Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 9 At-Tawbah, Ayat 90-99

وَ جَآءَ الۡمُعَذِّرُوۡنَ مِنَ الۡاَعۡرَابِ لِيُؤۡذَنَ لَهُمۡ وَقَعَدَ الَّذِيۡنَ كَذَبُوا اللّٰهَ وَرَسُوۡلَهٗ​ ؕ سَيُصِيۡبُ الَّذِيۡنَ كَفَرُوۡا مِنۡهُمۡ عَذَابٌ اَ لِيۡمٌ‏ ﴿9:90﴾ لَـيۡسَ عَلَى الضُّعَفَآءِ وَلَا عَلَى الۡمَرۡضٰى وَلَا عَلَى الَّذِيۡنَ لَا يَجِدُوۡنَ مَا يُنۡفِقُوۡنَ حَرَجٌ اِذَا نَصَحُوۡا لِلّٰهِ وَ رَسُوۡلِهٖ​ؕ مَا عَلَى الۡمُحۡسِنِيۡنَ مِنۡ سَبِيۡلٍ​ؕ وَاللّٰهُ غَفُوۡرٌ رَّحِيۡمٌۙ‏ ﴿9:91﴾ وَّلَا عَلَى الَّذِيۡنَ اِذَا مَاۤ اَتَوۡكَ لِتَحۡمِلَهُمۡ قُلۡتَ لَاۤ اَجِدُ مَاۤ اَحۡمِلُكُمۡ عَلَيۡهِ تَوَلَّوْا وَّاَعۡيُنُهُمۡ تَفِيۡضُ مِنَ الدَّمۡعِ حَزَنًا اَلَّا يَجِدُوۡا مَا يُنۡفِقُوۡنَؕ‏ ﴿9:92﴾ اِنَّمَا السَّبِيۡلُ عَلَى الَّذِيۡنَ يَسۡتَاْذِنُوۡنَكَ وَهُمۡ اَغۡنِيَآءُ​ۚ رَضُوۡا بِاَنۡ يَّكُوۡنُوۡا مَعَ الۡخَـوَالِفِۙ وَطَبَعَ اللّٰهُ عَلٰى قُلُوۡبِهِمۡ فَهُمۡ لَا يَعۡلَمُوۡنَ‏ ﴿9:93﴾ يَعۡتَذِرُوۡنَ اِلَيۡكُمۡ اِذَا رَجَعۡتُمۡ اِلَيۡهِمۡ​ ؕ قُلْ لَّا تَعۡتَذِرُوۡا لَنۡ نُّـؤۡمِنَ لَـكُمۡ قَدۡ نَـبَّاَنَا اللّٰهُ مِنۡ اَخۡبَارِكُمۡ​ ؕ وَ سَيَرَى اللّٰهُ عَمَلَـكُمۡ وَرَسُوۡلُهٗ ثُمَّ تُرَدُّوۡنَ اِلٰى عٰلِمِ الۡغَيۡبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ فَيُنَبِّئُكُمۡ بِمَا كُنۡتُمۡ تَعۡمَلُوۡنَ‏ ﴿9:94﴾ سَيَحۡلِفُوۡنَ بِاللّٰهِ لَـكُمۡ اِذَا انْقَلَبۡتُمۡ اِلَيۡهِمۡ لِتُعۡرِضُوۡا عَنۡهُمۡ​ؕ فَاَعۡرِضُوۡا عَنۡهُمۡ​ؕ اِنَّهُمۡ رِجۡسٌ​ وَّمَاۡوٰٮهُمۡ جَهَـنَّمُ​ۚ جَزَآءًۢ بِمَا كَانُوۡا يَكۡسِبُوۡنَ‏ ﴿9:95﴾ يَحۡلِفُوۡنَ لَـكُمۡ لِتَرۡضَوۡا عَنۡهُمۡ​ۚ فَاِنۡ تَرۡضَوۡا عَنۡهُمۡ فَاِنَّ اللّٰهَ لَا يَرۡضٰى عَنِ الۡقَوۡمِ الۡفٰسِقِيۡنَ‏ ﴿9:96﴾ اَلۡاَعۡرَابُ اَشَدُّ كُفۡرًا وَّ نِفَاقًا وَّاَجۡدَرُ اَلَّا يَعۡلَمُوۡا حُدُوۡدَ مَاۤ اَنۡزَلَ اللّٰهُ عَلٰى رَسُوۡلِهٖ​ؕ وَاللّٰهُ عَلِيۡمٌ حَكِيۡمٌ‏ ﴿9:97﴾ وَمِنَ الۡاَعۡرَابِ مَنۡ يَّتَّخِذُ مَا يُنۡفِقُ مَغۡرَمًا وَّيَتَرَبَّصُ بِكُمُ الدَّوَآئِرَ​ؕ عَلَيۡهِمۡ دَآئِرَةُ السَّوۡءِ​ؕ وَاللّٰهُ سَمِيۡعٌ عَلِيۡمٌ‏  ﴿9:98﴾ وَمِنَ الۡاَعۡرَابِ مَنۡ يُّؤۡمِنُ بِاللّٰهِ وَالۡيَوۡمِ الۡاٰخِرِ وَيَتَّخِذُ مَا يُنۡفِقُ قُرُبٰتٍ عِنۡدَ اللّٰهِ وَصَلَوٰتِ الرَّسُوۡلِ​ؕ اَلَاۤ اِنَّهَا قُرۡبَةٌ لَّهُمۡ​ؕ سَيُدۡخِلُهُمُ اللّٰهُ فِىۡ رَحۡمَتِهٖ​ ؕ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ غَفُوۡرٌ رَّحِيۡمٌ‏  ﴿9:99﴾

[9:90] Many of the bedouin Arabs90 came with excuses, seeking leave to stay behind. Thus those who were false to Allah and His Messenger in their covenant remained behind. A painful chastisement shall befall those of them that disbelieved.91 [9:91] There is no blame on the weak nor on the sick nor on those who have nothing to enable them to join (the struggle in the Way of Allah) if they stay behind provided that they are sincere to Allah and to His Messenger.92 There is no cause for reproach against those who do good. Allah is All-Forgiving, Ever Merciful. [9:92] Nor can there be any cause for reproach against those who, when they came to you asking for mounts to go to the battlefront, and when you said that you had no mounts for them, they went back, their eyes overflowing with tears, grieving that they had no resources to enable them to take part in fighting.93 [9:93] But there are grounds for reproach against those who seek leave to stay behind even though they are affluent. They are the ones who were content to be with the womenfolk who stay behind. Allah has set a seal on their hearts, leaving them bereft of understanding. [9:94] They will put up excuses before you when you return to them. Tell them: "Make no excuses. We will not believe you. Allah has already informed us of the truth about you. Allah will observe your conduct, and so will His Messenger; then you will be brought back to Him Who knows alike what lies beyond perception and what lies in the range of perception and will let you know what you have done." [9:95] When you return to them they will surely swear to you in the name of Allah that you may leave them alone. So do leave them alone;94 they are unclean. Hell shall be their home, a recompense for what they did. [9:96] They will swear to you in order to please you. But even if you become pleased with them, Allah will not be pleased with such an evil-doing folk. [9:97] The bedouin Arabs surpass all in unbelief and hypocrisy and are most likely to be unaware of the limits prescribed by Allah in what He has revealed to His Messenger. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.95 [9:98] And among the bedouin Arabs there are such as regard whatever they spend (in the Way of Allah) as a fine96 and wait for some misfortune to befall you. May ill fortune befall them! Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. [9:99] And among the bedouin Arabs are those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and regard their spending (in the Way of Allah) as a means of drawing near to Allah and of deserving the prayers of the Messenger. Indeed, this shall be a means of drawing near to Allah. Allah will surely admit them to His mercy. Allah is All-Forgiving, Ever Merciful.

Notes

90. Here the word Bedouins refers to those Arabs who lived in the desert near Al-Madinah.

91. The hypocritical profession of Islam has been called the way of unbelief, because that profession of faith which lacks practical proof, surrender, sincerity and obedience is in fact unbelief. As such persons prefer their own interests and worldly desires to Allah and His Way, they shall be dealt with by Allah as unbelievers and rebels, even if they could not be legally treated as such in this world but were considered Muslims due to their profession of faith. This is because in the life of this world, the Islamic law treats as unbelievers only such hypocrites as are guilty of open unbelief, rebellion, treachery, or infidelity. That is why there are many cases of hypocrisy that do not come under kufr in the Islamic shariah. However, this does not mean that if one escaped the penalty according to the Islamic code, one will escape punishment according to the divine judgment also.

92. This implies that even those people who are otherwise excusable because of disability, sickness or indigence will be pardoned only if they are sincerely and truly faithful to Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him). Without this fidelity, no one shall be pardoned merely because he was sick or indigent at the time when he was called upon to go forth for Jihad. For Allah does not judge merely by appearances, and treats alike, and forgives all those who present medical certificates of their disability because of sickness, old age or some other physical defect. On the Day of Judgment, He will examine minutely the heart of each and everyone, and take into account his whole conduct, open and hidden, and will consider whether his excuse was of a faithful servant or of a traitor and rebel. It is obvious that each and every case, in spite of apparent similarity, requires a separate and different judgment. For instance, let us take the case of two men who suddenly fell ill on the eve of Jihad. One of them thanked his lucky stars for the timely disease, as if to say, “How lucky it is that I have fallen ill on the opportune moment! Otherwise, this calamity of Jihad could not have been avoided and I would have had to suffer it anyhow.” On the contrary, the other man was filled with sorrow at his illness, and he cried in anguish, “Ah, what a bad luck! I have been attacked by this sudden disease at the time when I ought to have been in the battlefield instead of lying down here in bed.” One of them made his illness not only an excuse for exemption from Jihad but also tried to dissuade others from it. On the contrary, the other one, though lying in the bed, went on urging his own dear relatives, friends, and others to go forth to Jihad; nay, he entreated even those who were attending him, saying, “Leave me in the care of the real Master, and go forth to Jihad. I am sure that the arrangements for my nursing will be made somehow. Therefore, you should not waste your precious chance for my sake but go forth and serve the right way.” But the other, who stayed at home, spent all this time in spreading discontent and bad news and in damaging war efforts and in disrupting the affairs of the families of the fighters. The other man in similar circumstances did his very best to make the home front as strong as he could. Though these two men had similar excuses for exemption, they cannot be considered as equal in the sight of Allah: the second one only may expect Allah’s pardon, and not the first man who was a traitor and rebel against Allah, though he might have had a genuine excuse for exemption.

93. Such people as felt a strong urge for Jihad but could not join it because of some really genuine excuse, will be counted by Allah among those who actually took part in it, even though they could not join it in person and do anything practically for it. This is because they were sincerely grieved at their absence from Jihad for no fault of theirs, just as a man of the world would be grieved if he were deprived of some lucrative business or of some high profit. Allah considers such a one as on duty, because his heart was serving in the Way of Allah, though he had been deprived of active service on account of some genuine excuse. The Prophet (peace be upon him), while returning from Tabuk, stated the same thing like this: “There are some people at Al-Madinah (at this time) who have been traveling and marching all along with you through every valley. Naturally the companions to whom he was speaking were wonder struck at this. So they asked, “While staying at Al-Madinah?” He replied, “Yes, while staying at Al- Madinah! This is because they were compelled by the circumstances to stay behind at Al-Madinah: otherwise they would certainly have accompanied you.”

94. The Arabic words are of the same root but have different senses in the two sentences in which they occur. In the first sentence it means, “You may turn away from them” and forbear them and may not take them to task. In the second sentence it means, “So turn away from them” and break off all connections with them and have nothing to do with them, as if you had broken off completely with them, and they with you.

95. As has already been stated earlier the “Bedouins” here refers to those rustic Arabs of the desert who had settled in the suburbs of Al-Madinah.

The background which may help one to comprehend the meanings of the verse is this. Though these people had outwardly embraced Islam, they had not done so from conviction. When they saw the rising of the organized power of Islam in Al-Madinah, they were so overawed by it that they could not ignore it. So at first they adopted the attitude of the opportunists towards the conflict between Islam and kufr. But when the power of the Islamic government spread over the major portions of Hijaz and Najd, and the power of its enemy clans began to decline, they thought it expedient to enter the fold of Islam. But there were very few among them who had sincerely accepted Islam from the conviction that it was the right way. That is why they did not make any sincere efforts to fulfill the implications of the true faith, and observe the obligatory duties imposed by Islam. On the contrary, the majority of them had accepted Islam just because it was the best policy for them. They merely desired to take advantages of being Muslims in order to gain those benefits to which they were entitled as members of the ruling party, without performing those duties which became obligatory on them by the very acceptance of Islam. Therefore they were utterly averse to saying the prescribed prayers, observing the fasting, paying the Zakat dues from their date palm gardens and their herds of cattle. Moreover, they smarted under the discipline of the Islamic state and resented being subdued by any power for the first time in history. Above all, it was against their very nature to make sacrifices of their lives and wealth in the Way of Allah, as was being demanded by Islam, for they were accustomed to fight only for plunder and spoils. That is why they always invented one excuse or the other for exemption from the restrictions and obligations that were being imposed on them. For, they had no interest in the truth or the welfare of humanity; their only concern was their camels and their goats, that is, the narrow world around their tents. As regards anything higher than these, the only thing which they could believe in was irrational reverence for those who would guarantee their worldly welfare and protect them from calamities and give them amulets to safeguard them against haram and evil, and say prayers for them as a recompense for their offerings to them. But they were not prepared to accept any faith or belief that would bring under its moral and legal discipline every aspect of their cultural, social and economic life, and demand from them the sacrifices of lives and wealth for the cause of a universal reform.

In this verse, the above mentioned mental and moral condition of the Bedouins has been described like this: "These Bedouins are more hypocritical than the urban Arabs and are more stubborn and obdurate in their denial of the truth. This is because the urban people make use of the opportunities of meeting the learned and pious people and thus learn the laws and regulations of the true way. On the other hand, in all probability, the Bedouins will learn little about the divine way, because they get few opportunities for this. Moreover, they lead lives of economic animals rather than of human beings having moral and spiritual values; therefore they do not think of higher things than their animal urges.

It should also be noted that the main cause of the subsequent storm of rebellion and apostasy during the caliphate of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) two years after the revelation of these verses (97-99) was the same that has been mentioned therein.

96. This means that they regarded the payment of Zakat dues as a fine and the expenditure on hospitality, an Islamic duty, a penalty. Likewise, if they had to make any contributions towards Jihad, they did so to show that they were loyal to the Islamic state and not because they wanted to please Allah by giving sincere monetary help for His cause.