Tafsir of An-Nisa' 4:100

"And whoever emigrates..."

"Murāghaman" (compelled/defying): Meaning: He emigrates and takes a path that defies his people by his departure, i.e., he separates from them against their will. Al-raghm is humiliation and disgrace. Its root is the nose touching the raghām (dust). It is said: "I defied (rāghamtu) the man," if you leave him while he dislikes your departure, due to the humiliation that befalls him because of it. Al-Nābigha al-Jaʿdī said:

Like a mountain whose corners are sought for refuge, Mighty in defiance and in the path taken.

• It is also recited as marghamā (a place of defiance).

"Then death overtakes him" (thumma yudrikuhu al-mawtu):

• Recited in the nominative (yudriku-hu) as the predicate of an omitted subject.
• It is said the vowel of the kāf was transferred from the hāʾ (as if he intended to pause on the hāʾ, then moved its vowel to the kāf), similar to the verse: "Min ʿanzī sabbanī lam aḍribhu" (where the vowel is shifted).
• Recited in the accusative (yudrikahu) based on an implied an (to), similar to the verse: "Wa alḥaqqu bi-al-ḥijāzi fa-astariḥā" (And I shall reach the Hijaz, so that I may rest).

"His reward has become incumbent upon Allah" (faqad waqaʿa ajruhu ʿalā Allāh): Meaning: His reward has become obligatory upon Him. The reality of wujūb (obligation) is wuqūʿ (falling/occurrence). As in the verse: "Fa-idhā wajabat junūbuhā" (When their sides fall [in death/slaughter]) [Al-Ḥajj: 36], and "The sun wajabat (set/fell)," meaning its disk has fallen. The meaning is: Allah has decreed how He will reward him, and that is incumbent upon Him.

The Occasion of Revelation: It is narrated regarding the story of Jundub ibn Ḍamra that when death overtook him, he began clapping his right hand upon his left, saying: "O Allah, this is for You, and this is for Your Messenger. I pledge to You what Your Messenger pledged to You." He died praiseworthy. When the news reached the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), they said: "Had he died in Medina, his reward would have been more complete." The polytheists laughed and said: "He did not attain what he sought." Then this verse was revealed.

It is said: Every emigration for a religious purpose—such as seeking knowledge, performing Hajj, striving in Jihad, or fleeing to a land where one increases in obedience, contentment, asceticism in this world, or seeking a lawful provision—is an emigration to Allah and His Messenger. If death overtakes him on his path, his reward is incumbent upon Allah.