- Welcome Friends: Ahlan wa sahlan!
- Yusuf Ali’s Translation of this Chapter.
- Muhammad Asad’s Translation of this Chapter.
سورة التوبة / Surat Al Tawbah
COMMENTS:
1. ‘Repentance,’ or ‘Tawba’ is the only chapter/surah in the Qur’an that does NOT start by the invocation, “In the ‘name of God, The Compassionate Creator, The Unceasingly Merciful ‘بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم’ The two reasons commonly offered for this omission are:
· Some commentators, seeing the very first verse in this chapter as a REVOCATION from God and His Messenger of all treaties and agreements with Idolatrous Qureish, think that this is why this chapter does not open with an invocation of compassion, thinking that doing so would have contradicted the revocation (hence the omission).
· Others believe that this is NOT a new chapter/surah, but is actually a continuation of Chapter 8, Surat al Anfaal, hence would need no ‘BismilLah.’
As Yusuf Ali tells us:
“This is the only Sura to which the usual formula of Bismillah is not prefixed. It was the last among the Suras revealed, and though the Apostle had directed that it should follow Sura VIII, it was not clear whether it was to form a separate Sura or only a part of Sura VIII. It is now treated as a separate Sura but the word Bismillah is not prefixed to it, as there is no warrant for supposing that the Apostle used the ‘Bismillah’ before it in his recitation of the Qur-an.
As Muhammad Asad tells us:
“This undoubtedly deliberate omission is responsible for the view held by many Companions of the Prophet that At-Tawbah is in reality a continuation of Al-Anfal, and that the two together constitute one single surah (Zamakhshari), notwithstanding the fact that an interval of about seven years separates the revelation of the one from that of the other. Although there is no evidence that the Prophet himself ever made a statement to this effect (Razi), the inner relationship between At-Tawbah and Al-Anfal is unmistakable. Both are largely devoted to problems of war between the believers and the deniers of the truth; towards the end of Al-Anfal there is a mention of treaties and of the possibility that these treaties might be treacherously violated by the unbelievers – a theme that is continued and developed at the beginning of At-Tawbah; and both Al-Anfal and At-Tawbah dwell, in the main, on the moral distinction between the believers, on the one hand, and their enemies and ill-wishers, on the other.”
2. I am inclined towards the second opinion too, since God’s Compassion and Mercy indeed encompasses all, and these verses -when taken in context- are NOT at all a sweeping, indiscriminate revocation! As Readers can see, Verses 1-3 DO revoke previous treaties with the ‘Shirkers/Mushriks’ (the idol-worshippers of the time who associated partners with God), giving them four months of reprieve, but THEN in Verse 4, the Faithful are told that they should HONOR the treaties of any who had NOT failed in their obligations, and that God loves the Aware. This is what Ali calls, “..a cardinal feature of Muslim ethics.”
3. Then the initial severity against the Shirkers in Verse 5 (see Asad) is tempered by their surrender/return to God and their establishing of Communion/Salaat and advance charitable purifying dues/Zakaat.
Important note:
How could it be that AFTER ‘qatl’ (which is commonly understood as killing), the ‘killed’ Shirkers are to be taken captive, besieged, and waited for at every conceivable place AND given a chance to repent?
This cannot be, unless the verb ‘qatala’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘to kill, causing someone to die.’
Well, it doesn’t.[1]
Qatala is about both humiliating/subjugating and causing death!
An expression the Arabs used was “I qataltu that matter in experience and knowledge,” which shows a person having full command over it.
The lexicon also tells us of the Arabic expression: “The maiden ‘taqattalat’ to the man until he was infatuated with her,” meaning that she kept subjugating/humbling herself to him until she made him love her.
(Don’t young people today say in English, ‘I killed it,’ when they gain command over an issue?)
In Q. 4:157 the verse mentioning Jesus peace upon him says that ‘…they had no knowledge of him/it other than the following of conjecture, and they did not qataluhu/kill him/it with certainty.[2]
Here Al Tabari gives several references to indicate that the ‘qatl’ mentioned is about having full command over the information, not over Jesus.[3] How interesting!
So if ‘qatl’ is about subjugating/humiliating and/or about causing death, then it would fit much better with the context here and in other verses. The Shirkers/Mushriks should be subjugated, taken captive and besieged and also given a chance to listen to God’s Word. Would some of them get killed during efforts at subjugation? Of course. Some would get killed on both sides.
But the command is to subjugate the Shirkers and hopefully transform them, and NOT to kill them off.
There is a call for understanding and teaching the Shirkers by example in verse 6 since they ‘are people who do not know.’ In verse 7 there is a command to upright treatment, ending with a beautiful statement persuading against aggression: ‘God loves the Aware.’
NOTE: Despite all that, these are among the most famous ‘quoted out of context’ Qur’anic verses which people use to justify their so-called ‘Islamic’ actions or ‘Anti-Islamic’ reactions. Added to the absolute disregard to context, some have widened the label ‘Mushrik’ to include everyone whose faith is unlike theirs!
Very few would make the point Asad does about these verses “relating to warfare already in progress with people who have become guilty of a breach of treaty obligations and of aggression.”
Dear Reader:
Adherence to Qur’anic linguistics AND context are crucial in our struggle for human advancement and lasting peace. No matter where we live- or what faith we belong to- we are all caught in the same ripple-effects as the world we share grows smaller day by day. Sadly too, people are becoming more polarized.
In other words: Understanding the Qur’an is to EVERYONE’S best interest.
4. Verses 8–9–10 tell us about these Shirkers, whose lips speak the opposite of what is in their hearts/minds, calling them pledge-breakers/deserters/ faasiqoon, preventing others from the Way of God, honoring no ties or obligations, and labels them ‘The Aggressors/al Muعtadoon.’
However, when Verse 11 continues, we see these erstwhile Shirkers given the chance (as in Verse 5) to surrender/return to God, establish Communion/Salaat and advance charitable purifying dues/Zakaat, thus becoming “your brethren in Accountability!”
It is amazing to see how forgiving the brotherhood of Faith is supposed to be, and how straightforward the manner in which its rope can be tied.
5. Verses 12 and 13 speak of how the Shirkers might behave, encouraging those whose Deen/Accountability Standard has been violated to fight them. The expression ‘a’immatal kufr’ literally, the Imaams of the Deniers, refers to the Chieftains of Qureish at the time who were spearheading the efforts against the Messenger and his companions.
It is interesting to note that the word ‘aymaan- أيمان’ PLEDGES[4] was mentioned 3 times in these two verses, relating to their ‘breaking of pledges,’ which provides the main reason for the severity behind these verses. No one can trust a pledge-breaker!
We shall conclude with another excerpt from Asad’s introduction to this Chapter:
“A very large part of At-Tawbah is connected with the conditions prevailing at Medina before the Prophet’s expedition to Tabuk in the year 9 H., and the vacillating spirit displayed by some of his nominal followers. There is hardly any doubt that almost the whole of the surah was revealed shortly before, during and immediately after the campaign, and most of it at the time of the long march from Medina to Tabuk. (Regarding the reasons for this campaign, see notes 59 and 142.)
The title of the surah is based on the frequent references in it to the repentance (Tawbah) of the erring ones and to its acceptance by God. Some of the Companions called it Al-Bara’ah (“Disavowal”) after the first word occurring in it; and Zamakhshari mentions also several other titles by which the surah was designated by the Prophet’s Companions and their immediate successors.
At-Tawbah concludes the so-called “seven long surahs” (that is, the distinct, almost self-contained group of chapters beginning with Al-Baqarah and ending with the combination of Al-Anfal and At-Tawbah); and it is significant that some of the last verses of this group (namely, 9:124-127) return to the theme which dominates the early part of Al-Baqarah (2:6-20): the problem of “those in whose hearts is disease” and who cannot attain to faith because they are “bent on denying the truth” whenever it conflicts with their preconceived notions and their personal likes and dislikes: the perennial problem of people whom no spiritual message can convince because they do not want to grasp the truth (9:127), and who thereby “…deceive none but themselves, and perceive it not”(2:9).”
Enough said!
Our next Reading is from HQ 9: 14-26.
Peace unto all!
[1] قَتَلَ: أَصْلٌ صَحِيحٌ يَدُلُّ عَلَى إِذْلَالٍ وَإِمَاتَةٍ. يُقَالُ: قَتَلَــهُ قَتْلًــا. ….وَمَقَاتِلُ الْإِنْسَانِ: الْمَوَاضِعُ الَّتِي إِذَا أُصِيبَتْ قَتَلَــهُ ذَلِكَ. وَمِنْ ذَلِكَ: قَتَلْــتُ الشَّيْءَ خُبْرًا وَعِلْمًا. قَالَ اللَّهُ سُبْحَانَهُ: {وَمَا قَتَلُــوهُ يَقِينًا} [النساء: 157]. [وَيُقَالُ: تَــقَتَّلَــتِ الْجَارِيَةُ لِلرَّجُلِ حَتَّى عَشِقَهَا، كَأَنَّهَا خَضَعَتْ لَهُ.
[2]وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا الْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَـٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ مَا لَهُم بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا اتِّبَاعَ الظَّنِّ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًا ﴿النساء: ١٥٧﴾
[3] الطبري:
“عن ابن عبـاس، قوله: {وَما قَتَلُوهُ يَقِـيناً} قال: يعنـي: لـم يقتلوا ظنهم يقـيناً. … عن جويبر فـي قوله: {وَما قَتَلُوهُ يَقِـيناً} قال: ما قتلوا ظنّهم يقـيناً. عن السديّ: {وَما قَتَلُوهُ يَقِـيناً}: وما قتلوا أمره يقـيناً…”
[4] This word is very important; for future reference, it is helpful to note the 25 times in which the word ‘aymaan’ appears in the Qur’an.