Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:104
Do they not know that it is Allah who accepts repentance from His servants and receives charities and that it is Allah who is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful?
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: أَلَمْ يَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَأْخُذُ الصَّدَقَاتِ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ (9:104)
(Do they not know that it is Allah who accepts the repentance of His servants and takes the alms, and that Allah is the Ever-Relenting, the Most Merciful?)
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a report from Allah, the Exalted, whose praise is sublime, by which He informs the believers who believe in Him: that the acceptance of the repentance of whoever among the hypocrites repents, and the taking of the alms from their wealth when they give it, does not belong to the Prophet of Allah ﷺ. And that the Prophet of Allah, when he refused to release those who had bound themselves to the pillars—among those who had stayed behind from the battle with him—and when he refrained from accepting their alms after Allah had absolved them [of guilt] when He permitted him to do so, he did that only because that did not belong to him ﷺ, but rather that belongs to Allah, the Exalted whose praise is sublime, and not to Muḥammad, and that Muḥammad only does what he does in the way of refraining, releasing, accepting an alms, and his other deeds, by the command of Allah. So He, whose praise is great, said: Do these who stayed behind from the jihād with the believers—who had bound themselves to the pillars and said, "We will not release ourselves until the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is the one who releases us," and who asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to accept the alms from their wealth—do they then not know that this does not belong to Muḥammad, but rather that belongs to Allah, and that it is Allah who accepts the repentance of whoever among His servants repents, or rejects it, and who takes the alms from whoever among them gives an alms, or returns it to him, and not Muḥammad—so that they may direct their repentance and their alms to Allah, and thereby seek His Face and not that of Muḥammad or another, and make their repentance sincere for Him, and seek Him with their alms, and know that Allah is the Ever-Relenting, the Most Merciful? He says: The One who returns to His servants with forgiveness for him when they return to His obedience, and who is Merciful to them when they turn toward His good pleasure, away from His punishment.
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And Ibn Zayd said concerning that the following:
17162 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said: The others—that is, those of the ones who stayed behind who did not repent—said: "These ones"—namely those who repented—"were with us yesterday; no one spoke with them and no one sat with them. What is the matter with them?" Then Allah said: إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَأْخُذُ الصَّدَقَاتِ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ (Indeed, it is Allah who accepts the repentance of His servants and takes the alms, and that Allah is the Ever-Relenting, the Most Merciful).
17163 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, he said: A man informed me who used to come to Ḥammād but would not sit with him—Shuʿba said: al-ʿAwwām ibn Ḥawshab said: he is Qatāda, or Ibn Qatāda, a man of [the tribe of] Muḥārib—he said: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Sāʾib—and he was his neighbor—he said: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd say: There is no servant who gives an alms but it falls into the hand of Allah, so that it is He who places it in the hand of the beggar. And he recited this verse: هُوَ يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَأْخُذُ الصَّدَقَاتِ (It is He who accepts the repentance of His servants and takes the alms).
17164 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Qatāda al-Muḥāribī, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, he said: No man gives an alms but it falls into the hand of Allah before it falls into the hand of the beggar, and He places it in the hand of the beggar. Then he recited: أَلَمْ يَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَأْخُذُ الصَّدَقَاتِ (Do they not know that it is Allah who accepts the repentance of His servants and takes the alms).
17165 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Qatāda, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, in a similar manner.
17166 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Qatāda, he said: ʿAbd Allāh said: Indeed, the alms falls into the hand of Allah before it falls into the hand of the beggar. Then he recited this verse: هُوَ يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَأْخُذُ الصَّدَقَاتِ (It is He who accepts the repentance of His servants and takes the alms).
17168 — Abū Kurayb related to us [he said: Wakīʿ related to us] he said: ʿAbbād ibn Manṣūr related to us, on the authority of al-Qāsim: that he heard Abū Hurayra say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Indeed, Allah accepts the alms and takes it with His right hand, and makes it grow for one of you as one of you raises his foal, until even the morsel [of food] becomes like [the mountain of] Uḥud. And the confirmation of that is in the Book of Allah: هُوَ يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَأْخُذُ الصَّدَقَاتِ (It is He who accepts the repentance of His servants and takes the alms), and يَمْحَقُ اللَّهُ الرِّبَا وَيُرْبِي الصَّدَقَاتِ (Allah destroys usury (ribā) and makes the alms grow) [Surah al-Baqarah: 276].
17169 — Sulaymān ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Aqṭaʿ al-Raqqī related to us, he said: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿAbbād ibn Manṣūr, on the authority of al-Qāsim, on the authority of Abū Hurayra—and I think that he attributed it [to the Prophet]—he said: Indeed, Allah accepts the alms—then he mentioned something similar.
17170 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, he said: Indeed, Allah accepts the alms when it is from the good [that which is lawfully acquired], and takes it with His right hand. And indeed, the man gives an alms the size of a morsel, and Allah makes it grow for him as one of you raises his young camel or his foal, so that it grows in the palm of Allah—or he said: in the hand of Allah—until it becomes like the mountain.
17171 — Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, [concerning] His word: أَلَمْ يَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَأْخُذُ الصَّدَقَاتِ (Do they not know that it is Allah who accepts the repentance of His servants and takes the alms), it has been mentioned to us that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ used to say: "By Him in whose hand is the soul of Muḥammad, no man gives an alms and it falls into the hand of the beggar, but it first falls into the hand of Allah!"
17172 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ (and that Allah is the Ever-Relenting, the Most Merciful), that is to say: if they remain steadfast.
