By Badruddoja Razvi Misbahi, New Age Islam
(Translated from Urdu by Newageislam.com)
Explaining the Verse 9:58 out of 26 Verses
Presented by Wasim Rizvi in Supreme Court
Main points discussed in part 10
Background of Ghazwa-e-Hunain between the Muslims
and the militant tribes Hawazin and Thaqif
Steadfastness of close companions and relatives
on the battlefield of Hunain
Release of war-captives and a heart-touching
incident of the Prophet’s foster sister Hazrat Shaima
Distribution of the war booty in which priority
was given to the neo-Muslims
Three opinions about the reason of the revelation
of verse 9:58
Verse 9:58 revealed about the Dhul Khawaisira or
Abu Al-Jawaz or those whose hearts were to be reconciled to Islam
…………………..
(14) Allah Almighty says,
“[translation] And among them is one who slanders you regarding the
distribution of charity; so if they receive some of it they would be happy –
and if not, thereupon they get displeased!” (9:58)
Before discussing the reason of revelation,
meaning and significance of this verse, let us take a brief look at the history
of Ghazwa-e-Hunain.
After the conquest of Makkah, though the
glory of Muslims had settled in the hearts of all the Arab tribes and they
themselves were increasingly accepting Islam. Yet there were some rebellious
tribes who did not accept Islam and were eager to waging war against the
Muslims. Among them were the prominent and militant tribes of Hawazin and
Thaqif. The successive conquests and authority of Islam nearly eroded their
identity and prominence. Therefore, the elders and dignitaries of these two
tribes unanimously decided to fight the Muslims with full force. The tribes
that the Muslims had encountered so far were different from such people. They
unanimously agreed to wage an offensive attack against the Muslims with all their
might. Their excitement of fighting reached such an extent that they took with
them their wealth and children at the behest of Malik b. Awf al-Nasri, the
chief of the Hawazin tribe (who later embraced Islam and became a noble
companion), so that the fighters would remain steadfast on the battlefield and
benefit their courage and strength.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) was not unaware
of them either. He sent Hazrat Abdullah b. Hadrad al-Aslami to Hunain
to receive accurate and detailed information about the intentions and war
preparations of Hawazin and Thaqeef and other related issues.
There was also the need to look for any form of reconciliation so that the turn
of killing and fighting could not come. Hazrat Abdullah bin Hadrad
conducted a secret investigation in the best possible way and informed the Holy
Prophet of details about the enthusiastic war preparations of the Hawazin
and Thaqif tribes. After considering the situation, the Prophet did not sit
in the Haram of Makkah to wait for the attack. If he had done so, it
would have violated the sanctity of the Haram. So before the attackers
came to attack, the Prophet went ahead and planned to attack them and started
preparing for it vigorously. For war expenses, the Prophet borrowed thirty
thousand dirhams from Abdullah b. Rabi'ah and one hundred armours from
Safwan b. Umayyah (who embraced Islam after the conquest of Hunain).
Then the Prophet, along with ten thousand companions
from Ansar and Muhajireen, one thousand new-Muslims, one thousand
non-Muslims and the people of Makkah, went to Hunain. Looking at
this large group, some of them said, "Who can overcome us today?"
This did not please Allah Almighty. The narrations of Ghazwa-e-Hunain
narrated in the several hadiths indicate that the enemies had an idea of
the route that the Islamic forces were coming from, so they ambushed to attack
from the safe places of the valley of Huniyn. They had set up barracks
and housed their skilled archers therein.
It was not until dawn when the Islamic Army's Muqaddam
al-Jaish reached there, and then the soldiers of the Hawazin and Thaqif
tribes fired arrows at them from all directions. According to Ibn Ishaq,
Jabir Ibn Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him), who witnessed the Battle of
Hunain, said,
“When we
approached the valley of Hunain, we came down through a valley-wide and
sloping. We were descending gradually in the morning twilight. The enemy had
got there before us and had hidden in it by paths and sidetracks and narrow
places. They had collected and been fully prepared and by Allah, we were
terrified when, as we were coming down, the squadrons attacked us as one man,
the people fled none heeding the other. (Ibn Hisham, vol.2, p.442)
It was the Banu Saleem that first
returned, and then the people of Makkah fled. The whole army became
confused and some started running here and there to save their lives. No one
was left in a position to correctly sense the situation. The Holy Quran
illustrates this event;
“Indeed Allah helped you on many occasions – and
on the day of Hunain – when you prided in your multitude, so it did not
benefit you at all, and the earth despite being vast became restricted for you
– then you turned back and returned.” (9:25)
The men ran away except that a number of Muhajreen
(Muslims migrated with the Prophet (peace be upon him) from Makkah to Madinah)
and Ansar (Muslim residents of Madinah) and men of his family
remained with the Messenger of Allah. Abu Bakr Siddiq, Umar Ibn Khattab, Ali
Ibn Talib, Al-Abbas bin Abdullah, Abu Fadl Al-Abbas, Usamah Ibn Zaid, Ayman b.
Ubayd, Abu Sufyan, Mughirah b. Harith b. Abdul Muttalib and his sons Hazrat
Ja’far and Rabi’ah (may Allah be pleased with them) were amongst the Muhajireen
who stood firm with the Prophet (peace be upon him). Hazrat
Umm-e-Saleem, the mother of Hazrat Anas b. Malik was also one of the steadfast
companions. Meanwhile, the Holy Prophet commanded Hazrat Abbas to call
out to the Ansar and the Muhajireen companions loudly. Hazrat-e-Abbas
called out at the top of the voice, “O party of Ansar”, “O people of Samura
(who had sworn allegiance under the shade of a tree in Hudaybiyyah)”. Hazrat
Abbas said, “And by God, when they heard my voice, they came back (to us) as
cows come back to their calves, and said: We are present, we are present! Hazrat
Abbas said: They began to fight the infidels. Then there was a call to the Ansar.
Those (who called out to them) shouted: O party of the Ansar! O party of
the Ansar! Banu al-Harith b. al-Khazraj were the last to be
called. Those (who called out to them) shouted: O Banu Al-Harith b. al-Khazraj!
O Banu Harith b. al-Khazraj! And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon
him) who was riding on his mule looked at their fight with his neck stretched
forward and he said: This is the time when the fight is raging hot. Then the
Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) took (some) pebbles and threw them in
the face of the infidels. Then he said: By the Lord of Muhammad, the infidels
are defeated. Hazrat Abbas said, “I went around and saw that the battle
was in the same condition in which I had seen it. By Allah, it remained in the
same condition until he threw the pebbles. I continued to watch until I found
that their force had been spent out and they began to retreat.” (Sahih
Muslim, Book 32, Hadith 94)
It then happened that only their belongings,
pieces of equipment, women and children remained steadfast on the battlefield.
Allah Almighty says, “Then Allah sent down His calm upon His Noble Messenger
and upon the Muslims, and sent down armies you did not see, and punished the
disbelievers, and such is the reward of the deniers.” (9:26)
The spoils of war that the Muslims obtained were
24 thousand camels, 40 thousand sheep and goats, 4 thousand ounces of silver.
The holy Prophet (peace be upon him) sent all these spoils of war to Ja’raana
where Ihram for the Hajj pilgrimage is worn.
Here your heart will be filled with emotion by
reading an incident. Among the captives of the battle of Hunain was Shaima
the daughter of Harith, with whom the Prophet had spent some times at
the house of Hazrat Halima Saadia. When she was caught, she claimed that
she was the sister of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). She was taken to
the Prophet with great respect. When she arrived in his blessed presence she
said, “O God’s Messenger! I am your foster-sister” to which the Prophet asked,
“What is your sign and proof?”. In response, Shaima said, “O Messenger
of Allah, you had bitten me in your childhood. Here is the scar!” She then
began to recount all her memories of that day. When the Prophet saw the scar,
he remembered and recognized his foster-sibling. He spread out his cloak and
invited her to sit with him. He approached with great affection and tenderness.
A great many years had passed and his childhood memories were now flashing
before his very eyes. He was very emotional and tears welled up in his eyes.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her, “If you like, you can stay with me
and always be loved and honoured, and if you like, I will cater for you and
then send you back to your people”. Shaima accepted Islam and consented
to go back to her tribe. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) gave a maid, a
few camels and goats as a gift and she returned to her tribe happily. (Seerat
al-Nabi, vol.4, p.490)
After the conquest of Hunain, the Holy
Prophet laid siege to Ta'if. The siege lasted for twenty days, but it
was not successful. Since the siege was intended only for defence, he lifted
the siege after twenty days and came to "Ja’rana" to
distribute the war booty.
In Ja'rana, the holy Prophet was waiting
for a delegation from Hawazin and Banu Saad (to which the Prophet’s
foster mother Hazrat Halima Saadia belonged) for the release of
prisoners of war. The delegation came and pleaded for the release of their
captives in a heart-touching appeal. The head of the delegation said,
“Among the prisoners are your foster mothers and
sisters (referring to Haleema Saadia and Shaima). They nursed you
and fondled you in their bosoms. We have known you a suckling, a weaning child,
youth generous and noble. Now you have risen to this dignity, be gracious to
us, even as the Lord has been gracious to you. And you are the best of those
nursed by any foster mother”. The Prophet (peace be upon him) was so moved with
these words that he recommended the Muslims including Muhajirin and Ansaar
to release the prisoners. Thus they were released and every one of them was
given a shawl as a gift which was unprecedented in the history of tribal wars.
This gesture won the hearts of the people and they embraced Islam in thousands.
Distribution of the war booty
While distributing the war booty, the Holy
Prophet (peace be upon him) not only gave priority to the new Muslims in order
to reconcile their hearts to Islam but also gave them relatively more booty,
the details of which are as follows: He gave 300 camels to Abu Sufyan
and his descendants, 200 camels to Hakim bin Hazzam, one hundred camels
to eight other people, fifty camels to many people and four camels and forty
goats to each member of the army, in which the share of riders was more.
The Ansar companions, along with others,
objected to this distribution, as it is mentioned in Sahih Muslim Volume
II. But their objection was full of love and affection, and the real motive for
their objection was that they feared that perhaps now the Prophet (peace be
upon him) would leave us alone in Madinah and move back to Makkah
with his family. Thereupon the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to the Ansaar
companions, “Do you not like other people to take camels and goats and you to
go to your house with Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)?”
However, some hypocrites started using
blasphemous and disheartening words in a very painful and aggressive manner,
which caused great shock to the blessed heart of the Prophet (peace be upon
him). It was at this time that Allah Almighty revealed verses 58, 59, 60 of Surah
Tawbah and disclosed their greed and lust. He Almighty said,
“[translation] And among them is one who slanders
you regarding the distribution of charity; so if they receive some of it they
would be happy – and if not, thereupon they get displeased!” (9:58)
We find differences in the reported statements of
the Mufassirin about the reason for the revelation of this verse 9:58.
The author of Tafsir-e-Abi Saud has presented three opinions about the
verse, out of which the first opinion is termed by him "the
clearest".
(1) The first
opinion is that this verse was revealed about Abu Al-Jawaz, a hypocrite
who said to the companions about the distribution of booty, “Do you not see
that your master is distributing your alms among the shepherds and that he
thinks that he is doing justice?”
(2) The second
opinion is that this verse was revealed about Dhul Khawaisira, a man
from the tribe of Bani Tamim and the chief of Kharijites,
said about the distribution of the booty of Hunain, “O Allah's Messenger
(peace be upon him)! Act justly.” The Prophet said, “Woe to you! Who else would
act justly if I did not act justly?” ‘Umar said (to the Prophet (peace be upon
him).
(3) The third
opinion is that this was revealed about those whose hearts were to be
reconciled towards Islam. (Tafsir Abi Saud vol. 4 p. 75).
The full hadith is mentioned in Sahih
Bukhari in which Sa’id Al-Khudri narrated,
While the Prophet (peace be upon him) was
distributing (war booty etc.) one day, Dhul Khawaisira, a man
from the tribe of Bani Tamim, said, “O Allah's Messenger (peace be upon
him)! Act justly.” The Prophet said, “Woe to you! Who else would act justly if
I did not act justly?” ‘Umar said (to the Prophet (peace be upon him), “Allow
me to chop his neck off.” The Prophet said, “No, for he has companions (who are
apparently so pious that) if anyone of (you compares his prayer with) their
prayer, he will consider his prayer inferior to theirs, and similarly his
fasting inferior to theirs, but they will desert Islam (go out of religion) as
an arrow goes through the victim's body (games etc.) in which case if its Nasl
is examined nothing will be seen thereon, and if its Nady is examined,
nothing will be seen thereon, and if its Qudhadh is examined, nothing
will be seen thereon, for the arrow has gone out too fast even for the
excretions and blood to smear over it. Such people will come out at the time of
difference among the (Muslim) people and the sign by which they will be
recognized will be a man whose one of the two hands will look like the breast
of a woman or a lump of flesh moving loosely.” Abu Sa’id added, “I testify that
I heard that from the Prophet (peace be upon him) and also testify that I was
with ‘Ali when ‘Ali fought against those people. The man described by the
Prophet was searched for among the killed, and was found, and he was exactly as
the Prophet (peace be upon him) had described him.” (Sahih al-Bukhari : Book
78, Hadith 189)
Here it is necessary to know that the people
whose hearts the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) reconciled towards Islam by
giving more booty on the occasion of the conquest of Hunain were the
esteemed people of Quraysh and they had a great influence on the Arab
tribes and now they have embraced Islam. It was not long before Islam was
firmly fixed in their hearts, so the Prophet (peace be upon him) gave them
priority when distributing the booty in view of benefits and so that Islam
would settle in their hearts. And this is one of the requirements of the
government. Sometimes the government has to deal with influential people who
are not fully subject to the government. They are in such a position that if
they are forced to be under control, it is feared that they may join hands with
the enemy and pose a great danger, as is sometimes the case in the border
areas.
In such a case, the government treats them
sympathetically. The government gives them more privileges than others to get
their full sympathy and sometimes even sponsors them financially so that they
are not close to the enemy and remain loyal to the government. In view of these
interests, the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) treated these new respectable
Muslims of Quraysh with priority and gave them more privileges. But the
hypocrites could not bear all this and they showed their hypocrisy on which Hazrat
Umar Farooq (May Allah be pleased with him) sought permission from the Prophet
(peace be upon him) to cut off his neck, which showed that if anyone had
insulted the dignity of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him), he was guilty and liable to be beheaded.
(The remaining 12 verses will be explained in the
next parts, Insha Allah, after the month of Ramazan)
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Maulana Badruddoja Razvi Misbahi, Principal of Madrasa
Arabia Ashrafia Zia-ul-Uloom Khairabad, District Mau, UP (India) is a
Sufi-minded, well-mannered, classical Islamic scholar, an expert teacher, an
excellent writer, a good poet and orator. He has authored numerous books, some
of which are as follows: 1) Fazilat-e-Ramazan, 2) Zad-ul-Haramain, 3)
Mukhzin-e-Tib, 4) Tauzeehat-e-Ahsan, the commentary on the well-known logical book “Mulla Hasan” 5)
Muhazarat fi Halle Qutbi Tasawwurat, 6) Tahzib al-Faraid commentary on “Sharh
al-Aqaid”, 7) Atayib al-Tahani fi Halle Mukhtasar al-Ma’ani, 8) Commentary on
Sahih Muslim
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Other Parts
of the Articles:
The Verses of Jihad: Meaning, Denotation, Reason of
Revelation and Background- Part 1
The Verses of Jihad: Meaning, Denotation, Reason of
Revelation and Background- Part 2
The Verses of Jihad: Meaning, Denotation, Reason of
Revelation and Background- Part 3
The Verses of Jihad- Meaning, Denotation, Reason of
Revelation and Background- Part 4
The Verses of Jihad in The Quran - Meaning,
Denotation, Reason of Revelation and Background - Part 5
The Verses of Jihad in The Quran - Meaning, Denotation, Reason of
Revelation and Background - Part 6
The Verses of Jihad in Quran: Meaning, Reason of Revelation, Context and
Background - Part 7
The Verses of Jihad in Quran: Meaning, Reason of Revelation, Context and
Background - Part 8
The Verses of Jihad in Quran: Meaning, Reason
of Revelation, Context and Background - Part 9
URL: https://newageislam.com/debating-islam/the-verses-jihad-quran-meaning,-part-10/d/124810
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