Tafsir of At-Tawbah 9:104

Do they not know that…

The pronoun may refer to those who have repented, with the intent of establishing the certainty of their repentance being accepted in their hearts and the validation of their alms. Or, it may refer to others, with the intent of inciting them toward repentance and charity, and encouraging them therein.

It is recited as ta‘lamu (you all know) with a ta’. In the first case, this constitutes a shift in person (iltifat), and in the second case, it is based on the implicit command "Say." It is also possible that the pronoun refers to both those who repented and those who did not, intending to establish and specify [the truth] and nothing else.

Some have chosen the view that it refers solely to those who did not repent, based on the report that when the repentance of the former group was revealed, those among the stragglers who had not repented said, "Yesterday they were with us—not speaking to us nor sitting with us—so what has happened to them today that [this] has been revealed?" However, the conduct of the majority suggests the choice of the first view, which is what the context of the verse necessitates. As for the report mentioned, we have not found a chain of transmission upon which one can rely.

Meaning: Do these repentant ones not know that Allah is the One who accepts true, sincere repentance from His servants who are sincere in it? The verb "accept" (yaqbalu) is linked with the particle ‘an (from) because it contains the meaning of passing over and pardoning; i.e., He accepts that while passing over the sins for which they repented. It is said that ‘an is synonymous with min (from).

The pronoun [in huwa] serves to emphasize the first [clause] with specification, meaning that Allah—Glorified is He—accepts repentance and no one else does. That is, He alone surely does this, for it has been established that the pronoun of separation (damir al-fasl) signifies such.

Some have made the specification relative to the Messenger, peace be upon him—that is, He—the Majestic and Exalted—accepts repentance, not His Messenger, peace be upon him, because their frequent returning to him [the Prophet] might lead to the illusion of that [the Messenger accepting repentance].

"Servants" refers either to those repentant ones—the explicit noun being placed in the position of a pronoun to indicate the causality of what the acceptance implies—or it refers to all servants, with those [repentant ones] being included primarily.

And takes the alms. That is, He accepts them with the acceptance of one who takes something in order to provide a substitute for it; thus, "taking" here is a metaphor for acceptance. It is also permissible that attributing the "taking" to Allah the Exalted is a figurative expression (majaz mursal). It is said that attributing the taking to the Messenger in His saying, "Take," and then attributing it to His own Self, is an indication that the taking by the Messenger, peace be upon him, stands in place of the taking by Allah the Exalted, as an exaltation of the station of His Prophet, peace be upon him, as in the words of the Exalted: "Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you are actually pledging allegiance to Allah." This makes it literal, and it is a sound meaning, although there is something not hidden in claiming the literal interpretation.

The preferred view, to me, is that taking the alms refers to the special care given to them and their favorable standing with Him, the Exalted. There is an unmistakable encouragement in this expression.

‘Abd al-Razzaq recorded from Abu Hurayrah that Allah the Exalted accepts charity if it is pure, and takes it with His Right Hand. A man may give a piece of food in charity, and He nurtures it for him just as one of you nurtures his young camel or foal, until it grows in the Hand of Allah until it becomes like Mount Uhud.

Al-Daraqutni recorded in al-Afrad from Ibn ‘Abbas that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: "Give charity, for when one of you gives a piece of food or something, it falls into the Hand of Allah the Almighty before it falls into the hand of the beggar." Then he recited this verse. In some narrations, there is evidence that there is no literal taking. Ibn al-Mundhir and others recorded from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: "By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, no servant gives a pure charity from pure earnings—and Allah only accepts what is pure, and only what is pure ascends to heaven—but he places it in a container, and it is as if he is placing it into the Hand of the Most Merciful. He then nurtures it for him as one of you nurtures his foal or young camel, until the piece of food or date comes on the Day of Resurrection like a great mountain." The validation of this in the Book of Allah is: Do they not know that Allah accepts repentance...

The al- in al-sadaqat (the alms) may either be a substitute for the possessive pronoun (their alms), or it may be for the generic, meaning the genus of alms, within which their alms are included primarily. This is what the literal sense of the reports necessitates.

And that Allah is the Accepting of Repentance, the Merciful. This is a confirmation of what was conjoined to it, and a further consolidation of what He is consolidating, with an added meaning not present in the former. That is: Do they not know that He, the Exalted, is the One exclusively and uniquely possessing the attainment of the ultimate limit of accepting repentance and mercy? Such is the nature of His affairs and one of His constant habits. Other things have been said as well. Both clauses are in the position of the accusative as the objects of "know," with each fulfilling the place of both of its objects.