Surah Al-Fath (48) — Ayah 25

(Ayah 25) ➊ {هُمُ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا وَ صَدُّوْكُمْ عَنِ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ:} This describes the excess of the people of Makkah, which Allah has declared a disgrace for them, and that is that instead of believing in the Messenger of Allah, they persisted in disbelief and prevented the Muslims from entering Masjid al-Haram, from performing Tawaf, and from fulfilling other rites of Umrah, and became ready to fight, even though the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and the Muslims had not come with the intention of fighting, nor had they brought full weapons, rather they were in the state of Ihram. Fighting aside, in that state they could not even harm anyone.

➋ {وَ الْهَدْيَ مَعْكُوْفًا اَنْ يَّبْلُغَ مَحِلَّهٗ: ’’ الْهَدْيَ ‘‘} A verbal noun with the meaning of a passive participle: {’’أَيْ اَلْأَنْعَامُ الْمَهْدِيَّةُ‘‘} those cattle that are brought to the Ka'bah for sacrifice. This word, being a verbal noun, is used for singular, plural, masculine, and feminine. {’’ مَعْكُوْفًا ‘‘ ’’عَكَفَ يَعْكُفُ‘‘} is a passive participle from (ن). {’’عَكَفَ‘‘} is also used intransitively, meaning "to make it obligatory to stay in one place," as He said: « وَ اَنْتُمْ عٰكِفُوْنَ فِي الْمَسٰجِدِ » [ البقرۃ : ۱۸۷ ] "when you are in retreat in the mosques." Here it is used transitively: {’’عَكَفَهُ أَيْ حَبَسَهُ۔‘‘ ’’ مَعْكُوْفًا ‘‘} that which has been detained in one place. {’’ الْهَدْيَ ‘‘} is in the accusative because it is conjoined to the pronoun in {’’ صَدُّوْكُمْ ‘‘} and is accusative due to being a circumstantial qualifier from {’’ مَعْكُوْفًا ‘‘ ’’ الْهَدْيَ ‘‘}, meaning these are the people who disbelieved and prevented you from Masjid al-Haram and also prevented the sacrificial animals, while they were detained from reaching their place of being lawful. That is, even the sacrificial animals were not allowed to enter Makkah, which is the original place for the sacrifices of Umrah and Hajj to become lawful. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had brought sacrificial camels with him, and when the disbelievers refused to allow entry into Makkah and the performance of Umrah that year and postponed it to the following year, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sacrificed those animals at the place of Hudaybiyyah and shaved his head, thus exiting Ihram.

➌ {وَ لَوْ لَا رِجَالٌ مُّؤْمِنُوْنَ وَ نِسَآءٌ مُّؤْمِنٰتٌ …: ’’ تَطَـُٔوْهُمْ ‘‘ ’’وَطِئَ يَطَأُ وَطْأً‘‘} (س) to trample, to crush. This is the present tense, active voice, masculine plural, second person. {’’ مَعَرَّةٌ‘‘} disgrace, sin, loss. In this verse, Allah has mentioned two reasons for not allowing fighting at that time: one is that among the polytheists of Makkah, there were also many believing men and believing women, whom the Muslims did not know. Some of them had already become Muslim but had concealed their faith, and some had openly become Muslim but, due to helplessness, could not migrate to Madinah and were suffering from the oppression and tyranny of the disbelievers. If there had been an attack on Makkah, those believing men and women would also have been trampled along with the polytheists, which would have been a disgrace for the Muslims, that they killed their own brothers and sisters, even though such killing would have been due to ignorance. The disgrace refers to the blame from the disbelievers that the Muslims killed their own brothers, and also the grief and sorrow that would arise in the hearts of the Muslims from killing their own brothers, otherwise, during war, if a Muslim living among the disbelievers is killed, there is neither blood money nor expiation nor blame. Allah prevented the war so that such a situation would not arise and no accusation could be leveled against the Muslims. Note that from {’’ وَ لَوْ لَا رِجَالٌ مُّؤْمِنُوْنَ ‘‘} to {’’ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ ‘‘} is a conditional clause, its consequence is omitted because it is self-evident, i.e., if this hindrance had not existed, "then your hands would not have been restrained, rather an attack would have been made on the people of Makkah."

➍ { لِيُدْخِلَ اللّٰهُ فِيْ رَحْمَتِهٖ مَنْ يَّشَآءُ:} This is the second reason for restraining the Muslims from fighting at that time: that Allah wanted to grant many of the polytheists the ability to believe and admit them into His mercy, which was only possible through peace and mutual interaction between the disbelievers and the Muslims. If fighting had occurred, they would not have had the opportunity to think, understand, and accept Islam, and who knows how many would have been killed in a state of disbelief. Indeed, as a result of this peace, countless people entered Islam; the Muslims who came in the year 6 AH were only fourteen hundred, but in just two years, those who came to conquer Makkah numbered ten thousand, and upon the conquest of Makkah and the announcement of general amnesty for the polytheists, the entire city of Makkah became Muslim. (And all praise is due to Allah)

➎ {لَوْ تَزَيَّلُوْا لَعَذَّبْنَا الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا … : ’’ تَزَيَّلُوْا ‘‘ ’’ تَزَيَّلَ يَتَزَيَّلُ تَزَيُّلاً ‘‘} (Form V) to separate from one another. That is, if at that time there had been a complete distinction between the Muslims and disbelievers residing in Makkah, and those who had already become Muslim or were destined to become Muslim in the future had separated and become distinct from the disbelievers, then We would have inflicted such a painful punishment on the disbelievers of Makkah that they would either have been killed in battle or, being captured, would have been humiliated and disgraced.

➏ From this verse, it is evident that the existence of believers in the world is also a cause of mercy for the disbelievers, in that sometimes, due to their presence, even the disbelievers are saved from punishment. See also Surah Al-Anfal (33).