Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:153
[Remember] when you [fled and] climbed [the mountain] without looking aside at anyone while the Messenger was calling you from behind. So Allah repaid you with distress upon distress so you would not grieve for that which had escaped you [of victory and spoils of war] or [for] that which had befallen you [of injury and death]. And Allah is [fully] Acquainted with what you do.
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 Word on the Explanation of His Statement: إِذْ تُصْعِدُونَ وَلا تَلْوُونَ عَلَى أَحَدٍ وَالرَّسُولُ يَدْعُوكُمْ فِي أُخْرَاكُمْ (When you were fleeing up the hill without looking back at anyone, while the Messenger was calling you from behind.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this He means, mighty is His praise: And He has surely forgiven you, O believers, when He did not annihilate you by destroying your company as a punishment for your sins and your flight. "When you were fleeing up the hill without looking back at anyone."
The reciters differed concerning the reading of it.
The majority of the reciters of the Ḥijāz, Iraq, and Syria, with the exception of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, read it as (إِذْ تُصْعِدُونَ) with a ḍamma on the "tāʾ" and a kasra on the "ʿayn." And that is the reading according to us, because of the consensus of the authoritative reciters upon that reading and their rejection of what deviates from it.
It is related from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī that he read it as (إِذْ تَصْعَدُونَ) with a fatḥa on the "tāʾ" and the "ʿayn."
8047 — Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related that to me, saying: al-Qāsim ibn Sallām related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Hārūn, on the authority of Yūnus ibn ʿUbayd, on the authority of al-Ḥasan.
As for those who read (تُصْعِدُون) with a ḍamma on the "tāʾ" and a kasra on the "ʿayn": they directed its meaning to the fact that the people, when they fled from their enemy, fled into the valley. And they mentioned that this is in the reading of Ubayy: ("إِذْ تُصْعِدُونَ فِي الْوَادِي") (When you were fleeing into the valley).
8048 — Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related [that] to us, saying: Abū ʿUbayd related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Hārūn.
They said: Fleeing over flat terrain and in the bottoms of valleys and the mountain passes is "iṣʿād," not "ṣuʿūd." They said: "Ṣuʿūd" (climbing up) only takes place on mountains, ladders, and stairs, because the meaning of "ṣuʿūd" is ascending and going up upon something, toward the top. They said: As for proceeding over flat terrain and descending, that is "iṣʿād," as one says: "We set out (aṣʿadnā) from Mecca," when one begins the journey from it and departs from it. "And we set out (aṣʿadnā) from Kūfa to Khurāsān," with the meaning: we journeyed out of it toward there, and we began from there the trek toward it.
They said: The explanation of most of the exegetes is that the people, in their flight from their enemy, withdrew into the bottom of the valley.
Mention of who said that:
8049 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "without looking back at anyone," that was on the day of Uḥud; they withdrew fleeing into the valley, while the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was calling them from behind: "To me, servants of Allah! To me, servants of Allah!"
Abū Jaʿfar said: As for al-Ḥasan, I am of the view that by his reading "إذ تَصْعَدون" with a fatḥa on the "tāʾ" and the "ʿayn" he intended the fact that the people, when they fled from the polytheists (mushrikīn), climbed the mountain. And a number of the exegetes have said that.
Mention of who said that:
8050 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, saying: When the polytheists attacked the Muslims hard at Uḥud and defeated them, some of them entered Medina, and some of them ascended above the mountain to the rock and stood upon it. And the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, began calling the people: "To me, servants of Allah! To me, servants of Allah!" Allah mentioned their climbing of the mountain, and then mentioned the call of the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to them, and said: "When you were fleeing up the hill without looking back at anyone, while the Messenger was calling you from behind."
8051 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, saying: They withdrew toward the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and began to climb the mountain, while the Messenger was calling them from behind.
8052 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
8053 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās said, concerning His statement: "When you were fleeing up the hill without looking back at anyone," he said: they climbed Uḥud, fleeing.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And we have already mentioned that the more correct of the two readings is the reading of whoever read "إذ تُصعِدون" with a ḍamma on the "tāʾ" and a kasra on the "ʿayn," with the meaning: hastening away and fleeing over flat terrain or in the descents, because of the consensus of the authorities that that is the correct reading. And in their consensus upon that lies the clear proof that the more fitting of the two interpretations for the verse is the interpretation of whoever said: "they withdrew into the valley and proceeded into it," rather than the statement of whoever said: "they climbed the mountain."
Abū Jaʿfar said: As for His statement: "without looking back at anyone," He means by it: and you do not look back at any of you, and you do not look at one another, fleeing from your enemy, while you withdrew into the valley.
And by His statement: "while the Messenger was calling you from behind" He means: and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is calling you, O you who believe in him, from among his Companions. "From behind," that is to say: that he is calling you from behind you: "To me, servants of Allah! To me, servants of Allah!" as:
8054 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās said: "while the Messenger was calling you from behind," to me, servants of Allah, return! To me, servants of Allah, return!
8055 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "while the Messenger was calling you from behind," they saw the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, calling them: "To me, servants of Allah!"
8056 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, something similar.
8057 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, saying: Allah reproached them for the flight away from their Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, while he was calling them, and they did not turn back to him despite his call to them, and He said: "When you were fleeing up the hill without looking back at anyone, while the Messenger was calling you from behind."
8058 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: "while the Messenger was calling you from behind," this was on the day of Uḥud when the people withdrew away from him.
The Word on the Explanation of His Statement: فَأَثَابَكُمْ غَمًّا بِغَمٍّ لِكَيْلا تَحْزَنُوا عَلَى مَا فَاتَكُمْ وَلا مَا أَصَابَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ (3:153) (Then He requited you with grief upon grief, so that you would not grieve over what eluded you, nor over what befell you; and Allah is well-informed of what you do.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His statement, mighty is His praise: "Then He requited you with grief upon grief," He means: He requited you for your flight away from your Prophet, and your cowardice toward your enemy, and your disobedience to your Lord, "with grief upon grief," He says: grief upon grief.
And He called the punishment with which He punished them — namely, that He gave their enemy the upper hand over them until he obtained from them what he obtained — a "requital" (thawāb), because it was a recompense for their action which He detested and did not accept from them. By that He, mighty is His praise, indicated that every recompense that exists for someone who is requited for some action — whether it be good or evil — or the compensation which a man gives to another man, or a kindness which the latter had earlier done him, deserves the name "requital" (thawāb), whether that recompense be an honoring or a punishment. Comparable to that is the statement of the poet:
I fear that the gift of Ziyād will be black fetters, or stoutly plaited brown whips.
He made "the gift" to be the fetters. And that is like the statement of one to another who had earlier done him something disagreeable: "I shall surely requite you for your deed, and I shall surely give you your reward."
As for His statement: "grief upon grief," it is said that "ghamman bi-ghamm" has the meaning: grief upon grief, as has been said: وَلأُصَلِّبَنَّكُمْ فِي جُذُوعِ النَّخْلِ [sūra Ṭā Hā: 71] (And I shall surely crucify you on the trunks of the palm trees), with the meaning: and I shall surely crucify you upon the trunks of the palm trees. That is only permissible because the meaning of the statement of one: "Allah requited you grief upon grief" is: Allah requited you with grief after a grief that preceded it. So too was the meaning of: "Then He requited you with grief upon grief," for the meaning of it is: Allah requited you with grief in succession to a grief that preceded it. And that is comparable to the statement of one: "I lodged with the sons of so-and-so (bi-banī fulān)" and "I lodged with the sons of so-and-so (ʿalā banī fulān)," and "I struck him with the sword (bi-l-sayf)" and "upon the sword (ʿalā al-sayf)."
The exegetes differed concerning the grief with which the people were requited on top of the grief, and what their first and second grief was.
Some of them said: As for the first grief, that was what the people related, namely that their Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had been killed. And as for the second grief, that was what befell them of killing and wounds.
Mention of who said that:
8059 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "Then He requited you with grief upon grief," they had related on that day that the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had been struck down, and the second grief was the killing of their companions and the wounds that befell them. He said: And it has been mentioned to us that on that day seventy men of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, were killed: sixty-six men of the Anṣār and four of the Muhājirūn. And His statement: "so that you would not grieve over what eluded you," he says: what eluded you of the spoils of the people. "Nor over what befell you," in yourselves, of killing and wounds.
8060 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: "Then He requited you with grief upon grief," he said: flight after flight: the first when they heard the voice that Muḥammad had been killed, and the second when the disbelievers returned and fell upon them while they turned their backs, until they killed seventy men of them. Then they withdrew toward the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and began to climb the mountain while the Messenger was calling them from behind.
8061 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
And others said: Rather their first grief was the killing of whoever of them was killed and the wounding of whoever of them was wounded, and the second grief was their hearing the voice of the crier: "Muḥammad has been killed," may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
Mention of who said that:
8062 — Al-Ḥusayn ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "grief upon grief," he said: The first grief: the wounds and the killing, and the second grief when they heard that the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had been killed. Then the latter grief made them forget what had befallen them of wounds and killing, and what they had hoped for of spoils, and that is when He says: "so that you would not grieve over what eluded you, nor over what befell you."
8063 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: "Then He requited you with grief upon grief," he said: The first grief was the wounds and the killing, and the latter grief when they heard that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had been killed. Then the latter grief made them forget what had befallen them of wounds and killing, and what they had hoped for of spoils, and that is when Allah says: "so that you would not grieve over what eluded you, nor over what befell you."
And others said: Rather the first grief was what had eluded them of victory and spoils, and the second was the appearance of Abū Sufyān above them in the mountain pass. And that was because Abū Sufyān — according to what some of the biographers claim — when he had obtained from the Muslims what he had obtained and the Muslims had fled, came until he appeared above them while among them was the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in the mountain pass of Uḥud to which they had withdrawn at the defeat, and they feared that Abū Sufyān and his companions would annihilate them.
Mention of the report concerning that:
8064 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, saying: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went on that day calling the people until he reached the people of the rock. When they saw him, a man set an arrow on his bow and wanted to shoot him, but he said: "I am the Messenger of Allah!" Then they rejoiced at that, when they found the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, alive, and the Messenger of Allah rejoiced when he saw that among his Companions were those who defended themselves. When they had gathered, with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, among them, when the grief had departed from them, they began to recall the victory and what of it had eluded them, and they remembered their companions who had been killed.
Then Abū Sufyān came on until he appeared above them. When they looked at him, they forgot what they were in, and Abū Sufyān brought them into anxiety. Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "It is not for them to rise above us! O Allah, if You destroy this band, You will not be worshipped any more!" Then he urged on his Companions and they pelted them with stones until they forced them down. Then Abū Sufyān said on that day: "Be exalted, Hubal! Ḥanẓala for Ḥanẓala, and a day for a day of Badr!" — and they had on that day killed Ḥanẓala ibn al-Rāhib, and he was in a state of major ritual impurity (junub), whereupon the angels washed him; and Ḥanẓala ibn Abī Sufyān had been killed on the day of Badr. And Abū Sufyān said: "We have al-ʿUzzā, and you have no ʿUzzā!" Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to ʿUmar: "Say: Allah is our Protector, and you have no protector!" Then Abū Sufyān said: Is Muḥammad among you? They said: Yes! He said: "Well, there has occurred among you mutilation (muthla); I did not give the command for it, nor did I forbid it, and it did not gladden me, and it did not grieve me!" Then Allah mentioned the appearance of Abū Sufyān above them and said: "Then He requited you with grief upon grief, so that you would not grieve over what eluded you, nor over what befell you." The first grief: what had eluded them of spoils and victory, and the second grief: the appearance of the enemy above them. "So that you would not grieve over what eluded you," of spoils. "Nor over what befell you," of killing, when you remember it. Thus Abū Sufyān kept them occupied.
8065 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, saying: Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī, and Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Ḥabbān, and ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatāda, and al-Ḥuṣayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr ibn Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, and others of our scholars related to me, in what they mentioned of the history of Uḥud, they said: The Muslims were on that day — because of the severe trial that befell them in it — divided into three parts: a third killed, a third wounded, and a third defeated, and the battle had so overwhelmed him that he no longer knew what to do. And this went so far that the enemy reached the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he was pelted with stones until he fell on his side, and his front teeth were struck, and his face was wounded, and his lip was injured, and the one who struck him was ʿUtba ibn Abī Waqqāṣ. And Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr fought in defense of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with his banner with him, until he was killed, and the one who struck him was Ibn Qamīʾa al-Laythī, while he supposed that he was the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Then he returned to Quraysh and said: "I have killed Muḥammad."
8066 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, saying: The first to recognize the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, after the defeat and the people's saying: "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has been killed" — as Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, saying: Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī related to me — was Kaʿb ibn Mālik, the brother of the Banū Salima. He said: I recognized his two eyes shining beneath the helmet, and I called out with a loud voice: "O company of Muslims: rejoice, this is the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace!" Then the Messenger of Allah gestured to me to be silent. When the Muslims recognized the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, they rose with him and proceeded to the mountain pass, with him ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and Abū Bakr ibn Abī Quḥāfa, and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, and Ṭalḥa ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, and al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, and al-Ḥārith ibn al-Ṣimma, in a small group of the Muslims.
He said: While the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was in the mountain pass, with that handful of his Companions with him, a group of Quraysh climbed the mountain. Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "O Allah, it is not fitting for them to rise above us!" Then ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and a group with him of the Muhājirūn fought, until they forced them down from the mountain. And the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, rose to go to a rock of the mountain to climb it — and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was heavily armored, for he wore two coats of mail one over the other. When he wanted to raise himself but could not, Ṭalḥa ibn ʿUbayd Allāh crouched beneath him, and he raised himself until he stood upon it.
Then, when Abū Sufyān wanted to depart, he appeared atop the mountain and shouted with the loudest voice: "You have had good fortune, be exalted! Verily, war alternates, a day for a day of Badr, be exalted Hubal!" — that is to say: make your religion victorious. Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to ʿUmar: "Stand up and answer him, and say: Allah is higher and more exalted! It is not equal! Our slain are in Paradise and your slain are in the Fire!" When ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, answered Abū Sufyān, Abū Sufyān said to him: "Come here to me, O ʿUmar!" Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to him: "Go to him and see what his matter is." He came to him, and Abū Sufyān said to him: I adjure you by Allah, O ʿUmar, have we killed Muḥammad? Then ʿUmar said: O Allah, no, and he indeed hears your words now! He said: You are in my eyes more trustworthy and more truthful than Ibn Qamīʾa! — because of the statement of Ibn Qamīʾa to them: I have killed Muḥammad. Then Abū Sufyān called out and said: Verily, there has occurred among your slain a mutilation (muthla); by Allah, I was not pleased with it and I did not detest it, and I did not forbid it and I did not give the command for it.
8067 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq related to me: "Then He requited you with grief upon grief, so that you would not grieve over what eluded you, nor over what befell you," that is to say: sorrow after sorrow — the killing of whoever of your brothers was killed, and the upper hand of your enemy over you, and what arose in yourselves through the statement of whoever said: "your Prophet has been killed" — that was of what befell you successively, grief upon grief. "So that you would not grieve over what eluded you," of your upper hand over your enemy after you had seen it with your own eyes. "Nor over what befell you," of the killing of your brothers, until thereby the grief was removed from you. "And Allah is well-informed of what you do." And that by which He removed from them the grief and sorrow that had befallen them was that Allah, mighty and exalted, turned away from them the lie of the Satan concerning the killing of their Prophet. When they saw the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, alive among them, what had eluded them of the people after the upper hand over them became light to them, and the calamity that had befallen them in their brothers, when Allah turned away the killing of their Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
8068 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: "Then He requited you with grief upon grief," Ibn Jurayj said: Mujāhid said: The people were stricken with sadness and grief over what had befallen them in their companions who had been killed. When they withdrew into the mountain pass, while they were stricken, Abū Sufyān and his companions stood at the entrance of the mountain pass, and the believers supposed that they would come upon them and kill them too. Then they were stricken with a sadness over that which made them forget their sadness over their companions. That is His statement: "Then He requited you with grief upon grief, so that you would not grieve over what eluded you." Ibn Jurayj said concerning His statement: "over what eluded you," he says: over what eluded you of the spoils of the people. "Nor over what befell you," in yourselves.
8069 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr informed me, on the authority of ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr, saying: Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb and those with him came until he halted at the mountain pass, and he then called out: Is the son of Abī Kabsha among the people? Then they were silent. Then Abū Sufyān said: Killed, by the Lord of the Kaʿba! Then he said: Is the son of Abī Quḥāfa among the people? Then they were silent. Then he said: Killed, by the Lord of the Kaʿba! Then he said: Is ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb among the people? Then they were silent. Then he said: Killed, by the Lord of the Kaʿba! Then Abū Sufyān said: Be exalted Hubal, a day for a day of Badr, and Ḥanẓala for Ḥanẓala, and you will find among the people a mutilation that was not based upon the judgment of our nobles and our best, and we did not detest it when we saw it! Then the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb: Stand up and call out and say: Allah is higher and more exalted! Yes, this is the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and this is Abū Bakr, and here I am! The people of the Fire and the people of Paradise are not equal; the people of Paradise are the successful, our slain are in Paradise and your slain are in the Fire!
And others said concerning that something:
8070 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related it to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: إِذْ تُصْعِدُونَ وَلا تَلْوُونَ عَلَى أَحَدٍ وَالرَّسُولُ يَدْعُوكُمْ فِي أُخْرَاكُمْ (When you were fleeing up the hill without looking back at anyone, while the Messenger was calling you from behind), they returned and said: By Allah, we shall surely reach them, and then surely kill them! They have wounded some of us! Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: Be calm; for what has befallen you has befallen you only because you disobeyed me! While they were thus, the people suddenly came upon them, pressed together and with swords drawn. Such was the grief of the defeat and their grief when they came upon them. "So that you would not grieve over what eluded you," of killing. "Nor over what befell you," of wounding. "Then He requited you with grief upon grief, so that you would not grieve" — the verse, and that was the day of Uḥud.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most fitting of these statements for the explanation of the verse is the statement of whoever said: the meaning of His statement: "Then He requited you with grief upon grief," O believers, is: by Allah's depriving you of the spoils of the polytheists and the triumph over them and the victory over them, and what befell you on that day of killing and wounds — after He had shown you in all this what you love — because of your disobedience to your Lord and your transgression of the command of your Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, [He requited you with] the grief of your supposing that your Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had been killed, and the pressing of the enemy upon you after your flight from them.
And what indicates that this is more fitting for the explanation of the verse than what deviates from it, is His statement: "so that you would not grieve over what eluded you, nor over what befell you." And what eluded them is undoubtedly that which they had hoped to attain from others, whether by the upper hand over them by defeating them, or by spoils which they would acquire. And His statement: "nor over what befell you" is what befell them: whether in their bodies, or in their brothers.
If that is so, then it is known that the second "grief" is a meaning other than these two. For Allah, mighty and exalted, informed His believing servants among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that He requited them with grief upon grief, so that there would not grieve them what had befallen them of grief arising from what had eluded them of others, nor what had befallen them before that in themselves — and that is the first grief, as we have previously explained.
As for His statement: "so that you would not grieve over what eluded you, nor over what befell you," its explanation is as I have explained, namely: "so that you would not grieve over what eluded you," whereby you did not attain it, namely that which you hoped to attain from your enemy through the triumph over them and the upper hand and the acquisition of their spoils. "Nor over what befell you" in yourselves, of the wounding of whoever was wounded and the killing of whoever of your brothers was killed.
And we have already previously mentioned the disagreement of the exegetes concerning that according to the manner in which they disagreed concerning it, as:
8071 — Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: "so that you would not grieve over what eluded you, nor over what befell you," he said: over what eluded you of the spoils which you hoped to obtain. "And do not grieve over what befell you," of the defeat.
As for His statement: "and Allah is well-informed of what you do," He means by it, mighty is His praise: and Allah is, with respect to what you do, O believers — of your fleeing into the valley, fleeing from your enemy, and your defeat against them, and your abandonment of your Prophet while he was calling you from behind, and your sorrow over what eluded you of your enemy and what befell you in yourselves — possessor of knowledge and awareness; and He records all of that for you, until He requites you for it: the doer of good among you for his good deeds, and the doer of evil for his evil deeds, or He pardons it for him.