Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:37
Indeed, the postponing [of restriction within sacred months] is an increase in disbelief by which those who have disbelieved are led [further] astray. They make it lawful one year and unlawful another year to correspond to the number made unlawful by Allah and [thus] make lawful what Allah has made unlawful. Made pleasing to them is the evil of their deeds; and Allah does not guide the disbelieving people.
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: إِنَّمَا النَّسِيءُ زِيَادَةٌ فِي الْكُفْرِ يُضَلُّ بِهِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُحِلُّونَهُ عَامًا وَيُحَرِّمُونَهُ عَامًا لِيُوَاطِئُوا عِدَّةَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ فَيُحِلُّوا مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ زُيِّنَ لَهُمْ سُوءُ أَعْمَالِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ (37) (Verily, the postponement [of a sacred month] (al-nasīʾ) is only an increase in disbelief (kufr); by it those who disbelieve are led astray; one year they declare it permissible and another year they declare it forbidden, so that they may conform to the number that Allah has forbidden, and thus declare permissible what Allah has forbidden. Their evil deeds have been made fair-seeming to them, and Allah does not guide the disbelieving people.) (37)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: The postponement (al-nasīʾ) is nothing other than an increase in disbelief (kufr).
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And "al-nasīʾ" is a verbal noun (maṣdar), derived from the saying of the one who says: "nasaʾtu fī ayyāmika" (I have increased your days) and "nasaʾa Allāhu fī ajalika" (may Allah increase your lifespan), that is to say: may Allah increase the days of your life and the duration of your existence, so that you remain alive therein. And every increase that arises in something—the thing in which that increase comes about through what has arisen in it is called "nasīʾ." Therefore, of milk, when it is diluted with water, it is said: "nasīʾ," and of the pregnant woman it is said: "nasūʾ," and "nusiʾat al-marʾa" (the woman has been increased), because of the increase of the child within her. And one says: "nasaʾtu al-nāqa wa-ansaʾtuhā" (I urged on the she-camel), when you drive her forward so that her pace is increased.
It is possible that "al-nasīʾ" is a "faʿīl" form converted from "mafʿūl," as one says: "laʿīn" and "qatīl," in the meaning of "malʿūn" (cursed) and "maqtūl" (slain). Then the meaning would be: Verily, the postponed month is an increase in disbelief.
It appears that the first view conforms more to the meaning of the word, namely that the meaning is: Verily, the postponement that the people who associate partners with Allah apply to the four sacred months, and their making of what is forbidden therein into something permissible and of what is permissible therein into something forbidden, is an increase in their disbelief and their denial of the ordinances of Allah and His signs.
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Some reciters recited this as: (إِنَّمَا النَّسْيُ) without the hamza and without its lengthening: (يضل به الذين كفروا).
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The reciters differed regarding the recitation of this.
The majority of the reciters of Kūfa recited it: (يَضَلُّ بِهِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا), with the meaning: Allah leads astray, by the postponement (al-nasīʾ) that they invented and introduced, those who disbelieve.
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And the majority of the reciters of Medina and Basra, and some of those of Kūfa, recited it: (يُضِلُّ بِهِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا), with the meaning: By the postponement those who disbelieve lead [people] astray from the straight path of Allah, which He has made for His servants as a way that they tread toward His good pleasure.
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And from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī it is related: (يُضِلُّ بِهِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا), with the meaning: By the postponement that those who disbelieve instituted, they lead the people astray.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct judgment regarding this is that one says: they are two well-known recitations; with each of the two the reciters who possess knowledge of and familiarity with the Qurʾān have recited, and they are close to one another in meaning. For whomever Allah causes to go astray is one who is "astray," and whoever goes astray goes astray only because Allah causes him to go astray and forsakes him. With whichever of the two the reciter recites, he attains what is correct therein.
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And as for what is correct in the recitation of "al-nasīʾ": it is with the hamza, and its recitation upon the pattern of "faʿīl," for that is the widespread recitation of the reciters of the various regions, deviation from which is not permissible in that upon which they have reached consensus.
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And as for His word: (يحلونه عامًا) (one year they declare it permissible), the meaning thereof is: those who disbelieve declare the postponement (al-nasīʾ) permissible. And the "hāʾ" (the suffix) in His word (يحلونه) refers back to it.
And the meaning of the word is: One year they declare permissible that of the four sacred months whose prohibition they have postponed—(ويحرمونه عامًا ليواطئوا عدة ما حرم الله) (and another year they declare it forbidden, so that they may conform to the number that Allah has forbidden), He says: so that, by their declaring permissible the months that they permit, and their declaring forbidden the months that they forbid, they may conform to the number that Allah has forbidden—(فيحلوا ما حرم الله زُيِّن لهم سوء أعمالهم) (and thus declare permissible what Allah has forbidden; their evil deeds have been made fair-seeming to them), He says: their evil and ugly deeds, and that by which the command of Allah and obedience to Him was contradicted, were made beautiful to them and made beloved to them—(والله لا يهدي القوم الكافرين) (and Allah does not guide the disbelieving people), He says: and Allah does not grant success in good and beautiful deeds, and in that wherein lies good pleasure for Allah, to the people who deny His oneness and reject the prophethood of Muḥammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace; rather He leaves them deprived of guidance, just as He left these people deprived with regard to the sacred months.
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And in accordance with what we have said regarding this, the exegetes spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
16706 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief). He said: "Al-nasīʾ" was that "Junāda ibn ʿAwf ibn Umayya al-Kinānī" attended the pilgrimage every year, and he was called "Abū Thumāma." Then he would proclaim: "Verily, Abū Thumāma cannot be accused and cannot be reproached; verily, the ṣafar of the coming year—this year—is permissible!" Then the people would declare it permissible, and they forbade ṣafar one year and forbade al-muḥarram another year. That is His word, the Exalted: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief), up to His word: (the disbelievers). And His word: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief) means: they leave al-muḥarram unforbidden one year, and another year they forbid it.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And this explanation of the explanation of Ibn ʿAbbās points to the correctness of the recitation of the one who recites (النَّسْيُ), without the hamza and without the lengthening, and the attribution of the meaning of the word to its being a "faʿl," derived from the saying of the one who says: "nasītu al-shayʾa ansāhu" (I forgot the matter, I forget it), and from the word of Allah: نَسُوا اللَّهَ فَنَسِيَهُمْ [Sūrat al-Tawba: 67], with the meaning: they forgot (neglected) Allah, so He forgot (neglected) them.
16707 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief). He said: that is al-muḥarram; it was forbidden one year, and ṣafar another year, and a second ṣafar was added to the sacred months. They forbade ṣafar one time and declared it permissible another time, and Allah censured that. And Hawāzin and Ghaṭafān and Banū Sulaym did that.
16708 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief). He said: "Al-nasīʾ" was a man of Banū Kināna, and he had standing among them, and he made al-muḥarram into ṣafar one year, so that they set out on a raid therein, gained spoils therein and attained [their aim], and he forbade it [the] other year.
16709 — ...... He said: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief), the verse. And there was a man of Banū Kināna who was called "al-nasīʾ"; he made al-muḥarram into ṣafar and declared the war spoils (ghanāʾim) permissible therein. Then this verse was sent down.
16710 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: there was a man of Banū Kināna who came every year in the pilgrimage season on a donkey of his and said: "O people, I cannot be reproached and cannot be accused, and there is no refutation for what I say. Verily, we have forbidden al-muḥarram and postponed ṣafar." Then he came the following year and said the same as his [earlier] saying, and said: "Verily, we have forbidden ṣafar and postponed al-muḥarram." That is His word: (so that they may conform to the number that Allah has forbidden). He said: that refers to the four [months]—(and thus declare permissible what Allah has forbidden), through the postponement of this sacred month.
16711 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief): "Al-nasīʾ" is al-muḥarram; he forbade al-muḥarram one year and forbade ṣafar another year, and the increase is "ṣafar." They postponed the months until they made of ṣafar al-muḥarram, and thus declared permissible what Allah had forbidden. And Hawāzin and Ghaṭafān and Banū Sulaym revered it; they were the ones who did that in the time of ignorance (al-jāhiliyya).
16712 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief), up to His word: (the disbelievers). People of the folk of error proceeded and added ṣafar to the sacred months. Their spokesman stood up in the pilgrimage season and said: "Verily, your gods have forbidden al-muḥarram this year," whereupon they forbade it that year. Then he said the coming year: "Verily, your gods have forbidden ṣafar," whereupon they forbade it that year. And these two were called "the two ṣafars." He said: and the first to perform the postponement (al-nasīʾ) were Banū Mālik ibn Kināna, and they were three: Abū Thumāma Ṣafwān ibn Umayya, one of Banū Fuqaym ibn al-Ḥārith, then one of Banū Kināna.
16713 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief). He said: Allah made the pilgrimage obligatory in dhū al-ḥijja. He said: and the polytheists (mushrikīn) named the months: dhū al-ḥijja, al-muḥarram, ṣafar, rabīʿ, rabīʿ, jumādā, jumādā, rajab, shaʿbān, ramaḍān, shawwāl, dhū al-qaʿda, dhū al-ḥijja—therein they performed the pilgrimage once. Then they kept silent about al-muḥarram and did not mention it, and then they returned and called ṣafar [again] ṣafar. Then they called rajab jumādā al-ākhira, then they called shaʿbān and ramaḍān, then they called ramaḍān shawwāl, then they called dhū al-qaʿda shawwāl, then they called dhū al-ḥijja dhū al-qaʿda, then they called al-muḥarram dhū al-ḥijja, so that they performed the pilgrimage therein, while its name with them was dhū al-ḥijja. Then they repeated this account anew, and thus in each month they performed the pilgrimage for two years [consecutively], until the pilgrimage of Abū Bakr—may Allah be pleased with him—coincided with the last of the two years in dhū al-qaʿda. Then the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—performed his pilgrimage that he performed, and it coincided with dhū al-ḥijja. That is the moment when the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said in his sermon: "Verily, time has revolved back to its [original] form as on the day Allah created the heavens and the earth."
16714 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief). He said: they performed the pilgrimage in dhū al-ḥijja for two years [consecutively], then they performed the pilgrimage in al-muḥarram for two years, then they performed the pilgrimage in ṣafar for two years, and thus every year in each month they performed the pilgrimage for two years [consecutively], until the pilgrimage of Abū Bakr coincided with the last of the two years in dhū al-qaʿda, a year before the pilgrimage of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Then the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—performed the pilgrimage the following year in dhū al-ḥijja. That is the moment when the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said in his sermon: "Verily, time has revolved back to its [original] form as on the day Allah created the heavens and the earth."
16715 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿImrān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Abū Mālik: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief). He said: they made the year thirteen months long, and they made al-muḥarram into ṣafar, and thus they declared the sacred things (al-ḥurumāt) permissible therein. Then Allah sent down: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief).
16716 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief; by it those who disbelieve are led astray), the verse. He said: this was a man of Banū Kināna, who was called "al-Qalammas"; he lived in the time of ignorance (al-jāhiliyya). And in the time of ignorance they did not raid one another in the sacred month; a man would meet the slayer of his father and not stretch out his hand against him. When he [al-Qalammas] was present, he said: "Set out with us." They objected to him: "This is al-muḥarram!" He said: "We postpone it this year; this year there are two ṣafars, and when the coming year arrives, we make it up and make of those two two muḥarrams." He said: and thus he did. When the coming year arrived, he said: "Do not wage war in ṣafar; forbid it together with al-muḥarram; they are two muḥarrams; al-muḥarram we postponed last year and we make it up [now]." That is the "postponement" (al-insāʾ). And the one who vied with them in glory (munāfiruhum) said:
"And from us comes the postponer of the months, al-Qalammas."
And Allah sent down: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief), up to the end of the verse.
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And as for His word: (an increase in disbelief), the meaning thereof is: an increase of disbelief through the postponement, on top of their disbelief in Allah from before they invented the postponement, as in:
16717 — 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: (Verily, the postponement is an increase in disbelief), He says: they thereby increased disbelief on top of their disbelief.
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And as for His word: (so that they may conform) (li-yuwāṭiʾū), that is derived from the saying of the one who says: "wāṭaʾtu fulānan ʿalā kadhā uwāṭiʾuhu muwāṭaʾatan" (I agreed with so-and-so concerning such-and-such), when you agree with him about it, supporting him therein, not in conflict with him.
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And concerning Ibn ʿAbbās there is related regarding this that which:
16718 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (so that they may conform to the number that Allah has forbidden). He says: they make [it] equal (cause it to conform).
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And that is close in meaning to what we have set forth, for that which resembles something conforms to that thing from the standpoint in which it resembles it.
And the meaning of the word is only: that with the number of the months that they forbid they conform to the number of the four months that Allah has forbidden, without adding to it or subtracting from it, even though they bring it forward or postpone it. That is the conformity of their number to the number that Allah has forbidden.
