Tafsir of Al-Mumtahanah 60:2

Surah Al-Mumtahanah (The Tested Woman) - Verse 2

{إن يثقفوكم يكونوا لكم أعداء...}

{يثقفوكم}: means they overpower you and gain control over you.

{يكونوا لكم}: they will be extremely hostile to you. This is the view of Ibn Abbas.

[Alternative View]: Muqatil said: If they overcome you, they will feign friendship with you.

{ويبسطوا إليكم أيديهم}: by striking you, {وألسنتهم}: and by reviling you.

{وودوا}: And they would have loved (wished) that you would revert to their religion.

The meaning is that the enemies of Allah will never sincerely show affection to the allies of Allah due to the fundamental difference between them.

{لن تنفعكم أرحامكم}: Your kinship ties will not benefit you.

This was said because when Hatib was reprimanded for his action (informing the Meccans), he excused himself by saying he had relatives (arham) and children among them. He meant that he had no one there to protect his clan in Mecca, so he sought to gain favor with the Meccans so they would treat his family well in his absence.

Allah responded: {لن تنفعكم أرحامكم ولا أولادكم}: Your kinship ties and your children will not benefit you—those whom you ally with the disbelievers for their sake, and whom you seek closeness to them out of fear for them.

Then Allah said: {يوم القيامة يفصل بينكم}: On the Day of Resurrection, a separation will occur between you and your relatives and children. The believers will enter Paradise, and the disbelievers will enter the Fire.

{والله بما تعملون بصير}: And Allah is ever, of what you do, Seeing. Meaning, He is Seeing of what Hatib did.

The First Discussion (Regarding the Tense Shift):

The scholar of Al-Kashshaf noted: {إن يثقفوكم يكونوا لكم أعداء} (If they overpower you, they will be your enemies—using the future tense for the consequence), yet the following clause is {وودوا} (And they would have loved—using the past tense).

The Answer: Although the past tense verb can function in the conditional clause grammatically like the present/future tense, the use of the past tense here carries a subtle implication (nukta). It is as if it is being said: "And above all else, they loved (wished for) your disbelief and apostasy."

The Second Discussion (Regarding the Time Reference):

{يوم القيامة} (On the Day of Resurrection): What is this time phrase modifying?

The Answer: It modifies the verb {لن تنفعكم} (will not benefit you), or it can be an adverbial phrase for the verb {يفصل} (He will separate).

[Recitation Variant]: Ibn Kathir recited {يفصل} (Yufassalu) with a dammah on the Yā’ and a fatḥah on the Ṣād (passive voice: they will be separated). Other readings use the active voice: {نفصل} (Nufassilu - We will separate) or {نفصل} (Nafsilu - We separate) using the Nūn.

The Third Discussion (Regarding Baṣīr vs. Khabīr):

Why did Allah say {والله بما تعملون بصير} (Seeing) and not {خبير} (Knower), even though Khabīr is often considered more emphatic regarding knowledge of things?

The Answer: Khabīr is more comprehensive in knowledge, but Baṣīr (Seeing) is more manifest or apparent in that knowledge. This is because the term Baṣīr presents their actions as if they are perceptible to the sense of sight. And Allah knows best.

[Then Allah Almighty said:]

{قد كانت لكم أسوة حسنة فىإبراهيم والذين معه إذ قالوا لقومهم إنا برءآؤا منكم ومما تعبدون من دون الله كفرنا بكم وبدا بيننا وبينكم العداوة والبغضآء أبدا حتى تؤمنوا بالله وحده إلا قول إبراهيم لابيه لاستغفرن لك ومآ أملك لك من الله من شىء ربنا عليك توكلنا وإليك أنبنا وإليك المصير}

"There has certainly been for you an excellent pattern in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people, 'Indeed, we are free from you and whatever you worship besides Allah. We have disbelieved in you, and there has appeared between us and you hostility and hatred forever until you believe in Allah alone'—except for the statement of Abraham to his father, 'I will certainly ask forgiveness for you, but I have no power to do anything for you against Allah. Our Lord, upon You we have relied, and to You we have turned, and to You is the [final] destination.'"