9:100 At-Tawba (The Repentance)

السابقون هم الذين سبقوا هذة الأمة وبدروها إلى الإيمان والهجرة، والجهاد، وإقامة دين اللّه‏.‏ ‏{‏مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ‏}‏ ‏{‏الذين أخرجوا من ديارهم وأموالهم يبتغون فضلا من اللّه ورضوانا، وينصرون اللّه ورسوله أولئك هم الصادقون‏}‏ ومن ‏{‏الْأَنْصَارِ‏}‏ ‏{‏الذين تبوأوا الدار والإيمان من قبلهم يحبون من هاجر إليهم، ولا يجدون في صدورهم حاجة مما أوتوا، ويؤثرون على أنفسهم ولو كان بهم خصاصة‏}‏ ‏{‏وَالَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ‏}‏ بالاعتقادات والأقوال والأعمال، فهؤلاء، هم الذين سلموا من الذم، وحصل لهم نهاية المدح، وأفضل الكرامات من اللّه‏.‏ ‏{‏رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ‏}‏ ورضاه تعالى أكبر من نعيم الجنة، ‏{‏وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي تَحْتَهَا الْأَنْهَارُ‏}‏ الجارية التي تساق إلى سَقْيِ الجنان، والحدائق الزاهية الزاهرة، والرياض الناضرة‏.‏ ‏{‏خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا‏}‏ لا يبغون عنها حولا، ولا يطلبون منها بدلا، لأنهم مهما تمنوه، أدركوه، ومهما أرادوه، وجدوه‏.‏ ‏{‏ذَلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ‏}‏ الذي حصل لهم فيه، كل محبوب للنفوس، ولذة للأرواح، ونعيم للقلوب، وشهوة للأبدان، واندفع عنهم كل محذور‏.‏

يخبر تعالى عن السابقين من المهاجرين والأنصار والتابعين لهم بإحسان ورضاهم عنه بما أعد لهم من جنات النعيم المقيم; قال الشعبي: السابقون الأولون من المهاجرون والأنصار من أدرك بيعة الرضوان عام الحديبية وقال أبو موسى الأشعري وسعيد بن المسيب ومحمد بن سرين والحسن وقتادة هم الذين صلوا إلى القبلتين مع رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم وقال محمد بن كعب القرظي. مر عمر بن الخطاب برجل يقرأ هذه الأية " والسابقون الأولون من المهاجرين والأنصار " فأخذ عمر بيده فقال: من أقرأك هذا؟ فقال أبي بن كعب. فقال لا تفارقني حتى أذهب بك إليه فلما جاءه قال عمر أنت أقرأت هذا هذه الأية هكذا؟ قال نعم. قال: وسمعتها من رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ؟ قال نعم. قال لقد كنت أرى أنا رفعنا رفعة لا يبلغها أحد بعدنا. فقال أبي تصديق هذه الأية في أول سورة الجمعة " وآخرين منهم لما يلحقوا بهم وهو العزيز الحكيم " وفي سورة الحشر " والذين جاءوا من بعدهم " الأية وفي الأنفال " والذين آمنوا وهاجروا وجاهدوا معكم " الآية ورواه ابن جرير قال وذكر عن الحسن البصري أنه كان يقرءوها برفع الأنصار عطفا علي والسابقون الأولون فقد أخبر الله العظيم أنه قد رضي عن السابقين الأولين من الهاجرين والأنصار والذين اتبعوهم بإحسان فيا ويل من أبغضهم أو سبهم أو أبغض أو سب بعضهم ولا سيما سيد الصحابة بعد الرسول وخيرهم وأفضلهم أعني الصديق الأكبر والخليفة الأعظم أبا بكر بن أبي قحافة رضي الله عنه فإن الطائفة المخذولة من الرافضة يعادون أفضل الصحابة ويبغضونهم ويسبونهم. عياذا بالله من ذلك وهذا يدل على أن عقولهم معكوسة وقلوبهم منكوسة فأين هؤلاء من الإيمان بالقرآن إذ يسبون من رضي الله عنهم؟ وأما أهل السنة فإنهم يترضون عمن رضي الله عنه فيسبون من سبه الله ورسوله ويوالون من يوالي الله ويعادون من يعادي الله وهم متبعون لا مبتدعون ويقتدون ولا يبتدون ولهذا هم حزب الله المفلحون وعباده المؤمنون.

Virtues of the Muhajirin, Ansar and Those Who followed Them in Faith

Allah mentions that He is pleased foremost with the Muhajirin, Ansar and those who followed them in faith, and that they are well-pleased with Him, for He has prepared for them the gardens of delight and eternal joy. Ash-Sha`bi said that,

وَالسَّـبِقُونَ الاٌّوَّلُونَ مِنَ الْمُهَـجِرِينَ وَالأَنْصَـرِ

(The foremost Muhajirin and Ansar) are those who conducted the pledge of Ar-Ridwan in the year of Hudaybiyyah. Abu Musa Al-Ash`ari, Sa`id bin Al-Musayyib, Muhammad bin Sirin, Al-Hasan and Qatadah said that they are those who performed the prayer towards the two Qiblahs with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ first toward Jerusalem and later toward the Ka`bah. Allah, the Most Great, stated that He is pleased foremost with the Muhajirin, the Ansar and those who followed their lead with excellence. Therefore, woe to those who dislike or curse them, or dislike or curse any of them, especially their master after the Messenger ﷺ, the best and most righteous among them, the Siddiq (the great truthful one) and the grand Khalifah, Abu Bakr bin Abi Quhafah, may Allah be pleased with him. The failure group, the Rafidah (a sect of Shiites), are the enemies of the best Companions, they hate and curse them, we seek refuge with Allah from such evil. This indicates that the minds of these people are twisted and their hearts turned upside down, for where are they in relation to believing in the Qur'an They curse those whom Allah stated He is pleased with! As for the followers of the Sunnah, they are pleased with those whom Allah is pleased with, curse whomever Allah and His Messenger curse, and give their loyalty to Allah's friends and show enmity to the enemies of Allah. They are followers not innovators, imitating the Sunnah they do not initiate it on their own. They are indeed the party of Allah, the successful, and Allah's faithful servants.

And the first to lead the way of the Emigrants and the Helpers namely those who were present at the battle of Badr or it means all the Companions and those who follow them up to the Day of Resurrection by being virtuous in deeds God will be pleased with them for their obedience of Him and they will be pleased with Him for His reward to them; and He has prepared for them Gardens — with rivers flowing beneath them a variant reading adds min min tahtihā ‘beneath which’ — to abide therein forever that is the supreme triumph.

Commentary

The verse before this (99) carried a description of sincere and true Muslims among the Bedouins of the desert. The present verse mentions all sincere and true Muslims along with their relative degrees of excellence.

Let us begin with the opening statement: السَّابِقُونَ الْأَوَّلُونَ مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِ‌ينَ وَالْأَنصَارِ‌ (the first and foremost of the Emigrants and the Supporters)._ Most commentators have taken the preposition مِن (min) for tab'id which denotes a part of something and may be translated as 'out of) and thus have set up two categories of the noble Sahabah from among the Emi-grants (al-muhajirin) and the Supporters (al-ansar) - (1) ` the first and foremost,' then, (2) the rest of them.

This interpretation implies that it is only first category that is referred to in the above verse, i.e. 'the first and foremost'. Then, for identifying 'the first and foremost' the commentators have different views. Some consider ` the first and foremost' from among the noble Companions to be those who have offered their Salah by turning to both the Qiblahs, that is, those who had embraced Islam before the change of Qiblab were ` the first and foremost.' This is the view of Said ibn almusayyab and Qatadah. 'At-a' ibn Abi Rabah has said that ` the first and foremost' are the Sahabah who participated in the battle of Badr. Sha` bi said that the Sahabah who were a party to the Bai` atur-Ridwan (the pledge taken at the time of the expedition of Hudaibiyah) are ` the first and foremost.' And according to each view, after respective ` first and foremost,' the rest of the Sahabah - muhajir (emigrant) or ansar (supporter) - are in the second category. (Mahari, Qurtubi)

All these views were based on the intrepretation that takes the preposition مِن (min) in this verse for tab'id as aforesaid. Tafsir Mazhari has however, reported another interpretation. According to this interpretation, the preposition مِن (min) is not for tab'id here. It is rather for bayan which explains the preceding words and stands for 'that is'. The translation of the verse, in this case, would be as follows: "As for the first and the foremost people, that is, all the Emigrants (the Muhajirin) and the supporters (the Ansar)..." The sentence thus will mean that all the muhajirin and the Ansar are the first and foremost as compared to the rest of the Muslim community.

To sum up, in accordance with the first Tafsir, there are two categories of Sahabah, being that of ` the first and foremost' and that of those who embraced Islam after the change of Qiblah or the battle of Badr or the Bai` atur-Ridwan. The substance of the last Tafsir is that the noble Sahabah, all of them, are but ` the first and the foremost' - because, their 'Iman (faith) is first and foremost as compared to that of the rest of the Muslim Ummah.

The second sentence of the verse: وَالَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُم بِإِحْسَانٍ has been translated as ` and those who followed them in goodness.' It means Muslims who followed the footsteps of ` the first and foremost' precisely and perfectly in all fields of deeds and morals. According to the first Tafsir of the first sentence, the first category belongs to those Emigrants and Supporters among Sahabah who embraced Islam after the change of Qiblah or the battle of Badr or the Bai'at of Hudaibiyah. After them, all Muslims fall in the second category, Muslims who followed the model set by the noble Sahabah in all matters of faith, deeds and morals honestly and staunchly right through the Last Day of Qiyamah.

And according to the other Tafsir, the expression: الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوا (those who followed them) includes great people who came after the noble Sahabah and who are called Tabi` i in the Islamic terminology. After these technically specified Tabi` in or Successors of the Sahabah, included here are all Muslims who shall keep appearing right through the Last Day of Qiyamah and who shall follow the noble Sahabah precisely and perfectly in purity of faith and goodness of deeds (al-1man and al amal-as-salih).

All the Sahabah are the people of Jannah and are blessed with the pleasure of Allah

Someone asked Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazi, ` what do you say about the noble Companions of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . He said, ` the Sahabah, all of them, are in Jannah - irrespective of whether mistakes and sins may have been committed by some of them.' The man again asked him, ` on what basis did you say that?' He said, ` Read this verse of the Holy Qur'an: السَّابِقُونَ الْأَوَّلُونَ (...the first and foremost...). Here, what has been said about all revered Sahabah, without any condition, is clear: رَّ‌ضِيَ اللَّـهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَ‌ضُوا عَنْهُ (Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Allah). However, a condition has been placed in the case of the Tabi` in (the successor to the Sahabah), the condition of: اتباع باحسان (following with goodness). This tells us that the revered Sahabah, all of them, without any condition or restriction or exemption, stand in honor as recipients of Divine pleasure.

After reporting this statement, the author of Tafsir Mazhari has said, ` in my view, the following verse carries a more solid proof of the fact that all revered Sahabah belong to Jannah:

لَا يَسْتَوِي مِنكُم مَّنْ أَنفَقَ مِن قَبْلِ الْفَتْحِ وَقَاتَلَ ۚ أُولَـٰئِكَ أَعْظَمُ دَرَ‌جَةً مِّنَ الَّذِينَ أَنفَقُوا مِن بَعْدُ وَقَاتَلُوا ۚ وَكُلًّا وَعَدَ اللَّـهُ الْحُسْنَىٰ. It has been fully and clearly stated in this verse that all revered Sahabah, first or the last, have been promised al-husna, that is, Jannah or Paradise.'

And in Hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been reported to have said, ` the fire of Jahannam (hell) cannot touch the Muslim who has seen me or has seen those who have seen me,' (Tirmidhi from Sayyidna Jabir ؓ )

A note of warning

People who criticize some revered Sahabah on the basis of what transpired during their mutual controversies with the aim of sowing seeds of suspicion and discord in the hearts of those who hold them in esteem are really treading a dangerous course. We seek the protection of Allah against it.

And the preceders, the first among the emigrants and the helpers and those who followed them in beautiful doing-God approves of them, and they approve of Him.