Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:26
Then Allah sent down His tranquillity upon His Messenger and upon the believers and sent down soldiers angels whom you did not see and punished those who disbelieved. And that is the recompense of 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.
The discourse on the explanation of His statement: ثُمَّ أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ سَكِينَتَهُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ وَعَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَأَنْزَلَ جُنُودًا لَمْ تَرَوْهَا وَعَذَّبَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَذَلِكَ جَزَاءُ الْكَافِرِينَ (9:26) ("Then Allah sent down His tranquility (sakīna) upon His Messenger and upon the believers, and He sent down hosts which you did not see, and He punished those who disbelieved; and that is the recompense of the disbelievers." (9:26))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Then, after the earth had become too narrow for you despite its vastness, and you had turned your backs to the enemies, Allah lifted from you the trial that had descended, by the descent of the tranquility (sakīna) = and that is the security and the calmness of soul = upon you.
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= And we have already explained that it is a word of the pattern "faʿīla," derived from "al-sukūn" (rest/stillness), in what has preceded earlier in this book of ours, in a manner that absolves us from repetition in this place.
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=(and He sent down hosts which you did not see), and these are the angels whom I mentioned in the previously cited narrations =(and He punished those who disbelieved), He says: and Allah punished those who denied His oneness (waḥdāniyya) and the messengership of His Messenger Muḥammad ﷺ, by means of execution (qatl) and the taking captive of their families and children (sabī), and the plundering of possessions and the humiliation =(and that is the recompense of the disbelievers), He says: this which We have inflicted upon them of killing and captivity =(is the recompense of the disbelievers), He says: it is the reward of the people who deny His oneness and the messengership of His Messenger.
16588 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (and He punished those who disbelieved), he says: He killed them with the sword.
16589 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Abū Dāwūd al-Ḥafarī related to us, on the authority of Yaʿqūb, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd: (and He punished those who disbelieved), he said: by the defeat and the killing.
16590 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: (and He punished those who disbelieved; and that is the recompense of the disbelievers), he said: (namely) whoever of them remained.
