Tafsir of Al-Isra 17:76

"And indeed, they were about..." At this point, the Prophet (ﷺ) used to say: "O Allah, do not leave me to my own self for the blinking of an eye." It is incumbent upon the believer, when reciting this verse, to kneel before it, ponder it, and experience a sense of awe and an increase in steadfastness in the religion of Allah the Exalted. One should say as the Prophet (ﷺ) said.

"And indeed, they were about"—meaning the people of Makkah, as narrated from Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, and others.

"To drive you out"—meaning to disturb you and unsettle you with their hostility and plotting.

"From the land"—meaning the land you are in, which is the land of Makkah—"to drive you out of it." This instigation took place through their actions, such as isolating the Prophet (ﷺ) in the Shi'b (the valley pass) and constricting him. This occurred after the revelation of the verse, as stated in al-Bahr, and it became the cause of his departure as a migrant.

"And then they would not have remained"—meaning if they had instigated you and you had left, they would not have stayed after you. This is how 'Ata ibn Rabah read it, and he considered it a linguistic explanation rather than a qira'ah (canonical reading), because it differs from the script of the Mushaf. They cited the verse: "The abodes became desolate after them, as if the combs had spread a mat among them." The people of the Hijaz, Abu Bakr, and Abu ‘Amr read it as khalfaka (after you/behind you) without an alif, and the meaning is the same. Both terms are originally locative nouns that have been extended metaphorically and used for time. It is standard to add them, like "before" and "after," to nouns of objects while omitting a construct that is indicated by what precedes it; that is: they would not remain after your driving out and your exit—"except for a little."

This means: except for a short time. It is also permissible that the intended meaning is "except for a short staying." The two meanings are close, but the first estimation is chosen because the expansion—placing the description in the place of the described—is more common with these locatives. This is a threat of destruction for the entirety of them, as a group, shortly after the departure of the Prophet (ﷺ). This was realized through the annihilation of some of them at Badr, especially since those who were killed were their leaders and chiefs; and you know that the majority of a thing can stand in place of the whole. According to what Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from al-Suddi, this "little time" was eighteen months.

It is also possible that "driving out" refers to being forced to leave, and the threat refers to the destruction of every one of them; meaning: if they had forced you to leave, they would have been eradicated entirely. However, the condition did not occur, because being forced to leave is a direct action, and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) left as a migrant by the command of his Lord, not due to the expulsion and coercion of Quraysh. Therefore, the consequence did not occur. This is the interpretation narrated from Mujahid; he said: Quraysh intended that, but did not do it because Allah, Glory be to Him, intended to preserve them—rather than exterminate them—so that those who would embrace Islam from them and their descendants could do so. Thus, He permitted His Messenger (ﷺ) to migrate, and he left by His permission, not by the expulsion and subjugation of Quraysh.

The "expulsion" in His saying—Exalted be He—"And how many a city more powerful than your city which cast you out" is interpreted according to the first meaning. Likewise is the saying of Waraqah: "I wish I were a young man when your people drive you out," and the Prophet’s (ﷺ) saying: "Will they be the ones to drive me out?" Thus, the verse—and the report—does not confirm an expulsion that we have denied here.

As for the objection that this creates a contradiction between this verse and the preceding one, given that "expulsion" in the latter is interpreted as "causing the departure," and that "about to" (kāda) denotes proximity, not occurrence, while this verse indicates that the occurrence did happen: the answer is that the most the previous verse indicates is the proximity of their instigation so as to cause his (ﷺ) departure, and that it had not occurred at the time of revelation, not that it would never occur, which would contradict its later occurrence.

Al-Zajjaj narrated that their "instigation" was what they agreed upon in the House of Assembly to kill the Prophet (ﷺ), and by "the land," it means the face of the earth in general. Abu Hayyan said: It refers to what is on this world.

It is also said that the pronoun "they were about" and what follows refers to the Jews. Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Bayhaqi in al-Dala'il, and Ibn 'Asakir narrated from 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Ghanm that the Jews came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: "If you are a Prophet, go to the Levant, for it is the land of the Gathering and the land of the Prophets." The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) believed what they said and went on the campaign of Tabuk, desiring nothing but the Levant. When he reached Tabuk, Allah the Exalted revealed: "And indeed, they were about to drive you out..." and commanded him to return to Madinah, saying: "In it is your life, in it is your death, and from it you will be resurrected." In another narration, they said: "O Abu al-Qasim, the Levant is a holy land and the land of the Prophets. If you went there, we would believe in you. We know you fear the Romans; if you are a Prophet, go there, for Allah the Exalted will protect you as He protected other Prophets." So he (ﷺ) left because of their words, camped at Dhu al-Hulayfah, and waited for his companions, when this verse was revealed. He then returned, and shortly after, he (ﷺ) fought the Banu Qurayzah and expelled the Banu al-Nadir. This is countered by the fact that it is weak and does not appear in any biography or book that is relied upon, and Dhu al-Hulayfah is not on the way to the Levant from Madinah. Regardless, the "land" refers to Madinah, or perhaps the land of the Arabs. It seems that those who hold this verse to be Madinan rely on the aforementioned narrations, but al-Khafaji has declared this view to be unsatisfactory. And Allah the Exalted knows best.

'Ata read la-yathbūtūna with a damma on the ya, a fatha on the lam, and a shaddah on the ba. Ya'qub read it similarly, except that he gave the ba a kasra. Ubayy read it as wa-idhan la-yathbūtū by dropping the nun, and likewise in the Mushaf of ‘Abdullah. The rationale for keeping or dropping the nun is that grammarians considered the condition for idhan to function that it must be at the beginning of the sentence. Thus, in the reading with the drop, the sentence is linked to "to drive you out," which is the predicate of kāda, and so the condition is violated because it is placed in the middle of the speech since what follows is the predicate of kāda as something conjoined to it. In the reading with the retention, the sentence is conjoined to the sentence "and indeed they were about," so the condition is satisfied and the conjunction does not harm it. Abu Hayyan explained the neglect (of the grammatical rule) by saying that la-yathbūtūna is the response to an implied oath, meaning: "By Allah, if they had driven you out, they would not remain." Since idhan intervened between the implied oath and the verb, it was neglected. He then said: "It is possible that la-yathbūtūna is a predicate for an omitted subject indicated by the meaning, estimated as: 'And they, then, would not remain,' so idhan is placed between the subject and its predicate, and for that reason it was annulled." Both interpretations are not sound, as is obvious.