Tafseer of The Spoils of War · Al-Anfaal · 8:48
And [remember] when Satan made their deeds pleasing to them and said, "No one can overcome you today from among the people, and indeed, I am your protector." But when the two armies sighted each other, he turned on his heels and said, "Indeed, I am disassociated from you. Indeed, I see what you do not see; indeed I fear Allah. And 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 saying: وَإِذْ زَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ وَقَالَ لا غَالِبَ لَكُمُ الْيَوْمَ مِنَ النَّاسِ وَإِنِّي جَارٌ لَكُمْ فَلَمَّا تَرَاءَتِ الْفِئَتَانِ نَكَصَ عَلَى عَقِبَيْهِ وَقَالَ إِنِّي بَرِيءٌ مِنْكُمْ إِنِّي أَرَى مَا لا تَرَوْنَ إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ وَاللَّهُ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ (48) ("And when Satan made their deeds fair-seeming to them and said: 'None of mankind shall overcome you today, and indeed, I am your protector.' But when the two hosts came within sight of one another, he turned back on his heels and said: 'Indeed, I have nothing to do with you; I see what you do not see; indeed, I fear Allah, and Allah is severe in punishment.'" (8:48))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, means by His saying وَإِذْ زَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ("And when Satan made their deeds fair-seeming to them"): and when Satan made their deeds fair-seeming to them, and that fair-seeming-making was performed by him, as in:
16183 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Iblīs came on the day of Badr in an army of devils, with his banner with him, in the form of a man of the Banū Mudlij, and Satan was in the form of Surāqa ibn Mālik ibn Juʿshum. Satan said to the polytheists (mushrikīn): لا غَالِبَ لَكُمُ الْيَوْمَ مِنَ النَّاسِ وَإِنِّي جَارٌ لَكُمْ ("None of mankind shall overcome you today, and indeed, I am your protector"). When the people drew up in battle array, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ took a handful of dust and threw it in the faces of the polytheists, whereupon they turned and fled. Jibrīl came toward Iblīs, and when the latter saw him - while his hand was in the hand of one of the polytheists - Iblīs withdrew his hand and turned in flight, he and his followers. The man said: O Surāqa, did you not claim that you were our protector? He said: إِنِّي أَرَى مَا لا تَرَوْنَ إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ وَاللَّهُ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ ("I see what you do not see; indeed, I fear Allah, and Allah is severe in punishment"), and that was when he saw the angels.
16184 - 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, who said: Iblīs came to the polytheists in the form of Surāqa ibn Mālik ibn Juʿshum al-Kinānī, the poet, then [belonging to] al-Mudlijī; he came on horseback and said to the polytheists: لا غَالِبَ لَكُمُ الْيَوْمَ مِنَ النَّاسِ ("None of mankind shall overcome you today")! They said: And who are you? He said: I am your protector Surāqa, and this [tribe] Kināna has come toward you!
16185 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq said: Yazīd ibn Rūmān related to me, on the authority of ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr, who said: When the Quraysh resolved to march out, they remembered what was between them and the Banū Bakr - meaning, of war - and that nearly held them back. Then Iblīs appeared to them in the form of Surāqa [ibn Mālik] ibn Juʿshum al-Mudlijī, who was one of the notables of the Banū Kināna, and he said: "I am your protector against Kināna assailing you [from behind with something] that would displease you"! So they marched out in haste.
16186 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq said concerning His saying: وَإِذْ زَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ وَقَالَ لا غَالِبَ لَكُمُ الْيَوْمَ مِنَ النَّاسِ وَإِنِّي جَارٌ لَكُمْ ("And when Satan made their deeds fair-seeming to them and said: 'None of mankind shall overcome you today, and indeed, I am your protector'") - and he mentioned how Iblīs gradually seduced them and how he presented himself to them as Surāqa ibn Mālik ibn Juʿshum, when they brought up that which was between them and the Banū Bakr ibn ʿAbd Manāt ibn Kināna of war. Allah says: فَلَمَّا تَرَاءَتِ الْفِئَتَانِ ("But when the two hosts came within sight of one another"), and the enemy of Allah looked at the hosts of Allah, the angels, with whom Allah had reinforced His Messenger and the believers against their enemy. نَكَصَ عَلَى عَقِبَيْهِ وَقَالَ إِنِّي بَرِيءٌ مِنْكُمْ إِنِّي أَرَى مَا لا تَرَوْنَ ("he turned back on his heels and said: 'Indeed, I have nothing to do with you; I see what you do not see'"), and the enemy of Allah spoke the truth: he really did see what they did not see. And he said: إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ وَاللَّهُ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ ("indeed, I fear Allah, and Allah is severe in punishment"); thus he led them to ruin and then abandoned them. He said: It was related to me that they saw him at every halting-place in the form of Surāqa ibn Mālik ibn Juʿshum, without distrusting him. Until, when it was the day of Badr and the two hosts met, the one who saw him as he was withdrawing was "al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām," or "ʿUmayr ibn Wahb al-Jumaḥī" - one of the two was named. He said: Whither, O Surāq?! And the enemy of Allah took on his true form and vanished.
16187 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: وَإِذْ زَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ("And when Satan made their deeds fair-seeming to them"), up to His saying: شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ ("severe in punishment"), he said: It was related to us that he saw Jibrīl descending, with the angels with him, and the enemy of Allah claimed that he had no power against the angels, and he said: إِنِّي أَرَى مَا لا تَرَوْنَ إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ ("I see what you do not see; indeed, I fear Allah"), but the enemy of Allah lied, by Allah; there was in him no fear of Allah, but he knew that he had no power and no resistance. And that is the habit of the enemy of Allah toward whoever obeys him and submits to him: until, when the truth and the falsehood meet, he abandons them in the worst manner and at that moment dissociates himself from them.
16188 - Al-Qāsim related to me, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning وَإِذْ زَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ("And when Satan made their deeds fair-seeming to them"), the verse, he said: When it was the day of Badr, Iblīs marched out with his banner and his hosts together with the polytheists, and he cast into the hearts of the polytheists: that none shall overcome you, and indeed, I am your protector! But when they met and Satan looked at the reinforcements of the angels, he turned back on his heels - he said: he turned away in flight - and he said: إِنِّي أَرَى مَا لا تَرَوْنَ ("I see what you do not see"), the verse.
16189 - Aḥmad ibn al-Faraj related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Mājishūn related to us, saying: Mālik related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Abī ʿAbla, on the authority of Ṭalḥa ibn ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Karīz: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Iblīs was not seen on any day on which he was smaller, more contemptible, more cast out, and more enraged than on the day of ʿArafa - and that because of what he sees of the descent of mercy and the forgiveness of sins - except for what he saw on the day of Badr! They said: O Messenger of Allah, and what did he see on the day of Badr? He said: "Indeed, he saw Jibrīl marshaling the angels in battle array."
16190 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīra related to us, on the authority of Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His saying: إِنِّي أَرَى مَا لا تَرَوْنَ ("I see what you do not see"), he said: He saw Jibrīl with a cloak wound around his head, walking ahead of the Prophet ﷺ, with the bridle in his hand, without riding.
16191 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Hāshim ibn al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīra related to us, on the authority of Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl, who said: al-Ḥasan said, while reciting this verse: وَإِذْ زَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ("And when Satan made their deeds fair-seeming to them"), the verse, he said: Iblīs marched out with the polytheists at Badr with his banner and his hosts, and he cast into the hearts of the polytheists that none shall overcome you, for you are fighting for the religion of your fathers, and you will not be overcome on account of numbers! But when they met, he turned back on his heels - he says: he turned away in flight - and he said: إِنِّي بَرِيءٌ مِنْكُمْ إِنِّي أَرَى مَا لا تَرَوْنَ ("Indeed, I have nothing to do with you; I see what you do not see"), by which he means the angels.
16192 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Abū Maʿshar related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb, who said: When the Quraysh resolved to march out, they said: We fear only the Banū Bakr! Then Iblīs said to them, in the form of Surāqa ibn Mālik ibn Juʿshum: I am your protector against the Banū Bakr, and none of mankind shall overcome you today.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The interpretation of the saying is then: وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَسَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ ("And indeed, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing") in these circumstances - and when Satan made their marching out against you, O believers, to wage war and fight against you, fair-seeming to them, and beautified it for them and incited them against you, and he said to them: none of the sons of Ādam shall overcome you today, so be at ease and rejoice. وَإِنِّي جَارٌ لَكُمْ ("and indeed, I am your protector") - against Kināna, lest they assail you from behind, for I grant you protection, I give you shelter, and I ward them off from you; so do not fear them, and direct your fighting strength and your might against Muḥammad and his companions. فَلَمَّا تَرَاءَتِ الْفِئَتَانِ ("But when the two hosts came within sight of one another"), He says: but when the hosts of Allah, consisting of the believers, and the hosts of Satan, consisting of the polytheists, advanced against each other and the one looked at the other, نَكَصَ عَلَى عَقِبَيْهِ ("he turned back on his heels"), He says: he retreated backward on his heels, in flight.
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One says of this: "nakaṣa yankuṣu and yankiṣu nukūṣan" (he turned back backward); to this belongs the verse of Zuhayr:
They strike upon the tightly-woven helmets when they overtake [the enemy], they do not turn back when they become entangled in the fray and blaze up in fury.
And he said to the polytheists: إِنِّي بَرِيءٌ مِنْكُمْ إِنِّي أَرَى مَا لا تَرَوْنَ ("Indeed, I have nothing to do with you; I see what you do not see"), by which is meant that he sees the angels whom Allah sent as reinforcement for the believers, while the polytheists do not see them. إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ ("indeed, I fear Allah") - I fear the punishment of Allah - and the enemy of Allah lied. وَاللَّهُ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ ("and Allah is severe in punishment").
