Surah At-Tawbah 9:100-110 - Quran Translation Commentary

100. And as for those among the Muhajireen¹⁷⁸ (refugees from Makkah) and the Ansar¹⁷⁹ (supporters in Madina) who were the first to lead the way,¹⁸⁰ and also those who followed them in goodness¹⁸¹– Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him.¹⁸² And for them He has prepared gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. That is the supreme triumph.

101. And among the Bedouins around you there are hypocrites and among the people of Madina (there are hypocrites), hardened in hypocricy¹⁸³, you do not know them. We know them.¹⁸⁴ Soon we will punish them twice,¹⁸⁵ then they will be returned to a very great punishment.¹⁸⁶

102. And there are others who have confessed their sins; their good acts are intermixed with evil acts.¹⁸⁷ It is likely that Allah may accept their repentance, Allah is Oft- Forgiving, Most Merciful.

103. (O Prophet!) Take alms from their property¹⁸⁸ whereby you may cleanse them and purify them,¹⁸⁹ and pray for mercy for them, verily your prayer is a comfort for them and Allah Hears All, Knows All.

104. Do they not know that it is Allah who accepts repentance from His slaves and accepts alms, and that Allah is the Acceptor of repentance, Most Merciful.

105. And say: “Act ! Allah will see your actions and (also) His messenger and the believers (will see),¹⁹⁰ and soon you will be returned to the Knower of the hidden and the visible, then He will tell you what you had been doing.”

106. And there are others who await Allah’s decree,¹⁹¹. whether He will punish them, or accept thair repentance (mercifully). Allah is All-Knowing, wise.

107. And there are those who put up a mosque in order to harm and as an act of disbelief and for disuniting the faithful, as an outpost for those who fought against Allah and His messenger earlier,¹⁹² They will surely swear that their intention was nothing but good, but Allah bears witness that they are definitely liars.

108. Never stand therein.¹⁹³ A mosque which is founded upon piety from the first day is more worthy that you should stand (pray) therein.¹⁹⁴ In it are men who love to clean and purify ,¹⁹⁵ (themselves) and Allah likes pure people.

109. Who is better? One who laid of his house foundation on piety and fear of Allah and His pleasure, or one who laid its foundation on the brink of a crumbling precipice, and then it toppled with him in the fire of Hell.¹⁹⁶ And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.¹⁹⁷

110. The house that they built will never cease to be a misgiving in their hearts, until their hearts are torn to pieces.¹⁹⁸ And Allah is All- Knowing, Wise.

Commentary

178. For explanation see Surah Al-Anfal. Note No.106.

179. For explanation, please see Surah Al- Anfal Note No.108.

180. That is: Those who took lead in responding to the call of the Truth and in embracing Islam, and did not wait to see whether others also embrace this religion or not and after accepting the faith, were in the vanguard of those who tried to fulfil its demands and to offer sacrifices in time of difficulty. They did not hesitate to stake their lives to elevate Allah’s kalimah and to support and help His messenger. These are the people who are the everfresh flowers of this garden, and who had adorned the front rank of the followers of Islam.

Sabiqoonal awwaloon (vanguards) belong to the period prior to the battle of Badr because this period was of great (stresses and hardships and the battle of Badr had actually given the decision in favour of Islam after which the obstructions to embrace it were disappearing gradually.

181. Refers to those people who followed the earlier leaders in joining this caravan of Islam and who followed their lead diligently.

The first one is the group of the grand companions of the prophet and the other group is of other companions and also others who followed their example sincerely, regardless of their having been born at any place or in any country or at any time. for all are the treaders of the same path and members of the same Ummah.

182. The group, about whom Allah has declared, in His Book, the fact of being pleased. would naturally evoke great respect and admiration in the hearts of the general Muslims. and all sincere Muslims would definitely try to emulate their examples.

But in spite of this clear-cut statement, there is a sect among Muslims which makes the entire group of the front rank companions of the Prophet, excepting a few, a target of their curses, it has made uttering of curses a regular religious practice. In other words, the source from which they should have received guidance, they have converted that source to achieve misguidance. Had they not been victims of excesses and personality cult. recitation of this verse would have opened their eyes.

And there are those who put up a mosque in order to harm and as an act of disbelief and for disuniting the faithful, as an outpost for those who fought against Allah and His messenger earlier, They will surely swear that their intention was nothing but good, but Allah bears witness that they are definitely liars. (Al-Quran)

183. That is: They proclaim to be Muslims but in their hearts they are hypocrites. and to hide this hypocrisy they become so magniloquent that others are unable to see their true colours.

184. Secrets of hearts or what a man hides in his heart, not even a prophet knows. It is only Allah who knows that.

185. One punishment is in the world and the second punishment is in the grave or in the world of Barzakh. Their punishment is in the world. as explained in Note No. 103 was meted out to them at the hands of the Muslims.

186. Means the ‘punishment in the Hereafter.

187. Surah Bar’at (Repentance) is the revelation of the last period. and at that time in the Muslim society Muslims of different degrees according to faith and action, were found. Therefore, a survey of the group of every degree is taken in the surah, so that who is the desired Muslim according to the Quranic standard should be known to the Muslims of that time, as well as to the following generations of Muslims.

The group of the people who have been referred to in this ‘verse had been guilty of the first offence which was that they did not participate in the Tabuk Expedition. Besides this, as is clear from the Quranic statement their lives were an intermixture of good and evil deeds, but they had confessed their sins, therefore, a hope of their repentance being accepted was given to them.

188. That is: The gifts in charity that they would give should be accepted. Whatever alms or zakat the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to get from Muslims, he used to spend their amounts on the items of expenditure which were fixed for such kind of charity.

189. It has thus become clear that charityeither in the form of zakat or alms-is a means of achieving cleanness and purification from evil and sin and of equipping oneself with the ornaments of good and virtue. It also removes the diseases of heart and mind, and it develops feelings of goodness. It improves the inner qualities and makes a man virtuous.

190. That is: What is their attitude and line of action in future will also be watched by the true believers so that they may mete out to them the treatment they deserve.

191. That is: Among those who remained behind at the time of the Tabuk Expedition, whose case has been kept pending, there were three men, who had not participated in the Expedition on account of their negligence. Their case was not decided immediately and they were made to wait. Subsequently their repentance was accepted, which is being mentioned in the Verse No. 118. which follows.

192. This mosque. which came to be known as masjid-e-zirar (dhirar) was built in Madina, near the Masjid-e-Quba by a group of hypocrites. When the Prophet (Sallal lahu Alaihi Wasallam) set on the Tabuk Expedition, some hypocrites requested him to offer prayers in that mosque at least once. The purpose of building this mosque was stated by them to provide convenience in the rainy nights. particularly to the disabled people. The Prophet replied that a long journey was ahead, and did not go with them. On his return from Tabuk, when he reached Ziawan, near Madina, Allah informed him of their conspiracy. Immediately he dispatched some of his companions so that they might destroy the mosque before his reaching Madina. Accordingly, these gentlemen executed his orders very efficiently and burnt down the mosque so that the mischief might not crop up again. (This event is mentioned in Seerat Ibn Hasham in Vol. IV. page 185). In this verse Allah has disclosed the evil designs with which they had put up this mosque. Their first design was to cause damage to the religion. Mosques are built for spreading and developing religion, so that this monument of, Islam may become a means of its strength, but they had built the mosque for rooting out Islam. How can a mosque whose foundation was kept on evil designs attract reverence, and how can it become holy? Their second design was that it should not become a place of worship in reality, but a center of spreading disbelief. The third design was to smash the unity of Muslims to smithereens, by prompting Muslims to keep away from their center of gathering. The fourth design was that it should be used as an outpost for the enemies of Islam, so that they may plan their nefarious activities against Islam from that place. It is mentioned in the narratives that a man from the tribe of Bani Khazraj, whose name was Abu A‘mir, was converted to Christianity and he was an arch enemy of the Prophet. He supported the polytheists in the Battle of Uhud, and after the Battle of Hunain when he felt that the Arabs have failed to stem the onward march of Islam, he went to Rome, where he spent his time in conspiring against Islam, till at last he succeeded in provoking the Roman Caeser to invade Madina. On his suggestion the hypocrites had built the Masjid-e- Zirar, but the inspiration from Allah disclosed this nefarious conspiracy, and the Prophet nipped the mischief in the bud by his timely action of getting the mosque destroyed.

Never stand therein. A mosque which is founded upon piety from the first day is more worthy that you should stand (pray) therein. In it are men who love to clean and purify, (themselves) and Allah likes pure people. (Al-Quran)

193. That is: Not only do not offer prayer in the mosque, but do not also set foot therein.

194. When the Prophet (Peace be upon him) reached Madina after migration from Makkah. he stayed for some time in the Quba area. There he laid the foundation of a mosque, which came to be known as the Masjid-e-Quba. This was the first mosque of Madina. The second mosque was built by the Prophet inside the city, which is called the Masjid-e-Nabavi. The foundation of both these mosques were laid on the fear of God and piety. Therefore, this verse can apply to both these mosques, and the sayings of the prophet’s companions in support of both the mosques are there. But in this respect Masjid-e-Nabavi is better qualified, because it was Prophet’s routine to stand in this mosque for prayer more than in the other mosque, and the real target of the hypocrites was to smash to pieces the unity of Muslims born out of gatherings in this mosque. Therefore, the foremost and the first mosque to which this verse can apply is this mosque. In a hadith it is stated that there was a difference of opinion between two persons in the matter of the mosque as to whose foundation was laid on the fear of God and piety. One said that it was the Masjid-e-Quba and the other said it was the Masjid-e-Rasool The Prophet said: “That is this mosque of mine”. Imam Tirmizi quoted this hadith and has commented that it is ‘hasan ‘. authentic. And Shaukani in his Tafseer Fathul Qadeer has correctly commented that when from the authentic traditions it is proved that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) has meant it to be’ Masjid-e-Nabavi, then to present any other persons’s saying in opposition to the saying of the Prophet is not proper. -(Fathul Qadeer, Shaukani, Vol. II, p. 406).

195. Means inner cleanliness as well as outward cleanliness. The Shariah has given commands for both, and the quality of these sincere Muslims is that first of all they keep their hearts and minds clean from the impurities of sin and side by side they also take care of keeping their bodies clean. As opposed to this, the interior (heart and mind) of the founder of the Masjid-e-Zirar was unclean and impure with the uncleanness and impurities of disbelief and hypocrisy. They were neither mindful of the purity of their hearts nor of the cleanness of their bodies.

196. This is the example of those who build the edifice of their life, instead of on the fear of God and His good pleasure, on disregard and indifference to Him, which results in the form of total destruction. If they keep this result in view, they would realize that they are not doing the work of construction but destruction.

197. That is: He does not help them to succeed and reach the goal.

198. By giving their nefarious conspiracy the shape of a mosque they have fixed hypocrisy in their hearts so firmly that they are now unable to get free of it till their last breath.