Tafseer of The Spoils of War · Al-Anfaal · 8:73
And those who disbelieved are allies of one another. If you do not do so, there will be fitnah on earth and great corruption.
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 statement concerning the explanation of His saying: وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ إِلا تَفْعَلُوهُ تَكُنْ فِتْنَةٌ فِي الأَرْضِ وَفَسَادٌ كَبِيرٌ (8:73) ("And those who disbelieve are protectors (awliyāʾ) of one another; if you do not do this, there will be trial (fitna) on earth and great corruption." (8:73))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: (and those who disbelieve), namely those who disbelieve in Allah and His messenger = (are protectors of one another), that is to say: they are one another's helpers and allies, and they have more right to one another than the believers in Allah and His messenger.
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We have already mentioned the statement of the one who said: "By this is meant that some of them have more right to the inheritance (mīrāth) of others than their relatives among the believers," and we shall mention the rest of the narrations available to us concerning that.
16343 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik, who said: A man said: "Let us make our blood relatives among the polytheists (mushrikīn) inherit from us!" Then was revealed: (and those who disbelieve are protectors of one another), the verse.
16344 — 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, concerning His saying: (and those who disbelieve are protectors of one another; if you do not do this, there will be trial on earth and great corruption) — this was revealed concerning the inheritances of the polytheists among the people of the treaty.
16345 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَلَمْ يُهَاجِرُوا مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ وَلايَتِهِمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ حَتَّى يُهَاجِرُوا ("And those who have believed but have not emigrated, you have no protective duty toward them at all until they emigrate"), up to His saying: (and great corruption), he said: The emigrant believer (muhājir) and the believer who had not emigrated did not inherit from one another, even though they were two believing brothers. He said: And that was because this religion was few in number in that land, until the day of the Conquest (of Mecca) came; and when the day of the Conquest came and emigration (hijra) ceased, they inherited from one another by blood relationship, wherever they happened to be. And the Prophet ﷺ said: "There is no emigration after the Conquest," and he recited: وَأُولُو الأَرْحَامِ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلَى بِبَعْضٍ فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ ("And the blood relatives have more right to one another in the Book of Allah").
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Others said: The meaning of that is: that the disbelievers are one another's helpers = and that whoever resides in the territory of war (dār al-ḥarb) and does not emigrate is not a believer.
* Mention of who said that:
16346 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: (and those who disbelieve are protectors of one another), he said: A man used to settle between the Muslims and the polytheists, and would say: "If these gain the upper hand, I am with them, and if those gain the upper hand, I am with them!" But Allah refused them that, and Allah revealed concerning it; so the fire of a Muslim and the fire of a polytheist shall not see one another (that is, they shall not dwell side by side), except a holder of poll-tax (jizyah) who acknowledges the levy (kharāj).
16347 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Allah urged the believers to mutual attachment, and He made the emigrants (muhājirūn) and the helpers (anṣār) people of mutual protective relationship (walāya) in the religion, to the exclusion of others, and He made the disbelievers protectors of one another.
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As for His saying: (if you do not do this, there will be trial on earth and great corruption) — the people of interpretation (taʾwīl) differed concerning the explanation of it.
Some of them said: The meaning of it is: if you do not do, O believers, what you have been commanded concerning making the emigrants among you inherit from one another — some of them from others, on the basis of emigration, and the helpers on the basis of faith — to the exclusion of their relatives among the bedouin Muslims and to the exclusion of the disbelievers = (there will be trial), that is to say: corruption arises on earth as a result of that = (and great corruption), that is to say: and acts of disobedience toward Allah.
* Mention of who said that:
16348 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: (if you do not do this, there will be trial on earth and great corruption): if you do not do this, and let them inherit from one another as they used to inherit from one another = (there will be trial on earth and great corruption). He said: And the messenger of Allah ﷺ used to accept faith only by means of emigration, and they counted them as their own only by means of emigration.
16349 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: (and those who disbelieve are protectors of one another), namely in inheritance = (if you do not do this), that is to say: if you do not act in inheritance according to what I have commanded you = (there will be trial on earth and great corruption).
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Others said: The meaning of it is: if you do not help one another, O believers, in the religion, there will be trial on earth and great corruption.
* Mention of who said that:
16350 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: He made the emigrants and the helpers people of mutual protective relationship in the religion, to the exclusion of others, and He made the disbelievers protectors of one another, and then He said: (if you do not do this, there will be trial on earth and great corruption), namely: if the believer does not take the believer as protector to the exclusion of the disbeliever, even though the latter be a blood relative of his = (there will be trial on earth and great corruption), that is to say: confusion between truth and falsehood, and the appearance of corruption on earth, through the believer taking the disbeliever as protector to the exclusion of the believer. Then He restored the inheritances to the blood relatives.
16351 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said concerning His saying: (if you do not do this, there will be trial on earth and great corruption), he said: if you do not stand by and help one another in the religion = (there will be trial on earth and great corruption).
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the more acceptable of the two explanations of His saying: (and those who disbelieve are protectors of one another) is the statement of the one who said: its meaning is that some of them are helpers of others, to the exclusion of the believers, and that it is an indication that Allah has forbidden the believer to reside in the territory of war and to abandon emigration; for what is known in the language of the Arabs concerning the meaning of "al-walī" (protector) is that it is the helper and supporter, or: the cousin and the kinsman by marriage. As for the heir, that meaning is not known from it, except in the sense that he succeeds him in taking possession of his inheritance after him. And that is a remote meaning, even though the wording may permit it. And directing the meaning of Allah's word toward what is most obvious and well-known is more acceptable than directing it toward the opposite of that.
And since that is so, it is clear that the more acceptable of the two explanations of His saying: (if you do not do this, there will be trial on earth and great corruption) is the explanation of the one who said: if you do not do what I have commanded you concerning mutual support and help for the sake of the religion, there will be trial on earth = since the beginning of the verse, from His saying: إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَهَاجَرُوا وَجَاهَدُوا بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنْفُسِهِمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ("Indeed, those who have believed and emigrated and striven with their wealth and their lives in the way of Allah"), came with the exhortation to mutual protective relationship for the sake of the religion and to mutual support; so likewise it is necessary that its conclusion end with that.