Surah Muhammad (47) — Ayah 20

(Ayah 20) ➊ { وَ يَقُوْلُ الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا لَوْ لَا نُزِّلَتْ سُوْرَةٌ:} Before this, Allah Almighty described the state of the hypocrites and the believers at the time of hearing those verses which are related to monotheism, the Hereafter, and other matters of belief. Thus, in {’’ وَ مِنْهُمْ مَّنْ يَّسْتَمِعُ اِلَيْكَ ‘‘}, the state of the hypocrites was described, and in {’’ وَ الَّذِيْنَ اهْتَدَوْا زَادَهُمْ هُدًى ‘‘}, the state of the believers was described. Now, regarding the verses related to actions, such as jihad, prayer, and zakat, etc., their attitude is described. That is, sincere believers were always waiting and hoping for the revelation of such commands, so that by acting upon them, they can attain as much closeness to Allah Almighty as possible. When there is a delay in its revelation, they say why has no such verse or surah been revealed? And the state of the hypocrites was that when any such verse or surah involving hardship was revealed, it was very hard on them, especially when jihad was mentioned, their eyes would remain wide open out of fear and terror.

➋ { وَ يَقُوْلُ الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا لَوْ لَا نُزِّلَتْ سُوْرَةٌ:} After migration, although with the verse (39) of Surah Al-Hajj: « اُذِنَ لِلَّذِيْنَ يُقٰتَلُوْنَ بِاَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوْا » (Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they have been wronged), permission to fight the disbelievers had been granted, but the clear command of its obligation had not yet come. The sincere believers, who were extremely distressed by the oppression and persecution of the disbelievers and were desirous of victory or martyrdom, kept saying why has no surah commanding jihad been revealed.

➌ { فَاِذَاۤ اُنْزِلَتْ سُوْرَةٌ مُّحْكَمَةٌ وَّ ذُكِرَ فِيْهَا الْقِتَالُ:} By a decisive surah is meant a surah in which the command given is clear, in which no interpretation can be made, nor is it abrogated. What is meant by this is this very Surah Muhammad (peace be upon him), which is also called Surah Qital, because in it, instead of {’’جَاهِدُوْا‘‘} (strive in jihad) or {’’ قَاتِلُوْا ‘‘} (fight), the command of fighting is given in the absolutely explicit words of {’’ فَضَرْبَ الرِّقَابِ ‘‘}, that when you encounter the disbelievers, strike their necks, and after much bloodshed, take them captive, etc.

➍ { رَاَيْتَ الَّذِيْنَ فِيْ قُلُوْبِهِمْ مَّرَضٌ … :} That is, when a surah with a clear command of fighting was revealed, this was the state of the hypocrites. Shah Abdul Qadir writes: "The Muslims were asking for a surah, that is, being helpless from the torment of the disbelievers, they wished that Allah would command jihad so that we could do whatever we could. When the command of jihad came, it was heavy on the hypocrites and the weak people, and they began to look at the Prophet with frightened and lifeless eyes, wishing that we might be excused from this command. In extreme fear, even the brightness of the eyes does not remain, just as at the time of death the light of the eyes departs." (Muwadhih) For verses of this subject, see Surah An-Nisa (77) and Surah Al-Ahzab (19).

➎ { فَاَوْلٰى لَهُمْ:} The commentators have given various explanations of this word, among which the clearest and most free from affectation is that it is the superlative form from {’’ وَلِيَ يَلِيْ وَلْيًا ‘‘} (s), which means more deserving, closer, better. Now its construction can be in two ways: one is that it is the predicate of an omitted subject which is understood from the previous sentence, that is, {’’فَالْمَوْتُ أَوْلٰي لَهُمْ‘‘} "So death is better for them, or death is more deserving for them." The second explanation is given by Hafiz Ibn Kathir, that {’’ فَاَوْلٰى لَهُمْ ‘‘} is the preceding predicate and in the next verse {’’ طَاعَةٌ وَّ قَوْلٌ مَّعْرُوْفٌ ‘‘} is the delayed subject. In his words, the phrase is as follows: {’’ طَاعَةٌ وَّ قَوْلٌ مَّعْرُوْفٌ أَوْلٰي لَهُمْ، أَيْ وَكَانَ الْأَوْلٰي لَهُمْ أَنْ يَّسْمَعُوْا وَ يُطِيْعُوْا ‘‘} that is, it was better for them that they listened and obeyed.