Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:127
That He might cut down a section of the disbelievers or suppress them so that they turn back disappointed.
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement — exalted is His praise: وَمَا جَعَلَهُ اللَّهُ إِلا بُشْرَى لَكُمْ وَلِتَطْمَئِنَّ قُلُوبُكُمْ بِهِ وَمَا النَّصْرُ إِلا مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَكِيمِ (126) ("And Allah made it only as glad tidings for you, so that your hearts might be set at rest thereby. And victory comes only from Allah, the Almighty, the All-Wise.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His remembrance — means: and Allah did not make His promise to you — namely that which He promised you, that He would reinforce you with the angels whose number He mentioned — "except as glad tidings for you," that is to say: glad tidings with which He gladdens you — "so that your hearts might be set at rest thereby," He says: and so that your hearts might be set at rest by His promise which He made to you concerning that, so that they might feel reassured thereby and not weaken on account of the great number of your enemy and the small number of yourselves — "and victory comes only from Allah," that is to say: and your triumph, if you triumph over your enemy, comes only through the help of Allah, not on account of the reinforcement that comes to you from the angels. He says: so place your trust in Allah and seek help from Him, not in multitudes and great numbers. For if your victory comes about only through Allah and through His help while there are with you five thousand of His angels, then it is — that it comes about through Allah's help and through His strengthening you against your enemy, even though there are with you among mankind great multitudes — all the more likely. So fear Allah and persevere in the fight against your enemy, for Allah is your helper against them. As:
7793 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "and Allah made it only as glad tidings for you," he says: He made them only so that they might feel gladdened by them and reassured by them, and they did not fight alongside them on that day — he means the day of Uḥud. Mujāhid said: and they did not fight alongside them on that day, neither before it nor after it, except on the day of Badr.
7794 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: "and Allah made it only as glad tidings for you, so that your hearts might be set at rest thereby," on account of the weakness which I know of you; and victory comes only from Me, by My power and My capability, for power and judgment belong to Me, not to any of My creatures.
7795 — Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: "and victory comes only from Allah," had He willed to help you without the angels, He would have done so — "the Almighty, the All-Wise."
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As for the meaning of His statement "the Almighty, the All-Wise": He — exalted is His praise — means: "the Almighty" (al-ʿAzīz) in His retribution upon the people of disbelief in Him, at the hands of His protected allies among the people of His obedience — "the All-Wise" (al-Ḥakīm) in His ordaining for you, O believers, against your enemies among the people of disbelief, and in other of His affairs. He says: so rejoice then, O believers, in My ordaining for you against your enemies, and in My helping you against them, if you obey Me in what I have commanded you and stand firm in the fight against My enemy and your enemy.