Tafseer (The Second Group - At-Towbah)

8/9/2019 Tafseer (The Second Group - At-Towbah)

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9 At-Towbah or Al-Baraaah

Name and Introduction

This Soorah is called At-Towbah (repentance) because the repentance of a fewbelievers in a particular situation has been mentioned herein. It is also called Al-

Baraaah (disassociation) which is the first word of the Soorah and announcesdisassociation from the polytheists.

This Soorah is the only one in the Qur-aan to which the verse In the name of Allaah,the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful has not been appended to the beginning. Thisverse is the main sign of separation between Soorahs; however, this Soorah was

separated from the preceding Soorah without it. Scholars have given many reasonsfor this, but the one reason agreed upon by everyone is that the Prophet recited and

dictated it without that appendage, thus Muslims have preserved it exactly as it was

recited to them by him. It is also a known fact that the Prophet recited to people

exactly as was revealed to him, thus, the decision not to append that verse is in fact

Allaahs. Because Allaah SWT did not explain His reason to do so, whatever scholarsopine are only guesses. Some of them sound very logical and sensible, but no one

knows if they are valid in the eyes of Allaah SWT.

Reiteration of Some Basic Concepts

To understand the message of this Soorah in its proper context, let us reiterate the

objectives and targets for which Allaah sends His messengers in general, and the

objectives and targets He sent Prophet Muammad all-Allaahu alayhi wa sallam toaccomplish in particular.

Allaah SWT is Just, likes justice and has ordained balance, equilibrium and justice forHis creation. Allaah SWT knows that human beings are not capable of devising a

properly balanced and just lifestyle on their own. He, being Merciful, granted them a

pre-packaged complete system of life that, if practiced wholly and as advised, not

only establishes a fully balanced and just society, but also provides opportunities for

people to go beyond justice to excel in their performance. This system of life creates

peace, security and tranquility in human society and its environment, hence, Allaah

SWT named it Islam. He mandated the Islamic way of life for all people, but to

maintain human freedom to make decisions, He did not pre-program people to liveby Islam He left it to us to do so at our own initiative and volition.


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If we think of human society as a garden, Allaah wants this garden to be optimally

beautiful and useful. Islam is designed to ensure growth of the plants of beauty and

utility, in a balanced manner.

To ensure that people always have access to the authentic version of Islam and have

a model to follow, Allaah mercifully included in His plan the sending of prophets and

messengers who would provide information about Islam to people and demonstrateby their own example how it was to be practiced. This was to continue until human

society had matured enough that the Islamic teachings and the prophetic model

could be preserved in its purity for posterity.

Considering that Shayaan (Satan) exists to incite people to rebel and reject theIslamic lifestyle, it is natural for some people to listen to Shayaan instead of listeningto Allaah. It is also possible for rebels, who are unjust and corrupt, to take control of

Allaahs earth and persecute, suppress or coerce those who want to follow Islam. Thepeople who follow Shayaan are like useless and ugly weeds who can aggressivelytake over a garden, stifling the growth of beautiful and useful plants.

Now, if the teachings and models are available, but people do not have an

opportunity or freedom to practice those teachings because anti-Islamic forces, who

are rebellious to Allaah, are in control of the society, there have to be mechanisms in

place to provide assistance to those who want to do the right things and establish

justice and excellence in the society. In other words, there has to be some way of

removing the weeds and helping good plants to flourish. For that purpose, Allaahsplan included sending His messengers to do this work.

The general mandate of the messengers of Allaah is to restore balance and justice in

the society to which they are sent, so that once that Islamic system becomes the

governing system in that society, the people have full opportunity to excel if they

choose to do so. As the Qur-aan states:

We sent Our messengers with clear evidences and sent down with them the

Book and the Balance so that people may maintain their affairs with justice...

(Al-adeed 57:25)

Their methodology has been to present the Islamic message in the society, and for

the good elements to accept their message while the wicked of the society become

their enemies. The messenger organizes those good people in the form of a teamand they collectively continue to work hard to expand their team until every citizen

of the society who has any goodness in his/her heart voluntarily joins them. During

this period, the messenger and his companions steadfastly endure the abuse and


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persecution which they are subjected to by the corrupt powers in control. When they

have gained enough strength, they take the governance of the society into their own

hands to restore justice and peace as mandated by Allaah SWT. To take care of the

people who continue to disbelieve, the messenger and his followers are required to

fight the corrupt disbelievers until their land is cleaned of them. This is alluded to in

the second part of the verse quoted above:

And we sent down iron, wherein is great military might and benefits for

people, so that Allaah identifies those who, without seeing Him, support Him

and His messengers. (Al-adeed 57:25)

If the messenger and followers are still too weak to form a government, when Allaah

determines that no one else from their society is going to open his or her heart to

become Muslim, Allaah takes the Muslims out of that locality and destroys the rest

through a natural disaster. Before that happens, if the corrupt people in power

decide to kill the messenger, the messenger and his followers are saved and the

rebels are immediately destroyed. The result always is that after a messenger has

come, he and his followers are helped by Allaah SWT so that they always succeed

and prevail. Those who refuse to believe, after all opportunities of preaching to them

have been exhausted, are destroyed one way or the other. So the society starts its

new life under a purely Islamic system. This Sunnahi

of Allaah is mentioned in the

Qur-aan as follows:

We have already given Our word to Our slaves whom We send as messengers

that they definitely will be helped and that Our armies are the ones that are

going to prevail.A-aafaat 37:171-173

Allaah has written, I will surely prevail, I and My messengers! Indeed, Allaah

is Powerful, Almighty. Al-Mujaadilah 58:21

Noah (Noo) is an example where despite preaching for about 900 years, hisfollowers were only few and weak. So, he and his followers were saved, while his

opponents were destroyed by the flood. Moses (Moosa) is an example where both

natural disasters and physical fighting were used. At first, when his followers were

too weak to gain independence, their enemy was destroyed by drowning. Later on,

they fought against the pagans of Palestine and took over their lands to establish

their Islamic state. David (Dawood) and Solomon (Sulaiman) used their fighting

power to establish and expand their Islamic society. Jesus (Eesa) tried to wrestcontrol of Jerusalem from the Jews through a popular uprising, but his plan was

iSunnah of Allaah is the way He deals with human beings in a consistent manner.


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foiled by the Roman army. However, Allaah saved him by lifting him to the heavens.

Allaah SWT used the Romans to punish the Jewsi. In addition to Noah, other

examples of complete destruction are the people of Lot (Loo), people of Thamood,People of Aad, etc. This is Allaahs way of cleaning up His garden or a territory of Hisgarden from all weeds.

After many prophets and messengers, Prophet Muammad was sent as the finalProphet and Messenger with a very clear mandate:

It is He Who sent His messenger with Guidance and the True Deen so that it

dominates over all the lifestyle systems.(A-aff; Al-Fat; At-Towbah)

Although the Prophet was sent to be a guide to the whole of mankind and Allaahsmercy

iito the whole world, the delivery of guidance was to be in two parts. He

himself was personally responsible for the Arabian Peninsula and its surrounding

areas because it was the territory directly in his reach. The rules for that territory

were like any other messengers territory in the past every person was going to begiven full opportunity to understand and accept Islam voluntarily. Those who

accepted Islam and became his companions would be saved and rewarded. Those

who rejected his call even after all means of preaching and all opportunities of

conveying the message had been exhausted, they would be destroyed one way or

the other so that the territory of the Messenger became free from all miscreants or

weeds. This mandate of the Prophet and the Sunnah of Allaah in this respect must be

kept in mind while studying this Soorah.

The second phase was going to be initiated and undertaken by him as much as

circumstances allowed him, but was primarily to be continued and accomplished by

his companions and followers to spread Islam in the rest of the world. Naturally, not

being the messengers, they do not operate under the same mandate. They perform

their duties under the mandate and for the targets as given to the prophets, notthose of the messengers. In other words, they preach and do their best to present

the Islamic message appropriately to everyone they can reach, but those who do not

listen to them, their matter will be dealt with in the Hereafter. The famous Hadeeth

of the Prophet saying, The (true and sincere) scholars from my Ummah are like theprophets of Banee Israaeel profoundly defines the role of Muslim leadership. On theone hand, it defines their responsibility to keep Islamic knowledge alive through the

ages, preach it to the whole world, implement it fully in their societies and make it

iAs the primary audience of Jesus (Eesa), peace be upon him, were the Jews, when he comes back,those Jews who do not accept him at that time will be completely eliminated, as were the rejecters of

Noah or Lot.ii

As indicated earlier in these paragraphs, a messenger is a mercy of Allaah SWT.


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the dominant world order; on the other hand, it also defines the rules under which

they are going to operate and the Sunnah of Allaah that will apply to them.

Obviously, it is the rules and Sunnah of Allaah applicable to prophets such as John

(Yaya) and Zachariah (Zakariyyaa), not the one applicable to the messengers likeMoses (Moosa) and Noah (Noo). Using the example of weeds and garden that hasbeen used earlier, we can say that the mandate of the Muslims is to ensure that the

garden is dominated by useful, beautiful plants; however the weeds are left alone,not exterminated.

Context of the Soorah

It is a well known fact that when Allaah SWT appointed Muammad all-Allaahualayhi wa sallam as His messenger and prophet to attain the objectives and targetsmentioned in the previous section, the Prophet had neither the desire nor training to

play that role. Allaah SWT, Who gave him the task, also took upon Himself the

responsibility to provide relevant training, instructions and guidance according to the

need of the time through the revelation of the Qur-aan. Thus, verses of the Qur-aan

were revealed as Just in Time guidance, leading the mission through all phases ofthe movement from instructions about how to initiate the mission to the

achievement of all objectives.

As mentioned in the preface to the teachings of the Qur-aan, the verses revealed in

that manner were compiled into Soorahs (chapters), which were in turn assembledinto seven groups in a particular order as directed by Allaah SWT. Every revelation

came with specific instructions regarding its placement among the previously

revealed verses. Each of the seven groups starts with one or more Soorahs revealed

in Makkah, and ends with one or more Soorahs revealed in Madeenah. Each group

highlights the process of achieving or tackling one particular aspect of the Islamic

mission.

The first group identifies the process of establishing the Islamic system of peace, justice and excellence when Muslims have a place to implement it. It starts with a

preamble that gives a very concise overview of the path and where it can go wrong.

Then it takes the believers through four main facets of the process starting with

Soorah Al-Baqarah, until the complete establishment of Deen is attained in Soorah

Al-Maaidah.

The second group of Soorahs takes people through the four main stages through

which the Islamic movement progressed until the goal of Islams supremacy wasachieved. The theme of the first Soorah of this group, Al-Anaam, was to present thefirst stage inviting people to Islam using signs of Allaah people find around them intheir environment and using a logical and rational approach. It was also to clarify that


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this was the real path and approach of the forefather Ibraheem. The second Soorah,

Al-Araaf, represents the second stage where people were not only invited to usetheir common sense to understand Islam but were also warned of the consequences

of opposing the Messenger. These warnings were supported by the historical

examples of previous nations that were destroyed because they rejected and

opposed their messengers. In the first two stages (logical invitation and warning of

consequences), the Muslims were not allowed to retaliate to any act of terror orpersecution to which they were subjected. They had to bear all atrocities and abuse,

patiently and steadfastly, without responding to them physically. Stage three was

when the Muslims had a place to implement Islam but the opponents were

determined to attack and destroy them. Thus, the third Soorah prepared the

Muslims to become ready to fight and respond to acts of aggression in order to

defend themselves, but also in order to take over the Holy Kabah, the original centreof the Islamic movement established by Ibraheem. A paradigm shift was needed

from the paradigm of complete non-violence to the paradigm of defending

themselves for survival and being ready to fight. They needed to prepare themselves

for facing the enemy including arming themselves appropriately. Soorah Al-Anfaal

addressed those needs along with commenting on the first major encounter with the

attackers at Badr. Thus, Al-Anfaal represents the third stage of the Islamic struggle,

whereby the believers had to begin fighting for their faith. The fourth and final stage

is covered by this Soorah, At-Towbah, whereby the Muslims are encouraged to go on

the offensive, take charge of the land in their own hands, establish the sovereignty of

Islam and clean up the land where the final Messenger has been sent.

Background of the Contents

This Soorah is a collection of different instructions revealed at different times in 8

and 9 AHi

in order to direct the Prophet and the Muslims to take certain measures

that were critically essential for: liberating the Holy Ka bah; defeating the enemies ofthe mission; ensuring the stability and viability of the Islamic state; consolidating its

power; eradicating idolatry from Arabia; and establishing the Islamic system ofpeace, justice and excellence on strong footings; and thus, these measures went

beyond merely defending against the invasions by the enemies.

As mentioned in the context section, the revelations in the first 20 months after

Hijrah (migration), in particular Soorah Anfaal, made the Muslims shift their

paradigm from bearing the persecution quietly with patience to fighting steadfastly

in their defence against Makkan terrorism and enemy invasions. Those and other

subsequent revelations (such as Soorah Aali Imran and An-Nisaa) led them throughthe survival phase which was, by nature, defensive against the enemies attacks

iCounting from the year of Hijrah (Prophets migration to Madeenah), the year of Hijrah.


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(survival phase). This Soorah prepared Muslims to shift their paradigm from being

passive like sitting ducks (defending only when attacked) to becoming eagles to

enforce the authority and sovereignty of Allaah and Islam (dominance phase).

Through the instructions contained herein, they were being guided to attain their

dominance objective, and thus required them to go on the offensive.

Once again, to understand the instructions in their context, let us very briefly reviewthe circumstances which are addressed by the revelation of various sections of this

Soorah.

In the introduction to the previous Soorah, Al-Anfaal, we had mentioned how the

Makkans had declared an open war against Muslims of Madeenah, sent bandits and

troopers to conduct robberies and raids on Madeenah and then launched a full force

attack that the Muslims repelled victoriously at Badr.

About a year later, they attacked with an army three-times as large as the first

attack. Then, two years later they collected the whole idolater fighting force from the

surrounding areas and attacked with a more than 10,000 strong army, along with the

support of Jewish forces. With Allaahs help, the Muslims withstood and survivedthese attacks. Now that the disbelievers had exhausted their attempts to annihilate

Muslims and their small state, it was time for Muslims to build upon their survival,

take steps to disable the Makkans to wage a war in future, and ensure the

establishment of lasting peace and security in Arabia. For this purpose, Allaah SWT

commanded the Prophet through a dream to take a brilliant peace initiative. The

Prophet saw in a dream that he was performing an Umrah (smaller pilgrimage) tothe Holy Kabah in Makkah. A prophets dream being an instruction from Allaah, theProphet started preparing for the journey and announced that Muslims should get

ready to go with him for that journey. They left for pilgrimage in Dzul Qadah of 6 AH.

This move was a brilliant peace initiative because if the Makkans allowed theMuslims to perform the pilgrimage in accordance with the established traditions and

their tribal responsibility, it would have put an end to their ban on and their

declaration of war against Muslims. If they refused, they would lose the support of

Arabs and thus lose their ability to wage wars against Muslims in the future. Despite

the Makkans attempts to engage the visiting Muslims in a battle by blocking theirway and inciting them through different means, the Prophet and Muslims avoided

any armed confrontation practising utmost patience and restraint. They managed to

reach and camp peacefully at udaibiyah, just outside the sanctuary perimeter.


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There, after many testing moments, they were finally able to secure a ten-year peace

treaty with the Makkansi.

The treaty of udaibiyyah provided an end to the continuous state of war, and gavethe Prophet and Muslims the opportunity to spread the message of Islam, which was

their real goal. The Prophet encouraged his companions to travel through the land to

deliver the message of Islam. He also sent his emissaries to various tribes invitingthem to Islam. People from different tribes also started coming to Madeenah on

their own to learn about Islam, to pledge their allegiance to the Islamic state and to

become Muslims.

This temporary end of hostilities also impacted Muslims attitudes towards theidolaters, as the loyalties based on kinship were the strongest bond that existed in

Arabian society. The Muslims at an advanced level of Islamic knowledge, spirit and

practice had already developed the strongest bond with faith and fellows in faith,

overcoming their loyalties of kinship. But many new Muslims and weak older

Muslims who had idolater relatives still had sympathy, loyalty and a soft corner in

their hearts for them. When the idolaters were attacking the Muslims to obliterate

them, these loyalties were weakened but the cessation of visible hostilities started

perking these loyalties in their minds and attitudes. This was not healthy and would

cause serious problems when the final encounter with the idolaters was to take

place. Some of the verses in this Soorah addressed this issue.

Pursuant to the treaty, the Makkans let the Muslims perform their pilgrimage in the

year 7 AH, but many of them were not sincere in upholding the treaty. Thus, in under

two years, the Makkans broke the treaty by helping and participating in an attack on

one of the tribes allied with the Muslims. This called for an immediate action on the

part of the Islamic state to give the Quraish a clear message that they could not get

away with such a flagrant violation of the treaty. The action was also necessary to

assure the allies of the Islamic state that if the allies interests or security wasjeopardized by any act of aggression, the Muslims would help and protect them.

Some of the Muslims were reluctant to attack the Makkans for two reasons: because

of their ties of kinship and because the Makkans were the custodians of the Kabahand served the pilgrims. Similarly some of the Muslims who had only survival mode

in their horizon were becoming complacent towards fighting to make the rule of

Allaah supreme on the earth. Some verses dealt with such matters.

iThe details of those events will be described at other appropriate places.


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To respond to the violation, the Prophet invited all Muslim tribes to join in the battle,

attacked Makkah with a 10,000 Muslim strong army, and conquered it without any

significant fight or resistance. At the conquest of Makkah, the enemies were

graciously forgiven, and except for those who voluntarily accepted Islam, people

were left free to follow their own conscience. Then the news of Banoo Hawaazin

gathering to fight the Muslims was received and the Prophet confronted them at

unain. Many of them fled and fortified themselves along with Banoo Thaqeef inTaaif. The Muslims laid siege of their fort but then lifted it when it seemed

reasonable to assume that they might not come after the Muslims to fight. This

happened in 8 AH.

After the conquest of Makkah, defeat of Banoo Hawaazin and surrender of people of

Taaif, only the people who were personally convinced of the truth of the Prophetsclaim accepted Islam on their own volition. Everyone else was given respite to

observe, study and make up their own mind whether they wanted to adopt the

Islamic lifestyle or not. The expectation was that since the barriers had been

removed, their misunderstanding had been clarified, the absurdity of idol worship

had been exposed, the beauty of Islam had become evident, the excellence in the

conduct of the Prophet and the Muslims had already been illuminating the society,

every reasonable person would automatically be attracted to Islam. And many in fact

did. People from all walks of life and all places in Arabia were coming in droves to the

Prophet to accept Islam. However, this could not go on forever. There had to be a

time limit at which time everyone having any goodness in his or her heart would

have adopted Islam and only the absolutely wicked and close-minded persons were

left, who needed to be eliminated according to the Sunnah of Allaah with respect to

the direct addressees of a messenger. In particular, the deep rooted institutions of

idolatry needed to be eradicated and the city of Makkah and its sanctuary cleaned-

up to eliminate any possibility of idolatry rearing its ugly head again any time in the

future.

The idolaters were allowed this respite until the 9th

year AH when they were finally

put on a four month final notice to accept Islam, leave the Islamic territory or to get

ready to fight with the Muslims. The beginning part of this Soorah announces this

final notice that was publicly delivered and publicized at ajj (the bigger pilgrimage)of 9 AH. The announcement outlawed idol worship and polytheism in Arabia. It was

also announced that no idolater would be allowed in the future to come for

pilgrimage or enter the Makkan sanctuary. Some people feared that banning the

idolaters from coming for ajj would impact the Makkan economy negatively. Someothers were scared that putting all of the idolaters of the whole of Arabia on notice

might start a bloody civil war. Such people have been educated to adopt the proper

Islamic attitude.


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All of the abovementioned matters have been dealt with in the first 28 verses of this

Soorah. Another eight verses give the policy about the people of the Book and the

37th

verse abolishes the heretical calendar adjustment that Makkans were practising.

Large sections of the remaining Soorah deal with the situation when the Islamic state

was threatened by the Roman Empire, which was then challenged by the Muslims atTabook. Those verses were revealed to prepare Muslims for the battle and to

comment on their performance after the expedition in which the Muslims scored a

moral victory over the Roman Empire, whose army was withdrawn from the border

before the Muslim army arrived (For details, please refer to the overview of the

expedition given before explaining the teachings of verse 38 of the Soorah). As the

hypocrites living in Madeenah had become a dangerous fifth column, the Soorah also

provided guidance about dealing with this cancerous sore.

At the time of the revelation of this Soorah, there were many pockets of idolaters in

Arabia and there were many hypocrites within the Islamic territory. Both of these

groups were hoping that the Muslims would be badly defeated at some front and

consequently they would be able to rise up against them and rout them out. But all

the steps mentioned in this Soorah as well as the moral victory over the Roman

Empire, dashed all their hopes. It made them realize that Islam was there to stay and

that it was truly supported by Allaah. This forced them to re-evaluate their stance.

Thus, delegations from all over Arabia started coming to the Prophet to convert to

Islam and the whole Peninsula became an Islamic society. This completed the mission

of the Prophet entrusted to him by Allaah, as declared in Soorah An-Nasr.


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Teachings and Commentary

There were many idolatrous tribes living within the Islamic state under treaties that they had

entered into with the Prophet. Although the Muslims had always fulfilled their obligations

under the treaty, many of the tribes had been violating their treaties by covertly supporting

or facilitating actions against the Islamic states interests and security or by shirking their

obligations under the treaty. Some of them would break the treaty when the Muslims were inthe most vulnerable situation in the hope that the Muslims would not be able to survive their

treachery. Such tribes were lurking in wait for the Islamic state to get into a serious difficulty

such as a war with the Roman or Iranian empires or the death of the Prophet to attack it,

once again, when it was most vulnerable. To eliminate that danger from within, Allaah SWT

announced an end to all such treaties where the performance from the other party had been

questionable. The first verse of the Soorah makes this announcement, which is further

explained in verses 2-4.

This was another brilliant move (like that of going for the pilgrimage in 6 AH) to clean up

pockets of enemies from within and to identify sleeping cells of conspirators. When viewed

from the perspective of the revolt against the Islamic state by those who turned their backs

from Islam at the death of the Prophet, the wisdom of this step becomes vividly apparent.

Had this not been done, the problems at the death of the Prophet would have multiplied

exponentially and would have perhaps put the viability of the Islamic state in jeopardy.

The verses declaring dissociation from the Idolaters and giving them a final notice have been

put at the very beginning of the Soorah to underscore the importance of these messages andto set the tone and mood of the Soorah.

1Disassociation is hereby declared

by Allaah and His Messenger from

those polytheistsi

with whom you

(O Muslims) have made any

treaty.2

Roam about the land (O

disbelievers) for four months and

know that you cannot

outmanoeuvre Allaah and that

Allaah will bring disgrace to the

disbelievers.

The declaration of disassociation implies that Allaah and His Messenger are not only free from

any obligation to those polytheists but also that they do not want to have any relationship ordealings with them whatsoever. Idolaters or polytheists implied here are those of the Arabian

iIdolaters or those who believe in any kind of partners to Allaah


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Peninsula to which the Prophet had the immediate responsibility. In fact, Amin Ahsan Islahi in

his Tafseer has shown that the use of this term as a proper noun in the Qur-aan has always

been applicable only to them, not the polytheists or idolaters of the whole world.

The first phrase of the announcement is addressed to the Muslims by saying with whom youhave entered into any treaty, emphasizing the collective nature of those decisions.Addressing the declaration of disassociation to Muslims gives them a clear message that

Allaah and His Messenger have made this decision, now it is up to them to make up their

minds whether they want to go along with them as sincere Muslims or demonstrate their

hypocrisy of claiming to believe in Allaah and His Messenger while sympathizing with and

being loyal to their idolater friends, relatives and clans. The second phrase is directly

addressed to the idolaters that they have four months to either accept Islam if they are truly

convinced of its truth, otherwise they should either leave the territory or be prepared to

fight. If they decide to fight or to come up with any other game plan to subvert compliance

with this notice, they should realize that they will fail miserably. They will not be able to

outmanoeuvre Allaah or run away from His grip.

The next verse specifies the timing of the announcement and encourages the idolaters to

repent instead of thinking of fighting or resisting.

3Public announcement to be

made by Allaah and His Messenger

on the day of the Greater

Pilgrimage that Allaah and HisMessenger are free from any

obligation to the polytheists. So if

you repent, it is better for you,

and if you turn away, then know

that you cannot outmanoeuvre

Allaah. And give tidings of a

painful punishment to those whodisbelieve.

4Excepted are those of

the polytheists with whom you

made a treaty, then they have not

failed you in any respect and have

not backed up anyone against you,

so fulfill their agreement to the

end of their term; indeed, Allaahloves those who are careful of

their obligations.


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Greater pilgrimage refers to ajj performed in the 12th

month of the Islamic calendar, as

compared to the smaller pilgrimage which is called Umrah and can be performed at any timeof the year. The particular ajj when the announcement was made was that of 9 AH, a littlemore than a year after the conquest of Makkah. Although at the time of ajj in 8 AH, theMuslims had already conquered Makkah, the Muslims were engaged in dealing with other

enemies and thus the ajj was allowed to take place according to the old ways under the oldleadership. Then in the year 9 AH, the Muslims performed ajj in the Islamic way, while theIdolaters were allowed to perform it in their way. But they were told that never again would

their participation in ajj or their rites, be allowed in future.

The ajj (pilgrimage) rites in 9 AH were officiated and conducted by Aboo Bakr who wasappointed by the Prophet himself to lead the Muslims and to officiate over the Manaasik of

ajj (rites of pilgrimage). Once he had addressed the gathering, Ali, the cousin and son-in-lawof the Prophet, addressed them, and recited these verses to announce the cancellation of the

treaties. These announcements were aggressively publicized and repeated so that everyone

attending the ajj knew about them and could carry the message to all people in their area ofresidence. The Prophet had sent Ali especially to make this announcement for two reasons:Firstly, considering the value the idolaters put on blood relations, the Prophet sent his blood

relative and member of his family to make the announcement on his behalf so that they

understood it as an authentic announcement which must be taken seriously; secondly, the

dispatch of a special representative, in addition to an already appointed leader officiating the

ajj ceremonies to make the announcement was also for underscoring the gravity of thenotice.

i

Verse four clarifies that the cancellation of treaties does not apply to the treaties with tribes

such as Banoo Dhamrah, Banoo Kinaanah and Banoo Khuzaaah who had been honouringtheir treaties. Those treaties were to be honoured by the Muslims until the expiry of

stipulated terms. If the other party is fulfilling their part, it would be un-Islamic (against

Taqwa) for the Muslims to cancel that treaty. However, after the expiry of those treaties, they

would not be renewed.

The next verse instructed the Muslims what to do if those remnants of stubborn idolaters did

not become Muslims or leave the territory.

5Once the inviolable months are

past, then kill the polytheists

wherever you find them, and

capture them and besiege them

i It should also be remembered that, according to the Islamic teachings, the head of the Islamic state

should officiate over the ajj rites and deliver the ajj sermon. The appointment of Aboo Bakr by theProphet to lead the rites of ajj was a clear signal that Aboo Bakr was the person to lead the Ummah inthe absence of the Prophet. It was under the leadership of Aboo Bakr that Ali was to perform his role asthe special envoy as well as to perform his ajj rites as an ordinary Muslim, which is exactly what he did.


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and sit in wait for them in every

check post; however, if they

repent and establish alaah andpay Zakaah, then let them go their

way; surely Allaah is Forgiving,

Merciful.6

And if one of thepolytheists seeks protection from

you, grant him protection so that

he may hear the Word of Allaah,

and then escort him to his place of

safety. That is because they are

people who do not know.

The inviolable months refer to the four months of the notice period; and the idolatershere refer to idolaters of the Arabian Peninsula, as described earlier, and this command is in

accordance with the Sunnah of Allaah to clean up the land of a messenger from the idolaters -

- a Sunnah that has been in place since the time of Noah (Noo). These commandmentsoutlawed polytheism or idolatry in Arabia. Only those people were now allowed to live there

who adopted Islam and that adoption was demonstrated by their becoming a part of the

political and social system established on the basis of alaah and by paying their Zakaah to

the state authority as the foundation of the Islamic fiscal system. Anyone missing any one ofthese three attributes had no right to live in that society.

Although this was supposed to be the final notice and four months was enough time for

people to make a decision one way or the other, Allaah mercifully gave people every

opportunity to let them attain salvation if at any time there was any willingness. Verse 6

affords them one more final opportunity. If Muslims took a military action against a tribe who

did not comply with the final notice, but during that action, anyone wanted to reconsider his

stance on idolatry and showed willingness to study Islam to make his final decision, he would

be provided the knowledge and allowed to reach his home safely giving him one last

opportunity to make up his mind.

After the conquest of Makkah, many delegations of people were already coming on their own

from all over Arabia to Madeenah to accept Islam. This conquest not only opened the hearts

and minds of the Prophets Makkan adversaries to Islam, it also opened the doors for all Arabtribes to enter into Islam. Arab tribes were watching the struggle between the Prophet and

his Makkan adversaries with keen interest. To them, the Prophets success over his own

people and his own city would prove that he was the true prophet of Allaah. It would alsoshow the viability of his movement and mission. As soon as they saw him succeed in this

crucial test in 8 AH, they started entering into Islam in droves. The year 9 AH was called the

year of delegations because the delegations from different tribes from all over Arabia were

coming to visit the Prophet and entering into Islam. The announcement by the verses under


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discussion made the process faster. The Muslims did not have to fight in any mentionable or

significant way. All Arabs came to Islam voluntarily and the Arabian Peninsula became free

of idolatry or polytheism. This is what was described in the Soorah Nar:

1 When Allaahs help and triumph comes,

2and you see people entering into

Allaahs Deen in droves;3

then glorify your Lord with praise and gratitude and seek

His forgiveness.

Thus, this was an exceptionally peaceful revolution, of all the revolutions in the history of

mankindi.

The next section prepares the Muslims mentally to rescind the broken treaties with the

treacherous parties who were not prepared to honour their commitments.

7 How can a treaty with polytheists

be valid according to Allaah and

His Messenger? except thosewith whom you made a treaty

near the Masjid Al-araamii; so aslong as they are upright toward

you, be upright to them; indeed,

Allaah loves those who are carefulof their obligations. 8 How can itbe valid, when the reality is that if

they prevail against you, they

honour for you neither obligations

of kinship nor treaty; they seek to

please you with the words of their

mouths, while their hearts reject;and most of them are betrayers.

9

They have taken a small price for

the revelations of Allaah and

erected hindrances in His way, evil

indeed is what they have been

doing,10

For a believer, they

iTo give a glimpse of what other religious personalities did to achieve their objectives, an appendix has

been attached with a few stories of the killing and destruction undertaken by the Biblical personalities

according to the Jewish and Christian teachings as described in the Bible.iiThe Inviolable Masjid containing the Holy Kabah in Makkah


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honour neither obligations of

kinship nor treaty, and they are

the ones who are violating the

terms.11

Even then, if they repent

and establish alaah and pay

Zakaah, they will become yourbrothers in faith. And We are

explaining revelations for people

who like to know.12

And if they

break their oaths after their

commitment and taunt at your

faith, then fight the leaders of

disbelief because their oathssurely have no value so that theystop.

The only treaty that was signed near the Masjid Al-araam was with the Quraish atudaibiyyah. Its mention indicates that these verses were revealed before the Makkans hadbroken the treaty; hence the advice, so as long as they are upright toward you, be upright tothem.

Though the behaviour described in these verses was adopted in particular by the Makkans

who were the leaders of disbelief for all of Arabia, it was generally applicable to all idolaters.

It should be noted that the Arabs prided themselves in fighting for the protection of their

kinsmen and in doing everything in their power to honour their word given to anyone. That

was considered an honourable behaviour and Arabs would die for this pride and honour.

However, when it came to dealing with Muslims, there was no principle, honour or pride in

anything. Every violation of the code of honourable conduct was fair game and every

obligation of kinship and/or treaty was dishonoured. Although they would talk to their

Muslim relatives as if they were their well-wishers, and although they would assure goodconduct while entering into a treaty, in their hearts they would be thinking of schemes to

betray. Even nowadays it is painfully evident that many societies and authorities violate their

own laws, principles and values in denying Muslims their basic rights despite their lofty claims

of being champions of freedom and rights for everyone.

These disbelievers betray both Allaah and the Muslims. They betray Allaah by staying away

from Islam as well as by hindering others from coming to Islam through pressure, propaganda

and falsehood. Despite knowing Allaah to be their Lord, they do so for the sake of their

worldly expediencies and for preserving their worldly interests that are linked with the status

quo. They betray Muslims by violating the very same values and principles of honourable

behaviour they claim to cherish.


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The first verse gives three reasons for fighting against the Makkans whereby each reason is

compelling enough in itself to undertake military action against the Makkans. Verse 14 gives

Muslims the good news of triumph, while verse 15 foretells about many of the Makkans

becoming Muslims. Then, the new Muslims are reminded that Allaah SWT tests the sincerity

of the believers through such circumstances so that they can demonstrate where their

priorities and loyalties lie.

Once again, although the particular reference in these verses was to fight with the Quraish of

Makkah, the points made to the Muslims were fully applicable to their attitude toward all

idolaters who were put on notice afterwards.

The next section answers the concerns that some Muslims had about taking action against

the Quraish of Makkah, the keepers of the Kabah.

17It is not right for the polytheists to

administer the Masaajidi

of Allaah,

while they themselves are witnesses

of their disbelief. As for such, their

deeds are in vain and in the fire they

will be abiding eternally.18

Only

those should administer the Masaajid

of Allaah who believe in Allaah and

the Last Day, and establish alaahand pay Zakaah, and fear none at all

except Allaah. Hopefully, it is they

who will be abiding by the guidance.

The first point is that Allaahs Masaajid (the houses of worship built for Allaah) must not beunder the management, influence or control of those who ascribe partners or equals to

Allaah. They are totally unfit and unworthy of serving or managing them because they do not

even believe in the sole purpose for which those centres of devotion to Allaah had been built.Their disbelief is contrary to the purpose of the centres existence. This was especially true forthe Holy Kabah which was built by Ibraheem for devotion to Allaah, solely and exclusively,

iMosques, worshipping centres


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and to be the centre of the Islamic movement to spread the message of Toweed, but wasunder the control of idolaters at the time of this revelation. Thus, it was absolutely essential

and incumbent on the Muslims to free the House of Allaah from the control of idolaters,

necessitating the conquest of Makkah.

Attention should be paid to the attributes mentioned for the Muslims. To be count among

Muslims, belief is not enough but also essential is the active practising of Islam evidenced by

the establishment of the complete Islamic system of life as represented by its two most

important pillars -- socio-political system on the basis of alaah and economic system on thebasis of Zakaah. The establishment of these systems must be centred in the Masaajid of

Allaah. While working for these objectives, the believers must have full trust and reliance on

Allaah without fearing anyone whatsoever. This is key to avoiding shirk. People usually

practise shirk because they think that someone other than Allaah can harm them, while

Allaah will not protect them from it. Fearing that entity, they devote their attention to

pleasing it the attention that should have been devoted to please Allaah instead. One form

of shirk is that, instead of establishing Islamic systems exclusively, purely and completely,they compromise by trying to accommodate existing systems and structures and by not

eradicating them completely from their society. Hence, an outstanding attribute of Muslims is

that when it comes to fulfilling Allaahs commands, establishing Islamic systems and workingfor the objectives of Deen, he or she does not fear anyone other than Allaah. They have no

hesitation or reservation in taking on any power or danger that comes in their way. This

wholesome practise of Deen is indicative that they have properly adopted the guidance of

Allaah.

Often, people have soft spots for those who are doing some ritualistic work, serving a house

of worship or attending to its devotees, even if those people are enemies of the truth and are

opponents of establishing the Deen completely and exclusively. People ignore their heinous

crimes while giving them credit for some work that does not have much value from the

perspective of the objective that Allaah wants to achieve through Islam and Muslims. That

was also how some Muslims felt about the Makkans. Just because the Makkans were

caretakers of the Holy Kabah and were serving the pilgrims, those Muslims forgot all theatrocities, aggression and terrorism the Makkans practised towards the Muslims and the

hindrances they erected in the way of the Islamic mission. They ignored the Makkans capacityto do similar harm in future. They wanted to ignore the serious violation committed against

the treaty , instead of punishing them for it.

The next verse strikes at the tendency of equating the value of such services with the efforts

that the true Muslims undertake and sacrifices they make for the establishment of the Deen

of Allaah and its complete systems on this earth. It clarifies that there is absolutely no

comparison between the two kinds of activities and people should not let the so called

servants of the Masaajid hinder or negatively impact the work of the rightly guided Muslims

who are dedicated to the establishment of the Deen of Allaah and attainment of theobjectives of Deen.


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19Do you consider providing water

to the pilgrims and taking care of

Masjid-al-araami to have thesame value as the dedication of

the person who believes in Allaahand the Last Day and strives hard

in Allaahs way? They are notequal in the sight of Allaah, and

Allaah does not guide the wrong-

doers.20

Those who believed and

left their homes, and strove hard

in Allaah's way with their assetsand their lives have the highest

rank in the sight of Allaah; and

they are the ultimate high-

achievers.21

Their Lord gives

them good news of mercy from

Himself and His Pleasure and

gardens, wherein enduring

delights will be theirs.22

They

will be abiding therein forever;

with Allaah, indeed, there is

immense reward.

Wrongdoers disliked by Allaah include all kinds of polytheists including those who supportthe system of aghoot

iiwhile performing ritualistic religious activities, serving the Masaajid

iii

and pilgrims. The message is loud and clear that unless the focus of ones endeavours (Jihaad)is the establishment of the complete system of Allaahs Deen and the readiness to makewhatever sacrifices are required for the attainment of the objectives of Islam, the service of a

Masjid and pilgrims has no value in the eyes of Allaah SWT. The immense reward is reserved

only for those who dedicated everything they have for these goals.

The next few verses address those new or weak Muslims who had not as yet properly

understood the importance of the aforementioned objectives of Deen and the need to

eradicate polytheism from Makkah and Arabia. They still had relatives who were polytheists

iThe Sacred Masjid containing the Holy Kabah

iiAny system that is deviant from Allaahs Deen

iiiMosques, places of worship


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or idolaters. For that reason, they were reluctant to fight against them. In other words, their

loyalties to Allaah, Jihaad and the Islamic objectives were not yet strong enough to sacrifice

all other loyalties that may conflict with the Islamic mission and objectives.

23O you who have believed! Do

not take your fathers and yourbrothers as allies if they prefer

disbelief over belief. Whoever

allies with them from you, it is

they who are the wrongdoers.24

Tell them, If your fathers, yoursons, your brothers, your

spouses, your kinsfolk, the assetsthat you have acquired, the

business wherein you fear

slackness, or the dwellings in

which you delight are dearer to

you than Allaah, His Messenger

and striving in His way, then wait

until Allaah brings about Hisdecision. And Allaah does not

guide the defiantly disobedient

people.

These two verses describe a litmus test that every Muslim can use to find out if he or she has

the right level of faith acceptable to Allaah SWT or not. The test is that if any liking, love orloyalty is stronger than love for and dedication to Allaah, His Messenger and Jihaad in Allaahsway, then there is a serious problem. The faith is not at the right level. In other words,

anything career, business, family, relatives, comforts of life, wealth management, hobbies,friendships, etc. -- that comes in the way of a believer dedicating himself or herself to an

ongoing struggle for the establishment of the complete Islamic system and supremacy of

Islam must be sacrificed as much as needed for the attainment of these objectives. If there is

reluctance to do so for any matter, it is an idol being worshipped other than Allaah. This

message is the constant theme of this Soorah.iThe Muslims who do not bring themselves up

iFor example, in verse 33 it states: It is He Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the True Deenso that he makes it prevail over any and all other systems of life, even if Mushriks dislike it. Mushriks


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to that level offaith are being warned by a very severe warning, then wait until Allaah bringsabout His decision.

Muslims who are content with performing their Islamic rituals without making the

establishment of the complete Deen of Allaah in their societies as their top priority in life

need to heed this warning.

Some Muslims were very concerned about the reaction of the polytheists to the declaration

of war against them after the four-month notice period expired. They were scared that the

polytheists spread all over Arabia would wage a civil war that would be impossible for the

Muslims to fight and win. They are addressed in the next section and reminded that they

would be helped as Allaah had always helped them.

25Certainly Allaah has helped you

in many battlefields and on the

day of unain, when you exultedin your great numbers, but they

availed you nothing and the

earth, vast as it is, seemed

constricting around you, and you

turned back retreating.26

Then

Allaah sent down His tranquillity

upon His Messenger and upon

the believers, and sent down

forces which you did not see, and

punished those who disbelieved,

and that is the recompense of

the disbelievers.27

Then, Allaah

provides the opportunity forrepentance afterwards to

Whomever He wills. Allaah is Oft-

forgiving, Most Merciful.

are not only those who worship idols or entities other than Allaah but also those whose love, loyalty and

duty to Allaah is equated with or sidetracked by other loves, loyalties and duties.


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The Battle of unain was fought in Shawwaali

8 AH immediately after the conquest of

Makkah. Looking at their twelve (12) thousand strong army, many Muslims thought their

victory was a foregone conclusion. This feeling led to complacency as well as an attitude of

trust in numbers rather than in Allaah. However, the archers of the Banoo Hawaazin had

taken a strategic position around the mountain pass leading to their army encampment. As

soon as the Muslim army approached, they faced arrows coming at them from all directions,

so much so that most of the army ran away in retreat. Only the Prophet and his close

companions stood their ground and called upon the rest of the army to come back and join

them. Then, only with the help of Allaah, the army was able to regroup, march forward, fight

and win the battle. The purpose of the mention is to remind the Muslims that it is not the

numbers and strength of the army that brought success to the Islamic mission thus far. It was

the help of Allaah SWT. Otherwise, the mission would not have been able to survive in

Makkah or survive the first major assault by the Makkans fought at Badr. Allaah, who had

helped the mission at so many critical points in the past, would not let it fail at this stage.

After their defeat in unain, the enemies were treated so kindly and so compassionately thatmany of them opened their hearts to Islam and became Muslims. When people had a chance

to witness the excellence in the conduct of the Prophet and in the conduct of his followers,

they felt compelled to embrace that excellence. That is how Islam was growing so fast at that

time. Some Muslims had feared that after the expiry of the notice period the bloodshed of

polytheists was imminent. The mention of their conversion was a hint to them that they

should consider the past record before speculating about the future. The Arabs were ready

like ripe fruit to embrace Islam. All they needed was a little nudge. But that nudge would

work only if the warning was seriously stern and the Muslims were ready for the worst

eventuality. Any indication of vacillation by the Muslims at that point would have been

counterproductive. That is why in these discourses (those containing verse 15 and this verse)

the preparation for war has been done very seriously, while hints of mass conversions have

been dropped very subtly.

The series of instructions given and announcement made at the beginning of this Soorah for

the eradication of polytheism in Arabia is ending now with the final instruction in the next

verse:

28O you who believe! The

polytheists are nothing but

unclean, so they must not

approach the Masjid Al-araamafter their attendance at this

pilgrimage; and if you fearpoverty then Allaah will enrich

i10

thmonth of the Arabic Calendar


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you out of His grace if He wills;

surely Allaah is All-knowing, All-

wise.

Uncleanliness refers to the filth of their polytheistic beliefs, ideas and lifestyles. That filth

must be removed to avoid any possibility of it contaminating the Islamic society. In keeping

with the example of weeds that was used in the introduction and preamble of this Soorah,

unless the roots of the weeds are removed from deep in the ground, they have a way of

regenerating themselves and spreading in the garden. Polytheism and idolatry was so deep-

rooted in Arabia that every possibility of it raising its ugly head again had to be eliminated.

This verse forever outlaws entry of any polytheist in the Masjid Al-araam and the sanctuarysurrounding it. This announcement was made in the 9 AH ajj so that when the Prophet came

for ajj in 10 AH, the sanctuary and the Manaasik (rites) were free from any polytheisticpractices and were performed purely in the Islamic way.

Remember that ajj had a major impact on the economy of Makkah in particular and Arabiain general. It facilitated movement of goods to and from Makkah to and from the rest of

world and thus promoted trade and prosperity. Banning any segment of the population of the

world from coming to Makkah meant reduced business activity. Thus, businessmen were

concerned that it would cause further deterioration in the economic situation of the Muslims.

The message of the verse is that decisions of the Islamic mission are based on principles and

in consideration of the objectives of the mission, not on the basis of the economicconsiderations. If Muslims rely on Allaah and make decisions that are most appropriate for

the objectives of Deen, Allaah SWT will take care of their economy.

After dealing with the matters of polytheists of the Arabian Peninsula, the next section

provides a policy for dealing with the Jews and Christians living in the Islamic territory as well

as all non-Muslims outside of the peninsula. Although the verses mention only the Peoplewith the Book, the Prophet himself and the Companions unanimously applied thesecommands to the Zoroastrians and all other non-Muslims outside of Arabia.

29As for those who were given the

Book but they do not believe in

Allaah, nor the Last Day, nor do

they hold unlawful what Allaah

and His Messenger have

prohibited, nor implement the


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Deen of truth, fight them until

they pay the Jizyahi

submissively

and accept to live in a state of

subjection.

People who were given the Book before the Prophet, were taught the same Deen and weregiven the same responsibility of establishing the Islamic system of peace, justice and

excellence as was taught and given to the Muslims; but they shirked their responsibilities,

corrupted their beliefs and violated the teachings and commands. They have opted out of

living by the rules and regulations that Allaah SWT has taught to establish a balanced, just,

peaceful society and to encourage people to excel in their morals, dealings and practices.

Thus they lost their eligibility to play a leading role in the administration of human society

that must be run according to the Islamic system of peace, justice and excellence mandated

by Allaah SWT and governed by those who fully and exclusively believe in that system of life

(Deen). Thus the Muslims have been commanded to fight them until they surrender the

power, give up the leadership roles, submit to the Islamic rule, accept to live under its

dominance and commit to pay Jizya which is a levy to defray the cost of providing them a

social environment where they can enjoy peace, security, justice and excellence provided by

Islam. Under these terms, they are allowed to practice their religion in their private lives, in

line with the freedom of choice that Allaah has given to human beings, but they have no right

to impose their self devised systems of life on any human society and thus cause injustice,

corruption and chaos on earthii. Thus, unlike the polytheists of Arabia, they do not have to

accept Islam. They can adopt the lifestyle and religion of their choice, but only as theirpersonal faith or choice, not as a matter of public policy, or in a governance role. The public

policy and governance must be in the hands of those who are committed to implement the

God-designed Islamic system of perfect balance, fairness, justice and excellence that brings

peace and beauty to human society to be enjoyed by every citizen.

This policy is applicable to those non-Muslims who resist and fight with the Muslims. Those

non-Muslims who accept the dominance of the Islamic state through negotiations, without

fighting, the terms of their surrender can be mutually agreed upon as long as they accept the

dominion of the Islamic state and Islamic system of life over their territory.

Although it was explained in detail in the preamble to this Soorah, these commands were

given once the Islamic system was already established in the Islamic state so that the Muslims

could then extend the Islamic system of justice, peace and excellence to other areas to

emancipate and benefit other people as well. These commands should not be taken out of

this context to apply where one wants. At the time of this writing, there is absolutely no

i The cost of (levy for) providing them a social environment where they can enjoy peace, security, justice

and excellence provided by Islam and maintained by the Muslims.ii

It should be remembered that Islam is the only perfectly balanced system of life that results in

enduring justice and peace in the world. Every man-made system creates some kind of disequilibrium

and thus causes injustice, corruption, strife and chaos.


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country in the world that can genuinely claim to be an Islamic state. The responsibility of

contemporary Muslims is first to establish an Islamic society where the complete Islamic

system is fully implemented and practised. Then they would be obliged to spread the justice,

peace and excellence of that society to their surrounding areas. This objective was well

understood by the Muslims in general and their commanders in particular. For example,

Mugheerah bin Shibah, the commander of the Islamic army, talking to the Iraniancommander mentioned the Muslim mission to be, Freeing people from slavery to humanbeings by providing them opportunity to become Allaahs slaves. Rabee bin Aamirexplained the mission in this way: Allaah has sent us to help people shift from being slaves tohuman beings to becoming only Allaahs slaves; from the tightness of the world to itsvastness; and from the tyranny of other systems of life to the justice and balances of Islam.

Thus, He has sent us with His Deen (Islamic system of life) to people so that we can invite

them to it. This was not only a slogan, rather, it was how they practically behaved andbrought peace and justice to people wherever they went. That is why the public always

welcomed Muslims to attain their freedom from the tyrannical yoke of their rulers. And it was

due to this reason that after witnessing the excellence of the Muslim behaviour, the generalpublic would flock to accept Islam.

The next few verses give some examples of how the People with the Book have deviatedfrom the Islamic path.

30 The Jews said, Uzair is

Allaahs son; and theChristians said, The Messiah isAllaahs son; but these aremerely the words of their

mouths that they utter

imitating the saying of those

who disbelieved before. May

Allaah destroy them, howdeluded they are!

31They have

taken their scholars and their

monks as lords beside Allaah,

so did they take the Messiah,

son of Mary (Maryam), while

they were commanded to

perform slave-like obedienceexclusively to One God, besides

Whom there is no deity;

exalted is He far above


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whatever they associate with

Him.

The first grave error they committed was assigning God-like attributes or status to human

beings. This was committed both by the Jews and the Christians. Both of them elevated

human beings to the status of God either by labelling a person as a son of God or by listening

to their priests, rabbis and monks as Allaah should be listened to.

People treat a human being as god or son of God because of deficient faith in the infiniteness

of Allaah SWT. Equating a finite person with Infinite God or assigning finite attributes to Him

is an offensive act that infuriates Allaah SWT. The irony is that both the Jews and the

Christians were taught to believe in Allaah alone and they continue to claim to believe in One

God only. But under the influence of the pagan or polytheist nations among whom they were

living, they internalized their polytheistic concepts without realizing how contrary to their

true belief those views were. They adopted some of those concepts under the pretext ofmaking their religion more inclusive and more palatable. Then, generation after generation

they continue to blindly follow and adopt those misguided notions. They ignore the fact that

this is a great injustice to Allaah SWT, the Creator, that someone else is given the status,

importance, respect or consideration as much as or more than that is due to Allaah SWT. In

addition, this injustice is the root of all other injustices, corruptions, tyrannies, exploitations

and persecutions. Those who are unjust to the Creator cannot do justice to the people either.

The same worldly motives that make them serve entities other than Allaah also make them so

selfish that they focus only on their own desires and interests without feeling any

compunction in doing whatever evil serves their personal ambitions.

Being our Creator, only Allaah has the right to give us commands or teach us views that must

be accepted, listened to and obeyed readily, submissively and unconditionally, whether we

understand them or not, whether they make sense to us or not, and whether we agree with

them or not. Allaah SWT delegates this right to His messengers to the extent it is needed for

them to play their role as His messengers. When it comes to any other human being, if they

give an opinion, ruling, fatwa or verdict in any matter or teaching of Deen, it must be

supported by the evidence from the words of Allaah or His messengers, otherwise it shouldbe rejected, regardless of how big the scholar is who pronounces those teachings. The

corruption of religion starts occurring when people accept views or teachings from their

religious leaders without seeking clear reference or strong support from Allaah and His

messengers or without performing due diligence and scrutiny of what they teach. Sometimes

even if it is pointed out to people that their religious leaders views are against the teachingsof Allaah and His Messenger, they continue to follow those leaders and devise some

justification for the leaders erroneous views. When people accept the views, beliefs, verdictsor teachings of the religious leaders in any of these manners, they have taken those religious

leaders as gods other than Allaah. All corruptions in religious beliefs and practices occurmostly because of uncritical acceptance of the views of religious leaders. The human views

and opinions of the scholars that are taken as Islamic teachings add unbalanced and unjust


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practices to the religion and destroy the balance and justice that Allaah has built into the

Islamic system.

It was through such adulterations that Islam taught to the Israelites by messengers such as

Jacob, Moses and David ended up becoming Judaism a racist religion preaching racist viewsabout God for promoting the interests of a certain race at the cost of all other humanity

i. One

One person who had a strong influence in shaping these racist attitudes in religion was a

religious leader named Uzair (In Arabic) described in the Biblical literature as Ezra, whichname also has variant pronunciations such as Ezer or Azer.

Ezra was a rabbi and priestly scribe. He was able to gain much influence and favour in Babylon

with the king of Persia (Artaxerxes I, 464-423 BC according to some or Artaxerxes II according

to others). He was appointed as the kings representative in the Palestinian territory whereinevery Jew had to obey him in compliance with the kings order. The edict of the kingmentioned him with the title of Ezra the Cohen, the Scribe of the law of the God of heaven

and included in his edict that Whoever refuses to obey the law of your God and the law ofthe king, let judgment be executed on him swiftly, whether it be death, banishment,

confiscation of goods or imprisonment." With such powers, he was sent by the Persian king to

lead his people and to restore Jewish law and worship in Jerusalem. Ezra reconstituted the

dispersed Jewish community on the basis of the Torah and with a very high emphasis on the

law; and thus it is said that he restored the law when it was forgotten. He also instituted

some new religious practices as well as initiated the resurgence of Hebrew that was forgotten

by the masses during their stay in Babylon. He is also credited with redacting the Torah,

combining the priestly source into the already-combined J, E and D sourcesii, as well as

canonizing the text of the Torah as we know it today. His emphasis on the law and ritualscontributed to make Judaism a rule-focused religion of rituals that ignored the spirit of the

law and abandoned the Islamic objective of justice and peace. In addition, what he most

passionately campaigned for was the racial purity of the Jews. In this respect, he used his

influence and power to make the Jews who had taken wives from other local races divorce

those wives and banish them from homes along with all their children. This cruel, insensitive

and devious ethnic cleansing was his major feat. Jewish sources hold him in an extremely high

regard and consider him a second Moses or a person who would have been given Torah, had

there been no Moses. There has been a tradition among the Jews that to express someones

iIt is a racist religion because it promotes the concept of a chosen people on the basis of their beingfrom a certain race, not on the basis of their accomplishments or excellence. Even within that race,

people are treated differently merely on the basis of the tribe they descend from. God is also

blasphemously ascribed racist attributes by portraying Him as someone who blesses certain people just

because they are progeny of a certain individual, not because of their behavioural excellence; while he

destroys others not because of their sins but merely because they happened to be born in a wrong race.ii

It is generally agreed among the proponents of the documentary hypothesis that the existing Torah (or

the Five Books of Moses) was derived from originally independent, parallel and complete narratives,

which were subsequently combined into the current form by a series of redactors (editors). There were

four main sources, which came to be known as the Yahwist or Jahwist, J (J being the German equivalent

of the English letter Y); the Elohist, E; the Deuteronomist, D, (the name comes from the Book of

Deuteronomy, D's contribution to the Torah); and the Priestly Writer, P.


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closeness to God, he was metaphorically called son of God.i

Although the current literature

does not mention him with the title of son of God, a segment of Arabian Jews used to regard

him as such. That is why when this verse was revealed, no Jew took exception to it.

Regardless of whether Uzair (Ezra) was given this title or not, everyone who has accepted hisredaction of Torah, or obeyed his racist pronouncement, followed other heresies that he

instituted, or everyone who respects him despite his racist stance has practically taken him as

a god other than Allaah. And that is the focal point of these verses. This point has been

clarified in verse 31 where his name has been replaced by the phrase taken their scholarsand their monks as lords beside Allaah, indicating that he was practically taken as god in thesense described by this phrase; while deification of Jesus has been mentioned distinctly

indicating the he (Jesus) was personally taken as god other than Allaah.

As for Christians, they claim to believe in One God, while at the same time continue to insist

that Jesus is the begotten son of God, God Incarnate and an equal partner in Divinity.

Although this is an irrational, illogical and absurd belief, they continue to accept it, blindly

obeying their priests and monks. Thus they have also taken their priests and scholars as godsother than Allaah, in addition to deifying Jesus.

This is despite the fact that Allaah SWT had clearly commanded them that Ibaadah theslave-like, blind, unconditional, and non-critiqued obedience carried out without any

reservations, ifs or buts -- is to be offered only to Allaah alone. Human beings, other than

Allaahs messengers, must be followed only after due critique and rational evaluation of whatthey say in the light of the teachings of Allaah and His messengers.

But their crimes do not stop with the abovementioned problem with their religious paradigm.

If they would have cared even a bit for the Deen of Allaah or had even a little sincerity for the

truth, they would have jumped on the opportunity to believe in the Prophet and helped him

in his mission of establishing the Deen of Allaah in the world. Instead, they had chosen to

oppose him. Not only were they themselves misguided, they were also doing everything in

their power to keep others from attaining guidance. Allaah SWT had sent His Messenger to

illuminate the straight path with the light of Islam. Instead of benefitting from this light, they

were hell-bent on extinguishing it. The Jews had been undertaking plots to kill the Prophet,

inciting pagan Arabs against Islam, providing them ideas and ammunition to attack andinstigating them to fight, as well as themselves fighting against the Muslims to support the

pagans. Similarly, the Christian rulers in the neighbouring areas murdered the Muslim envoys

and amassed troops to invade the Islamic state. The next verse talks about this crime.

32They desire to blow out

Allaahs light with their mouths,

while Allaah refuses except toperfect His light, even if the

iFor examples from the Old Testament, please see my book Exploring the Islamic Beliefs, page 201.


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exist to be practised in private matters. Similarly, many so-called Muslims may be content in

living under the non-Islamic systems as long as they have freedom to perform their rituals. All

such people are referred to here as polytheists because they want to be or are content with

being governed by other systems besides or along with Allaahs system.

In brief, the message of these verses is that Allaah SWT bestowed Islam to all prophets and

messengers so that it dominates as the system of life. The people with the Book claim to

believe in Allaah and those prophets and messengers. The natural result of their faith, then,

should have been that they should have welcomed the opportunity to be re-introduced to

their true Deen and should have helped in its establishment. Instead, they want to extinguish

this light because it endangers their vested interests in the status quo. However, despite their

hypocritical opposition to this mission and their chagrin at its success, Islam is going to be

completely and solidly established and become the dominant system of life.

The main culprits among the people with the book in this respect have been their religious

leaders who are blindly followed by the masses and who incite them against Islam to protecttheir own worldly interests. The next verse points this out.

34O you who believe! Certainly,

many Judaeo-Christian scholars

and monks devour the wealth of

mankind wantonly and hinder

the people from the way of

Allaah. Give tidings of a painful

punishment to those who hoard

up gold and silver and do not

spend it in Allaah's way.35

One

Day, that gold and silver will be

heated up in the fire of hell, then

their foreheads and their sides

and their backs will be branded

with it and they will be told,

This is what you hoarded up foryourselves, so taste what you

used to hoard.

Matters of Deen or religion should be practised solely and purely for the pleasure of Allaah. If

someone dedicates ones life to the service of religion or Deen, it should also be done


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exclusively for the pleasure of Allaah, not for making a career out of it, because making a

career out of religious matters automatically and naturally brings personal economic interest

into the religious matters that should be selfless. A person may start his religious career in

earnest for the service of Deen, but over time, the service aspect becomes diluted and

preservation of the interests of career becomes practically dominant resulting in

compromising and unscrupulous behaviour. The career interest incites the religious scholars

to make pronouncements and devise schemes that will further their economic interests and

protect their careers. Thus, except for some rare souls who are content to survive on a

minimal subsistence level, most religious leaders become preoccupied in devising ways of

earning and accumulating wealth just like the general public adopts different careers to do so.

When that happens, the scholars end up using their authority to issue verdicts and fatwasito

make money by granting them in favour of the highest bidders. They pose to be Gods agentsto bring people salvation from God so that people make them happy with hefty donations as

a way to buy salvation. They devise ways so that people have to bring them offerings for

performing their different religious rituals as well as their normal social events such as

marriages and funerals. They fool people into believing in the effectiveness of theirmezuzahs

ii, phylacteries (Taweez), relics (Tabarrukaat), charms and rosaries (Wazeefahs and

Tasbeehs) to extract their money from them. Because of all these personal vested interests,

they do not want their followers to learn and understand pure Islam the true Deen ofAllaah. Hence, whenever someone stands up to bring the true message of Islam to people,

they become the first and the most vicious enemies of that person and his noble mission.

That is what they were doing to the Prophet and his mission at that time and that is what

continues to happen to this day. Unfortunately, many so-called Islamic scholars have adopted

the same attitude, the same behaviour and the same animosity to the true Islamic message.

They use every heinous plot, cunning scheme and vicious manipulation to protect their turf

and to discredit the person who presents the true and simple Islamic message. The condition

of the Muslims in particular, and the world in general, is not going to get any better unless

and until people with vested economic interest in religion are removed from the leadership

positions and those people are brought up and supported who have not made religion as

their career and who have no vested economic interest in any matter of religion.

This concludes the policy announcements for the establishment and dominance of Islam as acomplete system of life. The next two verses abolished one remnant of the religious

manipulations that the Makkans had enshrined to preserve their economic interest.

36Indeed, the number of months

with Allaah has been twelve

i Religious edictsii

A small piece of parchment inscribed with the Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 and marked with the

word Shaddai, a name of God meaning the Almighty, or the All-sufficient, that is rolled up in a container

and affixed by many Jewish households to their door frames. Shaddai is also considered to be the

acronym for The Guardian of the doors of Israel.


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(lunar) months in Allaah's

ordinance since the day He

created the heavens and the

earth; of which four are sacred.

That is the straight Deen; so do

not wrong yourselves during thosemonths. And fight the polytheists

collectively as they fight you

collectively; and know that Allaah

is with those who maintain Taqwa.37

Displacing the sacred months

through manipulations of calendar

is in fact an additional act ofdisbelief, whereby those who

disbelieve are misled. They violate

it one year and keep it sacred

another year; so that by making

up the count of the months which

Allaah had made sacred, they

make lawful what Allaah has made

unlawful. The evil of their deeds is

made fair-seeming to them;

however, Allaah does not guide

the disbelieving people.

Allaah SWT created the universe in such a way that people on earth will have two calendars:

A solar year of 12 months suitable for planning crops, agriculture and other weather-based

activities; and a 12 month lunar calendar for acts of worship and other Islamic social activities.In His ultimate wisdom, Allaah SWT also made the lunar year shorter than the solar year so

that the acts of worship and Islamic social activities move around the solar year, coming in

different seasons so that people perform those activities in all kind of seasons and all kind of

weathers in 33 years. Islam being the Deen for all people, this makes it fair and equitable to

all people of the world that everyone performs those acts in all good and bad seasons or

favourable or unfavourable times of the years about twice or thrice in their lifetime. This

arrangement tests the obedience of believers in all seasons and times of the year, but more

importantly, it makes the test equitable and equal for all people regardless of where they are

living on the globe.

This has been the Islamic way since Adam. But people always devise schemes of convenience

so that religious activities prescribed by the lunar calendar become fixed with the solar


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The Second Part

After dealing with matters relating to the idolaters and the people with the Book in the

previous paragraphs, the attention is now diverting to the matters relating to the hypocrites

from the next verse until the end of the soorah. This portion exposes the hypocritical traits

and mischievous games that staunch hypocrites played. Verses 38 to 72 were revealed during

the days when the Prophet was preparing for the Tabook expedition. The remaining verses

(73 to 129) were revealed at various times when he was in Tabook and immediately after hisreturn to Madeenah. Thus, to understand the background of the remaining part of the

Soorah, the following overview of the Tabook expedition should be kept in mind.

The Tabook expedition had to be undertaken in response to the hostile behaviour of the

Roman Empire towards the mission of the Prophet and the Muslims. It became an issue to be

dealt with urgently because of the following two incidents of criminal murder of the Muslim

missionaries and diplomats by the associates of the Empire:

Utilizing the environment of peace created by the udaibiyyah treaty, the Prophethad sent various missionary groups to peacefully preach the Deen of Allaah in

different parts of Arabia. One such mission consisting of sixteen missionaries was

sent to the Arab Christians politically attached to the Roman Empire. The Christians

killed all of the Muslim missionaries except for the leader of the mission, Kab ibnUmair Ghifaari, who was able to escape during the massacre.

Also during that period, the Prophet sent an emissary to the Christian governor ofBusra, Shurabeel ibn Amr, with a letter inviting him towards Islam, as he had sentemissaries to all the heads of various territories throughout Arabia and states around

Arabia. The governor killed the Prophets emissary.

Both of these incidents necessitated action against this hostile behaviour that was totally in

violation of the international conventions of that time. Thus, in 8 AH

Tafseer (The Second Group - At-Towbah)

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Transcript of Tafseer (The Second Group - At-Towbah)