Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:107
And [there are] those [hypocrites] who took for themselves a mosque for causing harm and disbelief and division among the believers and as a station for whoever had warred against Allah and His Messenger before. And they will surely swear, "We intended only the best." And Allah testifies that indeed they are liars.
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 interpretation of His saying: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا وَتَفْرِيقًا بَيْنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَإِرْصَادًا لِمَنْ حَارَبَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَلَيَحْلِفُنَّ إِنْ أَرَدْنَا إِلا الْحُسْنَى وَاللَّهُ يَشْهَدُ إِنَّهُمْ لَكَاذِبُونَ (9:107) (And those who have built a mosque to cause harm and out of disbelief, and to sow division among the believers, and as an ambush for him who formerly waged war against Allah and His Messenger. And they will surely swear: "We intended nothing but good." But Allah testifies that they are surely liars.)
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: And those who built a mosque to cause harm (ḍirāran), and they were, according to what has been transmitted, twelve men from the Anṣār.
* Mention of who said that:
17186 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, and Yazīd ibn Rūmān, and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr, and ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatāda and others, they said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was returning = that is: from Tabūk = until he alighted at Dhū Awān = a place lying at a distance of one hour's travel by day from Medina. The people of the mosque of harm (masjid al-ḍirār) had come to him when he was preparing for Tabūk, and they said: "O Messenger of Allah, we have built a mosque for the sick and the needy, and for the rainy night and the wintry night, and we would dearly wish that you come to us to pray for us therein!" He said: "I am about to travel and am in a state of busyness" = or as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said it = "but when we have returned, we shall, if Allah wills, come to you and pray for you therein." So when he alighted at Dhū Awān, the news about the mosque reached him, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ summoned Mālik ibn al-Dukhshum, the brother of the Banū Sālim ibn ʿAwf, and Maʿn ibn ʿAdī = or his brother ʿĀṣim ibn ʿAdī = the brother of the Banū al-ʿAjlān, and he said: "Go to this mosque whose people are wrongdoers, and pull it down and burn it!" They both went out hastily until they came to the Banū Sālim ibn ʿAwf, who are the kinsfolk of Mālik ibn al-Dukhshum, and Mālik said to Maʿn: "Give me respite until I come out to you with fire from my family!" So he entered upon his family, and took palm fronds, and lit fire in them, and thereupon they both went out running until they entered the mosque while its people were in it, and they burned it and pulled it down, and the people scattered away from it. And concerning them there was revealed from the Qurʾān what was revealed: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا ("And those who have built a mosque to cause harm and out of disbelief"), to the end of the story. And those who built it were twelve men: Khidhām ibn Khālid, from the Banū ʿUbayd ibn Zayd — and from his house the mosque of dissension (masjid al-shiqāq) was set up — and Thaʿlaba ibn Ḥāṭib, from the Banū ʿUbayd, he belongs to the Banū Umayya ibn Zayd — and Muʿattib ibn Qushayr, from the Banū Ḍubayʿa ibn Zayd — and Abū Ḥabība ibn al-Azʿar, from the Banū Ḍubayʿa ibn Zayd — and ʿAbbād ibn Ḥunayf, the brother of Sahl ibn Ḥunayf, from the Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf — and Jāriya ibn ʿĀmir with his two sons: Mujammiʿ ibn Jāriya and Zayd ibn Jāriya — and Nabtal ibn al-Ḥārith, they belong to the Banū Ḍubayʿa — and Baḥzaj, he belongs to the Banū Ḍubayʿa — and Bijād ibn ʿUthmān, he belongs to the Banū Ḍubayʿa — and Wadīʿa ibn Thābit, he belongs to the Banū Umayya, the kinsfolk of Abū Lubāba ibn ʿAbd al-Mundhir.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The interpretation of the statement is therefore: And those who built a mosque to cause harm to the mosque of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and out of disbelief (kufr) in Allah, because of their opposition thereby to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and so that they might thereby divide the believers, such that some of them would pray therein instead of in the mosque of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and some of them in the mosque of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, so that for that reason they would differ and fall apart = وَإِرْصَادًا لِمَنْ حَارَبَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ ("and as an ambush for him who formerly waged war against Allah and His Messenger"), that is to say: and as a preparation for him, for Abū ʿĀmir the disbeliever (kāfir), who opposed Allah and His Messenger and disbelieved in them both and fought the Messenger of Allah = مِنْ قَبْلُ ("formerly"), that is to say: before they built that mosque. And that is because Abū ʿĀmir was the one who had gathered the confederates (al-aḥzāb) = that is: he gathered the confederates to fight the Messenger of Allah ﷺ = and when Allah forsook him, he joined the Byzantines to seek aid from their king against the Prophet of Allah, and he wrote to the people of the mosque of harm, according to what has been transmitted about him, and commanded them to build the mosque which they had built, so that he might pray therein, as he claimed, when he would return to them. And they did that. And this is the meaning of the saying of Allah, exalted is His praise: وَإِرْصَادًا لِمَنْ حَارَبَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ ("and as an ambush for him who formerly waged war against Allah and His Messenger").
= وَلَيَحْلِفُنَّ إِنْ أَرَدْنَا إِلا الْحُسْنَى ("And they will surely swear: 'We intended nothing but good'"), Allah, exalted is His praise, says: and its builders will surely swear: "We intended nothing but good by our building of it", nothing but benevolence toward the Muslims, and benefit and ease for the weak and the sick and for him who is unable to go to the mosque of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to pray therein — and that would be the good deed = وَاللَّهُ يَشْهَدُ إِنَّهُمْ لَكَاذِبُونَ ("But Allah testifies that they are surely liars"), in that oath of theirs, and in their saying: "We built it only while intending good!", but they built it while intending evil by its building, to cause harm to the mosque of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and out of disbelief in Allah, and to sow division among the believers, and as an ambush for Abū ʿĀmir the corrupt one (al-fāsiq).
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning that spoke the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl).
* Mention of who said that:
17187 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا ("And those who have built a mosque to cause harm"), they were people from the Anṣār who built a mosque, and Abū ʿĀmir said to them: "Build your mosque, and equip yourselves with what strength and weapons you can, for I am going to Caesar, the king of the Byzantines, and I shall bring an army of the Byzantines, and thus expel Muḥammad and his companions!" When they had finished their mosque, they came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and said: "We have finished the building of our mosque, and we would dearly wish that you pray therein and invoke blessing for us!" Thereupon Allah revealed concerning that: لا تَقُمْ فِيهِ أَبَدًا لَمَسْجِدٌ أُسِّسَ عَلَى التَّقْوَى مِنْ أَوَّلِ يَوْمٍ أَحَقُّ أَنْ تَقُومَ فِيهِ ("Stand therein never. A mosque founded upon piety from the first day has more right that you stand therein"), to His saying: وَاللَّهُ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ ("And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people").
17188 - 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: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا وَتَفْرِيقًا بَيْنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ("And those who have built a mosque to cause harm and out of disbelief, and to sow division among the believers"), he said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ built the mosque of Qubāʾ, men from the Anṣār went out, among them: Baḥzaj, the grandfather of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥunayf, and Wadīʿa ibn Ḥizām, and Mujammiʿ ibn Jāriya al-Anṣārī, and they built the mosque of hypocrisy (masjid al-nifāq). The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to Baḥzaj: "Woe to you! What did you intend by what I see!" He said: "O Messenger of Allah, by Allah, I intended nothing but good!" — and he lied. The Messenger believed him and wished to excuse him, thereupon Allah revealed: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا وَتَفْرِيقًا بَيْنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَإِرْصَادًا لِمَنْ حَارَبَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ("And those who have built a mosque to cause harm and out of disbelief, and to sow division among the believers, and as an ambush for him who waged war against Allah and His Messenger"), by which was meant a man among them who was called "Abū ʿĀmir", who fought the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and who had departed to Heraclius, and they were in expectation, [when] Abū ʿĀmir would arrive, so that he might pray therein, and he had gone out from Medina as a warrior against Allah and His Messenger = وَلَيَحْلِفُنَّ إِنْ أَرَدْنَا إِلا الْحُسْنَى وَاللَّهُ يَشْهَدُ إِنَّهُمْ لَكَاذِبُونَ ("And they will surely swear: 'We intended nothing but good.' But Allah testifies that they are surely liars").
17189 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: وَإِرْصَادًا لِمَنْ حَارَبَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ ("and as an ambush for him who formerly waged war against Allah and His Messenger"), he said: Abū ʿĀmir the monk (al-rāhib) departed to Caesar, and they said: "When he comes, he will pray therein", for they supposed that he would prevail over Muḥammad ﷺ.
17190 - 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: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا ("And those who have built a mosque to cause harm and out of disbelief"), he said: the hypocrites (munāfiqīn) = لِمَنْ حَارَبَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ("for him who waged war against Allah and His Messenger"), for Abū ʿĀmir the monk.
17191 - 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 like of it.
17192 - ...... he said: Abū 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: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا وَتَفْرِيقًا بَيْنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ("And those who have built a mosque to cause harm and out of disbelief, and to sow division among the believers"), he said: it was revealed concerning the hypocrites = and His saying: وَإِرْصَادًا لِمَنْ حَارَبَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ ("and as an ambush for him who formerly waged war against Allah and His Messenger"), he said: that is Abū ʿĀmir the monk.
17193 - 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 like of it.
17194 - 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 Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا ("And those who have built a mosque to cause harm and out of disbelief"), he said: they are the Banū Ghanm ibn ʿAwf.
17195 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا ("And those who have built a mosque to cause harm and out of disbelief"), he said: they are a tribe called "Banū Ghanm".
17196 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His saying: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا ("And those who have built a mosque to cause harm and out of disbelief"), he said: they are a tribe called "Banū Ghanm" = he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, she said: وَإِرْصَادًا لِمَنْ حَارَبَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ("and as an ambush for him who waged war against Allah and His Messenger"), Abū ʿĀmir the monk departed to al-Shām (Syria), and those who built the mosque of harm said: "We built it only so that Abū ʿĀmir might pray therein."
17197 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا ("And those who have built a mosque to cause harm"), the verse, he said: People from the people of hypocrisy set themselves to it, and they built a mosque at Qubāʾ, in order thereby to imitate the mosque of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and then they sent to the Messenger of Allah so that he might pray therein. It has been transmitted to us that he asked for his shirt to go to them, until Allah informed him about that = and as for His saying: وَإِرْصَادًا لِمَنْ حَارَبَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ("and as an ambush for him who waged war against Allah and His Messenger"), it was a man called "Abū ʿĀmir", he fled from the Muslims and joined the polytheists, and they killed him because of his [former] islam. He [Qatāda] said: When he would come, he would pray therein, thereupon Allah revealed: لا تَقُمْ فِيهِ أَبَدًا لَمَسْجِدٌ أُسِّسَ عَلَى التَّقْوَى ("Stand therein never. A mosque founded upon piety"), the verse.
17198 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His saying: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا ("And those who have built a mosque to cause harm and out of disbelief"), they are people from the hypocrites, who built a mosque at Qubāʾ by which they caused harm to the Prophet of Allah and the Muslims = وَإِرْصَادًا لِمَنْ حَارَبَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ("and as an ambush for him who waged war against Allah and His Messenger"), they kept saying: "When Abū ʿĀmir returns from Caesar of the Byzantines, he will pray therein!" And they kept saying: "When he arrives, he will prevail over the Prophet of Allah ﷺ."
17199 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا وَتَفْرِيقًا بَيْنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَإِرْصَادًا لِمَنْ حَارَبَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ ("And those who have built a mosque to cause harm and out of disbelief, and to sow division among the believers, and as an ambush for him who formerly waged war against Allah and His Messenger"), he said: the mosque of Qubāʾ, they all prayed therein. And there was a man among the chiefs of the hypocrites who was called "Abū ʿĀmir", the father of "Ḥanẓala, the one washed by the angels (ghasīl al-malāʾika)", and "Ṣayfī", and [Wāḥiq]. And these three belonged to the best of the Muslims. Abū ʿĀmir went out as a fugitive, he and Ibn ʿAbd Yālīl, from Thaqīf, and ʿAlqama ibn ʿUlātha, from Qays, away from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, until they joined the ruler of the Byzantines. As for ʿAlqama and Ibn ʿAbd Yālīl, they returned and pledged allegiance to the Prophet ﷺ and embraced islam. As for Abū ʿĀmir, he became a Christian and remained [there]. He [Ibn Zayd] said: And people from the hypocrites built the mosque of harm for Abū ʿĀmir, they said: "Until Abū ʿĀmir comes to pray therein", and to sow division among the believers, so that they might thereby divide their community, for they all prayed together in the mosque of Qubāʾ. And they came to deceive the Prophet ﷺ and said: "O Messenger of Allah, it happens that the torrent comes, and thus cuts off the distance between us and the valley, and stands between us and the [other] people, and then we pray in our mosque, and when the torrent has withdrawn, we pray with them!" He [Ibn Zayd] said: But they built it upon hypocrisy. He said: And their mosque collapsed in the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said: And the people threw straw and refuse upon it, thereupon Allah revealed: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا وَتَفْرِيقًا بَيْنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ("And those who have built a mosque to cause harm and out of disbelief, and to sow division among the believers"), so that not all the believers would pray together in the mosque of Qubāʾ = وَإِرْصَادًا لِمَنْ حَارَبَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ ("and as an ambush for him who formerly waged war against Allah and His Messenger"), [namely] Abū ʿĀmir = وَلَيَحْلِفُنَّ إِنْ أَرَدْنَا إِلا الْحُسْنَى وَاللَّهُ يَشْهَدُ إِنَّهُمْ لَكَاذِبُونَ ("And they will surely swear: 'We intended nothing but good.' But Allah testifies that they are surely liars").
17200 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of Layth: that Shaqīq did not find the prayer in the mosque of the Banū ʿĀmir, and it was said to him: "The mosque of the Banū so-and-so, they have not yet prayed!" He said: "I do not like to pray there, for it is built to cause harm, and every mosque that is built to cause harm, or out of ostentation (riyāʾ), or for fame, its origin traces back to the mosque built upon harm."
