse it is stated that in the matter of their relationship with the Muslims the idolaters neither cared for the ties of kinship nor for their pledges. They had adopted an aggressive attitude.