Tafseer of The Victory · Al-Fath · 48:25
They are the ones who disbelieved and obstructed you from al-Masjid al-Haram while the offering was prevented from reaching its place of sacrifice. And if not for believing men and believing women whom you did not know - that you might trample them and there would befall you because of them dishonor without [your] knowledge - [you would have been permitted to enter Makkah]. [This was so] that Allah might admit to His mercy whom He willed. If they had been apart [from them], We would have punished those who disbelieved among them with 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 explanation of the saying of the Exalted: They are the ones who disbelieved and barred you from the Sacred Mosque, and prevented the sacrificial animal (hady), detained, so that it could not reach its place of sacrifice. And had it not been for believing men and believing women whom you did not know — whom you might have trampled, so that guilt would have been laid upon you because of them without your knowledge — [matters would have gone otherwise]; that Allah might admit into His mercy whom He wills. Had they been clearly separated from one another, We would have punished those of them who disbelieved with a painful punishment (48:25).
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: these polytheists of Quraysh are the ones who denied the oneness of Allah (tawḥīd) and barred you, O believers in Allah, from entering the Sacred Mosque (al-masjid al-ḥarām), and prevented the sacrificial animal (hady), detained — He says: hindered from reaching its place of sacrifice. The position of the word "an" (that) is in the accusative, either by connection — if you so wish — with "maʿkūf" (detained), or with "ṣaddū" (they barred). And one of the grammarians of Basra used to say concerning this: and they prevented the sacrificial animal, detained, out of aversion that it should reach its place of sacrifice.
And by His saying, the Exalted, whose praise is exalted: so that it could reach its place of sacrifice He meant that it should reach the place of its slaughter, and that is the entering of the Sacred Precinct (al-ḥaram) and the place where, once it has arrived there, it is permitted to slaughter it. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had brought with him on that journey to Mecca seventy sacrificial camels (budn).
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Muslim al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr, on the authority of al-Miswar ibn Makhrama and Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam, that they both related to him, saying: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out in the year of al-Ḥudaybiya, intending to visit the House, not intending to fight. He brought the sacrificial animal with him, seventy sacrificial camels, and the people numbered seven hundred men, so that each sacrificial camel stood for ten [men].
And in agreement with what we have said concerning the meaning of His saying They are the ones who disbelieved and barred you from the Sacred Mosque, and prevented the sacrificial animal, detained, so that it could not reach its place of sacrifice, spoke the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl).
* 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 saying They are the ones who disbelieved and barred you from the Sacred Mosque, and prevented the sacrificial animal, detained: that is, hindered so that it could not reach its place of sacrifice. The Prophet of Allah ﷺ and his companions came to perform the ʿumra in [the month of] Dhū al-Qaʿda, and with them was the sacrificial animal, until, when they were at al-Ḥudaybiya, they were barred by the polytheists. Then the Prophet of Allah ﷺ made peace with them on the condition that he would return that year, then return the following year and stay three nights in Mecca, and that he would not enter it except with the weapon of the rider, and that he would not take with him anyone of its inhabitants. Then they slaughtered the sacrificial animal, shaved their heads, and cut their hair. Until, when the following year came, the Prophet of Allah ﷺ and his companions arrived and entered Mecca as pilgrims for the ʿumra in Dhū al-Qaʿda, and he stayed there three nights. The polytheists had wronged him when they had sent him back, and Allah caused him to take retaliation (qiṣāṣ) against them and admitted him into Mecca in that very month in which they had [previously] sent him back. Then Allah revealed The sacred month for the sacred month, and for the sacred things there is retaliation (qiṣāṣ) (2:194).
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra al-Asadī and Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr al-Rumādī related to me — and the wording is that of Ibn ʿUmāra — saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Mūsā ibn ʿUbayda informed us, on the authority of Iyās, on the authority of Salama ibn al-Akwaʿ, on the authority of his father, who said: Quraysh sent Suhayl ibn ʿAmr, Ḥuwayṭib ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā, and Ḥafṣ ibn so-and-so to the Prophet ﷺ to make peace with him. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saw them, with Suhayl ibn ʿAmr among them, he said: Allah has made your affair easy for you (sahhala). The people have come to you because of their kinship with you, and they ask you for peace. So send forth the sacrificial animal and let the talbiya ring out loudly; perhaps that will soften their hearts. Then they raised the talbiya from the far reaches of the army, until their voices resounded with the talbiya. Then they came and asked him for peace. He said: While the people had concluded a truce, there were among the Muslims some people of the polytheists. He said: It is said that Abū Sufyān was among them. He said: And behold, the valley flowed [full] with men. He said: Iyās said: Salama said: Then I came with six of the polytheists, armed, whom I drove before me, who could bring about for themselves neither benefit nor harm. I brought them to the Prophet ﷺ, and he took nothing from them and did not kill them, but granted [them] pardon. He said: Then we fell harshly upon those of us who were in the hands of the polytheists, and we did not leave a man of ours in their hands without freeing him. He said: And we retained the upper hand over those of them who were in our hands. Then Quraysh sent Suhayl ibn ʿAmr and Ḥuwayṭib, and they took charge of their peacemaking, and the Prophet ﷺ appointed ʿAlī over his peacemaking. ʿAlī wrote between them: In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Most Merciful (bismillāhi al-raḥmāni al-raḥīm). This is what Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, agreed upon with Quraysh: he made peace with them on the condition that there should be no [proclamation of iḥrām by] the talbiya and no [concealing of enmity], and on the condition that whoever of the companions of Muḥammad ﷺ comes to Mecca as a pilgrim (ḥājj) or for the ʿumra or seeking the bounty of Allah is safe in his blood and his property; and whoever of Quraysh comes to Medina passing through to Egypt or to Syria, seeking the bounty of Allah, is safe in his blood and his property; and on the condition that whoever of Quraysh comes to Muḥammad ﷺ is to be returned to them, and whoever of the companions of Muḥammad comes to them is for them. That weighed heavily on the Muslims, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Whoever of us goes to them, may Allah remove him; and whoever of them comes to us and we return him to them — if Allah knows of that person Islam, He will provide for him a way out. Then they made peace on the condition that he would perform the ʿumra the following year in this month, and that he would not enter upon us with cavalry nor with weapons, except what the traveler carries in his scabbard, that he would stay with us three nights, and on the condition that the place of sacrifice of this sacrificial animal would be where we would prevent it, and that he would not bring it forth before us. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to them: We bring it forth, and you turn it back. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out with the sacrificial animal, and the people set out.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Mūsā informed us, saying: Abū Murra, the freedman of Umm Hāniʾ, informed me, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, who said: The sacrificial animal was below the mountains that overlook the valley of the mountain pass; the polytheists came to meet it and turned it back. He said: Then the Prophet ﷺ slaughtered the sacrificial animal when they prevented it — and that is al-Ḥudaybiya — and shaved [his head]. Some people followed his example when they saw him shaving, while others waited and said: Perhaps we shall [yet] perform the circumambulation of the House. Then the Messenger of Allah said: May Allah have mercy on those who shave. It was said: And on those who cut their hair? He said: May Allah have mercy on those who shave. It was said: And on those who cut their hair? He said: And on those who cut their hair.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Bashīr related to us, saying: ʿUmar ibn Dharr al-Hamdānī related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid: that the Prophet ﷺ performed the ʿumra three times, all of them in Dhū al-Qaʿda, and each time returned to Medina; among them the ʿumra in which the sacrificial animal was prevented, and he slaughtered it in its place, by the tree. They stipulated to him that he should come the following year as a pilgrim for the ʿumra, and enter Mecca and perform the circumambulation of the House for three days, then depart, and that they would not keep from him anyone who had come with him, and that he would not take out of Mecca anyone of the Muslims who had been in Mecca before his arrival. When the following year came, he entered Mecca and stayed there three [days], performing the circumambulation of the House. When it was the third day, near midday, they sent to him: Your stay has troubled your people. Then it was proclaimed among the people: The sun must not set while there remains any of the Muslims who has come with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
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 ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr, on the authority of al-Miswar ibn Makhrama, who said: The Prophet ﷺ set out at the time of al-Ḥudaybiya with somewhat more than a thousand of his companions, until, when they were at Dhū al-Ḥulayfa, he marked the sacrificial animal with garlands and made the incision [as a mark] on it, and entered the state of iḥrām for the ʿumra. He sent ahead of himself a scout of [the tribe of] Khuzāʿa to inform him about Quraysh. The Prophet ﷺ proceeded until, when he was at Ghadīr al-Ashṭāṭ near Quʿayqiʿān, his scout of Khuzāʿa came to him and said: I have left Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy and ʿĀmir ibn Luʾayy; they have gathered against you the Aḥābīsh and assembled multitudes against you, and they intend to fight you and to bar you from the House. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Give me your counsel. Do you see that we should fall upon the descendants of those who have aided them and strike them — for if they then sit back, they sit back robbed and grieved, and if they stubbornly persist, then it will be a neck that Allah has severed — or do you see that we should make the House our aim, and whoever bars us from it we fight? Then Abū Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, stood up and said: O Messenger of Allah, we have not come to fight anyone, but whoever comes to stand between us and the House, him we fight. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: Proceed then. And Abū Hurayra used to say: I have never seen anyone who consulted his companions more than the Prophet ﷺ. Then they proceeded until, when they were somewhere along the way, the Prophet ﷺ said: Khālid ibn al-Walīd is at al-Ghamīm with cavalry of Quraysh as a vanguard; so take the road to the right. And by Allah, Khālid did not notice them, until suddenly he saw the dust of the army, and he hurried away, rushing to warn Quraysh. The Prophet ﷺ proceeded until, when he was at the mountain pass by which one descends to them, his riding-camel knelt down with him. The people said: Onward, onward (ḥal ḥal)! He said: What is "ḥal"? They said: al-Qaṣwāʾ has become stubborn. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: She has not become stubborn, and that is not in her nature, but He who held back the elephant has held her back. Then he said: By Him in whose hand is my soul, they will not ask me for any proposal by which they honor the sacred things of Allah, but I will grant it to them. Then she was driven on and sprang up, and he turned away from them until he descended at the farthest edge of al-Ḥudaybiya at a well with little water, which the people drew up only little by little [with difficulty]. It was not long before the people had drained it, and to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ complaint was made of the thirst. Then he drew an arrow from his quiver and ordered them to place it in it. And by Allah, the [water] kept welling up for them to satisfaction, until they departed from it. While they were in that state, Budayl ibn Warqāʾ al-Khuzāʿī came with a group of Khuzāʿa — and they were the trusted advisors of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from the people of Tihāma. He said: I have left Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy and ʿĀmir ibn Luʾayy; they have pitched their camp at the abundant waters of al-Ḥudaybiya, with them the suckling she-camels with their young, and they intend to fight you and to bar you from the House. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: We have not come to fight anyone, but we have come as pilgrims for the ʿumra. Indeed, war has exhausted Quraysh and harmed them. If they wish, we will conclude a truce with them for a fixed term and they leave me and the [other] people alone; and if I then gain the upper hand and they wish to enter into that which the [other] people have entered into, they may do so, and if not, then they have at least rested. And if they refuse, then by Him in whose hand is my soul, I will fight them over this affair of mine until my head is severed from my body, or else Allah will surely carry out His decree. Then Budayl said: We will convey to them what you say. He departed until he reached Quraysh and said: We have come to you on account of this man, and we have heard him say something; if you wish that we lay it before you, we will do so. Their fools said: We have no need that you tell us anything about him. But the level-headed among them said: Bring forward what you have heard. He said: I heard him say such and such, and he told them what the Prophet ﷺ had said. Then ʿUrwa ibn Masʿūd al-Thaqafī stood up and said: O people, am I not like a son to you? They said: Yes indeed. He said: And am I not like a father [to you]? They said: Yes indeed. He said: Do you suspect me of anything? They said: No. He said: Do you not know that I called upon the people of ʿUkāẓ, and when they failed me, I came to you with my family, my children, and whoever obeyed me? They said: Yes indeed. He said: Well then, this man has made you a sensible proposal; accept it and let me go to him. They said: Go to him. Then he went to him and began to speak with the Prophet ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ spoke roughly as he had spoken to Budayl. Thereupon ʿUrwa said: O Muḥammad, what do you think: if you exterminate your people, have you ever heard of one of the Arabs before you who exterminated his own root? And if it is the other [outcome], then I see, by Allah, faces and all sorts of rabble inclined to flee and to abandon you. Then Abū Bakr said: Suck the clitoris of al-Lāt! — and al-Lāt was the idol of Thaqīf which they worshipped — would we flee and abandon him? He said: Who is this? They said: Abū Bakr. He said: Well then, by Him in whose hand is my soul, were it not for a favor you once did me which I have not yet repaid you, I would have answered you. And he began to speak with the Prophet ﷺ, and every time he spoke with him, he would take hold of his beard. Al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba was standing at the head of the Prophet with the sword, and on him was the helmet. Every time ʿUrwa stretched out his hand toward the beard of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he struck his hand with the flat of the sword and said: Keep your hand away from his beard. Then he raised his head and said: Who is this? They said: al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba. He said: O treacherous one, am I not still striving to [set right] your treachery? — For al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba had, in the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya), accompanied some people, killed them, and taken their possessions, and had then come and become a Muslim. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: As for Islam, that we accept; but as for the property, that is treacherously acquired property for which we have no need. And ʿUrwa began to take in the companions of the Prophet ﷺ with his eye, and by Allah, every time the Prophet ﷺ spat, it fell into the palm of one of them, and he rubbed his face and his skin with it; and when he gave them a command, they hastened to carry out his command; and when he performed the ablution (wuḍūʾ), they almost fought one another over his ablution-water; and when he spoke, they lowered their voices in his presence, and they did not fix their gaze upon him, out of reverence for him. Then ʿUrwa returned to his companions and said: O people, by Allah, I have been an envoy to kings, I have been an envoy to Caesar, Khosrau, and the Negus, and by Allah, I have never seen a king whose companions honor him as the companions of Muḥammad honor Muḥammad. By Allah, every time he spat, it fell into the palm of one of them, and he rubbed his face and his skin with it; and when he gave them a command, they hastened to carry out his command; and when he performed the ablution, they almost fought one another over his ablution-water; and when they spoke in his presence, they lowered their voices; and they did not fix their gaze upon him, out of reverence for him. And indeed, he has made you a sensible proposal; so accept it.
Then a man of [the tribe of] Kināna said: Let me go to him. They said: Go to him. When he drew near to the Prophet ﷺ and his companions, the Prophet ﷺ said: This is so-and-so, and he is from a people who honor the sacrificial camels (budn); so send them to meet him. Then they were sent to meet him, and a people received him pronouncing the talbiya. When he saw that, he said: Subḥāna Allāh, it is not fitting that these be barred from the House. Then a man of them stood up, named Mikraz ibn Ḥafṣ, and said: Let me go to him. They said: Go to him. When he drew near to the Prophet ﷺ and his companions, the Prophet ﷺ said: This is Mikraz ibn Ḥafṣ, and he is a depraved man (fājir). Then he came and began to speak with the Prophet ﷺ. While he was speaking with him, Suhayl ibn ʿAmr came. Ayyūb said: ʿIkrima said: When Suhayl came, the Prophet ﷺ said: Allah has made your affair easy for you (sahhala). Al-Zuhrī said: Then Suhayl ibn ʿAmr came and said: Come, let us write between us and you a document. Then [the Prophet] called for the scribe and said: Write: In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Most Merciful (bismillāhi al-raḥmāni al-raḥīm). [Suhayl] said: What is "al-Raḥmān"? By Allah, I do not know what that is; rather write: In Your name, O Allah (bismika allāhumma), as you were accustomed to write. Then the Muslims said: By Allah, we will write it only as "In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Most Merciful." Then the Prophet ﷺ said: Write: In Your name, O Allah. Then he said: Write: This is that concerning which Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah, has decided. Then Suhayl said: By Allah, if we knew that you were the Messenger of Allah, then we would not have barred you from the House and would not have fought you; but write: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: By Allah, I am truly the Messenger of Allah, even though you deny me; but write: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh. Al-Zuhrī said: And that was on account of his saying: By Allah, they will not ask me for any proposal by which they honor the sacred things of Allah, but I will grant it to them. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: On the condition that you leave us and the House alone, so that we may perform the circumambulation around it. Suhayl said: By Allah, the Arabs must not say that we conceded [anything] under compulsion; but you shall have it [only] the following year. So it was written down. Then Suhayl said: And on the condition that no man of ours comes to you, even if he is of your religion, without your returning him to us. Then the Muslims said: Subḥāna Allāh, how can anyone be returned to the polytheists when he has come as a Muslim? While they were in that state, Abū Jandal ibn Suhayl ibn ʿAmr came, hobbling in his fetters; he had escaped from the lower part of Mecca until he threw himself into the midst of the Muslims. Then Suhayl said: O Muḥammad, this is the first one concerning whom I make an agreement with you that you return him to us. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: Grant him to me as an [exception]. He said: I do not grant him to you. He said: Yes, do it. He said: I will not do it. Mikraz, his companion, and Suhayl beside him said: [Well then,] we grant him to you. Then Abū Jandal said: O company of Muslims, am I to be returned to the polytheists when I have come as a Muslim? Do you not see what I have endured? — for he had been severely tortured for the sake of Allah.
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said: By Allah, I never doubted since I became a Muslim, except on that day. I went to the Prophet ﷺ and said: Are we not in the right and is our enemy not in the wrong? He said: Yes indeed. I said: Then why do we surrender ourselves to humiliation in our religion? He said: I am the Messenger of Allah, I am not disobedient to Him, and He is my helper. I said: Did you not tell us that we would come to the House and perform the circumambulation around it? He said: Yes indeed; but did I tell you that you would come to it this year? I said: No. He said: Indeed, you will come to it and perform the circumambulation around it. He said: Then I went to Abū Bakr and said: Is this not truly the Prophet of Allah? He said: Yes indeed. I said: Are we not in the right and is our enemy not in the wrong? He said: Yes indeed. I said: Then why do we surrender ourselves to humiliation in our religion? He said: O man, he is the Messenger of Allah, he is not disobedient to his Lord, so hold fast to his stirrup until you die; for by Allah, he is in the right. I said: Did he not tell us that we would come to the House and perform the circumambulation around it? He said: Yes indeed; but did he tell you that you would come to it this year? He said: No. He said: Indeed, you will come to it and perform the circumambulation around it. Al-Zuhrī said: ʿUmar said: For that I [later] performed righteous deeds [as expiation]. When [the Prophet] had finished his affair, he said to his companions: Arise, slaughter [the sacrificial animals], and then shave [your heads]. He said: By Allah, not a man of us arose, until he had said it three times. When none of them arose, he arose and went in to Umm Salama and told her what he had encountered from the people. Then Umm Salama said: O Messenger of Allah, do you want that? Go out and then do not speak a word to any of them, until you slaughter your sacrificial camel and call your barber so that he shaves you. Then he arose and went out and did not speak a word to any of them, until he slaughtered his sacrificial camel and called his barber, who shaved him. When they saw that, they arose and slaughtered, and some began to shave others, until they almost killed one another out of grief. Then believing women came to him, and Allah, mighty and exalted, revealed to him O you who believe, when believing women come to you as emigrants (muhājirāt) up to by the marriage bonds of the disbelieving women (60:10). He said: Then ʿUmar on that day divorced two women whom he had married in the [time of] polytheism. He said: He forbade returning them [the believing women], and then commanded them [the men] to return the bridal gift (ṣadāq). A man said to al-Zuhrī: Was that on account of the marriage bonds? He said: Yes. Then Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān married one of them and Ṣafwān ibn Umayya the other. Then the Prophet ﷺ returned to Medina. Then Abū Baṣīr came to him, a man of Quraysh, and he was a Muslim. [Quraysh] sent two men in search of him, and they said: The covenant which you gave us! Then he handed him over to the two men, and they departed with him until they reached Dhū al-Ḥulayfa and dismounted to eat from some dates they had with them. Then Abū Baṣīr said to one of the two men: By Allah, I see that this sword of yours, O so-and-so, is excellent. Then the other drew it and said: By Allah, it is excellent; I have tested it again and again. Then Abū Baṣīr said: Let me look at it. He let him [hold] it, and [Abū Baṣīr] struck him with it until he fell down dead, and the other fled until he reached Medina. He ran into the mosque, and the Prophet ﷺ said: This one has seen something terrifying. He said: By Allah, my companion has been killed, and I, by Allah, was [nearly] killed myself. Then Abū Baṣīr came and said: By Allah, Allah has fulfilled your covenant; you had returned me to them, then Allah delivered me from them. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: Woe to his mother, an instigator of war, if only there were someone with him! When [Abū Baṣīr] heard that, he understood that [the Prophet] would return him to them [again]. He departed until he came to the shore of the sea. And Abū Jandal ibn Suhayl ibn ʿAmr escaped and joined Abū Baṣīr. No man of Quraysh who had become a Muslim went out without joining Abū Baṣīr, until a group of them had gathered. And by Allah, they did not hear of a caravan of Quraysh setting out for Syria without intercepting them, killing them, and taking their possessions. Then Quraysh sent to the Prophet ﷺ, adjuring him by Allah and by kinship, to send to them [that group with the message]: whoever now comes to him is safe. Then Allah revealed And He it is who restrained their hands from you and your hands from them up to the fanatical pride of ignorance (ḥamiyyat al-jāhiliyya) (48:26). And their fanatical pride was that they did not acknowledge that he was a prophet, and did not acknowledge "In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Most Merciful," and set up a barrier between themselves and the House.
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak related to us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of al-Miswar ibn Makhrama and Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam, they said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out at the time of al-Ḥudaybiya with somewhat more than a thousand [men]. Then he mentioned something similar, except that in his narration he said: al-Zuhrī said: al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad related to me that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Then I went to the Prophet ﷺ and said: Are you not the Messenger of Allah ﷺ? He said: Yes indeed. He also said: And Abū Baṣīr and those who had become Muslims from among those whom the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had returned set out until they reached the coast on the route of the caravan of Quraysh. They killed the disbelievers who were in it and took it as spoils. When the disbelievers of Quraysh saw that, a number of them rode to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said to him: Your [treaty] term avails us nothing; we are being killed and our possessions are being plundered. We ask you to bring this [group] in among those of us who have become Muslims in your peace treaty, to protect them, and to prevent their warfare against us. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did that, and Allah revealed: And He it is who restrained their hands from you and your hands from them. Then he carried the narration to the end, in the manner of the narration of Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr, on the authority of al-Miswar ibn Makhrama and Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam, that they both related to him, saying: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ set out in the year of al-Ḥudaybiya, intending to visit the House, not intending to fight. He brought his sacrificial animal with him, seventy sacrificial camels, until, when he was at ʿUsfān, he met Bishr ibn Sufyān al-Kaʿbī, who said to him: O Messenger of Allah, this is Quraysh; they have heard of your journey, and have set out, with them the suckling she-camels with their young. They have put on leopard skins and have encamped at Dhū Ṭuwā, where they call Allah to witness that you shall never enter it. And this is Khālid ibn al-Walīd with their cavalry, whom they have sent ahead as far as Kurāʿ al-Ghamīm. He said: Then [the Prophet] ﷺ said: Woe to Quraysh, indeed war has destroyed them. What would it harm them if they left me and the rest of the Arabs alone? If they then struck me down, that was what they wanted; and if Allah gave me the upper hand over them, then they would enter into Islam in humility. Then he mentioned something similar to the narration of Maʿmar, with many additions to it beyond the narration of Maʿmar, the mention of which I have omitted.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying and prevented the sacrificial animal, detained, so that it could not reach its place of sacrifice: the sacrificial animal was at Dhū Ṭuwā, and al-Ḥudaybiya lies outside the Sacred Precinct (al-ḥaram); the Messenger of Allah ﷺ descended there when Quraysh cut off the water from him.
And His saying And had it not been for believing men and believing women whom you did not know — whom you might have trampled, so that guilt would have been laid upon you because of them without your knowledge. The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: and were it not for men of the people of faith and women of them, O believers in Allah, whom you would trample with your cavalry and your foot-soldiers — while you did not know them in Mecca, and the polytheists kept them there away from you, so that for that reason they could not come out to you and you [would therefore] kill them.
As Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying And had it not been for believing men and believing women... up to without your knowledge: this was when Muḥammad and his companions were sent back so that they did not enter Mecca. There were there believing men and believing women, and Allah detested that they should be harmed or trampled without [anyone] knowing, so that guilt would be laid upon you because of them without your knowledge.
And the people of interpretation differed concerning the "maʿarra" (guilt/disgrace) that Allah meant in this place. Some of them said: by it was meant sin (ithm).
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying And had it not been for believing men and believing women whom you did not know — whom you might have trampled, so that guilt would have been laid upon you because of them without your knowledge: he said: sin without [anyone] knowing it.
And others said: by it was meant the obligation of the blood-money (diya).
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq so that guilt would have been laid upon you because of them without your knowledge: so that you would have to pay out their blood-money; but as for the sin, that He did not reckon against them. And "maʿarra" is the mafʿala-pattern of "al-ʿarr," and that is the scab. The meaning is simply: so that from their side a "maʿarra" would befall you by which you would be afflicted (taʿurrūna), on the basis of which the expiation (kaffāra) for accidental homicide would burden you, and that is the freeing of a believing slave (raqaba muʾmina) for whoever is able to do so, and whoever is not able to do so: the fasting of two months.
And I have preferred this view over the view that Ibn Isḥāq gave, because Allah imposed upon the killer of a believer in the territory of war (dār al-ḥarb), when the latter had not emigrated from there and the killer did not know his faith, only the expiation (kaffāra), not the blood-money; for He said And if he belongs to a people hostile to you, while he is a believer, then [there is] the freeing of a believing slave (4:92), and He did not impose upon the one who kills by mistake his blood-money. Therefore we said: by the "maʿarra" in this place the expiation is meant. And the word "an" in His saying that you would trample them is in the nominative, referring back to "the men," for the meaning of the saying is: and were it not that you would trample believing men and believing women whom you did not know, so that guilt would be laid upon you because of them without your knowledge, then Allah would have permitted you, O believers, to enter Mecca; but He placed Himself between you and that that Allah might admit into His mercy whom He wills. He says: that Allah might admit into Islam from the people of Mecca whom He wills, before you enter it. And the answer to "lawlā" (and were it not) is omitted, because the indication of the [remaining] words suffices.
And His saying had they been clearly separated from one another. He says: if those who were among the polytheists of Mecca — the believing men and the believing women whom you did not know — had been distinguished [from them], had set themselves apart from them, and had departed from their midst, We would have punished those of them who disbelieved with a painful punishment. He says: then We would have killed those who remained there with the sword, or We would have destroyed them by one of Our immediate punishments that inflicts pain upon them.
And in agreement with what we have said concerning this, spoke the people of interpretation.
* 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 saying had they been clearly separated from one another... the verse: indeed, Allah wards off through the believers [the evil] of the disbelievers.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: he heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His saying had they been clearly separated from one another, We would have punished those of them who disbelieved: that is, the people of Mecca; among them were oppressed believers. Allah says: were it not for those oppressed ones — had they been separated [from the others] — We would have punished those of them who disbelieved with a painful punishment.
Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying had they been clearly separated from one another: if they had been separated from one another, so that the believer had been separated from the disbeliever, We would have punished those of them who disbelieved with a painful punishment.
