Surah At-Tawba (9) — Ayah 102

In the verse {وَ اٰخَرُوْنَ اعْتَرَفُوْا بِذُنُوْبِهِمْ …: ”وَ السّٰبِقُوْنَ الْاَوَّلُوْنَ“ }, the mention is of the best people among the Muslims, and in «{ وَ مِمَّنْ حَوْلَكُمْ مِّنَ الْاَعْرَابِ مُنٰفِقُوْنَ }», the mention is of the worst people who are called Muslims, who will become the fuel of the lowest depths of the Fire, and now the mention is of the common Muslims whose righteous deeds are present, but some evil deeds (bad actions) are also mixed with them. The commentators have mentioned here Abu Lubabah (may Allah be pleased with him) and others, that despite being sincere Muslims, they could not go to Tabuk, so they tied themselves to the pillars of the Prophet’s Mosque, saying that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) himself unties us, we will understand that our repentance has been accepted. Eventually, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) untied them with his own hand by Allah’s command, and at first, he did not accept their charity, but then the next verse «{ خُذْ مِنْ اَمْوَالِهِمْ صَدَقَةً }» was revealed, so he accepted their charity as well. Most of the narrations of this meaning are mursal or weak, however, in {’’الاستيعاب في بيان الأسباب‘‘}, a narration of Ibn Abbas and Jabir (may Allah be pleased with them) has been declared hasan, in which it is mentioned that Abu Lubabah (may Allah be pleased with him) and his companions, after staying behind, tied themselves to the pillars of the mosque, and eventually, by Allah’s command, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) untied them with his own hand, and the verses from «{ وَ اٰخَرُوْنَ اعْتَرَفُوْا بِذُنُوْبِهِمْ }» to «{ اِنَّ صَلٰوتَكَ سَكَنٌ لَّهُمْ }» were revealed. (And Allah knows best.) However, there is no doubt that just as in the verse «{ وَ السّٰبِقُوْنَ الْاَوَّلُوْنَ }», the individuals mentioned include all the righteous followers of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) until the Day of Judgment, similarly, this verse includes all the sinful but sincere Muslims to come until the Day of Judgment, who have mixed some bad deeds with their good deeds. The most authentic tafsir in terms of chain is the one that Imam Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) has recorded in his Sahih in the explanation of this verse, that Samurah bin Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Last night, two visitors came to me, they raised me up, then they took me to a city built of bricks of gold and silver, there I saw some people whose half of the body was like the most beautiful person you have ever seen, and half was like the ugliest person you have ever seen. The two angels said to those people, ‘Enter this river,’ so they entered it, then they returned to us, and the ugliness had left them and they had turned into the best form. The two (angels) said to me, ‘This is the Garden of Eden and that is your home.’ The two said that those people whose half was beautiful and half was ugly [ فَاِنَّهُمْ خَلَطُوْا عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَآخَرَ سَيِّئًا تَجَاوَزَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمْ ] these are the people who did righteous deeds and mixed with them bad deeds, so Allah Almighty forgave them.” [ بخاری، التفسیر، باب قولہ : « وآخرون اعترفوا بذنوبہم» : ۴۶۷۴ ]