Verses 1–6
بِسۡمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate
This sūrah describes the abhorrent qualities and evil deeds that distinguish the faithless and at the same time describes the pleasant qualities and good deeds of the faithful. Then it mentions the blessings and nobility that will result as a consequence of the latter, contrasting these with the suffering and humiliation of the former. In short, this sūrah draws a comparison between the two groups in their qualities and deeds in this world and the results of these in the hereafter. It also contains some verses dealing with the rules of warfare.
Based on the tone of the verses, we can reliably say that this is a Medinan sūrah.
Commentary
الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَصَدُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَضَلَّ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ١
(47:1) Those who are faithless and bar from the way of God—He has made their works go astray.
Some commentators have said to bar from means to turn aside from the way of God, which is Islam. Others have said it means to obstruct, meaning to prevent people from believing in what the Prophet was inviting them to, which was the religion of Divine Unity.
The second of these two explanations is more appropriate to the context provided by the verses that follow, especially considering that these enjoin the faithful to fight and capture them and others.
Those who are faithless refers to the faithless of Mecca and those who follow them in their faithlessness; they would prevent people from believing in the Prophet and persecute them, also barring them from entering the Holy Sanctuary.
He has made their works go astray means that He has made them miss the mark; they will not achieve what they intended through them. This includes their efforts to wipe out the truth and preserve falsehood. The meaning of this statement is repeated throughout the Qur’an, such as when God says: God does not guide the faithless lot (). And God has promised to preserve the truth and eradicate falsehood, for example in the verse: So that He may confirm the truth and bring falsehood to naught, though the guilty should be averse ().
So making their works go astray means to frustrate them, ruin them and prevent them from achieving their objectives. This is called “going astray” in a metaphorical sense.
وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَآمَنُوا بِمَا نُزِّلَ عَلَىٰ مُحَمَّدٍ وَهُوَ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ ۙ كَفَّرَ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ وَأَصْلَحَ بَالَهُمْ ٢
(47:2) But those who have faith and do righteous deeds and believe in what has been sent down to Muḥammad—and it is the truth from their Lord—He shall absolve them of their misdeeds and set right their affairs.
The apparent meaning of those who have faith and do righteous deeds… at the beginning of the verse is anyone who believes and does righteous deeds, in which case when God says: deeds and believe in what has been sent down to Muḥammad. This is not merely to emphasise faith, but to limit the scope of its meaning and reveal God’s main concern with it here.
And it is the truth from their Lord: This is an aside (jumlah muʿtariḍah); it refers to what has been sent down to Muḥammad.
He shall absolve them of their misdeeds and set right their affairs: In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, we read:
“Affairs” (bāl) means their condition or state, it can also mean one’s heart (qalb), as one might say: “Such-and-such occurred to me…” (khaṭara bi bālī kadhā); it takes no plural form because it is more ambiguous than “condition” (ḥāl) or “state” (shaʾn).
Here, making their works go astray in the previous verse is contrasted with absolving the faithful of their misdeeds and setting right their affairs in this one. This means that their faith and righteous acts will lead them to the utmost happiness, and this can only transpire through the absolution of their misdeeds which prevent them from attaining happiness. This is why God connects the absolution of their misdeeds to setting right their affairs.
So this means that God will cast a curtain upon their misdeeds through clemency and forgiveness, and set right their affairs in this world and the Hereafter. As for this world, this is because the True Religion is the religion that is in harmony with the innate nature (fiṭrah) upon which God created mankind. This innate nature only entails that which contains its only felicity and perfection, so believing in what God has sent down of the religion of nature (dīn al-fiṭrah) and acting upon it will inevitably set right that condition of the faithful in their worldly society. As for in the Hereafter, this is because it is the outcome of this worldly existence; if there is a felicitous beginning, then there is a felicitous end also. God says: and the outcome will be in favor of Godwariness ().
ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا اتَّبَعُوا الْبَاطِلَ وَأَنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّبَعُوا الْحَقَّ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ يَضْرِبُ اللَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ أَمْثَالَهُمْ ٣
(47:3) That is because the faithless follow falsehood, and because the faithful follow the truth from their Lord. That is how God draws comparisons for mankind.
This verse expounds the wisdom behind what the previous two verses say, namely the sending astray of the deeds of the faithless and the setting right of the condition of the faithful and the absolution of their misdeeds.
By qualifying the truth (al-ḥaqq) with from their Lord (min rabbihim), God intimates that only the truth is connected to Him and that falsehood has no relation to Him whatsoever. That is why God personally takes responsibility for setting right the affairs of the faithful in that the way of truth which they follow is connected to Him, while God has nothing to do with the faithless. He only says that He will make their works go astray in the sense that He will not guide them to felicitous and righteous goals.
This verse shows that the ultimate criterion for the happiness or misery of the human being is whether they follow truth or falsehood, as only the truth is connected to God, not falsehood.
That is how God draws comparisons for mankind in order to make clear the reality of their attributes, and by using the demonstrative pronoun that—which is normally used to signify something at a distance—this magnifies the way in which God has drawn these comparisons.
فَإِذَا لَقِيتُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَضَرْبَ الرِّقَابِ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا أَثْخَنْتُمُوهُمْ فَشُدُّوا الْوَثَاقَ فَإِمَّا مَنًّا بَعْدُ وَإِمَّا فِدَاءً حَتَّىٰ تَضَعَ الْحَرْبُ أَوْزَارَهَا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ وَلَوْ يَشَاءُ اللَّهُ لَانْتَصَرَ مِنْهُمْ وَلَٰكِنْ لِيَبْلُوَ بَعْضَكُمْ بِبَعْضٍ ۗ وَالَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَلَنْ يُضِلَّ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ٤
(47:4) When you meet the faithless [in battle], strike their necks. When you have thoroughly decimated them, bind the captives firmly. Thereafter either oblige them or take ransom till the war lays down its burdens. That, and had God wished He could have taken vengeance on them, but that He may test some of you by means of others. As for those who were slain in the way of God, He will not let their works go astray.
This follows logically from the description of the two groups in the above verses. It is as if to say: The faithful are the people of truth and God gives them His blessings, while the faithless are the people of falsehood and God sends their deeds astray. Therefore the faithful should kill the faithless when they meet them [in battle] and take them prisoner in order to preserve the truth which they follow and to purify the earth of all falsehood.
When you meet the faithless [in battle], strike their necks…: Meet means when you meet them in battle. In the Arabic strike their necks appears as an absolute object (mafʿūl muṭlaq) giving the meaning of the verb. In other words: “strike the necks”—that is, their necks—and striking a person’s neck is a euphemism for killing them with a sword. This is because the quickest and easiest way to kill someone with a sword is to strike their neck with it.
Until when you have thoroughly decimated them, bind the ties firmly…: In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, we read:
“Decimate” (ithkhān) means to kill many enemies, overcome them, and vanquish them. It is in this sense that one says an illness has “decimated” a person when it is severe or the same for a person’s wounds.
In al-Mufradāt, we read:
The root w-th-q means to rely on someone or be content with them. The verb awthaqa means to bind someone, and wathāq or withāq mean the ties used to bind a thing.
Until (ḥattā) signifies the goal or end for striking their necks in battle.
So this phrase means [in the context of battlefield]: “Kill them until you have slain many, then take them prisoner by binding them tightly.” So the meaning of bind the ties firmly is to take prisoners. So the verse makes taking prisoners dependent upon killing, as in the verse elsewhere: A prophet may not take captives until he has thoroughly decimated [the enemy] in the land. ()
Thereafter either oblige them or take ransom…: In other words, take them prisoners. Then when you have done this you can either oblige them after taking them prisoner by setting them free or enslaving them, or ransom them in return for money or for your own prisoners.
…till the war lays down its burdens: The burdens of war are its weights, meaning the weapons that the combatants carry. So this means that the fighters and soldiers lay down their arms, symbolizing the cessation of hostilities.
From the above it should be clear what the problem is with the claim that this verse abrogates the verse A prophet may not take captives until he has thoroughly decimated [the enemy] in the land () because this sūrah was revealed after Sūrah al-Anfāl. This is because there is no contradiction between the two verses; the verse of Sūrah al-Anfāl prohibits taking prisoners before decimating the enemy, and the verse under discussion also indicates that prisoners must be taken after fighting.
The same applies to the claim that the words bind the ties firmly were abrogated by the Sword Verse: …kill the polytheists wherever you find them… () as if the proponents of this think that a general verse revealed after a particular one abrogates it rather than being limited by it. In fact, the opposite is true—the full discussion of this can be found in the study of Uṣūl. This verse also has jurisprudential implications which are dealt with in the science of Fiqh.
That, and had God wished He could have taken vengeance on them… That means the command is that or that is God’s ordinance. Them refers to the faithless; namely, if God had wished to take vengeance from them, he would have done so by destroying them and punishing them directly without commanding you to fight them.
…but that He may test some of you by means of others… This supplements what He says about wishing to take vengeance. In other words: But he did not take vengeance upon them, instead he commanded you to fight them to test you by means of one another. He tests the faithful with the faithless by commanding them to fight them to distinguish the obedient ones from the sinners, and He tests the faithless through the faithful to distinguish those who are destined for misery from those who will attain the success of repenting of falsehood and returning to the truth.
And with the words but that He may test some of you by means of others he explains the wisdom behind the ruling mentioned in the verse. And some of you refers to both the faithful and the faithless, even though it is addressed primarily to the faithful.
As for those who were slain in the way of God, He will not let their works go astray: The tone of this verse reveals it is a condition (sharṭ) and a general rule (ḥukm ʿāmm), namely that whoever is slain in the way of God, namely in the way of struggle (jihād) and warfare (qitāl) against the enemies of the religion, their righteous deeds that they performed in the way of God will not be in vain.
It is said: Those who were slain in the way of God refers to the martyrs at the Battle of Uḥud. However, there is nothing to suggest such a restriction in the verses themselves, and the tone of the verse is general in character.
سَيَهْدِيهِمْ وَيُصْلِحُ بَالَهُمْ ٥
(47:5) He will guide them and set right their affairs.
Them refers to those slain in the way of God, so this verse and those following it expound their condition after their martyrdom. This means that God will guide them to the abodes of felicity and nobility, and set right their affairs through clemency and forgiveness for their misdeeds, meaning that they will be worthy of entering paradise.
If we put this verse beside God’s words in Sūrah Āl ʿImrān—Do not suppose those who were slain in the way of God to be dead; rather they are living and provided for near their Lord ()—it becomes clear that set right their affairs means giving them a life in which they are worthy of being in the presence of their Lord through the removal of the veil separating them from Him.
In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, we read:
The phrase set right their affairs is repeated because in the first instance it means that He will set right their affairs in their religion and worldly life, while in the second instance it means He will set right their affairs in the comfort of the Hereafter. So the first instance is the cause for their comfort and the second instance is the comfort itself.
The difference between this and what we have said is that our reading makes set right their affairs an explanatory conjunction for He will guide them while the reading quoted from Majmaʿ does not. Instead, it makes the phrase in the following verse, and admit them into paradise… an explanatory conjunction for set right their affairs.
وَيُدْخِلُهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ عَرَّفَهَا لَهُمْ ٦
(47:6) and admit them into paradise with which He has acquainted them.
This reveals the destination to which He guides them above. With which He has acquainted them is a circumstantial qualifier for His admitting them to paradise. In other words, He will admit them to paradise while it is the case He has acquainted them with it, either by explaining it in this world through revelation and prophethood, through glad tidings given to them when He received their souls, while they were in their graves, on the Day of Resurrection itself, or at all of these stages. This is what the context of the verse suggests.
Examining Narrations
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, Ibn Mardawayh narrates from ʿAlī:
Sūrah Muḥammad contains a verse about us and a verse about the Banū Umayyah.
Author’s comments: In his Tafsīr, al-Qummī narrates a similar narration from his father, from “some of our companions” from Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Imām al-Ṣādiq].
- In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, concerning His saying: So when you meet the faithless [in battle], strike their necks…, it is narrated from “the Imāms of Guidance”:
Prisoners are of two varieties: [First,] those taken before the cessation of hostilities while the war is going on, in which case the Imām may choose whether to execute them or cut off their hands and feet on opposing sides and leave them until they bleed to death, and it is not permitted to oblige them or ransom them. [Second,] those taken after the war has laid down its burdens and fighting has ceased, in which case the Imām may either oblige them or ransom them—whether for money or in a prisoner exchange—and if the prisoners embrace Islam in either situation, then none of these options apply to them and they must be treated as Muslims.
Author’s comments: A narration to the same effect is narrated in al-Kāfī from Abū ʿAbd Allāh.
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, Ibn Mundhir relates from Ibn Jarīḥ about the verse As for those who were slain in the way of God, He will not let their works go astray ():
It was revealed about the Companions of the Prophet who were killed at the Battle of Uḥud.
Author’s comments: We have already seen that this verse is general in its import; the future-tense statement found in the following verse He will guide them and set right their affairs only makes sense if God is setting down a general principle.
It has also been narrated that the phrase …till the war lays down its burdens () abrogates the statement A prophet may not take captives… (), and also that the verse …kill the polytheists wherever you find them… () abrogates the statement in this sūrah: …bind the ties firmly. Thereafter either oblige them or take ransom... (). But we have already pointed to the lack of probity in this abrogation.
The Arabic reads lit. “When you meet the faithless [in battle], then a striking of necks….” [Trans.] ↩︎