Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:106
And [there are] others deferred until the command of Allah - whether He will punish them or whether He will forgive them. And Allah is Knowing and Wise.
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.
Explanation of the statement of Allah the Exalted: وَآخَرُونَ مُرْجَوْنَ لِأَمْرِ اللَّهِ إِمَّا يُعَذِّبُهُمْ وَإِمَّا يَتُوبُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ (9:106) (And there are others deferred for the decision of Allah: either He will punish them, or He will turn to them with forgiveness. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: And among those who stayed behind when you set out against your enemy, O believers, there are still others.
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The word "others" (ākharūn) stands in the nominative, as an apposition to His statement: وَآخَرُونَ اعْتَرَفُوا بِذُنُوبِهِمْ خَلَطُوا عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَآخَرَ سَيِّئًا (And there are others who have confessed their sins; they mixed a righteous deed with another, evil one).
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= (and there are others who are deferred) — that is to say: who are left awaiting the decision of Allah and His decree.
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Of this one says: "arjaʾtuhu, urjiʾuhu, irjāʾan, and he is murjaʾ", with the hamza and without the hamza; these are two linguistic variants with the same meaning. And the reciters have recited it in both ways.
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One says: by these "others" is meant a group of those who had stayed behind from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ during the campaign (ghazwah) of Tabūk. They had remorse over what they had done, but did not excuse themselves to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ upon his arrival, and they did not bind themselves to the pillars. Therefore Allah deferred their affair, until their repentance proved sincere; then He turned to them with forgiveness and granted them pardon.
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And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
17174 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: There were three of them — that is to say: of those who had stayed behind from the campaign of Tabūk — who had not bound themselves to the pillars; they were deferred for a time, not knowing whether they would be punished or whether He would turn to them with forgiveness. Then Allah revealed: لَقَدْ تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ up to His statement: إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ (Certainly, Allah has turned with forgiveness to the Prophet and the Emigrants... Indeed, Allah is the Acceptor of Repentance, the Merciful) [Surah Al-Tawbah 9:117, 118].
17175 — 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, who said: When this verse was revealed — that is to say His statement: خُذْ مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ صَدَقَةً تُطَهِّرُهُمْ وَتُزَكِّيهِمْ بِهَا (Take from their wealth a charity by which you purify them and cleanse them) — the Messenger of Allah ﷺ took from their wealth — that is to say from the wealth of Abū Lubāba and his two companions — and gave it as charity on their behalf. And the three who had not followed Abū Lubāba's example remained; they had not bound themselves, and nothing was mentioned concerning them, and their excuse was not revealed, and the earth became too narrow for them despite its vastness. They are those of whom Allah said: (And there are others deferred for the decision of Allah: either He will punish them, or He will turn to them with forgiveness. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.) Then the people began to say: "They are lost!", since no excuse was revealed for them. And others began to say: "Perhaps Allah will forgive them!" Thus they were deferred for the decision of Allah, until it was revealed: لَقَدْ تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنْصَارِ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ فِي سَاعَةِ الْعُسْرَةِ (Certainly, Allah has turned with forgiveness to the Prophet and the Emigrants and the Helpers who followed him in the hour of hardship) — those who set out with him to Syria (al-Shām) — مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا كَادَ يَزِيغُ قُلُوبُ فَرِيقٍ مِنْهُمْ ثُمَّ تَابَ عَلَيْهِمْ إِنَّهُ بِهِمْ رَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ (after the hearts of a group of them had nearly deviated; then He turned to them with forgiveness. Indeed, He is to them Full of Compassion, Merciful). Then He said: وَعَلَى الثَّلَاثَةِ الَّذِينَ خُلِّفُوا (and also to the three who were left behind) — that is to say the ones deferred for the decision of Allah; to them the repentance was revealed, and they were all encompassed thereby. He said: حَتَّى إِذَا ضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الْأَرْضُ بِمَا رَحُبَتْ وَضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ أَنْفُسُهُمْ (until the earth, despite its vastness, became too narrow for them, and their own souls became too constricted for them), up to His statement: إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ (Indeed, Allah is the Acceptor of Repentance, the Merciful).
17176 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Suwayd ibn ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Zayd, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of ʿIkrima: (And there are others deferred for the decision of Allah), he said: They are the three who were left behind.
17177 — 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: (And there are others deferred for the decision of Allah), he said: Hilāl ibn Umayya, Marāra ibn Rabīʿ and Kaʿb ibn Mālik, of the Aws and the Khazraj.
17178 — 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: (And there are others deferred for the decision of Allah): Hilāl ibn Umayya, Marāra ibn Rabīʿ and Kaʿb ibn Mālik, of the Aws and the Khazraj.
17179 — ...... 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, the same.
17180 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
17181 — ...... he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, the same.
17182 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His statement: (And there are others deferred for the decision of Allah): They are the three who were left behind as regards the repentance — he means: others than Abū Lubāba and his companions — and Allah did not reveal their excuse, so that the earth became too narrow for them despite its vastness. And the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were, with respect to them, divided into two groups: one group said: "They are lost", when Allah did not reveal concerning them what He had revealed concerning Abū Lubāba and his companions.
And another group said: "Perhaps Allah will forgive them!", and they were deferred for the decision of Allah. Then Allah revealed His mercy and His forgiveness and said: لَقَدْ تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ (Certainly, Allah has turned with forgiveness to the Prophet and the Emigrants), the verse, and He revealed: وَعَلَى الثَّلَاثَةِ الَّذِينَ خُلِّفُوا (and also to the three who were left behind), the verse.
17183 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: (And there are others deferred for the decision of Allah), he said: It was related to us that they are the three who were left behind: Kaʿb ibn Mālik, Hilāl ibn Umayya and Marāra ibn Rabīʿa, a group of the Helpers (al-Anṣār).
17184 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: (And there are others deferred for the decision of Allah), he said: They are the three who were left behind.
17185 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: (And there are others deferred for the decision of Allah: either He will punish them, or He will turn to them with forgiveness), and they are the three who were left behind. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ deferred their affair, until the repentance from Allah came to them.
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As for His statement: (either He will punish them) — He means: either Allah will, through His forsaking (khidhlān) of them, hold them back from repentance, so that He punishes them in the Hereafter for their sins upon which they have died = (or He will turn to them with forgiveness) — He says: or He will grant them the capacity for repentance, so that they repent of their sins and He forgives them = (and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise) — He says: and Allah is possessor of knowledge concerning their affair and concerning that to which they will come, whether repentance or persistence in sin = (All-Wise) in the disposal concerning them and the disposal concerning the rest of the creatures; into His judgment no deficiency creeps.
