Tafsir of At-Tawbah 9:25

(Allah has already given you victory in many regions) — an address specifically to the believers, expressing gratitude for the victory over the enemies, which a jealous person would sacrifice their most beloved possessions for. Mawatini (regions/places) is the plural of mawtin, which is the place where its inhabitant resides. It is intended here to mean the places of war, i.e., its sites and standings. Of this is the saying: How many a station—if not for my resolve—would I have fallen from, just as things fall from the peak of a high crag. The word is indeclinable (al-man’ min al-sarf) because it follows the pattern of the "ultimate plural" (sighat muntaha al-jumu'). The lam is muwatti’ah for the oath—meaning: "I swear by Allah that He has granted you victory in many positions and encounters." Among these are the Battle of Badr, through which the sun of Islam appeared, the Battle of Qurayzah, the Battle of Nadir, and the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. Some have counted these up to eighty.

It is narrated that Al-Mutawakkil once suffered a severe illness and vowed that if Allah the Exalted cured him, he would give a large amount of wealth in charity. When he was cured, he asked the scholars about the definition of "a large amount," and their opinions varied. It was suggested to him that he ask Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Musa al-Kadhim (may Allah be pleased with them), who was then under house arrest. He ordered that he be written to, and the Imam (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote back that he should give eighty dirhams in charity. When they asked him about the reason, he recited this verse and said: "We counted those regions [of the Prophet's battles], and they totaled eighty."

(And on the day of Hunayn): This is connected to the position of mawatini. Connecting a temporal adverb to a spatial one—or vice versa—is permissible according to what the words of Abu Ali [al-Farisi] and his followers imply. Indeed, the apparent view of some is to forbid this, because both adverbs relate to the verb without the mediation of a conjunction, and the adjuncts of a verb are only conjoined if they are of the same type. Others have said: there is no prohibition in conjoining a time to a place or vice versa, although it is better to omit the conjunction in such cases. Whoever forbade the conjunction or deemed its omission better argued that it is conjoined via the ellipsis of a genitive noun—meaning, "and the region [mawtin] of the day of Hunayn." Perhaps the change [in structure] is to hint at the lack of steadfastness that occurred there from the beginning.

It may also be considered that the ellipsis is on the side of the conjunct—meaning, "in the days of the regions"—in which case the conjunction is one of a specific case to a general one. The excellence of this specific case, to which the conjunction points, is the wonder of its circumstances and the strangeness of what occurred there—namely, obtaining victory after despair and relief after hardship. It is not intended to imply a greater reward or benefit, such that it would be objected that the day of Hunayn is not superior to the day of Badr, in which they attained the highest honor and won the loftiest degrees, thus rendering the point of the conjunction inapplicable. It is said that mawtin is a noun of time, like maqtal (the place/time of killing) of Husayn, so the two conjoined parts are of the same category, though this is far from the understanding.

Al-Zamakhshari necessitated that yawm (day) be in the accusative case by an implied verb, making the conjunction a sentence-to-sentence connection—meaning, "And He granted you victory on the day of Hunayn." It is not valid for its regent to be the aforementioned nasarakum (He granted you victory), because the saying of the Exalted, "(when your great number impressed you)," would then be a substitute (badal) for "the day of Hunayn." This would imply that the time of being impressed by numbers is the temporal setting for the victory that occurred in the many regions. This is invalid, as there was no such impression of numbers in those other regions.

The response to this is that the verb in conjoined elements does not have to be a single entity that cannot have multiple instances—like saying, "I hit Zayd today and Amr yesterday," or "I hit him when he stands and when he sits." Rather, one must acknowledge instances in phrases like "Zayd and Amr," otherwise it would imply that a single accident inheres in a person in two different locations, which is necessarily impossible. Therefore, it does not follow that its restriction in the case of the conjunct necessitates its restriction in the case of the original noun. We do not concede that this is the rule such that anything else would require proof. Some have said that this would only be necessary if the original noun were effectively removed by the conjunction, which is not the case; rather, it reverts to: "Allah granted you victory in many regions, and [He granted you victory] when your numbers impressed you." There is no drawback here.

Hunayn is a valley between Makkah and Ta’if, three miles from Makkah, where the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the Muslims fought the Hawazin, the Thaqif, and their allies. Among them was Durayd ibn al-Simmah—whose judgment they deemed auspicious—and people from Banu Hilal and others. They numbered four thousand. As for the Muslims, according to what al-Kalbi narrated, they were ten thousand; according to what is narrated from ‘Ata’, sixteen thousand; others said eight thousand. It has been authenticated that they were twelve thousand—the ten thousand who attended [the conquest of] Makkah, and two thousand who joined them from the Tulaqa’ (freed captives).

When they met, Salamah ibn Salamah or Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "We will not be defeated today for a lack of numbers," being impressed by their own great numbers. It is also said that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said this, though the Imam [al-Razi] deemed that unlikely, for the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was cut off from everything except Allah the Exalted. This is supported by what al-Bayhaqi extracted in al-Dala’il from al-Rabi’ that a man said on the day of Hunayn: "We will not be defeated for a lack of numbers," which distressed the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). The outward meaning is that this statement, if not joined by other factors, does not contradict reliance on Allah (tawakkul) nor necessitate reliance on [mere] causes. It only distressed the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) because it was accompanied by situational indicators that pointed toward arrogance. Perhaps the speaker took it from the saying of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): "The best of companions are four, the best of detachments are four hundred, and the best of armies are four thousand; and twelve thousand will not be defeated for a lack of numbers." Their word was one, but it was accompanied by the arrogance that accompanied it.

Then the people fought intensely, and the Muslims were overtaken by their own pride. The collective [the army] might be taken by the action of some, so they turned their backs and fled. The first to flee were the Tulaqa’ as a deception on their part, and that was the cause of the breakdown and the flight of others. It is said that they initially charged the polytheists and defeated them, then turned to the spoils of war, at which point [the polytheists] returned upon them, and what happened, happened. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was on his white mule; the mountains might move, but he did not. With him were Al-Abbas, his cousin Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith and his son Ja'far, Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah honor his face), Rabi'ah ibn al-Harith, al-Fadl ibn al-Abbas, Usamah ibn Zayd, and Ayman ibn 'Ubayd, who was killed (may Allah be pleased with him) before him. These were from his family, and Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) stood firm with him. There were ten men, and that is why Al-Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "We helped the Messenger of Allah in war, nine [of us]... Those who fled had fled and vanished, while our tenth stood facing death, suffering for Allah's sake without complaint."

He (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) displayed such courage in that encounter that it bewildered minds, and for that reason, his companions (may Allah be pleased with them) concluded that he (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was the bravest of people. He would say at that moment, not caring for the enemies of Allah the Exalted: I am the Prophet, there is no lie, I am the son of Abdul-Muttalib.

He chose to ride the mule to manifest his steadfastness, which only a fool would deny, and to show that the thought of abandoning the fight never crossed his mind. He said to Al-Abbas, who had a booming voice: "Shout to the people." He called out: "O servants of Allah! O companions of the Tree [of Ridwan]! O companions of Surah al-Baqarah!" They turned back as one, answering to the call of Hunayn: "Labbayk, Labbayk!" The angels descended, and they met the polytheists. He (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: "Now the furnace has heated up." Then he took a handful of dust and threw it at them, then said: "They are defeated, by the Lord of the Ka'bah!" And they were defeated. The details of the story are in the books of Siyar (biographies) in the most complete manner.

(It did not avail you at all) — meaning, that great number did not benefit you in the matter of the enemy, or it did not give you anything to push away your need. (And the earth, with all its vastness, was constrained for you) — meaning, with its vastness and breadth. Ma is an infinitive particle, and the ba’ indicates accompaniment; i.e., it was constrained for you despite its vastness. This contains a dependent metaphor, either for not finding a place where they could settle down in peace, or that they could not sit in any place just as one cannot sit in a narrow space. (Then you turned back) — meaning, you, the disbelievers, turned your backs, as walla is a verb transitive to two objects, as in His saying: (Do not turn your backs on them). The words of al-Raghib support this. Some claimed there is no need to estimate two objects based on the Qamus, where it is said walla means adbara (to turn back/flee), but according to some, this has no basis. Reliance on the words of al-Raghib in such matters is more preferable to researchers; indeed, it has been said that the Qamus is not a primary authority in such matters. His saying, (fleeing) — [it is] an emphatic state, and it comes from idbar, meaning to go backward, and the intent is "defeated."