Tafsir of Al-Fath 48:10

“Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you” (at the Day of al-Hudaybiyyah, upon death in your support, as narrated from Salamah ibn al-Akwa’ and others; or upon the condition that they would not flee from Quraysh, as narrated from Ibn ‘Umar and Jabir—may Allah be pleased with them all—and the details of this shall follow, if Allah wills). The pledging of allegiance occurred before the revelation of the verse, so the expression using the present tense is for the purpose of bringing the past event into the present state.

Mubaya’ah (pledging) is a mufa’alah form derived from al-bay’ (selling). It is said: "He pledged allegiance to the Sultan (bay’a)" when he guarantees the offering of obedience to him in return for what he bestowed upon him. It is frequently applied to the well-known pledge of allegiance to sultans and the like, even if there was no bestowal. Regarding what transpired for the believers, it is said that it points to what is in the words of the Exalted: “Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives” (the verse).

“They are only pledging allegiance to Allah”—because the intent of pledging allegiance to the Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him—and obeying him is the obedience of Allah the Exalted and the fulfillment of the commands of the Almighty, according to His saying: “Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah.” Thus, pledging allegiance to Allah the Exalted is in the sense of obeying Him—an act of mushakalah (co-referential naming) or a metaphorical appropriation. It was also recited as “Indeed they pledge allegiance for Allah” (li-llahi), meaning for the sake of Allah the Exalted and His countenance. The object is omitted; i.e., "they pledge allegiance to you for the sake of Allah."

“The hand of Allah is over their hands”—this is a resumption (of speech) that confirms what preceded it, for it is an expression of hyperbole. In al-Kashshaf, it is stated: When the Almighty said, “They are only pledging allegiance to Allah,” He confirmed it through the method of takhyeel (imagination/fantasy), saying: “The hand of Allah is over their hands.” He, the Exalted, is transcendent above limbs and the attributes of bodies; the meaning is the affirmation that the formal covenant with the Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him—is like the covenant with Allah the Exalted, without any disparity between the two.

In al-Miftah: The beauty of the takhyeeliyyah metaphor depends upon the beauty of the kinayah metaphor when it is subordinate to it, as in your saying: "So-and-so is between the fangs of death and its claws." Then, if mushakalah is joined to it, as in "the hand of Allah," it becomes even more beautiful. This implies that in the Name of Allah the Exalted, there is a metaphor of kinayah (metonymy), likening Him—Glorified and Exalted is He—to the one receiving the pledge, and "the hand" is a takhyeeliyyah metaphor, while also containing mushakalah due to its being mentioned alongside the hands of the people. The impossibility of metaphor in the Name of Allah the Exalted applies only to tasrihiyyah (explicit) metaphors, not makniyyah (implicit) ones, because it does not necessitate that His Name—the Exalted—is applied to other than Him.

Al-Wahidi narrated from Ibn Kaysan that "the hand" is power, i.e., the power of Allah and His support is over their power and support. Meaning: rely upon the support of Allah for you, not upon their support, even if they have pledged to you. Al-Zajjaj said: The meaning is that the hand of Allah in fulfilling is above their hands, or in the reward for their obedience is above their hands, or that the hand of Allah the Exalted in bestowing favor upon them by guiding them is above their hands in the act of obedience. It is also said: The meaning is the grace of Allah the Exalted upon them in enabling them to pledge to you is above their grace, which is their pledging to you. There is something in this of the verse: “Say, ‘Do not consider your Islam a favor to me. Rather, Allah has conferred favor upon you that He has guided you to the faith.’” All of these are interpretations undertaken by the later scholars (al-khalaf). The best of them is what was mentioned first. The early predecessors (al-salaf) allow the verse to pass as it came while holding Allah—Mighty and Majestic is He—transcendent above limbs and bodily attributes. They do the same for all the mutashabihat (ambiguous verses) and say: "Knowledge of the reality of this is a branch of knowledge of the reality of the Essence, and how could that be? Far, very far is that!"

It is permissible for the sentence to be a predicate following a predicate for inna, and it is also permissible for it to be a circumstantial clause (hal) from the pronoun of the subject in yubayi’unaka. There is discussion regarding the permissibility of this when the sentence is nominal and not joined by waw.

“So whoever breaks (his word), he only breaks it against himself”—the harm of his breaking does not return to anyone but himself. Al-Zamakhshari narrated from Jabir ibn Abdullah that no one broke the pledge except Jadd ibn Qays, who was a hypocrite. What al-Tayyibi conveyed from Muslim indicates that the man did not pledge, not that he pledged and then broke it. He said: Jabir was asked, "How many were you on the Day of al-Hudaybiyyah?" He said, "We were fourteen hundred. We pledged allegiance to him, and ‘Umar—may Allah be pleased with him—was holding his hand—the blessings and peace of Allah the Exalted be upon him—under the tree, which was a samurah (acacia) tree. We pledged to him, except for Jadd ibn Qays the Ansari, who hid under the belly of his camel and did not march with the people." Perhaps this is what is most consistent with the apparent meaning of the words of the Exalted: “Allah was certainly pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you...” (the verse). Zayd ibn ‘Ali recited yankuth with a kasrah on the kaf.

“And whoever fulfills that which he has covenanted with Allah—He will give him a great reward”—which is Paradise, and what is within it of that which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and has never occurred to the heart of any human. It is said: "He fulfilled the covenant" (wafa bi-l-‘ahd) and "he fulfilled it" (awfa bihi) if he completed it. Awfa is the dialect of Tihamah; from this is His saying: “Fulfill the contracts” and “those who fulfill their covenant.” It was recited as bima ‘ahada (in the trilateral form). The majority recited ‘alayhi with a kasrah on the ha, as is common. Hafs recited it with a dammah here. It is said: The reason for the dammah is that it is the ha of huwa (he), which is dammah-voweled, so it was maintained as in lahu and darabahu. The reason for the kasrah is consideration of the ya, as in ilayhi and fihi, and likewise when there is a kasrah before it, such as bihi and marartu bi-ghulamihi, due to the difficulty of transitioning from a kasrah to a dammah. The dammah in the verse is made good by the fact that it leads to the heavy pronunciation (tafkhim) of the Name of Majesty, which is appropriate for the weight of the covenant indicated by the discourse. Also, maintaining what was as it was is appropriate for the fulfillment of the covenant, its preservation, and not breaking it. I have asked many of the eminent scholars while I was still fresh in my speech regarding the reason for this dammah here, and I was not answered with something that satisfied my heart. Then I obtained what I have heard, and Allah the Exalted is the Guide to that which is better. Ibn Kathir, Nafi’, Ibn ‘Amir, Rawh, and Zayd ibn ‘Ali recited sanu’tihi with the nun.