Surah Al-Fath (48) — Ayah 20

(Ayah 20) ➊ { وَعَدَكُمُ اللّٰهُ مَغَانِمَ كَثِيْرَةً تَاْخُذُوْنَهَا:} By these many spoils are meant the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, Khaybar, and the surrounding areas and towns, because it has already been mentioned: « سَيَقُوْلُ الْمُخَلَّفُوْنَ اِذَا انْطَلَقْتُمْ اِلٰى مَغَانِمَ لِتَاْخُذُوْهَا ذَرُوْنَا نَتَّبِعْكُمْ يُرِيْدُوْنَ اَنْ يُّبَدِّلُوْا كَلٰمَ اللّٰهِ قُلْ لَّنْ تَتَّبِعُوْنَا كَذٰلِكُمْ قَالَ اللّٰهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ فَسَيَقُوْلُوْنَ بَلْ تَحْسُدُوْنَنَا بَلْ كَانُوْا لَا يَفْقَهُوْنَ اِلَّا قَلِيْلًا» [ الفتح : ۱۵ ] "Soon those who were left behind will say, when you set out towards the spoils to take them, 'Let us follow you.' They want to change the words of Allah. Say, 'You will never follow us; thus Allah has said before.' Then they will surely say, 'Rather, you envy us.' But they understood only a little."
➋ {فَعَجَّلَ لَكُمْ هٰذِهٖ:} So He granted you this spoils quickly, meaning the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, in which an agreement was made between you and Quraysh that there would be no war for ten years and the Muslims would come next year in the same month to perform ‘Umrah. As a result, Muslims and Quraysh began to visit each other, mingle, and countless people embraced Islam; the door to the conquest of Khaybar and other areas was opened. In short, this treaty was both a victory and, in terms of its countless benefits, a spoils. Some commentators have taken this to mean the conquest of Khaybar; this is also possible, but the first interpretation is clearer, because these verses were revealed on the return from Hudaybiyyah.
➌ {وَ كَفَّ اَيْدِيَ النَّاسِ عَنْكُمْ:} Included in Allah restraining the hands of people from the Muslims is that, despite the small number of Muslims, Quraysh of Makkah were prevented from fighting, and the Jews of Khaybar and other areas were prevented from attacking Madinah. This was the awe granted by Allah, that when the entire military strength of the Muslims was outside Madinah, if at that time the Jews, along with their allies and hypocrites, had attacked Madinah, the field would have been empty for them, because there was no one there except women, children, and the disabled. But it was the miracle of Allah’s power that no one was given the courage to do so.
➍ { وَ لِتَكُوْنَ اٰيَةً لِّلْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ:} This phrase is connected by the waw to an implied sentence, and it is implied because it could be any one of several sentences, for example: {’’ فَعَجَّلَ لَكُمْ هٰذِهٖ وَ كَفَّ أَيْدِيَ النَّاسِ عَنْكُمْ لِتَشْكُرُوْهُ وَ لِتَكُوْنَ الْمُعَجَّلَةَ وَ كَفَّ أَيْدِيَ النَّاسِ عَنْكُمْ آيَةً لِّلْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ ‘‘} "That is, He granted you this spoils quickly and restrained the hands of people from you, so that you may give thanks to Him, and so that this quickly granted spoils and the restraining of people’s hands from you may become a sign for the believers (that in the future as well, Allah will help us in this way)." Instead of {’’لِتَشْكُرُوْهُ‘‘}, the implied sentence could also be {’’لِيَحْصُلَ لَهُمُ السَّكِيْنَةُ‘‘} or {’’لِيَزْدَادُوْا إِيْمَانًا‘‘}, etc., and it was omitted for this reason: if it had been mentioned, only one or two things could have been mentioned, whereas there are many things for which Allah granted this spoils beforehand.
➎ { وَ يَهْدِيَكُمْ صِرَاطًا مُّسْتَقِيْمًا:} This sentence is also one of the miracles of the Noble Qur’an, because not a single person from among the people of Hudaybiyyah deviated from the straight path; rather, all of them remained steadfast on Islam until the very end.