Tafseer of The Spoils of War · Al-Anfaal · 8:68
If not for a decree from Allah that preceded, you would have been touched for what you took by a great punishment.
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: لَوْلا كِتَابٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ سَبَقَ لَمَسَّكُمْ فِيمَا أَخَذْتُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ (68) ("Had there not been a preceding decree (kitāb) from Allah, a tremendous chastisement would have afflicted you on account of what you have taken." (68))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — praised be His mention — says to the people of Badr, who took spoils and accepted ransom from the captives: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah. He says: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah in your favor, O people of Badr, in the Preserved Tablet (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ) — namely, that Allah made the war-spoils (ghanīma) lawful for you, and that Allah determined in His decree that He does not let a people go astray after He has guided them, until He has made clear to them what they must guard against, and that He does not chastise anyone who witnessed the event you witnessed at Badr, together with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, as a helper of the religion of Allah = then a tremendous chastisement from Allah would have afflicted you on account of your taking the spoils and the ransom.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
16295 - Mohammed ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, he said: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, the whole of the verses, he said: Allah was to feed this community the spoils, and they took the ransom from the captives of Badr before they had been commanded to do so. He said: Then Allah reproached them for that, and afterward Allah made it lawful for them.
16296 - Mohammed ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn Bazīʿ related to us, he said: Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning the word of Allah: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, the whole of the verses, and that was on the day of Badr, and the companions of the Prophet ﷺ took the spoils and the captives before they had been commanded to do so. And Allah, blessed and exalted, had already written in the Mother of the Book (umm al-kitāb): "the spoils and the captives are lawful for Mohammed and his community," and He had not made it lawful for any community before them. They took the spoils and took the captives before anything concerning that had been sent down to them. Allah said: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, namely in the earlier scripture, that the spoils and the captives are lawful for you = a tremendous chastisement would have afflicted you on account of what you have taken.
16297 - Mohammed ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, the whole of the verses: Before the Prophet ﷺ was sent, the spoils among the nations were such that whenever they took spoils, they would set them apart as an offering, and Allah forbade them to eat of it, whether little or much. That was forbidden to every prophet and to his community; they did not eat of it, and they did not pilfer anything from it, and they took of it neither little nor much, lest Allah chastise them for it. And Allah had strictly forbidden it to them; He made it lawful for no prophet except for Mohammed ﷺ. And it had already preceded from Allah in His decree that the spoils are lawful for him and for his community. And that is His word on the day of Badr, concerning the acceptance of the ransom from the captives: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, a tremendous chastisement would have afflicted you on account of what you have taken.
16298 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, he said: Allah was to grant this community the spoils, and they did what they did before the spoils had been made lawful.
16299 - Mohammed ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Mohammed ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, he said: al-Aʿmash said concerning His word: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, he said: it preceded from Allah that He would make the spoils lawful for them.
16300 - Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Mohammed ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā related to us, on the authority of Bashīr ibn Maymūn, who said: I heard Saʿīd relate, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: He recited this verse: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, a tremendous chastisement would have afflicted you on account of what you have taken, he said, namely: had it not preceded in My knowledge that I would make the spoils lawful, a tremendous chastisement would have afflicted you on account of what you have taken from the captives.
16301 - Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Jābir ibn Nūḥ, and Abū Muʿāwiya likewise, related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The spoils were never made lawful for anyone with black heads before you; a fire used to descend from heaven and consume them, until the day of Badr came, and the people fell upon the spoils. Then Allah sent down: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, a chastisement would have afflicted you," up to His word: lawful and good.
16302 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, in a similar manner = he said: When the day of Badr came, the people hastened to the spoils.
16303 - Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ibn Faḍīl related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath ibn Sawwār, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of ʿAbīda, who said: The Muslims took seventy of the polytheists captive and killed seventy of them. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Choose whether you accept ransom from them, so that you may strengthen yourselves thereby against your enemy — but if you accept it, seventy of you will be killed — or that you kill them!" Then they said: "We would rather accept the ransom from them." And seventy of them were killed. ʿAbīda said: And they desired both options at once.
16304 - Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ibn Faḍīl related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of ʿAbīda, who said: The ransom of the captives of Badr was one hundred ūqiyya, and the "ūqiyya" is forty dirham, and in dīnārs six dīnār.
16305 - Abū Kurayb and Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm both related to us, they said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, he said: Ibn ʿAwn related to us, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of ʿAbīda: that concerning the captives of Badr he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "If you wish, kill them; and if you wish, ransom them, but then a number of you equal to their number will fall as martyrs!" Then they said: "Indeed, we accept the ransom so that we may benefit from it, even though a number of us equal to their number falls as martyrs."
16306 - Aḥmad ibn Mohammed al-Ṭūsī related to me, he said: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith related to us, he said: Hammām ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib related to us, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Masʿūd, who said: ʿUmar — may Allah have mercy on him — commanded that the captives be killed. Then Allah sent down: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, a tremendous chastisement would have afflicted you on account of what you have taken.
16307 - 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: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, he said: The spoils were forbidden to every prophet and his community, and when they took spoils, they used to set apart the spoils as an offering to Allah, which the fire consumed. And it had preceded in the decree and the knowledge of Allah that He would make the spoils lawful for this community, so that they might eat it into their bellies.
16308 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, concerning the word of Allah: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, it would have afflicted you, he said: It was in the knowledge of Allah that the spoils would become lawful for them, and therefore He said: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, that He made the spoils lawful for you = a tremendous chastisement would have afflicted you on account of what you have taken.
* * *
And others said: The meaning of that is: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah in favor of the people of Badr, that He would not chastise them, then a tremendous chastisement would have afflicted them.
* Mention of who said that:
16309 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Saʿīd: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, he said: in favor of the people of Badr, of felicity.
16310 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, in favor of the people of Badr on account of their presence at it.
16311 - Mohammed ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Mohammed ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, he said: good preceded from Allah in favor of the people of Badr.
16312 - Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, a tremendous chastisement would have afflicted you on account of what you have taken: good preceded for them from Allah, and He made the spoils lawful for them.
16313 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, he said: it preceded, that He would not chastise anyone of the people of Badr.
16314 - Mohammed ibn ʿAmr related to us, 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: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, in favor of the people of Badr, and their presence at it.
16315 - Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed me, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, a tremendous chastisement would have afflicted you on account of what you have taken: a chastisement would have afflicted you on account of what you took of the spoils on the day of Badr before I had made it lawful for you. Then He said: forgiveness for them and mercy for them preceded from Allah; it preceded that He does not chastise the believers, for He does not chastise His Messenger, nor whoever believed in him and emigrated with him and helped him.
* * *
And others said: The meaning of that is: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, that He does not hold anyone accountable for a deed he committed out of ignorance = a tremendous chastisement would have afflicted you on account of what you have taken.
* Mention of who said that:
16316 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, in favor of the people of Badr and their presence at it, he said: a decree that preceded His word: And it is not for Allah to let a people go astray after He has guided them, until He makes clear to them what they must guard against [Sūrat al-Tawba: 115]. That preceded, and it preceded that He would not hold accountable any people who had done something out of ignorance = it would have afflicted you on account of what you have taken. Ibn Jurayj said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: on account of what you have taken, namely from those whom you took captive. Then He said afterward: So eat of what you have taken as spoils.
16317 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: He reproached him concerning the captives and the taking of the spoils, for none of the prophets before him used to eat spoils from an enemy.
16318 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Mohammed, he said: Abū Jaʿfar Mohammed ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "I have been aided by terror, and the earth has been made for me a place of prayer and a means of purification, and the all-comprehensive words have been given to me, and the spoils have been made lawful for me though they were lawful for no prophet before me, and intercession has been given to me — five things that were granted to no prophet before me." Mohammed said: Then He said: It is not for a prophet, namely: before you = to have captives, up to His word: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, it would have afflicted you on account of what you have taken, namely: of the captives and the spoils = a tremendous chastisement, namely: had it not preceded from Me that I do not chastise except after the prohibition, and I had not forbidden you, then I would have chastised you for what you did. Then He made it lawful for him and for them, as mercy and grace and favor from the Most Merciful, the Compassionate.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the statements concerning this is what we have set forth earlier. And that is because His word: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah is a general statement, not restricted to one meaning to the exclusion of another; and all these meanings that I have mentioned on the authority of those whom I have mentioned belong to that which has already preceded in the Book of Allah, that He would not hold this community accountable for any of it — namely: what they did out of ignorance, and the making lawful of the spoils, and the forgiveness for the people of Badr — all of that belongs to what was decreed for them. And since that is so, there is no ground for privileging one of these meanings to the exclusion of another, for Allah generalized the statement with all of that, without an indication that necessitates the correctness of a specific interpretation.
16319 - Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said: There was none among the believers who had received aid but that he loved the spoils, except ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. He proceeded such that he did not come upon a captive without striking off his neck, and he said: "O Messenger of Allah, what have we to do with the spoils? We are a people who fight in the religion of Allah until Allah is worshipped!" Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Had we been chastised in this matter, O ʿUmar, then none but you would have been saved! Allah has said: do not return to declaring lawful before I make it lawful for you."
16320 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, he said: Ibn Isḥāq said: When there was sent down: had there not been a preceding decree from Allah, the whole of the verses, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Had a chastisement descended from heaven, none would have escaped it except Saʿd ibn Muʿādh, on account of his word: O Prophet of Allah, the overwhelming slaughter was dearer to me than the sparing of the men."
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Footnotes:
(49) See the explanation of "kitāb" in what preceded, in the linguistic indexes (k-t-b).
(50) See the explanation of "al-mass" (the afflicting/touching) in what preceded, 13: 333, note 2, and the references there.
(51) The narration 16300 - "Bashīr ibn Maymūn al-Khurāsānī al-Wāsiṭī," Abū Ṣayfī, is weak (ḍaʿīf), with rejected narration (munkar al-ḥadīth), accused of forgery. Abū Ḥātim said: "weak in narration, and the bulk of his narration is rejected." And there was agreement on rejecting his narration. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb, and al-Kabīr 1/2/105, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/1/379, and Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl 1: 153, 154. And "Saʿīd" is "Saʿīd ibn Abī Saʿīd al-Maqburī."
(52) The two narrations 16301, 16302 - a narration with a sound chain (isnād), except as regards "Jābir ibn Nūḥ al-Ḥammānī," whose narration is worth nothing, weak. Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said: "Jābir ibn Nūḥ, the prayer-leader of the mosque of the Banū Ḥammān, was not trustworthy, he was weak." He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb, and al-Kabīr 1/2/210, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 1/1/500, and Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl 1: 176. And Abū Kurayb narrated it on the authority of Jābir and on the authority of Abū Muʿāwiya; the narration of Abū Muʿāwiya is the correct one. And this narration al-Tirmidhī narrated in the Book of Tafsīr, via ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd, on the authority of Muʿāwiya ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Zāʾida, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, and he said: "this is a good, sound narration (ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ)." And al-Bayhaqī narrated it in al-Sunan 6: 290, via Muḥāḍir, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, and via Abū Muʿāwiya, on the authority of al-Aʿmash. And al-Suyūṭī recorded it in al-Durr al-Manthūr 3: 203, and added the attribution to al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Abī Shayba in al-Muṣannaf, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim, and Abū al-Shaykh, and Ibn Mardawayh.
(53) "Al-khiyara" (with kasra on the khāʾ and sukūn on the yāʾ, or fatḥa on the yāʾ) is that which is chosen and selected for its goodness.
(54) See the estimation of the "ūqiyya" in what preceded in the narration no. 16058.
(55) See the occurrence of "balā" ("indeed/yes") not in a negative context, in what preceded in the narration no. 781, part 1: 554, then 2: 280, 510; 10: 98, note 4; then 10: 253, note 3; then 12: 174, note 3.
(56) The narration 16306 - "Hammām ibn Yaḥyā ibn Dīnār al-Azdī," trustworthy (thiqa), already mentioned under no. 10190, 11725. And this is a narration with a correct chain.
(57) The narration 16317 - Sīrat Ibn Hishām 2: 331, and it is the predecessor of the previously mentioned narration no. 16292 in the ordering of the Sīra.
(58) His word "Mohammed" means Mohammed ibn Isḥāq, not "Mohammed ibn ʿAlī."
(59) The narration 16318 - Sīrat Ibn Hishām 2: 332, and its beginning follows the previously mentioned narration no. 16317, and precedes the narration no. 16292; then he narrated a beginning of the narration no. 16292, and followed it with what comes after it in the Sīra.
(60) The narration 16320 - I have not found this narration in the Sīra of Ibn Hishām, as far as I can judge.
