Surah Al-Fath 48:18-26 - Quran Translation Commentary

(48:18) Allah was certainly pleased with the believers when they were swearing fealty to you under the tree.²⁷ He knew what was in their hearts,²⁸ and so sent down tranquility upon them and We awarded them an imminent victory.²⁹

(48:19) And much booty that they will take;³⁰ surely Allah ever was All-mighty, All-wise.

(48:20) Allah has promised you much booty that you will take,³¹ and so has hastened this one for you;³² and restrained the people’s hand from you³³ so that it may be a sign for the believers,³⁴ and so that He might guide you on to a straight path.³⁵

(48:21) And another (spoil is promised) over which you had no power;³⁶ but Allah has already encompassed it; and Allah ever was over all things Able.

(48:22) Yet, if the unbelievers were to fight you, they will certainly turn (their) backs, and then they will not find a protector, nor helper.³⁷

(48:23) Allah’s way that has been (operational) in the past;³⁸ and you will never find any change in Allah’s way.

(48:24) It is He who restrained their hands from you and your hands from them in the Makkan hollow after He had caused you to overcome them.³⁹ And ever is Allah seeing of what you do.

(48:25) It is they who disbelieved and prevented you from the Sacred Mosque, and that the animal held for sacrifice should reach its place (of sacrifice).⁴⁰ And, if it was not for believing men and women – whom you did not know – lest you should trample them and a guilt should unwittingly fall on you⁴¹ - so that Allah may admit into His mercy whom He will – surely, had they been separated (from the unbelievers), We would have punished the unbelievers among them with a painful chastisement.⁴²

(48:26) When those who have disbelieved harbored in their hearts chauvinism⁴³ – the chauvinism of the time of Ignorance - but Allah sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger, and upon the believers, and made them adhere to the word of righteousness,⁴⁴ and they were better entitled to it and worthy of it; and Allah is of all things Knowledgeable.

Commentary

27. The words are unequivocal, and commentators have pointed out that Allah is not such as One to be pleased with a people and then be displeased with them later. Allah never declares His approval, without having fully tried a people and they confirming to the standards He has set for them (Au.).

We have ahadith in support. Bukhari has a report which says,

`Amr said he heard Jabir b. `Abdullah say, “The Prophet (saws) told us on the Day of Hudaybiyyah, ‘You are best (of the people) of the earth.’”

Another hadith is in Tirmidhi and others. It says,

“Of those who pledged their hands at Hudaybiyyah, none will enter the Fire” (Shafi`).

The Shi`ah may make note of these ahadith. O yes, they might say these ahadith are fabricated. But the Qur’anic ayah is not fabricated, or is it? It is a moment of decision for them (Au.).

The tree itself could not be identified later. When `Umar passed by Hudaybiyyah (after he had taken up the Khilafah), he asked, “Where was it?” But they differed. Some identified one, others another. He said, “Forget about it. It is not important. It was an acacia tree, perhaps uprooted by flood and wind” (Ibn Jarir).

Some reports say that people had begun to pray under the tree and so `Umar got it uprooted. But either the report is wrong, since Sa`eed b. Musayyib’s father (a participant at Hudaybiyyah) said, as in the reports of the Sahihayn that, “By the next year we could not identify the tree ourselves,” or perhaps some people had assumed that one of the trees was that particular tree and had begun to offer prayers there which `Umar got cut down (Shafi`).

28. That is, Allah (swt) knew that there was sincerity, truthfulness, and patience in the hearts of those who had pledged their hands to the Prophet at Hudaybiyyah (Ibn Jarir reworded, and others).

29. Qatadah and Ibn abi Layla said that the allusion is to Khayber expedition which took place a couple of months later (Ibn Jarir).

30. The reference is to the war spoils of Khayber (Ibn Jarir and others).

And who could keep a good record of booty that the Muslims obtained that day but an Orientalist? Majid quotes one known for his unbound hatred: “The plunder of Khaibar was rich beyond experience. Besides vast stores of dates, oil, honey and barley, flocks of sheep and herds of camel, the spoil in treasure and jewels was very large” (Majid from Muir, op. cit. p. 380).

The division was, as in reports with Ahmad, Abu Da’ud and Hakim: two parts to horsemen (who were 300 in number) and one part to foot soldiers (Alusi).

31. From now, until the day of Judgment (Alusi).

32. That is, once again, booties of Khayber (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir and others).

33. The allusion is to the Arabs around Madinah. Had they willed, they could have attacked Madinah in the Prophet’s absence who had the best of men, and most of them, with him at Hudaybiyyah. This was the opinion of Qatadah (Ibn Jarir). Zamakhshari however believes that the allusion is to Banu Asad and Ghatafan tribes who started off to help the Jews of Khaybar but turned back (when rumors spread that another contingent of the Prophet’s army was on its way to attack their territories). He adds that the allusion could also be to the Makkans who did not fight the Prophet but rather, entered into a peace treaty.

34. The allusion could be (apart from others, such as the miracles of that time: Au.) to the vision that the Prophet experienced, which proved true, and true predictions are signs of Allah (Zamakhshari).

35. That is, will increase you in faith and far-sightedness (Zamakhshari).

36. According to Ibn `Abbas, Ibn abi Layla and others, the allusion is to the booties taken from the Romans and Persians (Ibn Jarir); but Zamakhshari sees the possibility that the allusion is to the Haw azin booties gained at Hunayn immediately after the fall of Makkah.

37. That is, had the Makkans fought the Muslims at Hudaybiyyah, this would have been the result (Ibn Jarir).

38. And Allah’s Sunnah is to recompense each with what he deserves; if good, with good, but if they come up with evil, then evil (Ibn Jarir).

Ibn Kathir has another interpretation: That is, it has been Allah’s Sunnah that whenever truth and falsehood clashed, falsehood was routed and truth emerged victorious despite fewness of those who upheld the truth and despite fewness of their war equipment.

Zamakhshari and Alusi see the allusion to Allah’s promise that ultimately the Messengers triumph as He said (58: 21),

“Allah has decreed it (that), 'I and My Messengers shall overcome'.”

39. The allusion is, as Ibn `Abbas said, to an incident involving a battalion of eighty young men who appeared from the Tan`eem side, while the Muslims were in their Fajr Prayers at Hudaybiyyah. They tried to besiege the believers, threw stones at them and shot a few arrows. But the Muslims were able to overpower them and arrest them all. Nevertheless, the Prophet forgave them all. There were other such minor incidents, involving a handful of Makkans, and the allusion could be to all of them. In a third case a man called Abu Zan im happened to move a little out of Hudaybiyyah, and was killed by a dozen or so Makkan troopers. The Prophet got them captured, but forgave them, so that, the credit for starting the licentiousness be theirs (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

Yusuf Ali sort of sums up: “Little incidents had taken place that might have plunged the Quraish and the Muslims from Madinah into a fight. On the one hand, the Quraish were determined to keep out the Muslims, which they had no right to do: and on the other hand, the Muslims, though unarmed, had sworn to stand together, and if they had counter-attacked they could have forced their entrance to the Ka’ba, the centre of Makkah. But Allah restrained both sides from anything that would have violated the Peace of the Sanctuary, and after the Treaty was signed, all danger was past.”

40. Those were seventy camels that the Prophet and his Companions had brought specifically for sacrifice. But when they were prevented, the Prophet ordered that they be slaughtered then and there. Initially, no one would respond, so upset were they at the humiliating terms of the treaty just struck. After the third exhortation, the Prophet complained to Umm Salamah, his wife. She advised that he slaughter his own camel, and shave down his head. They are likely to follow. When he did as she had said, the people rushed to do the same and the seventy camels were sacrificed at that spot, instead of within Makkah (Ibn Jarir).

Zamakhshari and Alusi add that the Prophet and his men were in a territory that included a part of the Haram, the sanctuary where alone it is legal to offer sacrifices.

41. Qurtubi discusses a hypothetical situation. Supposing the enemy has been surrounded but among them there are some Muslims. If the enemy isattacked they might come in the range. Or, the enemy might make a shield of the Muslims. What should they do? Imam Malik answered that he would not allow any attack; and that, bloodwit will be due if a Muslim is killed. (In fact, this happened on one occasion. The Romans were besieged and their access to water was denied. But they had Muslim prisoners. They were sent down to fetch water). On the other hand, Imam Abu Hanifah declared – as well as his students and, in addition, Thawri – that in such situations the enemy could stll be attacked, and if one of the Muslims died, retaliation or bloodwit would not be incumbent. Imam Shafe`i however, was with Imam Malik (Qurtubi).

42. The allusion is to those Makkans who had embraced Islam but were prevented from migrating because they did not have any tribal support. Many concealed their faith. Had Allah allowed the Muslims to assault the Makkans, surely, they would have killed some of them unknowingly, thus earning sin (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir, Zamakhshari).

The ayah could be paraphrased in the following manner: If it was not for believing men and women in Makkah, who were unable to migrate, whom you did not know, but whom you could have killed unknowingly, and thus would have earned guilt unwittingly, surely Allah would have allowed you to fight the Makkans. On the other hand, had they moved apart from the pagan Makkans, then, surely, Allah would have punished the unbelievers one way or the other (Au.).

Yusuf Ali puts it more appealingly: “Allah works according to His wise and holy Will and Plan, and not according to what seems to us, in the excitement of human life, to be the obvious course of things. By preventing a fight He saved many valuable lives, not only of Muslims but also of some who became Muslims afterwards and served Islam. He grants His Mercy on far higher standards than man in his limited horizon can see.”

43. To what exactly is the allusion by chauvinism? Ibn Jarir reports from Zuhri that the chauvinism (hamiyyah: lit. warmth, or, as Yusuf Ali puts it, “heat and cant of Ignorance”) manifested itself when the pagans prevented Allah’s Attribute (Al-Rahman) to be written at the beginning of the treaty and when they refused Muslim entry into Makkah.

Once again, Yusuf Ali puts it tellingly, “While the Unbelievers were blustering and excited, and meticulously objected to introductory words such as ‘In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful’ (they did not like the titles), the Prophet remained calm and collected, and got the substance of their demands embodied in the Treaty without worrying about words. Even though the terms of the Treaty appeared to the companions, at first, to be unfair to Muslims, they remained faithful to their Leader and showed trust in his better judgment, a trust that was vindicated by the events that followed.”

44. “Kalimatu al-taqwa” is literally the word of piety. Here the allusion is, according to a widely reported opinion of `Ali, to the testimony “there is no deity worthy of worship save Allah.” This was also the opinion of `Amr b. Maymun, Mujahid, Qatadah, Ibn Zayd, Dahhak, `Ata’ al-Khurasani and Ibn `Umar. In fact, there is a hadith to this effect, although there have been other, minor opinions (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir in brief).

It has been called “kalimatu al-taqwa” because it will protect against the Fire (Qurtubi); in which case, the rendering should be, “the word of protection” (Au.).