Surah At-Tawba (9) — Ayah 102

In the verse {وَ اٰخَرُوْنَ اعْتَرَفُوْا بِذُنُوْبِهِمْ …: ”وَ السّٰبِقُوْنَ الْاَوَّلُوْنَ“ }, the mention is of the best people among the Muslims, and in «{ وَ مِمَّنْ حَوْلَكُمْ مِّنَ الْاَعْرَابِ مُنٰفِقُوْنَ }», the mention is of the worst people who are called Muslims, who will become the fuel of the lowest depths of the Fire, and now the mention is of the common Muslims whose righteous deeds are present, but some evil deeds (bad actions) are also mixed with them. The commentators have mentioned here Abu Lubabah (may Allah be pleased with him) and others, that despite being sincere Muslims, they could not go to Tabuk, so they tied themselves to the pillars of the Prophet’s Mosque, saying that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) himself unties us, we will understand that our repentance has been accepted. Eventually, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) untied them with his own hand by Allah’s command, and at first, he did not accept their charity, but then the next verse «{ خُذْ مِنْ اَمْوَالِهِمْ صَدَقَةً }» was revealed, so he accepted their charity as well. Most of the narrations of this meaning are mursal or weak, however, in {’’الاستيعاب في بيان الأسباب‘‘}, a narration of Ibn Abbas and Jabir (may Allah be pleased with them) has been declared hasan, in which it is mentioned that Abu Lubabah (may Allah be pleased with him) and his companions, after staying behind, tied themselves to the pillars of the mosque, and eventually, by Allah’s command, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) untied them with his own hand, and the verses from «{ وَ اٰخَرُوْنَ اعْتَرَفُوْا بِذُنُوْبِهِمْ }» to «{ اِنَّ صَلٰوتَكَ سَكَنٌ لَّهُمْ }» were revealed. (And Allah knows best.) However, there is no doubt that just as in the verse «{ وَ السّٰبِقُوْنَ الْاَوَّلُوْنَ }», the individuals mentioned include all the righteous followers of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) until the Day of Judgment, similarly, this verse includes all the sinful but sincere Muslims to come until the Day of Judgment, who have mixed some bad deeds with their good deeds. The most authentic tafsir in terms of chain is the one that Imam Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) has recorded in his Sahih in the explanation of this verse, that Samurah bin Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Last night, two visitors came to me, they raised me up, then they took me to a city built of bricks of gold and silver, there I saw some people whose half of the body was like the most beautiful person you have ever seen, and half was like the ugliest person you have ever seen. The two angels said to those people, ‘Enter this river,’ so they entered it, then they returned to us, and the ugliness had left them and they had turned into the best form. The two (angels) said to me, ‘This is the Garden of Eden and that is your home.’ The two said that those people whose half was beautiful and half was ugly [ فَاِنَّهُمْ خَلَطُوْا عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَآخَرَ سَيِّئًا تَجَاوَزَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمْ ] these are the people who did righteous deeds and mixed with them bad deeds, so Allah Almighty forgave them.” [ بخاری، التفسیر، باب قولہ : « وآخرون اعترفوا بذنوبہم» : ۴۶۷۴ ]

12. 1 These are those sincere Muslims who, without any valid excuse and merely out of laziness, did not go with the Prophet to Tabuk, but later realized their mistake and confessed their sin.

12. 2 "Good deeds" refers to those righteous acts they performed before staying behind from jihad, including participation in various battles, and "some bad" refers specifically to their staying behind at the time of Tabuk.

12. 3 Hope from Allah gives certainty, meaning Allah turned towards them, accepted their confession of sin as repentance, and forgave them.

102. And there are others who have confessed their sins [116]; they have mixed a righteous deed with another that was bad. It is hoped that Allah will turn to them in mercy. Surely, Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.

[116]
The Seven Muslims Who Stayed Behind from the Battle of Tabuk and Tied Themselves to a Pillar of the Mosque:

When youﷺ returned from the Battle of Tabuk, more than (80) hypocrites came to youﷺ, presenting various excuses and swearing oaths to assure you that they were truly excused. Youﷺ did not reproach them; you only said, "May Allah forgive you." Apart from them, there were seven Muslims who had stayed behind and had no valid excuse except that, due to laziness, they could not participate in jihad. Before youﷺ questioned them, they confessed their guilt by tying themselves to a pillar of the Prophet's Mosque and forbade themselves from sleep and food and drink, swearing that they would remain tied in this way until the Messenger of Allahﷺ himself untied these guilty and captive ones with his own hand, even if they were to die in that state. At the forefront among them was Abu Lubabah bin Abd al-Mundhir, who had embraced Islam at the time of the Pledge of Aqabah before the Prophet's migration, and had participated in the Battle of Badr and other campaigns, but in this Battle of Tabuk, weakness of the soul overcame him and he stayed behind. The rest of his six companions also had a spotless past life. Seeing their condition, youﷺ said, "By Allah, until Allah commands, I cannot untie them." Thus, for several days, these people remained tied to the pillar without food, drink, or sleep, until they fell unconscious. Then, when these verses were revealed, youﷺ untied them with your own hand and gave them the glad tidings of acceptance of their repentance.