Tafseer of The Spoils of War · Al-Anfaal · 8:6
Arguing with you concerning the truth after it had become clear, as if they were being driven toward death while they were looking on.
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.
15701 — 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: "as your Lord brought you out of your house with the truth," he said: thus they dispute with you concerning the truth.
15702 — 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: "as your Lord brought you out of your house with the truth," thus they dispute with you concerning the truth, namely concerning the armed fighting (qitāl).
15703 — ... he said: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: "as your Lord brought you out of your house with the truth," he said: thus your Lord brought you out.
15704 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, he said: Allah revealed this concerning his going out — that is, the going out of the Prophet ﷺ — to Badr, and their disputing with him; He said: "as your Lord brought you out of your house with the truth, while a party of the believers were certainly averse to it," to seek out the polytheists (mushrikīn); "they dispute with you concerning the truth after it has become clear."
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The linguists differed concerning this.
Some of the Kūfan grammarians said: this is a command from Allah to His Messenger ﷺ to persist in his charge concerning the spoils of war (ghanāʾim), despite the reluctance of his companions, just as he persisted in his charge when he went out of his house to seek out the caravan, while they were averse to that.
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Others of them said: the meaning of it is: they ask you about the spoils (al-anfāl) by way of disputing, just as they disputed with you on the day of Badr and said: "You brought us out for the caravan, and you did not warn us of an armed fight so that we could prepare ourselves for it."
Some of the Baṣran grammarians said: it is possible that this "kāf" in (as He brought you out) connects with His word أُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ حَقًّا ("those, they are the true believers"), (as your Lord brought you out of your house with the truth). And he said: the "kāf" has the meaning of "ʿalā" (in the sense of).
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Others of them said: it has the meaning of an oath. He said: and the meaning of the statement is: by Him who brought you out, your Lord.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: the most correct of these statements in my view is the statement of the one who held to the opinion of Mujāhid herein and said: the meaning of it is: as your Lord brought you out with the truth, despite the reluctance of a party of the believers, thus they dispute with you concerning the truth after it has become clear — because both matters have occurred, I mean the going out of some who departed from Medina with reluctance, and their disputing about meeting the enemy when the two groups drew near to one another. Comparing the one thing with the other, given the closeness of the one to the other, is more fitting than comparing it with something far removed from it.
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And Mujāhid said concerning "the truth" about which he mentioned that they disputed with the Prophet ﷺ after it had become clear to them: that is the armed fighting (qitāl).
15705 — 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: (they dispute with you concerning the truth), he said: the armed fighting.
15706 — 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 same.
15707 — Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
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As for His word: (out of your house), some said: the meaning of it is: out of Medina.
* Mention of who said that:
15708 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Bazza: (as your Lord brought you out of your house), Medina, to Badr.
15709 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbbād ibn Jaʿfar informed me concerning His word: (as your Lord brought you out of your house with the truth), he said: out of Medina to Badr.
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As for His word: (while a party of the believers were certainly averse to it), their reluctance was, as in:
15710 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, he said: Muḥammad ibn Muslim al-Zuhrī, ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatāda, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr and Yazīd ibn Rūmān related to me, on the authority of ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr and others of our scholars, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās; they said: when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ heard that Abū Sufyān was approaching from Syria, he summoned the Muslims against them and said: "This is the caravan of Quraysh, in which are their riches; march out against it, perhaps Allah will grant it to you as spoils!" The people responded; some of them were light-footed, others slow, and that was because they did not expect that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would encounter a war.
15711 — 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: (while a party of the believers were certainly averse to it), namely the seeking out of the polytheists.
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Then the exegetes differed concerning who was meant by His word: (they dispute with you concerning the truth after it has become clear).
Some said: thereby were meant the believers among the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who were with him when he marched to Badr to meet the polytheists.
* Mention of who said that:
15712 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: when the Prophet ﷺ took counsel concerning meeting the people, and Saʿd ibn ʿUbāda said to him what he said — and that was on the day of Badr — he ordered the people, and they drew up for battle, and he ordered them to take up the weapons; but the believers were averse to that. Then Allah revealed: (as your Lord brought you out of your house with the truth, while a party of the believers were certainly averse to it, they dispute with you concerning the truth after it has become clear, as if they were being driven to death while they looked on).
15713 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to me, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, he said: then he mentioned the people — that is, the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — and their march with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when the people came to know that Quraysh had marched out against them, and that they had only marched out with a view to the caravan, eager for the spoils; and he said: (as your Lord brought you out of your house with the truth), up to His word: (averse to it), that is: out of reluctance toward meeting the people, and out of disapproval of the march of Quraysh when it was mentioned to them.
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Others said: thereby were meant the polytheists.
* Mention of who said that:
15714 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: (they dispute with you concerning the truth after it has become clear, as if they were being driven to death while they looked on), he said: these are the polytheists; they disputed with him concerning the truth; "as if they were being driven to death," when they are invited to Islam; (while they looked on), he said: and this does not belong to the description of the others; this is a newly commencing description of the people of unbelief (kufr).
15715 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad related to me, on the authority of the nephew of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of his uncle, he said: there was a man among the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who explained (as if they were being driven to death while they looked on) as the going out of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to the caravan.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: and the correct view concerning this is what Ibn ʿAbbās and Ibn Isḥāq said, namely that this is a report from Allah about a party of the believers, that they were averse to meeting the enemy, and that their disputing with the Prophet of Allah ﷺ herein consisted in their saying: "He did not inform us that we would meet the enemy so that we could prepare ourselves to fight against them; we only marched out for the caravan." And what demonstrates the correctness of that is His word وَإِذْ يَعِدُكُمُ اللَّهُ إِحْدَى الطَّائِفَتَيْنِ أَنَّهَا لَكُمْ وَتَوَدُّونَ أَنَّ غَيْرَ ذَاتِ الشَّوْكَةِ تَكُونُ لَكُمْ ("And when Allah promised you one of the two groups that it would be yours, while you wished that the unarmed one would be yours"); therein lies the clear proof for whoever understands from Allah, that the people were indeed averse to the armed fighting, and that their disputing was about the armed fighting, as Mujāhid said, out of reluctance toward it. And that there is no validity in what Ibn Zayd said, because that which precedes His word (they dispute with you concerning the truth) is a report about the believers, and that which follows it is likewise a report about them; so that it should be a report about them is more fitting than that it should be a report about those not previously mentioned.
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As for His word: (after it has become clear), the exegetes differed concerning the explanation of it.
Some said: the meaning of it is: after it had become clear to them that you only do what Allah has commanded you.
* Mention of who said that:
15816 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: after it has become clear that you only do what Allah has commanded you.
* * *
Others said: the meaning of it is: they dispute with you concerning the armed fighting after it has been commanded to you.
* Mention of who said that:
15717 — Al-Kalbī transmitted it, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās.
* * *
As for His word: (as if they were being driven to death while they looked on), the meaning of it is: as if these who dispute with you about meeting the enemy, because of their reluctance toward that meeting when they are called upon to meet them for battle, "were being driven to death."
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And in accordance with what we have said concerning that, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
15718 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq said: (as if they were being driven to death while they looked on), that is: out of reluctance toward meeting the people, and out of disapproval of the march of Quraysh when it was mentioned to them.
