Verses 38–48

Chapter 9: Al-Tawbah (The Repentance) · Printed edition: Volume 18, pp. 165–198

These verses discuss the hypocrites (munāfiqīn), describing some of their traits and distinguishing features, their plots and machinations against Islam and the Muslims, the suffering their hypocrisy has caused, and their aversion to striving in the way of God. These verses also talk about the Prophet’s departure from Mecca during the Emigration (hijra) and the story of the Cave (ghār).

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَا لَكُمْ إِذَا قِيلَ لَكُمُ انْفِرُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ اثَّاقَلْتُمْ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ ۚ أَرَضِيتُمْ بِالْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا مِنَ الْآخِرَةِ ۚ فَمَا مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا فِي الْآخِرَةِ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌ ٣٨

(9:38) O you who have faith! What is the matter with you that when you are told: ‘Go forth in the way of Allah,’ you sink heavily to the ground? Are you pleased with the life of this world instead of the Hereafter? But the wares of the life of this world compared with the Hereafter are but insignificant.

According to the rules of morphology, iththāqaltum (‘to sink heavily’) was originally tathāqaltum, following the same pattern as the verb iddārakū (which was originally tadārakū) and others like it. It appears that the word iththāqaltum is imbued with the meaning of inclining towards something and has been made transitive using the preposition ilā (‘to’). Therefore, when someone says iththāqaltum ilā al-ʿarḍ (‘you sink heavily to the ground’), it means: ‘you incline towards the ground as if weighed down by a burden.’ The meaning of go forth in the way of Allah is to go forth in order to struggle against Islam’s enemies.

Are you pleased with the life of this world instead of the Hereafter?: The word riḍā (‘to be pleased’) means ‘to be satisfied with something.’ Here it has been made transitive using the preposition min (‘from,’ translated as instead of). For example one might say raḍītu min al-māl bi ṭayyibihi (‘I am satisfied with good wealth’) or raḍītu min al-qawm bi khillati fulān (‘I am satisfied with all of these people because of my friendship with so-and-so’). Therefore, the construction of the phrase a raḍītum bil-ḥayāt al-dunyā min al-ākhira (lit. ‘Are you satisfied with the life of this world of the Hereafter?’) implies that the life of this world is akin to a poor imitation or the meanest portion of the life of the Hereafter. This is also the meaning given by the latter most part of the same verse, But the wares of the life of this world compared with the Hereafter are but insignificant.

Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘O you who believe, why is it that when the Prophet…’—notice that the verse itself does not mention his name in order to magnify his status—‘…tells you to go forth to struggle against the enemies of Islam, you hesitate as if you do not wish to go forth. Is it because you are happy with the life of this world and satisfied with it instead of the life of the Hereafter? Surely the wares of this world are nothing in comparison to those of the next!’

This verse and the ones that follow it strongly reprimand the believers and caution them harshly. It is possible that they are referring to the campaign to Tabūk, which is one of the occasions of revelation (asbāb al-nuzūl) narrated about this verse.

إِلَّا تَنْفِرُوا يُعَذِّبْكُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا وَيَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْمًا غَيْرَكُمْ وَلَا تَضُرُّوهُ شَيْئًا ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ٣٩

(9:39) If you do not go forth, He will punish you with a painful punishment, and replace you with another people, and you will not hurt Him in the least, and Allah has power over all things.

The punishment that this verse warns them of is not specified, so there is no basis for restricting it to the punishment of the Hereafter. On the contrary, it is left ambiguous. In fact, the context of the verse suggests that it is referring to either the punishment of this world or the punishment of this world and the next together.

…and replace you with another people: Meaning that He will bring a different people to you, who do not sink heavily to the ground when carrying out God’s commands or going forth in the way of God when they are ordered to. The evidence for this meaning is the context of the verse itself.

…and you will not hurt Him in the least: This highlights their insignificance in the eyes of God should He wish to take them away and bring others in their place, for God does not benefit from them in the least. On the contrary, by obeying God’s commands, they benefit themselves and the only harm they do by disobeying Him is to themselves. When He says, and Allah has power over all things, this explains the reason for the previous part of the verse, if you do not go forth, He will punish you with a painful punishment, and replace you with another people.

إِلَّا تَنْصُرُوهُ فَقَدْ نَصَرَهُ اللَّهُ إِذْ أَخْرَجَهُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا ثَانِيَ اثْنَيْنِ إِذْ هُمَا فِي الْغَارِ إِذْ يَقُولُ لِصَاحِبِهِ لَا تَحْزَنْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَنَا ۖ فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ سَكِينَتَهُ عَلَيْهِ وَأَيَّدَهُ بِجُنُودٍ لَمْ تَرَوْهَا وَجَعَلَ كَلِمَةَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا السُّفْلَىٰ ۗ وَكَلِمَةُ اللَّهِ هِيَ الْعُلْيَا ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ ٤٠

(9:40) If you do not help him, then Allah has already helped him when the faithless expelled him, as the second of two (thānī al-ithnayn), when the two of them were in the cave (ghār) 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 He made the word of the faithless the lowest; and the word of Allah is the highest; and Allah is all-mighty, all-wise.

Thānī al-ithnayn means ‘one of the two.’

Ghār refers to a wide opening in a mountain. The cave in this verse is the cave of Jabal Thawr near Minā, rather than the Cave of Ḥirāʾ, in which, according to abundant reports, the Prophet used to withdraw on his spiritual retreats.

Key Debate: Composure in the Cave →

…he said to his companion, ‘Do not grieve; Allah is indeed with us’: According to definitive reports, the ‘companion’ in this case is Abū Bakr. The meaning of this is, ‘do not be grieved or fearful because of the loneliness and estrangement from your homeland you are experiencing, the absence of any helper, the ascendancy of your enemies, and their pursuit of me (the Prophet), for surely God is with us and He will help us against them.’

Then Allah sent down His composure upon him, and strengthened him with hosts you did not see: In other words, God sent down His composure upon His Messenger and supported His Messenger with hosts you could not see. These hosts diverted their pursuers from them in various ways, so that they could not enter the cave and seize the Prophet therein, and there are numerous reports about this that we will examine in our discussion of the narrations, below.

The evidence that the pronoun ‘him’ in Allah sent down His composure upon him refers to the Prophet rather than Abū Bakr is that the pronouns before and after this also refer to him. For example, if you do not help him, Allah has already helped him, the faithless expelled him, he said to his companion, and strengthened him. Therefore, there is no basis for claiming that the pronoun ‘him’ in upon him alone—out of all of the other pronouns—refers to Abū Bakr, unless there is definitive evidence to that effect.

Secondly, this verse occurs in the context of expounding the assistance that God has already given to his Prophet at a time when there was no one else there to help him. This is what is implied by the statement, if you do not help him, then Allah has already helped him when. Sending down composure (sakīna) and strengthening him with the assistance of unseen hosts are one of the special blessings bestowed by God upon the Prophet.

This is shown by the repetition of the preposition idh (‘when’) three times in the verse. On each occasion, it introduces some kind of explanation for what immediately came before it. For example, when God says, when the faithless expelled him, this explains Allah has already helped him; whereas when the two of them were in the cave explains the condition of the second of the two; while when he said to his companion specifies the time at which the events signified by when the two of them were in the cave were taking place.

Third, the entirety of the verse leads towards a single conclusion, namely: and He made the word of the faithless the lowest; and the word of Allah is the highest, which concerns God’s assistance to His Messenger. There is no doubt that this sentence is intended to explain everything that came before it. The meaning of the word of the faithless is the decision they made in Dār al-Nadwa to kill the Prophet and extinguish the light of God. On the other hand, the word of Allah refers to God’s promise to assist His Messenger and complete His light. Therefore, how could anyone argue that the sentence, Allah sent down His composure upon him refers to God’s assistance to someone else when it occurs in the middle of a verse whose entire focus is God’s assistance to the Prophet?

Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘If you do not come to his aid, O you who believe, then God has demonstrated His assistance before, at a time when there was no one to assist him or protect him and his enemies—the idolaters—were assailing him from every angle and pursuing him with the intention of killing him. Therefore, he was forced to abandon Mecca with only one other person to accompany him. That is when they found themselves in the cave, when the Prophet said to his companion Abū Bakr, ‘Do not be frightened by how things seem now, for surely God is with us and He holds the power to assist us in His hand!’ Then God came to his aid by sending down His composure upon him and supporting him with hosts that your sights cannot perceive. But He brought low the word of those who disbelieve—their word being their idea to kill him and their resolution to see this carried out—and rendered their schemes ineffective. At the same time, the word of God, which is His promise to help His Prophet, make His religion triumphant, and complete His light, the highest of the high. This is because God is almighty and unsubdued and wise such that there is nothing He does not know, and He makes no mistakes in what He wills and does.’

From the above, it is evident that the sentence, then Allah sent down His composure upon him, follows from then Allah has already helped him. At the same time, it also follows from he said to his companion, ‘Do not grieve…’, for the adverbial preposition ‘when’ refers to the time when God came to his aid, as we have already seen. Hence, the entirety of the verse aims to make known the special assistance that God has granted to His prophet and no one else. Therefore, each time then is used, this means that the phrase it introduces follows on from the phrase introduced by the adverbial when. Therefore, the phrase, then Allah sent down His composure, follows from then Allah has already helped him rather than he said to his companion, ‘Do not grieve…’. Hence, it cannot refer to Abū Bakr rather than the Prophet.

Now, one might argue that the Prophet was always in a state of composure from his Lord. Therefore, the fact that God sent down composure in this specific context indicates that it must have been sent down upon his companion.

However, this can be refuted as follows:

First, the Qur’an says concerning the Battle of Ḥunayn, then Allah sent down His composure upon His Messenger and upon the faithful (). Some have argued that this shows that the Prophet himself was seized by fear during the course of the battle, whereat God sent down composure upon him, which is the opposite situation to the one described in the cave (whereby Abū Bakr received God’s composure). However, this reading is pure speculation without any evidence, as the verse itself does not mention the Prophet as being grieved, fearful, or the like; it only mentions the retreat of the faithful. It likewise invalidates the argument that the Prophet was always in a state of composure that never needed to be renewed, as, if this were the case, then how could he become fearful at Ḥunayn so that God needed to send down composure upon him? This is unless, of course, they mean that he was in a state of constant composure while he was in the cave.

Akin to this is the verse that says God sent down composure upon him and upon the believers in Sūrah al-Fatḥ: 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 ().

Second, the fact that and strengthened him with hosts you did not see follows from then Allah sent down His composure upon him, because both of them occur in the same context. Therefore, if the composure was sent down upon Abū Bakr rather than the Prophet, then either Abū Bakr was the one strengthened with hosts you did not see or we must separate the two statements from one another even though they occur in the same context, which we would have no basis for doing.

Some commentators have argued—perhaps to avoid separating the two statements from one another—that the pronoun ‘him’ in and strengthened him with hosts you did not see also refers to Abū Bakr, in which case it was Abū Bakr rather than the Prophet who received both composure from God and support from unseen hosts.

Some have argued that the battles in which the Qur’an describes unseen hosts descending, such as the Battle of Ḥunayn, the Battle of al-Aḥzāb, or the Battle of Badr, it does not explicitly say that they were descending upon the faithful nor that they supported the faithful. However, it is evident that they only came down in order to deliver divine assistance (naṣr), which automatically includes assistance and support for the faithful, so there is no reason to preclude the hosts you did not see being sent down to help Abū Bakr, and whether they helped the believers in general or Abū Bakr in particular, in both cases this is ultimately done in support of the Prophet.

According to this interpretation, it makes more sense to read the phrase, and He made the word of the faithless the lowest, as following logically from then Allah sent down His composure upon him, and strengthened him with hosts you did not see, otherwise we would again face the problem of separating two statements that were uttered in the same context without any apparent justification to do so.

However, as should be evident to the reader, this interpretation of the verse—which makes Abū Bakr the recipient of composure and the assistance of unseen hosts instead of the Prophet—deprives it of a unified meaning and, instead, makes it confused and self-contradictory, such that its beginning and end are at odds with one another. It begins by saying that the Prophet is too dear and noble in the eyes of God to be reduced to asking help from the likes of those who are lazy in responding to His commands. On the contrary, God is his guardian and the one who will come to his aid, even if none of those around him will do so. Then, according to the reading presented above, instead of explaining the assistance that God has already given to His Prophet, the verse turns to discussing the assistance He gave to someone else by sending down composure upon him and supporting him with unseen hosts.

There is no denying that when God assists some of the faithful or all of them, this assistance is, in reality, sent for the sake of the Prophet. However, the context of the section of verses under discussion precludes such a reading, in as much as it begins by addressing the believers as a whole, saying, O you who have faith! (). Then, it criticizes them and admonishes them for being lax in their response to the Prophet’s command to go forth in the way of God and to fight the enemies of Islam. Then, the second verse threatens them with divine punishment and being replaced by another people if they refuse to go forth, and it explains that neither do God and His Messenger have any need of them, nor does their refusal harm God and His Messenger in the least. Meanwhile, the third verse illustrates why the Prophet has no need of them, because his Lord is his protector and supporter, and He came to his aid even when no one else could; when the faithless expelled him, as the second of two, when the two of them were in the cave, he said to his companion, ‘Do not grieve; Allah is indeed with us.’

Therefore, it is obvious that the purpose of this verse is to demonstrate the direct assistance God renders specifically and personally to His Prophet without any of the faithful contributing anything to this. The goal of the verse is not to illustrate God’s assistance to the Prophet via the faithful, whether in whole or in part, as God has grouped them together to censure and reprimand them rather than to show how He helped some of the faithful in order to help the Prophet.

Equally, when God says, him when the faithless expelled him, as the second of two, He is making a general reference to the help He lent to His Prophet, which He then goes on to explain in detail. It makes no sense, in this context, that He should begin by making a general reference to the help that He provided to His Prophet, only to mention the special assistance He delivered to his companion in the form of sending down composure and supporting him with unseen hosts. Therefore, the latter part of the verse can only be read as an explanation of the former.

The third reason reading then Allah sent down His composure upon him, and strengthened him with hosts you did not see as a reference to Abū Bakr is untenable is as follows: It ignores the true meaning of composure, which we have already discussed in our commentary on the verse: Then Allah sent down His composure upon His Messenger and upon the faithful ().

The second issue: According to the context of the verse, the phrase, and strengthened him with hosts you did not see, means that God granted him assistance at that time. On the other hand, those who claim that it means that He strengthened him with these unseen hosts at the Battle of the Trench or the Battle of Ḥunayn have no evidence to support this assertion whatsoever.

The third issue: The ‘word’ (kalima) in and He made the word of the faithless the lowest refers to the decision of the disbelievers in Dār al-Nadwa to kill the Prophet and put an end to his divine mission. At the same time, the ‘word’ in and the word of Allah is the highest refers to the promise God gave to His Prophet to help him and make his religion triumph over all others.

When the verse says, then Allah has already helped him when the faithless expelled him, as the second of two…, this is a reference to what is recounted in Sūrah al-Anfāl: When the faithless plotted against you to take you captive, or to kill or expel you. They plotted and Allah devised, and Allah is the best of devisers (). When God says that He dispelled the word of the faithless and realized His word at the end of the present verse, this relates to the beginning of the verse, which recounts the Prophet being expelled or being compelled to leave. What forced the Prophet to leave Mecca was the plot to kill him, which had been agreed upon by the Meccan leadership. Therefore, this is the word that God thwarted and brought low, and it is contrasted with the word of God, which is nothing other than divine assistance and victory.

The above demonstrates the error of those who claim that the word of the faithless refers to disbelief and idolatry and the word of Allah refers to monotheism and faith. This is because, even though idolatry is a ‘word’ of theirs and monotheism is a ‘word’ of God’s, this does not mean that whenever the Qur’an mentions either the word of the faithless or the word of God that this is a reference to these two concepts, especially when there are indications that another meaning is intended.

انْفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا وَجَاهِدُوا بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنْفُسِكُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ ٤١

(9:41) Go forth, whether lightly (khifāfan) or heavily (thiqālan), and wage jihād with your possessions and persons in the way of Allah. That is better for you, should you know.

Khifāf (‘lightly’) and thiqāl (‘heavily’) are the plurals of khafīf (‘light’) and thaqīl (‘heavy’) respectively.

Based on the context, ‘heavily’ here suggests the presence of impediments and obstacles to a person going forth to wage war. For example, because of business dealings, love of one’s family and friends and aversion to being separated from them, and the absence of the necessary provisions, means of transportation, weapons, and the like thereof. Conversely, ‘lightly’ suggests the opposite.

The fact that lightly and heavily are two diametrically opposed states of being means that the command to go forth, whether lightly or heavily signifies: ‘Go forth in whatever condition and there can be no valid excuse for refusing to do so.’ This is akin to the command to strive with possessions (amwāl) and persons (anfus), which means to strive in the way of God with any means that you have at your disposal.

Based on this, it is clear that the command contained in this verse is unqualified and absolute, which means it can still be qualified by valid excuses that relieve a person of the obligation to wage jihād, such as illness, blindness, lameness, and the like thereof. The meaning of whether lightly or heavily does not refer to such excuses.

لَوْ كَانَ عَرَضًا قَرِيبًا وَسَفَرًا قَاصِدًا لَاتَّبَعُوكَ وَلَٰكِنْ بَعُدَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الشُّقَّةُ ۚ وَسَيَحْلِفُونَ بِاللَّهِ لَوِ اسْتَطَعْنَا لَخَرَجْنَا مَعَكُمْ يُهْلِكُونَ أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ إِنَّهُمْ لَكَاذِبُونَ ٤٢

(9:42) Were it an accessible gain (araḍan qarīban) or a short journey (safaran qāṣidan), they would have surely followed you; but the distance (shuqqa) seemed too far to them. Yet they will swear by Allah: ‘If we could, we would have surely gone forth with you.’ They destroy themselves. Allah knows that they are indeed liars.

The word ʿaraḍ denotes something that is quick to vanish, and it is often used to denote worldly wealth, which is the sense in which it is used in the present verse, as indicated by the context in which it occurs. Qarīb (lit. ‘near’) here means ‘near at hand.’

Qāsid means someone who adopts a middle course, used as an adjective for safar (‘journey’) in the verse, it means a journey that is not overly long and easy for the traveller to undertake.

Shuqqa (lit. ‘hardship’) refers to distance here insofar as distance is a cause of hardship for the traveller.

As the context of the verse suggests, this verse reprimands and rebukes the hypocrites who hang back from going forth with the Prophet on his campaign to Tabūk. This is because the campaign in which the Prophet personally participated, in which the hypocrites hung back, and which was at a far distance was that of Tabūk and none of his other campaigns.

Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘If you had commanded them and summoned them to pursue a gain that was near at hand, spoils within easy reach, or an easy journey, they would have surely followed you, Muḥammad and gone forth willingly in the pursuit of worldly gains. However, the distance seemed great for them and they thought it a difficult undertaking, so they clung to the ground and were lax in responding.

Now, when you return to them and blame them for hanging back, they will swear oaths to you in the name of God: ‘If we could have gone forth with you, we surely would have.’ However, they ruin themselves, because they only go forth to fight in the hope of some easily won worldly gains, then they hang back when things are difficult for them and offer false excuses to their Prophet and swear false oaths by God.’ Alternatively, they destroy themselves might mean that they ruin themselves through the swearing of false oaths, and Allah knows that they are indeed liars.

عَفَا اللَّهُ عَنْكَ لِمَ أَذِنْتَ لَهُمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكَ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَتَعْلَمَ الْكَاذِبِينَ ٤٣

(9:43) May Allah excuse you! Why did you grant them leave before those who told the truth were evident to you and you had ascertained the liars?

The first sentence, may Allah excuse you, is an invocation for God to excuse the Prophet, in the same vein as those invocations that say, Perish man! How ungrateful is he! (); Perish he, how he decided! (); May Allah assail them, where do they stray? ().

This invocation is attached to the following sentence, Why did you grant them leave…, meaning ‘leave to remain behind and avoid fighting.’ This question is intended as an admonishment or criticism, which conveys the meaning: ‘It was better not to permit them to stay behind and avoid fighting.’ The rationale for not granting them this leave is explained in the same sentence, …before those who told the truth were evident to you and you had ascertained the liars? However, the purpose of this is not to rebuke the Prophet, but to illustrate how thinly concealed their hypocrisy and deceitfulness is, to the extent that the slightest trial, such as not granting them leave to sit back from fighting, would make it plain to see.

Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘May God excuse you, why did you allow them to stay back and avoid fighting? If you had wished, you would not have permitted them to do so—and they deserved no better—and then it would have become clear to you which of them was truthful and which of them were liars, for you would have been able to easily see their deceit and hypocrisy.’

As you can see and as we have already pointed out, this verse aims to highlight their deceit and their hypocrisy and that they will be exposed by the slightest test or trial that they face. In this context, it is appropriate to direct some reprimand or criticism towards the person being addressed, as if it is they who concealed their wicked deeds and evil character. As a rhetorical device, this is a form of indirect speech which conveys the obviousness of the matter at hand, as when you are directing your words to one person in order for another person to hear them.

Therefore, the aim of this verse is not to point out any shortcoming on the part of the Prophet in carrying out God’s commands or suggest that he had committed a sin, but rather to call attention to the deceitfulness of the hypocrites who stayed back from fighting. When the verse suggests that it was better not to have granted them permission to remain behind, this means that not granting them permission would have been more useful in exposing their shamefulness and that they deserved no better than this because of their evil character and ill intent. It does not mean that this, in and of itself, was the better course of action or that it was more beneficial for the interests of the religion.

The evidence for this reading of the verse can be found three verses down, where God says, had they gone forth with you, they would have only added to your troubles, and they would have surely spread rumors in your midst, seeking to cause sedition among you. They have some spies among you (). This shows that it was more useful to let them stay behind to protect the army from their trouble making, ill-formed opinions, and dissension. Allowing them to sit back from the fighting meant that they could cause problems for the faithful by stirring up disagreements in their ranks, especially given that some of those with the army who were weak in their faith or harboured sicknesses in their hearts acted as spies for them and would hasten to support them. Therefore, if the Prophet had not allowed them to stay behind, they would have stoked divisions and promoted disunity, and the problems they would have caused thereby would have been more serious than the problems they caused by staying behind.

This is further confirmed by the verse, Had they desired to go forth, they would have surely made some preparations for it; but Allah was averse to arouse them, so He held them back, and it was said, ‘Be seated with those who sit back’ (). Their hypocrisy and aversion to fighting was obvious because of their lack of preparations for battle and their obvious happiness at being allowed to stay behind. All of this would have been quite apparent to a person of the Prophet’s perceptiveness and intelligence, quite aside from the fact that God had already informed him of their schemes countless times before this chapter was revealed. With this in mind, how could God genuinely reprimand the Prophet here for granting them permission before examining their condition such that their hypocrisy would become clear and it would have been possible to distinguish the hypocrites from the true believers? Therefore, the meaning of this criticism is what we have already explained.

This illustrates the error of those who claim that the verse indicates the Prophet had committed a sin. They argue that God cannot excuse (ʿafuww) someone unless they had sinned, and that, by granting the hypocrites permission to remain behind, the Prophet had committed a lesser sin. After all, you would not say to someone, ‘why did you do that?’ if they had not done something wrong.

This is nothing more than playing with God’s words, for if they were in the same situation and someone said that to them, they would not accept this interpretation of its meaning. We have already explained how the reprimand at the beginning of the verse is not meant to be taken in earnest.

As for their claim that you would not say to someone, ‘why did you do that?’ unless they had done something wrong, this is also incorrect. When someone gives priority to something of lesser importance over something of greater importance, it is perfectly acceptable to say: ‘Why didn’t you do that which was most important first?’ However, the point is ultimately moot, because, as we have already discussed, the reprimand at the beginning of the verse is not intended to be taken literally.

This is akin to what some others have said about commentators such as al-Zamakhsharī, who they claim have been disrespectful by suggesting that this verse means that God would seriously need to forgive His Prophet. Instead, they should have known that when his Lord and Teacher invokes His forgiveness upon him, this is forgiveness offered before any sin has been committed, which is a form of divine grace and a mark of favour.

Others, such as al-Rāzī, go to a different extreme. They try to argue that the word ‘excuse’ (ʿafuww) does not imply the commission of any sin and that God was merely rebuking His Prophet for not choosing the best course of action.

In this regard, they have become overly fixated on the definition of the word dhanb as a sin or an act of disobedience to God, which is actually a terminological convention that developed subsequent to the time of the Prophet. The basic meaning of dhanb in this sense is any action that causes some harm or a loss of benefit. Of course, dhanb originally and literally denotes the tail of an animal (dhanb al-dāba). It is in no way synonymous with ‘sin’ (maʿṣiya); in fact, it is broader in meaning than this. Therefore, the permission that the Prophet granted to the hypocrites to stay behind is only a dhanb in the sense that it meant that the benefit identified in the verse (exposing the hypocrites) did not materialise as a result. Elsewhere, God says, Indeed We have inaugurated for you a clear victory, that Allah may forgive you what is past of your sin and what is to come ().

Then al-Rāzī goes into a lengthy discussion in which he argues that this was a decision that the Prophet made on the basis of his own independent reasoning (ijtihād), as there was no revelation on this matter from God. He goes on to say that this was something the prophets could and did practice, but that they were not immune to error when they did, as infallibility (ʿiṣma) only applied when they were conveying divine revelation, whether in words or deeds. Therefore, it is impossible that the Messenger ever lied or erred in what he was conveying from his Lord or demonstrating in action.

According to al-Rāzī, a further example of this can be found when God reprimands the Prophet in Sūrah al-Anfāl, following his ransoming of captives after the Battle of Badr. Here, God says, A prophet may not take captives until he has thoroughly decimated (the enemy) in the land. You desire the transitory gains of this world, while Allah desires (for you) (the reward of) the Hereafter, and Allah is all-mighty, all-wise (). Al-Rāzī claims that this action would have occasioned a painful punishment from God were it not for a decree that God had already issued. This is the end of our summary of al-Rāzī’s view.

It is not clear how it aids our reading of the verse to say that the Prophet failed to adopt the most appropriate course of action (tark al-awlā), or that this is not called a sin (dhanb) in religious parlance, which defines a sin as something deserving of divine punishment, and that it is a dhanb in the original sense of the word, namely something occasioning harm or a loss of benefit.

The reader will have already noted that, according to our explanation of the verse, the Prophet’s actions were neither dhanb in the sense of ‘sin’ or in the sense of ‘something causing harm or loss of benefit.’ This is because the subsequent verses clearly explain that allowing the hypocrites to remain behind was the best course of action for the Muslim army as it protected them from the hypocrites’ treachery and divisiveness. What is more, had the Prophet not permitted them to stay back from fighting, their treachery, divisiveness, and faithlessness would have almost certainly come to the fore. These were already known to the Prophet, as indicated by the verse, had they desired to go forth, they would have surely made some preparations for it (). The verse points to their lack of preparations for warfare as evidence that they did not desire to go forth, meaning that this was something that would have been visible to a person of the Prophet’s stature and intelligence.

This is in addition to the fact that he could recognise the hypocrites by their tone of speaking, as God says elsewhere, yet you will recognise them by their tone of speech (). How could their hypocrisy have been hidden from anyone who heard them say, ‘Give me leave, and do not put me to temptation’ (), or describe the Prophet, ‘He is an ear’ (), or speak ill of him concerning the distribution of alms instead of coming to him and advising him directly—all of these are outward signs of hypocrisy, behind which lies nothing except disbelief and dissent.

Based on the above, the Prophet was already well aware of their hypocrisy and divisiveness, and he knew the contents of their souls. So, why would God rebuke him for granting them leave to remain behind before those who told the truth were evident to you and you had ascertained the liars? This would not make sense, which shows that the rebuke itself is not intended to be heard as a rebuke, but to drive home another point, as we have already discussed.

Let us now address the claim that ‘the permission that the Prophet granted to the hypocrites to stay behind is only a dhanb in the sense that it meant that the benefit identified in the verse did not materialise as a result.’ One benefit identified by the verse is to make known to the Prophet those who were faithful to him and those who were liars. However, this is not intended in the sense that he did not know one from the other, as what we have discussed above shows that he was well informed about them. However, the real benefit identified by the subsequent verse is to forestall any efforts to spread dissension in the army’s ranks by allowing the hypocrites to remain behind. The Prophet was well aware of their disposition and knew that they would never want to come forth, whether he gave them leave to sit back from fighting or not. Therefore, he granted them leave to remain behind because this maintained the pretence that they were his loyal supporters and that the Muslims were unified. Had he not done this, they would have made known their disloyalty and this would have fractured the morale of the Muslims.

Here, some people might imagine that, had the Prophet denied the hypocrites permission to remain behind and their hypocrisy and dissent had come to light at that time, as the Prophet was making preparations for the Battle of Tabūk, because of the strength and power of Islam, people would have been spared their treachery and their efforts to sow divisions. However, Islam at that time only appeared strong in the eyes of outsiders, who feared its strength and saw the great numbers of people flocking to its banner. Within the ranks of the Muslims themselves, the reality was that they had not yet overcome hypocrisy or the maladies of the hearts and they were not yet united in their resolve. The evidence for this fact is the verses currently under discussion and virtually all of the verses between here and the end of the chapter.

They had appeared similarly strong at the Battle of Uḥud, when the enemy had assailed them on the outskirts of their home. A full third of the Muslim army fled the battle, unmoved by admonitions or calls. They even said: ‘If we knew how to fight, we would have followed you!’ This was a major factor in the defeat of the Muslims on that day.

Let us examine the claim that God reprimanded His Messenger for an error in his independent reasoning when he ransomed prisoners of war from the Battle of Badr: A prophet may not take captives until he has thoroughly decimated (the enemy) in the land ().

The first problem with this argument is that it reflects a poor understanding of the verse itself, as it is plain to see that the verse does not criticise the ransoming of prisoners but the taking of prisoners in the first place—a prophet may not take captives—and there is no verse or narration to the effect that the Prophet commanded the Muslims to take prisoners. On the contrary, the accounts of the battle suggest that when the Prophet ordered some of the prisoners to be put to death, people became afraid that he intended to execute all of them, so they spoke to him and pleaded with him to accept ransoms for their lives instead, that this wealth might strengthen the cause of the faith. However, God rejects their pleas with the words, You desire the transitory gains of this world, while Allah desires the Hereafter ().

This is one of the clearest pieces of evidence that the reprimand contained in the verse is actually directed specifically towards the faithful rather than the Prophet alone or the Prophet along with them. Most of the reports and traditions to the effect that this was a rebuke of the Prophet are fabrications and interpolations.

The second problem with this argument is that, if the criticism in the verse were aimed solely at the Prophet or at him along with the faithful, this would not be a reprimand for a dhanb in the original sense of the word, which signifies the loss of some sort of benefit. On the contrary, in the following verse, God says, Had it not been for a prior decree of Allah, surely there would have befallen you a great punishment for what you took (), which indicates a sin had been committed, rather than an error, as no sensible person would believe that God would issue such a severe threat of punishment for something that was not a major sin. Therefore, this also shows that the criticism and reprimand contained in the verse are directed to someone other than the Prophet.

لَا يَسْتَأْذِنُكَ الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ أَنْ يُجَاهِدُوا بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنْفُسِهِمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِالْمُتَّقِينَ ٤٤ إِنَّمَا يَسْتَأْذِنُكَ الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَارْتَابَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ فَهُمْ فِي رَيْبِهِمْ يَتَرَدَّدُونَ ٤٥

(9:44-45) Those who believe in Allah and the Last Day do not ask you for leave from waging jihād with their possessions and their persons, and Allah knows best the Godwary. Only those seek a leave from you who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, and whose hearts are in doubt, so they waver in their doubt.

These two verses call attention to one of the traits by which the hypocrites can be identified and distinguished from the true believers, namely that they ask for permission to stay back from striving in the way of God.

God has explained this by saying that striving in the way of God with one’s person and possessions is a requirement of believing in God and the Last Day with genuine faith (īmān), as such faith produces the quality of Godwariness (taqwā) in a person. What is more, the true believer was already Godwary before he had faith in God and the Last Day. Therefore, he also recognizes the duty he has to strive in the way of God with his own person and possessions, but this does not cause him to cling to the ground and ask to be excused from fighting. By contrast, the hypocrite does not truly believe in God or the Last Day and, therefore, does not benefit from the quality of Godwariness. As a result, his heart is full of doubt and hesitation, and he prefers to avoid fighting, so he asks permission to stay back and not participate in the struggle.

وَلَوْ أَرَادُوا الْخُرُوجَ لَأَعَدُّوا لَهُ عُدَّةً وَلَٰكِنْ كَرِهَ اللَّهُ انْبِعَاثَهُمْ فَثَبَّطَهُمْ وَقِيلَ اقْعُدُوا مَعَ الْقَاعِدِينَ ٤٦

(9:46) Had they desired to go forth, they would have surely made some preparations (ʿudda) for it; but Allah was averse to arouse them (inbiʿāth), so He held them back (thabbaṭahum), and it was said, ‘Be seated with those who sit back.’

ʿUdda (‘preparations’) refers to supplies and equipment; according to al-Ṭabrisī in Majmaʿ al-bayān, inbiʿāth (‘to arouse’) means to hasten to fulfil some goal, and tathbīṭ (‘to hold back’) means to detain someone from doing something by discouraging them from it.

Based on its content, this verse follows on from the sentence, Allah knows that they are indeed liars (). In other words, it means they are indeed liars when they claim that they are unable to go forth to fight, because they did not really want to go forth at all. As, if they had genuinely wanted to go forth, they would have made some preparations to do so. This is because when someone wants to do something, they make appropriate preparations for it by gathering the necessary supplies and equipment, but these individuals did none of this.

…but Allah was averse to arouse them because of their hypocrisy, and this is—in fact—a boon to the Prophet and the faithful, as this protected them from the dissent, discord, and disagreement that the hypocrites would have undoubtedly sowed between them, had they gone forth with them.

…and it was said, ‘Be seated with those who sit back’: This is not a legislative or moral imperative and, therefore, it does not conflict with the divine command to muster and go forth and fight. After all, God has already commanded them through the words of His Messenger to go forth and fight, and this was the moral-legislative command. This instruction to ‘Be seated with those who sit back’, by contrast, is delivered to the hypocrites on account of their corrupt character, doubt-filled hearts, and their impure intentions in wanting to stay behind. Therefore, as this is not a divine legislative commandment, it does not conflict with the command to go forth and strive in the way of God.

Notice also that God does not ascribe the command, ‘Be seated with those who sit back’, to Himself. In doing so, He maintains His distance from the instruction to the hypocrites to do something that He is not pleased with. He also hints at the existence of other agents that could have delivered this command, such as Satan or the ego. Therefore, it is only ascribed indirectly to God in order to show that it was the consequence of the hypocrites’ own actions, to highlight the boon it actually represented for the faithful, and to reconcile the two outwardly divergent commands that appear in this context, namely: …when you are told: ‘Go forth in the way of Allah’ () and …and it was said, ‘Be seated with those who sit back’ ().

لَوْ خَرَجُوا فِيكُمْ مَا زَادُوكُمْ إِلَّا خَبَالًا وَلَأَوْضَعُوا خِلَالَكُمْ يَبْغُونَكُمُ الْفِتْنَةَ وَفِيكُمْ سَمَّاعُونَ لَهُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِالظَّالِمِينَ ٤٧

(9:47) Had they gone forth with you, they would have only added to your troubles (khabāl), and they would have surely sown dissent in your midst (awḍaʿū), seeking (yabghūn) to cause sedition (fitna) among you. They have some spies (sammāʿūn) among you, and Allah knows best the wrongdoers.

Khabāl (‘troubles’) means corruption and confusion.

Īḍāʿ (‘to sow dissent’) means to hasten to spread evil.

Baghī (‘to seek’) is to pursue a goal. Therefore, seeking to cause sedition among you means they want fitna for you or amongst you.

Fitna (‘sedition’) can refer to any sort of tribulation, such as dissent and division in this context.

Sammaʿ (‘spy’) means someone who is quick to respond and agree.

The verse as a whole occurs in the context of providing an explanation for why Allah was averse to arouse them in the previous verse () and to show why this was, in fact, a blessing for the faithful. That is why this verse does not begin with a conjunction (such as ‘and’, ‘so’ or the like), and its meaning is clear.

لَقَدِ ابْتَغَوُا الْفِتْنَةَ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَقَلَّبُوا لَكَ الْأُمُورَ حَتَّىٰ جَاءَ الْحَقُّ وَظَهَرَ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ وَهُمْ كَارِهُونَ ٤٨

(9:48) They certainly sought to cause sedition earlier, and upset the matters for you, until the truth came and Allah’s command prevailed, much as they were averse.

In other words, the verse means: ‘I swear that these hypocrites sought to bring about tribulation, dissent, and division for the community even before this military campaign—the campaign to Tabūk—just as they did at the Battle of Uḥud when ʿAbd Allāh b. Ubayy b. Salūl withdrew from the field of battle with a third of the army and betrayed the Prophet. And they have tried to cause disorder for you by provoking people to disagreement, urging them to disobey the Prophet and desert the army, encouraging the Jewish tribes and the idolaters to wage war on the faithful, spying on you, and other such actions. All of this continued until the truth was revealed—the truth that must be followed—and God’s command became apparent—meaning the obligations of the religion—and they were averse to all of that.’

This verse, then, supports the claims of the previous verse by calling to mind other examples of the same behavior. This verse is addressed to the Prophet specifically while the previous verses spoke to the faithful generally because the issue being discussed in it is specific to the Prophet, namely that they sought to upset matters for him. By contrast, the previous verse was addressing their going forth (or lack thereof) with the people.

Examining Narrations

1. In al-Durr al-manthūr, concerning the verse, If you do not help him, then Allah has already helped him… (), Ibn Mardawayh and Abū Nuʿaym in the Dalāʾil both narrate from Ibn ʿAbbās:

When the Messenger of God left Mecca under cover of darkness and reached the Cave of Thawr… Abū Bakr followed him, and when the Messenger of God heard someone behind him, he feared that he was being pursued. When Abū Bakr realized this, he coughed, and when the Messenger of God heard this, he recognized that it was Abū Bakr, so he stopped until he could catch up with him, and Abū Bakr followed him until they reached the cave.

When morning came, the Quraysh set out in pursuit of him. They sent for a man from the Banū Mudlij tribe who knew his appearance, who followed his tracks until he reached the cave where the Prophet was hiding, but there was a tree at its entrance. The man urinated at the base of the tree, then said: ‘The one you are seeking has not gone beyond this place.’ Upon hearing this, Abū Bakr was grieved, so the Messenger of God said to him: ‘Do not grieve; Allah is indeed with us.’

He and Abū Bakr remained in the cave for three days, with ʿĀmir b. Fuhayra bringing them food and ʿAlī bringing them travelling gear. ʿAlī bought three camels from Bahrain and hired a guide for them. After the third night passed, ʿAlī brought the camels and the guide. The Messenger of God mounted one camel, Abū Bakr mounted another, and they set off towards Medina with the Quraysh in pursuit.

2. In the same source, Ibn Saʿd narrates from Ibn ʿAbbās, ʿAlī, ʿĀʾisha b. Abī Bakr, ʿĀʾisha b. Qudāma, and Surāqa b. Juʿsham, weaving their accounts together:

The Messenger of God set out while the Quraysh were lying in wait at his door. He took a handful of dust and scattered it over their heads while reciting the verse: Yā Sīn! By the Wise Qurʾan! ().

He asked them: ‘Who are you waiting for?’

They said: ‘For Muḥammad!’

He said: ‘By God, he has surely passed you by!’

They said: ‘By God, we never saw him!’

Then they got up and shook the dirt from their heads.

The Messenger of God and Abū Bakr left the city and sheltered in the Cave of Thawr. No sooner had they entered it than a spider wove a web across its entrance.

The Quraysh pursued him intently until they reached the entrance of the cave, but one of them said: ‘There has been a spider here since before Muḥammad was ever born!’

3. In Iʿlām al-warā, there is a tradition on the relationship between Surāqa b. Juʿsham and the Messenger of God, which says that what was famous amongst the Arabs—in their poems and their stories—is that Surāqa had pursued the Prophet out of Mecca and towards Medina with the intention of killing him in order to win favour with the Quraysh. At one point, he was sure that he was about to catch up with him and accomplish his mission, when all four legs of his horse sank into the ground up to its belly. He was surprised by this, because the ground there looked solid. At this point, he realised that this was no ordinary event, but a miraculous intervention. So he called out: ‘O Muḥammad! Ask your Lord to release my horse for me, and I swear by God that I will not lead anyone to you!’ So the Prophet supplicated to God for him and his horse came free as easily as if its legs had been tied by a knot. Now Surāqa was an exceedingly shrewd man, and he know that this would not be the last such incident to befall him, so he said: ‘Write for me a letter of protection!’ So the Prophet wrote him such a letter and he left.

Muḥammad b. Isḥāq says that Abū Jahl recited some poetry about Surāqa, and Surāqa responded with some verses of his own:

By God, O Abā Ḥakam, had you witnessed / my horse’s legs sink into the ground,

You would have been amazed and not doubted / that Muḥammad was a proven messenger, so who is it that conceals it?

You should keep the people off him for I / see that his affair shall one day be made clear!

Author’s comments: This is also narrated in al-Kāfī by al-Kulaynī via his chain of narrators to Muʿāwiya b. ʿAmmār, from Imām al-Ṣādiq, and in al-Durr al-manthūr via a number of routes. Al-Zamakhsharī also cites it in his Rabīʿ al-abrār.

4. In al-Durr al-manthūr, Ibn Saʿd and Ibn Mardawayh narrate from Ibn Muṣʿab:

I came upon Anas b. Mālik, Zayd b. Arqam, and al-Mughīra b. Shuʿba and heard them conversing. They said that on the night the Prophet was in the cave, God had bid a tree to grow in front of the Prophet to conceal him, and God had bid a spider to weave a web in front of the Prophet to conceal him, and that God had bid two wild doves to nest at the mouth of the cave… some young men of the Quraysh of the same clan arrived at the cave bearing sticks, swords, and clubs, and continued to approach until they were no more than forty cubits away from the Prophet. One of them hastened to look in the cave, but then returned to his companions, who asked him: ‘Why did you not go to see what was inside the cave?’ He said: ‘I saw two doves nesting at the entrance of the cave, and I knew there would be no one inside.’

5. In al-Durr al-manthūr, ʿAbd al-Razzāq and Ibn al-Mundhir narrate from al-Zuhrī, concerning the verse, when the two of them were in the cave (): ‘This is the cave that is on the mountain called Thawr.’

Author’s comments: Abundant narrations have come down to the effect that the cave mentioned in the Qurʾan is a cave on Mount Thawr, which is approximately four parasangs (roughly 15 miles or 24 kilometres) from Mecca.

6. In Iʿlām al-warā and Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ, we read that the Messenger of God remained in the cave for three days, then God permitted him to continue his emigration, saying: ‘Leave Mecca behind, O Muḥammad, for you have no helper there save ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib!’ So the Messenger of God departed.

A shepherd who worked for one of the Quraysh called Ibn Arīqaṭ called out to the Messenger of God. The latter said to him: ‘O Ibn Arīqaṭ, shall I place my life in your hands?’

He replied: ‘In this case, I swear by God that I will protect you and not lead anyone to you! Now, tell me, where are you going, Muḥammad?’

He said: ‘To Yathrib.’

He said: ‘I shall go with you and show you a route that no one knows.’

The Messenger of God told him: ‘Go to ʿAlī and give him the good news that God has permitted me to emigrate and that he should prepare for me a mount and provisions for travel!’

Abū Bakr told him: ‘Go to my daughter Asmāʾ and tell her to make ready provisions and two mounts for me, and inform ʿĀmir b. Fuhayra of our situation…’—ʿĀmir was Abū Bakr’s servant and had embraced Islam—‘…and tell him to bring us the provisions and the two mounts.’

So Ibn Arīqaṭ came to ʿAlī and informed him of this, so ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib sent the provisions and mount to the Messenger of God, and Ibn Fuhayra was sent with provisions and two mounts. Whereat the Messenger of God came out of the cave and Ibn Arīqaṭ led him through a valley of palms that extended between the mountains towards Medina, keeping far from the main route, except at Qadīd, where they set down at the encampment of Umm Maʿbad.

Word had reached the Helpers that the Messenger of God was on his way to them, and they were eagerly waiting his approach until he arrived at the Qubā Mosque and set down, whereat the men and women of the city came forth to welcome him and celebrate his arrival.

Author’s comments: There are numerous traditions providing details of the Emigration from Mecca to Medina narrated by historians and biographers of the Prophet from both the Shīʿī and Sunnī schools of thought. However, in spite of their abundance, they are also often mutually contradictory and confused, and carrying out an exhaustive examination of them to determine which are authentic is beyond the scope of the present work. Therefore, we have sufficed ourselves with relating those accounts upon whose contents both schools of thought are in agreement with one another in order to provide a general overview of the story.

7. In al-Durr al-manthūr, Khaythama b. Sulaymān al-Ṭarāblusī in Faḍāʾil al-Ṣaḥāba and Ibn ʿAsākir both relate from ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib: ‘Surely God censured all the people and praised Abū Bakr when He said: If you do not help him, then Allah has already helped him when the faithless expelled him, as the second of two, when the two of them were in the cave, he said to his companion, ‘Do not grieve; Allah is indeed with us.’

Author’s comments: The careful study we have carried out into the meanings of the verses that relate to the story of the Emigration, along with the authentic accounts we have thus far identified, engender serious misgivings about this narration. After all, the verses neither criticise the believers nor ‘all the people’ (per the narration above). When Verse of the Cave says, ‘If you do not help him…’, it is referring back to the verse, O you who have faith! What is the matter with you that when you are told: ‘Go forth in the way of Allah,’ you sink heavily to the ground? (). What definitive traditions have said about the phrase, ‘sink heavily to the ground’ is not that it refers to all of the believers, whether individually or collectively, as many of them did, in fact, rush to answer the call of the Messenger to prepare to fight, it was only a group of hypocrites and believers who were weak in faith that sunk to the ground in the manner described here.

Therefore, even though the phrase, ‘O you who have faith!’ encompasses all of the believers, the criticism that follows it is only directed to a particular group of them. This is no different to when God says to the Jews, ‘Then why would you kill the prophets of God…?’ () and other instances where it is evident that God is referring to a specific segment of a larger group rather than the whole group. There are many such instances of this in the Qurʾan, but the Qurʾan also says that the due of those who do righteous deeds is never lost and the reward of the virtuous is never squandered. This is the case even if they are a minority, such that they appear to be included in such general statements, as the Qurʾan then clarifies that they are not included in such censures and rebukes, but rather they are worthy of praise and reward. This is something we will see later in this chapter of the Qurʾan, when God praises and thanks the faithful for their noble efforts: … the faithful, men and women, are comrades of one another… ().

So, even though these verses that were revealed about the campaign to Tabūk are addressed to all of the believers—whether they hastened to respond to the Messenger’s summons or whether they clung to the ground—without exception, this means they include all of the Companions as well, including Abū Bakr himself. However, as we have already said, God follows this by affirming the reward due to those who strive in obedience to Him and respond to the divine summons and thanking them for their devotion in the verses below.

Therefore, if the phrase, ‘If you do not help him…’—which is directed to those who clung to the ground instead of answering the Prophet’s call—was intended as a rebuke to ‘all the people’ without exception, then Abū Bakr would have to be included in this rebuke as well, just as others were rebuked for failing to come to the Prophet’s aid or for being slow to answer his call. At the same time, the verse itself cannot be read as calling attention to Abū Bakr coming to the Prophet’s aid when it says, then Allah has already helped him when the faithless expelled him, as the second of two, when the two of them were in the cave, he said to his companion, ‘Do not grieve; Allah is indeed with us.’ If anything, it shows that the Prophet came to Abū Bakr’s aid when he reassured him and comforted him with the words, ‘Do not grieve; Allah is indeed with us.’

Moreover, you will recall from our discussion of the verse that the only assistance it is actually highlighting is the assistance given directly by God to His Messenger in this situation in contrast to the absence of any assistance from any of the believers and their abandonment of him. Therefore, the only certain meaning we can extract from the verse is actually that when he was hiding in the cave, no one came to the Prophet’s aid except God Himself.

This meaning is itself the best evidence for the fact that the pronouns in the remainder of the verse—Then Allah sent down His composure upon him, and strengthened him with hosts you did not see, and He made the word of the faithless the lowest; and the word of Allah is the highest—refer to the Prophet alone, as the sentence occurs in the context of demonstrating how only God came to his aid in that situation by providing a powerful supernatural form of assistance that needed no human intermediaries. This supernatural assistance was the sending down of composure (sakīna), strengthening him with invisible hosts, making the word of the faithless the lowest, and elevating the word of truth, for God is all-mighty and all-wise.

As for any other merits in this verse for which Abū Bakr could be given credit besides coming to the Prophet’s aid, this would have to be his being the second of the two or his companion. There is no disputing that if a person is ‘the second of the two’ and the first is the Prophet or if he is described as a ‘companion’ of the Prophet in the Qurʾan, this is indeed a source of pride and something that a person should value. However, this is a kind of merit that bestows social status on a person or value in the eyes of their community. By contrast, the Qurʾan, in its logic, has a different criterion for this and assigns a different meaning to virtue and honor compared to what society means by these words and one which is, in fact, higher and nobler than social conventions. What the Qurʾan deems virtuous and honorable is the dignity of being a divine servant and the level of one’s closeness to God.

However, merely being physically present with the Prophet or counted alongside him does not guarantee anything like that. God has repeatedly said in the Qurʾan that labelling oneself with various names and titles that are held in high regard by the masses or esteemed by society have no value to God, because people will be held to account for what is in their hearts rather than what their outward appearances show or whence they trace their lineage.

And with regards to the Companions of the Prophet and even his closest followers, God has said most eloquently: Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are hard against the faithless and merciful amongst themselves. You see them bowing and prostrating… Allah has promised those of them who have faith and do righteous deeds forgiveness and a great reward (). Consider the praise that appears at the beginning of the verse and the conditions that God attached to this praise that appear at its end, and ponder on the significance of this.

What we have presented so far has only been a selection of the discussions surrounding the verses and narrations concerning the Emigration. However, going beyond this amount will take us beyond the bounds of Qurʾanic commentary and into the realm of theology, which is not our intent at present.

8. In al-Durr al-manthūr, it is narrated by Ibn Abī Ḥātim, Abū al-Shaykh, Ibn Mardawayh, al-Bayhaqī in his Dalāʾil, and Ibn ʿAsākir in his Taʾrīkh from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the verse, Then Allah sent down His composure upon him (): ‘Upon Abū Bakr, because the Prophet always had composure with him.’

In the same source, al-Khaṭīb narrates in his Taʾrīkh from Ḥabīb b. Abī Thābit about the same passage: ‘Upon Abū Bakr, because the Prophet already had composure with him.’

Author’s comments: We have already explained how the pronouns in this passage actually refer to the Prophet based on the context of the verse. Moreover, insofar as these narrations are weak since they only go back to Ḥabīb and Ibn ʿAbbās, neither of whom were present for these events, and, therefore, their words have no authority on this matter.

As for the argument they make, namely that the Prophet already had composure and, therefore, did not need it to be sent down upon him again, this is an assumption that has already been refuted by what God said about the Battle of Ḥunayn, namely: Then Allah sent down His composure upon His Messenger and upon the faithful (). This is also true regarding the verse in Sūrah al-Fatḥ that discusses the story of Ḥudaybiyya. Both of these verses explicitly describe composure being sent down upon the Prophet on specific occasions, and there is no reason for the situation to be any different in the case of the cave.

The author of al-Manār was aware of this objection, and so he interpreted the key statement in both of these narrations, that the Prophet always had composure with him, in a different manner. He said that this composure was already with the Prophet in the cave, and that this indicates that when God sent down composure upon him it was actually being sent down on the one who was with him rather than himself, and perhaps the narration of Ḥabīb is closer to this meaning than that of Ibn ʿAbbās.

After presenting these two narrations, the author of al-Manār says: ‘Some commentators have, on the basis of linguistic and rational arguments, clarified that the Prophet was not facing any new fear, anxiety, or grief in the cave (and, therefore, the recipient must be Abū Bakr), while others have argued that the pronoun should refer to the nearest noun. However, neither argument is particularly strong.

Others have said that the pronoun refers to the Prophet and that just because God sent down composure upon him, this does not mean he was necessarily afraid, anxious, or grieved. This, however, is also a weak position because the Qurʾan mentions God sending down composure after invoking the feeling of grief (ḥuzn), suggesting that it was sent down because of this feeling, when the Prophet said to his companion: ‘Do not grieve….’

As for the claim that the Prophet was not afflicted by fear or anxiety at the time, are they basing this on the fact that the verse itself or a reliable narration does not explicitly mention him being affected thus? If so, then God’s discussion of the Battle of Ḥunayn or the events of Ḥudaybiyya also do not mention the Prophet being fearful, grieved, or anxious, nor is there any reliable narration that describes him in these terms. But, if this was the case, then why would God need to send down composure upon him in those two situations?

Now, if they admit that sending down composure does entail anxiety, fear, or grief, which is impossible for the Prophet, as we have discussed, then what? When God sends down a divine blessing, this does not entail that the recipient of this blessing was experiencing the opposite state of affliction prior to this. It is perfectly possible for God to send down mercy after mercy, blessing after blessing, or faith and guidance after faith and guidance, and so on. The Qurʾan has explicitly stated this on a number of occasions.

As for the claim that the pronoun ‘him’ refers to the Prophet, this is also weak because the sending down of composure is linked to the Prophet telling Abū Bakr not to grieve, which suggests that it was sent down in response to these events, namely after he said to his companion, “Do not grieve; Allah is indeed with us.”’

The problem with the author of al-Manār’s argument is that, while there is no doubt that the conjunction ‘then’ (fa) in phrase, ‘Then Allah sent down His composure…’, shows that it follows logically from the previous passage. However, this does not mean that these events happened immediately one after another—no one claims that fa always indicates events that happen one after another.

Therefore, it is necessary to read the phrase, ‘Then Allah sent down his composure’, as following logically from the passage before it, but not necessarily only from the part of that passage that is immediately before it, unless the author of al-Manār accepts the position that a pronoun must always refer to the nearest noun, but he has already described this as a ‘weak’ position.

Therefore, the proper way to connect this phrase to what comes before it is as follows: ‘then Allah has already helped him in such-and-such a situation…’, in which case then does not signal temporal arrangement but rather the fact that the phrase is providing a detailed explanation after a general one, which would render the meaning: ‘then Allah has already helped him at the time when such-and-such events happened, then Allah sent down His composure upon Him and strengthened him with hosts you did not see, and He made the word of the faithless the lowest….’

Therefore, it is clear that the position he finally settles upon is the very same position he initially dismisses as ‘weak,’ namely that the pronoun should refer back to the nearest noun (which is a baseless assumption), except that he has phrased it differently.

This discussion also clarifies the debate surrounding another narration that is transmitted by al-Suyūṭī in al-Durr al-manthūr, in which Ibn Mardawayh narrates from Anas b. Mālik: ‘The Prophet and Abū Bar went into the Cave of Hirāʾ, and Abū Bakr said to the Prophet: “If anyone sees our footprints, they will surely find both of us.” Then he told him: “What do you think of two people for whom God is the third? Surely God will send down composure upon you and strengthen me with hosts you do not see.”’

The first problem with this narration is that it says this took place in the Cave of Hirāʾ, when it has been established by numerous narrations that the cave in question is actually the Cave of Thawr.

The second problem is that the narration explicitly makes a distinction between the two instances of the pronoun ‘him’ in the Qurʾanic verse when it says, ‘God will send down composure upon you and strengthen me with hosts you do not see’, because it makes the first pronoun refer to Abū Bakr.

In his Rūḥ al-maʿānī, al-Ālūsī presents the narration in this way: ‘God will send down his composure upon you and strengthen you with hosts you do not see.’ So, he has both of the pronouns in the verse refer to Abū Bakr rather than the Prophet.

It is not clear which of the two phrasing is the original phrasing of the tradition and which has been distorted. However, al-Ālūsī’s version creates further complications through the addition of the phrase ‘and strengthen you with hosts you do not see’ because the pronoun ‘you’ in ‘strengthen you’ is singular, but the pronoun ‘you’ in ‘you do not see’ is plural. However, there was no one else in the cave besides him and Abū Bakr, so who would the Prophet have been addressing with the plural ‘you’ in this tradition?

9. In Tafsīr al-Qummī, concerning the verse, Were it an accessible gain or a short journey (), we read: ‘Were it some easy war booty, they would have surely followed you.’
10. In Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, it is narrated from Zurāra, Ḥumrān, and Muḥammad b. Muslim, from Imām al-Bāqir and Imām al-Ṣādiq about the verse, Were it an accessible gain or a short journey, they would have surely followed you: ‘They were perfectly able to go forth and God knew that, were it for an accessible gain or short journey, they surely would have done so.’

Author’s comments: Shaykh al-Ṣadūq narrates a similar narration in his Maʿānī al-akhbār via his chain of narrators from ʿAbd al-Aʿlā b. Aʿyan, from Imām al-Ṣādiq.

11. Also in Tafsīr al-Qummī, regarding the verse, but the distance seemed too far to them, we read:

It means the distance to Tabūk, and the reason for this is that the Messenger of God undertook no longer journey than this nor any journey harder than this.

The reason for the expedition to Tabūk was that the summer caravan had come to Medina from Syria with food and textiles. They were Nabateans and they spread word in Medina that the Romans had mustered a huge army to march against the Messenger of God and that Emperor Heraclius himself was leading the army, which had been joined by the Ghassānids, as well as the Judhām, the Bahrāʾ, and the ʿĀmila tribes. He had sent the army ahead to Balqāʾ, while encamping himself at Homs.

The Messenger of God sent his Companions to Tabūk, which was in the vicinity of Balqāʾ, sent word to the tribes around him, to Mecca, and to those of the Khuzāʿa, Muzayna, and Juhayna tribes who had embraced Islam and called on them to muster for jihād.

The Messenger of God gave orders to his army to proceed to Thanniyyat al-Wadāʿ— then he ordered the people with wealth to give assistance to those who had no means to wage war, and whoever had any means at his disposal brought it forth, and the people encouraged one another to do likewise.

Then the Messenger of God got up and delivered a sermon, in which he praised and magnified God, then said: ‘O people! Surely the most truthful discourse is the Book of God, the most worthy speech is the word of piety, the best nation is the nation of Abraham, the best way is the way of Muḥammad, the most noble discourse is the remembrance of God, the best of stories are found in this Qurʾan, the best affairs are its ordinances, and the worst affairs are innovations that come after it. The best guidance is the guidance of the Prophets, the most noble of those slain are the martyrs, and the most severe blindness consists of going astray after guidance. The best deeds are those that bring benefit, the best guidance is that which is followed, and the worst blindness is that of the heart, and the hand that gives is better than the hand that receives. Sufficing oneself with less is better than squandering abundance, the worst excuse is the one offered at the time of death, and the worst remorse is that felt on the Day of Judgement. There are people who only come to Friday prayers rarely, and only remember God fleetingly. One of the gravest sins is a lying tongue, the best wealth is the wealth of the soul, the best provision is Godwariness, the source of all wisdom is the fear of God, and the best thing to be cast into one’s heart is certainty. Doubt is from disbelief, wailing for the deceased is ignorance, stinginess is the purulence of hell, drunkenness is the embers of hell, poetry is from the Devil, and wine is the gatherer of all sinfulness. Women are the ropes of the Devil and young men are a branch of madness. The worst source of income is to take usury, and the worst meal is to devour the property of orphans. Felicitous is he who admonishes others, and wretched is he who is wretched in his mother’s womb. All of you will one day fill a grave of four cubits, and the affair will reach its end, and each affair is judged by its outcome. The most usurious form of usury is lying, and whatever will be is already near at hand. Reviling a believer is sinfulness, killing a believer is disbelief. To eat his flesh through backbiting is to disobey God directly, and a believer’s property is no less sacred than his blood. Whoever relies on God, God will suffice him, and whoever is steadfast will triumph. Whoever forgives, God will forgive him, and whoever suppresses his anger, God will reward him. Whoever endures a loss with patience, God will compensate him. Whoever pursues reputation, God will disgrace him. Whoever fasts, God will augment him, and whoever disobeys God, He will punish him. O God, forgive me and my community! O God forgive me and my community! I seek God’s forgiveness for me and for you.’

When they heard the Messenger of God’s words, the people were keen to go and fight, and the tribes to whom he had called upon to fight came forth. A group of hypocrites and others held back, however. The Messenger of God met al-Jadd b. Qays and said to him: ‘O Abū Wahb, will you not go forth with us on this expedition? Perhaps you will win some spoils !’ He responded: ‘O Messenger of God, my people surely know that there is no one more desirous of spoils than I, and I worry that if I were to go with you and sight these spoils I would not be able to contain myself, so do not put me to temptation but give me leave to remain behind.’ And he told a group of his people: ‘Do not go forth to fight in the hot months!’

His son told him: ‘You go to the Messenger and say one thing, then you tell your people not to go forth to fight in the hot months! Surely God will reveal something about you in this Qurʾan that the people will recite until the Day of Resurrection!’

And, in fact, God revealed the following verse to the Messenger: Among them there are some who say, ‘Give me leave, and do not put me to temptation’ ().

Then al-Jadd b. Qaysh said: ‘Does Muḥammad wish that we should fight the Romans in the same way as we fight others? Not a single one of them will ever come back!’

Author’s comments: Many narrations have come down in both Shīʿa and Sunnī sources that are similar in meaning to this.

12. In ʿUyūn akhbār al-Riḍā, al-Ṣadūq narrates via his chain of narrators from ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. al-Jahm the following:

I attended the assembly of al-Maʾmūn while ʿAlī b. Mūsā al-Riḍā was with him. He said to him: ‘O scion of the Messenger of God, do you not claim that the prophets are all infallible?’ He said: ‘Indeed.’ So, al-Maʾmūn said: ‘Then explain to me the meaning of the verse, May Allah excuse you! Why did you grant them leave…?’ ().

Al-Riḍā responded: ‘This is one of the verses that is in the form of an indirect address—God speaks to the Prophet but intends for his community to hear it—the same is true of the verse, If you ascribe a partner to Allah your works shall fail and you shall surely be among the losers (), and the verse, Had We not fortified you, certainly you might have inclined toward them a bit ().’ Al-Maʾmūn said: ‘You have spoken truthfully, O scion of the Messenger of God!’

Author’s comments: The content of this narration agrees with what we have previously said in explanation of this verse. This is not the case for the claim that some commentators have made to the effect that the Prophet was rebuked for granting the hypocrites leave because this had not been the best course of action (tark al-awlā), as this does not fit with the verse being a form of indirect address.

13. In al-Durr al-manthūr, ʿAbd al-Razzāq in the Muṣannaf, and Ibn Jarīr both narrate from ʿAmr b. Maymūn al-Awdī: ‘Two things that the Prophet did that were not commanded by God: Giving permission to the hypocrites to remain behind and taking prisoners of war. So, God sent down the verse, May Allah excuse you! Why did you grant them leave…?’

Author’s comments: We have already discussed the problems with the content of this tradition above.

14. In Tafsīr al-Qummī, about the verse, Had they desired to go forth, they would have surely made some preparations for it () and the verses after it, we read:

Some of those who did not answer the summons of the Messenger of God were persons with sincere intentions and real understanding of the religion who were neither affected by doubt nor hesitation. They said: ‘We will join the Messenger of God.’

One of them was Abū Khaythama, a powerful man with two wives and two pavilions. His wives had sprinkled water on his two pavilions, brought cool water for him, and prepared food for him. When he came to his trellises and saw them, he said: ‘No, by God, this is not fair. Shall the Messenger of God, whose sins past and future have been forgiven by God, go forth in the heat and dust laden with weapons to fight in the way of God, while the mighty Abū Khaythama sits in his pavilion with his two beautiful wives? No, by God, this is not fair at all.’

So, he took brought his camel, saddled it, and set off to join the Messenger of God. The people saw a rider approaching on the road and informed the Messenger of God of this. He said: ‘It must be Abū Khaythama.’ He came forth and informed the Prophet of what had happened, and the Prophet invoked good upon him and prayed for him.

Abū Dharr likewise did not join the Messenger of God for three days, and this was because his camel was weak. He joined the Messenger after three days after his camel had refused to go any further in the middle of the way, so he had left his camel behind and taken only what he could carry with him. Then, at the height of the day, the Muslims saw a figure approaching, and the Messenger of God said: ‘It must be Abū Dharr!’ They said: ‘It is indeed Abū Dharr!’ Then the Messenger of God said: ‘Go to him, for he is thirsty!’ So they took water to him.

Abū Dharr came to the Messenger of God carrying a vessel of water. The Messenger of God said to him: ‘O Abū Dharr, you have water and yet you go thirsty?’ He said: ‘Yes, O Messenger of God, may my parents be your ransom, I came upon a rock in which had pooled some rainwater, so I took a sip and found it to be cold and sweet. I said to myself: “I will not drink this until the Messenger of God drinks it!”’

The Messenger of God said: ‘O Abū Dharr, may God have mercy on you, you live alone, you will die alone, you will be raised from the dead alone, and you will enter paradise alone. People from Iraq will be gladdened by you, they shall prepare your corpse, bathe and shroud you, pray over you, and bury you.’

A group of the hypocrites also did not respond to the call of God’s Messenger and neither did some believers who had no trace of hypocrisy upon them. Amongst them were the poet Kaʿb b. Mālik, Murāra b. Rabīʿ, and Hilāl b. Umayya al-Rāfiʿī. When God accepted their repentance, Kaʿb said: ‘I was never as strong as I was at that time, when the Messenger of God set out for Tabūk, and I never had two mounts except during those days.’ I kept telling myself: ‘I will set off the day after tomorrow, for I must make preparations.’ But I was lax and sluggish for several days after the Prophet set off, I went to the marketplace but could not find what I needed. Then I met Hilāl b. Umayya and Murāra b. al-Rabīʿ, and they had also stayed behind. So, we agreed that we would go to the market the next day, but we still did not find what we needed. So, we kept saying: ‘We will set off the day after tomorrow.’ Then word reached us that the Messenger of God was returning, and we felt ashamed.

When the Messenger of God arrived, we went to welcome him back. We gave him greetings of peace, but he did not respond and turned away from us. We gave greetings of peace to our believing brothers, but they did not respond to us. Word of this reached our families and they stopped talking to us. We would go to the mosque and no one would greet us or speak to us. Our womenfolk went to the Messenger of God and said: ‘We have heard you are upset with our husbands, should we leave them?’ He responded: ‘Do not leave them, but do not be intimate with them either.’

When Kaʿb b. Mālik and his two comrades saw what had become of them, they said: ‘There is no place for us in Medina now, because neither the Messenger of God, nor our believing brothers, nor our families will speak to us.’ So, they decided they would go to dwell on a mountain and remain there until God forgave them or they died.

They went to Mount Dhubāb near Medina, where they remained fasting. Their families would bring them food and set it down to one side then turn away without talking to them.

They remained in this state for many days, crying and lamenting day and night, asking God to forgive them. After a long time had passed, Kaʿb said to them: ‘Friends, God and His Messenger are displeased with us, our families are displeased with us, and our brothers have become displeased with us, such that none will even speak to us. Why are we not likewise displeased with one another?’ So they separated to different parts of the mountain and swore not to speak to one another until they died or God forgave them. So they remained in this state for three days, with each of them on a different part of the mountain, and none of the three saw any of the others nor spoke to them.

Then, on the third night, the Messenger of God was in the house of Umm Salama when God revealed to him that they had repented: Certainly Allah turned clemently to the Prophet and the Emigrants and the Helpers, who followed him in the hour of difficulty (). Imām al-Ṣādiq later said: ‘This is how the verse was revealed, and it refers to Abū Dharr, Abū Khaythama, and ʿUmayr b. Wahb, who had stayed behind but then later joined the Messenger of God.’

Then about the three on the mountain, it was revealed, … and to the three who were left behind. The Imām said: ‘It means the three who had disobeyed, for if they had simply been “left behind” there would have been no blame upon them.’ When the earth became narrow for them in spite of its expanse, because neither the Messenger of God, nor their brethren, nor their families would speak to them, such that the whole city of Medina became narrow for them until they left it behind, and their own souls weighed heavily on them because they swore not to speak to one another and dispersed across the mountain. It was then that God accepted their repentance, because He knew the sincerity of their intention.’

Author’s comments: We shall discuss the meaning of these two verses and the traditions about them below.

15. In Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, it is narrated from al-Mughīra: ‘I heard him say about the verse, Had they desired to go forth, they would have surely made some preparations for it: “Preparations mean intentions, in other words: ‘Had they really had the intention, they would have gone forth.’”’

Author’s comments: In addition to its evident weakness in terms of its chain of narrators and ambiguity about its source, this explanation does not accord with the wording of the verse.

16. In al-Durr al-manthūr, it is narrated by Ibn Isḥāq and Ibn al-Mundhir from al-Ḥasan: ‘ʿAbd Allāh b. Ubayy, ʿAbd Allāh b. Nabtal, and Rifāʿa b. Zayd b. Tābūt were the leaders of the hypocrites, and they schemed against Islam and its people. The following verse was revealed about them: They certainly sought to cause sedition earlier, and upset the matters for you, until the truth came and Allah’s command prevailed, much as they were averse’ ().