Tafseer of The Spoils of War · Al-Anfaal · 8:36
Indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to avert [people] from the way of Allah. So they will spend it; then it will be for them a [source of] regret; then they will be overcome. And those who have disbelieved - unto Hell they will be gathered.
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: إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُنْفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ لِيَصُدُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَسَيُنْفِقُونَهَا ثُمَّ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسْرَةً ثُمَّ يُغْلَبُونَ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِلَى جَهَنَّمَ يُحْشَرُونَ ("Indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to turn [people] away from the path of Allah; they will keep spending it, and afterward it will become a source of regret for them, and then they will be overcome. And those who disbelieve will be gathered into Hell (jahannam)") (8:36)
Abū Jaʿfar (al-Ṭabarī) said: The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: indeed, those who disbelieve in Allah and His Messenger spend their wealth — they give it to their fellows among the polytheists (mushrikīn) so that they might thereby strengthen themselves for the war against the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and those who believe in him, that they might turn those who believe in Allah and His Messenger away from belief in Allah and His Messenger. So they will spend their wealth on that, and afterward that spending will become for them = "a source of regret (ḥasra)" — He says: it will become for them a remorse, because their wealth is lost while they do not attain what they hope for and what they crave, namely the extinguishing of the light of Allah and the raising of the word of disbelief (kufr) above the word of Allah. For Allah raises His word and makes the word of disbelief the lowest; then the believers will overcome them, and Allah will gather those who disbelieve in Him and in His Messenger into Hell (jahannam), and they will be punished therein. How tremendous is that regret and that remorse for whoever among them remains alive and for whoever perishes! As for the living one: his wealth has been plundered, it has gone for nothing without attaining any benefit, and he returned, overcome, subdued, despoiled, and stripped of his wealth. And as for the one who perished: he was killed and despoiled, and he was driven in haste to the Fire of Allah in which he will abide eternally — we seek refuge in Allah from His wrath (ghaḍab).
And the one who undertook the spending that Allah mentions in this verse was — as it is reported — Abū Sufyān.
* Mention of who said that:
16056 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Yaʿqūb al-Qummī related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr concerning His word: "indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth" up to the verse, "and those who disbelieve will be gathered into Hell" — he said: it was revealed concerning Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb. On the day of Uḥud he hired two thousand men of the Aḥābīsh from the tribe of Kināna, and fought with them against the Prophet ﷺ. They are those concerning whom Kaʿb ibn Mālik says:
And we came upon a wave from the sea, in whose midst were Aḥābīsh, among them one who went without armor and one who was helmeted.
Three thousand, while we were a select band: three hundred, and if we were more numerous, then four hundred.
16057 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Isḥāq ibn Ismāʿīl related to us, on the authority of Yaʿqūb al-Qummī, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Ibn Abzā: "indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to turn [people] away from the path of Allah" — he said: it was revealed concerning Abū Sufyān; on the day of Uḥud he hired two thousand men to fight with them against the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, in addition to those whom he had called to his aid as an army from among the Arabs.
16058 — ... he said: my father informed us, on the authority of Khaṭṭāb ibn ʿUthmān al-ʿUṣfurī, on the authority of al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUtayba: "indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to turn [people] away from the path of Allah" — he said: it was revealed concerning Abū Sufyān. On the day of Uḥud he spent on the polytheists forty ūqiyya of gold, and the ūqiyya in that time was forty-two mithqāl.
16059 — Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to turn [people] away from the path of Allah", the verse — he said: when Abū Sufyān arrived with the caravan in Mecca, he incited the people and called them to war, until the following year he made war on the Prophet of Allah. And Badr was in Ramaḍān, on a Friday, in the morning of the seventeenth of the month of Ramaḍān. And Uḥud was in Shawwāl, on a Saturday, when eleven days of it had passed, in the fourth year.
16060 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, he said: Allah said, concerning what the polytheists — among whom was Abū Sufyān — did by hiring men to fight with them against Muḥammad: "indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to turn [people] away from the path of Allah" — and that is Muḥammad ﷺ = "they will keep spending it, and afterward it will become a source of regret for them" — he says: remorse on the Day of Resurrection, and woe = "and then they will be overcome".
16061 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning the word of Allah: "they spend their wealth to turn [people] away from the path of Allah", the verse up to His word: أُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ ("those are they who are the losers") — he said: it concerns the spending of Abū Sufyān on the disbelievers on the day of Uḥud.
16062 — al-Muthannā related to me, 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, the like of it.
16063 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, he said: Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī, and Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Ḥabbān, and ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatāda, and al-Ḥuṣayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr ibn Saʿd ibn Muʿādh related to us, [and others of our scholars — all of them transmitted a part of the account concerning the day of Uḥud. And all their accounts have been combined into what I have presented concerning the day of Uḥud; they said — or whoever of them said it: when on the day of Badr] those of the disbelievers of Quraysh who belonged to the pit (ahl al-qalīb) were struck down, and their slain returned to Mecca, and Abū Sufyān returned with his caravan, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Rabīʿa, and ʿIkrima ibn Abī Jahl, and Ṣafwān ibn Umayya went, amid men of Quraysh whose fathers, sons, and brothers had been struck down at Badr, and they addressed Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb and those of Quraysh who had merchandise in that caravan, and they said: O company of Quraysh, indeed, Muḥammad has done you harm and killed your best men; so help us with this wealth in his war, that perhaps we may take vengeance on him for those of us who were struck down! And they did so. He said: concerning them — as has been transmitted on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — Allah revealed: "indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth" up to His word: "and those who disbelieve will be gathered into Hell".
16064 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: "indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to turn [people] away from the path of Allah" up to His word: "will be gathered" — he means the group of men who went to Abū Sufyān, and to those of Quraysh who had wealth in that merchandise, and they asked them to strengthen them for the war against the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and they did so.
16065 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Saʿīd ibn Abī Ayyūb informed me, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Dīnār concerning the word of Allah: "indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth", the verse — it was revealed concerning Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb.
* * *
And some of them said: by it are meant the polytheists of the people of Badr.
* Mention of who said that:
16066 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: "indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to turn [people] away from the path of Allah", the verse — he said: they are the people of Badr.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar (al-Ṭabarī) said: And the correct view on this, in my opinion, is what we have said, namely that one says: Allah informed concerning those who disbelieve in Him among the polytheists of Quraysh, that they spend their wealth to turn [people] away from the path of Allah. He did not inform us precisely whom of them He meant, except that He made the report general for "those who disbelieve". And it is possible that He meant those who spent their wealth for the war against the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companions at Uḥud = and it is possible that He meant those among them who spent that at Badr = and it is possible that He meant both groups. And if that is so, then the correct view on this is that one takes it generally, just as He — exalted be His praise — made it general for those who disbelieve among Quraysh.
