8:43 Al-Anfaal (The Spoils of War)

وكان اللّه قد أرى رسوله المشركين في الرؤيا عددا قليلا، فبشر بذلك أصحابه، فاطمأنت قلوبهم وتثبتت أفئدتهم‏.‏ ولو أراكهم الله إياهم كَثِيرًا فأخبرت بذلك أصحابك ‏{‏لَفَشِلْتُمْ وَلَتَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي الْأَمْرِ‏}‏ فمنكم من يرى الإقدام على قتالهم، ومنكم من لا يرى ذلك فوقع من الاختلاف والتنازع ما يوجب الفشل‏.‏ ‏{‏وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ سَلَّمَ‏}‏ فلطف بكم ‏{‏إِنَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ‏}‏ أي‏:‏ بما فيها من ثبات وجزع، وصدق وكذب،فعلم اللّه من قلوبكم ما صار سببا للطفه وإحسانه بكم وصدق رؤيا رسوله

قال مجاهد أراهم الله إياه في منامه قليلا وأخبر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أصحابه بذلك فكان تثبيتا لهم وكذا قال ابن إسحق وغير واحد وحكى ابن جرير عن بعضهم أنه رآهم بعينه التي ينام بها وقد روى ابن أبي حاتم حدثنا أبي حدثنا يوسف بن موسى حدثنا أبو قتيبة عن سهل السراج عن الحسن في قوله "إذ يريكهم الله في منامك قليلا" قال بعينك وهذا القول غريب وقد صرح بالمنام ههنا فلا حاجة إلى التأويل الذي لا دليل عليه وقوله "ولو أراكهم كثيرا لفشلتم" أي لجبنتم عنهم واختلفتم فيما بينكم "ولكن الله سلم" أي من ذلك بأن أراكهم قليلا "إنه عليم بذات الصدور" أي بما تجنه الضمائر وتنطوي عليه الأحشاء "يعلم خائنة الأعين وما تخفي الصدور".

Allah made each Group look few in the Eye of the Other

Mujahid said, "In a dream, Allah showed the Prophet the enemy as few. The Prophet conveyed this news to his Companions and their resolve strengthened." Similar was said by Ibn Ishaq and several others. Allah said,

وَلَوْ أَرَاكَهُمْ كَثِيراً لَّفَشِلْتُمْ

(If He had shown them to you as many, you would surely, have been discouraged,) you would have cowardly abstained from meeting them and fell in dispute among yourselves,

وَلَـكِنَّ اللَّهَ سَلَّمَ

(But Allah saved), from all this, when He made you see them as few,

إِنَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ

(Certainly, He is the All-Knower of that is in the breasts.) 8:43.

Allah knows what the heart and the inner-self conceal,

يَعْلَمُ خَآئِنَةَ الاٌّعْيُنِ وَمَا تُخْفِى الصُّدُورُ

(Allah knows the fraud of the eyes, and all that the breasts conceal) 40:19.

Allah's statement,

وَإِذْ يُرِيكُمُوهُمْ إِذِ الْتَقَيْتُمْ فِى أَعْيُنِكُمْ قَلِيلاً

(And (remember) when you met, He showed them to you as few in your eyes) demonstrates Allah's compassion towards the believers. Allah made them see few disbelievers in their eyes, so that they would be encouraged and feel eager to meet them. Abu Ishaq As-Subai`i said, that Abu `Ubaydah said that `Abdullah bin Mas`ud said, "They were made to seem few in our eyes during Badr, so that I said to a man who was next to me, `Do you think they are seventy' He said, `Rather, they are a hundred.' However, when we captured one of them, we asked him and he said, `We were a thousand."' Ibn Abi Hatim and Ibn Jarir recorded it. Allah said next,

وَيُقَلِّلُكُمْ فِى أَعْيُنِهِمْ

(and He made you appear as few in their eyes,) Allah said,

وَإِذْ يُرِيكُمُوهُمْ إِذِ الْتَقَيْتُمْ

(And (remember) when you met. He showed them to you...), He encouraged each of the two groups against the other, according to `Ikrimah, as recorded by Ibn Abi Hatim. This statement has a Sahih chain of narrators. Muhammad bin Ishaq said that Yahya bin `Abbad bin `Abdullah bin Az-Zubayr narrated to him that his father said about Allah's statement,

لِّيَقْضِيَ اللَّهُ أَمْراً كَانَ مَفْعُولاً

(so that Allah might accomplish a matter already ordained, ) "In order for the war to start between them, so that He would have revenge against those whom He decided to have revenge (pagans), and grant and complete His favor upon those He decided to grant favor to, His supporters." The meaning of this, is that Allah encouraged each group against the other and made them look few in each other's eyes, so that they were eager to meet them. This occurred before the battle started, but when it started and Allah supported the believers with a thousand angels in succession, the disbelieving group saw the believers double their number. Allah said,

قَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ ءَايَةٌ فِي فِئَتَيْنِ الْتَقَتَا فِئَةٌ تُقَـتِلُ فِى سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَأُخْرَى كَافِرَةٌ يَرَوْنَهُمْ مِّثْلَيْهِمْ رَأْىَ الْعَيْنِ وَاللَّهُ يُؤَيِّدُ بِنَصْرِهِ مَن يَشَآءُ إِنَّ فِى ذَلِكَ لَعِبْرَةً لاوْلِى الاٌّبْصَـرِ

(There has already been a sign for you (O Jews) in the two armies that met (in combat, the battle of Badr). One was fighting in the cause of Allah, and as for the other, (they) were disbelievers. They (disbelievers) saw them (believers) with their own eyes twice their number. And Allah supports with His aid whom He wills. Verily, in this is a lesson for those who understand.) 3:13

This is how we combine these two Ayat, and certainly, each one of them is true, all the thanks are due to Allah and all the favors are from Him.

Remember when God showed them to you in your dream in your sleep as few and so you informed your companions of this and they were delighted and had He shown them to you as many you would have faltered shrunk in cowardice and quarrelled fallen into disagreement over the matter the matter of fighting; but God saved you from faltering and quarrelling. He knows that which is in the breasts that which is in the hearts.

Mentioned in verses 43 and 44, there is particular marvel of Divine power which was designed to take place at the battle of Badr for the express purpose of making sure that none of the two armies were to put an end to the war itself by deserting the battlefield - because, it was as a result of this very war that the manifestation of the veracity of Islam was destined even as a ground reality, all earthy, material.

Such was the nature of this Divine marvel that the army of the disbelievers which was though three times larger than that of Muslims, yet Allah Ta` ala, by His perfect power alone, made their, number appear much less to Muslims so that it may not cause any difference of opinion or sense of weakness to affect them. This event took place twice. Once, it was shown to the Holy Prophet ﷺ in a dream which he related to all of them and which renewed their courage and resolve. The second time, when the two groups stood facing each other on the battlefield itself, their number was shown to Muslims as being small. The event mentioned in verse 43 relates to the dream and that in verse 44 to a state when they were wide awake.

Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn Masud ؓ says: In our sight, the army facing us looked as if - as I said to the man next to me - these people would be ninety in number. That man said: No, they must be a hundred.