Tafseer of Muhammad · Muhammad · 47:21
Obedience and good words. And when the matter [of fighting] was determined, if they had been true to Allah, it would have been better for them.
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 ( طَاعَةٌ وَقَوْلٌ مَعْرُوفٌ — "Obedience and a kind word"). This is a report from Allah, exalted is His mention, concerning what these hypocrites used to say before an unambiguous sūra mentioning fighting (qitāl) was sent down, namely: that when it was said to them that Allah was imposing jihād upon them as an obligation, they said, "Hearing and obeying." Then Allah, the Almighty and Exalted, said to them ( فَإِذَا أُنـزلَتْ سُورَةٌ — "But when a sūra is sent down") in which fighting is imposed upon them, then it weighs heavily upon them and they detest it. ( طَاعَةٌ وَقَوْلٌ مَعْرُوفٌ — "Obedience and a kind word") [you said] before the obligation was imposed upon you; but when the matter is [once] firmly resolved, you detest it and it weighs heavily upon you.
And His statement ( طَاعَةٌ وَقَوْلٌ مَعْرُوفٌ ) stands in the nominative on account of an implied [predicate], namely: your saying before the sending down of the obligation to fight was ( طَاعَةٌ وَقَوْلٌ مَعْرُوفٌ — "obedience and a kind word").
It has been related from Ibn ʿAbbās, by way of an isnād that is not accepted as reliable, that he said: Allah, the Exalted, said ( فَأَوْلَى لَهُمْ — "so woe to them"), and thereafter He said to those among them who believed ( طَاعَةٌ وَقَوْلٌ مَعْرُوفٌ — "obedience and a kind word"). According to this view, the threat is completed at "fa-awlā," and then one begins anew, so that it is said to them ( طَاعَةٌ وَقَوْلٌ مَعْرُوفٌ ), with "the obedience" standing in the nominative by reason of His statement ( لهم — "to them").
And Mujāhid used to say [something] about this, as Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid ( طَاعَةٌ وَقَوْلٌ مَعْرُوفٌ ), he said: Allah commanded the hypocrites to that.
And His statement ( فَإِذَا عَزَمَ الأمْرُ — "But when the matter is firmly resolved"). He says: when fighting becomes obligatory and the command of Allah comes with the obligation thereof, you detest it.
And in agreement with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation said.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid ( فَإِذَا عَزَمَ الأمْرُ ), he said: when the matter becomes earnest. Thus did Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr say it in his narration, on the authority of Abū ʿĀṣim, and al-Ḥārith said in his narration, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he says: the matter became earnest.
And His statement ( فَلَوْ صَدَقُوا اللَّهَ لَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَهُمْ — "Had they been true to Allah, it would have been better for them"): He, exalted is His mention, says: had they been true to Allah in what they promised Him before the sending down of the sūra concerning fighting, by their statement — when it was said to them that Allah would command them to fight — "obedience," and had they fulfilled that toward Him, then it would have been better for them in their near worldly life and in their future abode of the Hereafter.
As Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( فَإِذَا عَزَمَ الأمْرُ ), he says: obedience to Allah and His Messenger and a kind word at the time of the reality of matters is better for them.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, he says: obedience to Allah and a word in kindness at the time of the reality of matters is better for them.
