Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:13
Would you not fight a people who broke their oaths and determined to expel the Messenger, and they had begun [the attack upon] you the first time? Do you fear them? But Allah has more right that you should fear Him, if you are [truly] believers.
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: أَلا تُقَاتِلُونَ قَوْمًا نَكَثُوا أَيْمَانَهُمْ وَهَمُّوا بِإِخْرَاجِ الرَّسُولِ وَهُمْ بَدَءُوكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ أَتَخْشَوْنَهُمْ فَاللَّهُ أَحَقُّ أَنْ تَخْشَوْهُ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ (9:13) (Will you not fight a people who have broken their oaths and intended to expel the Messenger, while it was they who attacked you first? Do you fear them? Allah has more right that you should fear Him, if you are believers.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says to those who believe in Allah and His Messenger, urging them to jihād against their enemies among the polytheists (mushrikīn): "Will you not fight (qitāl)," O believers, against these polytheists who have broken the covenant that existed between you and them, who have attacked your religion and who have supported your enemies against you? "And who intended to expel the Messenger" from their midst, and they did indeed expel him. "While it was they who attacked you first" with fighting — that refers to their deed on the day of Badr. Some say: it refers to their fighting against the allies of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from the tribe of Khuzāʿa. "Do you fear them?", that is to say: are you afraid of them for your own lives, so that you refrain from fighting them out of fear for your own lives at their hands? "Allah has more right that you should fear Him," that is to say: Allah has more claim that you should fear His punishment if you refrain from jihād against them, and that you should fear His wrath upon you, than these polytheists who can bring you neither harm nor benefit except with the permission of Allah. "If you are believers," that is to say: if you acknowledge that the fear of Allah is more incumbent upon you than the fear of these polytheists for your own lives.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said about this spoke the interpreters (ahl al-taʾwīl).
* Mention of who said that:
16535 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word: "Will you not fight a people who have broken their oaths" after their covenant, "and who intended to expel the Messenger," that is to say: they intended to expel him and they did indeed expel him, "while it was they who attacked you first" with fighting.
16536 — 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: "While it was they who attacked you first," he said: this is the fighting of the Quraysh against the allies of Muḥammad ﷺ.
16537 — 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, with a similar narration.
16538 — 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, the same.
16539 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Allah commanded His Messenger to wage jihād against the polytheists among those who had broken the particular covenant, and against those who fell under the general covenant, after the four months that He had set for them as a term, unless any of them should commit a transgression during that period, in which case he would be killed for his transgression. Then He said: "Will you not fight a people who have broken their oaths and intended to expel the Messenger," up to His word: وَاللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ (And Allah is fully aware of what you do).
