Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:5
And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
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: فَإِذَا انْسَلَخَ الأَشْهُرُ الْحُرُمُ فَاقْتُلُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ حَيْثُ وَجَدْتُمُوهُمْ وَخُذُوهُمْ وَاحْصُرُوهُمْ وَاقْعُدُوا لَهُمْ كُلَّ مَرْصَدٍ فَإِنْ تَابُوا وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلاةَ وَآتَوُا الزَّكَاةَ فَخَلُّوا سَبِيلَهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (5) (When the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them, seize them, besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, perform the prayer, and give the zakāh, then let their way be free. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. (5))
Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted be His praise — means by His word (When the sacred months have passed): when they have come to an end, are over, and have gone out.
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Of this one says: "salakhnā shahra kadhā naslakhuhu salkhan wa-sulūkhan," in the sense of: we have come out of it. To this also belongs their expression: "shāh maslūkha" (a skinned sheep), in the sense of: that which has been stripped of its skin, pulled out of it.
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By "the sacred months (al-ashhur al-ḥurum)" He means Dhū al-Qaʿda, Dhū al-Ḥijja, and al-Muḥarram.
Here, however, only the passing of al-Muḥarram is meant, for the proclamation of Barāʾa took place on the day of the great pilgrimage (yawm al-ḥajj al-akbar). It is known that they were not given the entire sacred months as a term of respite — and we have already demonstrated the correctness of that earlier — but because this month was contiguous with the two other sacred months that preceded it, and it was the third of them, while they are all interconnected with one another, it was said: "When the sacred months have passed." The meaning of the word is: when the three sacred months have passed for those who have no covenant, or for those who did have a covenant but broke their covenant by aiding the enemies against the Messenger of Allah and against his companions, or those whose covenant had another, known term.
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(then kill the polytheists (al-mushrikīn)), He says: kill them — (wherever you find them), He says: wherever you encounter them on the earth, in the Sacred Precinct (al-ḥaram) or outside the Sacred Precinct, in the sacred months or outside the sacred months — (and seize them), He says: take them as prisoners of war — (and besiege them), He says: prevent them from moving freely in the lands of Islam and from entering Mecca — (and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush), He says: lie in ambush for them in order to kill them or take them captive — "every place of ambush (kull marṣad)," that means: every road and lookout post.
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The word is of the pattern "mafʿal," derived from the saying of the speaker: "raṣadtu fulānan arṣuduhu raṣdan," in the sense of: I kept watch on him.
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(But if they repent), He says: if they turn back from that which He has forbidden them, namely the ascribing of partners to Allah (shirk) and the denial of the prophethood of His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, to the acknowledgment of the oneness of Allah, the sincere devotion of worship to Him alone, to the exclusion of the gods and the idols, and the acknowledgment of the prophethood of Muḥammad ﷺ — (and perform the prayer (ṣalāh)), He says: and they fulfill what Allah has imposed upon them of prayer, observing its limits — and they give the zakāh that Allah has made obligatory in their possessions to those who are entitled to it — (then let their way be free), He says: then let them roam freely in your cities and enter the Sacred House — (Indeed, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful), to whoever of His servants repents — and who turns to His obedience, after the disobedience in which he was, while He covers his sin and is merciful to him, so that He does not punish him for his past sins from before his repentance, after he has repented.
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We have already mentioned the disagreement of those who differed concerning those to whom respite was granted until the passing of the sacred months.
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And in accordance with what we have said about the explanation of that, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
16475 — ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Wāṣil al-Asadī related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī informed us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Anas, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Whoever leaves this world with sincere devotion to Allah alone, and worshipping Him without ascribing anything as a partner to Him, leaves it while Allah is pleased with him." He said: And Anas said: This is the religion of Allah with which the messengers came and which they conveyed from their Lord, before the confusion of the traditions (harj al-aḥādīth) and the disagreement of desires. And the confirmation of that in the Book of Allah is in the last of what Allah sent down. Allah said: (But if they repent, perform the prayer, and give the zakāh, then let their way be free). He said: Their repentance is the casting off of the idols, the worship of their Lord, the performing of the prayer, and the giving of the zakāh. Then He said in another verse: فَإِنْ تَابُوا وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلاةَ وَآتَوُا الزَّكَاةَ فَإِخْوَانُكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ [Sūrat al-Tawba: 11] (But if they repent, perform the prayer, and give the zakāh, then they are your brothers in religion).
16476 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: (When the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them), to the end of the verse. And Qatāda used to say: Let the way be free of him whom Allah commands you to let his way be free, for the people are of three kinds: a Muslim group that owes the zakāh, a polytheist who owes the poll-tax (jizyah), and a belligerent (ṣāḥib ḥarb) who enjoys safety with his merchandise among the Muslims when he pays the tithe on his property.
16477 — 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: (When the sacred months have passed), these are the four that I have enumerated for you — that is to say: twenty days of Dhū al-Ḥijja, al-Muḥarram, Ṣafar, Rabīʿ al-Awwal, and ten days of the month of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir.
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And the adherents of this statement said: These were called "the sacred months," because Allah, mighty and exalted is He, forbade therein for the believers the blood of the polytheists and the harassing of them, except by way of what is good.
* Mention of those who said that:
16478 — 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 Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Bakr: that he informed him on the authority of Mujāhid and ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb concerning His word: (When the sacred months have passed), that they are the four concerning which Allah said: فَسِيحُوا فِي الأَرْضِ (Travel about the earth). He said: They are "the sacred (months)," because they were given safety therein until they would travel about during them.
16479 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: بَرَاءَةٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ إِلَى الَّذِينَ عَاهَدْتُمْ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ * فَسِيحُوا فِي الأَرْضِ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ (A repudiation from Allah and His Messenger to those of the polytheists with whom you have made a covenant * so travel about the earth for four months). He said: A term of four months was set for them, and He declared Himself free of every polytheist. Then He commanded, when those sacred months had passed: (then kill the polytheists wherever you find them, seize them, besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush), do not let them travel through the lands nor go out for trade; then constrain them. Then He commanded forgiveness: (But if they repent, perform the prayer, and give the zakāh, then let their way be free. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful).
16480 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: (When the sacred months have passed), that is to say: the four for which Allah set them a term — for the people of the general covenant (ahl al-ʿahd al-ʿāmm) among the polytheists — (kill them wherever you find them, seize them, besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush), the verse.
