Tafsir of Surah Al-Anfal - Verse 57

Striking Hard against Those Who disbelieve and break the Covenants

Allah states here that the worst moving creatures on the face of the earth are those who disbelieve, who do not embrace the faith, and break promises whenever they make a covenant, even when they vow to keep them,

وَهُمْ لاَ يَتَّقُونَ

(and they do not have Taqwa) meaning they do not fear Allah regarding any of the sins they commit.

فَإِمَّا تَثْقَفَنَّهُمْ فِى الْحَرْبِ

(So if you gain the mastery over them in war), if you defeat them and have victory over them in war,

فَشَرِّدْ بِهِم مَّنْ خَلْفَهُمْ

(then disperse those who are behind them,) by severely punishing the captured people according to Ibn `Abbas, Al-Hasan Al-Basri, Ad-Dahhak, As-Suddi, `Ata' Al-Khurasani and Ibn `Uyaynah. This Ayah commands punishing them harshly and inflicting casualties on them. This way, other enemies, Arabs and non-Arabs, will be afraid and take a lesson from their end,

لَعَلَّهُمْ يَذَّكَّرُونَ

(so that they may learn a lesson. )

As-Suddi commented, "They might be careful not to break treaties, so that they do not meet the same end."

In the fourth verse (57), Allah Ta` ala has given a standing instruction to His Rasul ﷺ about such evil breakers of solemn pledges in the following words:

فَإِمَّا تَثْقَفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْحَرْ‌بِ فَشَرِّ‌دْ بِهِم مَّنْ خَلْفَهُمْ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَذَّكَّرُ‌ونَ ﴿57﴾

So, if you find them in war, make them an example (deterrent) for those behind them, so that they take a lesson.

Here, the word: تَثْقَفَنَّهُمْ (tathqafannahum) means to get the upper hand against them and the word: شرّدَ (sharrada) is a derivation from the infinitive noun: تَشرِید (tashrid) which essentially means to drive out or scatter away. So, the verse means: 'If you overpower such people in a war, give them a drastic punishment which becomes an instant lesson for others - so that those who are busy bashing Islam behind the cover of such people serving as their agent provocateurs should understand clearly that there remains no alternative for them but to run for their lives. The drive of the instruction is that these people should be punished in a manner which makes an impression on the disbelievers of Makkah and other hostile tribes and sucks away any courage they may have to come back and confront Muslims in the future.

By saying: لَعَلَّهُمْ يَذَّكَّرُ‌ونَ (so that they take a lesson - 57) at the end of the verse, a hint has been given towards the universal mercy of the Lord of all the worlds. This treatment makes it clear that the real purpose of this exemplary punishment was not to take revenge or release personal anger, in fact, this was being awarded in their own interest and expedient gain whereby they may, perhaps, review conditions before them, regain some of their sanity, feel ashamed of what they did and go on to correct themselves.

The Jews of Madinah had already become guilty by rejecting the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad. The gravity of their guilt was further increased by their breaking of the pledge. After the emigration to Madinah, there had been a written agreement between the Prophet and the Jews of Madinah that both the sides would be neutral in matters relating to each other. But the Jews started conspiring against him, secretly joining hands and collaborating with his enemies. This was breach of trust in addition to the rejection of truth. Punishment awaits such people in the Hereafter. And in this world they will be discouraged from creating further mischief. If the Muslims have a treaty with a community, but they want to cancel it for fear of its being breached by that community, it is necessary that they should first inform those co-signatories, so that it is known in advance that the treaty no longer exists between them. The position is different when there is not merely the fear of a beach of trust but there has been a clear contravention of the treaty. In such a case it is permissable to start retaliatory action without informing the other party. The campaign of Makkah is an example of this type. The Quraysh had unilaterally contravened the Hudaibiyah treaty by joining the Banu Bakr’s aggression against an ally of the Prophet Muhammad, namely, the Banu Khuza‘a. So the Prophet quietly proceeded against the Quraysh without giving them advance information.