Surah Al-Hashr (59) — Ayah 2

(Ayah 2) ➊ By bringing the definite predicate {’’ الَّذِيْ ‘‘} after the subject {هُوَ الَّذِيْۤ اَخْرَجَ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا مِنْ اَهْلِ الْكِتٰبِ مِنْ دِيَارِهِمْ : ’’ هُوَ ‘‘}, exclusivity is created in the speech, meaning that Allah, Whose glorification is done by everything in the heavens and everything on the earth, and Who alone is the Mighty, the Wise, it is He Who expelled those among the People of the Book who disbelieved from their homes; besides Him, there was no one to expel them. This is said so that the Muslims do not consider their exile without battle as their own bravery, but rather as a favor from Allah, and thus glorify and praise Him and show gratitude to Him alone. Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) said regarding {’’ هُوَ الَّذِيْۤ اَخْرَجَ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا مِنْ اَهْلِ الْكِتٰبِ ‘‘} that it refers to the Jews of Banu Nadir. This has been said by Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Zuhri, and many others. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived in Madinah, he made peace with them and entered into a pact that neither he would fight them nor would they fight him, but they broke the covenant they had made with him, so Allah sent upon them such a punishment that could not be averted and enforced upon them such a decree that could not be avoided. Thus, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) exiled them and expelled them from their strong and secure fortresses, which the Muslims had never even hoped to obtain, and about which the Jews thought that they would save them from the punishment of Allah, but they did not benefit them at all, and from Allah came upon them such a grip as they had never imagined.

The details of this incident are mentioned in the books of hadith and biography, in which there are several accounts of their breaking the covenant. One of them is narrated in Sunan Abu Dawud: Abdur Rahman bin Ka'b bin Malik narrated from a companion of the Prophet (may Allah be pleased with them): "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was in Madinah, and the Battle of Badr had not yet taken place, when the disbelievers of Quraysh wrote to Abdullah bin Ubayy and his idolatrous companions among the Aws and Khazraj, saying: 'You have given shelter to our companion. We swear by Allah that you must either fight him or expel him, or we will all come together against you, kill your fighting men, and take away your women.' When this letter reached Abdullah bin Ubayy and his idolatrous companions, they gathered to fight the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was informed, he met them and said: [ لَقَدْ بَلَغَ وَعِيْدُ قُرَيْشٍ مِّنْكُمُ الْمَبَالِغَ مَا كَانَتْ تَكِيْدُكُمْ بِأَكْثَرَ مِمَّا تُرِيْدُوْنَ أَنْ تَكِيْدُوْا بِهِ أَنْفُسَكُمْ تُرِيْدُوْنَ أَنْ تُقَاتِلُوْا أَبْنَاءَكُمْ وَ إِخْوَانَكُمْ ] 'The threat of Quraysh has greatly affected you; they could not have harmed you more than you are harming yourselves by wanting to fight your own sons and brothers.' When they heard this from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), they dispersed. The disbelievers of Quraysh also heard of this, so after the incident of Badr, they wrote to the Jews, saying: 'You are people of arms and fortresses; you must fight our companion, or we will do this and that, and nothing will stand between us and the anklets of your women.' When this letter reached Banu Nadir, they agreed to break the covenant and sent a message to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he should come to them with thirty men from his companions, and thirty of their scholars would come to him, and they would meet in a middle place. They would listen to his words, and if they confirmed him and believed in him, then they too would believe in him. The companion narrated that when the next day came, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took the armies and besieged them and said to them: [ إِنَّكُمْ وَاللّٰهِ ! لاَ تَأْمَنُوْنَ عِنْدِيْ إِلاَّ بِعَهْدٍ تُعَاهِدُوْنِيْ عَلَيْهِ ] 'By Allah! You will have no security with me until you make a new covenant with me.' They refused to make any covenant or agreement with him, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) continued to fight them that day, then the next day took the armies to Banu Qurayzah and left Banu Nadir, and invited them to make a pact, so they made a pact with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He left them and returned, then took the army to Banu Nadir and continued to fight them until they came down from their fortresses on the condition of exile. Thus, Banu Nadir were exiled and took with them whatever they could carry on their camels of their belongings, doors, and wood from their houses. The date palms of Banu Nadir were exclusively for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); Allah granted them to him and specified them for him alone, as Allah said: «وَ مَاۤ اَفَآءَ اللّٰهُ عَلٰى رَسُوْلِهٖ مِنْهُمْ فَمَاۤ اَوْجَفْتُمْ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ خَيْلٍ وَّ لَا رِكَابٍ » [ الحشر : ۶ ] 'And whatever (wealth) Allah restored to His Messenger from them, you did not spur any horses or camels for it.' That is, it was obtained without fighting. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave most of it to the Muhajirun and distributed it among them, and gave a portion to two Ansar who were in need. Except for these two, no Ansar was given anything from it, and the rest remained as charity of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), which remained with the descendants of Fatimah." [ أبو داوٗد، الخراج والفيء والإمارۃ، باب في خبر النضیر : ۳۰۰۴، قال الألباني صحیح الإسناد ] From this hadith, it is known that Banu Nadir not only broke the covenant but also flatly refused to renew it, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) besieged them because of their breaking the covenant and eventually exiled them.

After quoting this hadith, Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The authors of Seerah and Maghazi have summarized the story of the expedition of Banu Nadir and its cause as follows: When the companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) were martyred at Bi'r Ma'unah, seventy (70) in number, one of them, Amr bin Umayyah Damri (may Allah be pleased with him), escaped and, on his way back to Madinah, found an opportunity and killed two men from the tribe of Banu Amir (thinking he was avenging the martyrs of Bi'r Ma'unah), although this tribe had a pact with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and he had granted them safety, but Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) was unaware of this. When he reached Madinah and mentioned it to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he said: 'You have killed them; now I will pay their blood money in any case.' There was also an alliance and reconciliation between Banu Nadir and Banu Amir, so the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) went to them so that they would contribute and he would contribute, and Banu Amir would be appeased. The fortresses of Banu Nadir were several miles to the east of Madinah. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived there to seek their cooperation in paying the blood money, they said: 'Yes, O Abu al-Qasim! As you wish, we will help you in every way.' Meanwhile, away from him, they consulted among themselves, saying: 'When will we get a better opportunity than this? He is in our grasp; let us finish him.' So it was decided that someone should climb the house against which he was sitting and throw a large stone on him and rid us of him. Amr bin Juhash bin Ka'b took up the task and climbed onto the roof, intending to roll down the stone, but Allah sent Jibril (peace be upon him) to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and ordered him to get up from there. So he immediately got up, and with him was a group of his companions, including Abu Bakr, Umar, and Ali (may Allah be pleased with them). He immediately set out for Madinah. Meanwhile, those companions who were not with him and were waiting for him in Madinah, due to his delay, set out to search for him. During this, a man coming from Madinah informed them that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had reached Madinah, so the companions returned and reached the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He informed them of the treachery of the Jews and ordered them to prepare for war, and set out with the companions towards them. The Jews, seeing the armies, barricaded themselves in their fortresses. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) besieged them and ordered that their date palms nearby be cut down. The Jews began to wail: 'What is happening? You used to forbid others from corruption in the land and called the corrupt evil, so what is happening now?' Thus, the grief of the trees being cut and the despair of the help that was supposed to come, both broke the backs of these Jews." (Ibn Kathir)

➋ The meaning of { لِاَوَّلِ الْحَشْرِ : ’’ الْحَشْرِ ‘‘} is "to gather." {’’أَوَّلٌ‘‘} is an adjective annexed to its described noun. So, originally it is {’’ لِلْحَشْرِ الْأَوَّلِ‘‘}, meaning Allah expelled Banu Nadir from their homes at the very beginning of their gathering. Or the word {’’أَوَّلٌ‘‘} is annexed in reality to {’’ الْحَشْرِ ‘‘}, and the meaning is that Allah expelled them at the very start of the gathering, so there was no need for fighting, and by Allah's power, they themselves agreed to exile. Shah Waliullah translated it as: "At the first gathering of the army." And Shah Abdul Qadir translated it as: "At the very first clash (encounter)."

➌ { مَا ظَنَنْتُمْ اَنْ يَّخْرُجُوْا :} Banu Nadir lived two miles from Madinah; these people, besides industry, crafts, and trade, were very wealthy due to usury. They had all kinds of war equipment and had built very strong fortresses. In numbers, they were not less than the Muslims; the Jews of Banu Qurayzah and Khaybar were behind them, and they also had the support of Abdullah bin Ubayy and the hypocrites, who assured them of all kinds of help in battle. Therefore, it never occurred to the Muslims that they would leave without a fight as soon as they encountered them.

➍ The meaning of {وَ ظَنُّوْۤا اَنَّهُمْ مَّانِعَتُهُمْ حُصُوْنُهُمْ مِّنَ اللّٰهِ : ’’ظَنٌّ‘‘} is both assumption and certainty, as in Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah (46): «الَّذِيْنَ يَظُنُّوْنَ اَنَّهُمْ مُّلٰقُوْا رَبِّهِمْ ». That is, the Jews assumed, rather were certain, that they were so secure that their fortresses would save them even from Allah.

➎ { فَاَتٰىهُمُ اللّٰهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَمْ يَحْتَسِبُوْا : ’’حَسِبَ يَحْسِبُ‘‘} means to assume. In {’’اِحْتَسَبَ ‘‘}, due to the extra letters, there is emphasis, meaning Allah came upon them from where they had not the slightest assumption.

➏ The meaning of {وَ قَذَفَ فِيْ قُلُوْبِهِمُ الرُّعْبَ : ’’ قَذَفَ ‘‘} is to throw stones, etc. The meaning is that Allah suddenly and intensely cast terror into their hearts. It is explained here from where Allah came upon them, that is, they kept fortifying their fortresses, walls, doors, and roofs, and blocked the entrances from the streets and alleys, but Allah directly cast awe, i.e., intense fear of the Muslims, into their hearts. When the heart itself was not steadfast, how could their fortresses save them? All their supporters, too, became extremely frightened like them and abandoned them. Thus, they themselves requested to come down on the condition that their lives and property be safe, and they would leave. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) allowed them to take whatever they could except weapons and exiled them. Some of them settled in Khaybar, and some went towards Syria. Casting terror into the enemy's heart is a great help from Allah, and our noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was helped with it more than any other prophet. Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: [ أُعْطِيْتُ خَمْسًا لَمْ يُعْطَهُنَّ أَحَدٌ قَبْلِيْ، نُصِرْتُ بِالرُّعْبِ مَسِيْرَةَ شَهْرٍ ] [ بخاري، التیمم، باب : ۳۳۵ ] "I have been given five things which were not given to anyone before me (one of them is) I have been helped with awe from a month's distance." Then he mentioned the remaining four things. In the Qur'an, Allah has also promised to help the Muslims by casting awe into the hearts of the disbelievers due to their polytheism; see Surah Al-Imran (151, 150).

➐ {يُخْرِبُوْنَ بُيُوْتَهُمْ بِاَيْدِيْهِمْ :} When they became certain that they had to leave, they began to demolish their houses with their own hands from inside. The reason for this was, firstly, jealousy towards the Muslims so that their houses would not benefit them, and secondly, so that they could take their doors, windows, beams, and rafters with them.

➑ { وَ اَيْدِي الْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ :} Those people were demolishing their houses from inside the siege, and the Muslims were demolishing their crops, walls, and houses from outside, so that the way for entry would be opened and, if there was fighting, a wide field would be available. And it is also possible that they were taking out whatever they could, and the Muslims were further demolishing their already demolished houses to extract the remaining goods.

➒ { فَاعْتَبِرُوْا يٰۤاُولِي الْاَبْصَارِ :} So, O people of insight! Take a lesson from this as to what is the outcome of disbelief, rebellion, and breach of covenant, for the truly fortunate is the one who learns from the example of others. Ibn Juzayy said in his Tafsir {’’اَلتَّسْهِيْلُ لِعُلُوْمِ التَّنْزِيْلِ‘‘}: "Those who establish analogy (qiyas) in jurisprudence have used this verse as evidence, although their use of this verse as evidence is weak and outside the meaning of the verse."