This Surah (Revealed) Medinese: it was revealed on the return from al-Hudaybiyya; it consists of 29
verses.(Al-Fath)
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| بِسْم ِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ | |
Tafseer
Verily We have given you, We have ordained [for you] the conquest (fath) of
Mecca, and other places in the future by force, as a result of your struggle, a clear victory, [one that is]
plain and manifest;
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Tafseer
that God may forgive you, by virtue of your struggle, what is past of your sin
and what is to come, of it, so that your community might then desire to struggle [like you] â this [verse] also
constitutes a justification of the [concept of the] infallibility (âisma) of prophets, peace be upon them,
against sin, by way of a definitive rational proof (the lām [in li-yaghfira, âthat He may forgiveâ] is for
[indicating] the ultimate reason [for the conquest], so that the content [of this latter statement] constitutes an effect
and not the cause), and that He may perfect, by way of the mentioned victory, His favour to you and guide
you, thereby, to a straight path, upon which He will confirm you â and this [straight path] is the religion
of Islam;
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Tafseer
and that God may grant you, therein, a mighty victory, one of glory, involving
no humiliation.
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Tafseer
He it is Who sent down the spirit of Peace, [Divine] reassurance, into the
hearts of the believers, that they might add faith to their faith, by way of [their embracing of] the legal
stipulations of religion: for every time He revealed one [of these], they would believe in it â including the [command
to] struggle. And to God belong the hosts of the heavens and the earth, and so if He wanted to bring
victory to His religion by means of others, He would have done so. And God is ever Knower, of His creatures,
Wise, in His actions, in other words, He is ever possessed of such attributes;
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Tafseer
600 so that He may admit (li-yudkhila is semantically connected to an omitted
clause, that is to say, amara biâljihād, âHe has enjoined the struggle [so that He may admit]â) the believing men and
believing women into gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide, and that He may
absolve them of their misdeeds; for that, in Godâs sight, is a supreme triumph;
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Tafseer
and so that He may chastise the hypocrites, men and women, and the idolaters,
men and women, and those who make evil assumptions about God (read al-sawâ or al-sūâ, âevilâ, in all
three places); they assumed that He will not assist Muhammad (s) and the believers. For them will be an evil turn
of fortune, by way of abasement and chastisement; and God is wroth with them, and He has cursed them,
He has banished them [far from His mercy], and has prepared for them Hell â and it is an evil
destination!, [an evil] place to return to.
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Tafseer
And to God belong the hosts of the heavens and the earth; and God is ever
Mighty, in His kingdom, Wise, in His actions, in other words, He is ever possessed of such attributes.
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Tafseer
Indeed We have sent you as a witness, against your community at the
Resurrection, and a bearer of good tidings, to them in this world, and a warner, to threaten those in it who do
evil with [the punishment of] the Fire;
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Tafseer
that you may believe (li-tuâminū, may also here be read li-yuâminū, âthat they
may believeâ; and similarly read either the second person plural or the third person plural in the next three
instances) in God and His Messenger, and that you may support Him (tuâazzirūhu: a variant reading has
tuâazzizūhu) and revere Him (the [third person suffixed] pronoun [-hu, âhimâ] may refer either to God or to
His Messenger) and glorify Him, that is, God, morning and evening.
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Tafseer
Truly those who pledge allegiance to you, the âPledge of Beatitudeâ (bayâat
al-ridwān) given at alHudaybiyya, in fact pledge allegiance to God â this [statement] is akin to: Whoever obeys
the Messenger, verily obeys God [Q. 4:80]. The Hand of God is above their hands, [the hands]
with which they pledged allegiance to the Prophet, in other words, God, exalted be He, has observed
their pledge of allegiance and will requite them in accordance with [their adherence to] it. So whoever
reneges, [whoever] breaches the pledge, reneges â [that is] the evil consequences of his breach will eventually
be â against his own soul; and whoever fulfils the covenant which he has made with God, He will give him
(fa-sa-yuâtīhi; or read fa-sanuâtīhi, âWe will give himâ) a great reward.
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Tafseer
Those of the Bedouins who were left behind, around Medina â that is to say,
those whom God made to stay behind and not to accompany you when you had asked them to set out with you for
Mecca, fearing that Quraysh would attack you upon your return, in the year of al-Hudaybiyya â will
say to you, âOur possessions and our families kept us occupied, [preventing us] from going forth with you. So
ask forgiveness for us!â, of God, for our failure to go forth with you. God, exalted be He, exposes their
mendacity by saying: They say with their tongues, that is to say, in asking forgiveness, and in the preceding
statement [of theirs], what is not in their hearts, and so they are lying in the excuse which they give. Say:
âWho can (an interrogative meant [rhetorically] as a negation, that is to say, ânone [can]â) avail you
anything against God should He desire to cause you harm (read darran or durran) or desire to bring you benefit?
Nay, but God is ever Aware of what you do, in other words, He is ever possessed of such an attribute. 601
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Tafseer
Nay (bal in both instances marks a transition from one subject to another), but
you thought that the Messenger and the believers would never return to their families, and that
[thought] was adorned in your hearts, that is to say, [you thought] that they would be annihilated by being
slain and would not return, and you thought evil thoughts, that [just mentioned], and other things, and you were
a ruined lotâ (būr is the plural of bāâir), in other words, [a lot to be] destroyed according to God for
[having entertained] such [evil] thoughts.
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Tafseer
And whoever does not believe in God and His Messenger, We have prepared for the
disbelievers a blaze, a severe fire.
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Tafseer
And to God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth: He forgives
whomever He will and chastises whomever He will; and God is ever Forgiving, Merciful, that is to say, He is
ever possessed of the attributes mentioned.
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Tafseer
Those, mentioned, who were left behind will say, when you set forth after
spoils, namely, the spoils of Khaybar, in order to capture them, âLet us follow youâ, that we might [also]
take a share of it. They desire, thereby, to change the words of God (kalāmaâLlāhi: a variant reading has
kalimaâLlāhi), in other words, His promising of the spoils of Khaybar exclusively for those who were at
al-Hudaybiyya. Say: âYou shall never follow us! Thus has God said beforehandâ, that is, prior to our return. Then
they will say, âNay, but you are envious of usâ, lest we might acquire a share of the spoils, and therefore you
say this [that you say]. Nay, but they never understood, anything of religion, [all] except a few, of them.
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Tafseer
Say to those of the Bedouins, mentioned, who were left behind, to test them:
âYou shall be called against a people possessed of great might â these are said to have been the [tribe of]
Banū Hanīfa, the inhabitants of [the region of] al-Yamāma; but it is also said that these were the Persians and
the Byzantines â you shall fight them (tuqātilūnahum is a circumstancial qualifier referring to an implied
[future] situation, which constitutes that to which the âcallâ will be made); or they will submit, so that
you will not [have to] fight. So if you obey, [the command] to fight them, God will give you a good reward; but
if you turn away like you turned away before, He will chastise you with a painful chastisementâ.
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Tafseer
There is no blame on the blind, nor [is there] blame on the lame, nor [is there]
blame on the sick, to refrain from [participating in] the struggle. And whoever obeys God and His Messenger,
He will admit him (read yudkhilhu, or nudkhilhu, âWe will admit himâ) into gardens underneath which
rivers flow; and whoever turns away, him He will chastise (read yuâadhdhibhu, or nuâadhdhibhu, âhim We will
chastiseâ) with a painful chastisement.
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Tafseer
Verily God was pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you,
at al-Hudaybiyya, under the tree, this was an acacia â they [these believers] numbered 1300 or more; he took
an oath of allegiance from them that they would fight against Quraysh and not [attempt to] flee from
death. And He, God, knew what was in their hearts, of sincerity and loyalty, so He sent down the spirit
of Peace upon them, and rewarded them with a near victory, which was the conquest of Khaybar, following
their departure from al- 602 Hudaybiyya,
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Tafseer
and abundant spoils which they will capture, from Khaybar, and God is ever
Mighty, Wise, that is to say, He is ever possessed of such attributes.
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Tafseer
God has promised you abundant spoils which you will capture, through the
[various] conquests. So He has expedited this one, the spoils of Khaybar, for you, and withheld menâs hands
from you, with regard to your families, after you had set off [on the campaign], as the Jews had intended [to
plot] against them; but God cast terror into their hearts; so that it, the expedited one (wa-li-takūna is a
supplement to an implied verb, that is to say, li-tashkurūhu, âthat you may give thanks to Himâ) may be a sign
for the believers, of their being assisted [by God], and that He may guide you on a straight path, that is
to say, the way in which you should rely on Him and entrust any affair to Him, exalted be He;
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Tafseer
and others (wa-ukhrā is an adjectival qualification of the implied subject
maghānima, âspoilsâ) which you were not able to capture â namely, [spoils] from the Persians and the
Byzantines; God has verily encompassed these [already], that is to say, He knows that they will be yours.
And God has power over all things, that is to say, He is ever possessed of such an attribute.
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Tafseer
And if those who disbelieve had fought you, at al-Hudaybiyya, they would have
turned their backs [to flee] â then they would not have found any protector, to guard them, or helper.
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Tafseer
[That is] the way of God (sunnataâLlāhi is a verbal noun emphasising the import
of the preceding sentence about the defeat of the disbelievers and the victory of the believers, that is
to say, sannaâLlāhu dhālika sunnatan, âGod has established this as [His] way [of dealing with believers and
disbelievers]â) which has taken its course before, and you will never find in Godâs way any change, by
Him.
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Tafseer
And it is He Who withheld their hands from you, and your hands from them, in the
valley of Mecca, at alHudaybiyya, after He had made you victors over them: for eighty of them surrounded your camp
in order to inflict losses upon you, but they were captured and taken to the Prophet (s),
who pardoned them and set them free, and this resulted in the truce. And God is ever Seer of what you do
(read taâmalūna, or yaâmalūna, âthey doâ), that is to say, He is ever possessed of this attribute.
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Tafseer
They are the ones who disbelieved and barred you from the Sacred Mosque, that
is, [barred you] from reaching it, and [prevented] the offering (waâl-hadya is a supplement to the
[suffixed pronoun] âkum, âyouâ [of saddūkum, âthey barred youâ]), which was detained (maâkūfan is a
circumstantial qualifier), from reaching its destination, that is, [from] the place at which it is customarily
sacrificed, namely, the Sanctuary [itself] (an yablugha mahillahu, is an inclusive substitution). And were it not for [some
of] the believing men and believing women, being present at Mecca alongside the disbelievers, whom you did
not know, to be believers â lest you should trample them, that is to say, [lest] you should slay
them together with the disbelievers, had you been given permission to embark on the conquest (an
tataâūhum is an inclusive substitution for âhum, âthemâ [of lam taâlamūhum, âwhom you did not knowâ]), and
thus incur sin on account of them without, your, knowing, it â (the third person pronouns in both groups
[of people] predominantly 603 imply males; the response to lawlā, âwere it notâ, has been omitted [through
ellipsis], being [something along the lines of] la-udhina lakum fīâl-fathi, âyou would have been permitted
to embark on the conquestâ), but permission for this was not given at the time, so that God may admit into
His mercy whom He will, such as those believers mentioned. Had they been clearly separated, [had] they [the
believers] been distinguishable from the disbelievers, We would have surely chastised the
disbelievers among them, of the people of Mecca [immediately] thereat, by permitting you to go ahead with the
conquest thereof, with a painful chastisement.
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Tafseer
When those who disbelieve (alladhīna kafarū is the subject [of the following
verb jaâala]) nourished (idh jaâala is semantically connected to âadhdhabnā) in their hearts zealotry
(al-hamiyya, [means] âdisdain of somethingâ), the zealotry of pagandom (hamiyyataâl-jāhiliyyati substitutes for
al-hamiyyata, âzealotryâ), namely, their barring of the Prophet and his Companions from [visiting] the
Sacred Mosque, [but] then God sent down His spirit of Peace upon His Messenger and the believers, and so they
[the disbelievers] made a truce with them on the condition that they [the believers] would [be allowed to]
return the following year, and [such] zealotry would not overcome them [the believers] as it did the
disbelievers [then] until they would come to fight them [later], and He made them, the believers, abide by the
word of God-fearing (kalimataâl-taqwā): âthere is no god except God, [and] Muhammad is His
Messengerâ (it [kalima, âwordâ] is annexed to al-taqwā because it is the cause of it), for they were worthier of
it, of the word, than the disbelievers, and deserving of it (wa-ahlahā is an explanatory supplement). And
God is ever Knower of all things, that is to say, He is ever possessed of such an attribute, and among the
things He knows is that they are worthy of it.
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Tafseer
Verily God has fulfilled the vision for His Messenger in all truth: The
Messenger of God (s) saw in his sleep, in the year of al-Hudaybiyya before his departure [from Medina], that he would
enter Mecca together with his Companions safely, whereafter they would shave [completely] or shorten
[their hair]. He informed his Companions of this and they rejoiced. But when they set off with him [from
Medina], and the disbelievers impeded them at al-Hudaybiyya such that they had to retreat, which was
distressing for them, for some of the hypocrites began to have doubts [about the Prophetâs sincerity], this
[verse] was revealed (biâl-haqqi, âin all truthâ, is semantically connected to sadaqa, âfulfilledâ, or it is a
circumstantial qualifier referring to al-ruâyā, âthe visionâ, and what comes after it is the explanation thereof): âYou will
assuredly enter the Sacred Mosque, God willing â this is [said] to secure blessings â in safety, to shave your
heads, that is, all the hair, or to shorten [it], [to shorten] some of the hair (both muhalliqīna and muqassirīna
are implied circumstantial qualifiers), without any fearâ, ever. So He knew, [there to be] in the truce,
what you did not know, in the way of reconciliation [between the believers and the Meccans], and assigned
[you] before that, entry, a near victory, namely, the conquest of Khaybar â the vision was fulfilled in the
following year.
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Tafseer
It is He Who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth,
that He may make it, that is, the religion of truth, prevail over all religion, over all the other religions.
And God suffices as witness, to the fact that you have been sent with what has been mentioned, as God, exalted be
He, says:
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