Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:195
And their Lord responded to them, "Never will I allow to be lost the work of [any] worker among you, whether male or female; you are of one another. So those who emigrated or were evicted from their homes or were harmed in My cause or fought or were killed - I will surely remove from them their misdeeds, and I will surely admit them to gardens beneath which rivers flow as reward from Allah, and Allah has with Him the best reward."
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.
Explanation of the words of Allah: فَاسْتَجَابَ لَهُمْ رَبُّهُمْ أَنِّي لا أُضِيعُ عَمَلَ عَامِلٍ مِنْكُمْ مِنْ ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنْثَى بَعْضُكُمْ مِنْ بَعْضٍ ("Their Lord answered them: I do not let the work of any worker among you go to waste, whether it be a man or a woman; you are of one another." (3:195))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, means: Then their Lord answered them — these supplicants, through what has been described of the supplications by which they called upon Him — with the words that I do not let the work of any worker among you go to waste, whoever performs good, whether that worker be a man or a woman.
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It is reported that it was said to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: "How is it that the men are mentioned, but the women are not mentioned in connection with the hijra (emigration)?" Whereupon Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, sent down this verse concerning this.
8367 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Muʾammal related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: Umm Salama said: "O Messenger of Allah, the men are mentioned in connection with the hijra, but we are not mentioned?" Whereupon was sent down: "I do not let the work of any worker among you go to waste, whether it be a man or a woman", the verse.
8368 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, he said: I heard a man from the descendants of Umm Salama, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say: Umm Salama said: "O Messenger of Allah, I hear Allah mentioning the women with nothing in connection with the hijra?" Whereupon Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, sent down: "Their Lord answered them: I do not let the work of any worker among you go to waste, whether it be a man or a woman."
8369 — Al-Rabīʿ ibn Sulaymān related to us, he said: Asad ibn Mūsā related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of a man from the descendants of Umm Salama, on the authority of Umm Salama: that she said: "O Messenger of Allah, I hear Allah mentioning the women with nothing in connection with the hijra?" Whereupon Allah, the Exalted, sent down: "Their Lord answered them: I do not let the work of any worker among you go to waste, whether it be a man or a woman; you are of one another."
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It has been said: "Their Lord answered them (fa-stajāba lahum)" means: Then He answered them, as the poet said:
And a caller who called: "O who responds to magnanimity?"
But none who responded answered him at that moment.
With the meaning: but no one answered him at that moment.
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The particle "min" in His words "min dhakarin aw unthā (of a man or a woman)" is introduced as a clarification and explanation (tarjama and tafsīr) of His words "minkum (among you)", with the meaning: "I do not let the work of any worker among you go to waste", of the men and the women. This "min" is not the kind that may be omitted and dropped in the negative sentence, for it is introduced here in a manner whereby the sentence is not correct without it.
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Some grammarians of Baṣra claimed that it is introduced here just as it is introduced in their expression: "There has been some report (qad kāna min ḥadīth)". He said: and "min" is more fitting here, because the negation has already been introduced in His words "I do not let go to waste (lā uḍīʿu)".
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Some grammarians of Kūfa rejected that and said: "min" is only introduced and omitted in the place of negation (jaḥd). And he said: His words "I do not let the work of any worker among you go to waste" are not reached by the negation, for you do not say: "I do not strike the servant of any man in the house nor in the dwelling", introducing "nor (wa-lā)", because the negation does not reach it; rather, "min" here is explanatory (mufassira).
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As for His words "you are of one another (baʿḍukum min baʿḍ)", by it He means: you are — O believers, who remember Allah standing, sitting, and lying on your sides — of one another, in mutual support, the community of faith, and the religion; and the ruling concerning all of you, in what I shall do with you, is equal to the ruling concerning one of you, namely that I do not let the work of any man among you nor of any woman among you go to waste.
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Explanation of the words of Allah: فَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا وَأُخْرِجُوا مِنْ دِيَارِهِمْ وَأُوذُوا فِي سَبِيلِي وَقَاتَلُوا وَقُتِلُوا لأُكَفِّرَنَّ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ وَلأُدْخِلَنَّهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ ثَوَابًا مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ عِنْدَهُ حُسْنُ الثَّوَابِ (195) ("Those then who emigrated, and were driven out of their dwellings, and were caused harm on My way, and fought and were killed — I shall surely wipe out their evil deeds for them, and I shall surely admit them into gardens beneath which rivers flow, as a reward from Allah; and with Allah is the most beautiful reward." (3:195))
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words, whose praise is exalted, "Those then who emigrated (hājarū)" He means: those who left their own people of the folk of unbelief and their kinship for the sake of Allah, and emigrated to their brethren of the folk of faith in Allah and the holding true of His Messenger — "and were driven out of their dwellings", these are the emigrants (muhājirūn) whom the polytheists (mushrikīn) of Quraysh drove out of their dwellings in Mecca — "and were caused harm on My way", that is to say: and whoever was caused harm on account of their obedience to their Lord and their worship of Him, keeping the religion pure for Him; and that is "the way of Allah (sabīl Allāh)" on which the polytheists of the folk of Mecca caused harm to the believers in the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, among its inhabitants — "and fought (wa-qātalū)", that is to say: and fought on the way of Allah — "and were killed (wa-qutilū)" upon it — "I shall surely wipe out their evil deeds for them", that is to say: I shall wipe them out for them, and I shall bestow My favor upon them with My forgiveness and My mercy, and I shall pardon them — "and I shall surely admit them into gardens beneath which rivers flow, as a reward", that is to say: as a recompense for them for what they performed and endured for the sake of Allah and on His way — "from Allah", that is to say: from the side of Allah for them — "and with Allah is the most beautiful reward", that is to say: that with Allah are all kinds of recompense for their works, and that is something which no description of any describer can attain, for it is among that which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and has entered into no human heart, as in:
8370 — ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Wahb related to us, he said: my uncle ʿAbdallāh ibn Wahb related to us, he said: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith related to me: that Abū ʿUshshāna al-Maʿāfirī told him: that he heard ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ say: I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say: "Verily, the first company to enter the Garden are the poor emigrants (muhājirūn), by whom calamities are repelled; when they are commanded something, they listen and obey; and if one of them has a need with the ruler, it is not fulfilled until he dies, while it still lives in his breast. And verily, Allah summons the Garden on the Day of Resurrection, and it comes with its splendor and its adornment, and He says: 'Where are My servants who fought on My way and were killed, and were caused harm on My way, and who waged jihād on My way? Enter the Garden.' And they enter it without chastisement and without reckoning. And the angels come and prostrate themselves and say: 'Our Lord, we glorify You by night and by day, and we sanctify You; who are these whom You have chosen above us?' Whereupon the Lord, whose praise is exalted, says: 'These are My servants who fought on My way and who were caused harm on My way.' And the angels enter upon them through every gate: سَلامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ بِمَا صَبَرْتُمْ فَنِعْمَ عُقْبَى الدَّارِ ('Peace be upon you, because you were patient; and what an excellent final abode!')." [Sūrat al-Raʿd: 24]
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differ concerning the reading of His words "and fought and were killed (wa-qātalū wa-qutilū)".
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Some recited it: "wa-qatalū wa-quttilū" without doubling (takhfīf), with the meaning: that they killed whom they killed of the polytheists.
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Others recited it: "wa-qātalū wa-quttilū" with doubling (tashdīd) of "qutilū", with the meaning: that they fought the polytheists and that the polytheists killed them, one after another, killing after killing.
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The general reciters of Medina and some of Kūfa recited it: "wa-qātalū wa-qatalū" without doubling, with the meaning: that they fought the polytheists and killed them.
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The general reciters of Kūfa recited it: "wa-qutilū" without doubling, "wa-qātalū", with the meaning: that some of them were killed and whoever of them remained fought.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The reading which I do not permit myself to depart from is one of these two readings, namely: "wa-qātalū wa-qutilū" without doubling, or "wa-qatalū" without doubling "wa-qātalū", because this is the reading transmitted by inheritance, and what is outside that is anomalous (shādhdh). And with whichever of these two readings — which I mentioned that I do not permit myself to depart from — a reciter recites, he attains therein the correct in the reading, on account of the wide prevalence of reciting with each of the two among the reciters of Islam, together with the agreement of the meanings of both.
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Footnotes:
(1) In the printed edition it reads "fa-ajāba hāʾulāʾi l-dāʿīna bimā waṣafa llāhu ʿanhum annahum daʿaw bihi rabbahum...", which is not a correct sentence. In the manuscript it reads: "fa-ajāba llāhu hāʾulāʾi l-dāʿīna bimā waṣafa llāhu ʿanhum annahum daʿawhu bihi rabbahum...", which is likewise not correct; the correct, most plausible reading is what has been established. For Allah enumerated their supplications, by which they had earlier called upon Him, in the preceding verses, so it was correct that He mentions them in brief in the explanation of the verse. And it is not correct in Arabic to say "waṣafa ʿan fulān kadhā"; therefore I have given preference to the reading as established. The copyist makes, as you see, many mistakes and errors. The purport of the words is "fa-ajāba hāʾulāʾi l-dāʿīna... rabbuhum" with a ḍamma on "rabbuhum", and what lies between is an insertion within the purport, namely the explanation of His words "fa-stajāba lahum rabbuhum".
(2) The ḥadīth 8367 — this is a correct (ṣaḥīḥ) isnād. Muʾammal: that is Ibn Ismāʿīl, and he is trustworthy (thiqa), as we mentioned under 2057. Sufyān — here — : that is al-Thawrī, even though Muʾammal also relates from Ibn ʿUyayna; but it is clarified that it is al-Thawrī in the narration of al-Ḥākim, as we shall mention at the source attribution, if Allah wills. The ḥadīth al-Ṭabarī also related, further on at the explanation of verse 25 of Sūrat al-Aḥzāb (vol. 22, p. 8, Būlāq), via Ibn Ḥumayd, from Muʾammal, with this isnād. He cited it as the occasion for the revelation of that verse. The ḥadīth is related as the occasion for the revelation of both this and that verse. Al-Ḥākim related it in al-Mustadrak 2:416, via al-Ḥusayn ibn Ḥafṣ, from Sufyān ibn Saʿīd [that is al-Thawrī], from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from Mujāhid, from Umm Salama, who said: "I said: O Messenger of Allah, the men are mentioned but not the women? Whereupon Allah, mighty and exalted, sent down: 'Verily, the Muslim men and the Muslim women, the believing men and the believing women' the verse, and He sent down: 'I do not let the work of any worker among you go to waste, whether it be a man or a woman'." Al-Ḥākim said: "This is a ḥadīth correct according to the condition of the two shaykhs (al-Bukhārī and Muslim), but they did not include it." Al-Dhahabī agreed with him. Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ḥafṣ al-Hamdānī al-Iṣbahānī: trustworthy, as we mentioned in the comment on 2435. Ibn Kathīr mentioned the other narration of al-Ṭabarī, in Sūrat al-Aḥzāb 6:533, without source attribution. Aḥmad related it in the Musnad 6:301 (Ḥalabī), as the occasion for the revelation of the verse of al-Aḥzāb. He related it via two ways, which he combined into one isnād: via the narration of ʿAbdallāh ibn Rāfiʿ, the freedman of Umm Salama, and via the narration of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Shayba al-Makkī al-Ḥajabī — both from Umm Salama. Then he repeated it once more, p. 305, along both ways, which he separated into two isnāds. Al-Mizzī related it in Tahdhīb al-Kamāl, in the biography of "ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Shayba", with his isnād thereto. The ḥāfiẓ mentioned in Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb that al-Nasāʾī related it in the tafsīr via ʿAbd al-Raḥmān; it is thus in al-Sunan al-Kubrā. Al-Ṭabarī related it, further on (vol. 22, p. 8, Būlāq), via Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥāṭib, from Umm Salama — as the occasion for the revelation of the verse of al-Aḥzāb. Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān: a trustworthy, eminent, highly placed Follower (tābiʿī). Ibn Kathīr mentioned 6:533 that al-Nasāʾī related it via him, and then pointed to the narration of al-Ṭabarī. See also al-Durr al-Manthūr 5:200. The ḥadīth is thus in both places in al-Ṭabarī via Mujāhid — abridged. See the two following narrations hereafter.
(3) The ḥadīths 8368 and 8369 — the man from the descendants of Umm Salama: he is left unnamed here, but he is known from another isnād. Thus al-Tirmidhī also mentioned him unnamed in his narration. He related it 4:88, via Ibn Abī ʿUmar, from Sufyān — that is Ibn ʿUyayna — with this isnād. Likewise Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr left him unnamed: he related it from Sufyān, with it, as Ibn Kathīr took it over from him in the tafsīr 2:326. Al-Ḥākim clarified him in al-Mustadrak. He related it 2:300, via Yaʿqūb ibn Ḥumayd: "Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, from ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, from Salama ibn Abī Salama: a man from the descendants of Umm Salama, from Umm Salama." Al-Ḥākim said: "This is a ḥadīth correct according to the condition of al-Bukhārī, but they did not include it. I heard Abū Aḥmad al-Ḥāfiẓ — and he mentioned two examinations in the book of al-Bukhārī: Yaʿqūb from Sufyān, and Yaʿqūb from al-Darāwardī — and Abū Aḥmad said: it is Yaʿqūb ibn Ḥumayd." And al-Dhahabī agreed with al-Ḥākim that it is according to the condition of al-Bukhārī. Yaʿqūb ibn Ḥumayd ibn Kāsib: his attestation as trustworthy has passed under 4779, 4880, and al-Dhahabī's objection against al-Ḥākim in declaring his ḥadīth correct has passed there. It is therefore astonishing that he agrees with him here! This "Salama ibn Abī Salama": that is "Salama ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿUmar ibn Abī Salama", ascribed to his furthest forefather. Some mention his lineage in full, others ascribe him to his grandfather and say: "Salama ibn ʿUmar ibn Abī Salama". And Umm Salama, the mother of the believers: she is the mother of his grandfather "ʿUmar ibn Abī Salama". This "Salama": is included in Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, but not in the base work "Tahdhīb al-Kamāl". He has a biography in al-Kabīr of al-Bukhārī 2/2/81, and in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 2/1/166. The ḥadīth al-Suyūṭī mentioned 2:112, without binding himself to a particular Follower of Umm Salama, and he added the attribution to ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abī Ḥātim and al-Ṭabarānī.
(4) Kaʿb ibn Saʿd al-Ghanawī.
(5) The verse and its source attribution have passed in what preceded 1:320, note 1 / 3:483, note 1.
(6) "Al-tarjama": the substitution (badal), as preceded in 2:340, note 1, p. 374, 420, 424-426. As for "al-tafsīr", it is as if by it he meant "al-tabyīn (clarification)", and did not intend "al-tamyīz"; see the index of terms in the remaining preceding volumes.
(7) See the addition of "min" in the negation in what preceded 2:126, 127, 442, 470 / 5:586.
(8) See what preceded 2:127.
(9) In the printed edition it reads "fa-yudkhilu" with a yāʾ, which is wrong; in the manuscript it is unpointed, and this is its correct reading.
(10) By his word "mufassira (explanatory)" he means "clarifying"; see the preceding note no. 1.
(11) In the printed edition it reads: "wa-l-masʾala wa-l-dīn", and the correct reading is from the manuscript.
(12) See the explanation of "hājara" in what preceded 4:317, 318.
(13) See the explanation of "sabīl Allāh" in what preceded 3:563, 583, 592 / 4:318 / 5:280 / 6:230.
(14) In the printed edition and the manuscript it reads: "wa-qutilū: yaʿnī, wa-qutilū fī sabīl Allāh, wa-qātalū fīhā", whereby in the purport of the verse and in the purport of the meaning there is a transposition; the correct reading is what has been established, even though one of the readings permits what was in the manuscript; see the readings at the verse hereafter.
(15) See the explanation of "al-takfīr" in what just preceded, p. 482.
(16) See the explanation of "al-thawāb" in what preceded 2:458 / 7:262, 304.
(17) See the explanation of "ʿinda" in what preceded 2:501.
(18) The ḥadīth 8370 — Abū ʿUshshāna, with a ḍamma on the undotted ʿayn and doubling of the dotted shīn, al-Maʿāfirī, with a fatḥa on the mīm: that is Ḥayy ibn Yuʾmin ibn Ḥujayl al-Miṣrī. A trustworthy Follower (tābiʿī); Aḥmad, Ibn Maʿīn and others declared him trustworthy. Included in al-Tahdhīb, in al-Kabīr of al-Bukhārī 2/1/110, in Ibn Saʿd 7/2/201, and in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/2/276. The ḥadīth al-Ḥākim related in al-Mustadrak 2:71-72, via Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam, from Ibn Wahb — that is ʿAbdallāh — with this isnād, and he said: "This is a ḥadīth with a correct isnād, but they did not include it." Al-Dhahabī agreed with him. It was also related by al-Ṭabarānī, via Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ, from Ibn Wahb — as Ibn Kathīr took it over from him 4:519. Aḥmad related it in the Musnad in a similar manner: 6570, via Maʿrūf ibn Suwayd al-Judhāmī, from Abū ʿUshshāna al-Maʿāfirī. Then he related it — likewise in a similar manner — : 6571, via Ibn Lahīʿa, from Abū ʿUshshāna. Abū Nuʿaym related it in al-Ḥilya — abridged — via Maʿrūf ibn Suwayd 1:347. Al-Haythamī mentioned it in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid 10:259, from the two narrations of the Musnad, and mentioned at the first that al-Bazzār and al-Ṭabarānī also related it, "and their men are trustworthy". And he mentioned at the second that al-Ṭabarānī also related it, "and the men of al-Ṭabarānī are the men of the Ṣaḥīḥ, except for Abū ʿUshshāna, and he is trustworthy". Al-Suyūṭī mentioned it 2:112, and attributed it to Ibn Jarīr, Abū l-Shaykh, al-Ṭabarānī and al-Ḥākim "who declared it correct", and al-Bayhaqī in al-Shuʿab. Then he mentioned it once more 4:57-58, and attributed it to Aḥmad, al-Bazzār, Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Abī Ḥātim, Ibn Ḥibbān, Abū l-Shaykh, al-Ḥākim "who declared it correct", Ibn Mardawayh, Abū Nuʿaym in al-Ḥilya, and al-Bayhaqī in Shuʿab al-Īmān. Ibn Kathīr did not mention it in this place, but mentioned it in that place, at the explanation of Sūrat al-Raʿd, as we pointed out.
