Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:25
Allah has already given you victory in many regions and [even] on the day of Hunayn, when your great number pleased you, but it did not avail you at all, and the earth was confining for you with its vastness; then you turned back, fleeing.
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement: لَقَدْ نَصَرَكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي مَوَاطِنَ كَثِيرَةٍ وَيَوْمَ حُنَيْنٍ إِذْ أَعْجَبَتْكُمْ كَثْرَتُكُمْ فَلَمْ تُغْنِ عَنْكُمْ شَيْئًا وَضَاقَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الأَرْضُ بِمَا رَحُبَتْ ثُمَّ وَلَّيْتُمْ مُدْبِرِينَ (Indeed, Allah has helped you in many places, and on the day of Ḥunayn, when your great numbers pleased you but availed you nothing, and the earth became narrow for you despite its breadth, and you then turned and fled, showing your backs) (25).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: لقد نصركم الله (indeed, Allah has helped you), O believers, in places of battle where you stood firm to meet your enemy, and on numerous battlefields where you and they encountered one another. ويوم حنين (and on the day of Ḥunayn), He says: and also on the day of Ḥunayn He helped you.
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And "Ḥunayn" is a valley, according to what is reported, between Mecca and aṭ-Ṭāʾif. The [word] was grammatically inflected [with tanwīn], because it is masculine, a name for something masculine. Sometimes its inflection is left off, and it is intended that it be made into a name for the region in which it lies. To this belongs the saying of the poet [Ḥassān ibn Thābit]:
"They helped their Prophet and strengthened his arm at Ḥunayn, on the day the heroes forsook one another."
16573 — ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: Abān al-ʿAṭṭār related to us, saying: Hishām ibn ʿUrwa related to us, on the authority of ʿUrwa, who said: "Ḥunayn" is a valley beside Dhū al-Majāz.
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إذ أعجبتكم كثرتكم (when your great numbers pleased you) — and on that day they were, according to what has been reported to us, twelve thousand men.
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And it has been transmitted that the Prophet ﷺ said on that day: "We shall not be defeated today on account of smallness in number."
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And it is said: a man of the Muslims said that, one of the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
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And that is Allah's statement: إذ أعجبتكم كثرتكم فلم تغن عنكم شيئا (when your great numbers pleased you but availed you nothing), He says: but your great numbers availed you nothing. وضاقت عليكم الأرض بما رحبت (and the earth became narrow for you despite its breadth), He says: and the earth, despite its expanse, became narrow for you.
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And the "bāʾ" here has the meaning of "fī" (in), and its meaning is: and the earth became narrow for you in its breadth, and with its breadth.
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Of this one says: "a wide (raḥīb) place," that is, spacious. And the wide regions (al-riḥāb) are only called "riḥāb" because of their spaciousness.
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ثم وليتم مدبرين (and you then turned and fled, showing your backs), [turning away] from your enemy, in flight. "Mudbirīn" (showing the backs), He says: you turned your backs to them, and that is the defeat. The Blessed and Exalted informs them that victory lies in His hand and comes from Him, and that it does not [depend] on the abundance of numbers and the intensity of striking power, and that He grants the few victory over the many when He wills, and that He leaves the many to themselves alongside the few, so that the many are defeated.
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And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the interpreters (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
16574 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his statement: لقد نصركم الله في مواطن كثيرة ويوم حنين (indeed, Allah has helped you in many places, and on the day of Ḥunayn), until he reached: وَذَلِكَ جَزَاءُ الْكَافِرِينَ (and that is the recompense of the disbelievers), he said: "Ḥunayn" is a water-source between Mecca and aṭ-Ṭāʾif; there the Prophet of Allah fought against [the tribes] Hawāzin and Thaqīf. At the head of Hawāzin stood Mālik ibn ʿAwf, brother of the Banū Naṣr, and at the head of Thaqīf stood ʿAbd Yālīl ibn ʿAmr al-Thaqafī. He said: And it has been reported to us that on that day twelve thousand men went out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: ten thousand of the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār, and two thousand of the "freed ones" (al-ṭulaqāʾ, the Meccans who were spared at the conquest of Mecca). And it has been reported to us that a man said on that day: "We shall not be defeated today on account of [scant] numbers!" He said: And it has been reported to us that the freed ones on that day fled in panic with the people, and withdrew from the Prophet of Allah ﷺ, until he dismounted from his grey-white mule. And it has been reported to us that the Prophet of Allah said: "O my Lord, grant me what You have promised me!" He said: And al-ʿAbbās held the rein of the mule of the Messenger of Allah, and the Prophet ﷺ said to him: "Call out: O company of the Anṣār, and O company of the Muhājirūn!" And he began to call the Anṣār, clan by clan, and then he said: "Call the people of Sūrat al-Baqara!" He said: Then the people came as one [mass]. Then the Prophet of Allah ﷺ turned around, and there was a group of the Anṣār, and he said: "Is there anyone else with you?" They said: "O Prophet of Allah, by Allah, if you were to march to Bark al-Ghimād in Yemen, we would be with you." Then Allah sent down His help, and defeated their enemy, and the Muslims returned [to the battle]. He said: And the Messenger of Allah took a handful of dust — or: a fistful of gravel — and cast it into the faces of the disbelievers (kuffār), and said: "May the faces be disfigured!", and they were defeated. And when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gathered the war-spoils (ghanāʾim) and came to al-Jiʿrāna, he distributed there the spoils of Ḥunayn, and reconciled [by gifts] a number of people, among them Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb, al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām, Suhayl ibn ʿAmr, and al-Aqraʿ ibn Ḥābis. Then the Anṣār said: "Has the man [now] found safety and favored his own people!" That reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, while he was in a tent of leather, and he said: "O company of the Anṣār, what is this that has reached me? Were you not astray, whereupon Allah guided you? And were you not abased, whereupon Allah granted you honor? And were you not [such and such]!" He said: Then Saʿd ibn ʿUbāda, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "Permit me to speak!" He said: "Speak." He said: "As for your saying: 'You were astray, whereupon Allah guided you' — so we indeed were. And 'you were abased, whereupon Allah granted you honor' — the Arabs know which tribe of the tribes of the Arabs protected better than we did that which lay behind their backs!" Then ʿUmar said: "O Saʿd, do you [really] know to whom you speak!" He said: "Yes, I speak to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ." Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "By Him in whose hand my soul is, if the Anṣār were to take one valley and the [rest of the] people another valley, I would take the valley of the Anṣār; and were it not for the hijra, I would be a man of the Anṣār." And it has been reported to us that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ used to say: "The Anṣār are my inner core and my trusted repository; so accept from those of them who do good, and overlook the faults of those of them who do wrong." Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "O company of the Anṣār, are you not content that the [other] people return home with camels and sheep, while you return to your homes with the Messenger of Allah!" Then the Anṣār said: "We are content with Allah and His Messenger; by Allah, we said that only out of concern for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ!" Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Allah and His Messenger hold you truthful and accept your excuse."
16575 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: It has been reported to us that the [foster-]mother of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who had suckled him — his wet-nurse — from the Banū Saʿd ibn Bakr, came to him and asked him for the captives (sabāyā) of the day of Ḥunayn. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "I do not possess them [alone]; I have only my share in them. But come to me tomorrow and ask me while the people are with me, for when I give you my share, the people will give you [theirs]." Then she came the next day, and he spread out a garment for her; she sat upon it, and asked him [for it], and he gave her his share. When the people saw that, they gave her their shares.
16576 — 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: لقد نصركم الله في مواطن كثيرة (indeed, Allah has helped you in many places), the verse: that a man of the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said on the day of Ḥunayn: "O Messenger of Allah, we shall not be defeated today on account of smallness [in number]!" And the great numbers of the people pleased him, and they were twelve thousand men. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ marched on, and they were left to the word of that man, and they were defeated [and put to flight] away from the Messenger of Allah — except al-ʿAbbās, and Abū Sufyān ibn al-Ḥārith, and Ayman ibn Umm Ayman, who was killed before him on that day. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ called out: "Where are the Anṣār? Where are those who gave the pledge of allegiance under the tree?" Then the people returned, and Allah sent down the angels with the victory, and they defeated the polytheists (mushrikīn) on that day, and that is His statement: ثُمَّ أَنْـزَلَ اللَّهُ سَكِينَتَهُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ وَعَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَأَنْـزَلَ جُنُودًا لَمْ تَرَوْهَا (Then Allah sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and upon the believers, and sent down armies that you did not see), the verse.
16577 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Kathīr ibn ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, on the authority of his father, who said: When it was the day of Ḥunayn, the Muslims and the polytheists encountered one another, and the Muslims turned away on that day [in flight]. He said: And indeed, I saw the Prophet ﷺ, and there was no one with him except Abū Sufyān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, who held the stirrup of the Prophet ﷺ, not ceasing however swiftly he [the Prophet] made his way toward the polytheists. He said: Then I came and seized the rein [of his mule] — and he was riding a grey-white mule of his — and he said: "O ʿAbbās, call the people of the samura-tree [of the pledge]!" And I was a man with a loud voice; so I called out at the top of my voice: "Where are the people of the samura-tree!" Then they turned about, as though they were camels driven back to their young, and they said: "Yā labbayk, yā labbayk, yā labbayk [Here we are]!" And the polytheists came on. They and the Muslims encountered one another, and the Anṣār called to one another: "O company of the Anṣār!", and then the call was confined to the Banū al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khazraj, and they called to one another: "O Banū al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khazraj!" Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ looked, while seated on his mule like one stretching out [to see], at their fighting, and he said: "This is the moment when the furnace has grown hot!" Then he took with his hand some gravel and cast it at them, and said: "They are defeated, by the Lord of the Kaʿba! They are defeated, by the Lord of the Kaʿba!" He said: And by Allah, their affair remained in defeat and their sharpness was blunted, until Allah defeated them. He said: And it is as though I [still] look at the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, while he pursues them on his mule.
16578 — Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab: that they took six thousand captives (sabī) on that day. Then their people came later as Muslims [to him], and they said: "O Messenger of Allah, you are the best of people and the most beneficent of people, and you have taken our sons and our women and our possessions!" Then the Prophet ﷺ said: "With me is what you see! And the best speech is the most truthful; choose: either your children and your women, or your possessions." They said: "We hold nothing equal to the [honor of the] kinships!" Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood up and said: "Indeed, these have come to me as Muslims, and we let them choose between the children and the possessions, and they held nothing equal to the kinships. So whoever of you holds anything of them [of captives] in his hand, and whose heart is willing to give it back, let him do so; and whoever does not [wish to], let him give it to us, and let it be a loan upon us until we obtain something [of spoils], then we shall give him its replacement." Then they said: "O Prophet of Allah, we are content and we consent!" Then he said: "Indeed, I do not know — perhaps there is among you someone who is not content. So command your leaders [ʿurafāʾ] to convey that to us." Then the leaders conveyed to him that they were content and consented.
16579 — ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Salama related to us, saying: Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ related to us, on the authority of Abū Hammām, on the authority of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān — that is, al-Fihrī — who said: I was with the Prophet ﷺ in the campaign (ghazwa) of Ḥunayn, and when the sun stood still [at midday], I put on my armor and mounted my horse, until I came to the Prophet ﷺ, while he was in the shade of a tree. I said: "O Messenger of Allah, the time to march has come." He said: "Indeed!" Then he called out: "O Bilāl! O Bilāl!" Bilāl rose from beneath a samura-tree and came on, as though his shadow were the shadow of a bird, and he said: "Here I am, at your service, and may my soul be your ransom, O Messenger of Allah!" Then the Prophet ﷺ said to him: "Saddle my horse!" Then he brought out a saddle whose two side-flaps were stuffed with palm-fiber, in which there was neither excess nor pride. He said: Then the Prophet ﷺ mounted it, and we positioned ourselves opposite them, our day and our night, and when the two cavalries encountered one another, the Muslims turned away, showing their backs, as Allah has said. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ called out: "O servants of Allah, O company of the Muhājirūn!" He said: And the Prophet ﷺ bent down from his horse, and took a handful of dust and cast it into their faces, and they turned away, showing their backs. Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ said: Then their sons told me, on the authority of their fathers, that they said: "There remained none of us but his two eyes were filled with that dust."
16580 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, who said: I heard al-Barāʾ, and a man of [the tribe] Qays asked him: "Did you flee from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the day of Ḥunayn?" Then al-Barāʾ said: "But the Messenger of Allah did not flee; and Hawāzin on that day were archers, and when we charged them, they gave way, and we threw ourselves upon the spoils; then they received us with the arrows. And indeed, I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on his white mule, while Abū Sufyān ibn al-Ḥārith held its rein, and he [the Prophet] said:
'I am the Prophet, no lie! I am the son of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib!'"
16581 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barāʾ, who said: A man asked him: "O Abū ʿUmāra, did you turn back [in flight] on the day of Ḥunayn?" Then al-Barāʾ said, while I was hearing [it]: "I bear witness that the Messenger of Allah did not turn his back on that day, and Abū Sufyān was leading his mule. And when the polytheists overwhelmed him, he dismounted and began to say:
'I am the Prophet, no lie! I am the son of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib!'
And there was seen on that day none of the people more intense [in battle] than he."
16582 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān related to me, on the authority of ʿAwf al-Aʿrābī, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, the freedman (mawlā) of Umm Barthan, who said: A man who was on the day of Ḥunayn among the polytheists related to me, saying: When we and the companions of Muḥammad — peace be upon him — encountered one another, they did not hold firm against us for as long as the milking of a sheep [lasts], until we put them to flight. And while we were pursuing them, we arrived at the owner of the grey-white mule, and there men met us, white, with fair faces, and they said to us: "May the faces be disfigured, turn back!" Then we turned back, and the people mounted us [pursued us], and that was it [the well-known defeat].
16583 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Yaʿqūb, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, who said: Allah reinforced His Prophet ﷺ on the day of Ḥunayn with five thousand marked angels. He said: And on that day Allah named the Anṣār "believers." He said: فأنـزل الله سكينته على رسوله وعلى المؤمنين وأنـزل جنودا لم يروها (And Allah sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and upon the believers, and sent down armies that they did not see).
16584 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: ويوم حنين إذ أعجبتكم كثرتكم فلم تغن عنكم شيئا (and on the day of Ḥunayn, when your great numbers pleased you but availed you nothing), he said: they were twelve thousand men.
16585 — Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Adamī related to us, saying: Maʿn ibn ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Sāʾib al-Ṭāʾifī, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Yazīd ibn ʿĀmir, who said: When the rout of the Muslims took place, at the moment when they fled on the day of Ḥunayn, the Prophet ﷺ struck his hand toward the earth and took from it a fistful of dust, and turned with it toward the polytheists, while they were pursuing the Muslims, and cast it into their faces and said: "Turn back! May the faces be disfigured!" He said: Then we turned away, and no one met another but he was wiping the speck of dust from his eyes.
16586 — And by the same [isnād], on the authority of Yazīd ibn ʿĀmir al-Suwāʾī, who said: It was said to him: "O Abū Ḥājiz, the fear that Allah cast into the hearts of the polytheists — what did you experience [of it]?" He said — and Abū Ḥājiz was among the polytheists on the day of Ḥunayn — then he would take a pebble and throw it into a basin so that it sounded, and then he would say: "Within us there was something like this [a buzzing of fear]!"
16587 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to me, on the authority of ʿAwf, he said: I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, the freedman of Umm Barthan — or: Umm Bartham — say: A man who was among the polytheists on the day of Ḥunayn related to me, saying: When we and the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ encountered one another on the day of Ḥunayn, they did not hold firm against us for as long as the milking of a sheep [lasts]. He said: When we put them to flight, we began to drive them on, hard upon their heels, until we arrived at the owner of the white mule, and behold, that was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said: Then there met us beside him men, white, with fair faces, and they said to us: "May the faces be disfigured, turn back!" He said: Then we were defeated, and they leapt upon our shoulders [pursued us], and that was it [the well-known defeat].