Tafseer of The Victory · Al-Fath · 48:16
Say to those who remained behind of the bedouins, "You will be called to [face] a people of great military might; you may fight them, or they will submit. So if you obey, Allah will give you a good reward; but if you turn away as you turned away before, He will punish you with a painful punishment."
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 His word, the Exalted: قُلْ لِلْمُخَلَّفِينَ مِنَ الأَعْرَابِ سَتُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى قَوْمٍ أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ تُقَاتِلُونَهُمْ أَوْ يُسْلِمُونَ فَإِنْ تُطِيعُوا يُؤْتِكُمُ اللَّهُ أَجْرًا حَسَنًا وَإِنْ تَتَوَلَّوْا كَمَا تَوَلَّيْتُمْ مِنْ قَبْلُ يُعَذِّبْكُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا (16)
(Say to the bedouins who stayed behind: you will be summoned against a people of mighty strength; you will fight them, or they submit. If you then obey, Allah will give you a good reward; and if you turn away as you turned away before, He will punish you with a painful punishment. (16))
He, exalted is His mention, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: ( قُلْ ) Say O Muḥammad ( لِلْمُخَلَّفِينَ مِنَ الأعْرَابِ ) to the bedouins who stayed behind from the expedition with you: ( سَتُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى ) you will be summoned to the fight against ( قَوْمٍ أُولِي بَأْسٍ ) a people of strength in fighting, ( شَدِيدٍ ) mighty.
The exegetes differed concerning who these people are about whom Allah, mighty and exalted, has reported that these bedouins who stayed behind would be summoned to fight them. Some of them said: they are the people of Persia (Fāris).
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās ( أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ ) of mighty strength: the people of Persia.
Ismāʿīl ibn Mūsā al-Fazārī related to us, saying: Dāwūd ibn al-Zibriqān informed us, on the authority of Thābit al-Bunānī, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, concerning His word ( سَتُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى قَوْمٍ أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ ) you will be summoned against a people of mighty strength, he said: Persia and the Romans (Rūm).
He said: Dāwūd informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, the same.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: al-Ḥasan said, concerning His word ( سَتُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى قَوْمٍ أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ ): he said: they are Persia and the Romans.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, 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, concerning His word ( أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ ): he said: they are the Persians.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( سَتُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى قَوْمٍ أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ ): he said: al-Ḥasan said: they were summoned against Persia and the Romans.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word ( سَتُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى قَوْمٍ أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ ): he said: Persia and the Romans.
And others said: they are the Hawāzin at Ḥunayn.
* Mention of who said that:
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Abū Bishr informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and ʿIkrima, concerning His word ( سَتُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى قَوْمٍ أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ ): he said: the Hawāzin.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and ʿIkrima, concerning this ayah ( سَتُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى قَوْمٍ أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ ): he said: the Hawāzin and Thaqīf.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda ( أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ تُقَاتِلُونَهُمْ أَوْ يُسْلِمُونَ ) of mighty strength; you will fight them, or they submit: he said: they are the Hawāzin and Ghaṭafān on the day of Ḥunayn.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( قُلْ لِلْمُخَلَّفِينَ مِنَ الأعْرَابِ سَتُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى قَوْمٍ أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ ): on the day of Ḥunayn they were summoned against the Hawāzin and Thaqīf, and among them were those who responded well and longed for the jihād.
And others said: no, they are the Banū Ḥanīfa.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Zuhrī ( أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ ): he said: the Banū Ḥanīfa with Musaylima the Liar.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Hushaym, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and ʿIkrima, that the two of them added thereto the Hawāzin and the Banū Ḥanīfa.
And others said: this ayah has not yet come to pass.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Abū Hurayra ( سَتُدْعَوْنَ إِلَى قَوْمٍ أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ ): this ayah has not yet come to pass.
And others said: they are the Romans.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAwf related to me, saying: Abū al-Mughīra related to us, saying: Ṣafwān ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: al-Faraj ibn Muḥammad al-Kalāʿī related to us, on the authority of Kaʿb, who said ( أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ ): he said: the Romans.
And the most correct of the statements concerning this is that one says: Allah, exalted is His mention, has reported concerning these bedouins who stayed behind that they would be summoned to fight a people of strength in fighting and bravery in wars, but no proof has been given to us, neither from transmitted report nor from reason, that thereby the Hawāzin are meant, nor the Banū Ḥanīfa, nor Persia, nor the Romans, nor particular, specifically named persons. It is possible that thereby a portion of these peoples is meant, and it is possible that thereby others are meant. And there is no statement concerning this more correct than that one says as Allah, exalted is His praise, has said: that they will be summoned against a people of mighty strength.
And His word ( تُقَاتِلُونَهُمْ أَوْ يُسْلِمُونَ ) you will fight them, or they submit — He, exalted is His mention, says to the bedouins who stayed behind: you will fight these whom you are summoned to fight, or they submit (yuslimūn) without war and without fighting.
And it has been mentioned that in some readings it is ( تُقَاتِلُونَهُمْ أوْ يَسْلِمُوا ). And according to this reading — even though it contradicts the muṣḥafs of the people of the regions and contradicts that upon which the authority of the reciters rests, and it is in my view not permissible to recite with it — its interpretation is: you will keep fighting them, unless they submit, or until they submit.
And His word ( فَإِنْ تُطِيعُوا يُؤْتِكُمُ اللَّهُ أَجْرًا حَسَنًا ) If you then obey, Allah will give you a good reward — He, exalted is His mention, says: if you obey Allah by responding to Him when He summons you to the fight against these people of mighty strength, and you answer the fight against them and the jihād together with the believers, ( يُؤْتِكُمُ اللَّهُ أَجْرًا حَسَنًا ) Allah will give you a good reward — He says: Allah will, for your answering His call to the war against them, give you Paradise (janna), and that is the good reward. ( وَإِنْ تَتَوَلَّوْا كَمَا تَوَلَّيْتُمْ مِنْ قَبْلُ ) And if you turn away as you turned away before — He says: and if you disobey your Lord and turn your backs upon obedience to Him and contradict His command, and you abandon the fight against the people of mighty strength when you are summoned to fight them, ( كَمَا تَوَلَّيْتُمْ مِنْ قَبْلُ ) as you turned away before — He says: as you disobeyed Him in His command to you to march with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to Mecca, before you were summoned to the fight against the people of mighty strength, ( يُعَذِّبْكُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا ) He will punish you with a painful punishment — that is to say: an agonizing one, and that is the punishment of the Fire (al-nār) on account of your disobedience to Him and your abandonment of the jihād against them and the fight against them together with the believers.
