Tafseer of The Spoils of War · Al-Anfaal · 8:19
If you [disbelievers] seek the victory - the defeat has come to you. And if you desist [from hostilities], it is best for you; but if you return [to war], We will return, and never will you be availed by your [large] company at all, even if it should increase; and [that is] because Allah is with the believers.
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: إِنْ تَسْتَفْتِحُوا فَقَدْ جَاءَكُمُ الْفَتْحُ وَإِنْ تَنْتَهُوا فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ وَإِنْ تَعُودُوا نَعُدْ وَلَنْ تُغْنِيَ عَنْكُمْ فِئَتُكُمْ شَيْئًا وَلَوْ كَثُرَتْ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (19) (If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you; and if you desist, then that is better for you; and if you return, We shall return; and your host shall avail you nothing, however numerous it may be, and know that Allah is with the believers.) (8:19)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, says to the polytheists (mushrikīn) who had fought the Messenger of Allah ﷺ at Badr: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," that is to say: if you call upon Allah to render a verdict in favor of whichever of the two parties most severs the ties of kinship and is the more unjust of the two groups, and if you ask Him for aid against him, then the judgment of Allah has already come to you, and His help for the wronged against the wrongdoer, and for the one who adheres to the truth against the one who adheres to falsehood.
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And in the spirit of what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
15831- Ibn Wakīʿ related to me, saying: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," he said: if you ask for a verdict, then the verdict has already come to you.
15832- ... he said: Suwayd ibn ʿAmr al-Kalbī related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Zayd, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of ʿIkrima: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," he said: if you ask for a verdict, then the verdict has already come to you.
15833- Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His word: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," by which the polytheists are meant: if you ask for aid, then the reinforcement has already come to you.
15834- Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr informed me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His word: "If you ask for a judgment," he said: if you ask for the verdict. And he used to say: "and if you desist, then that is better for you; and if you return, We shall return; and your host shall avail you nothing." I said: for the polytheists? He said: we know it only to be thus.
15835- 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 His word: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," he said: it is the unbelievers (kuffār) of Quraysh in their saying: "Our Lord, render a verdict between us and Muḥammad and his companions!" Then a verdict was rendered between them on the day of Badr.
15836- 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, something similar.
15837- Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," he said: Abū Jahl asked for a judgment and said: "O Allah" – meaning thereby Muḥammad and himself – "whichever of us two is the gravest sinner against You and the one who most severs the ties of kinship, destroy him this day!" Allah said: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you."
15838- Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī concerning His word: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," he said: Abū Jahl ibn Hishām asked for a judgment and said: "O Allah, whichever of us two is the gravest sinner against You and the one who most severs the ties of kinship, destroy him this day!" – meaning thereby Muḥammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and himself. Allah, Mighty and Exalted, said: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you." Then the two sons of ʿAfrāʾ struck him down: ʿAwf and Muʿawwidh, and Ibn Masʿūd finished him off.
15839- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: al-Layth related to me, saying: ʿUqayl related to me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Thaʿlaba ibn Ṣuʿayr al-ʿAdawī, ally of the Banū Zuhra, informed me that the one who asked for a judgment on that day was Abū Jahl, and that when the two parties met, he said: "Whichever of us most severs the ties of kinship, and has brought us what is unknown, destroy him this morning!" And that was his asking for a judgment. Then Allah revealed concerning that: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," the āyah.
15840- Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His word: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," the āyah, he says: Badr was truly a verdict and a lesson for whoever takes a lesson from it.
15841- Muḥammad 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: when the polytheists set out from Mecca against the Prophet ﷺ, they took hold of the coverings of the Kaʿba and asked Allah for aid and said: "O Allah, help the mightier of the two armies, the nobler of the two groups, and the better of the two tribes!" Then Allah said: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," He says: I have given help to what you said, and that is Muḥammad ﷺ.
15842- It was related to us on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," up to His word: "and know that Allah is with the believers," and that was when the polytheists set out to look after their caravan; and the people of the caravan, Abū Sufyān and his companions, had sent to the polytheists in Mecca asking them for aid. Then Abū Jahl said: "Whichever of us two is the better in Your sight, help him!" And that is His word: "If you ask for a judgment," He says: if you ask for aid.
15843- Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," he said: if you ask for the punishment (ʿadhāb), then they were punished on the day of Badr. He said: and their asking for a judgment was in Mecca, they said: اللَّهُمَّ إِنْ كَانَ هَذَا هُوَ الْحَقَّ مِنْ عِنْدِكَ فَأَمْطِرْ عَلَيْنَا حِجَارَةً مِنَ السَّمَاءِ أَوِ ائْتِنَا بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ [Surah Al-Anfāl: 32] (O Allah, if this is indeed the truth from You, then rain down upon us stones from the sky or bring us a painful punishment). He said: then the punishment came to them on the day of Badr. And He gave tidings about the day of Uḥud: "and if you return, We shall return; and your host shall avail you nothing, however numerous it may be, and know that Allah is with the believers."
15844- Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Muṭarrif, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya, he said: Abū Jahl said on the day of Badr: "O Allah, help the better guided of the two groups, and the best and most excellent of the two groups!" Then there was revealed: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you."
15845- ... he said: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī: that Abū Jahl was the one who asked for a judgment on the day of Badr and said: "O Allah, whichever of us two is the gravest sinner and the one who most severs the ties of kinship, destroy him this day!" Then Allah revealed: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you."
15846- ... he said: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Thaʿlaba ibn Ṣuʿayr: that Abū Jahl said on the day of Badr: "O Allah, he who most severs the ties of kinship and has brought us what we do not know, destroy him this morning!" And that was from him an asking for a judgment. Then there was revealed: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," the āyah.
15847- ... he said: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Saʿd, on the authority of Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Thaʿlaba ibn Ṣuʿayr, he said: the one who asked for a judgment on the day of Badr was Abū Jahl, he said: "O Allah, he who among us most severs the ties of kinship and has brought us what we do not know, destroy him this morning!" Then Allah revealed: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you."
15848- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, he said: Muḥammad ibn Muslim al-Zuhrī related to me, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Thaʿlaba ibn Ṣuʿayr, ally of the Banū Zuhra, he said: when the people met one another and the one drew near the other, Abū Jahl said: "O Allah, he who among us most severs the ties of kinship and has brought us what we do not know, destroy him this morning!" And thus he was the one who asked for a judgment against himself. Ibn Isḥāq said: then Allah said: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," because of the saying of Abū Jahl: "O Allah, he who among us most severs the ties of kinship and has brought us what we do not know, destroy him this morning!" He said: "the asking for a judgment" (al-istiftāḥ) is the equitable plea in supplication.
15849- Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Abū Maʿshar related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Rūmān and others: Abū Jahl said on the day of Badr: "O Allah, help the religion that is most beloved to You: our old religion, or their new religion!" Then Allah revealed: "If you ask for a judgment, then the judgment has already come to you," up to His word: "and know that Allah is with the believers."
* * *
As for His word: "and if you desist, then that is better for you," thereby He says: "and if you desist," O assembly of Quraysh and the entirety of the unbelievers, from disbelief in Allah and His Messenger, and from the war against His Prophet ﷺ and those who believe in him, "then that is better for you," in your worldly life and your Hereafter. "And if you return, We shall return," He says: and if you return to the war against him and the fighting against him and against his believing followers, "We shall return," that is to say: with the like of the blow that struck you on the day of Badr.
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And His word: "and your host shall avail you nothing, however numerous it may be," He says: and if you return, We shall return to your destruction by the hands of My protégés and your defeat, and your host shall avail you nothing when I return to slay you by their hands, to take you captive, and to vanquish you, "however numerous it may be," by which is meant: their army and their assembly of the polytheists, just as it availed them nothing on the day of Badr despite their great number and the small number of the believers. "And know that Allah is with the believers," the Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, says: and know that Allah is with those of His servants who believe in Him, against those among them who do not believe in Him; He helps them against them, or grants them victory just as He granted them victory on the day of Badr over the polytheists.
* * *
And in the spirit of what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
15850- Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq concerning His word: "and if you desist, then that is better for you," he said: He says to Quraysh: "and if you return, We shall return," to the like of the blow that struck you on the day of Badr, "and your host shall avail you nothing, however numerous it may be, and know that Allah is with the believers," that is to say: even if your number is great in your own eyes, it shall avail you nothing. And I am with the believers, I help them against whoever opposes them.
* * *
And it has been said: that the meaning of His word "and if you return, We shall return" is: and if you return to asking for a judgment, We shall return to the victory of Muḥammad ﷺ.
But this statement has no valid meaning, for Allah the Exalted had already, when He gave His Prophet, peace be upon him, permission for war against his enemies, guaranteed him the victory of his religion and the elevation of his word, before Abū Jahl and his party asked for a judgment. There is thus no reason, while the matter is so, to say: "if you desist from asking for a judgment, then that is better for you, and if you return, We shall return," because Allah had promised His Prophet ﷺ victory with His word: أُذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقَاتَلُونَ بِأَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوا وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى نَصْرِهِمْ لَقَدِيرٌ [Surah Al-Ḥajj: 39] (Permission is given to those who are fought against, because they have been wronged; and truly, Allah is able to help them), whether the polytheists asked for a judgment or did not ask.
* Mention of who said that:
15851- Muḥammad 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: "and if you return, We shall return," if you ask for a judgment a second time, We shall open the victory for Muḥammad ﷺ, "and your host shall avail you nothing, however numerous it may be, and know that Allah is with the believers," Muḥammad and his companions.
* * *
And the reciters differed over the recitation of His word: "and know that Allah is with the believers" (wa-anna llāha maʿa l-muʾminīn).
Most of the reciters of the people of Medina recited it with fatḥa (anna), with the meaning: "and your host shall avail you nothing, however numerous it may be, and because Allah is truly with the believers." They linked "anna" to the position of "however numerous it may be," as though He said: because of its numerousness, and because Allah is with the believers. The position of "anna" is then an accusative (naṣb) according to this statement.
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Some of the Arabic grammarians claimed that reciting it with fatḥa, if recited thus, is based upon: وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ مُوهِنُ كَيْدِ الْكَافِرِينَ (and that Allah weakens the plotting of the unbelievers), with "(and that) Allah is with the believers" coming by linking the latter to the former.
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And most of the reciters of the Kūfans and the Baṣrans recited it: "wa-inna llāha" (and truly, Allah), with kasra on the alif, as a new beginning (ibtidāʾ). They argued as proof that it stands in the recitation of ʿAbd Allāh: "wa-inna llāha la-maʿa l-muʾminīn" (and truly, Allah is indeed with the believers).
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Abū Jaʿfar said: and the correct of the two recitations is the recitation of the one who reads "inna" with kasra as a new beginning, because the statement before it is completed with respect to that which His word "and know that Allah is with the believers" requires.
