Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:124
[Remember] when you said to the believers, "Is it not sufficient for you that your Lord should reinforce you with three thousand angels sent down?
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of His word: وَلَقَدْ نَصَرَكُمُ اللَّهُ بِبَدْرٍ وَأَنْتُمْ أَذِلَّةٌ فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ (123) (And indeed Allah helped you at Badr when you were lowly; so fear Allah, that you may be grateful.) (3:123)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means thereby, exalted be His praise: and if you are patient and God-fearing, then their cunning will harm you in nothing, and your Lord will help you = "and indeed Allah helped you at Badr" against your enemies, while you on that day were = "lowly" (adhilla), that is to say: few in number, without protection of the people, until Allah made you victorious over your enemy, despite their great number and your small number. And today you are more numerous in number than then; so if you are patient for the sake of Allah's command, He will help you as He helped you on that day = "so fear Allah", He says, exalted be His remembrance: so fear your Lord by obeying Him and avoiding His prohibitions = "that you may be grateful", He says: that you may be grateful to Him for the favor which He bestowed upon you, namely the help against your enemies and the making victorious of your religion, and for the truth toward which He guided you, from which your adversaries had strayed, as:-
7733 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: "and indeed Allah helped you at Badr when you were lowly", he says: while you were fewer in number and weaker in strength = "so fear Allah, that you may be grateful", that is to say: so fear Me, for that is gratitude for My favor.
* * *
And there has been disagreement concerning the reason why Badr was named "Badr".
Some said: it was so named because it was a well belonging to a man called "Badr", and it was named after the name of its owner.
*Mention of who said that:
7734 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of Zakariyyā, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, he said: "Badr" belonged to a man called "Badr", and it was named after him.
* * *
7735 - Yaʿqūb related to me, he said: Hushaym related to us, he said: Zakariyyā informed us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, that he said: "and indeed Allah helped you at Badr", he said: "Badr" was a well belonging to a man called "Badr", and it was named after him.
Others denied that and said: it is a name by which the place was named, just as the rest of the regions were named with their names.
*Mention of who said that:
7736 - Al-Ḥārith ibn Muḥammad related to us, he said: Ibn Saʿd related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al-Wāqidī related to us, he said: Manṣūr related to us, on the authority of Abī al-Aswad, on the authority of Zakariyyā, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, he said: it was only named "Badr" because it was a well belonging to a man from Juhayna called "Badr" = and al-Ḥārith said, Ibn Saʿd said, al-Wāqidī said: I mentioned that to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar and Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ, and they denied it and said: then why was "al-Ṣafrāʾ" so named? And why was "al-Ḥamrāʾ" so named? And why was "Rābigh" so named? This is nothing; it is only the name of the place = he said: and I mentioned that to Yaḥyā ibn al-Nuʿmān al-Ghifārī, and he said: I heard our elders of the Banū Ghifār saying: it is our water and our dwelling place, and never has anyone called "Badr" owned it, and it does not belong to the land of Juhayna; it is only the land of Ghifār = al-Wāqidī said: this is what is known among us.
7737 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abā Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying: "Badr" is a water to the right of the road to Mecca, between Mecca and Medina.
* * *
As for His word "adhilla": that is the plural of "dhalīl" (lowly one), just as "al-aʿizza" is the plural of "ʿazīz" (mighty one), and "al-alibba" the plural of "labīb" (intelligent one).
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: and Allah, mighty and exalted, called them "adhilla" only because of their small number, for they were three hundred and some ten persons, and their enemy numbered between nine hundred and a thousand — as we have previously explained — so He made them, because of their small number, "adhilla".
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning that, the people of interpretation said.
*Mention of who said that:
7738 - Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "and indeed Allah helped you at Badr when you were lowly; so fear Allah, that you may be grateful", and Badr is a water between Mecca and Medina, where the Prophet of Allah ﷺ and the polytheists (mushrikīn) met one another, and it was the first battle which the Prophet of Allah ﷺ fought = and it was mentioned to us that he said on that day to his companions: "You are today with the number of the companions of Ṭālūt on the day that he met Jālūt": and they were three hundred and some ten men, and the polytheists were on that day a thousand, or they approached that.
7739 - Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me, he said: Abū Bakr related to us, on the authority of ʿAbbād, on the authority of al-Ḥasan concerning His word: "and indeed Allah helped you at Badr when you were lowly; so fear Allah, that you may be grateful", he said: He says: "when you were lowly", few, and they were on that day three hundred and some ten.
7740 - It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, approximately like the word of Qatāda.
7741 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: "and indeed Allah helped you at Badr when you were lowly", fewer in number and weaker in strength.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: as for His word "so fear Allah, that you may be grateful", the explanation of it is as I have set forth, as:-
7742 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: "so fear Allah, that you may be grateful", that is to say: so fear Me, for that is gratitude for My favor.
