Tafseer of The Clans · Al-Ahzaab · 33:14
And if they had been entered upon from all its [surrounding] regions and fitnah had been demanded of them, they would have done it and not hesitated over it except briefly.
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.
And His statement: وَلَوْ دُخِلَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ أَقْطَارِها (And if the city had been entered upon them from all its sides) means: And if the city had been entered upon these speakers — those who say Indeed, our houses are exposed (ʿawra) — from all sides, that is to say: from its flanks and its regions. Its singular is "quṭr." There is yet another linguistic form for it: "qutr," and the plural "aqtār." Of this is the statement of the rajaz-poet:
In shiʾta an tudhina aw tamrā (If you wish to grease or to slacken the rein) Fa-wallihinna qutraka al-asharrā (Then turn toward them your most evil side)
And His statement: ثُمَّ سُئِلوا الفِتْنَةَ (Then they would have been asked for the trial) means: Then they would have been asked to turn back from faith to the ascribing of partners to Allah (shirk). لآتَوْها (They would surely have done it) means: they would have done it and turned back from Islam and ascribed partners. And His statement: وَما تَلَبَّثُوا بها إلا يَسِيرًا (And they would have tarried therein only briefly) means: And they would not have hesitated to comply with those who call to shirk except for a slight, brief while, and they would have hastened to it.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَلَوْ دُخِلَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ أَقْطَارِهَا (And if the city had been entered upon them from all its sides), that is to say: if it had been entered upon them from the regions of the city. ثُمَّ سُئِلُوا الفِتْنَةَ (Then they would have been asked for the trial): that is to say: the shirk. لآتَوْها (They would surely have done it) means: they would have given it. وَما تَلَبَّثُوا بِها إلا يَسِيرًا (And they would have tarried therein only briefly) means: they would have given it only willingly and with a consenting soul, with nothing they would hold back.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: وَلَوْ دُخِلَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ أَقْطَارِهَا (And if the city had been entered upon them from all its sides) means: if the city had been entered upon them from its regions. ثُمَّ سُئِلُوا الفِتْنَةَ لآتوْهَا (Then they would have been asked for the trial, then they would surely have done it): they would have been asked to disbelieve, and they would have disbelieved. He said: And these hypocrites (munāfiqūn) — if the armies had entered upon them, and those who wished to fight them, and they had then been asked to disbelieve, they would have disbelieved. He said: And the trial (fitna) is disbelief (kufr), and that is what Allah says: The trial is more severe than killing (al-fitnatu ashaddu min al-qatl), that is to say: disbelief. He says: The fear of them, and the corruption of the trial in which they were on account of the hypocrisy (nifāq), would lead them to disbelieve therein.
And the reciters differed in the reading of His statement: لآتَوْها. Most of the reciters of Medina and some of the reciters of Mecca read it: لأتَوْها with a short alif, in the meaning of: they would have come to it. And some of the Meccans and most of the reciters of Kūfa and Baṣra read it: لآتَوْها with a long alif, in the meaning of: they would have given it, on account of His statement: ثُمَّ سُئِلُوا الْفِتْنَةَ (Then they would have been asked for the trial). And they said: if there was an asking, then there was a giving. And the long reading (with madd) is to me the more pleasing of the two readings, for the reason I mentioned, even though the other is permissible.
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Footnotes:
(14) The verse is by ʿAbbās ibn Mirdās, and it has already been cited earlier in (20:66). Abū ʿUbayda said in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 193-b): in the explanation of His statement, the Exalted: lā maqāma lakum (there is no place for you): with fatḥa on the first letter. And its meaning: there is for you no place to stand in. And of this is his statement: "Fa-innī mā waʾyaka kāna sharran ..." the verse.
(15) The two verses are of the shortened type of rajaz. I have not found their poet. The evidentiary point in them lies in his statement: "qutrak" with ḍamma followed by sukūn, in the meaning of al-quṭr, and that is the side and the region. Abū ʿUbayda said: "min aqṭārihā" that is to say: from its flanks and its regions. Its singular is quṭr. And in al-Lisān (entry: qutr): al-qutr with ḍamma followed by sukūn, and al-futr with two ḍammas: the region and the side, a linguistic form for al-quṭr, and that is: al-aqtār. End of quotation. And in al-Lisān (entry: qaṭr), and in the Noble Revelation: min aqṭāri al-samāwāti wa-l-arḍ (from the regions of the heavens and the earth): aqṭāruhā: its regions, its singular is quṭr, and likewise aqtāruhā, its singular is qutr. End of quotation.
