Surah At-Tawbah 9:119-122 - Quran Translation Commentary

120. It was not proper for the citizens of Madina and the Bedouins of the neighborhood to stay behind the messenger of Allah and prefer their lives to his life.²¹⁹ That is because neither thirst, nor toil nor hunger afflicts them in the way of Allah, nor the step that they take to enrage the disbelievers, nor the gain that they achieve over the enemy, but a good deed is recorded for them therefore.²²⁰ Verily Allah does not waste the reward of those who do good.

121. And nor do they spend any amount, small or big, nor do they cross a valley, but it is recorded for them that Allah may repay them the best for what they used to do.

122. And the believer, should not go forth all together. But why did it not happen that a few persons’ from each group should have come out to seek sound knowledge of the religion, and on their return warn their people in order that they may take heed.²²¹

Commentary

218. From the events narrated above it is demonstrated that the hypocrites had taken shelter’ in falsehood, as a result of which the seeds of hypocrisy had taken firm roots in their hearts, and they did not receive the divine guidance to offer repentance. As opposed to this, the Muslims who had committed the mistake had not given up truth, as a result of which their faith was not dimmed and they received the divine guidance to repent.

In view of these blessings of truth and truthful behaviour the general Muslims are being directed to speak the truth and to be with the rightful people, that is to be in touch and friendly with the righteous and sincere believers, to prefer their companionship, to have dealings with them, and in the collective and social striving for religion to be their supporters. and to avoid those who adopt the hypocritical attitude.

219. The real reason for censuring those who had remained behind at the time of the Tabuk Expedition. occurring in the foregoing verses, is the one that has been mentioned in this verse, that is on the important and emergent occasion of jihad their not being with the messenger of Allah and remaining at home meant that the messenger of Allah may place his life in danger while these people may seek refuge in the cool and safe boundaries of their homes!

220. When jihad is so auspicious that at every step divine reward can be collected and one’s bags for rewards in the Hereafter can be filled, then any hardship in its path is no hardship, but is a means of achieving good fortune. Its psychological aspect is that when a man is certain that he will achieve his goal by traversing a certain valley, all the hardships and difficulties in the path seem easy and surmountable, and man becomes prepared to achieve even the unachievable.

221. Those Muslims who lived away from Madina were unable to attend the prophet’s meetings, and it had created certain problems regarding their religious education and training. Day by day the area of Islam was widening and on the other hand on account of lack of education and training the number of Muslims in name’only was increasing. This verse tries to solve this problem in this way that all Muslims cannot come to Madina to seek religious knowledge and understanding, but some persons from every colony and every tribe can come out and seek the required knowledge and then they can return to their own people and transmit that knowledge, so that they may gain the required religious consciousness and save themselves from disobedience and sin.

The directive principles that can be derived from this are as follows:

1) Religious education is of basic importance. If people are not aware of the Shariah limits, they cannot live the correct Islamic life. and if they do not have the right consciousness about religion. then they may become prone to develop a sinful mentality even to the extent of committing hypocrisy and disbelief. Therefore, it is necessary to popularize religious education among Muslims.

2) Popularizing the religious education can be achieved by different methods according to the prevalent conditions. One method is by opening centers for teaching, lecturing, and training, where people from every corner of the attached areas can come in a fixed number and later on pass on their knowledge etc. to the residents of their own areas.

In modem times this work can be done locally, e. g. lessons of Quran and hadith in mosques, religious gatherings, schools, etc.

3) The need for acquiring religious education is essential for children as well as adults. Therefore, it is not correct to ignore the grownups and concentrate on children only.

In the Verse mainly the grownups are directed to be taught religious consciousness.

4) The real importance in the religious education is to ‘Tafaqquh’ that is an understanding of the religion may be created. This purpose cannot be achieved by merely giving the formal type of education or by providing knowledge of Fiqh, but it requires that such education be imparted that man may be able to recognise his Lord, may realise what is the purpose of his life, and this fact must be firmly inscribed in his mind that his religion demands sincere observance of its tenets, and Islam is to place oneself wholly and totally at the disposal of God; he should know what are the outlines and features of Islamic life; what is the meaning of observing the Shariah limits; what is the reality about taqwa (fear of God); and who are the people whom Quran has called Muttaqi (God-fearing).

5) The real objective of the education and training is to make aware the people about adverse effects of the non-Islamic life so that a sense of accountability in the Hereafter is created in people, and they are prepared to lead a correct Islamic life.

6) Profound knowledge of religion and its understanding can be created when efforts are made to understand and explain the holy Book, Quran.

7) If it becomes necessary man should undertake journeys for seeking or imparting religious knowledge.