Tafseer of The Victory · Al-Fath · 48:12
But you thought that the Messenger and the believers would never return to their families, ever, and that was made pleasing in your hearts. And you assumed an assumption of evil and became a people ruined."
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 statement concerning the explanation of the words of the Exalted: بَلْ ظَنَنْتُمْ أَنْ لَنْ يَنْقَلِبَ الرَّسُولُ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِلَى أَهْلِيهِمْ أَبَدًا وَزُيِّنَ ذَلِكَ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ وَظَنَنْتُمْ ظَنَّ السَّوْءِ وَكُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا بُورًا (12) — "Nay, you thought that the Messenger and the believers would never return to their families, and that was made to seem fair in your hearts, and you harbored evil thoughts, and you were a doomed people." (12)
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says to these bedouins (al-aʿrāb) who excused themselves before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ upon his return from his journey to them, with their words "Our possessions and our families kept us occupied": you did not stay behind in the sense that you opposed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when he set out from among you and you kept away from his company because of your preoccupation with your possessions and your families; nay, you stayed behind after him in your dwellings, out of a supposition on your part that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the companions who were with him would perish and never return to you, the enemy having annihilated them to the last man. And that was made to seem fair in your hearts, and Satan adorned that in your hearts and made it appear correct to you, until staying behind from him seemed good to you and you kept away from his company. ( وَظَنَنْتُمْ ظَنَّ السَّوْءِ ) — He says: and you thought that Allah would never aid Muḥammad ﷺ and his believing companions against their enemies, and that the enemy would overpower and conquer them and kill them.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement "The bedouins who stayed behind will say to you ..." up to His words ( وَكُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا بُورًا ): he said: they thought concerning the Prophet of Allah ﷺ and his companions that they would not return from that expedition of theirs and that they would perish, and that is what made them stay behind from the Prophet of Allah ﷺ.
And His statement ( وَكُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا بُورًا ) — He says: and you were a destroyed people, fit for nothing good. And it has been said: al-būr in the language of Adhriʿāt means: the corrupt; but among the Arabs it means: nothing. To this belongs the statement of Abū al-Dardāʾ: "and thus what they gathered became būr," that is: gone, it had become void, nothing of it remained. To this also belongs the statement of Ḥassān ibn Thābit:
"Tallness avails nothing against the folly of hearts, and yet the Godhead sometimes guides the throng of the doomed (al-būr) onto the right path."
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement ( وَكُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا بُورًا ): he said: corrupt ones. And Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement ( وَكُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا بُورًا ): he said: al-būr is the one in whom there is no good whatsoever.
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 — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement ( وَكُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا بُورًا ): he said: destroyed ones.
