Surah At-Tawbah 9:25-29 - Quran Translation Commentary

25. Allah has given you help on many occasions, ⁴⁷ and on the day of Hunain,⁴⁸ when you prided in your great numbers, but they were of no value to you, and the earth for all its vastness, became narrow for you, then you turned your backs and fled.⁴⁹

26. Then Allah sent down His peace (of reassurance) upon His messenger and upon Muslims, and sent down forces you did not see,⁵⁰ and punished those who disbelieved, and that is the reward for the disbelievers.

27. Then after that Allah will accept the repentence of whom He wills⁵². And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

28. O you who believe! The polytheists are filthy. ⁵³ So let them not come near Al- Masjidul-Haram after this year ⁵⁴,⁵⁵ And if you fear of poverty, soon will Allah enrich you if He wills.⁵⁶ Verily Allah is All-Knowing, Wise.

29. Fight against those people of the Book who do not believe in Allah, nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which has been forbidden by Allah and His messenger, nor embrace the religion of Truth, until they pay the Jizya (tribute) on being defeated and are utterly subdued.⁵⁷

Commentary

47. That is: On the occasions of the battles of Badr,the Ditch, Khaiber, and Makkah, Allah had helped you on a number of occasions. And when His help was made available to you in the past, why could it not be made available to you now. So do not hesitate in obeying the command of waging a war against the polytheists.

48. Hunain is a valley between Makkah and Taif. which is at a distance of 25 kilometers from Makkah. A battle was fought here with the idolaters in the month of Shawwal 08 A.H. (February. 630 A.D.).

49.The Prophet (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wasallam) was just free from the victory of Makkah that near Taif, the tribes of Hawazin and Thaqeef who were polytheists, started making preparations for war, feeling resentful over the Muslim victory of Makkah. When he learnt about their dangerous intentions, he gathered an army of twelve thousand men and marched towards them. On this occasion as the number of warriors in the Muslim army was quite large, Muslims felt a little more self confident, which made them a bit neglectful, and they did not fight very valiantly. The location of an army is of great importance in a Dawatul Qur’an 609 S.9 NNNNNN S.9 610 Dawatul Qur’an battle. The region of Hunain is mountainous, and the hostile army had taken its position much earlier. Besides, these tribes were known for their talents in archery When the Muslim army was passing through the valley, they suddenly attacked it and rained such a heavy shower of arrows on the Muslim warriors that many of them took to their heels. But the Prophet (Sllal Lahu Alaihi Wasallam) and some of his loyal companions stuck to their posts. Then on being beckoned by the prophet, when Abbas (R) called the Muslims to stop and fight, they gathered round the Prophet and fought so bravely that they were blessed with victory. This incident is referred to in the said verse.

50. Means the army of the angels, which was sent down on this emergent occasion to the help of the Muslims. This very help of the angels gave encouragement to the Muslims because they had come down from the heavens with the peace of reassurance. This reassurance spurred them on to such an extent that they assaulted the enemy like a wounded lion, and finally the enemy had to accept defeat. Thousands were taken prisoners and great booty was captured by the Muslims. This is that unseen help from Allah which has been alluded to in this verse. For explanation of the angelic help in the battles between Islam and disbelief, Notes Nos. 15 and 19 of Surah Al–Anfal may be seen.

51. In Hunain the idolaters had to face a very ignominious defeat. Allah caused this punishment to be given to them at the hands of the Muslims, and this was the recompense for their disbelief, which they got in this world and the Truth reigned supreme.

They have taken their priests and monks as their lords, other than Allah and also the Messiah, son of Mary, although they were bidden to worship only One God. There is no god, but He, Pure from all that they ascribe as partners (to Him)! (Al-Quran)

52. That is: In the battlefields where bloodshed and destruction are the order of the day, quite a few slaves of God are enabled to receive guidance. They are guided by Allah to repent for their disbelief, which they give up and take shelter under the shadow of Allah’s blessings. This is the positive aspect of jihad, and it is so advantageous for humanity that its negative aspect, with all its disadvantages, bears no comparison with it. Accordingly, in the Battle of Hunain after their defeat a very large number of idolaters embraced Islam, because they realized that the unseen help from Allah is with the prophet (peace be upon him) that is why everywhere and in every field he marches on in triumph. So why should they not have faith in the Being who is manifesting such astounding happenings, and why should they not embrace His religion?

53. Here filthiness refers to the uncleanness of disbelief and polytheism, from which the centre of monotheism (tawheed) must necessarily be kept clean. Compared to the disbelievers and the idolaters, Islam has never encouraged or preached the concept of untouchability, but it directed to keep itself clean from the uncleanness of the influences of disbelief. It may be noted that in the sight of Islam the uncleanness of heart and mind, resulting in disbelief and polytheism, is the worst of all uncleanness.

54. This year of theirs means the year 09 A. H. (631 A.D.), when this Verse was revealed. In this year the Hajj was performed by the Muslims under the leadership of Abu Bakr (R), and on this occasion, in accordance with this command, an announcement was made that in future no polytheist would perform Hajj.

55. That is: The polytheists should not be allowed to enter the limits of the Haram. According to this command, the entry of polytheists was prohibited not only in the Sacred Mosque but also in the entire Haram. In other words the land of Haram is a prohibited area for the Non-Muslims.

56. As a result of the prohibition imposed on the entry of Mushrikeen (idolaters) into the land of Haram, it was feared that the trade and business of the Arabs would receive a setback, because in those days most of the persons who brought the grains and the food stuff in the market of Makkah were disbelievers, but Allah directed to disregard this fear and gave them hope that with His Blessings He would make them rich. Accordingly, what was promised by Allah did actually materialize. No adverse effect resulted on the economic conditions of the Muslims after prohibiting the idolaters from entering Makkah. On the contrary their economic conditions improved. It shows that the main thing is to trust Allah and to obey Him. If this is done, then the problems are also solved and prosperity follows with His blessings.

57. This is the most important verse concerning jihad, which was revealed in 09 (A.H.). Before this occasions had arisen to fight war against the Jews, whose colonies were situated near and around Madina. The reason for waging a war against them was their conspiratorial activities against Muslims and in support of the idolaters. Now in this verse a general guidance is given as a principle to wage war against the general people of the Book (Jews and Christians), the nature of which is that of a permanent policy of the Islamic state.

Fight against ‘those of the people of the Book ‘means that those persons from the people of the Book who embrace Islam need not be challenged. but those of them who do not accept the faith should be asked to pay either Jizya or to fight. The meaning of the people of the Book not believing in Allah and the Last Day is that though they may claim to be believers but their claim in actuality is meaningless, because they do not believe in Allah in the way as it should be done. They claim to believe in Allah but they also believe that He has begotten a son. They are not prepared to worship Him and Him alone exclusively. They do not consider Him free from all defects and infirmities. and they have polluted the belief in His unity with polytheism. They are also believers in the Last Day, but they also have faith intercession of this or that person or that they believe that their salvation is assured by the penance of a certain prophet. It is obvious that such a belief totally nullifies the belief in the accountability of humans in the Hereafter, and the idea of answerability of humans before God in the Hereafter has been wiped out. It cannot therefore be denied that the people of the Book do not believe in the Hereafter.

They are not prepared to obey Allah’s commands with regard to forbidden things. e.g. interest- whether it is taken from one’s own people or from others and wine and the flesh of swine, etc. Similarly, they do not obey the detailed directions given by the Last Messenger of Allah concerning the forbidden things. In other words they deny the last Shariah of Allah. ‘Nor embrace the religion of Truth’ means that they are not prepared to embrace Islam, which is the religion of Truth, but they want to stick to jewry and christianity, which in their existing forms, are not the religions of Truth. In short the People of the Book do follow a sort of religion, but they are concerned neither with true God-worshipping nor with its sincere obedience, nor with true religiosity. In such a case they cannot be expected to spread goodness and virtue in the world, on the contrary they are active in propagating mischief and evil. Therefore, in view of the high ideal that is before Islam, viz. the forces of disbelief and evil be curbed and the might of obedience to God and virtue may be raised, war against them is inevitable. except if they agree to pay jizya (tribute) and live as subjects in the Islamic state, for in this way their evil can also be curbed and in the changed circumstances they can get an opportunity to think about Islam’s truthfulness.

“Jizya” (tribute) is that tax, which non-Muslims pay to a Muslim state as a mark of their loyalty to that state and in exchange for the shelter which the state provides for them. No amount was fixed for this tax. The Islamic state had the right to levy the tax at whatever rate it deemed necessary taking into consideration the prevailing conditions and justice. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) had fixed its amount at one dinar per person, per annum (10 dirham -about 30 grams silver). Later on the second Khalifa, Umar (R) raised the amount to 4 dinar–about 120 grams of silver. – (Kitabul Amwal, Abu Ubaid, pages 39-41).

In the verse instructions are given to take jizya from the Jews and the Christians and to give them shelter, but these instructions do not clearly apply to the polytheists. The reason for this is that this concession was not available to the Arab polytheists, with whom the Muslims had mainly to deal at the time of Quran’s revelation. The Arab polytheists, among whom the Prophet was directly sent by Allah, could only be expected to embrace Islam, but later on when the polytheists of non- Arab countries had to be dealt with, the command of levying jizya had to be applied to them, as the Prophet had taken jizya from the fire-worshippers of Hijr (Bahrein). –-(Abu Dawood, Kitabul Khiraj). He had said:

“Apply the rule of levying jizya to them which was applied to the People of the Book.” (-Kitabul- Amwal, Abu Ubaid, page 32). The book of Abu Ubaid (D. 224 A.H.) ‘Kitabul Amwal’ is a book dealing with the economic system of Islam. It is a very reliable book and these excerpts from it show that Islam’s war against the polytheists is for a virtuous cause and not for land grabbing or out of hatred of other nations.

A relevant point in connection with this verse is that with a view to dawah and propagation, the introduction of Quran to the non-Muslims, to promote its comprehension by them, and to present its verses in their languages is a very important and necessary work, so that they may understand the words of their Lord.

In his book, Abu Ubaid writes:

“As for the non-Arabs, jizya can be taken from them even if they are not the people of the Book, on the basis of the rule which the Prophet (Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wasallam) had adopted in the case of the fire-worshippers, although they are not the people of the Book.” -(page. 30).

The reasons stated in the verse for waging a war against the people of the Book clearly show that it is not for a defensive war, the command for a defensive war was given much earlier. This is a command for an ideological, reformative and revolutionary war, and the nature of this command is that of a principle of policy of the Islamic state, which would take necessary steps taking into consideration all the circumstances and the resources at its disposal. When the Prophet (Peace be upon him) felt a danger from the Roman empire, he marched with an army of thirty thousand men to Tabuk, which was situated on its borders. When the Romans did not come to fight and removed their armies from the border, the Prophet left them alone and returned home. Later on during the period of the ‘righteous caliphate’, when the circumstances were opportune, these countries were conquered by Muslims.

The fact is that it is not correct to limit jihad within the circle of a defensive war, nor is it correct to term it, what is today called, ‘an aggressive war, ‘because jihad is not a war that is fought for conquering land, national prejudices, material gains and false ideologies, it is fought for the noble purpose of freeing the slaves of God form the lordship of the false gods, to end aggression and tyranny and to give them a pure and virtuous atmosphere. This war is synonymous with the act of surgery of the rotten part of the body to provide healthy life to humanity. Therefore, it cannot be measured by the parameters of what people call defence and aggression. How can the religion which is the bearer of a Universal Truth be limited to these straitened confines?

In the modern times the West-inspired Muslims adopt a very apologetic attitude in connection with the Islamic commands for jihad, but Allah’s words do not need any apologetic explaining away. So far as the Jews and Christians are concerned, if they raise any objections against this kind of aggressive war, then they are invited to see the Torah, which also contains commands for waging this kind of aggressive war.Accordingly, the command given to Bani Israil to conquer the holy land (Palestine) was on account of the fact that Allah had written down that land for them, and it was reserved for them for the set purpose of making it a centre for the Islamic dawah. Can this war then be called a defensive one? In the Torah very severe commands are given in connection with the idolaters of Palestine, that is, after its conquest no polytheist be allowed to stay there:

“Say to the people of Israel, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all molten images, and demolish all their high places: and you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.” (Num 33:51 to 53)

And when Bani Israil march out of Palestine to “wage a war against any other country, but actual fighting does not take place and a peace treaty is made, then in such an event the command is given in the Torah to take tribute from the citizens of that land:

“When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. And if its answer to is peace and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labour for you and shall serve you. But if 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. ” (Deut. 20:10 to 13)