Tafseer of The Exile · Al-Hashr · 59:3
And if not that Allah had decreed for them evacuation, He would have punished them in [this] world, and for them in the Hereafter is the punishment of the Fire.
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: وَلَوْلا أَنْ كَتَبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْجَلاءَ لَعَذَّبَهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَلَهُمْ فِي الآخِرَةِ عَذَابُ النَّارِ (3) ("And had Allah not decreed expulsion for them, He would surely have punished them in this world, and in the Hereafter the punishment of the Fire awaits them") (59:3).
The Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, says: and had Allah not decreed and prescribed expulsion for these Jews of Banū al-Naḍīr in the Mother of the Book (umm al-kitāb) — and that is the removal from one place to another, and from one region to another.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* 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: وَلَوْلا أَنْ كَتَبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْجَلاءَ ("And had Allah not decreed expulsion for them"): the departure of the people from one city to another city.
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: وَلَوْلا أَنْ كَتَبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْجَلاءَ ("And had Allah not decreed expulsion for them"), and the expulsion (al-jalāʾ) is: their driving out from their land to another land. He said: and it is said: al-jalāʾ is flight; one says of it: the people fled (jalā) away from their dwellings, and I drove them out (ajlaytuhum).
And His saying: لَعَذَّبَهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا ("He would surely have punished them in this world"). The Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, says: وَلَوْلا أَنْ كَتَبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْجَلاءَ ("And had Allah not decreed expulsion for them") from their land and their dwellings, He would surely have punished them in this world with death (qatl) and captivity (sabī); but He lifted the punishment of death in this world from them, and fixed their punishment in this world as expulsion. وَلَهُمْ فِي الآخِرَةِ عَذَابُ النَّارِ ("And in the Hereafter the punishment of the Fire awaits them") alongside the disgrace of this world that befell them through the expulsion from their land and their dwellings.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* 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, who said: the Banū al-Naḍīr belonged to a tribe (sibṭ) which in the past had not been afflicted by expulsion, and Allah had prescribed expulsion for them; and had that not been so, He would surely have punished them in this world with death and captivity.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Rūmān: وَلَوْلا أَنْ كَتَبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْجَلاءَ ("And had Allah not decreed expulsion for them"), and there was upon them a punishment from Allah, لَعَذَّبَهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا ("He would surely have punished them in this world"): namely with the sword; وَلَهُمْ فِي الآخِرَةِ عَذَابُ النَّارِ ("and in the Hereafter the punishment of the Fire awaits them"), on top of 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, concerning his saying: وَلَوْلا أَنْ كَتَبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْجَلاءَ لَعَذَّبَهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَلَهُمْ فِي الآخِرَةِ عَذَابُ النَّارِ ("And had Allah not decreed expulsion for them, He would surely have punished them in this world, and in the Hereafter the punishment of the Fire awaits them"). He said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had besieged them until he had brought them to the utmost extremity, and they gave him what he demanded of them, and he made peace with them on the condition that their blood would be spared, and that he would make them depart from their land and their dwellings, and would let them go to Adhriʿāt in Syria; and he provided for every three of them a camel and a waterskin.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His saying: وَلَوْلا أَنْ كَتَبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْجَلاءَ ("And had Allah not decreed expulsion for them"): the people of al-Naḍīr; the Prophet of Allah ﷺ besieged them until he had brought them to the utmost extremity, and they gave the Prophet of Allah ﷺ what he demanded. Then he mentioned something similar and added to it: this is the expulsion (al-jalāʾ).
