Tafseer of The Spoils of War · Al-Anfaal · 8:25
And fear a trial which will not strike those who have wronged among you exclusively, and know that Allah is severe in penalty.
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: wa-ttaqū fitnatan lā tuṣībanna lladhīna ẓalamū minkum khāṣṣatan wa-ʿlamū anna llāha shadīdu l-ʿiqāb (25) (And fear a trial which will not afflict in particular only those among you who did wrong. And know that Allah is severe in punishment) (25).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His mention, says to those who believe in Him and in His Messenger: "Fear," O believers, "a trial (fitna)" — He says: a testing from Allah by which He tries you, and an affliction by which He puts you to the test — "which will not afflict in particular," this trial against which I have warned you, "only those who did wrong," and they are those who did what they were not permitted to do, whether crimes that they committed or sins between them and Allah that they perpetrated. He, exalted be His praise, warns them against committing an act of disobedience toward Him or perpetrating a sin by which they would deserve from Him a punishment.
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And it is said: this āya was revealed concerning a group of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and they are the ones who were intended by it.
* Mention of who said that:
15903 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm related to us; he said: al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us; he said: Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: (and fear a trial which will not afflict in particular only those among you who did wrong) — he said: it was revealed concerning ʿAlī, ʿUthmān, Ṭalḥa, and al-Zubayr, may Allah's mercy be upon them.
15904 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us; he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar: (and fear a trial which will not afflict in particular only those among you who did wrong) — Qatāda said: al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām said: Indeed, it was revealed while we did not think that any of us would be afflicted by it. Then we were left behind so that it afflicted us in particular.
15905 — Al-Muthannā related to me; he said: Zayd ibn ʿAwf Abū Rabīʿa related to us; he said: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Ḥumayd, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: that al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām said: This āya was revealed: (and fear a trial which will not afflict in particular only those among you who did wrong), and we did not think that we were the ones it concerned, whereas we were in fact the ones intended by it.
15906 — ... he said: Qabīṣa related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Ṣalt ibn Dīnār, on the authority of Ibn Ṣubḥān; he said: I heard al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām saying: I recited this āya for a long time, and I did not think that we were among those it concerned, and behold, we were in fact the ones intended by it: (and fear a trial which will not afflict in particular only those among you who did wrong, and know that Allah is severe in punishment).
15907 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me; he said: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us; he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (and fear a trial which will not afflict in particular only those among you who did wrong) — he said: this was revealed concerning the people of Badr in particular, and it afflicted them on the Day of the Camel (al-Jamal), when they fought one another.
15908 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us; he said: my father related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of al-Suddī: (and fear a trial which will not afflict in particular only those among you who did wrong, and know that Allah is severe in punishment) — he said: the people of the Camel.
15909 — Al-Muthannā related to me; he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us; he said: Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (and fear a trial which will not afflict in particular only those among you who did wrong) — he said: Allah commanded the believers not to tolerate what is reprehensible among them, lest Allah afflict them all with the punishment.
15910 — ... he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us; he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (and fear a trial which will not afflict in particular only those among you who did wrong) — he said: it applies to you as well.
15911 — Yūnus related to me; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: (and fear a trial which will not afflict in particular only those among you who did wrong) — he said: "the fitna" is misguidance.
15912 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us; he said: my father related to us, on the authority of al-Masʿūdī, on the authority of al-Qāsim; he said: ʿAbd Allāh said: There is no one among you but that he carries a trial with him. Indeed, Allah says: annamā amwālukum wa-awlādukum fitna [Sūrat al-Anfāl: 28] (Indeed, your wealth and your children are a trial). So let one seek refuge in Allah from the misleading trials.
15913 — Al-Ḥārith related to me; he said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us; he said: Mubārak ibn Faḍāla related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan; he said: al-Zubayr said: Indeed, we were made to fear it — he means His word: (and fear a trial which will not afflict in particular only those among you who did wrong).
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And the linguists differed over the interpretation of that.
Some of the grammarians of Basra said concerning (fear a trial which will not afflict those who did wrong): His word "which will not afflict" is not a response clause (jawāb), but rather it is a prohibition after a command; and had it been a response clause, the "nūn" would not have entered it.
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And some of the grammarians of Kūfa said concerning His word: (and fear a trial which will not afflict those who did wrong): He commanded them, and then He prohibited them. And in it there is an aspect of the conditional clause (jazāʾ), even though it is a prohibition. He said: and the like of it is His word: yā ayyuhā l-namlu dkhulū masākinakum lā yaḥṭimannakum sulaymān [Sūrat al-Naml: 18] (O ants, enter your dwellings, lest Sulaymān trample you): He commanded them, and then He prohibited them, and in it lies the meaning of the conditional clause.
And it is as though the meaning of the word according to him is: fear a trial; if you do not fear it, it will afflict you.
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As for His word: (and know that Allah is severe in punishment), that is a warning from Allah and a threat to whoever falls into the trial against which He has warned him with His word: (and fear a trial). He says: know, O believers, that your Lord is severe in His punishment of whoever is tried by wronging his own soul and opposes His command and thereby sins.
