47. This is the answer to the question that was constantly agitating the minds of the Muslim. They said: The Prophet (peace be upon him) had seen in his vision that he had entered the Masjid al-Haram and went around the Kabah in worship. Then how is it that they were returning without performing Umrah? In answer to this, although the Prophet (peace be upon him) had told them that in his vision he had not seen that they would perform the Umrah that very year, still there remained some suspicion in the hearts. Therefore, Allah Himself explained that it was He Who had shown the vision and it was a true vision and it would certainly be fulfilled.
48. Here, about the words Insha-Allah (if Allah so wills), which Allah Himself has used with His promise, one can raise the objection that when Allah Himself is making this promise, what is the meaning of making it conditional upon His own willing it? The answer is: Here the words Insha- Allah have not been used in the sense that if Allah does not will, He will not fulfill His promise, but in fact these relate to the background in which this promise was made. The presumption on the basis of which the disbelievers of Makkah had played the drama of preventing the Muslims from umrah was that only he whom they would allow would perform umrah, and would perform it only when they would allow it. At this Allah has said: This depends on Our, not on their, will. The reason why umrah has not been performed this year is not because the disbelievers of Makkah did not allow it to be performed, but because We did not will it to be performed. In the future umrah will be performed if We will, no matter whether the disbelievers allow it or disallow it. Besides, these words also contain the meaning that the Muslims too, will perform umrah not by their own power but because We would will that they should perform it. Otherwise, if We do not will, they do not possess any power to perform it by themselves.
49. This promise was fulfilled in the following year in Dhil- Qadah A.H.7. This Umrah is well known in history as Umrah al-Qada.
50. The words clearly point out that it is not obligatory to get the head shaved in umrah and Hajj, but it is also right to get the hair cut short. However, it is better to have the head shaved, for Allah has mentioned it first and then mentioned having the hair cut short.
51. The reason why this thing has been mentioned here is that when at Hudaibiyah the peace treaty was going to be written down, the disbelievers had objected to the use of the words Rasul-Allah (Messenger of Allah) with the name of the Prophet (peace be upon him), and on their insistence the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself had removed these words from the document. At this Allah says: Our Messenger’s being a Messenger is a reality which remains unaffected whether someone believes in it or not. If some people do not believe in it, they may not, for Allah is enough for a witness over it. Their denial will not change the reality, but the guidance and the true faith which this Messenger (peace be upon him) has brought from Us, shall prevail over all religion, no matter how hard the deniers try to obstruct its progress.
“All religions” implies all those ways of life which include the nature of deen (religion). We have explained it in details in (E.N. 3 of Surah Az-Zumar) and( E.N. 20 of Surah Ash-Shura). Here what Allah has stated in clear words is: The purpose of the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) appointment as a Prophet was not merely to preach this religion but to make it prevail over all others. In other words, he did not bring this religion so that it might survive in a limited compartment of life, while the rest of the spheres of life, by and large, should remain under the relentless control of some false religion (way of life). But he had brought it so that it should be the dominant way of life and any other religion should survive, if at all it survives, only within the limits in which it allows it to survive. For further explanation, sec (E.N. 48 of Surah Az-Zumar).
52. The companions (of the Prophet) are hard against the disbelievers: They are not such that the disbelievers may mold them as they like. They can neither be cowed nor purchased by any inducement. The disbelievers have no power to turn them away from the great objective for the sake of which they have joined and followed the Prophet (peace be upon him) even at the cost of their lives.
53. That is, whatever their hardness and severity, it is only for the disbelievers, not for the believers. As regards the believers they are soft, merciful, affectionate, sympathetic and compassionate. Their unity of aim and object has produced in them love and harmony and complete accord among themselves.
54. This does not imply the mark that appears on the forehead of some people on account of prostrations, but it implies the marks and traces of the fear of God, munificence, nobility and goodness of manner that naturally appears on the face of a person on account of bowing down before God. Man’s face is an open book on the pages of which different states of a man’s self can be seen easily. A vain and arrogant person’s face is different from the face of a humble, modest and unassuming person; an immoral person’s face is clearly distinguished from the face of a righteous and well mannered person; and there is a marked difference between the facial appearance of a wicked man and of a noble and virtuous man. What Allah means to say is: The companions of Muhammad (peace be upon him) are such that one can recognize them on first sight to be the best of mankind, because their faces shine forth with the light of God worship and God consciousness. This is the same thing about which Imam Malik has said that when the armies of the companions entered Syria, the Syrian Christians remarked: These people possess the very same qualities and characteristics of the disciples of the Prophet Jesus Christ (peace be upon him).
55. The allusion probably is to Deuteronomy, 33: 2-3, in which the Holy Prophet’s (peace be upon him) advent has been foretold and the word saints has been used for his companions. Apart from this, if some other quality of the companions has been mentioned in the Torah, it is not found in the existing, corrupted Torah.
56. This parable is found in a sermon of the Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) that has been reported in the New Testament, thus:
And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground: And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. And he said, Where unto shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sewn in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth. But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shouted out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.
The last portion of this sermon is also found in Matthew, 13: 31-32.
57. A section of the Muslims translates this verse, thus: Allah has promised forgiveness and a great reward to those from among these people who have believed and done good works. Thus, they invent a way to vilify and slander the companions, and claim that according to this verse many people among the companions were not believers and righteous. But this commentary goes against verses (4, 5, 18 and 26 )of this very Sarah, and does not even accord with the initial sentences of this verse itself. In( verses 4-5), Allah has made mention of sending down sakinat (tranquility) and of effecting increase in the faith of all those companions who were present with the Prophet (peace be upon him) at Hudaibiyah, and given them without any exception the good news of admission into Paradise. In (verse 18), Allah has expressed His good pleasure for all those who took the pledge to the Prophet (peace be upon him), and in this also there is no exception. In (verse 26), Allah has also used the word muminin (believers) for all the companions, has mentioned of sending down His sakinat to them, and obliged them to be righteous and pious, for they were most worthy and deserving of all mankind. Here also, it was not said that the news was being given only abut those who were believers among them. Then also in the initial sentences of this verse itself the characteristics mentioned are of all those people who were with the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The words are to the effect that all the people who are with him have this quality and characteristic. After this, suddenly in the last sentence there could be no excuse to say that some of them were the believers and others were not.