Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:11
O you who have believed, remember the favor of Allah upon you when a people determined to extend their hands [in aggression] against you, but He withheld their hands from you; and fear Allah. And upon Allah let the believers rely.
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 word, mighty is His mention: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ هَمَّ قَوْمٌ أَنْ يَبْسُطُوا إِلَيْكُمْ أَيْدِيَهُمْ فَكَفَّ أَيْدِيَهُمْ عَنْكُمْ ("O you who believe, remember the favor of Allah upon you, when a people resolved to stretch out their hands against you, but He withheld their hands from you.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His word, exalted is His praise, "O you who believe," He means: O you who have professed the acknowledgment of the oneness of Allah (tawḥīd) and the message of His Messenger ﷺ and that which he brought to them from their Lord. "Remember the favor of Allah upon you," remember the favor with which Allah has graced you, and be grateful to Him for it by fulfilling for Him what you have pledged to Him in covenant, and the treaties that you have concluded with your Prophet ﷺ concerning it. Then He described His favor, for which He — exalted is His praise — commanded their gratitude, alongside His other favors, and said: it is His withholding from you the hands of the people who resolved to overpower you, so that He turned them away from you and placed Himself between them and that which they intended against you.
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Then the exegetes differed concerning the nature of this favor of which Allah, exalted is His praise, reminded the companions of His Prophet ﷺ and for which He commanded their gratitude toward Him.
Some of them said: It is Allah's rescue of His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ and his companions from that which the Jews of the Banū l-Naḍīr had intended against him on the day they came to them to request that they bear the blood money (diya) for the two men of the ʿĀmiriyyīn whom ʿAmr ibn Umayya al-Ḍamrī had killed.
Mention of who said that:
11557 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatāda and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr, who both said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out to the Banū l-Naḍīr to seek their help with the blood money of the two ʿĀmiriyyīn whom ʿAmr ibn Umayya al-Ḍamrī had killed. When he came to them, some of them withdrew with one another and said: "You will never find Muḥammad closer than now. Who is the man who will climb to the top of this house and throw a boulder upon him and thus rid us of him?" Then ʿAmr ibn Jaḥḥāsh ibn Kaʿb said: "I." The report reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he turned away from them, whereupon Allah, mighty is His mention, sent down concerning them and concerning that which he and his people had intended: "O you who believe, remember the favor of Allah upon you, when a people resolved to stretch out their hands against you..." — the entire āyah.
11558 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: "when a people resolved to stretch out their hands against you," he said: They were the Jews. The Prophet ﷺ entered a garden wall of theirs, while his companions were behind their wall, and he sought their help with a burden of blood money that he owed. Then he rose from among them, and they took counsel among themselves about killing him. So he went out walking backward, looking at them, and then he called his companions one by one until he had gathered them fully around himself.
11559 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "remember the favor of Allah upon you, when a people resolved to stretch out their hands against you, but He withheld their hands from you" — they were the Jews, when the Prophet ﷺ entered a garden wall of theirs, while his companions were behind a wall of theirs, and he sought their help with a burden, namely the blood money that he owed. Then he rose from among them, and they took counsel among themselves about killing him. So he went out walking sideways, looking at them out of fear of them, and then he called his companions one by one until he had gathered them fully around himself. Allah, mighty and exalted, said: "but He withheld their hands from you, and fear Allah, and upon Allah let the believers rely."
11560 — Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, saying: Abū Maʿshar related to me, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Abī Ziyād, saying: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to the Banū l-Naḍīr to seek their help with a blood money (ʿaql) that had been imposed upon him, and with him were Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿAlī. He said: "Help me with a blood money that has been imposed upon me." They said: "Yes, O Abū l-Qāsim, the time has come that you come to us and ask us for a favor! Sit, so that we may feed you and give you what you ask of us!" So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sat down, and his companions waited for him. And Ḥuyayy ibn Akhṭab came — he was the chief of the people, and it was he who had said to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ what he had said. Ḥuyayy said to his companions: "You will never see him closer than now. Throw stones upon him and kill him, then you will never see any harm again!" So they came to a great millstone of theirs to cast it upon him, but Allah withheld their hands from it, until Jibrīl ﷺ came to him and made him rise from there. Then Allah, mighty and exalted, sent down: "O you who believe, remember the favor of Allah upon you, when a people resolved to stretch out their hands against you, but He withheld their hands from you, and fear Allah, and upon Allah let the believers rely." Thus Allah, mighty is His mention, informed His Prophet ﷺ of what they had intended against him.
11561 — Al-Qāsim related to me, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr: "O you who believe, remember the favor of Allah upon you, when a people resolved to stretch out their hands against you" — the āyah —, he said: They were the Jews. The Prophet ﷺ entered a garden wall of theirs and sought their help with a burden that he owed, and they took counsel among themselves about killing him. Then he rose from among them and went out walking sideways, looking at them out of fear of them, and then he called his companions one by one until he had gathered them fully around himself.
11562 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿIkrima, saying: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent out al-Mundhir ibn ʿAmr al-Anṣārī — one of the Banū l-Najjār, and he was one of the chieftains (nuqabāʾ) on the night of al-ʿAqaba. He sent him out with thirty horsemen of the muhājirūn and the anṣār. They set out and encountered ʿĀmir ibn al-Ṭufayl ibn Mālik ibn Jaʿfar at the well of Maʿūna, which is among the watering places of the Banū ʿĀmir. They fought one another, and al-Mundhir and his companions were killed, except for three men who were searching for a stray mount of theirs. Nothing alarmed them except that the birds circled in the air, from between whose beaks clots of blood fell down. Then one of the three men said: "Our companions have been killed, by the Most Merciful!" Then he turned and ran fiercely until he encountered a man; they exchanged two blows, and when the blow struck him, he raised his head to the heaven, opened his eyes, and said: "Allah is the Greatest, the Garden, by the Lord of the worlds!" He was called "aʿnaqa li-yamūt" (he hastened forth to die). His two companions returned and encountered two men of the Banū Sulaym, and between the Prophet ﷺ and their people there was a truce. But the two presented themselves to them as belonging to the Banū ʿĀmir, and so they killed them both. Their people then came to the Prophet ﷺ to demand the blood money, whereupon he went out, and with him were Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Ṭalḥa, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, until they entered upon Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf and the Jews of the Banū l-Naḍīr, and he sought their help with the blood money of the two of them. He said: Then the Jews gathered to kill the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companions, and they made a pretense of preparing a meal. Then Jibrīl ﷺ came to him with that which the Jews had decided upon of treachery. He went out and then called ʿAlī and said: "Do not move from your place; whoever of my companions comes out to you and asks you about me, say to him: 'He has departed for Medina, so catch up with him.'" He said: So they began to pass by ʿAlī, and he commanded them what he had commanded him, until the last of them came to him, and then he followed them. That is His word: وَلا تَزَالُ تَطَّلِعُ عَلَى خَائِنَةٍ مِنْهُمْ ("and you will not cease to discover treachery from them") (Sūrat al-Māʾida: 13).
11563 — Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik, concerning his word: "O you who believe, remember the favor of Allah upon you, when a people resolved to stretch out their hands against you, but He withheld their hands from you," he said: It was sent down concerning Kaʿb ibn al-Ashraf and his companions, when they wished to commit treachery against the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
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Others said: Rather, the favor that Allah mentioned in this āyah, and for which He commanded the believers among the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to be grateful to Him, is this: that the Jews had intended to kill the Prophet ﷺ at a meal to which they had invited him, whereupon Allah, mighty and exalted, made known to His Prophet ﷺ that which they intended, so that he and his companions refrained from accepting their invitation.
Mention of who said that:
11564 — 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, his word: "O you who believe, remember the favor of Allah upon you" up to his word "but He withheld their hands from you" — that was because a people of the Jews prepared a meal for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companions in order to kill him when he would come to the meal. Then Allah revealed to him their affair, so that he did not come to the meal, and he commanded his companions, so that they too did not go to it.
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Others said: Allah, exalted is His praise, intended thereby the favor with which He graced the believers by informing His Prophet ﷺ of that which his enemy and theirs among the polytheists (mushrikīn) had intended on the day of Baṭn Nakhl — namely that they would fall upon them by surprise and strike them when they were occupied by their prayer (ṣalāh) and lying in prostration therein — and by instructing His Prophet ﷺ in vigilance toward his enemy during his prayer, by teaching him the prayer of fear (ṣalāt al-khawf).
Mention of who said that:
11565 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his word: "O you who believe, remember the favor of Allah upon you, when a people resolved to stretch out their hands against you..." — the āyah —, it has been related to us that it was sent down upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while he was at Baṭn Nakhl during the seventh expedition (ghazwa). The Banū Thaʿlaba and the Banū Muḥārib wished to fall upon him treacherously, but Allah informed him of it. It has been related to us that a man resolved to kill him and came to the Prophet of Allah ﷺ while his sword was lying aside, and said: "May I take it, O Prophet of Allah?" He said: "Take it!" He said: "May I draw it?" He said: "Yes!" Then he drew it and said: "Who will protect you against me?" He said: "Allah will protect me against you!" Then the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ threatened him and spoke harshly to him, whereupon he returned the sword to its sheath. And the Prophet of Allah ﷺ commanded his companions to set out, and during that the prayer of fear was sent down upon him.
11566 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, who related it from Abū Salama, on the authority of Jābir: that the Prophet ﷺ halted at a halting place and the people scattered among the thorn trees (ʿiḍāh) to take shade beneath them. The Prophet ﷺ hung his weapon on a tree, and then a bedouin came to the sword of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, took it and drew it, and then turned to the Prophet ﷺ and said: "Who will protect you against me?" And the Prophet ﷺ said: "Allah." Then the bedouin returned the sword to its sheath. Thereupon the Prophet ﷺ called his companions and informed them of the report concerning the bedouin, while the latter sat beside him and he did not punish him. Maʿmar said: And Qatāda used to mention something similar, and he mentioned that a people of the Arabs wished to fall upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ treacherously and sent out this bedouin for that purpose. And he gave as explanation: "remember the favor of Allah upon you, when a people resolved to stretch out their hands against you" — the āyah.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct view among these opinions concerning the explanation of this is the opinion of him who said: Allah intended by the favor that He mentioned in this āyah His favor toward the believers in Him and in His Messenger, with which He graced them in His rescue of their Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ from that which the Jews of the Banū l-Naḍīr had intended of killing him and killing those who were with him, on the day that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ went to them concerning the blood money that he had taken upon himself for the two slain by ʿAmr ibn Umayya.
We say that this is the most correct in the explanation of this, because Allah, exalted is His praise, followed the mention of it by accusing the Jews on account of their practices, their ugly deeds, and their treachery against their Lord and their prophets. Then He commanded His Prophet ﷺ to pardon them and overlook their great ignorance. From that it is known that he ﷺ was not commanded to pardon them and overlook immediately after His word "when a people resolved to stretch out their hands against you" while it was others than they who stretched out their hands against them. For if those who had intended to stretch out their hands had been others, then it would have been more fitting that the command to pardon and overlook had concerned them, and not those of whom no mention had been made in this regard. And then the description with treachery would have been directed at them, here in this place, and not at the description of those of whose treachery no mention had been made. In that lies that which indicates the correctness of the explanation to which we have assigned correctness, and not that which contradicts it.
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The explanation of His word, mighty is His mention: وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ (11) ("and fear Allah, and upon Allah let the believers rely." (5:11))
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means: and be vigilant, O believers, that you do not disobey Him in that which He has commanded you and forbidden you, and that you do not break the covenant that He has concluded with you, lest you deserve from Him the punishment that you would not be able to bear. "And upon Allah let the believers rely," that is to say: and to Allah let them entrust the reins of their affairs, and surrender to His decree, and rely upon His help and His support — those who have professed the oneness of Allah and the message of His Messenger and act according to His command and His prohibition, for that belongs to the perfection of their religion and the completeness of their faith. And when they do that, He shelters them, safeguards them, and preserves them against whoever intends evil toward them, just as He has preserved you and warded off from you, O believers, the Jews who had intended what they intended of stretching out their hands against you — as a shelter from Him for you, because you belonged to the believers in Him and in His Messenger, and not to others. For one other than He can neither ward off a harm that your Lord has decreed for you, nor bring to you a benefit that He has not decreed for you.