Tafseer of The Spoils of War · Al-Anfaal · 8:38
Say to those who have disbelieved [that] if they cease, what has previously occurred will be forgiven for them. But if they return [to hostility] - then the precedent of the former [rebellious] peoples has already taken place.
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 the saying of Allah: قُلْ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِنْ يَنْتَهُوا يُغْفَرْ لَهُمْ مَا قَدْ سَلَفَ وَإِنْ يَعُودُوا فَقَدْ مَضَتْ سُنَّةُ الأَوَّلِينَ (38) ("Say to those who disbelieve: if they desist, what is already past will be forgiven them; and if they return, then the way of dealing (sunna) with respect to the former peoples has already been carried out.") (38)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is sublime, says to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: "Say," O Muḥammad, "to those who disbelieve," among the polytheists (mushrikīn) of your people — "if they desist," from that in which they persist of their disbelief (kufr) in Allah and His messenger, and their fighting against you and against the believers, and they turn toward faith (īmān) — then Allah will forgive them what has passed and gone by of their sins before their faith and before their return to obedience to Allah and obedience to His messenger by means of their faith and their repentance. "And if they return," that is to say: and if these polytheists return to fight you after the battle which you inflicted upon them on the day of Badr — then My way of dealing (sunna) has already been carried out with respect to the former ones among them at Badr, and with respect to others than they from the bygone generations, when they transgressed and gave the lie to My messengers and did not accept their counsel, namely the sending down upon them of the immediate retributions. Thus shall I send down upon these, if they return to warring against you and fighting you, the same as what I sent down upon them.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
16070 — 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 saying: "then the way of dealing with the former peoples has already been carried out" — that refers to the Quraysh on the day of Badr, and to other communities before them.
16071 — 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, the like of it.
16072 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it.
16073 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to me, saying: Ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "then the way of dealing with the former peoples has already been carried out," he said: with respect to the Quraysh and others than they from the communities before them.
16074 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said concerning His saying: "Say to those who disbelieve: if they desist, what is already past will be forgiven them; and if they return" — to warring against you — "then the way of dealing with the former peoples has already been carried out," that is to say: of those of them who were killed on the day of Badr.
16075 — 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 they return," to fighting you — "then the way of dealing with the former peoples has already been carried out," of the people of Badr.
