Tafseer of The Victory · Al-Fath · 48:21
And [He promises] other [victories] that you were [so far] unable to [realize] which Allah has already encompassed. And ever is Allah, over all things, competent.
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 ( وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا قَدْ أَحَاطَ اللَّهُ بِهَا ) — "and another which you have not been able to take; Allah has already encompassed it" —. The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: and your Lord has promised you, O people, the conquest of another region which you have not been able to conquer; Allah has encompassed it for you, until He shall conquer it for you.
The people of exegesis differed concerning this other region, and the other city whose conquest He promised them and of which He informed them that He encompasses it. Some of them said: it is the land of Persia and Byzantium (al-Rūm) and all the lands that the Muslims will conquer until the coming of the Hour.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Simāk al-Ḥanafī, saying: I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say concerning ( وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا ): Persia and Byzantium.
He said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Ibn Abī Laylā, that he said concerning this verse ( وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا ): Persia and Byzantium.
Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Masrūqī related to me, saying: Zayd ibn Ḥubāb related to us, saying: Shuʿba ibn al-Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, the same.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement ( وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا قَدْ أَحَاطَ اللَّهُ بِهَا ): he said: it was related on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: it is Persia and Byzantium.
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, concerning His statement ( وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا ): that which they have not yet conquered to this day.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, concerning His statement ( وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا ): he said: Persia and Byzantium.
And others said: no, it is Khaybar.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās ( وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا )... the verse, he said: it is Khaybar.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement ( وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا قَدْ أَحَاطَ اللَّهُ بِهَا ): he means Khaybar; the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent them out on that day and said: "Do not mutilate, do not pilfer from the spoils, and do not kill a child."
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement ( وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا قَدْ أَحَاطَ اللَّهُ بِهَا ): he said: Khaybar; he said: they did not mention it and did not hope for it, until Allah informed them of it.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq ( وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا ): he means the people of Khaybar. And others said: no, it is Mecca.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا قَدْ أَحَاطَ اللَّهُ بِهَا ): we were told that it is Mecca.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda ( وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا ): he said: it has reached us that it is Mecca.
And this statement which Qatāda made most resembles what the outward meaning of the revelation indicates, and that is for the following reason: that Allah informed these who pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ beneath the tree that He encompasses a city which they had not been able to take, and it is understood that of a people who have not been able to take this city, that is not said unless they had striven for it and it proved inaccessible to them; but when they have not striven for it such that it proved inaccessible to them, one does not say: they were not able to take it.
If that is so, and it is known that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, before the sending down of this verse upon him, had not intended Khaybar for war, nor had he set out toward it to fight its inhabitants, neither with an army nor with a reconnaissance party, then one knows that by His statement ( وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا ) something other than that is meant, and that it is the one which he had indeed engaged and striven for such that it proved inaccessible to him; and that was Mecca and its inhabitants, and so it was. And Allah, the Exalted whose mention is exalted, informed His prophet ﷺ and the believers that He encompasses it and its inhabitants, and that He will conquer it for them; and Allah is, over all that He wills of things, possessor of power, nothing that He wills remains inaccessible to Him.
