About the Surah
Surah Title : الممتحنة
English Title : Al-Mum-tahanah
Order in Al-Mushaf : 60
Number of Verses : 13
Type : madinah
Page Number in Al-Mushaf : From Page 549 To Page 551
Al-Mum-tahanah
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ لَا تَتَّخِذُواْ عَدُوِّي وَعَدُوَّكُمۡ أَوۡلِيَآءَ تُلۡقُونَ إِلَيۡهِم بِٱلۡمَوَدَّةِ وَقَدۡ كَفَرُواْ بِمَا جَآءَكُم مِّنَ ٱلۡحَقِّ يُخۡرِجُونَ ٱلرَّسُولَ وَإِيَّاكُمۡ أَن تُؤۡمِنُواْ بِٱللَّهِ رَبِّكُمۡ إِن كُنتُمۡ خَرَجۡتُمۡ جِهَٰدٗا فِي سَبِيلِي وَٱبۡتِغَآءَ مَرۡضَاتِيۚ تُسِرُّونَ إِلَيۡهِم بِٱلۡمَوَدَّةِ وَأَنَا۠ أَعۡلَمُ بِمَآ أَخۡفَيۡتُمۡ وَمَآ أَعۡلَنتُمۡۚ وَمَن يَفۡعَلۡهُ مِنكُمۡ فَقَدۡ ضَلَّ سَوَآءَ ٱلسَّبِيلِ
1O you who believe! Don’t make my enemies and your enemies as friends, you send signals of friendship to them, while they deny what has come to you as truth (i.e. the Quran), and they have driven out the Messenger [Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him)] and yourselves (from your homeland) simply because you believe in Allah as your Creator. If you have come out (of your homeland) to strive in My Path and to seek My Pleasure, (then do not make friendship with them.) You send them secret signals of affection (i.e. making friendship with them is bad, but to make it secretly is worse) while I am All-Aware of what you conceal and what you reveal. And whosoever from you (O believers!) does that, then, indeed, he has gone (far) astray from the Straight Path.
1The reason for descending the verse
'Ali ibn Abi Talib reported, “The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) sent us;Az-Zubayr, Al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad, and me, saying, 'Proceed to the meadow of Khakh where you will find a woman on a camel-borne sedan chair who has a letter'.And so we set off riding our horses and proceeded until we found a woman on a camel-borne sedan chair. We said to her, 'Take the letter out'. She said, 'I do not have any letter!' We said to her, 'You will either give us the letter or we will strip you naked'. When she heard this, she got the letter from her braids. We took it to the Messenger of Allah. The letter read, 'From Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah to some people of the idolaters of Mecca', and informed them about some of what the Messenger of Allah, intended to do. The Prophetasked Hatib, 'What is this, O Hatib?' Hatib answered, 'Do not be hasty [in judging me], I am a man who is just annexed to the Quraysh, for I am not a Qurashite. All the immigrants you have with you have relatives who will protect their own relatives. I have no relatives in Mecca, and since I lacked relatives I wanted to get some assistance from them. By Allah, I did not do it because I doubt my religion nor because I have accepted disbelief after choosing Islam'. The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) said, 'He has said the truth!' But 'Umar exclaimed, 'Let me strike the neck of this hypocrite!' The Prophet (s.a.w) said, 'He has taken part in the Battle of Badr and you do not know, perhaps Allah has looked at those who took part in the Battle of Badr and said 'do as you please for I have forgiven you'. Then this verse was revealed.” (Al-Wahidi,Reasons of Revelation and As-Suyuti in Lubab)
