Surah At-Tawba (9) — Ayah 14

(Ayah15,14) ➊ {قَاتِلُوْهُمْ يُعَذِّبْهُمُ اللّٰهُ بِاَيْدِيْكُمْ …:} In these two verses, Allah Almighty made five promises to the Muslims in the event of fighting with the covenant-breaking disbelievers, all of which He fulfilled. The first is that {’’يُعَذِّبْهُمُ اللّٰهُ بِاَيْدِيْكُمْ‘‘} meaning, in previous nations, punishment would come from Allah through natural disasters, but now you fight them, Allah will punish them at your hands, which will be in the form of the disbelievers being killed, wounded, captured, and the acquisition of war booty from them. The second is that {’’ يُخْزِهِمْ ‘‘} He will disgrace them, breaking the pride of their military forces, humiliating their government, and making them abased and disgraced. The third is that {’’ وَ يَنْصُرْكُمْ عَلَيْهِمْ ‘‘} He will help you against them and grant you dominance. This is mentioned separately because it could have been that the disbelievers would be humiliated but nothing would come into the hands of the Muslims. The fourth is that {’’وَ يَشْفِ صُدُوْرَ قَوْمٍ مُؤْمِنِيْنَ‘‘} by your fighting and prevailing over them, the hearts of those believers will be healed who suffered oppression and persecution at the hands of these harmful disbelievers. By these are meant those Muslims who were targets of the disbelievers’ harm in Makkah and other places. Some have said that this refers to Banu Khuza‘ah, who were severely harmed by Banu Bakr and Quraysh after they broke their covenant, and indeed these people were among those wounded by the disbelievers. And the fifth is that {’’ وَ يُذْهِبْ غَيْظَ قُلُوْبِهِمْ ‘‘} He will remove the anger from their hearts. Some people have said that this is an emphasis of the healing of the hearts, but in reality, this is a separate blessing. The healing of the hearts refers to the killing and humiliation of those oppressors, and the removal of anger from the hearts refers to the anger that would arise in the Muslims’ hearts due to their helplessness under subjugation by the disbelievers, but they could do nothing; now, with victory and dominance, that anger is removed. And even after the healing of the hearts, the traces of oppression and persecution that remain in the form of anger have a separate status. In addition, when hearing about the oppression and persecution of Muslims all over the world, anger naturally arises in the heart, just as now, hearing the stories of oppression on Muslims in India and Kashmir, Palestine and the Philippines, Burma, Christian and communist countries, the heart becomes angry; by being victorious over the disbelievers, this anger is also remedied.

➋ {وَ يَتُوْبُ اللّٰهُ عَلٰى مَنْ يَّشَآءُ:} Before this, the five words {’’ يُعَذِّبْهُمْ ‘‘ ’’ يُخْزِهِمْ ‘‘ ’’ يَنْصُرْكُمْ عَلَيْهِمْ ‘‘ ’’ يَشْفِ صُدُوْرَ قَوْمٍ مُؤْمِنِيْنَ‘‘} and {’’ يُذْهِبْ غَيْظَ قُلُوْبِهِمْ ‘‘} were jussive present tense verbs, because they were the answer to the imperative { ’’ قَاتِلُوْهُمْ ‘‘} that as a result of fighting, Allah Almighty will grant you these five rewards. Now {’’يَتُوْبُ‘‘} is not jussive but nominative. It is clear that a new matter is beginning here, so it has been translated: “And Allah grants repentance to whom He wills.” The purpose of bringing this sentence here is that, in the case of your jihad, when the necks of the great tyrants are bowed, they will reflect on the truth of Islam, and it is a common observation that people accept the religion and culture of the dominant nation, so as a result, Allah Almighty will also grant many people the ability to repent, as after the conquest of Makkah, ‘Ikrimah bin Abi Jahl, Abu Sufyan, Suhail bin ‘Amr, and besides them, groups upon groups entered Islam. However, instead of making this the answer to {’’ قَاتِلُوْهُمْ ‘‘}, it is mentioned separately because the ability to repent is not limited only to fighting the disbelievers, but Islam is such a clear, radiant, well-argued, and natural religion that some people, even without fighting, embrace it by Allah’s guidance, and it has so much attraction and beauty that even those who try to erase it, and the disbelievers who become victorious over the Muslims, by Allah’s guidance, accept it. At this time, although Muslims are subdued everywhere in the world, Islam is spreading more than all other religions in Europe, America, and countries all over the world. The Tatars, too, after destroying Baghdad, finally took refuge in the embrace of this very Islam, and those who tried to erase Islam became its protectors for centuries.

It is evident from the story of the Tatar invasion,
The Ka‘bah found its protectors from the idol-house.

➌ {وَ اللّٰهُ عَلِيْمٌ حَكِيْمٌ:} He knows everything of the past, present, and future, and according to His perfect wisdom, grants the ability to repent to whom He wills.

➍ From these verses, it is known that the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, were true believers in the knowledge of Allah Almighty; that is why these prophecies were fulfilled at the hands of these very believers. They were the ones who conquered Makkah and the Arabian Peninsula; Rome, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Africa, and Asia, from east to west, Allah Almighty spread Islam through their hands. The mention of them cools the hearts of the believers and fills the hearts of the disbelievers with anger; see the last verse of Surah Al-Fath.

The exegesis of this verse has been done along with the previous verse.

14. Fight them; Allah will punish them by your hands, disgrace them, help you against them, and heal the hearts [13] of the believers.

[13]
After the Declaration of Disassociation, the Arrival of Delegations of Polytheists in Madinah and Their Acceptance of Islam:

The Muslims were thinking that after this declaration of disassociation, they might have to face unknown bitter circumstances, and their apprehensions were not unfounded. In these circumstances, Allah Almighty instructed them regarding two things: first, that they should remain fully prepared for jihad; second, that instead of fearing people, they should fear only Allah and place their trust in Him alone. Thus, Allah cast awe into the hearts of the polytheists, and instead of thinking of confrontation, they came to Madinah in the form of delegations and began accepting Islam. The number of such delegations has been counted as nearly seventy (70), as Allah Almighty has stated in Surah Nasr: ﴿اِذَاجَاءَ نَصْرُ اللّٰهِ وَالْفَتْحُ وَ رَاَيْتَ النَّاسَ يَدْخُلُوْنَ فِيْ دِيْنِ اللّٰهِ اَفْوَاجًا ﴾. Thus, the tribes that accepted Islam, the Prophet ﷺ would entrust the administration of that area to them.

Five Promises to the Muslims as a Result of Jihad:

In verses 14 and 15, Allah Almighty made five promises regarding jihad. In other words, He gave five glad tidings related to the benefits of jihad, all of which were fulfilled. The first is that no earthly or heavenly punishment would befall your enemies; rather, this punishment would be inflicted upon them through your hands, and the beginning of this punishment started from the Battle of Badr itself. The second is that He will disgrace the polytheists. Now, the aspects of disgrace for the polytheists present in the declaration of disassociation, the details of which are given in footnote number 3, what could be a greater disgrace than that? And the interesting thing is that they had no choice but to endure this disgrace. The third is that He will help you against them, and the beginning of this help also started from the Battle of Badr, the details of which have already been given. Then, this help of Allah always remained with the Muslims. The fourth is that the hearts of the Muslims had become very wounded by enduring the oppression and tyranny of the polytheists, and initially, they were not even permitted to raise their hands. They were only instructed to endure their oppression and to forgive. Then, as Allah continued to have these arrogant and rebellious polytheists beaten at the hands of the oppressed and weak Muslims, the hearts of these Muslims became cooled towards them, as the resentments and anger that had settled in their hearts all vanished. And the fifth is that from among these arrogant disbelievers, Allah will grant repentance to whomever He wills, making him your brother and your sympathizer, and there are countless examples of this, which have continued from the beginning of Islam until now.