Appearance
Verses 25–28
These verses refer to the Battle of Ḥunayn and recount the divine assistance God granted the believers on that day and on many other occasions like it, where He had come to the aid of His Prophet and the Muslims. In all of their battles, in spite of their being weaker and outnumbered, God sent down miraculous aid to them in the form of invisible armies, inspiring the Prophet and the faithful with composure (sakīna), and punishing the faithless with the hands of the faithful.
This also shows that the verses forbidding the idolaters from entering the Sacred Mosque were revealed in the year 9 A.H., and that this was the year in which the Prophet delivered the repudiation proclamation to them and forbade them from circumambulating the house of God in the nude, as this is the year in which the Battle of Ḥunayn took place.
لَقَدْ نَصَرَكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي مَوَاطِنَ كَثِيرَةٍ ۙ وَيَوْمَ حُنَيْنٍ ۙ إِذْ أَعْجَبَتْكُمْ كَثْرَتُكُمْ فَلَمْ تُغْنِ عَنْكُمْ شَيْئًا وَضَاقَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْأَرْضُ بِمَا رَحُبَتْ ثُمَّ وَلَّيْتُمْ مُدْبِرِينَ ٢٥
(9:25) Allah has certainly helped you in many situations (mawāṭin), and on the day of Ḥunayn, when your great number impressed you, but it did not avail you in any way, and the earth became narrow for you in spite of its expanse, whereupon you turned your backs.
Mawāṭin (situations) is the plural of mawṭin, which is derived from waṭan and, in its literal sense, denotes the place in which a person lives and resides.
Ḥunayn is the name of a valley between the cities of Mecca and Ṭāʾif, in which a battle took place between the Prophet and the tribes of Hawāzin and Thaqīf. It was a difficult day for the Muslims, as they initially retreated, but then God came to their aid, and they triumphed.
Iʿjāb (impressed) and its cognate ʿajab (surprise) mean to be gladdened by a rare occurrence.
Raḥab (expanse) means for a space to be large and open, while ḍayyiq (narrow) signifies the opposite.
The verse begins by God recalling the many occasions and circumstances in which God came to the aid of the Muslims—Allah has certainly helped you in many situations—and the context indicates that these situations are, in fact, the battles they fought, such as the Battles of Badr, Uḥud, the Trench, Khaybar, and others. The context also shows that this sentence is intended as a preliminary for what follows, namely, and on the day of Ḥunayn, when your great number impressed you. Therefore, this verse and the three that follow it were all sent down to remind the Muslims of the story of Ḥunayn and the miraculous and unparalleled aid that God granted them on that day.
Some commentators on the Qur’an have argued that the present verse and the three that follow it are, in fact, the conclusion of the Prophet’s speech in the previous verse, where he says: If your fathers and your sons… (). However, the opening phrase of this verse, Allah has certainly helped you, serves as a natural divider between it and the previous one, and this forces these commentators to engage in intellectual gymnastics to get around this. However, there is no indication in the text that this is supposed to be read as a continuation of the Prophet’s speech. In fact, all of the indications are to the opposite: The events of the Day of Ḥunayn, the miraculous assistance sent down by God in the form of composure, invisible armies, and the punishment of the faithless, and the fact that God will forgive whomever He wishes all represent a separate topic to what was being discussed in the previous verse, and one that is important for its own reasons. In fact, it is of equal or greater importance than what is being said in the previous verse (If your fathers and your sons…)—therefore, there is no basis for arguing that it follows from that verse.
Therefore, if this was something that the Prophet was meant to tell his people, this too should have been prefixed by the imperative, ‘say’ (qul), as in: ‘Say: “Allah has certainly helped you in many situations…’” as this is the style of the Qur’an in similar circumstances. For example, in the passage from Sūrah Fuṣṣilat: Say, ‘I am just a human being like you. It has been revealed to me that your Allah is the One Allah….’ Say, ‘Do you really disbelieve in Him who created the earth in two days, and ascribe partners to Him? That is the Lord of all the worlds!’ ().
Moreover, the tone of these verses, their use of transitions of address (iltifāt), and other rhetorical features do not accord with them being part of the previous speech that the Prophet was instructed to deliver. This is because the audience being addressed by the verse Allah has certainly helped you in many situations… when your great number impressed you is the Muslims, who comprise a single unified Islamic community, and their unity was on display in other battles such as Badr, Uḥud, the Trench, and Khaybar, as well as Ḥunayn. However, the Muslims also contain a diversity of people: there are hypocrites and people of weak faith among their ranks, as well as believers possessed of true faith. However, this verse speaks to them as a single totality, as shown by the remark, when your great number impressed you.
God uses the phrase, the Day of Ḥunayn to mean: ‘The day on which the battle took place between you and your enemies in the valley of Ḥunayn.’ This is because it is a convention of the Arabic language to refer to a momentous event by prefixing the place it occurred with the word ‘day’ (yawm). Hence, we can speak of the ‘day’ of Badr or the ‘day’ of Uḥud. Alternatively, ‘day’ can also be added to the group involved in the event, such as the ‘day’ of the Confederates (Aḥzāb) or the ‘day’ of the Tamīm tribe, or to the name of the event itself, such as the ‘day’ of Mecca’s conquest (fatḥ Makka).
…when your great number impressed you: Meaning, you were pleased because you thought you had numerical superiority over your enemy, so you no longer felt the need to depend upon God or entrust yourself to His hands and His power. Instead, you relied on your numbers to bring you victory, to thwart the plans of your foes, and to drive them from the field of battle. However, numerical superiority is only an apparent cause (sabab ẓāhirī), which will have no effect without God willing it so, for He is the Cause of Causes.
It is with this meaning in mind that God follows the phrase, when your great number impressed you, with but it did not avail you in any way. In other words, you took your numerical superiority as a means of victory that was not dependent upon God, so you forgot God and you forgot to rely upon Him, relying instead on your numbers. However, it soon became apparent that your great numbers were of no avail to you and did not help you against your enemies.
…and the earth became narrow for you in spite of its expanse: This conjures the image of being surrounded by enemies and being unable to find a place of safety, such as some cover or a cave, in which you could seek protection from them. Therefore, you fled without a thought for anything else.
This verse is similar in meaning to what we read in the story of the Confederates (al-Aḥzāb) and the Battle of the Trench: When they came at you from above and below you, and when the eyes rolled with fear and the hearts leapt to the throats, and you entertained misgivings about Allah ().
Some commentators have read the earth became narrow for you to mean that they could not find any escape, but this is not correct.
…whereupon you turned your backs: In other words, you put the enemy behind you, alluding to the fact that they ran away from the front lines. This was the result of their overconfidence because of their superior numbers and because they had forsaken their Lord. God says: O you who have faith! When you encounter the faithless advancing for battle, do not turn your backs to flee from them. Whoever turns his back to flee from them that day—unless diverting to fight or retiring towards another troop—shall certainly earn Allah’s wrath, and his refuge shall be hell, an evil destination ().
And elsewhere, He says: …though they had certainly pledged to Allah before that they would not turn their backs to flee, and pledges given to Allah are accountable ().
All of this—by which I mean the earth becoming narrow for them, their flight from the field of battle in spite of it being a major sin, and putting themselves in the position of deserving God’s rebuke—came about because they had relied on the false promise of numerical superiority and forgotten to put their trust in God. As a result, none of their imagined advantages proved to be of any avail in the heat of battle.
And yet, in his infinite mercy and limitless kindness, God came to the Muslims’ aid. He sent down composure upon them, supported them with armies they could not see, and punished the disbelievers. He even left open the possibility of forgiveness; He did not guarantee it, lest they lose all fear from their hearts, but nor did He rule it out, so they would not lose all hope either. Instead, He promised the possibility of redemption to them, so that the traits of hope and fear would be balanced in their souls. In this way, He delivered a good moral education to them that would make them ready for Paradise.
One commentator has offered a very strange reading of this verse based on their efforts to reconcile the apparent meanings of the different narrations they have compiled about it. They claim that the Muslims did not, in fact, flee from battle out of cowardice. On the contrary, they were merely caught off guard by the attack of the Thaqīf and Hawāzin tribes and, in the confusion, were forced to fall back from their positions, and that is a natural response to such an occurrence.
This reading, they say, is supported by the fact that God sent down composure upon the Messenger of God and the Muslims, as this indicates that even the Prophet was caught up in the shock and confusion. However, the Prophet was affected by this out of his grief at the sudden turn of events, while the rest of the Muslims were affected by it because of their shock at the force of the attack and the fact that the enemy did not give them any respite.
It is also attested to by the fact that, no sooner had Muslims heard the call of the Messenger of God and the call of ʿAbbās b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, that they returned to the fray and drove back the disbelievers with the help of the composure that God had sent down upon them.
As further evidence, the commentator cites the verses revealed in praise of the Companions, such as the verse about the Pledge of Ḥudaybiyya (also known as the Bayʿat al-Riḍwān): Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are hard against the faithless… (), and Indeed Allah has bought from the faithful their souls and their possessions for paradise to be theirs… (), along with the various narrations that praise the Companions of the Prophet.
However, in taking this approach, the commentator has confused Qur’anic commentary (tafsīr) with theology (kalām). Qur’anic commentary is only concerned with uncovering the meaning of the divine revelation. Theology, by contrast, is concerned with supporting or rejecting the claims advanced by theologians according to their respective schools of thought, whether by use of reason (ʿaql), the Qur’an, the Sunna, consensus (ijmāʿ), or some combination of these. However, the discipline of Qur’anic commentary does not allow any such approach when it comes to understanding God’s words, nor does it allow anyone to impose their theories—of theology, science, or any other subject—onto the verses that God has sent down.
Now, let us consider his claim that the Muslims did not flee out of cowardice and that they did not abandon the Prophet, but that they merely withdrew as a result of the confusion that took hold in their ranks because of the powerful attack of the Thaqīf and Hawāzin and that, after they initially fell back, they returned to the fray and redoubled their efforts. This claim is clearly contradicted by the phrase, whereupon you turned your backs, as this shows their actions on that day fell within the scope of the verse that forbids the Muslims from fleeing from battle: Whoever turns his back to flee from them that day… shall certainly earn Allah’s wrath (). God did not qualify this prohibition on turning their backs by saying that it only applied to those who did so out of cowardice or those who were betraying the Prophet, nor did he make an exception by saying that it did not apply to those who were fleeing in confusion or panic, and nor does the exception He did make—unless diverting to fight or retiring towards another troop—apply to them.
Neither does God recount there being any exceptions to the faithful’s pledge: though they had certainly pledged to Allah before that they would not turn their backs to flee, and pledges given to Allah are accountable ().
Now, let us turn to the commentator’s claim that the panic and confusion of the Muslims was something that even the Prophet felt. He argues this based on the verse, then Allah sent down His composure upon His Messenger and upon the faithful (), in which he says the preposition ‘then’ shows that this composure was sent down after they had fled, which would indicate that the Prophet was also gripped by worry by this point, although that his worry was because of his grief at the turn of events, as it is inconceivable that he would lose courage.
What grief, then, did the Prophet feel on that day? Was he grieved because the tide of battle had turned, because the Muslims had fled, and because God had afflicted them with tribulation because they had allowed themselves to become overconfident on account of their superior numbers? In short, was his grief something disagreeable in the eyes of God? If so, this would not accord with his status, because God has educated Him through His revelations and taught Him from His knowledge. It was God, after all, who told him: You have no hand in the matter () and We shall have you recite, then you will not forget (). Moreover, the accounts of the Battle of Ḥunayn do not give any indication that the Prophet left his position or became distressed by the rout of the Muslims.
On the other hand, what if the Prophet was grieved for the Muslims because of what befell them because they had wrongly placed their trust in something other than God, relied on illusory expectations of victory, forgotten to rely on Him, and then compounded their sinfulness by fleeing from the battlefield? In this case, he would have been grieved for them because of his concern for them, but this is something loved by God. Indeed, God praises him as someone who is most kind and merciful to the faithful (). This kind of grief, however, would not have been removed by the composure that God sent down. Moreover, even if this composure was sent down as a result of the rout of the Muslim army, this does not entail that the Prophet had lost his composure prior to this. On the contrary, the Prophet had been following clear guidance from his Lord from the moment his mission began and would continue to do so until his dying breath. From this point of view, composure was constantly being sent down on him from one moment to the next.
But, if this is the case, then what exactly is the composure (sakīna) that was sent down upon the faithful at Ḥunayn? What was its nature? Was it a psychological state that comes from stillness and tranquillity, per the statement of the author of al-Miṣbāḥ, who says it refers to sobriety, dignity, and steadiness? In which case, did the steadfastness of the disbelievers in battle come from a composure that was sent down to them? If this is the nature of composure, then at first it was with the disbelievers of the Hawāzin and Thaqīf tribes who were fighting the Muslims. Then, it left them and descended upon all of the Muslims, including the believers who stood fast beside the Messenger of God and believers who did not stand fast and chose to flee instead, and even the hypocrites, those of weak faith, and those with sicknesses in their hearts, as all of them returned to the fray and renewed their efforts alongside the Prophet and fought by his side until they drove off the enemy. Therefore, according to this understanding, all of them seem to have composure sent down upon by them by God. But, if this is the case, then why does God single out His Messenger and the believers for mention when He says, Then Allah sent down His composure upon His Messenger and upon the faithful?
After all, if this is the meaning of composure, it is something granted to every believer and disbeliever, so how can God count it as a blessing He bestowed upon the faithful, as though this is a special gift not given to everyone? And He does not mention composure in the Qur’an except on a few occasions—less than ten, in fact.
From the above, it is evident that sakīna refers to something beyond mere steadfastness and tranquillity. However, this not in the sense that the word sakīna signifies a meaning in language or customary usage beyond that of a psychological state, but rather in the sense that what God means by sakīna in the Qur’an is something more than the quality we find in any brave warrior on the battlefield. Instead, it signifies a tranquillity of the soul with qualities and attributes that are unique to it.
In what sense is this? Well, whenever God mentions sakīna as a blessing He has sent down upon His Messenger and the faithful, He portrays it as something He has sent down especially from Himself. Therefore, sakīna in the Qur’an refers to a divine state in which God’s servant does not forget the station of his Lord. This is distinct from the ordinary bravery or valor displayed by those who are sure of themselves. After all, when we look at the instances of sakīna in the Qur’an, we see that it is often associated with qualities that not every brave or stoic person possesses. For example, God says about His Messenger: He said to his companion, ‘Do not grieve; Allah is indeed with us.’ Then Allah sent down His composure upon him, and strengthened him with hosts you did not see ().
And about the faithful, God says: Allah was certainly pleased with the faithful when they swore allegiance to you under the tree. He knew what was in their hearts, so He sent down composure on them ().
Notice that God says that He only sent down composure upon them because He knew what was in their hearts. This shows that, in order for God to send down this composure, a person’s heart must already be in a state of purity to receive it, and the context of the latter verse shows that this refers to truthfulness and sincerity, such that the person will not break their pledge.
God also says: It is He who sent down composure into the hearts of the faithful that they might enhance their faith. To Allah belong the hosts of the heavens and the earth ().
And He mentions that one of the effects of this composure is to increase a person’s faith: When the faithless nourished bigotry in their hearts, the bigotry of pagan ignorance, Allah sent down His composure upon His Messenger and upon the faithful, and made them abide by the word of Godwariness, for they were the worthiest of it and deserved it ().
As you can see, this verse also portrays composure being sent down by God when the recipient’s heart is ready for it and when their character is worthy of it. This is what the previous verse meant when it said, He knew what was in their hearts. And this verse shows that one of the effects of this composure is that a person abides by the word of Godwariness, which means that their soul is purified of any disobedience to God and His Messenger and that they will avoid all sins and forbidden things.
This resembles the explanation one commentator has given regarding the verse, that they might enhance their faith (); the sending down of composure augments their faith with more faith, and this means that the human being is divinely protected from committing sins or perpetrating forbidden acts by virtue of his sincere belief in the religion of truth.
This provides clear evidence of a number of things:
First, in the verse under discussion— then Allah sent down His composure upon His Messenger and upon the faithful—the term faithful (muʾminīn) does not include the hypocrites, those with sicknesses in their hearts, or the weak of faith. Therefore, it leaves only those of the believers who stood their ground and never left the Prophet’s side—and they are either four, nine, ten, eighty, or less than one hundred in number according to the different narrations—and those who initially fled and deserted the Prophet then returned to his side and fought. The latter group comprises the majority of the Prophet’s Companions, including some of the most elite of them. Therefore, the question here is, which of these groups is meant by ‘the faithful’ in this verse? Is it both those who stood their ground and those who fled at first then returned to the fight? Or does it only refer to those who never left his side until God sent them divine assistance?
From the verses that mention composure (sakīna), it is evident that it is only sent down on those who already have pure hearts and sincere souls, it is only people with these traits who God steadies with His composure. Now, those who committed the major sin of fleeing from the fight had sinful hearts. Therefore, they lacked a suitable vessel with which to receive God’s composure. If composure was indeed sent down upon them, they would have had to regret their sinful actions first and sincerely and truthfully repent to their Lord for what they did. Then and only then would God, knowing the state of their hearts, send down His composure upon them. In other words, because they were sinful, they would have had to repent and return to battle before God sent down His sakīna and came to their aid against their enemies. Perhaps that is what is implied here by the use of the preposition thumma (‘then’) at the start of the verse.
However, even then, there remain a number of problems: First, the fact that God mentions repentance and forgiveness in the following verse, namely after this composure was sent. Therefore, in order for us to accept that the composure was sent down upon those who ran away and came back, we must restrict the verse, then Allah shall turn clemently after that to whomever He wishes. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful (), to the disbelievers amongst them who converted to Islam after this. However, there is no trace of such an implication in the verse itself, nor is there any evidence to restrict it to the disbelievers who converted later.
Second, in adopting such a reading, we completely ignore the great courage and steadfastness of those few souls who found themselves in such trying circumstances but still stood their ground beside the Prophet when the overwhelming majority of the Muslims had fled and abandoned him to his enemies without a second thought. And it is not the Qur’an’s habit to overlook someone who endures a difficult trial for the sake of God, or puts himself into danger’s way seeking His gratification, for God is all-knowing and most-appreciative, and it does not befit His grandeur not to praise or thank such a person.
On the contrary, when the Qur’an censures or rebukes a people as a whole, while there are individuals amongst them who are innocent of blame, free from error, or absolved from sin, it is God’s habit to distinguish between them and their people. He does this by singling them out for praise and commending them for their virtuousness and righteous conduct. This is something plainly visible in the sections of the Qur’an that criticise and admonish the Jews and the Christians at the Prophet’s time: When God reproaches the majority for disbelieving in His signs and disobeying His commandments and prohibitions, He follows this by praising the minority who have believed in Him and His signs and who have carried out His will through their actions.
The clearest example of this, however, comes from the verses dealing with the Battle of Uḥud. In these, God enumerates the blessings He granted to the faithful in the form of His assistance and generosity, then He reprimands them for the weakness and spinelessness they have shown, before singling out those who stood fast and demonstrated their sincerity for praise and making a beautiful promise to them, not once but twice: and soon Allah will reward the grateful () and, and soon We will reward the grateful ().
We see the Qur’an saying something similar in the aftermath of the Battle of the Trench. It begins by harshly reproving a group of the faithful, before delivering a severe condemnation of the hypocrites and those in whose hearts there was a sickness. Then, God says: though they had certainly pledged to Allah before that they would not turn their backs, and pledges given to Allah are accountable (). However, God ends the story with the following conclusion: Among the faithful are men who fulfil what they have pledged to Allah. Of them are some who have fulfilled their pledge, and of them are some who still wait, and they have not changed in the least ().
Given the above, why would God not pay attention to those exceptional few who stood their ground on the Day of Ḥunayn? After all, as a battle, it was certainly no less trying than any of the others mentioned here. Why would not God single them out for appreciation or praise, given that they would have certainly hoped to receive the same gracious commendation that others had been granted before them in other battles?
All of this would seem to point us to the conclusion that when God says ‘the faithful’ in the present verse and says that He sent down ‘composure’ upon them, He is referring to the believers that stood their ground beside the Prophet. As for the rest of the believers, who returned to fight after first running away, some are included in the subsequent verse, namely: Then Allah shall turn clemently after that to whomever He wishes. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful. The ones included in ‘whomever He wishes’ are those of them to whom He showed his grace, and included with them are the disbelievers of the Hawāzin and Thaqīf tribes to whom God granted success and grace through guiding them, as well as the ṭulaqāʾ (‘freed-ones,’ late converts from the Quraysh who had only accepted Islam after surrendering to the Prophet at Mecca) and those who had a sickness in their hearts who reformed themselves. This is the conclusion drawn from the exegetical treatment of these verses. As for the narrations that have come down in this regard, they have their own position, and some of them will be examined below.
As for the aforementioned commentator’s claim that the Muslims came rushing back as soon as they heard the Prophet and his uncle ʿAbbās call out, this does not in any way refute what we have said about the apparent meaning of the verse, whereupon you turned your backs () when it is placed beside the earlier injunction: O you who have faith! When you encounter the faithless advancing for battle, do not turn your backs to flee from them… (). Those Muslims who ran away did, in fact, turn their backs to flee from battle; it does not matter whether they did so out of cowardice, treachery, or confusion and desperation.
As for the verses he mentions that praise the Companions, say that God is pleased with them, and say that they are worthy of abundant rewards from their Lord, the praise given in these verses is predicated upon certain conditions being fulfilled, without which it would not apply to them. The verses in question only praise them because they display the qualities of divine servanthood, such as faith (īmān), devotion (ikhlāṣ), veracity (ṣidq), sincerity (naṣīḥa), and striving for the faith. Therefore, the praise only applies to people so long as these qualities are found in them. Equally, the beautiful promises that God makes to them only hold insofar as the attributes and characteristics that engendered those promises still exist in the people to whom they were given. In the event that they disappear because of some error or misdeed, then the praises and the promises cease to apply by extension.
After all, whatever goodness or blessings are found in them, these cannot be any greater or more momentous than the quality of infallibility (ʿiṣma) that was possessed by the prophets, which they would have lost through the commission of a single sin. God says about own His prophets after heaping praise on them: But were they to ascribe any partners (to Allah), what they used to do would not avail them ().
Equally, God says about those who imagined that they were safe from any kind of unpleasant punishment by virtue of their outward submission, which is something akin to what the People of the Book believed about themselves: It will be neither after your hopes nor the hopes of the People of the Book: whoever commits evil shall be requited for it ().
As for what the Qur’an says about the Pledge of Ḥudaybiyya (Bayʿat al-Riḍwān)—Allah was certainly pleased with the faithful when they swore allegiance to you under the tree ()—God’s being pleased (riḍā) with someone is a divine attribute of action (ṣifa fiʿliyya), which means it does not subsist in God’s essence but rather is something abstracted from His actions in the world. Therefore, these attributes are identical with God’s actions. In this case, God’s being pleased with someone is identical with the pure state of their soul. It is this inner state that makes them worthy of divine recompense and an excellent reward, so long as their behavior does not change after this. If their behavior changes for the worse, then God’s satisfaction with them will become His anger (sukhuṭ) toward them, and their blessings will turn to misfortunes. No one has received a pledge from God—and God does not break His pledges—that He will grant them eternal happiness and endless bounties no matter whether they do good or evil, whether they obey or disobey, or whether they believe or disbelieve.
This is because God’s satisfaction is not an attribute of His essence, such that it would not be subject to change or alteration or that it could not disappear or be effaced.
ثُمَّ أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ سَكِينَتَهُ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِ وَعَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَأَنْزَلَ جُنُودًا لَمْ تَرَوْهَا وَعَذَّبَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ جَزَاءُ الْكَافِرِينَ ٢٦
(9:26) Then Allah sent down His composure upon His Messenger and upon the faithful, and He sent down hosts you did not see, and He punished the faithless, and that is the requital of the faithless.
As we have already discussed, sakīna (‘composure’) refers to a state of a person’s heart that grants them tranquillity of the soul and steadfastness of heart. According to the verses of the Qur’an, this trait goes hand-in-hand with their faith being increased with more faith and the word of Godwariness (kalimat al-taqwā, see ), which guides them to be wary of the things that God has prohibited or sanctified.
However, sakīna is not the same as ʿadāla (‘justice, integrity’), which is a psychological trait (malaka nafsāniyya) that restrains a person from committing major sins or from repeatedly committing minor ones (though they can still commit them occasionally without the loss of this trait). By contrast, sakīna prevents a person from committing any sins whatsoever, whether major or minor.
In the Qur’an, God associates this sakīna with Himself in a manner that conveys a sense of exclusivity, similar to how He associates the spirit (rūḥ) with Himself, but He does not do the same for integrity. Moreover, He says that He ‘sends down’ (inzāl) composure, which means that it is something He possesses exclusively and bestows on a select few. In fact, some of the verses hint that He considers it to be one of His divine hosts (junūd): It is He who sent down composure into the hearts of the faithful that they might enhance their faith. To Allah belong the hosts of the heavens and the earth… ().
On more than one occasion, God mentions sakīna alongside His hosts. For example, see the verse that appears later in this chapter, then Allah sent down His composure upon him, and strengthened him with hosts you did not see (), and the verse presently under discussion, then Allah sent down His composure upon His Messenger and upon the faithful, and He sent down hosts you did not see.
From the context of these verses, it appears that these hosts are the angels that God sends down to the battlefield, or at least some of their number. The roles assigned to sakīna and the angels on the battlefield are to punish the disbelievers and to support and strengthen the faithful, as described in the verses of Sūrah Āl ʿImrān that recount the Battle of Uḥud and the opening of Sūrah al-Fatḥ. Interested readers can refer to the verses in those chapters to better understand the reality of the matter.
In our commentary on the verse, bearing tranquillity (sakīna) from your Lord (), we have also discussed some of the aspects of divine composure that are relevant to the present topic.
ثُمَّ يَتُوبُ اللَّهُ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَىٰ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ٢٧
(9:27) Then Allah shall turn clemently after that to whomever He wishes. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.
As we have mentioned on a number of occasions already, when the act of tawba is applied to God, this means that He turns to His servant, first with grace and the success of repentance, and then with forgiveness and clemency. On the other hand, when the act of tawba emanates from God’s servant, this means that He turns to His lord in regret and repentance, and God does not turn to the one who has not yet turned towards Him.
Based on the context, the demonstrative pronoun in after that refers to what the previous verses have conveyed about the Muslims’ error in placing their trust in something other than God, their sinfulness in turning their backs and fleeing from battle, and God sending down His composure and hosts and punishing those who disbelieved.
In accordance with this, the phrase whomever He wishes includes both the Muslims and the disbelievers, for God has mentioned what both parties must do in order to earn His forgiveness. In the case of the disbelievers, this is to renounce their disbelief, while for the Muslims, it is to repent for their error and their sinfulness. There is no basis in the verse for restricting God’s forgiveness to either group, because the clemency (tawba) mentioned in the verse is general and without qualification. Therefore, it cannot be said to be only for either the Muslims or the disbelievers, given that both groups have cause to repent.
Based on the above, the falsity of the following reading of the verse becomes evident:
Some commentators have argued that God’s clemency here applies only to those whom He punished. They say: ‘It means that God will turn clemently to whoever He wishes amongst the disbelievers following this worldly punishment and thereby guide them to the religion of Islam. These are the ones who have not been completely consumed by their ignorance, superstition, and idolatry. Therefore, they have not sealed their fate by persisting in their obstinacy and denial or by blindly sticking to their traditions.’
However, it will be evident to the reader that this restriction of the verse’s meaning in this way is utterly baseless and unsupported by any evidence from the verse itself.
When God says, then Allah shall turn clemently…, this is to show that the door of repentance is always open and that the divine outpouring of grace, clemency, and forgiveness is unceasing and available to all people. This is the opposite of what is indicated by the previous verse, when it says, then Allah sent down His composure, as this points to something exclusive and restricted to a few.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْمُشْرِكُونَ نَجَسٌ فَلَا يَقْرَبُوا الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَامَ بَعْدَ عَامِهِمْ هَٰذَا ۚ وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ عَيْلَةً فَسَوْفَ يُغْنِيكُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ إِنْ شَاءَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ ٢٨
(9:28) O you who have faith! The polytheists are indeed impure (najas), so they should not approach the Holy Mosque after this year. Should you fear poverty (ʿayla), Allah will enrich you out of His grace, if He wishes. Indeed Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.
In Majmaʿ al-Bayān, al-Ṭabrisī says: ‘Najas (impure) refers to anything dirty. One can call a man or woman najas or a group of people najas, because it is an infinitive. When this word is used in conjunction with rijs, as one might say “rijs nijs”… ʿayla (poverty) means to be poor, the verb yaʿīlu means to be in need.’
Customary understanding (al-fahm al-ʿurfī) indicates that the ban on the idolaters entering the Holy Mosque should be read as an instruction to the faithful to prevent them from entering it. God explains the rationale for this ruling by saying that they are impure (najas), which suggests a kind of uncleanliness for them and a kind of purity and cleanliness for the Holy Mosque. However, whatever this means, it is not the same as the religious ruling to ‘avoid physical contact with them with the presence of moisture’ or the like.
After this year refers to the year 9 A.H., the year in which ʿAlī delivered the proclamation of repudiation that forbade people from circumambulating the House of God in the nude and from the idolaters making the Hajj pilgrimage again.
Should you fear poverty and what follows it means: ‘if you fear that by implementing this divine ordinance you will be cut off from the Hajj and that your markets will be empty and you will lose business as a result, leaving you poor and destitute, then do not fear: God will enrich you out of His grace and keep you safe from the poverty of which you are afraid.’
This is a beautiful promise given by God to reassure the people of Mecca and all of those who did business there during the Hajj season. This promise did not only apply at that time, but continues to give glad tidings to the Muslims down to the present day, for the word of Islam triumphed, and its renown spread further with each passing year. By contrast, the idolaters faced the complete destruction of their way of life, for—aside from the handful of Arabs with whom the Prophet had made a treaty in the Holy Mosque, whose expiration came later—they only had four months’ grace after the proclamation of repudiation. Hence, all of them were in the process of embracing Islam.
Examining Narrations
- In al-Kāfī, it is narrated from ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm from one of his colleagues whose name he mentioned: When (the ʿAbbāsid caliph) al-Mutawakkil was poisoned, he made a vow (nadhr) that, if he recovered, he would give ‘abundant wealth’ (māl kathīr) in charity (ṣadaqa). When he recovered, he asked the jurists how much wealth would qualify as ‘abundant.’ One of them said: ‘A hundred thousand.’ Another said: ‘Ten thousand.’ Each gave his own opinion, and al-Mutawakkil became confused.
One of his companions called Ṣafwān said: ‘Why don’t you send a message to this dark-skinned person and ask him about it?’
Al-Mutawakkil replied: ‘Woe to you, who do you mean?’
Ṣadwān said: ‘The descendant of (Imām) al-Riḍā.’
‘Is he of any use in this situation?’
‘If he gets you out of trouble, then you must grant me such-and-such, and if he doesn’t, then swat me a hundred times.’
‘Very well! O Jaʿfar b. Maḥmūd, go to Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Muḥammad (Imām al-Hādī) and ask him how much wealth is “abundant wealth.”’
So Jaʿfar b. Maḥmūd went and asked (Imām al-Hādī), who told him: ‘Abundant is eighty.’
Jaʿfar said: ‘Good sir, he will surely ask me for the basis of this verdict (al-ʿilla).’
Abū al-Ḥasan (al-Hādī) replied: ‘God says in the Qur’an, Allah has certainly helped you in many (kathīr) situations, for we have enumerated those situations, and they number eighty.’
Author’s comments: Al-Qummī narrates this in his Tafsīr as well, in which he gives the name of the anonymous ‘colleague’ in the chain of narrators as Muḥammad b. ʿAmr. The meaning of the narration is that the Arabic word kathīr (many, abundant) is used in the Qur’an to refer to eighty of something, not that the actual meaning of kathīr is eighty, as should be obvious.
- In Majmaʿ al-bayān, al-Ṭabrisī quotes the experts of Qur’anic commentary and Prophetic biography as saying: When the Messenger of God conquered Mecca, he set out from it towards Ḥunayn in order to fight the Hawāzin and Thaqīf tribes at the end of Ramaḍān or in Shawwāl of the eighth year after the Emigration. The leaders of the Hawāzin had rallied around Mālik b. ʿAwf al-Naṣrī and marched forth with their property, women, and children and encamped at Awṭās….
Amongst them was Durayd b. al-Ṣimma, the leader of the Jusham tribe, and he was by this point advanced in years and had lost his sight to old age. He said: ‘Which valley are you in?’ They said: ‘Awṭās.’ He said: ‘A good place for cavalry, neither too soft and slippery, nor too hard and uneven, but why is it that I hear the grunts of camels, the braying of donkeys, the lowing of cattle, the bleating of sheep, and the crying of children?’ They said: ‘Mālik b. ʿAwf told people to bring their children, their wealth, and their womenfolk, so that each of them would fight for his family and his property.’ Durayd said: ‘By the Lord of the Kaʿba, he had be better off as a shepherd.’
Then he said: ‘Take me to Mālik.’ And when they brought Durayd to him, he said: ‘O Mālik! You have become the leader of your people, and this is not our last day on earth, so send your people to their highlands and then put your men on their horses, for nothing will avail you other than a man with his mount and blade. If it goes in your favour, your people will catch up, and if it should go against you, you will not have disgraced your nearest and dearest.’
But Mālik only replied: ‘Your old age has cost you your knowledge and your good sense.’
The Messenger of God unfurled his greatest battle standard and entrusted it to ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, and he told everyone who had entered Mecca bearing a flag to carry it. He set out after having spent fifteen days in Mecca, and he sent word to Ṣafwān b. Umayya and asked to borrow a hundred shields from him.
Ṣafwān asked: ‘As a loan, or do you mean to steal them from me?’
The Prophet replied: ‘I wish to borrow them, and I guarantee their return.’
So Ṣafwān lent him a hundred shields before setting out himself. And two thousand of those who had converted to Islam following the conquest of Mecca also set out. The Prophet had entered Mecca with ten thousand men, and he marched forth to Ḥunayn with twelve thousand.
The Messenger of God sent one of his Companions as an envoy to Mālik b. ʿAwf. He arrived as Mālik was saying to his people: ‘Let each man amongst you place his family and his property behind him, and break the scabbards of your swords! Lie in wait in the valley, and when the first light of morning appears on the horizon, attack as a single body and crush them, for Muḥammad has not yet encountered anyone who knew how to fight!’
Once the Messenger of God had offered prayers with his Companions in the morning, they advanced into the valley of Ḥunayn, and divisions of the Hawāzin attacked them from every direction. The Banū Sulaym tribe, who had been the Prophet’s vanguard, retreated, and all of those behind them retreated too. And God left them to their enemies because they had become overconfident at their superior numbers. All that remained was ʿAlī with the battle standard, fighting them with a small band of stalwarts, while the rest of the army fled past the Messenger of God without a second glance.
ʿAbbās b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib held the reins of the Messenger of God’s donkey, with his brother al-Faḍl to his right and Abū Sufyān b. al-Hārith b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib to his left, and Nawfal b. al-Ḥarīth and Rabīʿa b. al-Ḥarīth were there amongst a band of nine from the Banū Hāshim. They were joined by Ayman b. Umm Ayman. At that point, ʿAbbās recited:
We nine came to the aid of God’s Messenger in battle / while all others had fled and scattered,
And while al-Faḍl struck out with his sword, I called out / to the others, ‘O kinsmen!’ that they might return,
The tenth of our number gave his life / but he did not lament for what he gained in God’s service.
And when the Messenger of God saw his people deserting him, he told ʿAbbās, who was known for his loud voice, to summon them back. He called out: ‘O you Emigrants and Helpers, O you who witnessed al-Baqara’s revelation, O you who pledged allegiance beneath the tree, whence do you flee? This is the Messenger of God!’
And when the Muslims heard the voice of ʿAbbās, they returned to the fight calling out: ‘We are coming! We are coming!’ The Helpers in particular hasted back to the fray and fought the idolaters with renewed vigour, such that the Messenger of God remarked: ‘Now the battle has truly begun, and I am the Prophet who does not lie. I am the scion of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib!’ Then divine assistance came down from God and the Hawāzin routed and fled in all directions with the Muslims in hot pursuit.
Mālik b. ʿAwf fled the field and sought refuge behind the fortifications of Ṭāʾif. Close to a hundred of his people had been killed, and the Muslims captured much of their property and womenfolk. The Messenger of God ordered the captives and booty to be sent to Jiʿrāna, and he placed Badīl b. Warqāʾ al-Khuzāʿī in charge of them.
The Prophet then set off in pursuit of the remnants of the enemy. He surrounded Ṭāʾif in pursuit of Mālik b. ʿAwf and besieged the city for the rest of the month. When Dhū al-Qaʿda set in, he withdrew to Jiʿrāna, where he divided the spoils of Ḥunayn and Awṭās.
Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab says: A man from the idolaters’ side at the Battle of Ḥunayn told me: ‘When we met the Companions of the Messenger of God in battle, they gave us no more resistance than milking a sheep. When we drove them back, we pursued them until we reached the man on the donkey’—meaning the Messenger of God—‘suddenly we were met by men with bright faces who told us: “Go back, you of evil countenances!” So we fell back, whereat they pursued them, and they were “them”’—meaning they were angels.’
Al-Zuhrī says: I heard that Shayba b. ʿUthmān had said: ‘I snuck up to the Messenger of God, intending to kill him to avenge the blood of Ṭalḥa b. ʿUthmān and ʿUthmān b. Ṭalḥa, who had been killed in the Battle of Uḥud, but God made His Messenger aware of my intentions. He turned to me and struck me in the chest, saying: “I seek refuge from you with God, O Shayba!” And, when I heard these words, my flanks began to tremble, and then I looked to this man who I had hated so intensely, but now I loved him more than my own sight and hearing. I cried out: “I bear witness that you are the Messenger of God, and that God informed you of what was in my soul!”’
The Messenger of God divided the spoils in Jiʿrāna, including the six thousand women and children of the Hawāzin he had captured, and camels and sheep beyond counting.
Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī says: The Messenger of God gave most of the spoils to those whose hearts needed to be reconciled (mutaʾallifīn, see ) from the Quraysh and the rest of the Arabs, but he did not give the Helpers anything, whether a little or a lot. So, Saʿd b. ʿUbāda went to the Messenger of God and said: ‘O Messenger of God, this group of the Helpers is upset by your division of the spoils amongst your own people and amongst all the other Arabs, without giving them anything.’ The Prophet replied: ‘And what are your thoughts on this, O Saʿd?’ He said: ‘I am but a man of my people.’ So the Messenger of God said: ‘Then gather your people for me in this field.’ So he gathered them and the Messenger of God came out and stood up amidst them to deliver a speech. He began by praising God and magnifying Him, then he said:
‘O gathering of Helpers, did I not find you astray, then God guided you? Did I not find you impoverished, then God enriched you? Did I not find you enemies of one another, then God brought your hearts together?’
They answered: ‘Yes, O Messenger of God!’
He continued: ‘Will you not answer me, O gathering of Helpers?’
They said: ‘What should we say? How should we answer you? The bounty belongs to God and His Messenger!’
So, the Messenger of God said: ‘By God, had you wished, you could have said, truthfully: “You came to us an outcast, and we sheltered you! You came to us in need and we supported you! You came to us fearful, and we protected you! And you came to us betrayed by your own people, and we came to your aid!”’
They replied: ‘The bounty belongs to God and His Messenger!’
Then, the Messenger of God said: ‘You are upset, O gathering of Helpers, because of some trinkets of this world, which I have given to others to reconcile their hearts to Islam, while I have left you to what God has apportioned for you because of Islam. Will you not be satisfied, O gathering of Helpers, that while the rest of the Arabs shall leave with sheep and camels, you shall leave with the Messenger of God in your midst? For by He in whose hand is my soul, if all of mankind go into one valley, and the Helpers go into another valley, I will go into the valley of the Helpers! And were it not for the fact of my Emigration, I too would call myself a man from the Helpers. O God! Have mercy on the Helpers, upon the children of the Helpers, and upon the children of the children of the Helpers!’ Whereat those assembled wept until their beards were soaked with tears, and they said: ‘We are pleased with the apportionment of God and His Messenger!’ Then they dispersed.
Anas b. Mālik says: On the Day of Awṭās, the Messenger of God appointed a caller to announce: ‘Lo! Let no one lay a hand upon a pregnant woman until she gives birth and let no one lay a hand upon a woman who is not pregnant until she has had her menses.’
Then a delegation from the Hawāzin tribe came to the Messenger of God in Jiʿrāna, having submitted to Islam, to ransom their captives. Their speaker stood up and said: ‘O Messenger of God! Amongst the women you have captured are your maternal aunts and wet-nurses who nursed you when you were a child. If we had faced Ibn Abī Shir or al-Nuʿmān b. al-Mundhir (two kings of the Arabs) and suffered from them the like of which we suffered from you, we would have held out hope for their clemency and generosity, and you are the best of those who have been nursed (by us).’ Then he recited some verses of poetry.
The Messenger of God said: ‘Which is dearer to you: The captives or your property?’ They said: ‘O Messenger of God, you have given us the choice between lineage and property, and lineage is dearer to us. We are not here for sheep or camels.’ So the Messenger of God said: ‘Whatever is the share of the Banū Hāshim is yours, and I will speak to the other Muslims on your behalf and intercede for you. So speak to them and make known your embrace of Islam.’
So, after the Messenger of God had offered his ẓuhr prayers, the Hawāzin got up and addressed the Muslims. Then the Prophet said: ‘I have already returned the share that belonged to the Banū Hāshim, and by He in whose hand is my soul, whoever amongst you would like to grant them their request without feeling compelled to do so, then let him do so. And whoever dislikes to grant them their request, then let them accept a payment of ransom, and I will pay their ransom for them.’ At this, the people gave over their share of the captives to the Hawāzin, save for a few who asked for a ransom to be paid.
The Messenger of God sent word to Mālik b. ʿAwf: ‘If you come to me as a Muslim, I will return to you your family and your property and I will give you a hundred she-camels besides.’ So Mālik came out of Ṭāʾif to meet the Prophet, and the latter returned to him his family and his property and granted him a hundred camels besides. Then, he appointed him as his agent over those of his people who had embraced Islam.
Author’s comments: al-Qummī narrates a similar account in his Tafsīr, except that he does not narrate the poetry that is ascribed to the Prophet during the battle. The same is true of what is narrated by specific authorities such as al-Musayyib, al-Zuhrī, Anas, and Abī Saʿīd. And accounts with the same content have been narrated via numerous routes in Sunnī works.
ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-Qummī’s narration contains an additional section that reads as follows:
ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm says: When the Messenger of God saw his army in retreat, he galloped in a circle on his donkey with his word drawn and said: ‘O ʿAbbās, go up this hill and call out: ‘O you who witnessed al-Baqara’s revelation, O you who pledged allegiance beneath the tree, whence do you flee? This is the Messenger of God!’
Then the Messenger of God raised his hand and said: ‘O God! Yours is the praise, Yours is the thanks, to You I complain, and You are the helper!’ Then Gabriel descended from the heavens and said: ‘O Messenger of God, you have invoked God with the invocation of Moses son of ʿImrān when God split the sea for him and saved him from Pharaoh!’
Then the Messenger of God said to Abū Sufiyān b. Ḥārith: ‘Give me a handful of pebbles!’ So he gave him the pebbles and the Prophet threw them into the faces of the idolaters and said: ‘Evil countenances!’ Then he raised his head towards the sky and said: ‘O God! If this band perishes You will not be worshipped, and if You wish not to be worshipped, then You will not be worshipped!’
When the Helpers heard the call of ʿAbbās, they rallied, broke the sheathes of their swords, and called out: ‘We are coming!’ They rushed past the Messenger of God, for they were too ashamed to go back to him directly and went to the battle standard instead. The Messenger of God said to ʿAbbās: ‘Who are they, O Abū al-Faḍl?’ He said: ‘O Messenger of God, they are the Helpers!’ The Messenger of God said: ‘Now the battle has truly begun!’ Then divine assistance came down from the heavens and the Hawāzin were routed.
- In al-Durr al-manthūr, it is narrated by Abū al-Shaykh from Muḥammad b. ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿUmayr al-Laythī that: There were four thousand Helpers with the Prophet (when he entered Mecca), a thousand from the Juhayna tribe, a thousand from the Muzīna tribe, a thousand from the Aslam, a thousand from the Ghaffār, a thousand from the Ashjaʿ, and a thousand of the Emigrants and others. Therefore, he had ten thousand. He set out (for Ḥunayn) with twelve thousand. About them, God says in His Book: ‘and on the day of Ḥunayn, when your great number impressed you, but it did not avail you in any way.’
- In the Sīra of Ibn Hishām, he narrates from Ibn Isḥāq: When the people fled and the newly-converted Meccans with the Messenger of God saw this, some amongst them gave voice to their rancour. Abū Sufiyān b. Ḥarb said: ‘They won’t stop running until they reach the sea.’ It is said he had brought arrows used for divination with him in his quiver on that day. Jabala b. al-Ḥanbal (or, according to Ibn Hishām, Kalada b. al-Ḥanbal), who was with his brother Ṣafwān b. Umayya, a polytheist to whom the Prophet had granted an extended period of grace, called out: ‘See how the magic has failed today!’ But Ṣafwān told him: ‘Be quiet, may God break your mouth, for I swear by God that I would rather be ruled by a man of the Quraysh than a man of the Hawāzin!’
Ibn Isḥāq narrates: Shayba b. ʿUthmān b. Abī Ṭalḥa, who was from the Banū ʿAbd al-Dār family said: ‘Today I shall have my revenge!’ For his father had been slain at Uḥud. ‘Today I will kill Muḥammad!’ He narrates: ‘So I went after the Messenger of God to kill him, but then something came over me and I could not do it. Suddenly, I knew that I had lost the power to do it.’
A list of those martyred at Ḥunayn:
In the Sīra of Ibn Hishām, Ibn Isḥāq says:
These are the names of the Muslims who were martyred at the Battle of Ḥunayn:
From the Quraysh: Ayman b. ʿUbayd of the Banū Hāshim; Ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā and Yazīd b. Zumʿa b. al-Aswad b. al-Muṭṭalib of the Banī Asad—the latter’s horse, which was called Jināḥ, bolted and he was slain.
From the Helpers: Surāqa b. al-Ḥārith b. ʿUdayy of the Banū al-ʿAjalān, and Abū ʿĀmir of the Ashʿarī clan.
Author’s comments: As for those who did not flee but stood firm with the Messenger of God, some narrations say there were three of them, others say four, others say nine, with Ayman b. ʿUbayd as the tenth—and he is also known as Ibn Umm Ayman—others still say eighty, and some say ‘less than a hundred.’
The most reliable of these accounts is what has been related by the Prophet’s uncle ʿAbbās, namely that there were nine of them and the tenth was Ayman, who recited some verses of poetry that we have already mentioned. This is the most reliable account because ʿAbbās remained by the Prophet’s side throughout the battle and saw events unfold in front of him clearly. He was the one who called out to those retreating, reminded them of their duty to the Prophet, and recited rousing verses of poetry.
It is also possible that some of the Muslims held their ground for a little while longer before fleeing, or that some of those who fled came to their senses, returned to the fight before the others, and rallied around the battle standard and, in doing so, came to be accounted amongst those who stood firm and fought. Of course, the Battle of Ḥunayn was a protracted engagement, with much back-and-forth, and this means that information about events will not always be clear and orderly.
Some say the most accurate account of events is that eighty men stood firm with the Prophet. This is narrated from ʿAbd Allāh b. Masʿūd, and Ibn ʿUmar’s narration that there were ‘less than a hundred’ who stood their ground also originates from this. They argue that because these two figures were memorizers of events and traditions, their version of events is more authoritative.
There is no dispute that the account of someone who memorizes events and traditions should be treated as more reliable than the account of someone who does not. However, the problem with this argument is that memorizing events in the heat of battle is not the same as memorizing them at other times. Therefore, we cannot rely on such accounts without some external corroboration of their validity. Of the narrators, only ʿAbbās has the requisite qualities to have witnessed and preserved this story accurately and in its entirety.