Tafsir of Surah At-Taubah - Verse 27

The Outcome of Victory by Way of the Unseen Aid

Ibn Jurayj reported from Mujahid that this was the first Ayah of Bara'ah in which Allah, the Exalted, reminds the believers how He favored and blessed them by giving them victory in many battles with His Messenger . Allah mentioned that victory comes from Him, by His aid and decree, not because of their numbers or adequate supplies, whether the triumphs are few or many. On the day of Hunayn, the Muslims were proud because of their large number, which did not avail them in the least; they retreated and fled from battle. Only a few of them remained with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ Allah then sent down His aid and support to His Messenger and the believers who remained with him, so that they were aware that victory is from Allah alone and through His aid, even if the victorious were few. Many a small group overcame a larger opposition by Allah's leave, and Allah is ever with those who are patient. We will explain this subject in detail below, Allah willing.

The Battle of Hunayn

The battle of Hunayn occurred after the victory of Makkah, in the month of Shawwal of the eighth year of Hijrah. After the Prophet conquered Makkah and things settled, most of its people embraced Islam and he set them free. News came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that the tribe of Hawazin were gathering their forces to fight him, under the command of Malik bin `Awf An-Nadri, as well as, the entire tribe of Thaqif, the tribes of Banu Jusham, Banu Sa`d bin Bakr, a few people of Awza` from Banu Hilal and some people from Bani `Amr bin `Amir and `Awf bin `Amir. They brought their women, children, sheep and camels along, in addition to their armed forces and adequate supplies. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ marched to meet them with the army that he brought to conquer Makkah, ten thousand from the Muhajirin, the Ansar and various Arab tribes. Along with them came the Tulaqa' numbering two thousand men. The Messenger took them along to meet the enemy. The two armies met in Humayn, a valley between Makkah and At-Ta'if. The battle started in the early part of the morning, when the Huwazin forces, who were lying in ambush, descended on the valley when the Muslims entered. Muslims were suddenly struck by the ambush, the arrows descended on them and the swords struck them. The Huwazin commander ordered them to descend and attack the Muslims as one block, and when they did that, the Muslims retreated in haste, just as Allah described them. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ remained firm in his position while riding his mule, Ash-Shahba'. He was leading his mule towards the enemy, while his uncle Al-`Abbas was holding its right-hand rope and his cousin Abu Sufyan bin Al-Harith bin `Abdul-Muttalib was holding the left rope. They tried to hold the mule back so it would not run faster toward the enemy. Meanwhile, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was declaring his name aloud and saying,

«إِلَيَّ عِبَادَ اللهِ إِلَيَ أَنَا رَسُولُ الله»

(O servants of Allah! Come back to me! I am the Messenger of Allah! He repeated these words,

«أَنَا النَّبِيُّ لَاكَذِبْ. أَنَا ابْنُ عَبْدِالْمُطَّلِب»

(I am the Prophet, not lying! I am the son of Abdul-Muttalib!) There remained between a hundred and eighty Companions with the Prophet . These included Abu Bakr, `Umar, Al-`Abbas, `Ali, Al-Fadl bin `Abbas, Abu Sufyan bin Al-Harith, Ayman the son of Umm Ayman and Usamah bin Zayd. There were many other Companions, may Allah be pleased with them. The Prophet commanded his uncle Al-`Abbas, whose voice was rather loud, to call at the top of his voice, "O Companions of the Samurah tree" referring to the Muhajirin and Ansar who gave their pledge under the tree during the pledge of Ridwan, not to run away and retreat. He also called, "O Companions of Surat Al-Baqarah." Upon hearing that, those heralded started saying, "Here we are! Here we are!" Muslims started returning in the direction of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. If the camel of one of them did not obey him (as the people were rushing to the other direction in flight) he would wear his shield and descend from his camel and rush to the side of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on foot. When a large crowd gathered around the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he commanded them to fight in sincerity and took a handful of sand and threw it in the faces of the disbelievers, after supplicating to Allah,

«أللّهُمَّ أَنْجِزْ لِي مَا وَعَدْتَنِي»

(O Allah! Fulfill Your promise to me!) Then he threw that handful of sand which entered the eyes and mouth of all the disbelievers, thus distracting them from fighting, and they retreated in defeat. The Muslims pursued the enemy, killing and capturing them. The rest of the Muslim army (returning to battle gradually) rejoined their positions and found many captured disbelieving soldiers kept tied before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. In the Two Sahihs, it is recorded that Shu`bah said that Abu Ishaq said that Al-Bara' bin `Azib said to a man who asked him, "O Abu `Amarah! Did you run away during Hunayn and leave the Messenger of Allah ﷺ " Al-Bara' said, "But the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not run away. Hawazin was a tribe proficient with their arrows. When we met them we attacked their forces and they ran away in defeat. The Muslims started to worry about collecting the spoils of war and the Hawazin started shooting arrows at us, then the Muslims fled. I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ proclaiming, -- while Abu Sufyan was holding the bridle of his white mule,

«أَنَا النَّبِيُّ لَاكَذِبْ أَنَا ابْنُ عَبْدِالْمُطَّلِب»

(I am the Prophet, not lying, I am the son of `Abdul- Muttalib!) This shows the great courage on behalf of the Prophet in the midst of confusion, when his army ran away and left him behind. Yet, the Messenger remained on his mule, which is a slow animal, not suitable for fast battle moves or even escape. Yet, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was encouraging his mule to move forward towards the enemy announcing who he was, so that those among them who did not know who he was came to know him. May Allah's peace and blessings be on the Messenger until the Day of Resurrection. This indicates the tremendous trust in Allah and reliance upon Him, as well as, sure knowledge that He will give him victory, complete what He has sent him for and give prominence to his religion above all other religions. Allah said,

ثُمَّ أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ سَكِينَتَهُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ

(Then Allah did send down His Sakinah on His Messenger), He sent down tranquillity and reassurance to His Messenger,

وَعَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

(and on the believers), who remained with him,

وَأَنزَلَ جُنُوداً لَّمْ تَرَوْهَا

(and sent down forces which you saw not, ) this refers to angels. Imam Abu Ja`far bin Jarir At-Tabari said that Al-Qasim narrated to them, that Al-Hasan bin `Arafah said that Al-Mu`tamir bin Sulayman said from `Awf bin Abi Jamilah Al-`Arabi who said that he heard `Abdur-Rahman, the freed slave of Ibn Barthan saying, "A man who participated in Hunayn with the idolators narrated to me, `When we met the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Companions on the day of Hunayn, they did not remain in battle more than the time it takes to milk a sheep! When we defeated them, we pursued them until we ended at the rider of the white mule, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. At that time, men with white handsome faces intercepted us and said: `Disgraced be the faces! Go back. So we ran away, but they followed us. That was the end for us."' Allah said,

ثُمَّ يَتُوبُ اللَّهُ مِن بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ عَلَى مَن يَشَآءُ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

(Then after that Allah will accept the repentance of whom He wills. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.) Allah forgave the rest of Huwazin when they embraced Islam and went to the Prophet , before he arrived at Makkah in the Ji`ranah area. This occurred twenty days after the battle of Hunayn. The Messenger ﷺ gave them the choice between taking those who were prisoner or the war spoils they lost, and they chose the former. The Prophet released six thousand prisoners to them, but divided the war spoils between the victors, such as some of the Tulaqa', so that their hearts would be inclined towards Islam. He gave each of them a hundred camels, and the same to Malik bin `Awf An-Nasri whom he appointed chief of his people (Huwazin) as he was before. Malik bin `Awf said a poem in which he praised the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for his generosity and extraordinary courage.

: ثُمَّ يَتُوبُ اللَّـهُ مِن بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ (Yet Allah relents, after that, to whomsoever He wills). As for the details of events that came to pass during the battle of Hunain, part of it has been mentioned in the Qur'an while the rest has been taken from authentic narrations of Hadith. (Mazhari and Ibn Kathir)

Injunctions and Rulings

Many injunctions, rulings and subsidiary elements of guidance appear here under the shadows of these events. In fact, they are the very purpose of the narration of these events.

The very first instruction given in these verses is that Muslims should never wax proud of their power or numerical superiority. They should realize that the way they look towards Allah and His help at times when they are weak and deficient, very similarly, when they are strong and powerful, their total trust should also remain on nothing but the help of Allah alone.

In the battle of Hunain, Muslims enjoyed numerical superiority. They had sufficient weapons and supplies. This led some Companions to utter words of pride to the effect that no one could dare defeat them on that particular day. Allah Ta` ala did not like that a group of people so dear to him would say something like that. The result was that Muslims lost their foothold on the battlefield at the time the enemy launched the initial attack. They started running. Then, it was only with unseen help from Allah that this battle was won.

Properties of defeated non-believers: The need for justice and caution

The second instruction given here relates to the need for observing caution and justice when handling properties owned by non-believers who have been defeated and overpowered. This is illustrated by the action taken by the Holy Prophet ﷺ when he had taken war materials for the battle of Hunain from the vanquished non-Muslims of Makkah. This was an occasion when these supplies could have been taken from them by force too. But the Rasul of Allah, ﷺ took these as borrowing - and then, he returned everything so borrowed back to them.

This event taught Muslims an essential lesson - that they should maintain perfect justice and show mercy and magnanimity even when they are dealing with enemies.

The third instruction is embedded in what he said while making a stopover at Khaif bani' Kinanah enroute Hunain. ` Tomorrow', he said, ` we shall be staying at a place where our enemies, the Quraysh of Makkah, had once sat and resolved to excommunicate Muslims!' The hint given here is clear - when Allah Ta` ala has blessed Muslims with victory and power, they should not forget about the days of distress in the past, so that they remain grateful to Allah under all conditions. It will also be recalled that the defeated Hawazin forces had taken refuge in the Ta'if fortress from where they were shooting arrows against Muslims repeatedly. The Holy Prophet ﷺ was requested to pray for a curse to fall on them. He did not respond to their arrows in that manner. He prayed that they be guided to the right path. Being mercy for all the worlds, this prayer for his enemies is teaching Muslims the lesson that Muslims, when they fight in a Jihad, do not intend to subdue the enemy, instead, their objective is to bring them to guidance. Therefore, making efforts to achieve this objective should not be neglected at any time.

The third verse (27) instructs Muslims that they should not write off disbelievers who have been defeated at war because it is likely that Allah Ta` ala may give them the ability to embrace Islam and be blessed with the light of faith. The Hawazin deputation's entry into the fold of Islam proves it.

The same deputation from the tribe of Hawazin had requested the return of their prisoners and the Holy Prophet ﷺ had asked the gathering of Companions ؓ if they agreed to do that out of their free will. The response came in the form of voiced ayes from the audience. The Holy Prophet ﷺ did not consider it to be sufficient. Instead, he took elaborate steps to ascertain the approval of each and every individual before he would act.

This proves that the matter of rights is serious. It is not permissible to take what belongs to a person as a matter of right unless it becomes certain that this was done on the basis of his or her free will. The silence of a person either due to the awe of the crowd or the sense of shame before people is not a sufficient proof of the person's free will and heartfelt consent. From here, Muslim jurists have deduced the ruling that it is not correct to solicit contributions even for some religious purpose when it is done to impress a person by one's personal office, power, or influence. The reason is that there are many gentle people who would be affected by such conditions around and decide to get away by giving something just to avoid being embarrassed - of course, this does not have the backing of genuine free will, approval and pleasure. Incidentally, what is given in that spirit does not have any barakah either.

In Ramadan of the year 8 Hijrah, the Muslims successfully subdued the Quraysh and conquered Makkah. This was a virtually bloodless entry into Makkah. But in the very next month of Shawwal of the year 8 Hijrah, they were defeated by the polytheistic tribes of Hawazin and Thaqif, though at the conquest of Makkah, the number of Muslims was only ten thousand, while in the battle against the Hawazin and the Thaqif their number was twelve thousand. The reason for this was that when the Muslims had marched against the Quraysh, they had set out simply relying on God. But while proceeding to fight against the Hawazin and the Thaqif, they were proud of the fact that they were the conquerors of Makkah; that they had an army of twelve thousand men; that now nobody could defeat them. They were successful when they had reposed confidence in God; when they reposed confidence in themselves, they had to face defeat. Reliance on oneself develops a sort of a haughtiness in a man which results in carelessness of external facts. He falls short in carrying out disciplinary regulations. Due to overweening self-confidence, he starts acting in an unrealistic manner, the result of which is necessarily defeat in this world of cause and effect. As opposed to this, having confidence in God is reliance on the greatest power. This develops humility in a man; he becomes extremely realistic; and realism is the key to all success.