Tafsir of Al-Fath 48:2

Regarding the phrase, "That Allah may forgive for you," the Ash‘ari school, which holds that the acts of Allah Most High are not caused by [external] purposes, maintains that this lam (the 'l' in li-yaghfira) denotes consequence (al-‘aqibah), or serves to liken what it governs to a final cause in its sequence upon that which it is attached to. The forgiveness is thus consequential to the Conquest (al-fath), in the sense that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—exerted efforts in exalting the word of Allah through enduring the hardships of war and plunging into the sources of adversity. The predecessors (al-salaf), as Ibn al-Qayyim and others have stated, argue for the causality of His acts—Exalted is He.

In Sharh al-Maqasid, the eminent scholar al-Taftazani notes that some of the arguments put forward by the Ash‘ari school and their proponents suggest they intended the absolute negation of purpose, while others suggest they intended the negation of the generality of purpose. He then states: "The truth is that some of the acts of Allah Most High are indeed caused by wisdoms and interests; this is manifest, and the texts bear witness to it. As for generalizing this to say that no act of His—sublime is He—is devoid of a purpose, that is a matter of debate." Al-Isfahani, in Sharh al-Tawal’, mentions this issue as a point of contention against the Mu‘tazila and most jurists.

I say: I incline toward the view of the predecessors, due to the existence of causality in over ten thousand verses and hadiths; to insist on interpreting all of them otherwise is a departure from fairness. The arguments presented by those present are refuted by the slightest reflection, as is not hidden from one who has studied the books of the predecessors—may Allah have mercy upon them.

In al-Kashshaf, the Conquest is not made the cause for forgiveness alone, but rather for the aggregate of the four enumerated matters: forgiveness, the completion of favor, guidance to the straight path, and the mighty victory. It is as if it were said: "We have facilitated the conquest of Makkah for you and granted you victory over your enemy, in order to combine for you the [rewards of] both abodes, and the purposes of the immediate and the deferred." The essence of this, as the eminent scholar put it, is that the Conquest was not established as a cause for each of the coordinate clauses following the lam—namely, forgiveness, the completion of favor, guidance, and victory—but rather for their combination. It suffices for this that the Conquest has a role in the realization of some of these, such as the completion of favor and the mighty victory.

The verification of this, as he stated, is that coordination upon that which is governed by the lam can sometimes be for the sake of participation in the object of the lam, such as [saying], "I came to you to win your meeting and acquire your gifts," which is in the position of repeating the lam and coordinating upon a preposition and its object. It may also be for the sake of participating in the meaning of the lam, such as, "I came to you so that you may rest in your position and bestow upon me of your graces," meaning: for the combination of the two matters. This falls into the category of, "The slave of Zayd and ‘Amr came to me," meaning the slave who belongs to both. To dispel the delusion that if the purpose is only a portion [of these things], then mentioning the rest is superfluous, it is argued: Each of them is either intended essentially—which is manifest—or a portion is intended, in which case mentioning the others is either because the intended goal depends upon them, or because of their strong connection to it, or their sequence upon it. Thus, they are mentioned to signify that they are like a single entity, as in His saying: "...so that if one of them forgets, the other may remind her," or your saying: "I prepared the wood so the wall would lean, then I supported it," and "I stayed with my debtor to collect my right and [then] release him."

The apparent intent of al-Zamakhshari is that the goal in our context is the causality of the aggregate state alone. Reflect upon this to know to which category it belongs. Know that the well-known position is that the cause is what is governed by the lam, not what it is attached to, as is apparent from the wording of al-Kashshaf. However, it has been verified that since it is governed by the ultimate end, it is correct to say that what follows it is a cause—intended according to conceptualization—and it is also correct to say that what it is attached to is a cause according to [actual] existence. So, do not be heedless.

The author of al-Ghunyan claimed that the lam here is the lam of an oath (qasam), which was kasrated, and the nun was deleted from the verb, by analogy to the lam of kay (purpose). This was refuted by the fact that an oath cannot be kasrated, nor can it govern the subjunctive, for it has not been heard [in Arabic]: "By Allah, li-yaquma Zayd," in the sense of li-yaqumanna Zayd. He was defended by the argument that the kasrah was caused by its analogy to the lam of kay. As for the [lack of] nasb, he could say that it is not nasb at all, but rather the vowel movement that existed alongside the nun and remained after its deletion to signify the deletion. You know, however, that this is of no avail in the absence of [linguistic] attestation.

As for the turning to the Proper Name [Allah], which carries all attributes, it is said: This is to signify that each of the things you are in the sequence of [the goals] of His acts—Exalted is He—issues from Him, Glory be to Him, from a modality other than the modality of the other, and is ordered upon an attribute from His attributes—Sublime is He.

Al-Sadr said: It is not far-fetched to say that expressing Him—Exalted is He—in the context of forgiveness with the Majestic Name, which indicates the attributes of Beauty and Majesty, signals the precedence of His forgiveness over His punishment. In al-Bahr, it is noted that since forgiveness and what follows it are shared in their application to the Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him—and others—due to His saying: "And He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills," and His saying: "This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you," and His saying: "O Children of Israel, remember My favor which I have bestowed upon you," and His saying: "He guides whom He wills," and His saying: "They are the ones who are supported"—and because the Conquest was specific to the Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him—Allah attributed it to the nun of majesty (nun al-‘azamah) to exalt his status, and attributed those other things to the apparent Name and its pronoun. This is as you see, even if the Imam [al-Razi] also said it.

I say: It is possible that in attributing forgiveness to Him with the Greatest Name, after attributing the Conquest to Him with the nun of majesty, there is a subtle indication that forgiveness is something He—Sublime is He—undertakes by His Essence, while the Conquest is something He—Glory be to Him—undertakes through intermediaries. Some have explicitly stated that it is the custom of the great to refer to themselves using the first-person plural because what issues from them is mostly through the employment of their subordinates. It should not be objected that victory is like the conquest and has been attributed to the Majestic Name, for the reason for that is not hidden from you.

The advancement of "for you" before the direct object—namely, "what preceded of your sin and what followed"—is for the reason mentioned more than once. The ma denotes generality, and "preceded" and "followed" denote comprehensiveness, being a metaphor for the whole. By "sin" is meant what fell short of the superior choice in relation to his status—peace and blessings be upon him—so it is of the category of "the virtues of the righteous are the sins of those brought near." It may also be said that it refers to what is considered a sin in his own exalted view—peace and blessings be upon him—even if it were not a sin or a failure of the superior choice in His view—Exalted is He—as the genitive construction hints.

Al-Sadr said: It is possible that His saying, "That He may forgive," etc., is a metonymy for the absence of reckoning, or is from the category of representative metaphor (isti‘arah tamthiliyyah) without the actualization of the meanings of the individual words. Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from ‘Amir and Abu Ja‘far that they said: "What preceded in the Jahiliyyah, and what followed in Islam." It was also said: "What preceded regarding the affair of Mariyah, and what followed regarding the wife of Zayd." But this is nothing, and the inverse is more appropriate, as the affair of the wife of Zayd is earlier. In the verse, what is known of his state—peace and blessings be upon him—of abundant worship indicates the nobility of his status to a degree that words cannot encompass. It is authentically established that when it was revealed, he prayed and fasted until his feet swelled and he worshipped until he became like a worn-out skin, so it was said to him: "Do you do this to yourself when Allah has forgiven you what preceded of your sin and what followed?" He replied—peace and blessings be upon him: "Should I not be a thankful servant?"

"...and complete His favor upon you" through the exaltation of the religion and its spread in the lands, and other things that He—Exalted is He—bestowed upon him—peace and blessings be upon him—of religious and worldly favors.

"...and guide you to a straight path."

In conveying the message and establishing the boundaries. It is said: Although the essence of uprightness was present before the Conquest, after it there occurred a clarity of the paths of truth and the rectitude of its methodologies that was not present before.