Tafsir of Surah At-Taubah - Verse 50

Allah emphasizes the enmity that the hypocrites have for the Prophet

If a blessing, such as victory and triumph over the enemies, is given to the Prophet , thus pleasing him and his Companions, it grieves the hypocrites,

وَإِن تُصِبْكَ مُصِيبَةٌ يَقُولُواْ قَدْ أَخَذْنَا أَمْرَنَا مِن قَبْلُ

(but if a calamity overtakes you, they say: "We took our precaution beforehand,"), they say, we took precautions when we did not join him,

وَيَتَوَلَّواْ وَّهُمْ فَرِحُونَ

(and they turn away rejoicing.) Allah directed His Prophet to reply to the perfect enmity they have towards him,

قُلْ

(Say), to them,

لَّن يُصِيبَنَآ إِلاَّ مَا كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَنَا

(Nothing shall ever happen to us except what Allah has ordained for us.) for we are under His control and decree,

هُوَ مَوْلَـنَا

(He is our Mawla.), Master and protector,

وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ

(And in Allah let the believers put their trust) 9:51, and we trust in Him. Verily, He is sufficient for us and what an excellent guardian.

In the eighth verse (50), yet another aspect of their low nature has been mentioned by saying that, though these people live among Muslims giving the outward impression that they are one of them, but they are soon exposed by their inner reactions to what happens to the Holy Prophet ﷺ . The text illustrates it by saying: إِن تُصِبْكَ حَسَنَةٌ تَسُؤْهُمْ (If some good comes to you, it annoys them) and: وَإِن تُصِبْكَ مُصِيبَةٌ يَقُولُوا قَدْ أَخَذْنَا أَمْرَ‌نَا مِن قَبْلُ وَيَتَوَلَّوا وَّهُمْ فَرِ‌حُونَ (and if some suffering visits you, they say, "We had already taken care of our problem" ). They would take it as expedient in their favour that they did not go along with Muslims and found the results satisfying enough to go away delighted.

When there was a general call to set out for the campaign of Tabuk, one Jud ibn Qais of Madinah came to the Prophet Muhammad and said: ‘Please excuse me from taking part in this campaign. This is a Roman area. There after seeing the Roman women, I will be caught in trying circumstances (fitna).’ But, making excuses on such occasions in itself amounts to being affected in fitna, because in moments of adversity, far from seeking excuses to lag behind, the urge to sacrifice himself for the sake of religion should well up inside a man. To give such an excuse a religious and moral colour is a greater evil, since it amounts to adding fraud to inaction. This type of attitude develops in an individual because he is more attached to his worldly interests than to the Hereafter. In times of danger, such people hold themselves back from treading the path of religion. Then, when the real proponents of Truth suffer any loss due to their uncompromising, principled behaviour, these people are happy, feeling that it is good that they adopted the policy of keeping themselves safe. On the contrary, if it happens that the real supporters of truth face dangers and yet are successful, then they are unhappy, because this occurrence proves that the policy they had adopted was not correct.