Tafseer of The Spoils of War · Al-Anfaal · 8:18
That [is so], and [also] that Allah will weaken the plot of the disbelievers.
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement: ذَلِكُمْ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ مُوهِنُ كَيْدِ الْكَافِرِينَ (18) (That, and know that Allah weakens the plotting of the disbelievers) (18).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted is His praise — means by His statement that: this deed of killing the polytheists (mushrikīn) and shooting them until they were defeated, and testing the believers with a good trial through the victory over them, and enabling them to kill and capture them = We carried out what We carried out = and know that Allah weakens the plotting of the disbelievers, He says: and know that Allah is, on top of that, the One who weakens (14) = "the plotting of the disbelievers," that is: their cunning scheme (15), until they are humiliated and submit to the truth, or are destroyed (16).
* * *
And in the reading of "anna" with fatḥa, the same possibilities apply as in His statement: ذَلِكُمْ فَذُوقُوهُ وَأَنَّ لِلْكَافِرِينَ (That, so taste it, and that for the disbelievers [is the punishment of the Fire]), [Surah Al-Anfāl: 14], and I have already expounded that there (17).
* * *
The reciters differed in the reading of His statement: mūhin.
Most of the reciters of the people of Medina, and a portion of the Meccans and the Basrans, read it: "muwahhin" with doubling (tashdīd), derived from: "wahhantu al-shayʾ," I weakened the matter.
* * *
Most of the reciters of the Kufans read it: mūhin, derived from "awhantuhu fa-anā mūhinuhu," in the meaning of: I weakened it.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the doubling (tashdīd) therein is more preferable to me, because Allah — exalted is He — kept undoing that which the polytheists (mushrikīn) plotted against the Messenger of Allah, Allah's blessing and peace be upon him, and his companions, one bond after another, and one matter after another; even though the other reading is a correct form.
--------------------
Footnotes:
(14) See the explanation of "al-wahn" in what has already preceded, 7: 234, 269; 9: 170.
(15) See the explanation of "al-kayd" in what has already preceded, p. 322, note 2, and the references therein.
(16) In the manuscript it reads: "wa-yuhlakū" (and they are destroyed), and what is correct according to the context is what has been established.
(17) See what has already preceded, p. 434.
