Tafseer of The Spoils of War · Al-Anfaal · 8:17
And you did not kill them, but it was Allah who killed them. And you threw not, [O Muhammad], when you threw, but it was Allah who threw that He might test the believers with a good test. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing.
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: فَلَمْ تَقْتُلُوهُمْ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ قَتَلَهُمْ وَمَا رَمَيْتَ إِذْ رَمَيْتَ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ رَمَى وَلِيُبْلِيَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنْهُ بَلاءً حَسَنًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ (17) ("You did not slay them, but Allah slew them; and you did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw — so that He might let the believers experience thereby a good trial. Truly, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing." (17))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says to those who believe in Him and in His Messenger, namely those who were present at Badr with the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, and who fought alongside him against the enemies of his religion, that is, the unbelievers of the Quraysh: you did not slay the polytheists (mushrikīn), O believers, but Allah slew them.
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He, exalted is His praise, ascribed their slaying to Himself and denied that it proceeded from the believers in Him who fought the polytheists, because He, exalted is His praise, was the One who brought about their slaying, and it was by His command that the believers fought them. Therein lies the clearest proof of the falsity of the statement of those who deny that Allah has any effect in the deeds of His creatures by which they attain those deeds.
And likewise His word to His Prophet, peace be upon him: (and you did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw). He ascribed the throwing to the Prophet of Allah, then denied it of him, and informed about Himself that He was the thrower, because He, exalted is His praise, was the One who made the thrown thing reach those upon whom it was thrown, the polytheists, and who brought about the throwing for His Messenger.
To those who deny what we have mentioned, it is then said: you know that Allah ascribed the throwing of His Prophet, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, toward the polytheists to Himself, after He had described His Prophet with it and ascribed it to him — and that is one and the same deed: from Allah proceeded the bringing-about and the directing, and from the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, the hurling and the releasing. What then prevents you from acknowledging that all the other acquired deeds of the creatures are likewise: from Allah the production and the accomplishment by bringing-about, and from the creature the acquisition by the faculties? They cannot say something about the one without being obliged to assert the same in the other.
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And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
15817 - Mohammed ibn ʿAmr related to us, 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 (You did not slay them): to the companions of Mohammed, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, when this one said: "I have slain," and that one said: "I have slain." (and you did not throw when you threw): said to Mohammed, when he pelted the unbelievers with pebbles.
15818 - 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, with something similar.
15819 - Mohammed ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Mohammed ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: (and you did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw), he said: the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, threw the pebbles at them on the day of Badr.
15820 - Mohammed ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Mohammed ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of ʿIkrima, he said: nothing of it fell down but it landed in the eye of a man.
15821 - ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith related to us, saying: my father related to us, saying: Abān al-ʿAṭṭār related to us, saying: Hishām ibn ʿUrwa related to us, saying: When the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, arrived at Badr, he said: These are their battle-grounds! And the polytheists found the Prophet, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, to have preceded them to it and to have taken up his quarters there. When they advanced upon him, the Prophet, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, said, as is claimed: "This is the Quraysh, come with her clamor and her pride, to challenge You and to belie Your Messenger. O Allah, I ask You for what You have promised me!" When they drew near, he went out to meet them and threw dust in their faces, and Allah, mighty and exalted is He, put them to flight.
15822 - Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb ibn Mohammed related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿImrān related to us, saying: Mūsā ibn Yaʿqūb ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zamʿa related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of Abū Bakr ibn Sulaymān ibn Abī Ḥathma, on the authority of Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām, he said: When it was the day of Badr, we heard a sound that fell down from heaven, like the sound of a pebble falling into a basin, and the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, performed that throwing, and we were defeated.
15823 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Abū Maʿshar related to us, on the authority of Mohammed ibn Qays and Mohammed ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, both of them said: When the two army-groups drew near to each other, the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, took a handful of dust and threw it into the faces of the people, and said: "May the faces be disfigured!" And it entered into all their eyes, and the companions of the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, began to slay them and to take them captive. Their defeat came through the throwing of the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, and Allah revealed: (and you did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw), the āyah, up to: (Truly, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing).
15824 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word (and you did not throw when you threw), the āyah: it has been related to us that the Prophet of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, on the day of Badr took three stones and threw them at the faces of the unbelievers, and they were defeated at the third stone.
15825 - Mohammed ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, he said: The Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, said, when the two hosts met on the day of Badr, to ʿAlī: "Hand me pebbles from the ground." Then he handed him pebbles upon which there was dust, and he threw them at the faces of the people, and there remained no polytheist but that something of that dust entered his eyes. Then the believers pursued them, slaying them and taking them captive. And he mentioned the throwing of the Prophet, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, and said: (You did not slay them, but Allah slew them; and you did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw).
15826 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word (and you did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw), he said: This was on the day of Badr; the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, took three pebbles, and threw one pebble at the right wing of the people, one pebble at the left wing of the people, and one pebble into their midst, and said: "May the faces be disfigured!" And they were defeated. That is the word of Allah, mighty and exalted is He: (and you did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw).
15827 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: The Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, raised his hand on the day of Badr and said: O Lord, if You let this host perish, You will nevermore be worshipped on earth! Then Jibrīl said to him: Take a handful of dust! And he took a handful of dust and threw it into their faces, and there was none of the polytheists but that dust from that handful struck his eyes, nostrils, and mouth, and they turned away in flight.
15728 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, he said: Allah, mighty and exalted is He, said concerning the throwing of the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, at the polytheists with the pebbles from his hand when he threw at them: (and you did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw), that is to say: that did not occur through your throwing, were it not for that which Allah had placed therein of support for you, and what He thereby threw into the hearts of your enemy when Allah defeated them.
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And from al-Zuhrī a statement concerning this has been transmitted that differs from these statements, and that is what:
15829 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī: (and you did not throw when you threw), he said: Ubayy ibn Khalaf al-Jumaḥī came to the Prophet, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, with a decayed bone, and said: "Will Allah bring this back to life, O Mohammed, when it has rotted away?" — while he crumbled the bone. Thereupon the Prophet, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, said: Allah will bring it back to life, then He will cause you to die, then He will make you enter the Fire! He said: And when it was the day of Uḥud, he said: By Allah, I shall surely slay Mohammed if I see him! That reached the Prophet, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, and he said: No, I shall slay him, if Allah wills.
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And as for His word (so that He might let the believers experience thereby a good trial), the meaning thereof is: and so that He might favor the believers in Allah and His Messenger with the victory over their enemies, and grant them what these had with them as booty, and inscribe for them the rewards of their deeds and their jihād with the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him.
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And that "good trial" (al-balāʾ al-ḥasan) was the throwing of Allah at these polytheists. And by "the good trial" He means the good, fair favor, and that is what I have described and what lies in the same meaning.
15830 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said concerning His word (so that He might let the believers experience thereby a good trial): that is to say: so that He might let the believers know something of His favors toward them, in making them prevail over their enemy despite the great numbers of that enemy and their own small number, so that thereby they might know His right and thereby give thanks for His favor.
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And His word (Truly, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing) means: truly, Allah is Hearing, O believers, of the invocation of the Prophet, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, and his supplication to his Lord and his request to Him for the destruction of his enemy and your enemy. It was said to him: it is only a donkey's foal! He said: Did he not say: I shall slay you? By Allah, if he were to say it to the entire creation, they would die!
And of your speech and the speech of His entire creation — "Knowing," of all that, and of what concerns your welfare and the welfare of His servants and other matters, encompassing all of that. So fear Him, and obey His command and the command of His Messenger.