Verses 10–14
This section of the chapter bids the believers to believe in God and His Messenger, and to struggle in God’s path. Consequently, it makes them a beautiful promise of forgiveness and paradise in the hereafter, and (divine) support and victory in this world. In addition, it summons the believers to be resolute and firm in their help to God, and makes them a beautiful promise of aid and support (in return).
These two themes are the ultimate goals of this chapter while the previous verses serve as a preamble to these two goals.
Commentary
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا هَلْ أَدُلُّكُمْ عَلَىٰ تِجَارَةٍ تُنْجِيكُمْ مِنْ عَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ ١٠
(61:10) O you who believe! Shall I lead you to merchandise which may deliver you from a painful chastisement?
The question in this verse is in the manner of a suggestion but is (actually) in the meaning of an imperative. The word al-tijāra, which occurs in this verse (and is translated as: merchandise), means: ‘to invest capital (into something) in pursuit of profit’ as mentioned by al-Rāghib. Furthermore, there cannot be found a word in the speech of the Arabs where the letter taʾ is followed by the letter jīm save for in this word.
Thus, belief (in God and His Messenger) and struggle (in God’s path) (both of which are mentioned in the next verse) are taken to represent merchandise mentioned in this verse whose capital is the (human) soul, and its profit is salvation from a painful punishment. Therefore this verse is in the meaning of the verse Surely Allah has bought of the believers their persons and their property for this, that they shall have the garden (in return); they fight in Allah’s way, so they slay and are slain; a promise which is binding on Him in the Torah and the Injīl and the Qur’an; and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? Rejoice therefore in the bargain which you have made; and that is the mighty achievement ().
Further, God has aggrandized the significance of this merchandise where He says ...to merchandise... meaning: “to merchandise that is great in terms of value, and sublime in terms of importance and significance,” and He made the profit obtainable from it to be salvation from a painful punishment whose horror cannot be estimated.
The identity of this promised salvation (in this case) is forgiveness and paradise, which is why God substituted ‘deliverance from painful chastisement’, (mentioned in the current verse ), with forgiveness and paradise in the second instance, in He will forgive you your faults and cause you to enter gardens, beneath which rivers flow, and goodly dwellings in gardens of perpetuity; that is the mighty achievement (). As for the promised divine support and victory (mentioned in ), these two are excluded from the promised salvation, which is why God has separated their mention from that of forgiveness and paradise, and consequently said And yet another (blessing) that you love: help from Allah and a victory near at hand (). So do not overlook this explanation!
تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَتُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنْفُسِكُمْ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ ١١
(61:11) You shall believe in Allah and His Messenger, and struggle hard in Allah’s way with your property and your lives; that is better for you, if you knew!
This verse resumes the narrative of the previous verse in order to clarify it. It explains the merchandise suggested to them, as if the question were asked: What is this merchandise? To which the answer is given You shall believe in Allah and His Messenger, and struggle hard in Allah’s way with your property and your lives; that is better for you, if you knew!
Here, belief in the Messenger of God is coupled with belief in God in order to prove and demonstrate the obligation of obeying the Messenger in what he instructs; for otherwise belief is not reckoned as belief in God save that it is coupled with belief in the Messengership of the Messenger of God. God says Surely those who disbelieve in Allah and His messengers and (those who) desire to make a distinction between Allah and His messengers and say: We believe in some and disbelieve in others, and desire to take a course between (this and) that (). These it is that are truly unbelievers, and We have prepared for the unbelievers a disgraceful chastisement ().
The concluding part ...that is better for you, if you knew! means that what is mentioned of belief and struggle is better for you all if you all were from those possessing knowledge. As for the ignorant, their deeds are not reckoned to be of any importance. It is also suggested that the end part of this verse means: “You would all know the goodness of that (that is, belief and struggle) if you were from the people of knowledge and understanding.”
يَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَيُدْخِلْكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ وَمَسَاكِنَ طَيِّبَةً فِي جَنَّاتِ عَدْنٍ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ ١٢
(61:12) He will forgive you your sins and cause you to enter gardens, beneath which rivers flow, and goodly dwellings in gardens of perpetuity; that is the mighty achievement;
This verse functions as the conclusion of a conditional statement, the beginning of which is inferred from the preceding verse. It’s as though the earlier verse establishes the condition: If you shall believe in Allah and His Messenger, and struggle hard in Allah’s way with your property and your lives (). Then, the current verse presents the outcome: He will forgive you your sins and cause you to enter gardens, beneath which rivers flow, and goodly dwellings in gardens of perpetuity; that is the mighty achievement (being the conclusion of the conditional statement).
Thus the sins to which pertain forgiveness are absolutely all the sins without exception. Hence what is forgiven is the totality of the sins of a person, and careful consideration (of this verse) supports such an understanding. This is because this forgiveness serves as a prelude to entering eternal paradise. There would be no meaning to such a person entering paradise when some of his faults continued to exist as before. And perhaps it was to indicate just such a meaning that God followed up this point with the following speech in the subsequent part of this verse ...and goodly dwellings in gardens of perpetuity... meaning: “well established, stable, durable, and perpetual gardens.” Thus the described state of these gardens as being places of stability, durability, steadiness, constancy, and perpetuity suggests that the forgiveness is associated with or pertains to the totality of the sins of a person.
This is in addition to what the verse contains of a comparison of the spent human soul with the perpetual paradise. The former is a small possession that is expedited, while the latter is eternal. By such a comparison, the soul of a believer is rendered cheerful and wholesome, and its determination and resolve are strengthened in favor of exerting the soul and sacrificing it, and choosing eternity over extinction.
Thereafter, God adds to the verse, in affirmation of that, saying ...that is the mighty achievement.
وَأُخْرَىٰ تُحِبُّونَهَا ۖ نَصْرٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَفَتْحٌ قَرِيبٌ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ١٣
(61:13) And yet another that you love: help from Allah and a victory near at hand; and give good news to the believers.
This verse occurs as a conjunction to the previous verse (which is He will forgive you your sins and cause you to enter gardens.... ()). This is while the word ‘another’ (ukhrā) (in And yet another...) is a description (or an adjective) that occurs, in this verse, in place of the thing (or noun) described (where the latter could be the noun niʿmatun (blessing) or khaṣlatun (characteristic) such as niʿmatun ukhrā (another blessing) or khaṣlatun ukhrā (another characteristic)), and it occurs as the delayed subject of an elided predicate brought forward (of a nominal sentence). This is while the part of this verse that reads ...help from Allah and a victory near at hand... is an explanation and a clarification for the word ‘another’ (ukhrā) (in this verse). Therefore the implied meaning is: And for you all is yet another blessing or characteristic that you love (wa lakum niʿmatun aw khaṣlatun ukhrā tuḥibbūnahā): which is help from Allah and a victory near at hand, which is anticipated and close at hand.
The concluding part ...and give good news to the believers occurs as a conjunction to the matter understood from the previous verses, as if it was said O you who believe! Shall I lead you to merchandise...? () You shall believe in Allah and His Messenger, and struggle hard.... () He will forgive you your sins and cause you to enter gardens... () And yet another that you love... ...and (so) give good news to the believers.
The good news in this verse parallels the contents of the verse Surely Allah has bought of the believers their persons and their property for this, that they shall have the garden (in return); they fight in Allah’s way, so they slay and are slain; a promise which is binding on Him in the Torah and the Injīl and the Qur’an; and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? Rejoice therefore in the bargain which you have made; and that is the mighty achievement (). This brings to light that what God instructed the people to be given good news of was the totality of what God had promised them of recompense, the hereafterly one and the worldly one and not just help and victory.
All this understanding, regarding the meaning of the verse, is what the literary context of the verse and the analysis of its parts grant. Other issues have been mentioned in respect of the meaning of this verse but the context does not support them in the same way, and so they have been placed aside and not mentioned. This is while it is also suggested that the part of this verse that says ...and give good news to the believers is a resumption of the narrative rather than a conjunction to it.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُونُوا أَنْصَارَ اللَّهِ كَمَا قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ لِلْحَوَارِيِّينَ مَنْ أَنْصَارِي إِلَى اللَّهِ ۖ قَالَ الْحَوَارِيُّونَ نَحْنُ أَنْصَارُ اللَّهِ ۖ فَآمَنَتْ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَكَفَرَتْ طَائِفَةٌ ۖ فَأَيَّدْنَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا عَلَىٰ عَدُوِّهِمْ فَأَصْبَحُوا ظَاهِرِينَ ١٤
(61:14) O you who believe! Be helpers (in the cause) of Allah, as Jesus son of Mary said to (his) disciples: Who are my helpers in the cause of Allah? The disciples said: We are helpers (in the cause) of Allah. So a party of the children of Israel believed and another party disbelieved; then We aided those who believed against their enemy, and they became uppermost.
This verse means: ‘characterise yourselves with this characteristic (which is that of being helpers in God’s cause), and remain resolutely constant on it.’ Thus this verse is in the meaning of a development or progression of a previous verse, which is O you who believe! Shall I lead you to merchandise which may deliver you from a painful chastisement ()? The resultant meaning is: ‘trade in or invest your souls and possessions, and thereby help God by means of faith and struggle in His way, and remain resolutely constant in helping Him.’
The meaning of the believers ‘helping God’ is to help His Prophet in traversing the path which he (the Prophet) traverses to God with certainty, sagacity and perception, as God says Say: This is my way: I call to Allah, I and those who follow me being certain.... ().
The evidence in favor of such an understanding for this verse is God’s comparison (or parallelism) of the part of this verse which reads O you who believe! Be helpers (in the cause) of Allah... with the part of this very verse which says ...as Jesus son of Mary said to (his) disciples: Who are my helpers in the cause of Allah? The disciples said: We are helpers (in the cause) of Allah. Thus Jesus’ disciples being helpers of God means them being helpers of Jesus son of Mary in his traversing God’s path and in his orienting himself towards God, which is monotheism and sincere worship of God.
Thus the placing of the part of this verse that conveys the disciples’ response We are helpers (in the cause) of Allah alongside Jesus’ question to them Who are my helpers in the cause of Allah and the conformity of the former to the latter necessitates that the meaning and intent of both statements is the same. Therefore the addressees in this verse O you who believe! Be helpers (in the cause) of Allah... being helpers of God, means them being helpers of the Prophet in propagating the prophetic mission and raising aloft the truth by means of struggle, which is belief in the Prophet and obeying him in what he commands and prohibits by way of decisive speech and sincere acts as is understood from the (literary) context of the verses of this chapter.
The statement, So a party of the children of Israel believed and another party disbelieved; then We aided those who believed against their enemy, and they became uppermost indicates what happened and what was the end result of Jesus’ seeking help and the positive response of the disciples who consented, where the people were divided into two groups: a believing party and a disbelieving party. And God aided the believers over their enemies who were the disbelievers. Thus the former became uppermost after they had been disregarded, undervalued, and downtrodden.
Thus the narrative in this verse hints that what happened in the community of Jesus will also happen in the community of the Prophet Muḥammad. A party shall believe and another shall disbelieve. So if the believers shall respond to the Prophet’s call for help—and God placed Himself in place of the Prophet when seeking help in order to render the Prophet’s matter great, and in order to demonstrate His fondness for him—God shall help them over their enemies and they shall become uppermost just as Jesus’ helpers and those who believed in him became uppermost due to God’s help.
God has mentioned this story at the end of the narrative of Jesus in Sūrah Āl-i ʿImrān where he says But when Jesus perceived unbelief on their part, he said Who will be my helpers in Allah’s way? The disciples said: We are helpers (in the way) of Allah: We believe in Allah and bear witness that we are submitting ones (). This narrative continues to the end of six verses and careful contemplation on these verses will allow the meaning of the verse subject to study here, to become clear.
Examining Narrations
- Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir said the following regarding the verse O you who believe! Shall I lead you to merchandise which may deliver you from a painful chastisement? (). They said: ‘if we knew what it (the merchandise) is, we would definitely expend our wealth, souls, and children liberally for it, and spare no effort regarding it’, whereupon God said: You shall believe in Allah and His Messenger, and struggle hard in Allah’s way with your property and your lives; that is better for you, if you knew ().
Author’s comment: This meaning for the verse has been transmitted from Sunni chains of transmission too.
- Tafsīr al-Qummī explains verse And yet another that you love: help from Allah and a victory near at hand; and give good news to the believers as follows (): It means: ‘(help from God) in this world by means of the victory of the one who will rise (al-qāʾim).’ This commentary also gives an alternative explanation, saying: ‘(it means) the conquest and victory of Mecca.’
- Amīr al-Muʾminīn ʿAlī said: ‘He (God) did not leave His earth devoid of a scholar (who possessed knowledge) of what the creation needed, and a student (who studied) in the path of salvation. Those are very few in number indeed. God has demonstrated that by means of the community of the prophets. He rendered them exemplars for those who were to come after, such as His words regarding Jesus’ disciples when he (Jesus) asked all the Children of Israel ...Who will be my helpers in Allah’s way? The disciples said: We are helpers (in the way) of Allah: We believe in Allah and (you) bear witness that we are submitting ones (). It means (they) submit/surrender to those endowed with (God’s) grace and favors, and they are not haughty and arrogant regarding the command of their Lord. None responded to him (to Jesus) save his disciples.’
Author’s comment: This report occurs in the context of the commentary of , however it is also useful to cite it here.
- ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Bakr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm relates: ‘The Messenger of God said to the individuals who met him at al-ʿAqaba: “Nominate twelve men from yourselves (as leaders), who shall be responsible for their communities just as Jesus’ disciples guaranteed to Jesus son of Mary.”’