Tafseer of The Victory · Al-Fath · 48:6
And [that] He may punish the hypocrite men and hypocrite women, and the polytheist men and polytheist women - those who assume about Allah an assumption of evil nature. Upon them is a misfortune of evil nature; and Allah has become angry with them and has cursed them and prepared for them Hell, and evil it is as a destination.
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 His statement, the Exalted: وَيُعَذِّبَ الْمُنَافِقِينَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ وَالْمُشْرِكَاتِ الظَّانِّينَ بِاللَّهِ ظَنَّ السَّوْءِ عَلَيْهِمْ دَائِرَةُ السَّوْءِ وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَعَنَهُمْ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ جَهَنَّمَ وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا (6) ("And that He may punish the hypocrite men and the hypocrite women, and the polytheist men and the polytheist women, those who harbor evil assumptions about Allah. Upon them be the evil turn. And Allah is angry with them, and He has cursed them, and He has prepared for them Hell (jahannam), and what an evil destination that is.")
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: Indeed, We have granted you a clear victory, that Allah may forgive you, and that He may admit the believing men and the believing women into gardens beneath which the rivers flow, and that He may punish the hypocrite men and the hypocrite women through Allah's victory for you, O Muḥammad — that victory which He has granted you, your triumph over the polytheists of Quraysh — so that they thereby become downcast and grieved, and their hope is disappointed, that hope which they harbored that they would see in the people of faith in you weakness, feebleness, and turning away from you in this transient worldly life, and the burning in the Fire (al-nār) and abiding eternally therein in the deferred Hereafter. وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ وَالْمُشْرِكَاتِ ("and the polytheist men and the polytheist women"). He says: and that He may likewise punish the polytheist men and the polytheist women, الظَّانِّينَ بِاللَّهِ ("those who assume about Allah") that He will never help you and the people of faith in you against your enemies, and that He will never make His word triumph by exalting it above the word of those who do not believe in Him. And that was the evil of their assumptions which Allah has mentioned in this place. The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: Upon the hypocrite men and the hypocrite women, and the polytheist men and the polytheist women, who harbored this assumption, may come دَائِرَةُ السَّوْءِ ("the evil turn"), that is to say: the turn of punishment that revolves upon them thereby.
The reciters differed concerning its reading. Most of the reciters of Kūfa read it دَائِرَةُ السَّوْءِ with fatḥa on the sīn (al-sawʾ). And some of the reciters of Baṣra read it دَائِرَةُ السُّوءِ with ḍamma on the sīn (al-sūʾ). And al-Farrāʾ used to say: The fatḥa is more widely current in the sīn. He said: and the Arabs rarely say dāʾirat al-sūʾ with ḍamma on the sīn, and the fatḥa in the sīn is more pleasing to me than the ḍamma, because the Arabs say: huwa rajulu sawʾ ("he is a man of evil") with fatḥa on the sīn, and they do not say: huwa rajulu sūʾ.
And His statement وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ ("And Allah is angry with them"). He says: and Allah has afflicted them with an anger from Him, وَلَعَنَهُمْ ("and He has cursed them"). He says: and He has removed them and kept them far from His mercy. وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ جَهَنَّمَ ("and He has prepared for them Hell"). He says: and He has prepared for them Hell (jahannam) in which they will burn on the Day of Resurrection. وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا ("and what an evil destination that is"). He says: and Hell (jahannam) is an evil abode to which these hypocrite men and hypocrite women, and polytheist men and polytheist women return.
