Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:168
Those who said about their brothers while sitting [at home], "If they had obeyed us, they would not have been killed." Say, "Then prevent death from yourselves, if you should be truthful."
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, mighty is His praise: الَّذِينَ قَالُوا لإِخْوَانِهِمْ وَقَعَدُوا لَوْ أَطَاعُونَا مَا قُتِلُوا قُلْ فَادْرَءُوا عَنْ أَنْفُسِكُمُ الْمَوْتَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ (168) ("Those who said of their brethren, while they themselves sat [at home]: had they obeyed us, they would not have been killed. Say: then ward off death from yourselves, if you are truthful." (168))
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this the Exalted means: "and that Allah might know those who acted hypocritically" — "those who said of their brethren, while they themselves sat [at home]."
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The position of "those" (alladhīna) is naṣb (accusative) as badal (substitution) for "those who acted hypocritically." And it is possible that it is rafʿ (nominative), as a clarification of what is contained in His statement "they conceal" (yaktumūna) of the mention of "those who acted hypocritically."
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The meaning of the verse is therefore: and that Allah might know those who said of their brethren — those who were struck down together with the Muslims in their war against the polytheists at Uḥud, on the day of Uḥud, and who were killed there, from among their fellow tribesmen and their people — "while they themselves sat [at home]," that is to say: while these hypocrites, who said what they said — of what Allah, mighty and exalted, has reported about them of their statement — sat back and refrained from the jihād together with their brethren and fellow tribesmen on the path of Allah. "Had they obeyed us," that is to say: had those of our brethren and fellow tribesmen who were killed at Uḥud obeyed us, "they would not have been killed," that is to say: they would not have been killed there. Allah, mighty and exalted, said to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: "Say," O Muḥammad, to these hypocrites who made this statement, "then ward off," that is to say: then ward off.
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This comes from the saying of one who says: "I warded off death from so-and-so" (daraʾtu ʿan fulān al-qatl), in the meaning of: I warded [it] off from him, "I ward off" (adraʾuhu darʾan). To this also belongs the saying of the poet:
She says, while I had drawn her belly-girth tight: "Is this forever his custom and mine?"
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The Exalted says: say to them: then ward off = if you, O hypocrites, are truthful in your statement: had our brethren obeyed us in abstaining from the jihād on the path of Allah together with Muḥammad ﷺ and fighting Abū Sufyān and those with him of the Quraysh, they would not have been killed there by the sword, and they would have remained alive by sitting [at home] together with you and staying behind from Muḥammad ﷺ and attending the jihād against the enemies of Allah at his side = [then ward off from yourselves] death, for you indeed sat back and did not go forth to fight, and you stayed behind from their jihād, and you will inevitably die. As:
8199 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: "those who said of their brethren," those who were struck down together with you, from among their fellow tribesmen and their people = "had they obeyed us, they would not have been killed," the verse, that is to say: that death is inevitable, so if you are able to ward it off from yourselves, then do so. That is because they only acted hypocritically and neglected the jihād on the path of Allah out of craving for continued existence in this world and out of fleeing from death.
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* Mention of those who said: those who made this statement about their brethren are those concerning whom Allah said: وَلِيَعْلَمَ الَّذِينَ نَافَقُوا ("and that He might know those who acted hypocritically"):
8200 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, [concerning] His statement: "those who said of their brethren, while they themselves sat: had they obeyed us, they would not have been killed," the verse — it has been related to us that it was revealed concerning the enemy of Allah, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy.
8201 - Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, he said: they are ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy and his companions.
8202 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: it is ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy, who sat back and said of his brethren who went forth with the Prophet ﷺ on the day of Uḥud: "had they obeyed us, they would not have been killed," the verse. Ibn Jurayj said, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh said: it is ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl.
8203 - It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, on the authority of Ibn Abī Jaʿfar, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, [concerning] His statement: "those who said of their brethren, while they themselves sat," the verse, he said: it was revealed concerning the enemy of Allah, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy.
