Surah 59. Al-Hashr

1.

ALL THAT IS in the heavens and all that is on earth extols God's limitless glory: for He alone is almighty, truly wise.

2.

He it is who turned out of their homes, at the time of [their] first gathering [for war], such of the followers of earlier revelation as were bent on denying the truth.¹ You did not think [O believers] that they would depart [without resistance] - just as they thought that their strongholds would protect them against God: but God came upon them in a manner which they had not expected,² and cast terror into their hearts; [and thus] they destroyed their homes by their own hands as well as the hands of the believers.³ Learn a lesson, then, O you who are endowed with insight!

For this and the subsequent historical references, see the introductory note to this surah. The tribe of Banu 'n-Nadir - who, as Jews, are naturally termed ahl al-kitab ("followers of earlier revelation") - are characterized as "such as were bent on denying the truth" (alladhina kafaru, see note [6] on 2:6 ) because they treacherously turned against the Prophet despite their earlier admission that he was truly the bearer of God's message announced in their own holy scriptures (Deuteronomy xviii, 15 and 18).

Lit., "from whence they had not thought [it possible]": an allusion to the last-minute, unexpected failure of 'Abd Allah ibn Ubayy to come to their aid.

As mentioned in the introductory note, the Banu 'n-Nadir had originally concluded a treaty of mutual non-interference with the Muslim community, and were to live at Medina as its friendly neighbours; and even later, when their hostility to the Muslims had become apparent and they were ordered to emigrate, they were to be allowed to retain ownership of their plantations. Subsequently, however, they forfeited by their treachery both their citizenship and the rights to their landed property, and thus "destroyed their homes by their own hands".

3.

And had it not been for God's having ordained banishment for them, He would indeed have imposed [yet greater] suffering on them in this world: still, in the life to come there awaits them suffering through fire:

4.

this, because they cut themselves off from God and His Apostle:⁴ and as for him who cuts himself off from God and His Apostle - verily, God is severe in retribution!

For this condemnation of the Banu 'n-Nadir, see note [1] above. As regards my rendering of the verb shaqqu as "they cut themselves off", see note [16] on 8:13 .

5.

Whatever [of their] palm trees you may have cut down, [O believers,] or left standing on their roots, was [done] by God's leave,⁵ and in order that He might confound the iniquitous.

I.e., to facilitate the military operations against the strongholds of the Banu 'n-Nadir ('Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, as quoted by Zamakhshari et al.). It should, however, be noted that apart from such stringent military exigencies, all destruction of enemy property - and, in particular, of trees and crops - had been and continued to be prohibited by the Prophet (Tabari, Baghawi, Zamakhshari, Razi, Ibn Kathir), and has thus become an integral part of Islamic Law.

6.

Yet [remember:] whatever [spoils taken] from the enemy⁶ God has turned over to His Apostle, you did not have to spur horse or riding-camel for its sake:⁷ but God gives His apostles mastery over whomever He wills - for God has the power to will anything.

Lit., "from them": i.e., from the Banu 'n-Nadir.

I.e., "you did not have to fight for it, since the enemy surrendered without giving battle". The term fay' (a noun derived from the verb fa'a, "he returned [something]" or "turned [it] over") is applied in the Qur'an and the Traditions exclusively to war-gains - whether consisting of lands, or tribute, or indemnities - which are obtained, as a condition of peace, from an enemy who has laid down arms before actual fighting has taken place (Taj al-'Arus).

7.

Whatever [spoils taken] from the people of those villages God has turned over to His Apostle [all of it] belongs to God and the Apostle,⁸ and the near of kin [of deceased believers], and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer,⁹ so that it may not be [a benefit] going round and round among such of you as may [already] be rich. Hence, accept [willingly] whatever the Apostle¹⁰ gives you [thereof], and refrain from [demanding] anything that he withholds from you; and remain conscious of God: for, verily, God is severe in retribution.

Sc., and not to individual Muslim warriors. As so often in the Qur'an, the expression "God and the Apostle" is here a metonym for the Islamic cause, resp. for a government that rules in accordance with the laws of the Qur'an and the teachings of the Prophet.

Cf. 8:41 , which relates to booty acquired in actual warfare, out of which only one-fifth is to be reserved for the above five categories (see note [41] on 8:41 ). In distinction from all such booty, the gains obtained through fay' are to be utilized in their entirety under these five headings. As regards the term ibn as-sabil ("wayfarer"), see surah {2}, note [145].

Respectively, in later times, the head of an Islamic state, who has to decide - in the light of the exigencies - how the share of "God and His Apostle" is to be utilized for the common weal.

8.

[Thus, part of such war-gains shall be given] to the poor among those who have forsaken the domain of evil:¹¹ those who have been driven from their homelands and their possessions, seeking favour with God and [His] goodly acceptance, and who aid [the cause of] God and His Apostle: it is they, they who are true to their word!

For this rendering of the term muhajirun ("emigrants"), see surah {2}, note [203].

9.

And [it shall be offered, too, unto the poor from among] those who, before them,¹² had their abode in this realm and in faith - [those] who love all that come to them in search of refuge, and who harbour in their hearts no grudge for whatever the others may have been given, but rather give them preference over themselves, even though poverty be their own lot:¹³ for, such as from their own covetousness are saved - it is they, they that shall attain to a happy state!¹⁴

I.e., before the coming to them of "those who have forsaken the domain of evil" (see next note).

This relates, in the first instance, to the historical ansar ("helpers") of Medina, who had embraced Islam before the Prophet's and his Meccan followers' coming to them, and who received the refugees with utmost generosity, sharing with them like brethren their own dwellings and all their possessions. In a wider sense, the above refers also to all true believers, at all times, who live in freedom and security within the realm of Islam, and are prepared to receive with open arms anyone who is compelled to leave his homeland in order to be able to live in accordance with the dictates of his faith.

Thus, greed, niggardliness and covetousness are pointed out here as the main obstacles to man's attaining to a happy state in this world and in the hereafter (cf. surah {102}).

10.

And so, they who come after them¹⁵ pray: "O our Sustainer! Forgive us our sins, as well as those of our brethren who preceded us in faith, and let not our hearts entertain any unworthy thoughts or feelings against [any of] those who have attained to faith. O our Sustainer! Verily, Thou art compassionate, a dispenser of grace!"

I.e., all who attain to a belief in the Qur'an and its Prophet (Razi).

11.

ART THOU NOT aware of how those who would always dissemble [their real feelings]¹⁶ speak to their truth-denying brethren from among the followers of earlier revelation:¹⁷ "If you are driven away, we shall most certainly go forth with you, and shall never pay heed to anyone against you; and if war is waged against you, we shall most certainly come to your succour." But God bears witness that they are most flagrantly lying:

I.e., the hypocrites of Medina (see introductory note as well as next note).

The Banu 'n-Nadir. From the construction of the next verse it appears that the whole of this passage (verses {11-14}) was revealed before the actual advance of the Muslims against the Nadir strongholds: verses {12-14} might be of a prophetic nature, predicting what was yet to happen (Zamakhshari). Alternatively, the passage may be understood in a wider, timeless sense, applying to the falsity and futility inherent in all "alliances" between, on the one hand, people who openly deny the truth and, on the other, half-hearted waverers who have neither the will to commit themselves to a spiritual proposition nor the moral courage to declare openly their lack of belief.

12.

[for] if those [to whom they have pledged themselves] are indeed driven away, they will not go forth with them; and if war is waged against them, they will not come to their succour; and even if they [try to] succour them, they will most certainly turn their backs [in flight], and in the end will [themselves] find no succour.

13.

Nay, [O believers,] you arouse in their bosoms a fear more intense than [even their fear of] God: this, because they are people who fail to grasp the truth.¹⁸

Inasmuch as they do not - or, at best, only half-heartedly - believe in God, the tangible, material dangers facing them in this world arouse in them a far greater fear than the thought of His ultimate judgment.

14.

Never will they fight you, [even] in unison, otherwise than from within fortified strongholds or from behind walls.¹⁹ Severe is their warlike discord among themselves: thou wouldst think that they are united, whereas [in fact] their hearts are at odds [with one another]: this, because they are people who will not use their reason.²⁰

The meaning is: "Even if they were able - which they are not - to put forth against you a truly unified front, they will always fight you only from what they regard as well-established 'positions of strength'."

Sc., "with a view to achieving what is good for themselves": implying that people who have no real faith and no definite moral convictions can never attain to true unity among themselves, but are always impelled to commit acts of aggression against one another.

15.

[To both kinds of your enemies,²¹ O believers, is bound to happen] the like of [what happened to] those who, a short while before them, had to taste the evil that came from their own doings,²² with [yet more] grievous suffering awaiting them [in the life to come]:

This interpolation - relating as it does to both the outright deniers of the truth and the hypocrites - is justified by the occurrence of the dual form in verse {17}.

In the first instance, this is apparently an allusion to the fate of the pagan Quraysh at the battle of Badr (Zamakhshari) or, according to some authorities (quoted by Tabari), to the treachery and subsequent expulsion from Medina, in the month of Shawwal, 2 H., of the Jewish tribe of Banu Qaynuqa'. But in a wider perspective - strongly suggested by the next two verses - the meaning is general and not restricted to any particular time or historical occurrence.

16.

the like of [what happens] when Satan says unto man, "Deny the truth!" - but as soon as [man] has denied the truth, [Satan] says, "Behold, I am not responsible for thee: behold, I fear God, the Sustainer of all the worlds!"²³

Cf. 8:48 ; also 14:22 and the corresponding notes.

17.

Thus, in the end, both [the deniers of the truth and the hypocrites]²⁴ will find themselves in the fire, therein to abide: for such is the recompense of evildoers.

Lit., "the end ('aqibah) of both will be that both...", etc.

18.

O YOU who have attained to faith! Remain conscious of God; and let every human being look to what he sends ahead for the morrow! And [once again]: Remain conscious of God, for God is fully aware of all that you do;

19.

and be not like those who are oblivious of God, and whom He therefore causes to be oblivious of [what is good for] their own selves: [for] it is they, they who are truly depraved!²⁵

I.e., by having made a deliberately wrong use of the faculty of reason with which God has endowed man, and - by remaining oblivious of Him - having wasted their own spiritual potential.

20.

Not equal are those who are destined for the fire and those who are destined for paradise: those who are destined for paradise - it is they, they [alone] who shall triumph [on Judgment Day]!

21.

HAD WE bestowed this Qur'an from on high upon a mountain, thou wouldst indeed see it humbling itself, breaking asunder for awe of God.²⁶ And [all] such parables We propound unto men, so that they might [learn to] think.

I.e., in contrast with those who, by remaining oblivious of God and all moral imperatives, are spiritually more dead than an inert mountain.

22.

GOD IS HE save whom there is no deity: the One who knows all that is beyond the reach of a created being's perception, as well as all that can be witnessed by a creature's senses or mind:²⁷ He, the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace.

See note [65] on the second paragraph of 6:73 .

23.

God is He save whom there is no deity: the Sovereign Supreme, the Holy, the One with whom all salvation rests,²⁸ the Giver of Faith, the One who determines what is true and false,²⁹ the Almighty, the One who subdues wrong and restores right,³⁰ the One to whom all greatness belongs! Utterly remote is God, in His limitless glory, from anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity!

Lit., "the Salvation" (as-salam): see surah {5}, note [29].

For this rendering of muhaymin, see 5:48 - where this term is applied to the Qur'an - and the corresponding note [64].

Since the verb jabara - from which the noun jabbar is derived - combines the concepts of "setting right" or "restoring" (e.g., from a state of brokenness, ill-health, or misfortune) and of "compelling" or "subduing [someone or something] to one's will", I believe that the term al-jabbar, when applied to God, is best rendered as above.

24.

He is God, the Creator, the Maker who shapes all forms and appearances!³¹ His [alone] are the attributes of perfection.³² All that is in the heavens and on earth extols His limitless glory: for He alone is almighty, truly wise!

Thus Baydawi. The two terms al-bari' ("the Maker") and al-musawwir ("the Shaper", i.e., of all forms and appearances) evidently constitute here one single unit.

For this rendering of al-asma' al-husna, see surah {7}, note [145].