Tafsir of At-Tawbah 9:117

"God has turned in mercy to the Prophet, and to the Emigrants and the Helpers." Scholars of meaning state: The intent is to mention the repentance (turning in mercy) toward the Emigrants and the Helpers; however, the Prophet—may God bless him and grant him peace—was mentioned alongside them to honor them and exalt their stature. This is similar to what they have said regarding God’s mention of His own name alongside the Prophet in His saying: "Indeed, a fifth of the spoils is for God and for the Messenger," etc. That is to say: He—Glory be to Him—forgave the lapses that preceded from them on the day of Uhud and the day of Hunayn.

It is also said: The intent is to mention the repentance toward him—peace and blessings be upon him—and toward them. With respect to him, the "sin" falls under the category of "the contrary to the better" (khilaf al-awla), considering his exalted station. It is interpreted here, according to what is narrated from Ibn Abbas, as the permission given to the hypocrites to remain behind. With respect to the Emigrants and Helpers—may God be pleased with them—there is no impediment to it being a literal sin, for we hold that there is no infallibility for anyone other than the prophets—peace be upon them—and it is interpreted as was interpreted first.

It has also been permitted that it be a case of "the contrary to the better," based on the saying that their "sin" was the inclination toward staying behind from the expedition of Tabuk, which occurred during a time of extreme hardship. Repentance may also be interpreted metaphorically as innocence from sin and protection against it, for there is no accountability in every case. The manifest meaning of the absolute is the literal. In the verse, there is an implicit incitement and urging toward repentance for all people.

"Who followed him"—and did not fall behind him—may God bless him and grant him peace—"in the hour of hardship," meaning in a time of intensity and distress. Expressing it as "the hour" emphasizes its specificity. That distress was their state during the expedition of Tabuk, for they were in distress regarding mounts—ten men would take turns riding a single camel; in distress regarding provisions—they took dried dates, weevily barley, and rancid fat; and the hardship reached such a point that a single date was split in two, and a group would perhaps suck on it to drink water after it, as is narrated from Qatadah. They were in distress regarding water, to the point that they slaughtered camels and squeezed their tripe, as is narrated from Umar ibn al-Khattab—may God be pleased with him. They were in distress regarding the season, due to the intense heat, and the drought and famine. Hence, that expedition was called the "Expedition of Hardship" and its army the "Army of Hardship."

Describing the Emigrants and the Helpers as "followers" in this hour is to indicate that they were worthy of God turning toward them in mercy because of it. There is also in this an emphasis on the previous incitement.

"After the hearts of a party of them had nearly deviated." This is an explanation of the extremity of the hardship and its reaching the ultimate point, which is the verge of some of them inclining away from the Prophet—may God bless him and grant him peace. It is also said: It refers to some of them being on the verge of inclining away from steadfastness in faith, and this is attributed to mere lingering thoughts and whispers. Others said: It was an inclination on the part of their weakest and those most recent to Islam.

In "nearly" (kada), there is a pronoun of the matter (dhamir al-sha'n), and "hearts" is the subject of "deviate" (yazigh), and the sentence is in the position of the predicate of kada. It does not require a connective because it is a predicate for the pronoun of the matter, which is what is transmitted from Sibawayh. Suppressing the pronoun of the matter, according to what is transmitted from Al-Radi, is not well-known in the verbs of approximation (af'al al-muqaraba) except in kada, and in the incomplete verbs except in kana and laysa.

It is also permitted that the noun of kada be a pronoun referring to the group, and the sentence is likewise in the position of the predicate; the connector in this case is the pronoun in "of them" (minhum). This is according to the reading "yazigh" with the yā’ (ya’ al-tahtaniyya), which is the reading of Hamzah, Hafs, and Al-A'mash. As for the reading "tazigh" with the tā’ (ta’ al-fawqaniyya), which is the reading of the rest, it is possible that "hearts" is the noun of kada and "deviate" is its predicate, in which case it contains a pronoun returning to its noun. This is not valid according to the first reading due to the masculine pronoun in yazigh and the feminine nature of that to which it returns. This view was mentioned by Muntakhab al-Din al-Hamadani, Abu Talib al-Makki, and others. It was critiqued in al-Kashf on the grounds that making "hearts" the noun of kada conflicts with its standard placement—the obligation of placing its noun before its predicate—as Sheikh Ibn al-Hajib mentioned in his commentary on al-Mufassal.

In al-Bahr, it is noted that placing the predicate of kada before its noun is built upon the permissibility of the construction "kana yaqumu Zaydun," regarding which there is disagreement, and the soundest view is prohibition. Some of the scholars of Rum responded that Abu Ali permitted this—and he is a sufficient authority—and that the statement of Ibn Malik in al-Tashil is upon it, as is the speech of his commentators, among them Abu Hayyan, who also followed it in his Irtishaf. His opposition in al-Bahr is not to be heeded, as that is based on analogy to the category of kana, which does not contradict the text from Abu Ali; furthermore, there is an apparent prohibition in considering Abu Hayyan a proponent of such analogy. Thus, the truth is permissibility.

It is also possible that the noun of kada is a pronoun returning to the collection of Emigrants and Helpers, meaning: after the gathering nearly [deviated]. Ibn Atiyyah estimated the referent of the pronoun to be "the people," meaning: after the people nearly [deviated]; but this is weakened by the fact that he suppressed a pronoun in kada that only returns to something imagined, and that its predicate would have raised a nominal subject (raf'a sababiyyan), whereas they have said it does not raise anything but a pronoun returning to its noun. The same applies to its sisters, except for asa and yura. It is not hidden that this also applies to the orientations of the first reading, but the matter in the first orientation is easy. Al-Radi permitted interpreting the verse as one of contention (tanazu'), which is apparent in the second reading, and in that case, acting upon the first is incumbent; for if the second were acted upon, it would have been necessary to say "kadat" in the first, as Ubayy—may God be pleased with him—read it.

Kada is not permissible except for Al-Kisa’i, for he deletes the subject. It is as if Al-Radi did not care about what resulted from this interpretation regarding the placement of the predicate of kada before its noun, because you have known that it is not a forbidden matter according to the truth. Abu Hayyan went to the view that kada is pleonastic (za'ida), and its meaning is synonymous with kana, having no governance over a noun or predicate, to escape the debate. This is supported by the reading of Ibn Mas'ud: "min ba'di ma zaghat" (after they deviated), omitting kada. The Kufans held that it is pleonastic in instances like "lam yakad" (it did not nearly), even while it is governing. This is more appropriate. Al-A'mash read "tazigh" with a damma on the tā’. They made the pronoun, in the reading of Ibn Mas'ud, refer to those who remained behind, whether they were hypocrites or not, like Abu Lubabah.

"Then He turned in mercy to them" is a repetition for emphasis, based on the pronoun referring to the Prophet—may God bless him and grant him peace—and the Emigrants and the Helpers—may God be pleased with them. Emphasis may be connected by "then" (thumma), as the grammarians have explicitly stated, even if the discourse of the scholars of meaning seemingly contradicts it. In this, there is an alert that His turning—Glory be to Him—is in response to the hardships they endured, as indicated by the connection with the relative pronoun. It is also possible that the pronoun refers to the party, and the intent is that He turned in mercy to them for their cunning and their proximity to deviation, for it is a crime requiring repentance, so there is no repetition of what preceded. His saying: "Indeed, He is to them Compassionate, Merciful" is an explanatory commencement (isti'naf ta'lili), for the attribute of compassion and mercy are among the causes for repentance and pardon. It is permitted that the first signifies the removal of harm, and the second the provision of benefit, or that one is for the predecessors and the other for the successors.