Verses 18–28
In the fourth section of verses, God mentions those of the faithful who went with the Prophet on his mission to Ḥudaybiyyah and says that He was pleased with them when they pledged allegiance to the Prophet beneath the tree. Then He enumerates His blessings upon them when He sent down composure and rewarded them with a victory near-at-hand and abundant spoils which they would capture.
He also foretells—as a glad-tiding—that if they fought the idolaters, the latter would turn their backs and flee, and that the vision the Prophet saw was a genuine vision; they will enter the Holy Sanctuary in safety, with shaved heads and without fear, for God hath sent His Messenger with guidance and the True Religion to triumph over all religions, though the idolaters be averse.
Commentary
لَقَدْ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ يُبَايِعُونَكَ تَحْتَ الشَّجَرَةِ فَعَلِمَ مَا فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ فَأَنْزَلَ السَّكِينَةَ عَلَيْهِمْ وَأَثَابَهُمْ فَتْحًا قَرِيبًا ١٨ وَمَغَانِمَ كَثِيرَةً يَأْخُذُونَهَا ۗ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمًا ١٩
(48:18-19) God was certainly pleased with the faithful when they swore allegiance to you under the tree. He knew what was in their hearts, so He sent down composure on them, and requited them with a victory near at hand and abundant spoils that they will capture, and God is all-mighty, all-wise.
“To be pleased” (riḍā) is a form taken on by the soul when it encounters something which is in harmony with it and which it accepts without effort. The opposite of being pleased is annoyance (sakhṭ). When riḍā is ascribed to God, it means He will reward with a good recompense. It does not mean that He takes on a fleeting form or temporary quality of accident because this is impossible for Him. When God is pleased, this is an Attribute of Act rather than an Attribute of Essence (min ṣifāt al-fiʿl lā min ṣifāt al-dhāt).
It is said that the verb riḍā can be used transitively with a direct object, or transitively with the prepositions ʿan or bi. If it takes a direct object, then it can be used to refer to an entity—e.g. “I am pleased with Zayd” (raḍītu zaydan)—or a concept—example “I am pleased with Zayd’s leadership.” God says: and I have approved [radītū] Islam as your religion (). If it uses the preposition ʿan, it takes an entity as its object, such as when God says: Allah is pleased with them (raḍiya allāhu ʿanhum), and they are pleased with Him (). And if it uses the preposition bi, then it takes a concept as its object, such as in God’s saying: Are you pleased with the life of this world (a raḍītum bi al-ḥayāt al-dunyā) instead of the Hereafter? ().
When riḍā is ascribed to God as an attribute of action that carries the meaning of divine reward, this is always in response to an action rather than an entity. So, when His riḍā appears to take an entity as its object or is made transitive with the preposition ʿan, as we see in the verse presently under discussion—God was certainly pleased with the faithful…—this means we must treat His pleasure—which is connected to an action (which is itself connected to an entity), namely their pledging allegiance (the real object of the divine pleasure here)—as a container for those with whom God is pleased. Therefore, the divine pleasure must be connected with them themselves.
God was certainly pleased with the faithful when they swore allegiance to you under the tree: This foretells that God will reward them in return for their pledging allegiance to the Prophet beneath the tree. The pledge of allegiance on the day of Ḥudaybiyyah was given beneath an umbrella thorn tree, where those who were with the Prophet pledged allegiance to him. This shows that the time qualifier when they swore allegiance to you under the tree is connected with God was certainly pleased….
He knew what was in their hearts, so He sent down composure on them, and requited them with a victory near at hand and abundant spoils that they will capture, and God is all-mighty, all-wise: This follows logically from God was certainly pleased… The words what was in their hearts means their good intentions and veracity in pledging allegiance to him, because it is not pleasing God because of its outward form and appearance, but because of its sincere intention and dedication to Him.
So this means: He knew the sincere intentions and dedication in their hearts when they pledged allegiance to you.
It is said: What was in their hearts means faith, its purity, and their love of the religion.
It is said: Their distress and disdain at being easy with the idolaters and concluding a treaty with them.
However neither of these readings are supported by the tone of the verses, as should be obvious.
Poser: What was in their hearts does not mean everything that was in their hearts, but rather their sincere intentions in pledging allegiance, as was mentioned. It is God’s knowledge of their intentions—given the attributes of sincerity and dedication—that constitutes the occasion for His being pleased with them, rather than a result of His being pleased with them. The logical consequence of this is that His being pleased derives from the His knowledge, which would entail saying: “He knew what was in their hearts, so He was pleased with them.” But in the verse we see the opposite of this is the case.
Response: Just as the effect (musabbab) depends upon the cause (sabab) in its actualization and existence, so too does the cause—whether it is of the sufficient (tāmm) or contributory (nāqiṣ) kind—depend upon its effect to be uncovered and made manifest. As we have already said, God’s being pleased is one of His attributes of act which derives from His comprehensive knowledge of righteous deeds and that with which He will reward and recompense the doer of these deeds. In this context, His satisfaction emanates from His knowledge of what is in their hearts, His sending down of composure upon them, His rewarding them with a victory near-at-hand and the abundant spoils they will win.
So when He says He knew what was in their hearts… this follows from His saying God was certainly pleased with the faithful… to show the nature of this divine satisfaction and reveal the collection of the affairs whose realization represents the realization of this satisfaction.
So He sent down composure on them follows from He knew what was in their hearts…, as does the semantically connected phrase and requited them with a victory near at hand.
From the context, this victory near at hand would be the victory over Khaybar and the abundant spoils that they will capture refers to the spoils of Khaybar. It is said: A victory near at hand means the capture of Mecca. However, the context does not support this reading.
…and God is all-mighty, all-wise: His will triumphs over everything and He always acts with a purpose, never haphazardly.
وَعَدَكُمُ اللَّهُ مَغَانِمَ كَثِيرَةً تَأْخُذُونَهَا فَعَجَّلَ لَكُمْ هَٰذِهِ وَكَفَّ أَيْدِيَ النَّاسِ عَنْكُمْ وَلِتَكُونَ آيَةً لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَيَهْدِيَكُمْ صِرَاطًا مُسْتَقِيمًا ٢٠
(48:20) God has promised you abundant spoils which you will capture. He has expedited this one for you, and withheld men’s hands from you, and so that it may be a sign for the faithful, and that He may guide you to a straight path.
These abundant spoils refer to the spoils that the faithful will capture after their return from Ḥudaybiyyah, and this includes those of Khaybar and other expeditions also. So when God says He has expedited this one for you, this refers to the spoils promised in the previous verse, which are specifically the spoils of Khaybar. It is mentioned specifically because of the fact it will happen soon in the future. This reading assumes that both these verses were revealed together.
However, it has also been suggested that this verse was revealed after the capture of Khaybar, in which case the meaning of this one is obvious. However, the most common opinion is that this sūrah was revealed in its entirety as the Prophet was returning from Ḥudaybiyyah, while he was still en-route to Medina.
It is also said: This one refers to the pledge of allegiance that his companions gave beneath the tree. As you can see, this is a weak opinion.
…and withheld men’s hands from you: It is said: men refers to the tribes of Asad and Ghatafān who intended to launch an attack on the possessions and families of the Muslims in Medina after the Prophet departed for Khaybar. But God cast fear into their hearts and withheld their hands from them.
It is said: It refers to Mālik b. ʿAwf and ʿUyaynah b. Ḥaṣīn with the tribes of Asad and Ghatafān who came to assist the Jews of Khaybar, but God cast fear into their hearts and they returned.
It is also said: Men refers to the Meccans and their allies because they did not fight the Prophet but agreed to the treaty instead.
…and so that it may be a sign for the faithful…: The conjunction and connects this to an implicit meaning, namely: God promised them this reward, a reward of victory and abundant spoils both in the short-term and the long-term, for such-and-such beneficial reasons (maṣāliḥ), and so that it may be a sign for the faithful. Meaning: To show they that they are upon the truth, that their Lord’s promise is true and that their Prophet is truthful in what he conveys to them.
This sūrah includes a number of prophecies about the future which contain guidance for the Godwary. For example, when God says: The Bedouins who were left behind will tell you, “Our possessions and our families kept us occupied…” (), and Those who were left to stay behind will say, when you set out… (), and Say to the Bedouins who were left to stay behind, “You will be called…” (), as well as the promises of victory and spoils in these verses. Then again when He says below: And others which you have not yet captured… () and Certainly God has fulfilled His Messenger’s vision ().
…and that He may guide you to a straight path…: This is joined to the previous sentence and so that…—In other words: So that He may guide you to a straight path, which is the path leading to the highest word of Truth and the spread of the religion. It is said: It means trust in God and relying upon Him in all of your actions. However, what we have mentioned accords better with the context.
وَأُخْرَىٰ لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا قَدْ أَحَاطَ اللَّهُ بِهَا ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرًا ٢١
(48:21) And others which you have not yet captured: God has comprehended them, and God has power over all things.
In other words, other spoils which you have not yet won; God has encompassed them with His power, and God has power over all things.
Others is the subject of the sentence. Which you have not yet captured is an adjective for this subject. God has comprehended them is the second predicate. The first predicate is implicit. The implicit meaning of this verse is: “And there are other spoils which God has comprehended.”
It is said: others is in the accusative (naṣb) because it is joined to the words in the previous verse: He has expedited this one for you. In other words: “God has expedited this one for you and others too.”
It is also said: It is in the accusative because it is the object of an implicit verb, whose meaning is: “And He decreed other spoils for you.”
It is said: It is in the genitive (jarr) with the implicit “many” (rubba), that is, “and many other spoils” (rubba ghanaʾim ukhrā).
However all of these readings suffer from weakness in one way or another.
These other spoils mentioned in the verse are said to refer to the spoils of the Hawāzin tribe. It has also been suggested that they refer to the spoils of Persia and Rome. Another opinion is that it refers to the capture of Mecca and that “others” is actually “another town which you have not yet captured.” However the first interpretation is the most appropriate.
وَلَوْ قَاتَلَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَوَلَّوُا الْأَدْبَارَ ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُونَ وَلِيًّا وَلَا نَصِيرًا٢٢
(48:22) If the faithless fight you, they will turn their backs. Then they will not find any protector or helper.
Here, God informs them that the faithless are too weak to fight the faithful by themselves and that they have no protector to look after their affairs or helper to assist them. In short, He says that they cannot fight you by themselves and none of the Arabs are willing to assist them. This in itself is good news for the faithful.
سُنَّةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلُ ۖ وَلَنْ تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ اللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا ٢٣
(48:23) God’s precedent that has passed before, and you will never find in God’s precedent any change.
This is an absolute object (mafʿūl muṭlaq) for an implicit verb, namely God’s precedent has been laid down (sanna sunnat allāh). This means that God’s precedent since time immemorial has always been to grant victory to His Prophets and those who believe in them over their enemies amongst the faithless, so long as they are true in their faith and sincere in their intentions. And you will never find in God’s precedent any change, as God says elsewhere: Allah has ordained: “I shall surely prevail, I and My Messengers” (). And the Muslims never suffered any setbacks in their military campaigns except because they contravened God and His Prophet in some way.
وَهُوَ الَّذِي كَفَّ أَيْدِيَهُمْ عَنْكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ عَنْهُمْ بِبَطْنِ مَكَّةَ مِنْ بَعْدِ أَنْ أَظْفَرَكُمْ عَلَيْهِمْ ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرًا ٢٤
(48:24) It is He who withheld their hands from you, and your hands from them, in the valley of Mecca, after He had given you victory over them, and God sees best what you do.
The apparent meaning of withholding the hands of both groups—the Muslims and the idolaters—is the treaty that occurred between them at Ḥudaybiyyah, which is called the valley of Mecca because of its proximity to it; in fact, it has even been said that its land is part of that of the sanctuary. What happened is that both groups had been bitter enemies of one another, and the Quraysh had amassed a force of themselves and Abyssinians while the faithful pledged allegiance to the Prophet that they would fight and the Prophet had resolved to confront the Quraysh. But God gave victory to the Prophet and the faithful over the faithless because they had entered the latter’s land and taken up positions in their own back yard, and it seemed like the only outcome was to be a battle. But, instead of a battle taking place, God withheld the hands of the faithless from the faithful and those of the faithful from the faithless, after granting them victory over them. And God sees best what they do!
هُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَصَدُّوكُمْ عَنِ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَالْهَدْيَ مَعْكُوفًا أَنْ يَبْلُغَ مَحِلَّهُ ۚ وَلَوْلَا رِجَالٌ مُؤْمِنُونَ وَنِسَاءٌ مُؤْمِنَاتٌ لَمْ تَعْلَمُوهُمْ أَنْ تَطَئُوهُمْ فَتُصِيبَكُمْ مِنْهُمْ مَعَرَّةٌ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ ۖ لِيُدْخِلَ اللَّهُ فِي رَحْمَتِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۚ لَوْ تَزَيَّلُوا لَعَذَّبْنَا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا ٢٥
(48:25) They are the ones who disbelieved and barred you from the Sacred Mosque, and kept the offering from reaching its destination. And were it not for [certain] faithful men and faithful women, whom you did not know - lest you should trample them, and thus blame for [killing] them should fall on you unawares; [He held you back] so that God may admit into His mercy whomever He wishes. And had they been separate, We would have surely punished the faithless among them with a painful punishment.
In Arabic, ʿukūf means to be engaged with a task, while detained (maʿkūf)—according to what we read in Majmaʿ al-Bayān—means something prevented from going in a direction by keeping in its place. It is from this that the word iʿtikāf is derived, which means to reside in a mosque for worship.
So this part of the verse means: The idolaters and the idolaters of Mecca disbelieved and prevented you from entering the Sacred Mosque and detained the offering—which you had driven forth—preventing it from reaching its proper place to be slaughtered. Mecca is where the sacrificial animals for the ʿUmrah are slaughtered, while those of Ḥajj are slaughtered in Mina. The Prophet and his followers had put on iḥrām for ʿUmrah and had driven the offerings forth for that purpose.
And were it not for faithful men and faithful women, whom you did not know—lest you should trample them, and thus blame for them should fall on you unawares: To trample (waṭʾ) means to crush underfoot, and “blame” (maʿarrah) means harm. Lest you should trample them… is a permutation (badal) of the antecedent of the conditional particle were it not…, while the consequent (jawāb) of this is implicit, it means: “Were it not for this, we would not have kept your hands off them.”
So this part of the verse means: Were it not to avoid you trampling faithful men and women you do not know in Mecca underfoot unawares, and thus being blamed or coming to harm for their deaths, then God would not have kept your hands off them.
So that God may admit into His mercy whomever He wishes: “So that” is semantically connected to the implicit consequent, above, meaning: “However, he did keep your hands off them so that He may admit to His mercy those faithful men and women who are not distinguished by keeping them safe from being killed, and that he may admit you to His mercy by protecting you from blame.”
It is said: “That He may admit into His mercy those of the disbelievers who embrace Islam after the treaty.”
And had they been separate, We would have surely punished the faithless among them with a painful punishment: Separate means to be distinct and apart from one another. They refers to everyone mentioned above: the faithful and the disbelievers of Mecca. In other words, had they been separated so that the faithful could be distinguished from the faithless, we would have punished those Meccans who disbelieve a painful punishment. But we did not punish them because of the sanctity of the faithful who are in their midst.
إِذْ جَعَلَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فِي قُلُوبِهِمُ الْحَمِيَّةَ حَمِيَّةَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ سَكِينَتَهُ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِ وَعَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَأَلْزَمَهُمْ كَلِمَةَ التَّقْوَىٰ وَكَانُوا أَحَقَّ بِهَا وَأَهْلَهَا ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمًا ٢٦
(48:26) When the faithless put belligerence into their hearts, the belligerence of pagan ignorance, God sent down His composure upon His Messenger and upon the faithful, and made them abide by the word of Godwariness, for they were the worthiest of it and were its people, and God has knowledge of all things.
Al-Rāghib says:
When the faculty of anger (al-quwwah al-ghaḍabiyyah) is inflamed and enlarged, then it is called “belligerence” (al-ḥimiyyah). So when you say: “I was belligerent towards so-and-so,” it means, “I became angry with him.” God says: the belligerence of pagan ignorance. And from this, is taken the figure of speech “I defended the place” (himyat al-makān).
The time qualifier of When the faithless put… is connected to God’s saying, above: and barred you…
It is said: It is connected to We would have surely punished…
It is also said: It is connected to an implicit: “And recall…” (udhkur)
Here, put is used in the sense of casting into (ilqāʾ), the faithless are the verb’s subject and belligerence is its object. The belligerence of pagan ignorance clarifies what kind of belligerence it was. Pagan ignorance (jāhiliyyah) here is an adjective used in place of the noun it describes, namely the religion of pagan ignorance.
Had put (jaʿl) been used in the sense of “made”, then its second object would have been implicit, the meaning being: When the faithless made belligerence rooted in their hearts.
And the noun the faithless is repeated here rather than the pronoun “they” to indicate the reason for the decision expressed in this verse.
So this means: They are the ones who disbelieved and barred you when they put belligerence into their hearts, the belligerence of ignorant pagan religion.
God sent down His composure upon His Messenger and upon the faithful: This follows from when the faithless put belligerence into their hearts and it suggests a kind of reciprocity, namely that they put belligerence into their hearts, so God countered this by sending down composure on His Messenger and the faithful. This calmed their hearts but also prevented them from acting rashly; they showed their composure and steadiness without being impetuous.
And made them abide by the word of Godwariness: In other words, He placed it with them such that it would not separate from them. A number of commentators have said that this word is that of Divine Unity (tawḥīd), while others have said it means to be steadfast in fulfilling their pledge. It has also been suggested that it refers to the aforementioned composure. It is also said: Rather this refers to the pledge in the World of Particles (ʿālam al-dharr), and this is the most foolish interpretation.
It is not unlikely that here God is referring to the spirit of faith (rūḥ al-īmān) which bids its possessor to be Godwary, as when God says: He has written faith into their hearts and strengthened them with a spirit from Him (), and God has referred to the spirit as a word in the verse: and His Word that He cast toward Mary and a spirit from Him ().
For they were the worthiest of it and were its people: They were worthiest of it because they were fully prepared to receive this divine gift as a result of the righteous deeds they had performed, so they were worthier of it than anyone else. As for being its people, this is because they alone were receiving it; it was not found in anyone else. The people of a thing are its exclusive possessors (khāṣṣah).
It is said: This means they were worthiest of composure and they were its people.
It is also said: There is an unconventional order of words (taqaddum wa taʾkhīr) in this sentence; it actually means: Its people were worthiest of it. And this opinion is as you see it.
And God has knowledge of all things is appended to for they were the worthiest of it and were its people or to all of the above, and its meaning is obvious.
لَقَدْ صَدَقَ اللَّهُ رَسُولَهُ الرُّؤْيَا بِالْحَقِّ ۖ لَتَدْخُلُنَّ الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَامَ إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ آمِنِينَ مُحَلِّقِينَ رُءُوسَكُمْ وَمُقَصِّرِينَ لَا تَخَافُونَ ۖ فَعَلِمَ مَا لَمْ تَعْلَمُوا فَجَعَلَ مِنْ دُونِ ذَٰلِكَ فَتْحًا قَرِيبًا ٢٧
(48:27) Certainly God has fulfilled (laqad ṣadaqa allāh) His Messenger’s vision in all truth: You will surely enter the Sacred Mosque, God willing, in safety, with your heads shaven or hair cropped, without any fear. So He knew what you did not know, and He assigned besides that a victory near at hand.
It is said: The Arabic verbs ṣadaqa (lit. “to confirm”) and kadhiba (lit. “to refute”) are both doubly transitive (that is, they take two direct objects). One can say: ṣadaqtu zaydan al-ḥadīth (lit. “I confirmed Zayd [in] speech”) or kadhabtuhu al-ḥadīth (lit. “I refuted Zayd [in] speech”). They can also take a second object with the preposition “in” (fī), as in: ṣadaqtuhu fī al-hadīth (lit. “I confirmed him in speech”) or the opposite. Meanwhile ṣaddaqa and kadhdhaba both only take a single object: “I believed/did not believe what he said” (saddaqtuhu/kadhdhabtuhu fī ḥadīthih).
The lām in certainly God has fulfilled is the lām of swearing an oath, and the words You will surely enter the Sacred Mosque are the object of that oath.
The words in all truth (bi al-ḥaqq) are a circumstantial qualifier for the vision, while the bāʾ is for concomitance.
God makes this dependent upon the Divine Will, saying God willing, to educate His servants [that everything is contingent upon the Divine Will].
This renders the meaning: “Certainly God has fulfilled His Messenger’s vision which He showed him: O ye faithful! You will certainly enter the Sacred Mosque, God willing, safe from the harm from the idolaters, with shaved heads or hair cropped without any fear of the idolaters.”
So He knew what you did not know, and He assigned besides that a victory near at hand—This refers to the above mention of entering the Sacred Mosque in safety. Besides that means sooner than that, and the meaning is: God knew the benefit of you entering the Sacred Mosque in safety, which you were unaware of, and that is why He has appointed for you a victory near at hand before you do this, which will make it easy for you to enter.
Hence it is clear that the victory near at hand in this verse refers to the victory at Ḥudaybiyyah which prepared the way for the Muslims to enter the Sacred Mosque in safety and made it easy for them. Were it not for that, they could not have entered except by way of fighting and bloodshed, but you cannot perform ʿUmra and fight! So the treaty of Ḥudaybiyyah and its clauses made it possible for them to enter the Mosque to perform ʿUmra in the following year.
Based on this, we can see that reading this verse as referring to the capture of Khaybar does not match the context of the verse. As for the reading which says it refers to the capture of Mecca, this is even further from it.
The context of the verse suggests that it means to remove doubt from some of those who were with the Prophet. This is because the faithful claimed that because of the Prophet’s vision of them entering the Mosque in safety, with shaved heads or cropped hair, that this meant they would enter the Mosque this year. So when they set off to perform ʿUmrah in Mecca, then the idolaters barred their way at Ḥudaybiyyah and prevented them from entering the Sacred Mosque. Some of them doubted the Prophet’s vision, so God removed their doubt with this verse.
The key point of the verse is that the Prophet’s vision was true; it was shown to him by God, and God fulfilled that vision. You will surely enter the Sacred Mosque, God willing, in safety, with your heads shaven or hair cropped, without any fear. But He put off this for a year and brought this victory before it—the treaty of Ḥudaybiyyah—to facilitate your entry because He knew that you would not be able to enter the Sacred Mosque in safety with your heads shaven or cropped and without any fear except in this way.
هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَىٰ وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ ۚ وَكَفَىٰ بِاللَّهِ شَهِيدًا ٢٨
(48:28) It is He who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the true religion, that He may make it prevail over all religions, and God suffices as witness.
We already explained the meaning of this when discussing verse 33 of Sūrah al-Tawbah.
And God suffices as witness means as a witness to the veracity of his Prophethood and the promise that His religion will prevail over all religions, or to the veracity of his vision. So this appended sentence is looking to either the same verse or the one before it.
Examining Narrations
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, concerning God’s saying: God was certainly pleased with the faithful… (), Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abī Ḥātam, and Ibn Mardawayh relate from Salamah b. al-Akwaʿ:
While we were speaking, the crier of God’s Messenger called out: “O people! Pledge allegiance! Pledge allegiance! The Holy Spirit has come down!”
So we hastened to God’s Messenger while he was beneath a umbrella thorn tree and pledged allegiance. That is God’s saying: God was certainly pleased with the faithful when they swore allegiance to you under the tree. And he pledged allegiance on behalf of ʿUthmān with one of his hands upon the other.
The people said: “How nice for Ibn ʿAffān to circumambulate the Kaʿbah while we are still here!”
But God’s Messenger told them: “If he stayed like this for a year, he would not circumambulate until I did.”
- In the same source, ʿAbd b. Ḥamīd, Muslim, and Ibn Mardawayh narrate from Mughfal b. Yassār:
You saw me on the Day of the Tree while the Prophet received the pledge of allegiance from the people, and I held lifted one of its branches off his head. We were fourteen hundred, but we did not pledge allegiance to the death, we pledged allegiance not to run away.
Author’s comments: That the believers numbered fourteen hundred on that day is also narrated in other accounts. Some narrations put the number at one thousand three hundred, others at one thousand eight hundred. Equally some say that the pledge was not to flee, while others say it was to the death.
- In the same source, Aḥmad b. Jābir and Muslim narrate from Umm Bishr from the Prophet:
None who pledged allegiance beneath the tree will enter hellfire.
- In the same source, Ibn Abī Ḥātam narrates from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the verse He knew what was in their hearts, so He sent down composure on them ():
Composure was only sent down upon those whom God knew would fulfil their pledge.
Author’s comments: This narration specifies the one that came before it, and this is demonstrated by God’s saying: Indeed those who swear allegiance to you, swear allegiance only to God: the hand of God is above their hands. So whosoever breaks his oath, breaks it only to his own detriment, and whoever fulfils the covenant he has made with God, He will give him a great reward (). This makes the condition of God’s reward—and, as a corollary, God’s satisfaction (riḍā)—fulfilling the pledge and not breaking it. Al-Qummī has said this in his Tafsīr, and it appears as if it is a narration.
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr also, concerning God’s saying When the faithless put belligerence in their hearts… (), Ibn Abī Shaybah, Aḥmad, Bukhārī, Muslim, Nasāʾī, Ibn Jarīr, Ṭabarānī, Ibn Mardawayh, and Bayhaqī (in Dalāʾil) narrate that Sahl b. Ḥanīf said at the Battle of Ṣiffīn:
Accuse yourselves! For you saw we desired a treaty on the Day of Ḥudaybiyyah—which was between the Prophet and the idolaters—and if we saw it was going to be a fight, we would have fought.
ʿUmar came to God’s Messenger and said: “O Messenger of God! Are we not upon truth and they upon falsehood?”
The Prophet said: “Of course!”
ʿUmar said: “Are our slain not in paradise while theirs are in hell?”
The Prophet said: “Of course!”
ʿUmar said: “Then why are we dishonoring our religion and turning back before God has judged between them and us?”
The Prophet said: “O Ibn al-Khaṭṭāb! I am the Messenger of God and God will never forsake me.”
So ʿUmar went distressed and it was not long until he went to Abū Bakr and said: “O Abū Bakr! Are we not upon truth and they upon falsehood?”
Abū Bakr said: “Of course!”
ʿUmar said “Are not our slain in paradise while theirs are in hell?”
Abū Bakr said: “Of course!”
ʿUmar said: “So why are we dishonoring our religion?”
Abū Bakr said: “O Ibn al-Khaṭṭāb! He is the Messenger of God and God will never forsake Him!”
Then Sūrah al-Fatḥ was revealed, so God’s Messenger called for ʿUmar and read it to him. He said: “O Messenger of God! And the victory is this?”
The Prophet said: “Yes.”
- In Kamāl al-Dīn, with a chain of narrators via Manṣūr b. Ḥāzim, who narrates from Abū ʿAbd Allāh [Imām al-Ṣādiq] about God’s saying: And had they been separate, We would have surely punished the faithless among them with a painful punishment ():
Had God extracted the faithful from the descendants of the faithless and the faithless from the descendants of the faithful, God would have punished the faithless.
Author’s comments: The same meaning is narrated in other traditions also.
- And in the same source, from Jamīl:
I asked Abū ʿAbd Allah [Imām al-Ṣādiq] about the verse: and made them abide by the word of Godwariness ().
He said: “It is faith (īmān).”
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, Tirmidhī, ʿAbd Allah b. Aḥmad (in Zawāʾid al-Musnad), Ibn Jarīr, Dārquṭnī (in al-Ifrād), Ibn Mardawayh, and Bayhaqī (in al-Asmāʾ wa al-Ṣifāt) narrate from Ubayy b. Kaʿb from the Prophet:
And made them abide by the word of Godwariness means: “There is no god but God (lā ilāha illā allāh).
Author’s comments: This meaning has been narrated via other chains going back to ʿAlī, Salamah b. Akwaʿ, and Abū Hurayrah.
It is also narrated through Shiʿi chains, as we find in ʿIlal al-Sharāʾiʿ, with a chain via al-Ḥasan b. ʿAbd Allāh via his forefathers, from his grandfather al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī, from the Prophet who said in a tradition explaining the significance of the words Subḥān allāh, wa al-ḥamdu lillāh, wa lā ilāha illa allāh, wa allāhu akbar: “Lā ilāha illa allāh means His oneness (waḥdāniyyah). God accepts no deeds without this. It is the word of Godwariness by which God makes the scales heavy on the Day of Resurrection.”
- And in Majmaʿ al-Bayān, in the account of the conquest of Khaybar, we read:
When God’s Messenger came to Medina from Ḥudaybiyyah, he remained there for twenty nights, then set out from there to launch an attack on Khaybar.
And Ibn Isḥāq relates with a chain of narrators going back to Abū Marwān al-Aslamī from his forefather, from his grandfather, who said:
We departed with God’s Messenger to Khaybar until we approached and were overlooking it. God’s Messenger said: “Stop.” So the people stopped.
He said: “O Allah! Lord of the seven heavens and all they shelter! Lord of the seven earths and all they carry! Lord of the devils and all they lead astray! We ask you the good of this town, the good of its people and the good of what it contains. And we seek refuge in you from the evil of this town, the evil of its people and the evil of what it contains. Go forth, in the name of God!”
And from Salamah b. Akwaʿ:
We went with God’s Mesenger to Khaybar travelling by night. Someone told ʿĀmir b. al-Akwaʿ, who was known as a poet: “Will you not let us hear some of your tunes?”
So he began to say:
“O God! Without You, we would not have been guided,
Neither would we have given charity, or prayed,
So please forgive us for our deeds, may we sacrifice for you!
Make our feet firm when we meet our enemy,
And send down composure upon us,
Certainly if they challenge us, We will come,
They have made a hue and cry seeking help against us!”
The Prophet asked: “Who is the [camel] driver (sāʾiq) [singing]?”
They said: “ʿĀmir.”
The prophet said: “May God have mercy on him!”
ʿUmar, who was on his camel called Wajīb said: “O Messenger of God! Might you not bless us with it?”
And he said that because whenever God’s Messenger asked God to forgive a specific person, that person was martyred.
When the battle commenced and the armies were lined up, one of the Jews of Khaybar came out saying: “Khaybar knows that I am Marḥab / a hero well-armed and battle-tested / when war comes spreading its flames.”
So ʿĀmir came out to meet him, reciting: “Khaybar knows that I am ʿĀmir / a hero well-armed and daring!”
So they exchanged blows and Marḥab’s sword became lodged in ʿĀmir’s shield. ʿĀmir leant forward to attack Marḥab’s leg, but he stumbled and cut his own artery with the tip of his sword and died.
Some of the companions of God’s Messenger said: “ʿĀmir’s efforts were futile!” So I went to the Prophet weeping and said: “They say that ʿĀmir’s efforts were futile!”
The Prophet asked: “Who said that?”
I said: “Some of your companions.”
The prophet said: “They lie. He will be given his reward twofold!”
So we kept fighting them until we were afflicted by severe hunger. Then God granted us victory over it. That happened because the Prophet gave the battle-standard to ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb and a group of people went with him; they encountered the people of Khaybar but were repulsed. They came back to the Prophet calling one another cowards. God’s Messenger had been afflicted by a migraine and did not come out to the people, but said when he recovered: “What has happened with Khaybar?” The people informed him [of the reversal] and he said: “Surely I will give the flag tomorrow to a man who loves God and His Messenger and whom God and His Messenger love! He will persevere and not flee; he will not return until God grants him victory!”
Bukhārī and Muslim narrate from Qutaybah b. Saʿīd:
Yaʿqūb recounted to me from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Iskandarānī from Abū Ḥāzim, that Saʿd b. Sahl had informed him that God’s Messenger had said on the Day of Khaybar: “I will surely give this flag tomorrow to a man to whom God will grant victory. He loves God and His Messenger, and God and His Messenger love him.”
So the people spent the night chattering amongst themselves, wondering if they would be given it. When people awoke the next day, they all went to God’s Messenger hoping to be given the flag. He said: “Where is ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib?”
They said: “O Messenger of God, he has a complaint with his eyes.”
He said: “So bring him!” ʿAlī was brought and God’s Messenger spat in his eyes. He recovered fully, as if there had never been anything wrong, then he gave him the flag.
ʿAlī said: “O Messenger of God, I shall fight them until they become like us.”
The Prophet told him: “Move unhurriedly until you reach their yard, then invite them to Islam and inform them of their duties towards God. By God if God guides but a single one of them through you, it is better for you than having many red camels!”
Salamah narrates:
So Marḥab came out saying: “Khaybar knows that I am Marḥab….”
Then ʿAlī came out and said: “I am he whose mother named him ḥaydar / like a lion of the jungle, fierce in countenance / I repay one measure with a multitude!”
He struck Marḥab, splitting open his skull and killing him. And victory was granted by his hand.
The same tradition is brought by Muslim in his Ṣaḥīḥ.
Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ narrates from Abū Rāfiʿ, the servant of God’s Messenger:
We went forth with ʿAlī when God’s Messenger sent him against Khaybar. As he approached the fort, its people came out and he fought them. One of the Jews struck him and knocked the shield out of his hand, so he seized the gate of the fort and used it to shield himself. It remained in his hand as he fought until God granted him victory, whereat he dropped it. Eight of us tried to turn over that gate together but we could not manage it!
A chain of narrators from Layth b. Abī Sulaym, from Abu Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. ʿAli:
Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh told me: “ʿAli lifted the gate on the Day of Khaybar for the Muslims to get through and storm the fort. Later it could not be lifted by forty men!” And another version has also been narrated from Jābir which states that seventy men had to lift it together in order to put it back in its place.
A chain of narrators from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Laylā:
ʿAlī would wear a thickly padded coat (qabāʾ maḥshuw thakhīn) in hot and cold weather, and the heat would not bother him. Some of my companions came to me and said: “We have seen something from the Commander of the Faithful, have you seen it too?”
I said: “What is it?”
They said: “We have seen him come out to us during times of intense heat wearing a thickly padded coat, without the heat bothering him! And during times of extreme cold, he comes out to us wearing two light robes without the cold bothering him! Have you heard anything about this?”
I said: “No.”
They said: “Ask your father about it, for he often chats with him.”
I asked my father and he said: “I haven’t heard anything about it.”
So he visited ʿAlī and chatted with him, then he asked him about that. He told my father: “Were you not at Khaybar?”
My father said: “Of course!”
“Didn’t you see when God’s Messenger called Abū Bakr, gave him the battle standard and sent him forth; then he went forth and met the enemy but came back with his men, having withdrawn. Then he sent for ʿUmar, gave him the battle standard and sent him forth; then he went forth, met the enemy, fought them but came back again, having withdrawn.
“Then God’s Messenger said: ‘Today I will give this banner to someone who loves God and His Messenger and whom God and His Messenger love. God will grant us victory by his hands, for he will persevere and will not flee!’ Then he called for me and gave me the battle standard, saying: ‘O God! Suffice him against heat and cold!’ And ever since then I have never found discomfort in heat or cold.”
All of this has been transmitted by Imām Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī in his Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah.
Ṭabrisī says:
Then God’s Messenger took the forts of Khaybar one after another, winning booty, until they reached the fort of the al-Watīḥ and al-Salālim clans. These were the last of the forts to fall; God’s Messenger besieged them for a little over ten nights.
Ibn Isḥāq says:
After the Messenger of God conquered al-Qamūs, the fortress of Ibn Abī al-Ḥuqayq, Ṣafiyyah bt. Ḥuyayy b. Akhṭab was brought to him, and another woman with her. Bilāl, who was the one who brought them, led them past some of the slain Jews. When the woman who was with Ṣafiyyah saw them, she cried out, struck her face, and poured dust on her head. When the Messenger of God saw her, he said, “Take this she-devil away from me!” He commanded that Ṣafiyyah should be kept behind him, and he cast his cloak over her. Thus the Muslims knew that the Messenger of God had chosen her for himself. The Messenger of God said to Bilāl (according to what I have received) when he saw the Jewish woman doing what he saw her do, “Are you devoid of mercy, Bilāl, that you take two women past their slain men?”
When Ṣafiyyah became the bride of Kinānah b. al-Rabīʿ b. Abī al-Ḥuqayq, she dreamt that a moon had fallen into her lap. She told her vision to her husband, and he said, “That is only because you are wishing for the king of the Hijaz, Muḥammad,” and he gave her face a slap that blackened her eye. She was brought to the Messenger of God with the traces of it still there; he asked her what it was, and she told him this story.
Ibn Abī al-Ḥuqayq sent a message to God’s Messenger asking permission to come out and parley with him. God’s Messenger agreed, so he came and made terms with him; in return for the lives of the fighters in the fortresses and their children, they would leave Khaybar and its land with their children and give God’s Messenger whatever property they owned, except for the clothes on their backs. God’s Messenger said: “I absolve God and His Messenger of you if you have kept anything hidden from me!” So they agreed on those terms.
When the people of Fadak heard of what they had done, they sent word to the Messenger of God, asking him to banish them and spare their lives, and they would leave him their property; and he did so. Among the men who mediated between them and the Messenger of God in the matter was Muḥayyiṣah b. Masʿūd, a member of the Banū Ḥārithah. When the people of Khaybar surrendered on these terms, they asked the Messenger of God to employ them on the properties for a half share. They said, “We know more about them than you and are better cultivators of them.” So the Messenger of God made peace with them for a half share, provided that “if we want to make you leave, we may.” The people of Fadak made peace with him on similar terms. Khaybar became the booty (fayʾ) of the Muslims; Fadak belonged exclusively to the Messenger of God, because the Muslims had not attacked its people with horses or camels.
When the Messenger of God rested, Zaynab bt. al-Ḥārith, the wife of Sallām b. Mishkam and the niece of Marḥab, served him a roast sheep. She had asked what part of the sheep the Messenger of God liked best and was told that it was the foreleg. So she loaded that part with poison, and she poisoned the rest of the sheep, too. Then she brought it. When she set it before the Messenger of God, he took the foreleg and chewed a bit of it, but he did not swallow it. With him was Bishr b. al-Barāʾ b. Maʿrūr, who, like the Messenger of God, took some of it; Bishr, however, swallowed it, while the Messenger of God spat it out, saying, “This bone informs me that it has been poisoned.” Then he summoned the woman, and she confessed.
He asked, “What led you to do this?”
She said: “How you have afflicted my people is not hidden from you. So I said, ‘If he is a prophet, he will be informed; but if he is a king, I shall get rid of him.’”
The Prophet forgave her. Bishr b. al-Barāʾ died of the food he had eaten. The mother of Bishr b. al-Barāʾ had come in to visit the Messenger of God during his final illness. He told her: “Umm Bishr, at this very moment I feel my aorta being severed because of the food I ate with your son at Khaybar.” The Muslims believed that in addition to the honour of prophethood that God had granted him the Messenger of God died a martyr.
This is because the preposition rubba is always followed by an indefinite genitive noun. [Trans.] ↩︎
This is possible because the word for “others” (ukhrā) in the verse is grammatically feminine singular, which means it could serve as an adjective for a non-human plural noun (such as “spoils”—ghanāʾim) or for a feminine singular noun (such as “town”—qaryah). ↩︎
This is because red camels were highly prized by the Arabs and fetched a high price. [Trans.] ↩︎