Tafsir of Al-Fath 48:26

"When those who disbelieved placed..."

"When" (إذ) is in the accusative case, either by being governed by an implied "Remember" (اذكر) as its object, or by "We would have punished them" (بعذبنا) as an adverb of time, or by "prevented you" (صدوكم). It has also been said that it is governed by an implied verb—and this is better. May Allah Almighty do good unto you. Regardless, "those" (الذين) is the subject of "placed" (جعل). The relative pronoun (الموصول) was used instead of their pronoun (ضميرهم) to rebuke them through what is contained within the relative clause (صلة), and to provide a rationale for the judgment based upon it.

"Placed" (الجعل) is either in the sense of "casting," so the Almighty’s saying, "in their hearts" (في قلوبهم), relates to it; or it is in the sense of "making" (التصيير), in which case it relates to a deleted element that is a second object for it—meaning: they made haughtiness (الحمية) firmly rooted in their hearts. Because it was acquired by them in one aspect, its "placing" is attributed to them. Al-Naysaburi said: It is permissible for the subject of "placed" to be the pronoun of Allah Almighty, and "in their hearts" is an explanation of the location of the placement. The meaning would then be: "When Allah placed in the hearts of those who disbelieved... haughtiness." And this is as you see.

"Haughtiness" (الحمية) is derived from saying, "I felt haughty (حميت) about such and such, a haughtiness (حمية)," if you felt disdain for it and a sense of shame overcame you regarding it. Al-Raghib said: It is an expression used for the irascible power when it flares up and intensifies. It is said, "I felt haughty (حميت) against so-and-so," meaning I became angry with him.

The Almighty’s saying, "haughtiness of the Jahiliyyah" (حمية الجاهلية), is a substitute (بدل) for "haughtiness" (الحمية), meaning the haughtiness of the Jahiliyyah nation or the haughtiness originating from the Jahiliyyah, because it was without evidence and in an inappropriate place.

The Almighty’s saying, "But Allah sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and upon the believers" (فأنزل الله سكينته على رسوله وعلى المؤمنين), is a conjunction (عطف) to "placed" (جعل), based on the assumption that "when" (إذ) is governed by an implied "Remember." The intent is to remind [people] of the good conduct of the Messenger, peace be upon him, and the believers through the success granted by Allah Almighty, and the poor conduct of the polytheists. [It is also] according to what the prohibitive sentence implies, assuming it is an adverb for "We would have punished them"—as if it were said: "They did not separate, so We did not punish, but Allah sent down..." and [so on]. [It is also] according to an implied [verb] meant therein in the latter view, and this would be like an interpretation of it. As for making it an adverb for "prevented you" (صدوكم), some said: it is a conjunction to "placed," and some said: it is to "prevented you." It is similar to [the metaphor of] the bird, so Zaid becomes angry with the fly. The first of these views is not hidden [to be the best].

"Tranquility" (السكينة) is serenity and dignity. It has been narrated by more than one that the Prophet, peace be upon him, went out with those who were with him to Al-Hudaybiyyah. When he was at Dhu al-Hulayfah, he garlanded the sacrificial animals and marked them, and entered into Ihram for Umrah. He sent ahead a scout from Khuza'ah to inform him about Quraysh. The Messenger, peace be upon him, traveled until he was at Ghadir al-Ashtat, near Usfan. His scout came to him and said: "Quraysh have gathered forces against you, and they have gathered the Ahabish (tribes), and they will fight you and prevent you from the House." He consulted the people about raiding the families of those who had aided them. Abu Bakr said: "Allah Almighty and His Messenger know best, O Prophet of Allah. We only came to perform Umrah, and we did not come to fight anyone. However, whoever stands between us and the House, we will fight him." The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "Proceed in the name of Allah." He traveled until he descended at the furthest part of Al-Hudaybiyyah.

Budayl ibn Warqa' al-Khuza'i came to him with a group of his people and said: "I have left Ka'b ibn Lu'ayy and 'Amir ibn Lu'ayy who have descended nearby, and with them are the nursing she-camels, and they are your combatants, and they will prevent you from the House." The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "We did not come to fight anyone, but as performers of Umrah. Quraysh have been exhausted by war and it has harmed them. What would it cost them if they left me and the rest of the Arabs alone? If they strike me, that is what they desired. If Allah Almighty grants me victory over them, they will enter Islam in great numbers. If they do not do that, I will fight them, for there is strength in them. What do Quraysh think? By Allah, I will not cease to struggle against them for what Allah Almighty has sent me with until Allah Almighty manifests it or this neck is severed."

Budayl said: "I will inform them of what you say." He informed them. 'Urwah ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi said to them: "Let me go to him." He came to him, peace be upon him, and the Prophet said to him similar to what he said to Budayl. Much speech transpired, and he saw the respect the Companions had for the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, and their veneration of him. He returned to his companions and informed them of that, saying to them: "He has offered you a path of guidance, so accept it."

A man from Banu Kinanah said: "Let me go to him." When he approached the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his companions, the Prophet said: "This is so-and-so, and he is from a people who venerate the sacrificial animals, so send them forth for him." They sent them forth, and the people welcomed him saying the Talbiyah. When he saw that, he said: "Glory be to Allah! It is not fitting for these people to be prevented from the House." He returned and informed his companions.

A man called Mikraz ibn Hafs said: "Let me go to him." When he approached, the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "This is Mikraz, and he is a treacherous man." He began speaking to the Prophet, peace be upon him. While he was speaking to him, Suhayl ibn 'Amr and the brother of Banu 'Amir ibn Lu'ayy arrived. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "Your matter has been made easy for you." Quraysh had sent him and said to him: "Go to Muhammad and make peace with him, provided that there is nothing in his peace except that he returns from us this year, for by Allah, the Arabs will not say that he entered it against us by force."

When he reached the Prophet, peace be upon him, he spoke at length, and the matter concluded with a peace treaty and the writing of a document for that. The Prophet, peace be upon him, called Ali, may Allah honor his face, and said: "Write: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful." Suhayl said: "I do not know this; write: In Your name, O Allah (باسمك اللهم)." The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: "Write: In Your name, O Allah." He wrote it. Then he said: "Write: This is what Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, has agreed upon with Suhayl ibn 'Amr." Suhayl said: "If we knew that you were the Messenger of Allah, we would not have prevented you from the House nor fought you. But write your name and your father's name." The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "By Allah, I am indeed the Messenger of Allah, even if you deny me. Write: This is what Muhammad ibn Abdullah has agreed upon with Suhayl ibn 'Amr: a peace treaty, laying down war for ten years, during which the people are safe, and some refrain from others, on the condition that whoever comes to Muhammad from Quraysh without the permission of his guardian, he returns him to them; and whoever comes to Quraysh from those with Muhammad, they do not return him to him. And there is between us a concealed chest (a pact of sincerity), and no treachery and no shackles. And whoever likes to enter into the pact and covenant of Muhammad may do so, and whoever likes to enter into the pact and covenant of Quraysh may do so. And Muhammad returns from Makkah this year, and does not enter it. And when the coming year arrives, the people of Makkah will go out, and he will enter it with his companions and stay there for three days, with the weapons of the traveler—the swords in the scabbards—and he shall not enter it with anything else."

The apparent meaning of this report is that Suhayl did not consent to writing "Muhammad the Messenger of Allah" before writing it. It came in a narration that he did write it but he was not satisfied, so the Prophet, peace be upon him, said to Ali, may Allah honor his face: "Erase it." He said: "I am not the one who would erase it." This appeared in a narration by Al-Bukhari and Muslim. In a narration by Al-Bukhari in Al-Maghazi, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, took the document—and he did not know how to write—[and wrote]: "This is what Muhammad ibn Abdullah has judged." Similar to this was extracted by Al-Nasa'i and Ahmad, and its wording is: "He took the document and did not know how to write, so he wrote in place of 'Messenger of Allah': 'This is what Muhammad ibn Abdullah has judged.'"

Abu al-Walid al-Baji grasped the apparent meaning of this narration in Fath al-Bari, to the effect that the Prophet, peace be upon him, wrote after he had not known how to write, and his teacher Abu Dharr al-Harawi, Abu al-Fath al-Naysaburi, and others among the scholars of Africa agreed with him on that. The majority hold that he, peace be upon him, did not write, and that his saying "He took the document and did not know how to write" is to explain that he, peace be upon him, needed to show Ali, may Allah honor his face, the location of the word he refused to erase because he could not write. And his saying "He wrote" is by way of estimating: "So he erased it and gave the document back to Ali, who wrote it," or it is used loosely in "Ali wrote [at his] command." The complete discussion is in its proper place.

Their haughtiness was—according to what is in Al-Durr al-Manthur from a group—that they did not acknowledge that he, peace be upon him, was the Messenger, and they did not acknowledge "In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful," and they stood between the Muslims and the House. The believers were motivated by that to strike them, so Allah Almighty sent down His tranquility upon them, so they became dignified and restrained. Ibn al-Mundhir extracted from Ibn Jurayj that he said regarding "haughtiness of the Jahiliyyah": "Quraysh felt haughty that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, should enter [Makkah] upon them, and they said: 'He shall never enter it upon us.'" Ibn Bahr said, as in Al-Bahr: "Their haughtiness was their bigotry for their gods and the disdain to worship any other than them." In placing Ali between the Messenger and the believers, there is an indication that it was sent down upon each [a tranquility] befitting them. The reason for prioritizing the descent upon the Messenger, peace be upon him, is not hidden.

The Imam said: In this verse are spiritual subtleties, namely that the Almighty made clear the great distance between the believers and the disbelievers, since He distinguished between the two subjects: the subject of "placed" is the disbelievers, and the subject of "sent down" is Allah Almighty; and between the two objects: that was "haughtiness" and this is "tranquility"; and between the two attributions: the attribution of haughtiness to the Jahiliyyah, and the attribution of tranquility to Himself, the Almighty; and between the two verbs: "placed" and "sent down." Haughtiness is placed in the present, like an accident that does not remain, while tranquility is like that which is preserved in the treasure of mercy, for its descent [is eternal]. Haughtiness is ugly and blameworthy in itself, and it increased in ugliness by being attributed to the Jahiliyyah, while tranquility is good in itself, and it increased in goodness by its attribution to Allah, the Almighty and Exalted.

The conjunction in "But Allah sent down" (فأنزل) is with Fa (ف), not Waw (و), and it indicates contrast and requital. You say, "Zaid honored me, so I honored him," and it indicates that the sending down of tranquility was due to their placing haughtiness in their hearts, even though the believers did not get angry or get defeated, but rather remained patient. This is distant in custom, so it is from the grace of Allah the Almighty. This concludes what is fine.

"And He made them adhere to the word of piety."

It is "There is no god but Allah," as extracted by Al-Tirmidhi, Abdullah ibn Ahmad, Al-Daraqutni, and others from Ubayy ibn Ka'b in a Marfu' form, and as extracted by Ibn Marduyah from Abu Hurairah and Salamah ibn al-Akwa' likewise. Ahmad, Ibn Hibban, and Al-Hakim extracted from Humran that Uthman ibn Affan, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, say: 'I know a word which no servant says truly from his heart but that the Fire is forbidden to him.' Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 'I shall tell you what it is: it is the word of sincerity which Allah, the Glorified, made Muhammad and his companions adhere to, and it is the word of piety upon which the Prophet of Allah, peace be upon him, insisted to his uncle Abu Talib at the time of death: the testimony that there is no god but Allah.'" This was also narrated from Ali, may Allah honor his face, according to what Abu Hayyan, Ibn Umar, Ibn Abbas, Ikrimah, Mujahid, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, and Sa'id ibn Jubayr—among others—conveyed. Abd ibn Humayd and Ibn Jarir extracted this with the addition: "and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."

It was attributed to "piety" because through it one avoids polytheism. Hence, Ibn Abbas said in what was extracted by Ibn al-Mundhir and others: "It is the head of all piety." The apparent meaning of Umar's, may Allah be pleased with him, speech is that the pronoun "them" (هم) in "made them adhere" (ألزمهم) refers to the Messenger, peace be upon him, and those with him, and his making them adhere to it is by decree and command.

Abd al-Razzaq, Al-Hakim—who authenticated it—Al-Bayhaqi in Al-Asma' wa al-Sifat, and a group extracted from Ali, may Allah honor his face, that he said: "It is 'There is no god but Allah' and 'Allah is the Greatest'." Something similar was also narrated from Ibn Umar. Ibn Abi Hatim and Al-Daraqutni in Al-Afrad extracted from Al-Miswar ibn Makhramah: "It is 'There is no god but Allah alone, no partner has He'." From 'Ata' ibn Abi Rabah and Mujahid also [it is said] that it is: "There is no god but Allah alone, no partner has He, to Him belongs the dominion and to Him belongs the praise, and He has power over all things." Abd ibn Humayd, Ibn Jarir, and others extracted from Al-Zuhri, who said: "It is 'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'." Some added to this: "Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."

The intention behind making them adhere to it is choosing it for them over whoever turned away from it by saying "In Your name, O Allah" and "Muhammad ibn Abdullah." It is also said: It is firmness and fulfilling the covenant, and Al-Khafaji attributed this to Al-Hasan. His "making them adhere to it" is his commanding them to do so. The application of "word" (كلمة) to firmness on the covenant and fulfilling it is said to be because each is a means by which one attains the goal. This is similar to what was said about applying the word to Isa, peace be upon him, that it is because through each of them one is guided. The attribution, based on it being in the sense of firmness, is of the category of attributing the cause to the effect; it is an attribution of the lowest form of association. It is permissible that it is a true possessive attribution, by estimating an omitted noun: "the word of the people of piety."

"The covenant" (العهد), according to what the apparent cause of the revelation implies, is the covenant of peace which occurred between him, peace be upon him, and the people of Makkah. It is also said: What includes that and all their covenants with Him, the Almighty and Exalted.

"...and they were worthy of it and suited for it." (بها وأهلها). This refers to the tranquility. In this, there is the committing of a contradiction to the apparent meaning without a necessity. It is also said: They both refer to Makkah, meaning: "They were more worthy of Makkah to enter it, and its people [were more worthy of them]." The mention of Makkah suggests the mention of the Sacred Mosque in His saying, "And prevented you from the Sacred Mosque." Likewise is the place of the sacrificial animals in His saying, "And the sacrificial animals prevented from reaching their place." In this there is that which is not hidden.

"And Allah is Knowing of all things."

He, the Glorified, knows the truth of every thing and its worthiness for what it deserves, so the Almighty drives the truth to its rightful recipient and the worthy one to what he is worthy of; or He knows this and knows what wisdom and interest necessitate regarding the sending down of tranquility and consent to the peace treaty, so it is a concluding remark for everything that preceded.