About the Surah

In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

Indeed, We have given you [O Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) !] an obvious victory (by truce of Hudaibiah, since this truce paved the way for the victory of Makkah and a suitable environment for preaching).

(e.g. As a result of your preach-ing, more people will embrace Islam which will increase your reward and) so that Allah may forgive your past and future sins and complete His Favour bestowed on you (e.g. give you Prophethood, the Quran etc) and so that He may keep you on the Straight Path (without much op-position).

And Allah may help you with strong help.

It is He Who sent down calm-ness and tranquillity upon the hearts of the believers (at the time of the truce of Hudaibiah) so that Allah may further strengthen the faith of the believers (since the obedience of Prophet Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him)  in all circumstances is the es-sence of faith). And all the armies of the heaven and the earth (i.e. angels and other creatures) belong to Allah. (Hence, Allah is not in need of your Jihad for defeating disbelievers. Jihad is for your benefit). And Allah is All-Knower, All-Wise.

(The fruits of stronger Faith are)  that (Allah) may admit the be-lieving men and believing women to Gardens beneath which rivers flow (i.e. Paradise) where they will reside forever, and  that [due to the obedience of the Prophet (may Al-lah’s peace and blessings be upon him) ] Allah may erase their sins. And that is supreme success with Allah. 

And so that Allah may punish the hypocrites, men and women, and idolaters, men and women, who have evil thinking regarding Allah. (In fact) they will have an evil fate and there is Wrath of Allah on them and He has cursed them (i.e. de-prived them from His Mercy), and has prepared Hell for them, which is a very bad destination.

And all the armies of the heavens and the earth (i.e. angels and other Crea-tures) belong to Allah. And Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise.

[O Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) !] Indeed, We sent you as a witness and bearer of glad tidings (to the believers) and warner (to the disbelievers).

In order that people may believe in Allah and His Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him)  and assist him (in the Cause of Allah), and honour him [Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) ] and that you glorify (Allah’s) praises in the morning and in the evening.

Indeed, those who made pledge to you [O Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) !] (that they will not run away in the battlefield) were actually making pledge to Allah. (It means that) Allah’s Hand is over their hands. Then whosoever breaks this pledge, he breaks it for his own loss, and whosoever fulfils what he has promised Allah, He will soon give him a tremendous reward.

Those villagers who stayed behind (during the journey to Hudaibiah) will soon say to you (on your arrival in Madinah): “Our wealth and our families oc-cupied us (hence, we could not participate). So please pray for our forgiveness.” (Allah said:) “What they are saying with their tongues is not in their hearts.” Say to them: “So who then has any courage (to intervene) on your behalf with Allah if He chooses to harm you or chooses to benefit you?” In fact, Allah is Well-Acquainted with what you do.

“In fact, your thinking was that the Messenger (may Allah’s peace and bless-ings be upon him)  and the believers would never return to their families (i.e. the idolaters will kill them all). This thinking was greatly appealing to your hearts and you had an evil thought in your mind. In fact, you people deserved destruction.”

And whosoever does not believe in Allah and His messenger [Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) ], then, indeed, We have prepared Hell-Fire for the disbelievers.

And the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah. He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills. And Allah is Very Forgiving, Most Merciful.

When you travel to collect the booty of war, (the villagers) who stayed be-hind, will say: “Allow us to follow you.” They intend to change the Command of Allah. (The Command was that only those who were in the truce of  Hudaibiah can participate in this expedition of Khaiber ). Say: “You are not allowed to fol-low us since Allah has already instructed about it.” Then they will say: “In fact, you are jealous of us.” Actually they don’t have much sense.

[O Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) !] Say to the villagers who stayed behind: “You shall soon be called against a people who are great warriors (i.e. battles of Persia and Rome). You shall fight against them or they shall surrender (embrace Islam). Then if you obey, Allah will give you a fantastic reward (i.e. war booty Here and Paradise in the Hereafter), but if you turn away as you turned away before (at the time of Hudaibiah), Allah will pun-ish you with a painful torment.” 

There is no blame upon a blind person, nor upon a lame person, nor upon a sick person (for not participating in the battle). And whosoever obeys Allah and His messenger [Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) ], Allah will admit him in Gardens beneath which rivers flow (i.e. Paradise) and whosoever turns back, He will punish him with a painful torment.

Indeed, Allah was (highly) pleased with the believers when they made the pledge to you [O Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) !] under the tree (to be steadfast during the fighting). And Allah knew what was in their hearts. So Allah sent down calmness upon them and (apart from this favour) Allah gave them (a physical reward) of a near victory (i.e. of Khaiber). 

And they shall capture a lot of war booty (from Khaiber, to be distributed among the participants of Hudaibiah only). And Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise (Grants victory with His wisdom to whom and when He wills).

(It is not just the victory of Khaiber). Allah is making a prom-ise to you of plenty of booty which you shall gather (in the future). So He has given to you this one (of Khaiber) quickly. And Allah restrained the hands of the people (of  Khaiber) against you (i.e. put fear in their hearts to ensure your comfort) so that it serves as an example for the believers (that Allah fulfils His promise. It also enhanced the Faith of the believers), and so that (through this example) He may keep you on the Straight Path (in every matter. Hence, always put your trust in Allah).

And other (victories and plenty of booties He promises you) which are not yet within your power (i.e. conquest of Makkah), but Allah does encompass them, (whenever He wills, He will grant you) since Allah has the Power to do all things.

And if the disbelievers had chosen fighting against you in Hudaibiah, they certainly would have turned their backs, then they would have found neither a protector nor a helper.

In accordance with the Way of Allah (regarding the disbelievers) which has been enforced from the past, and you will not find the Way of Allah ever chang-ing.

And Allah withheld their hands (to kill you) and withheld your hands (to kill them) near Makkah (in Hudaibiah) after He had made you dominate them. And Allah is All-Seer of what you do. (And prevented the war between both parties due to His Wisdom).

They are those who disbelieved and hindered you  from reaching Masjid al-Haram (in Makkah) and also did not let the animals of sacrifice reach the place of sacrifice. Had there not been believing men and women (in Makkah) whom you did not know, lest they be crushed (in the battle) which would have caused you harm unknowingly (you would have been given permission to fight the idolaters of Makkah). (But it was not allowed) so that Allah might admit into His Mercy whom He wills. If (the believers and disbelievers of Makkah) were residing separately, We would have punished the disbelievers (from them) with a painful torment.

(There was another reason why the disbelievers of Makkah would have been de-feated if war was there.) When the disbelievers had put in their hearts haughtiness – the haughtiness of the time of ignorance [i.e. they opposed to write (i) Bismil-lah  (ii) Rasool-Allah  in Hudaibiah, it was expected that the believers would fight against the disbelievers furiously], but Allah sent down calmness and tran-quillity upon His Messenger and upon the believers and made them adhere to piety, and they were truly entitled to it and worthy of it. And Allah is All-Knower of everything.

Indeed, Allah has shown a true dream to His messenger [Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) ]. (The dream is that) you shall, God willing, enter Masjid al-Haram (along with your companions) peacefully, some will have their heads shaved and others with only short hair. Allah knows (the wisdom in) various events but you don’t know. (One of the piece of wisdom was that) Allah granted you a near victory (in Khaiber, in order that the believers may have more wealth and power so that they can perform the Umrah peacefully.)

Allah sent His messenger with guidance (i.e. the Quran) and true religion (i.e. Islam) to make this religion (Islam) superior to all other religions (Also see Surah Aal-Imran:139). (If the disbelievers refused to write the word ‘Ra-sool-Allah’ with your name, don’t worry) Allah is Sufficient as a witness to that.

(Allah has proved by many miracles that) Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him)  is the Messenger of Allah. [It does not matter that the disbelievers did not allow them to write Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him)  Ra-sool-Allah. This Verse will be recit-ed till the Day of Judgement.] And those who are with him, are hard on the disbelievers and mer-ciful among themselves. You will see them bow-ing and falling down prostrate (in prayers) seeking Allah’s Bounty and His Good Pleasure. There is a mark (of their obedience) on their fore-heads from the prostration (during prayers). And their (these) charac-teristics are also described in Taurat and Injeel. (One of their characteristics is as follows.) They are like a sown seed which brings out its (ten--der) shoot, then it becomes strong, and then it becomes thick and stands straight on its stem, delighting the sower, but enraging the disbelievers. (This is the example of the believ-ers who were initially very weak. Then their strength increased day after day. Allah strengthened them so that the disbelievers felt jealous of them.) Those who believe and do good deeds, Allah has promised them forgiveness and a great reward (in the Hereafter).