Al-Imran: 140
**"If a wound (qarh) has touched you..."**
- Qarh is read with both a fatha (qarh) and a damma (qurh) on the qaf. These are two linguistic variants, similar to da‘f and du‘f (weakness). It is said that the fatha refers to the wound itself, while the damma refers to the pain of the wound.
- Abu al-Summal read it as qarh (with two fathas). It is said that qarh and qurh are like tard and turd (driving away).
- The meaning: If they gained the upper hand over you on the day of Uhud, you had already gained the upper hand over them before that on the day of Badr. Yet, that did not weaken their hearts nor discourage them from returning to fight you. Therefore, you are more entitled not to be weakened.
- Similar to this is: "For they suffer as you suffer, while you hope from Allah what they do not hope" (An-Nisa: 104). It is said that this refers to the day of Uhud, for they had suffered from you before they disobeyed the command of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).
If you ask: How can it be said "a similar wound" (qarh mithluhu), when the wound of the Muslims at Uhud was not like the wound of the polytheists?
I say: Yes, it was similar, for a multitude of the disbelievers were killed that day. Do you not see the words of the Almighty: "Allah has fulfilled His promise to you when you were killing them by His permission, until you lost courage and fell to disputing about the order and disobeyed after He had shown you that which you love" (Al-Imran: 152).
"And these days..."
* **"These days"** (*tilka al-ayyam*): *Tilka* is the subject (*mubtada’*), and *al-ayyam* is its adjective. **"We alternate them"** (*nudawiluha*) is its predicate. It is also permissible for *tilka al-ayyam* to be a subject and predicate together, as you would say: "These are the days that wear out every new thing."
* The intent by "days" is the times of victory and dominance. We alternate them, meaning we rotate them among people; we grant victory to these at one time and to those at another. This is like the verse:
*"One day for us and one day against us; one day we are pleased and one day we are displeased."*
* Among the proverbs of the Arabs is: "War is a bucket" (*al-harb sijal*). It is narrated that Abu Sufyan climbed the mountain on the day of Uhud, stayed for a while, then said: "Where is Ibn Abi Kabsha (the Prophet)? Where is Ibn Abi Quhafa (Abu Bakr)? Where is Ibn al-Khattab (Umar)?"
* Umar replied: "This is the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), this is Abu Bakr, and I am Umar."
* Abu Sufyan said: "A day for a day, the days are alternating, and war is a bucket."
* Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) replied: "It is not the same. Our dead are in Paradise, and your dead are in the Fire."
* He said: "You claim that? Then we have failed and lost."
* *Mudawala* (alternation) is like *mu‘awara* (taking turns). It is said: "I alternated the thing among them" (*dawaltuhu baynahum*), so they took turns with it (*tadawaluhu*).
"That Allah may know those who believe..."
There are two interpretations:
1. The reason is omitted. The meaning is: "We did this so that those among you who are steadfast in faith may be distinguished from those who are wavering." This is by way of representation—meaning we acted as one who wishes to know who is steadfast among you and who is not. Otherwise, Allah (Exalted be He) has always known things before their occurrence. It is also said the meaning is to know them with a knowledge that entails reward, which is to know them as having manifested steadfastness.
2. The cause is omitted, and this is a conjunction to it. The meaning is: "We did this so that such and such would happen, and that Allah may know..." It was omitted to signal that the benefit in what He did is not singular. This is to console them for what befell them and to show them that a servant is distressed by the calamities that befall him, not realizing that Allah has purposes in them of which he is heedless.
"And take witnesses from among you..."
* Meaning: To honor some of you with martyrdom—referring to those martyred at Uhud.
* Or: To take from among you those who are fit to be witnesses over the nations on the Day of Resurrection, through the hardships by which your patience is tested, based on the Almighty’s saying: *"That you may be witnesses over the people"* (Al-Baqarah: 143).
"And Allah does not love the wrongdoers..."
* This is an interruption between parts of the reasoning. Its meaning is: Allah does not love those who are not among these steadfast believers, those who strive in the path of Allah, and those who are purified of sins. *Tamhis* (purification) is cleansing and refining.
"And to destroy the disbelievers..."
* Meaning: To destroy them. If the victory is for the believers, it is for the sake of distinction, martyrdom, purification, and other things that are better for them. If it is for the disbelievers, it is for their destruction and the erasure of their traces.
