Tafsir of Al-Fath 48:21

Surah Al-Fath (The Victory): Verse 21

(And another [victory] which you have not yet been able to attain.)

It has been said that this refers to the spoils of Hawazin. Others say it refers to the spoils of Persia and Rome.

Al-Zamakhshari mentioned three other possibilities for its grammatical parsing:

1. It is in the accusative case (mansūb), governed by an implied verb that is clarified by the subsequent phrase, "Allah has encompassed them" (قد أحاط). Alternatively, it could be an adjective describing "another" (أخرى), meaning: "And another spoil, which you were not able to attain, Allah has encompassed."
2. It is in the nominative case (marfūʿ), and its predicate is "Allah has encompassed them" (قد أحاط الله بها). It is considered appropriate for it to be a subject (mubtada') despite being indefinite (nakirah) because it is qualified by the phrase "which you were not able to attain" (لم تقدروا عليها).
3. It is in the genitive case (majrūr), by implying the preposition rubb (perhaps/many a time).

Another possibility is that it is in the accusative case by being conjoined (ʿaṭf) to a preceding accusative object. This has two interpretations:

1. It is as if Allah said: "This has been hastened for you, and another [spoil] which you did not attain." This is weak because the spoils referred to in this verse were not hastened for them.
2. It refers to many spoils that they will acquire, meaning: Allah promised you many spoils that you will take, and another [victory/spoil] which you are not able to attain now, but which will be taken by the believers who come after you.

Under this second interpretation, the statement of Al-Farrā’ becomes sound. He interpreted the phrase "Allah has encompassed them" (قد أحاط الله بها) to mean that Allah has preserved these spoils for the Muslims, ensuring they will not be destroyed until the Muslims take them, similar to how guards surround treasuries.

{And if those who disbelieve were to fight you, they would surely turn their backs in flight; then they would find no protector nor helper.} (ولو قاتلكم الذين كفروا لولوا الأدبار ثم لا يجدون وليا ولا نصيرا)