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Lit., "He is the best of all who bring succour".
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I.e., something which He never permits. The use of the adverb "never" in my rendering is based on the grammatical form lam yunazzil (lit., "He has not been sending down" or "bestowing from on high"), which implies continuity in time.
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Lit., "when you were destroying them": a reference to the opening stages of the battle of Uhud. Regarding the promise alluded to, see verses {124-125} of this surah.
Lit., "you disagreed with one another regarding the [Prophet's] command" - an allusion to the abandonment of their post by most of the archers at the moment when it seemed that victory had been won (see note [90] above).
Out of the fifty Muslim archers less than ten remained at their post, and were killed by Khalid's cavalry. It is to them, as well as the few Companions who went on fighting after the bulk of the Muslims had fled, that the second part of the above sentence refers.
Lit., "He turned you away from them".
The archers disputed whether to keep their positions after the initial victory. Eventually, most of them decided to go in pursuit of the spoils of war, disobeying the Prophet’s direct orders not to leave their position no matter what happened. Defeat became inevitable.
The order was: not to leave the post and strictly to maintain discipline. Uhud was in the beginning a victory for the Muslims. Many of the enemy were slain, and they were retiring when a part of the Muslims, against orders, ran in pursuit, attracted by the prospects of booty. See note to iii. 121.
The disobedience seemed at first pleasant: they were chasing the enemy, and there was the prospect of booty. But when the gap was noticed by the enemy, they turned the flank round the hill and nearly overwhelmed the Muslims. Had it not been for Allah's grace, and the firmness of their Prophet and his immediate Companions, they would have been finished.
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I.e., the realization of how shamefully they had behaved at Uhud (see note [90] above) would be, in the end, more painful to them than the loss of victory and the death of so many of their comrades: and this is the meaning of the "test" mentioned in the preceding verse.
It would seem that a party of horsemen led by the dashing Khalid ibn Al-walid came through the gap in the passes where the Muslim archers should have been, and in the confusion that arose, the retreating foe rallied and turned back on the Muslims. From the low ground on the bank of the valley the Muslims retreated in their turn and tried to gain the hill. They had a double loss: (1) they were baulked of the booty they had run after, and (2) their own lives and the lives of their whole army were in danger, and many lives were actually lost from their ranks. Their own lives being in danger, they had hardly time to grieve for the general calamity. But it steadied them, and some of them stood the test.
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I.e., those who had remained steadfast throughout the battle. According to some commentators - in particular Raghib - the term nu'as (lit., "the drowsiness which precedes sleep") is used here metaphorically, and denotes "inner calm".
I.e., in the matter of victory or defeat. The "thoughts of pagan ignorance" is obviously an allusion to the initial reluctance of those faint-hearted people to admit their moral responsibility for what had happened, and to their excusing themselves by saying that their failure to live up to their faith had been "predestined". See also surah {5}, note [71].
I.e., while it is for God alone to apportion actual success or failure to whomever He wills "nought shall be accounted unto man but what he is [or "was"] striving for" ( 53:39 ).
Lit., "we would not have been killed here".
Lit., "all that is in your hearts".
After the first surprise, when the enemy turned on them, a great part of the Muslims did their best, and seeing their mettle, the enemy withdrew to his camp. There was a lull; the wounded had rest; those who had fought the hard fight were visited by kindly Sleep, sweet Nature's nurse. In contrast to them was the band of Hypocrites, whose behaviour is described in the next note.
The Hypocrites withdrew from the fighting. Apparently they had been among those who had been counselling the defence of Madinah within the walls instead of boldly coming out to meet the enemy. Their distress was caused by their own mental state: the sleep of the just was denied them: and they continued to murmur of what might have been. Only fools do so: wise men face actualities.
That testing by Allah is not in order that it may add to His knowledge, for He knows all. It is in order to help us subjectively, to mould our will, and purge us of any grosser motives, that will be searched out by calamity. If it is a hardened sinner, the test brings conviction out of his own self. Cf. also iii. 140.
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This is an illustration of a significant Qur'anic doctrine, which can be thus summarized: "Satan's influence" on man is not the primary cause of sin but its first consequence: that is to say, a consequence of a person's own attitude of mind which in moments of moral crisis induces him to choose the easier, and seemingly more pleasant, of the alternatives open to him, and thus to become guilty of a sin, whether by commission or omission. Thus, God's "causing" a person to commit a sin is conditional upon the existence, in the individual concerned, of an attitude of mind which makes him prone to commit such a sin: which, in its turn, presupposes man's free will - that is, the ability to make, within certain limitations, a conscious choice between two or more possible courses of action.
It was the duty of all who were able to fight, to fight in the sacred cause at Uhud. But a small section were timid; they were not quite as bad as those who railed against Allah, or those who thoughtlessly disobeyed orders. But they still failed in their duty. It is our inner motives that Allah regards. These timorous people were forgiven by Allah. Perhaps they were given another chance: perhaps they rose to it and did their duty then.
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Lit., "when they travel on earth".
Lit., "so that God causes this to be": but since the particle li in li-yaj'al is obviously a lam al-'aqibah (i.e., the letter lam denoting a causal sequence), it is best rendered in this context by the conjunctive particle "and", combined with the future tense.
i.e., the hypocrites.
It is want of faith that makes people afraid (1) of meeting death, (2) of doing their duty when it involves danger, as in travelling in order to earn an honest living, or fighting in a sacred cause. Such fear is part of the punishment for want of faith. If you have faith, there is no fear in meeting death, for it brings you nearer to your goal, nor in meeting danger for a sufficient cause, because you know that the keys of life and death are in Allah's hands. Nothing can happen without Allah's Will. If it is Allah's Will that you should die, your staying at home will not save you. If it is His Will that you should live, the danger you incur in a just cause brings you glory. Supposing it is His Will that you should lose your life in the danger, there are three considerations that would make you eager to meet it: (1) dying in doing your duty is the best means of reaching Allah's Mercy; (2) the man of faith knows that he is not going to an unknown country of which he has no news; he is going nearer to Allah; and (3) he is being "brought together" unto Allah; i.e., he will meet all his dear ones in faith: instead of the separation which the souls without faith fear, he looks forward to a surer reunion than is possible in this life.
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Lit., "they".
Notice a beautiful little literary touch here. At first sight you would expect the second person here ("you could amass"), to match the second person in the earlier clause. But remember that the second person in earlier clause refers to the man of faith, and the third person in the last line refers to the Unbelievers; as if it said: "Of course you as a man of faith would not be for hoarding riches: your wealth,-duty and the mercy of Allah,-is far more precious than anything the Unbelievers can amass in their selfish lives. "
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Lit., "with them" - i.e., with those of his followers who had failed in their duty before and during the disaster at Uhud. According to all available accounts, the Prophet did not even reproach any of them for what they had done.
This injunction, implying government by consent and council, must be regarded as one of the fundamental clauses of all Qur'anic legislation relating to statecraft. The pronoun "them" relates to the believers, that is, to the whole community; while the word al-amr occurring in this context - as well as in the much earlier-revealed phrase amruhum shura baynahum in 42:38 - denotes all affairs of public concern, including state administration. All authorities agree in that the above ordinance, although addressed in the first instance to the Prophet, is binding on all Muslims and for all times. (For its wider implications see State and Government in Islam, pp. 44 ff.) Some Muslim scholars conclude from the wording of this ordinance that the leader of the community, although obliged to take counsel, is nevertheless free to accept or to reject it; but the arbitrariness of this conclusion becomes obvious as soon as we recall that even the Prophet considered himself bound by the decisions of his council (see note [90] above). Moreover, when he was asked - according to a Tradition on the authority of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib - to explain the implications of the word 'azm ("deciding upon a course of action") which occurs in the above verse, the Prophet replied, "[It means] taking counsel with knowledgeable people (ahl ar-ra'y) and thereupon following them [therein]" (see Ibn Kathir's commentary on this verse).
The extremely gentle nature of Muhammad endeared him to all, and it is reckoned as one of the Mercies of Allah. One of the Prophet's titles is "A Mercy to all Creation." At no time was this gentleness, this mercy, this long-suffering with human weaknesses, more valuable than after a disaster like that at Uhud. It is a quality, which then, as always, bound and binds the souls of countless men to him.
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