In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
A summary of the Tafsir of al-Tabari.
Abridged by Dr. ‘Aqil ibn Salim al-Shammari.
Surah al-Tawbah.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
O you who have believed.
“O ye who believe! Lo! many of the (Jewish) rabbis and the (Christian) monks devour the wealth of mankind wantonly and debar (men) from the way of Allah. They who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah, unto them give tidings (O Muhammad) of a painful doom,” (9:34)
“O ye who believe! Lo! many of the (Jewish) rabbis and the (Christian) monks devour the wealth of mankind wantonly and debar (men) from the way of Allah. They who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah, unto them give tidings (O Muhammad) of a painful doom,” (9:34)
“O ye who believe! Lo! many of the (Jewish) rabbis and the (Christian) monks devour the wealth of mankind wantonly and debar (men) from the way of Allah. They who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah, unto them give tidings (O Muhammad) of a painful doom,” (9:34)
And they obstruct others from the path of Allah.
“O ye who believe! Lo! many of the (Jewish) rabbis and the (Christian) monks devour the wealth of mankind wantonly and debar (men) from the way of Allah. They who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah, unto them give tidings (O Muhammad) of a painful doom,” (9:34)
“O ye who believe! Lo! many of the (Jewish) rabbis and the (Christian) monks devour the wealth of mankind wantonly and debar (men) from the way of Allah. They who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah, unto them give tidings (O Muhammad) of a painful doom,” (9:34)
“O ye who believe! Lo! many of the (Jewish) rabbis and the (Christian) monks devour the wealth of mankind wantonly and debar (men) from the way of Allah. They who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah, unto them give tidings (O Muhammad) of a painful doom,” (9:34)
So give them tidings of a painful punishment.
O you who have believed in Allah and His Messenger, peace be upon him.
Indeed, many of the scholars and reciters among the Children of Israel.
Accept bribes in their judgments.
And they prevent those who wish to enter Islam by forbidding them from it.
And those who hoard gold and silver, accumulating them one upon another.
“O ye who believe! Lo! many of the (Jewish) rabbis and the (Christian) monks devour the wealth of mankind wantonly and debar (men) from the way of Allah. They who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah, unto them give tidings (O Muhammad) of a painful doom,” (9:34)
So give tidings to many of the rabbis and monks.
Who consume the wealth of people unjustly.
“O ye who believe! Lo! many of the (Jewish) rabbis and the (Christian) monks devour the wealth of mankind wantonly and debar (men) from the way of Allah. They who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah, unto them give tidings (O Muhammad) of a painful doom,” (9:34)
Of a painful punishment for them on the Day of Resurrection.
The Day when it will be heated in the fire of Hell.
And their foreheads will be branded with it.
As well as their flanks and their backs.
“On the day when it will (all) be heated in the fire of hell, and their foreheads and their flanks and their backs will be branded therewith (and it will be said unto them): Here is that which ye hoarded for yourselves. Now taste of what ye used to hoard.” (9:35)
“On the day when it will (all) be heated in the fire of hell, and their foreheads and their flanks and their backs will be branded therewith (and it will be said unto them): Here is that which ye hoarded for yourselves. Now taste of what ye used to hoard.” (9:35)
The Day the fire enters, and the gold and silver are heated.
Allah will burn the foreheads, flanks, and backs of those who hoarded them.
And it will be said to them:
This is what you hoarded for yourselves in the worldly life, O disbelievers.
So taste the punishment of Allah for what you used to withhold.
From your wealth, the rights due to Allah.
While you hoarded it out of greed and vanity.
Indeed, the number of months with Allah is twelve months.
“Lo! the number of the months with Allah is twelve months by Allah's ordinance in the day that He created the heavens and the earth. Four of them are sacred: that is the right religion. So wrong not yourselves in them. And wage war on all of the idolaters as they are waging war on all of you. And know that Allah is with those who keep their duty (unto Him).” (9:36)
Of which four are sacred.
That is the correct religion.
“Lo! the number of the months with Allah is twelve months by Allah's ordinance in the day that He created the heavens and the earth. Four of them are sacred: that is the right religion. So wrong not yourselves in them. And wage war on all of the idolaters as they are waging war on all of you. And know that Allah is with those who keep their duty (unto Him).” (9:36)
And fight the polytheists collectively.
Just as they fight you collectively.
And know that Allah is with the righteous.
The number of months in the year is twelve in the Book of Allah.
In which He has recorded everything that is to be, according to His decree.
Which He decreed the day He created the heavens and the earth.
Of these twelve months, four are sacred.
The people of the pre-Islamic era used to revere them and forbid fighting during them.
They are Rajab, Dhu al-Qa‘dah, Dhu al-Hijjah, and al-Muharram.
This which I have informed you of is the upright religion.
So do not disobey Allah during them.
And fight the polytheists, O believers, all together, without disagreement.
Just as the polytheists fight you all together.
And know, O believers in Allah.
That if you fight the polytheists collectively and fear Allah.
Allah will be with you against your enemy.
Indeed, the postponement of sacred months is an increase in disbelief.
“Postponement (of a sacred month) is only an excess of disbelief whereby those who disbelieve are misled; they allow it one year and forbid it (another) year, that they may make up the number of the months which Allah hath hallowed, so that they allow that which Allah hath forbidden. The evil of their deeds is made fairseeming unto them. Allah guideth not the disbelieving folk.” (9:37)
“Postponement (of a sacred month) is only an excess of disbelief whereby those who disbelieve are misled; they allow it one year and forbid it (another) year, that they may make up the number of the months which Allah hath hallowed, so that they allow that which Allah hath forbidden. The evil of their deeds is made fairseeming unto them. Allah guideth not the disbelieving folk.” (9:37)
“Postponement (of a sacred month) is only an excess of disbelief whereby those who disbelieve are misled; they allow it one year and forbid it (another) year, that they may make up the number of the months which Allah hath hallowed, so that they allow that which Allah hath forbidden. The evil of their deeds is made fairseeming unto them. Allah guideth not the disbelieving folk.” (9:37)
“Postponement (of a sacred month) is only an excess of disbelief whereby those who disbelieve are misled; they allow it one year and forbid it (another) year, that they may make up the number of the months which Allah hath hallowed, so that they allow that which Allah hath forbidden. The evil of their deeds is made fairseeming unto them. Allah guideth not the disbelieving folk.” (9:37)
And Allah does not guide the disbelieving people.
The postponement that the polytheists practice regarding the four sacred months.
And their making the sacred among them lawful.
And the lawful among them sacred.
Is an increase in their disbelief and their rejection of Allah’s laws and signs.
Allah leads astray through this postponement those who invented and introduced it.
They make lawful one year what they postponed the sanctity of from the four sacred months.
And they make it sacred another year.
In order to align, by their making lawful what they chose to make lawful of the months.
And their making sacred what they chose to make sacred of them.
“Postponement (of a sacred month) is only an excess of disbelief whereby those who disbelieve are misled; they allow it one year and forbid it (another) year, that they may make up the number of the months which Allah hath hallowed, so that they allow that which Allah hath forbidden. The evil of their deeds is made fairseeming unto them. Allah guideth not the disbelieving folk.” (9:37)
Their evil and ugly deeds have been made attractive to them.
And Allah does not grant success to those who do not perform good and beautiful deeds.
Nor to that which does not please Allah.
The people who deny His oneness.
Rather, He abandons them, leaving them without guidance.
“O ye who believe! What aileth you that when it is said unto you: Go forth in the way of Allah, ye are bowed down to the ground with heaviness. Take ye pleasure in the life of the world rather than in the Hereafter? The comfort of the life of the world is but little in the Hereafter.” (9:38)
In the cause of Allah, you clung heavily to the earth.
“O ye who believe! What aileth you that when it is said unto you: Go forth in the way of Allah, ye are bowed down to the ground with heaviness. Take ye pleasure in the life of the world rather than in the Hereafter? The comfort of the life of the world is but little in the Hereafter.” (9:38)
“O ye who believe! What aileth you that when it is said unto you: Go forth in the way of Allah, ye are bowed down to the ground with heaviness. Take ye pleasure in the life of the world rather than in the Hereafter? The comfort of the life of the world is but little in the Hereafter.” (9:38)
In exchange for the bliss of the Hereafter.
So what is the enjoyment of those who enjoy the worldly life.
Of its living and pleasures, compared to the bliss of the Hereafter, but a little?
So seek, O believers, the bliss of the Hereafter.
“If ye go not forth He will afflict you with a painful doom, and will choose instead of you a folk other than you. Ye cannot harm Him at all. Allah is Able to do all things.” (9:39)
And He will replace you with another people.
And you will not harm Him at all.
And Allah is over all things competent.
Because He is free of need for you, while you are the needy ones.
And Allah is capable of destroying you and replacing you with another people.
And He is capable of all things He wills.
“If ye help him not, still Allah helped him when those who disbelieve drove him forth, the second of two; when they two were in the cave, when he said unto his comrade: Grieve not. Lo! Allah is with us. Then Allah caused His peace of reassurance to descend upon him and supported him with hosts ye cannot see, and made the word of those who disbelieved the nethermost, while Allah's Word it was that became the uppermost. Allah is Mighty, Wise.” (9:40)
“If ye help him not, still Allah helped him when those who disbelieve drove him forth, the second of two; when they two were in the cave, when he said unto his comrade: Grieve not. Lo! Allah is with us. Then Allah caused His peace of reassurance to descend upon him and supported him with hosts ye cannot see, and made the word of those who disbelieved the nethermost, while Allah's Word it was that became the uppermost. Allah is Mighty, Wise.” (9:40)
“If ye help him not, still Allah helped him when those who disbelieve drove him forth, the second of two; when they two were in the cave, when he said unto his comrade: Grieve not. Lo! Allah is with us. Then Allah caused His peace of reassurance to descend upon him and supported him with hosts ye cannot see, and made the word of those who disbelieved the nethermost, while Allah's Word it was that became the uppermost. Allah is Mighty, Wise.” (9:40)
Indeed, Allah is with us.
“If ye help him not, still Allah helped him when those who disbelieve drove him forth, the second of two; when they two were in the cave, when he said unto his comrade: Grieve not. Lo! Allah is with us. Then Allah caused His peace of reassurance to descend upon him and supported him with hosts ye cannot see, and made the word of those who disbelieved the nethermost, while Allah's Word it was that became the uppermost. Allah is Mighty, Wise.” (9:40)
“If ye help him not, still Allah helped him when those who disbelieve drove him forth, the second of two; when they two were in the cave, when he said unto his comrade: Grieve not. Lo! Allah is with us. Then Allah caused His peace of reassurance to descend upon him and supported him with hosts ye cannot see, and made the word of those who disbelieved the nethermost, while Allah's Word it was that became the uppermost. Allah is Mighty, Wise.” (9:40)
And He made the word of those who disbelieved the lowest.
“If ye help him not, still Allah helped him when those who disbelieve drove him forth, the second of two; when they two were in the cave, when he said unto his comrade: Grieve not. Lo! Allah is with us. Then Allah caused His peace of reassurance to descend upon him and supported him with hosts ye cannot see, and made the word of those who disbelieved the nethermost, while Allah's Word it was that became the uppermost. Allah is Mighty, Wise.” (9:40)
And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.
If you do not march forth, O believers, with My Messenger to support him.
Then Allah will support him and aid him against his enemy.
Just as He supported him when those who disbelieved drove him out of his homeland and home, while he was one of two.
And they were the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
And Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him.
“If ye help him not, still Allah helped him when those who disbelieve drove him forth, the second of two; when they two were in the cave, when he said unto his comrade: Grieve not. Lo! Allah is with us. Then Allah caused His peace of reassurance to descend upon him and supported him with hosts ye cannot see, and made the word of those who disbelieved the nethermost, while Allah's Word it was that became the uppermost. Allah is Mighty, Wise.” (9:40)
Which is the great cave in the mountain.
When the Messenger of Allah said to his companion, Abu Bakr:
Do not grieve.
For indeed, Allah is with us, and Allah is our supporter.
So Allah sent down His tranquility and peace upon His Messenger.
And it is said, upon Abu Bakr.
And He strengthened him with soldiers from Him—the angels—whom you did not see.
And He made the word of disbelief the lowest.
Because it was defeated and humiliated.
While the religion of Allah and the statement "There is no god but Allah."
Is the highest over disbelief and its people.
And Allah is Exalted in Might in His retribution against the people of disbelief.
Wise in His management of His creation and His directing them according to His will.
“Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is best for you if ye but knew.” (9:41)
“Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is best for you if ye but knew.” (9:41)
That is best for you, if you should know.
Allah commanded the believers to march forth to strive against His enemies in His cause, whether light or heavy.
"Light" includes everyone for whom marching is easy.
Due to the strength of his body, his health, and his youth.
And whoever has ease of wealth and freedom from occupation.
And is capable of providing a mount and transport.
And "heavy" includes the weak of body, the ill, and the sick.
And those occupied with property and livelihood.
And those who have no mount or transport.
And the elderly, the aged, and those with dependents.
And strive, O believers, against the disbelievers with your wealth.
So spend it in striving against them for the religion of Allah which He has ordained for you.
And with your selves, so fight them with your hands.
This which I command you to do is better for you than clinging to the earth.
If you are among those who possess knowledge of the reality of what We have explained to you.
Regarding the superiority of striving in the cause of Allah over sitting back from it.
“Had it been a near adventure and an easy journey they had followed thee, but the distance seemed too far for them. Yet will they swear by Allah (saying): If we had been able we would surely have set out with you. They destroy their souls, and Allah knoweth that they verily are liars.” (9:42)
They would have followed you, but the distance was difficult for them.
“Had it been a near adventure and an easy journey they had followed thee, but the distance seemed too far for them. Yet will they swear by Allah (saying): If we had been able we would surely have set out with you. They destroy their souls, and Allah knoweth that they verily are liars.” (9:42)
“Had it been a near adventure and an easy journey they had followed thee, but the distance seemed too far for them. Yet will they swear by Allah (saying): If we had been able we would surely have set out with you. They destroy their souls, and Allah knoweth that they verily are liars.” (9:42)
If what you called the laggards to, in going out to your expedition.
Had been an immediate gain and a near, easy destination, they would have followed you.
But you summoned them to a distant place.
And burdened them with a journey that was difficult for them.
Because you called them to rise in the time of heat.
And they will swear to you, O Muhammad, by Allah, lying.
"If we had been able to go out with you," given the availability of capacity, mounts, transport, and health of body.
"We would have gone out with you to your enemy."
They bring upon themselves, by their swearing by Allah falsely, destruction and ruin.
And Allah knows that they are liars in their swearing by Allah.
Because they were capable of going out.
By having what the warrior needs in his expedition.
May Allah pardon you.
“Allah forgive thee (O Muhammad)! Wherefor didst thou grant them leave ere those who told the truth were manifest to thee and thou didst know the liars?” (9:43)
“Allah forgive thee (O Muhammad)! Wherefor didst thou grant them leave ere those who told the truth were manifest to thee and thou didst know the liars?” (9:43)
May Allah pardon you, O Muhammad, for what you did in giving permission to these hypocrites.
Who asked your permission before you knew the truthful among them from the liar.
Why did you give them permission?
Until you knew who had a valid excuse among them for lagging behind.
And you knew the liar among them.
The one who lagged behind out of hypocrisy and doubt in the religion of Allah.
“Those who believe in Allah and the Last Day ask no leave of thee lest they should strive with their wealth and their lives. Allah is Aware of those who keep their duty (unto Him).” (9:44)
“Those who believe in Allah and the Last Day ask no leave of thee lest they should strive with their wealth and their lives. Allah is Aware of those who keep their duty (unto Him).” (9:44)
With their wealth and their lives.
And Allah is Knowing of the righteous.
He does not ask your permission to abandon the expedition and striving against the enemies of Allah with his wealth and his life.
The one who believes in Allah and the Resurrection and the Hereafter.
And Allah is All-Knowing of those who fear Him.
So he fears Him by performing His obligatory duties and avoiding His prohibitions.
And by hastening to His obedience in fighting His enemy.
“They alone ask leave of thee who believe not in Allah and the Last Day, and whose hearts feel doubt, so in their doubt they waver.” (9:45)
“They alone ask leave of thee who believe not in Allah and the Last Day, and whose hearts feel doubt, so in their doubt they waver.” (9:45)
Only those ask your permission, O Muhammad, to abandon striving with you without a clear excuse.
Are those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day.
And whose hearts have doubted the reality of the oneness of Allah.
And the reward of those who obey Him and the punishment of those who disobey Him.
So they are in their doubt, confused, not knowing truth from falsehood.
A summary of the Tafsir of al-Tabari.