Those Who Set The Ranks, Drawn up in Ranks, The Rangers — Verse 174

The Promise of Victory and the Command to turn away from Idolators Allah says, وَلَقَدْ سَبَقَتْ كَلِمَتُنَا لِعِبَادِنَا الْمُرْسَلِينَ (And, verily, Our Word has gone forth of old for Our servants, the Messengers,) meaning, it has already been stated in the first decree that the Messengers and their followers will ultimately prevail in this world and the Hereafter. This is like the Ayah: كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لاّغْلِبَنَّ أَنَاْ وَرُسُلِى إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَوِىٌّ عَزِيزٌ (Allah has decreed: "Verily, it is I and My Messengers who shall be the victorious." Verily, Allah is All-Powerful, Almighty.) (58:21), and إِنَّا لَنَنصُرُ رُسُلَنَا وَالَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ فِى الْحَيَوةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ يَقُومُ الاٌّشْهَـدُ (Verily, We will indeed make victorious Our Messengers and those who believe in this world's life and on the Day when the witnesses will stand forth.) (40:51). وَلَقَدْ سَبَقَتْ كَلِمَتُنَا لِعِبَادِنَا الْمُرْسَلِينَ - إِنَّهُمْ لَهُمُ الْمَنصُورُونَ (And, verily, Our Word has gone forth of old for Our servants, the Messengers, that they verily would be made triumphant,) meaning, `in this world and in the Hereafter, as We have already stated that they would prevail over their people who disbelieved in them and went against them, and how Allah destroyed the disbelievers and saved His believing servants. ' وَإِنَّ جُندَنَا لَهُمُ الْغَـلِبُونَ (And that Our hosts they verily would be the victors.) means, that they would ultimately prevail. فَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ حَتَّى حِينٍ (So turn away from them for a while,) means, `bear their annoyance with patience and wait until an appointed time, when We shall cause you to prevail and will grant you victory.' وَأَبْصِرْهُمْ فَسَوْفَ يُبْصِرُونَ (And watch them and they shall see!) means, `watch them and see what will happen to them by way of punishment for their opposition towards you and their disbelief in you.' Allah said, as a threat and a warning, فَسَوْفَ يُبْصِرُونَ (and they shall see!). Then Allah says: أَفَبِعَذَابِنَا يَسْتَعْجِلُونَ (Do they seek to hasten on Our torment) meaning, `they seek to hasten on the punishment because they disbelieve in you, and Allah is angry with them because of that and will make them suffer the consequences, and because of their disbelief and stubbornness, He will hasten on the punishment.' فَإِذَا نَزَلَ بِسَاحَتِهِمْ فَسَآءَ صَبَاحُ الْمُنْذَرِينَ (Then, when it descends in their courtyard, evil will be the morning for those who had been warned!) means, when the punishment comes down to the place where they are, terrible will be the day of their punishment and destruction. As-Suddi said: فَإِذَا نَزَلَ بِسَاحَتِهِمْ (Then, when it descends in their courtyard,) means, in their homes; فَسَآءَ صَبَاحُ الْمُنْذَرِينَ (evil will be the morning for those who had been warned!) means, how terrible that morning will be for them. It was reported in the Two Sahihs that Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "On the morning of Khaybar, when the people came out with their tools (to go about their daily work) and saw the (Muslim) army, they went back and said, `Muhammad by Allah! Muhammad and the army!' The Prophet said: «اللهُ أَكْبَرُ، خَرِبَتْ خَيْبَرُ، إِنَّا إِذَا نَزَلْنَا بِسَاحَةِ قَوْمٍ فَسَاءَ صَبَاحُ الْمُنْذَرِين» (Allahu Akbar! Khaybar has been destroyed. Then, when it descends in the courtyard of any people, evil will be the morning for those who had been warned!)" وَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ حَتَّى حِينٍ وَأَبْصِرْ فَسَوْفَ يُبْصِرُونَ- (So turn away from them for a while, and watch and they shall see!) This is a reiteration of the command stated above. And Allah knows best.

So leave them in other words shun the Meccan disbelievers for a while until such time as you are commanded to fight them;

فأعرض -أيها الرسول- عَمَّن عاند، ولم يقبل الحق حتى تنقضي المدة التي أمهلهم فيها، ويأتي أمر الله بعذابهم، وأنظرهم وارتقب ماذا يحل بهم من العذاب بمخالفتك؟ فسوف يرون ما يحل بهم من عذاب الله.

أي اصبر على أذاهم لك وانتظر إلى وقت مؤجل فإنا سنجعل لك العاقبة والنصرة والظفر ولهذا قال بعضهم غيا ذلك إلي يوم بدر وما بعدها أيضا في معناها.

ثم أمر الله - تعالى - رسوله صلى الله عليه وسلم بالإعراض عن المشركين ، وبالصبر على أذاهم ، فقال : ( فَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ حتى حِينٍ ) أى : فأعرض عنهم إلى وقت الذى يأذن الله لك فيه بقتالهم.

القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : فَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ حَتَّى حِينٍ (174)يعني تعالى ذكره بقوله ( فَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ حَتَّى حِينٍ ) : فأعرض عنهم إلى حين.واختلف أهل التأويل في هذا الحين، فقال بعضهم: معناه إلى الموت.* ذكر من قال ذلك:حدثنا بشر، قال: ثنا يزيد، قال: ثنا سعيد، عن قتادة ( فَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ حَتَّى حِينٍ ) : أي إلى الموت.وقال آخرون: إلى يوم بدر.* ذكر من قال ذلك:حدثنا محمد بن الحسين، قال: ثنا أحمد بن المفضل، قال: ثنا أسباط، عن السديّ، في قوله ( فَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ حَتَّى حِينٍ ) قال: حتى يوم بدر. وقال آخرون: معنى ذلك: إلى يوم القيامة.* ذكر من قال ذلك:حدثني يونس، قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب، قال: قال ابن زيد، في قوله ( فَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ حَتَّى حِينٍ ) قال: يوم القيامة.وهذا القول الذي قاله السديّ، أشبه بما دلّ عليه ظاهر التنـزيل، وذلك أن الله توعدهم بالعذاب الذي كانوا يستعجلونه، فقال: ( أَفَبِعَذَابِنَا يَسْتَعْجِلُونَ ) ، وأمر نبيه صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم أن يُعْرِض عليهم إلى مجيء حينه. فتأويل الكلام: فتول عنهم يا محمد إلى حين مجيء عذابنا، ونـزوله بهم.

( فتول ) أعرض ( عنهم حتى حين ) قال ابن عباس : يعني الموت . وقال مجاهد : يوم بدر . وقال السدي : حتى نأمرك بالقتال . وقيل : إلى أن يأتيهم عذاب الله ، قال مقاتل بن حيان : نسختها آية القتال .

فَتَوَلَّ عَنْهُمْ حَتَّى حِينٍ (174) هذا مفرع على التسلية التي تضمنها قوله : { ولقد سبقَتْ كلِمتُنا } [ الصافات : 171 ] . والتولي حقيقته : المفارقة كما تقدم في قصة إبراهيم { فتولَّوا عنه مُدبرين } [ الصافات : 90 ] ، واستعمل هنا مجازاً في عدم الاهتمام بما يقولونه وترك النكد من إعراضهم .والحين : الوقت . وأجمل هنا إيماء إلى تقليله ، أي تقريبه ، فالتنكير للتحقير المعنوي وهو التقليل . ومعنى { أبصرهم } انظر إليهم ، أي من الآن ، وعدّي ( أبصر ) إلى ضميرهم الدال على ذواتهم ، وليس المراد النظر إلى ذواتهم لكن إلى أحوالهم ، أي تأملْ أحوالهم ترَ كيف ننصرك عليهم ، وهذا وعيد بما حلّ بهم يوم بدر .وحذف ما يتعلق به الإِبصار من حال أو مفعول معه بتقدير : وأبصرهم مأسورين مقتولين ، أو وأبصرهم وما يُقضى به عليهم من أسر وقتل لدلالة ما تقدم من قوله : { إنَّهُم لهمُ المنصُورون وإن جُندنا لهم الغالِبُونَ } [ الصافات : 172 ، 173 ] عليه ، إذ ليس المأمور به أيضاً ذواتهم ، وهذا من دلالة الاقتضاء . وصيغة الأمر في { وأبْصرهُم } مستعملة في الإِرشاد على حد قول: ... إذا أعجبتك الدهر حال من امرىءفدعه وواكل أمره واللياليا ... أي إذا شئت أن تتحقق قرارة حاله فانتظره .وعبر عن ترتب نزول الوعيد بهم بفعل الإِبصار للدلالة على أن ما توعدوا به واقع لا محالة وأنه قريب حتى أن الموعود بالنصر يتشوف إلى حلوله فكان ذلك كناية عن تحققه وقربه لأن تحديق البصر لا يكون إلا إلى شيء أشرف على الحلول .

ثم أمر رسوله بالإعراض عمن عاندوا، ولم يقبلوا الحق، وأنه ما بقي إلا انتظار ما يحل بهم من العذاب،

قوله تعالى : فتول عنهم أي أعرض عنهم . حتى حين قال قتادة : إلى الموت . وقال الزجاج : إلى الوقت الذي أمهلوا إليه . وقال ابن عباس : يعني القتل ببدر . وقيل : يعني [ ص: 126 ] فتح مكة . وقيل : الآية منسوخة بآية السيف .

In ancient times, when the Arabs heard that the Jews and other peoples had rejected their prophets, they used to proudly say, ‘These people are unfortunate. If a prophet had come to us, we would have appreciated him and supported him.’ But, when God did send a prophet among them, they rejected him just as others had rejected their prophets. The Truth which affects others is readily seen by a man, but the Truth which affects him personally, seldom catches his eye. Throughout history, people have ignored the call of the preachers of Truth. They forget that the preachers of Truth endeavour to spread God’s word which will in any case reign supreme, however much the unbelievers may oppose them.

The sense of 'the victory of the people of Allah' In verses 171-173, it was said: وَلَقَدْ سَبَقَتْ كَلِمَتُنَا لِعِبَادِنَا الْمُرْ‌سَلِينَ إِنَّهُمْ لَهُمُ الْمَنصُورُ‌ونَ وَإِنَّ جُندَنَا لَهُمُ الْغَالِبُونَ (And Our Word has already gone ahead in favor of Our servants - the messengers - they are the ones who will have Allah's support, and verily it will be Our army that prevails). The sense of these verses is that it stands predetermined with Allah that His chosen servants, that is, the prophets would be the ones to prevail. This may raise a difficulty, for in the mortal world, some prophets did not. For an answer to this, it could be said that the majority of prophets consists of the noble souls whose people belied them and met their punishment while they were kept safe from it. There are only a few among the blessed prophets who, though, could not prevail outwardly and physically right up to the end of their tenure in this world, but they always enjoyed ascendancy in the field of logic and argument, and the ultimate intellectual victory remained always theirs. However, the physical traces of this ascendancy were - due to some consideration of wisdom, such as a trial, or its likes - deferred until the Hereafter. Hence, as said by sage Thanavi, it is like the case of a highway robber, who starts harassing a high appointee of the state while on his journey. But, this appointee would never, by virtue of his God-given intellectual sobriety, stoop to the low-down robber, until he reaches the capital of his state where the robber will be seized and punished. Therefore, simply due to this temporary ascendancy, neither can we call that robber an authority, nor that authority a subject. In fact, given the true state of affairs, that robber - despite this temporary ascendancy - is still a subject, while that man of authority - despite his temporary lack of ascendancy - is still the authority he had been all along. Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہما has expressed this more briefly and lucidly by saying: اَن لَّم یُنصَروا فِی الدُّنِیَا یُنصرُا فِی الاٰخرِۃِ (Those who' are not helped to ascend in the present world are helped to ascend in the Hereafter) - Bayan-ul- Qur’ an, the Tafsir of Surah al-Ma'idah (5). But, it should always be borne in mind that no group of people achieves this supremacy or ascendancy, whether in the present world or in the Hereafter, simply by having particular racial traits, or by belonging to a religion only in name. In fact, this actually happens only when every human being makes himself a member of 'the army of Allah.' It necessarily implies that he or she should be committed to the obedience of Allah in every department of life as the objective of his or her life. Here, the word: جُندَنَا (Our army) is telling us very clearly that the person who embraces Islam will have to enter into a solemn pledge to devote his or her entire life in waging a struggle against the forces of self and Satan - and his or her supremacy, whether material or moral, whether in this world or in the Hereafter, depends on this condition. In verse 177, it was said: فَإِذَا نَزَلَ بِسَاحَتِهِمْ فَسَاءَ صَبَاحُ الْمُنذَرِ‌ينَ (So, when it descends in their courtyard, then, evil with be the dawn of the warned). The word: سَاحَۃُ (sahah) appearing in this verse literally means a courtyard, and the expression: نَزَلِ بِسَاحَتِہٖ (nazala bisahatihi: descended in his courtyard) is an Arabic idiom that denotes the appearance of a calamity face to face, while the time of morning has been specified, as an attack would usually come at that hour among the people of Arabia. This also used to be the practice with the Holy Prophet ﷺ that, should he reach the territorial jurisdiction of some enemy at the time of night, he used to postpone his attack until the morning (Mazhari). According to Hadith narrations, when the Holy Prophet ﷺ attacked the fort of Khaibar during the morning hours, he said: اللہ اکبر، خربت حیبر، انّا اذا نزلنا قوم فساء صباح المنذرین (Allahu Akbar, Khaibar is destroyed. Verily, when we descend on the courtyard of a people, the morning of those who had been already warned is too bad).

(So withdraw) O Muhammad (from them) from the disbelievers of Mecca (awhile) until the time of their destruction at Badr,