33:13 Al-Ahzaab (The Clans)

{ وَإِذْ قَالَتْ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْهُمْ } من المنافقين، بعد ما جزعوا وقلَّ صبرهم، وصاروا أيضًا من المخذولين، فلا صبروا بأنفسهم، ولا تركوا الناس من شرهم، فقالت هذه الطائفة: { يَا أَهْلَ يَثْرِبَ } يريدون { يا أهل المدينة } فنادوهم باسم الوطن المنبئ [عن التسمية] فيه إشارة إلى أن الدين والأخوة الإيمانية، ليس له في قلوبهم قدر، وأن الذي حملهم على ذلك، مجرد الخور الطبيعي.{ يَا أَهْلَ يَثْرِبَ لَا مُقَامَ لَكُمْ } أي: في موضعكم الذي خرجتم إليه خارج المدينة، وكانوا عسكروا دون الخندق، وخارج المدينة، { فَارْجِعُوا } إلى المدينة، فهذه الطائفة تخذل عن الجهاد، وتبين أنهم لا قوة لهم بقتال عدوهم، ويأمرونهم بترك القتال، فهذه الطائفة، شر الطوائف وأضرها، وطائفة أخرى دونهم، أصابهم الجبن والجزع، وأحبوا أن ينخزلوا عن الصفوف، فجعلوا يعتذرون بالأعذار الباطلة، وهم الذين قال اللّه فيهم: { وَيَسْتَأْذِنُ فَرِيقٌ مِنْهُمُ النَّبِيَّ يَقُولُونَ إِنَّ بُيُوتَنَا عَوْرَةٌ } أي: عليها الخطر، ونخاف عليها أن يهجم عليها الأعداء، ونحن غُيَّبٌ عنها، فَأْذَنْ لنا نرجع إليها، فنحرسها، وهم كذبة في ذلك.{ وَمَا هِيَ بِعَوْرَةٍ إِنْ يُرِيدُونَ } أي: ما قصدهم { إِلَّا فِرَارًا } ولكن جعلوا هذا الكلام، وسيلة وعذرًا. [لهم] فهؤلاء قل إيمانهم، وليس له ثبوت عند اشتداد المحن.

وقوم آخرون قالوا كما قال الله تعالى "وإذ قالت طائفة منهم يا أهل يثرب" يعني المدينة كما جاء في الصحيح "أريت في المنام دار هجرتكم أرض بين حرتين فذهب وهلي أنها هجر فإذا هي يثرب" وفي لفظ المدينة فأما الحديث الذي رواه الإمام أحمد حدثنا إبراهيم بن مهدي حدثنا صالح بن عمر عن يزيد بن أبي زياد عن عبد الرحمن بن أبي ليلى عن البراء رضي الله عنه قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم "من سمى المدينة يثرب فليستغفر الله تعالى إنما هي طابة هي طابة" تفرد به الإمام أحمد وفي إسناده ضعف والله أعلم ويقال إنما كان أصل تسميتها يثرب برجل نزلها من العماليق يقال له يثرب بن عبيد بن مهلاييل بن عوص بن عملاق بن لاوذ بن إرم بن سام بن نوح. قاله السهيلي قال وروي عن بعضهم أنه قال: إن لها في التوراة أحد عشر اسما: المدينة وطابة وطيبة والمسكينة والجابرة والمحبة والمحبوبة والقاصمة والمجبورة والعذراء والمرحرمة. وعن كعب الأحبار قال: إنا نجد في التوراة يقول الله تعالى للمدينة يا طيبة ويا طابة ويا مسكينة لا تقلي الكنوز أرفع أحاجرك على أحاجر القرى وقوله "لا مقام لكم" أي ههنا يعنون عند النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فى مقام المرابطة "فارجعوا" أي إلى بيوتكم ومنازلكم "ويستأذن فريق منهم النبي" قال العوفي عن ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما هم بنو حارثة قالوا بيوتنا نخاف عليها السراق وكذا قال غير واحد وذكر ابن إسحاق أن القائل لذلك هو أوس بن قيظي يعني اعتذروا في الرجوع إلى منازلهم بأنها عورة أي ليس دونها ما يحجبها من العدو فهم يخشون عليها منهم قال الله تعالى "وما هي بعورة" أي ليست كما يزعمون "إن يريدون إلا فرارا" أي هربا من الزحف.

How the Believers were tested, and the Position of the Hypocrites during the Battle of Al-Khandaq

Allah tells us what happened when the Confederates surrounded Al-Madinah and the Muslims were besieged and found themselves in straitened circumstances, with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in their midst. They were tried and tested, and were shaken with a mighty shaking. At this time hypocrisy emerged, and those in whose hearts was a disease spoke about what they really felt.

وَإِذْ يَقُولُ الْمُنَـفِقُونَ وَالَّذِينَ فِى قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ مَّا وَعَدَنَا اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ إِلاَّ غُرُوراً

(And when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a disease said: "Allah and His Messenger promised us nothing but delusion!") Their hypocrisy became apparent, while the one in whose heart was doubt became weak, and he expressed the ideas that were in his heart because of the weakness of his faith and the difficulty of the situation. And other people said, as Allah tells us:

وَإِذْ قَالَت طَّآئِفَةٌ مِّنْهُمْ يأَهْلَ .يَثْرِبَ

(And when a party of them said: "O people of Yathrib...") meaning Al-Madinah, as it was reported in the Sahih:

«أُرِيتُ فِي الْمَنَامِ دَارَ هِجْرَتِكُمْ، أَرْضٌ بَيْنَ حَرَّتَيْنِ، فَذَهَبَ وَهَلِي أَنَّهَا هَجَرُ فَإِذَا هِيَ يَثْرِب»

(I was shown in a dream the place to which you will migrate, a land between two lava fields. At first I thought it was Hajar, but it turned out to be Yathrib.) According to another narration:

«الْمَدِينَة»

(Al-Madinah. ) It was said that the origin of its name Yathrib was that a man settled there from (the people of) Al-`Amaliq whose name was Yathrib bin `Ubayd bin Mahlayil bin `Aws bin `Amlaq bin Lawudh bin Iram bin Sam bin Nuh. This was the view of As-Suhayli. He said: "And it was narrated from some of them that he said, `It is given eleven names in the Tawrah: Al-Madinah, Tabah, Tayyibah, Al-Miskinah, Al-Jabirah, Al-Muhibbah, Al-Mahbubah, Al-Qasimah, Al-Majburah, Al-`Adhra' and Al-Marhumah."' r

لاَ مُقَامَ لَكُمْ

(There is no position for you.) means, `here, with the Prophet , you cannot stand guard,'

فَارْجِعُواْ

(Therefore go back) means, `to your houses and dwellings'.

وَيَسْتَأْذِنُ فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمُ النَّبِىَّ

(And a band of them ask for permission of the Prophet) Al-`Awfi reported that Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him said, "These were Banu Harithah, who said, `We fear for our homes, that they may be robbed."' This was also stated by others. Ibn Ishaq mentioned that the one who said this was `Aws bin Qayzi. They were using as an excuse to go back to their houses the claim that they were lying open and had nothing to protect them from the enemy, so they were afraid for their homes. But Allah said:

وَمَا هِىَ بِعَوْرَةٍ

(And they lay not open.) meaning, it is not as they claim.

إِن يُرِيدُونَ إِلاَّ فِرَاراً

(They but wished to flee.) means, they wanted to run away from the battlefield.

And when a party of them namely the hypocrites said ‘O people of Yathrib! namely the region of Medina it Yathriba is a diptote because of its being a proper noun and because of the morphological similarity it bears to a verbal form there is not a stand possible read muqām or maqām for you here in other words no place to stay and no strategic position so turn back to your dwellings in Medina — they had set out with the Prophet s towards the foot of a mountain outside Medina for battle. And a group of them even sought the permission of the Prophet to turn back saying ‘Our homes are exposed unprotected and we fear for them’. God exalted be He says although they were not exposed. They only sought to flee from battle.

The second state mentioned here is that of the hypocrites for they had started saying that the promises of Allah and His Rasul ﷺ were a web of deception: إِذْ يَقُولُ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَ‌ضٌ مَّا وَعَدَنَا اللَّـهُ وَرَ‌سُولُهُ إِلَّا غُرُ‌ورً‌ا (And (remember) when the hypocrites and those having malady in their hearts were saying, "Allah and His messenger did not promise us but deceitfully; -12). This was an externalized demonstration of their inner disbelief. Onward from here, mention has been made of two groups of hypocrites who were practically a part of the Jihad effort along with Muslims, though outwardly only. One of the two groups started running without any permission saying: وَإِذْ قَالَت طَّائِفَةٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَا أَهْلَ يَثْرِ‌بَ لَا مُقَامَ لَكُمْ فَارْ‌جِعُوا (and when a group of them said, "0 people of Yathrib (Madinah), there is no place for you to stay; so go back. - 13" And the other group requested the permission of the Holy Prophet ﷺ to go back on the basis of false excuses. Their conduct has been mentioned as: وَيَسْتَأْذِنُ فَرِ‌يقٌ مِّنْهُمُ النَّبِيَّ يَقُولُونَ إِنَّ بُيُوتَنَا عَوْرَ‌ةٌ (And a group of them was seeking permission (to leave) from the prophet, saying, "In fact our homes are vulnerable," while they were not vulnerable - 13). Thus, the Qur'an exposed the hollowness of their excuses as a pack of lies. The truth of the matter was no more than that they intended to run from the battlefront:إِن يُرِ‌يدُونَ إِلَّا فِرَ‌ارً‌ا (They wanted nothing but to escape - 13). Taken up in the next several verses is their mischief-making and enmity with Muslims following which their sad end has been pointed out.

After that, the text mentions sincere believers and praises their firmness and fortitude. In the same connection, there comes a strong assertion of the need to obey and follow the Holy Prophet ﷺ almost in the form of a legal rule of conduct: لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَ‌سُولِ اللَّـهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ (There is indeed a good model for you in the Messenger of Allah - 21). From here it stands proved that all sayings and doings of the Holy Prophet ﷺ have to be followed. But, the Shari'ah authorities have explained the rule about the different degrees of following required from a Muslim. The rule is that any act or omission of the Holy Prophet ﷺ proved to have been done as an obligation would have to be obeyed and followed as wajib (obligatory, necessary). And any act or omission on his part that is proved to have been done as a preferable conduct (istihbab) and not as an obligatory one, should be followed by us too as a commendable (mustahab) conduct and not as a necessary obligation This, in other words, means that its contravention will not be declared to be a sin. (For a detailed discussion, see al-Jassas in Ahkam ul-Qur'an)

The last three (25-27) of the cited verses refer to the event relating to Banu Quraizah. In verse 26: وَأَنزَلَ الَّذِينَ ظَاهَرُ‌وهُم مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ مِن صَيَاصِيهِمْ it was said that Allah Ta’ ala had, by putting the awe of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his Muslim followers into the hearts of the people of the Book who had helped the Confederate forces, made them come down from their strong fortresses and had thus made Muslims the inheritors of their properties, homes and areas of concentration.

In the last verse (27), good news of future victories has been given. Gone is the time when disbelievers attacked. Now the cycle of Muslim victories will begin and they will come to be on lands their feet have not touched yet. And this prophecy unfolded itself during the tenure of the noble Sahabah and everyone witnessed the spectacle of great empires ruled by Cyrus and Caesar come under them. And Allah does what He wills.