ﲝ ﲞ ﲟ ﲠ ﲡ ﲢ ﲣ ﲤ ﲥ ﲦ ﲧ ﲨ ﲩ ﲪ ﲫ ﲬ ﲭ ﲮ ﲯ ﲰ ﲱ ﲲ
And how many a prophet [fought and] with him fought many religious scholars. But they never lost assurance due to what afflicted them in the cause of Allah, nor did they weaken or submit. And Allah loves the steadfast.
Tafsir
Verse range: 3:146
"And how many a prophet..."
It is read as qātala (fought), qutila (was killed), and qattala (fought intensely). If read as qattala (intense fighting), the subject is the "many" (ribbiyyūn) or the pronoun referring to the prophet.
"...with whom fought many [devout] scholars..."
This is a circumstantial clause (ḥāl) regarding him, meaning: "He was killed while many scholars were with him." The reading of qattala (intense fighting) supports the first interpretation.
Saʿīd ibn Jubayr—may God have mercy on him—said: "We have never heard of a prophet who was killed in battle."
Al-ribbiyyūn are the rabbāniyyūn (devout scholars). It is read with all three vowel variations (fatḥa, ḍamma, kasra); the fatḥa is the standard linguistic form, while the ḍamma and kasra are variations in attribution.
"...so they did not weaken..."
Read with a kasra on the hāʾ (wahinu). The meaning is: they did not weaken upon the killing of the prophet.
"...nor did they falter..."
In their jihad after him.
"...nor did they submit..."
To the enemy. This is an allusion to the weakness and brokenness that afflicted them when the rumor spread that the Messenger of God—may God bless him and grant him peace—had been killed, and their subsequent inability to continue struggling against the polytheists and their submission to them, at the time when they sought to rely on the hypocrite ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy to request safety from Abū Sufyān.
"...and their words were only..."
This statement, which is the attribution of sins and excess to themselves—despite them being rabbāniyyūn—as a form of self-abasement and humility. They prioritized asking for forgiveness for these sins over asking for the firming of their feet in the theaters of war and victory over the enemy, so that their petition to their Lord might be from a state of purity, cleanliness, and submission, and thus closer to being answered.
"So God gave them the reward of this world..."
Consisting of victory, spoils, honor, and a good reputation.
He specified the reward of the Hereafter with "the best" (ḥusn) to indicate its superiority, its precedence, and that it is the only reward that truly counts in His sight.
"You desire the fleeting goods of this world, while God desires the Hereafter." (Al-Anfāl: 67)
