Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:117
Allah has already forgiven the Prophet and the Muhajireen and the Ansar who followed him in the hour of difficulty after the hearts of a party of them had almost inclined [to doubt], and then He forgave them. Indeed, He was to them Kind and 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 saying: لَقَدْ تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالأَنْصَارِ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ فِي سَاعَةِ الْعُسْرَةِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا كَادَ يَزِيغُ قُلُوبُ فَرِيقٍ مِنْهُمْ ثُمَّ تَابَ عَلَيْهِمْ إِنَّهُ بِهِمْ رَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ (117) (Assuredly, Allah has turned in mercy to the Prophet ﷺ and to the emigrants (Muhājirūn) and the helpers (Anṣār) who followed him in the hour of hardship, after the hearts of a group among them had almost swerved; then He turned in mercy to them. Indeed, He is toward them full of compassion, merciful) (117).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Assuredly, Allah has granted to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ the returning to His command and His obedience, as well as to the emigrants (Muhājirūn), who left their dwellings and their tribe for the abode of Islam, and to the helpers (Anṣār) of His Messenger for the sake of Allah — those who followed the Messenger of Allah in the hour of their need for provisions, beasts of burden, sustenance, and water — مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا كَادَ يَزِيغُ قُلُوبُ فَرِيقٍ مِنْهُمْ (after the hearts of a group among them had almost swerved). He says: after the hearts of some of them had almost swerved from the truth, and one of them would doubt his religion and waver, on account of the hardship and discomfort that had befallen him on his journey and his expedition — ثُمَّ تَابَ عَلَيْهِمْ (then He turned in mercy to them). He says: then He — exalted be His praise — granted them the returning and the coming back to steadfastness in His religion, and the perceiving of the truth that had almost become obscure to them — إِنَّهُ بِهِمْ رَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ (indeed, He is toward them full of compassion, merciful). He says: indeed, your Lord is full of compassion toward those whose hearts that had filled, on account of what had befallen them on their journey of discomfort and hardship — رَحِيمٌ (merciful), so as not to destroy them and deprive them of faith after they had accomplished, for the sake of Allah, what they accomplished together with His Messenger, and had shown patience therein amid adversity and privation.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
17423 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: فِي سَاعَةِ الْعُسْرَةِ (in the hour of hardship) — during the expedition of Tabūk.
17424 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAqīl: فِي سَاعَةِ الْعُسْرَةِ (in the hour of hardship) — he said: they set out on an expedition, with two and three men on one camel. And they set out in severe heat, and a severe thirst befell them that day, so that they began to slaughter their camels and squeeze out the contents of their stomachs and drink the moisture of it. And that was need for water, need for beasts of burden, and need for provisions.
17425 — 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: سَاعَةِ الْعُسْرَةِ (the hour of hardship) — he said: the expedition of Tabūk. He said: "the hardship" — a severe exhaustion befell them, so that two men would share one date between them, and they would suck on a single date and drink water upon it.
17426 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ فِي سَاعَةِ الْعُسْرَةِ (those who followed him in the hour of hardship) — he said: the expedition of Tabūk.
17427 — ... he said: Zakariyyā ibn ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Ibn al-Mubārak, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAqīl, on the authority of Jābir: الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ فِي سَاعَةِ الْعُسْرَةِ (those who followed him in the hour of hardship) — he said: need for beasts of burden, need for sustenance, and need for water.
17428 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: لَقَدْ تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالأَنْصَارِ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ فِي سَاعَةِ الْعُسْرَةِ (Assuredly, Allah has turned in mercy to the Prophet and the emigrants and the helpers who followed him in the hour of hardship), the verse — those who followed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ during the expedition of Tabūk in the direction of Syria, in the blazing heat, under the hardship that Allah knows. A severe exhaustion befell them therein, so much so that it has been related to us that two men would share one date between them, and that a small group would take one date among them: this one would suck on it and drink water upon it, then that one would suck on it and drink water upon it. Then Allah turned in mercy to them and brought them back from their expedition.
17429 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith informed me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī Hilāl, on the authority of ʿUtba ibn Abī ʿUtba, on the authority of Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās: that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb — the mercy of Allah be upon him — was asked about the matter of the hardship. Then ʿUmar said: We set out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to Tabūk in severe summer heat, and we encamped at a place where a thirst befell us such that we thought our necks would break off, so much so that a man would go searching for water and not return until he thought his neck would break off, so much so that a man would even slaughter his camel, squeeze out the contents of its stomach, and drink it, and place what remained upon his liver. Then Abū Bakr said: O Messenger of Allah, indeed, Allah has accustomed you in supplication to the good, so supplicate for us! He said: Do you desire that? He said: Yes! Then he raised his two hands and did not lower them until the sky spoke [that is, the clouds advanced], and it cast shade, then it poured down. Then they filled what they had with them, then we went to look but we did not find it [the rain]: it had passed beyond the camp.
17430 — Isḥāq ibn Ziyāda al-ʿAṭṭār related to me, saying: Yaʿqūb ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī Hilāl, on the authority of Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: It was said to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb — the mercy of Allah be upon him —: Tell us about the matter of the army of the hardship! Then ʿUmar said: We set out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — then he mentioned something similar.
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Footnotes:
(68) See the explanation of "the emigrant" (al-muhājir) in what precedes, p. 434, note 2, and the references mentioned there.
(69) See the explanation of "the hardship" (al-ʿusra) in what precedes, 6: 28, 29.
(70) See the explanation of "the swerving" (al-zaygh) in what precedes, 6: 183, 184. = And the explanation of "group" (farīq) in what precedes, 12: 388, note 1, and the references mentioned there.
(71) See the explanation of "full of compassion" (raʾūf) and "merciful" (raḥīm) in the linguistic indexes given earlier (raʾafa), (raḥima).
(72) In the printed edition: "during the expedition of Tabūk", added by him [the editor], and it is not in the manuscript; and it is without doubt the expedition of Tabūk.
(73) In the printed edition: "its water" (māʾahā); and what is in the manuscript is likewise correct.
(74) The report 17424 — "ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAqīl ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Hāshimī": weak in narration, not reliable; his narration is not taken as proof on account of his memory. He has been mentioned earlier under no. 487; and see the report no. 17427.
(75) The report 17427 — "Zakariyyā ibn ʿAdī ibn Zurayq al-Tamīmī": reliable, mentioned earlier under no. 1566, 15446, 16945. In the printed edition it stood: "Zakariyyā ibn ʿAlī", and the correct is what is in the manuscript, but it was not read correctly. "ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAqīl" has been mentioned earlier under no. 17424.
(76) "Al-farth": the contents of the rumen as long as they are within the rumen.
(77) "The sky spoke" (qālat al-samāʾ), that is to say: it advanced with the clouds. In the printed edition it stood "mālat" (it inclined), and I have adopted what is in the manuscript. And it corresponds to what is in Majmaʿ al-zawāʾid; and in Ibn Kathīr and others it stands "sālat" (it flowed), which amounts to nothing. And this is a rare, excellent expression. And his saying "fa-aẓallat" (it cast shade), that is to say: the clouds brought the shade; and in Ibn Kathīr and others it stands "fa-ahṭalat" (it poured down), which amounts to nothing. And in Majmaʿ al-zawāʾid: "fa-aṭallat", and it seems to be a scribal error.
(78) In the printed edition: "then we returned to look but we did not find it; it had passed beyond the camp", differing from what stood in the manuscript, and this [in the manuscript] is correct and in agreement with what is in the references. And his saying "we went to look" (dhahabnā nanẓuru) — the Arabs place "dhahaba" in speech as an adverbial qualifier of the verb; see what was said earlier, 11: 128, note 1, then p. 250, in the words of Abū Jaʿfar, and note 1, then no. 16206.
(79) The report 17429 — "ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Yaʿqūb al-Anṣārī al-Miṣrī": reliable and precise, mentioned earlier repeatedly, most recently under no. 13570, 16732. And "Saʿīd ibn Abī Hilāl al-Laythī al-Miṣrī": reliable, mentioned earlier repeatedly, most recently under no. 13570. And "ʿUtba ibn Abī ʿUtba": that is "ʿUtba ibn Muslim al-Taymī", reliable, with a biography in al-Tahdhīb and in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 3/1/374. And "Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr ibn Muṭʿim": a reliable Follower (tābiʿī), one of the imams, with a biography in al-Tahdhīb and in al-Kabīr 4/2/82 and in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 4/1/451. And the men of the chain of transmission (isnād) of this report are reliable. And this report al-Haythamī included in Majmaʿ al-zawāʾid 6: 194, 195, and he said: "al-Bazzār narrated it, and al-Ṭabarānī in al-Awsaṭ, and the men of al-Bazzār are reliable." And al-Suyūṭī included it in al-Durr al-manthūr 3: 286, and attributed it to Ibn Jarīr, Ibn Khuzayma, Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Ḥākim — who declared it authentic —, Ibn Mardawayh, Abū Nuʿaym, and al-Bayhaqī in al-Dalāʾil. And it stands in the Dalāʾil al-nubuwwa of Abū Nuʿaym p. 190 in the chapter "Mention of what took place during the expedition of Tabūk", with this chain of transmission. And Ibn Kathīr mentioned it in his tafsīr 4: 257, 258, and al-Baghawī in the margin thereof.
(80) The report 17430 — "Isḥāq ibn Ziyād al-ʿAṭṭār", the teacher of al-Ṭabarī, mentioned earlier under no. 14146, and we have not found any mention of him; and earlier there stood "Isḥāq ibn Ziyād al-ʿAṭṭār al-Naṣrī", without tāʾ in "Ziyād", in the printed edition and the manuscript. And it is not possible to render a decisive judgment concerning this as long as we find no biography for him that leads to the correct.
