Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:2
So travel freely, [O disbelievers], throughout the land [during] four months but know that you cannot cause failure to Allah and that Allah will disgrace the disbelievers.
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.
As for His statement: فَسِيحُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ ("So travel freely throughout the land for four months") (9:2) — this means: roam about in it, coming and going, safe and without fear, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his followers.
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Concerning this one says: "So-and-so traveled about in the land (sāḥa fulān fī al-arḍ yasīḥu)," in the forms siyāḥa, suyūḥan, and sayaḥānan.
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As for His statement: وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ غَيْرُ مُعْجِزِي اللَّهِ ("And know that you cannot escape Allah") (9:2) — by this He says to the people of the covenant, who had a covenant with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ before the revelation of this verse: Know, O polytheists (mushrikīn), that if you travel about in the land and choose that, together with your disbelief (kufr) in Allah, instead of acknowledging His oneness (tawḥīd) and believing in His Messenger — غَيْرُ مُعْجِزِي اللَّهِ ("that you cannot escape Allah"). He says: you cannot escape Him with your souls, for wherever you go and wherever you may be in the land, you are in His grasp and under His dominion. No minister can keep you from Him, and no refuge (maʿqil) nor place of retreat (mawʾil) can interpose itself between you and Him when He wishes to strike you with a punishment (ʿadhāb) — except faith (īmān) in Him and in His Messenger, and repentance for having been disobedient to Him. He says: so anticipate His punishment with repentance, and abandon the traveling about that does not benefit you.
As for His statement: وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ مُخْزِي الْكَافِرِينَ ("and that Allah will disgrace the disbelievers") (9:2) — He says: and know that Allah humiliates the disbelievers (kāfir) and bequeaths to them disgrace in the worldly life (al-dunyā) and the Fire (al-nār) in the Hereafter.
