9:112 At-Tawba (The Repentance)

كأنه قيل‏:‏ من هم المؤمنون الذين لهم البشارة من اللّه بدخول الجنات ونيل الكرامات‏؟‏ فقال‏:‏ هم ‏{‏التَّائِبُونَ‏}‏ أي‏:‏ الملازمون للتوبة في جميع الأوقات عن جميع السيئات‏.‏ ‏{‏الْعَابِدُونَ‏}‏ أي‏:‏ المتصفون بالعبودية للّه، والاستمرار على طاعته من أداء الواجبات والمستحبات في كل وقت، فبذلك يكون العبد من العابدين‏.‏ ‏{‏الْحَامِدُونَ‏}‏ للّه في السراء والضراء، واليسر والعسر، المعترفون بما للّه عليهم من النعم الظاهرة والباطنة، المثنون على اللّه بذكرها وبذكره في آناء الليل وآناء النهار‏.‏ ‏{‏السَّائِحُونَ‏}‏ فسرت السياحة بالصيام، أو السياحة في طلب العلم، وفسرت بسياحة القلب في معرفة اللّه ومحبته، والإنابة إليه على الدوام، والصحيح أن المراد بالسياحة‏:‏ السفر في القربات، كالحج، والعمرة، والجهاد، وطلب العلم، وصلة الأقارب، ونحو ذلك‏.‏ ‏{‏الرَّاكِعُونَ السَّاجِدُونَ‏}‏ أي‏:‏ المكثرون من الصلاة، المشتملة على الركوع والسجود‏.‏ ‏{‏الْآمِرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ‏}‏ ويدخل فيه جميع الواجبات والمستحبات‏.‏ ‏{‏وَالنَّاهُونَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ‏}‏ وهي جميع ما نهى اللّه ورسوله عنه‏.‏ ‏{‏وَالْحَافِظُونَ لِحُدُودِ اللَّهِ‏}‏ بتعلمهم حدود ما أنزل اللّه على رسوله، وما يدخل في الأوامر والنواهي والأحكام، وما لا يدخل، الملازمون لها فعلا وتركا‏.‏ ‏{‏وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ‏}‏ لم يذكر ما يبشرهم به، ليعم جميع ما رتب على الإيمان من ثواب الدنيا والدين والآخرة، فالبشارة متناولة لكل مؤمن‏.‏ وأما مقدارها وصفتها فإنها بحسب حال المؤمنين، وإيمانهم، قوة، وضعفا، وعملا بمقتضاه‏.‏

هذا نعت المؤمنين الذين اشترى الله منهم أنفسهم وأموالهم بهذه الصفات الجميلة والخلال الجليلة " التائبون " من الذنوب كلها التاركون للفواحش " العابدون " أي القائمون بعبادة ربهم محافظين عليها وهي الأقوال والأفعال. فمن أخص الأقوال الحمد فلهذا قال " الحامدون " ومن أفضل الأعمال الصيام وهو ترك الملاذ من الطعام والشراب والجماع وهو المراد بالسياحة ههنا ولهذا قال " السائحون " كما وصف أزواج النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم بذلك في قوله تعالى " سائحات " أي صائمات وكذا الركوع والسجود وهما عبارة عن الصلاة ولهذا قال " الراكعون الساجدون " وهم مع ذلك ينفعون خلق الله ويرشدونهم إلى طاعة الله بأمرهم بالمعروف ونهيهم عن المنكر مع العلم بما ينبغي فعله ويجب تركه وهو حفظ حدود الله في تحليله وتحريمه علما وعملا فقاموا بعبادة الحق ونصح الخلق ولهذا قال " وبشر المؤمنين " لأن الإيمان يشمل هذا كله والسعادة كل السعادة لمن اتصف به. " بيان أن المراد بالسياحة الصيام "قال سفيان الثوري عن عاصم عن ذر عن عبدالله بن مسعود قال " السائحون " الصائمون وكذا روي عن سعيد بن جبير والعوفي عن ابن عباس وقال علي بن أبي طلحة عن ابن عباس كل ما ذكر الله في القرآن السياحة هم الصائمون وكذا قال الضحاك رحمه الله وقال ابن جرير: حدثنا أحمد بن إسحاق حدثنا أبو أحمد حدثنا إبراهيم بن يزيد عن الوليد بن عبدالله عن عائشة رضي الله عنهما قالت: سياحة هذه الأمة الصيام وهكذا قال مجاهد وسعيد بن جبير وعطاء وعبدالرحمن السلمي والضحاك بن مزاحم وسفيان بن عينة وغيرهم أن المراد بالسائحين الصائمون وقال الحسن البصري " السائحون " الصائمون شهر رمضان وفال أبو عمرو العبدي " السائحون " الذين يديمون الصيام من المؤمنين وقد ورد في حديث مرفوع نحو هذا وقال ابن جرير: حدثني محمد بن عبدالله بن بزيع حدثنا حكيم بن حزام حدثنا سليمان عن أبي صالح عن أبي هريرة قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم " السائحون هم الصائمون " وهذا الموقوف أصح وقال أيضا: حدثني يونس عن ابن وهب عن عمر بن الحارث عن عمرو بن دينار عن عبيد بن عمير قال: سئل النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم عن السائحين فقال " هم الصائمون " وهذا مرسل جيد وهذا أصح الأقوال وأشهرها; وجاء ما يدل على أن السياحة الجهاد وهو ما روى أبو داود في سننه من حديث أبي أمامة أن رجلا قال: يا رسول الله ائذن لي في السياحة فقال النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم " سياحة أمتي الجهاد في سبيل الله " وقال ابن المبارك عن ابن لهيعة. أخبرني عمارة بن غزية إن السياحة ذكرت عند رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم " أبدلنا الله بذلك الجهاد في سبيل الله والتكبير على كل شرف " وعن عكرمة أنه قال: ثم طلبة العلم وقال عبدالرحمن بن زيد بن أسلم: هم المهاجرون. رواهما ابن أبي حاتم وليس المراد من السياحة ما قد يفهمه بعض من يتعبد بمجرد السياحة في الأرض والتفرد في شواهق الجبال والكهوف والبراري فإن هذا ليس بمشروع إلا في أيام الفتن والزلازل في الدين كما ثبت في صحيح البخاري عن أبي سعيد الخدري أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال " يوشك أن يكون خير مال الرجل غنم يتبع بها شعف الجبال ومواقع القطر يفر بدينه من الفتن " وقال العوفي وعلي بن أبي طلحة عن ابن عباس في قوله " والحافظون لحدود الله " قال القائمون بطاعة الله وكذا قال الحسن البصري وعنه رواية " الحافظون لحدود الله " قال لفرائض الله وفي رواية القائمون على أمر الله.

This is the description of the believers from whom Allah has purchased their souls and wealth, who have these beautiful andhonorable qualities,

This is the description of the believers from whom Allah has purchased their souls and wealth, who have these beautiful and honorable qualities,

التَّـئِبُونَ

(who repent) from all sins and shun all evils,

الْعَـبِدُونَ

(who worship), their Lord and preserve the acts of worship that include statements and actions. Praising Allah is among the best statements. This is why Allah said next,

الْحَـمِدُونَ

(who praise (Him)). Fasting is among the best actions, involving abstaining from the delights of food, drink and sexual intercourse, this is the meaning hereby,

السَّـئِحُونَ

(As-Sa'ihun (who fast)) 9: 112. Allah also described the Prophet's wives that they are,

سَـئِحَـتٍ

(Sa'ihat) 66:5, meaning, they fast. As for prostrating and bowing down, they are acts of the prayer,

الرَكِعُونَ السَّـجِدونَ

(who bow down, who prostrate themselves,) These believers also benefit Allah's creation and direct them to His obedience by ordaining righteousness and forbidding evil. They have knowledge about what should be performed and what should be shunned. This includes abiding by Allah's limits in knowledge and action, meaning, what He allowed and what He prohibited. Therefore, they worship the True Lord and advise creation. This is why Allah said next,

وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

(And give glad tidings to the believers.) since faith includes all of this, and the supreme success is for those who have faith.

Those who repent al-tā’ibūna is in the nominative as a laudative the subject being implicit from idolatry and hypocrisy those who worship who devote their worship sincerely to God those who give praise to Him in every state those who fast those who bow those who prostrate themselves that is those who perform prayers those who enjoin decency and forbid to indecency those who maintain God’s bounds His rulings by implementing them and give good tidings to the believers of Paradise.

The last verse (112) which begins with the words: التَّائِبُونَ الْعَابِدُونَ " (They are) those who repent, those who worship...) describes the attributes of the same believers about whom it was said earlier that Allah has bought their lives and their wealth from the believers, against which Paradise shall be for them. Though, the verse was revealed as relating to a particular group of participants in the Bai'atu al-'Aqabah, but the sense of the verse covers all mujahidin in the way of Allah. As for the list of their attributes which opens with: التَّائِبُونَ (those who repent), they are not there as a condition, because the promise of Paradise has been made for Jihad in the way of Allah, in an absolute sense. The purpose behind the delineation of these attributes is to stress that those who deserve Paradise do have such attributes - as was specially the case with the noble Companions ؓ who were a party to Bai'atu al-'Aqabah.

The word: السَّائِحُونَ (as-sa'ihun: translated literally as ` those who journey' ), according to the majority of commentators, means those who fast صَّائِمِونَ (sa'imun). Actually, this word has been derived from: سِیَاحہ (siyahah: journey, pilgrimage). Before Islam, siyahah was taken to be an act of worship in the Christian religion that meant leaving home for the sake of worship. Islam declared it to be monasticism, and prohibited it. It was replaced with fasting as an act of worship. The reason is that siyahah taught disengagement from worldly life while fasting taught that one should abstain from worldly desires for a limited period of time living at home. It is on the same basis that Jihad too has been equated with siyahah in some reports. Ibn Majah, Hakim and Baihaqi have authentically reported that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: سِیَاحَۃُ اُمَّتِی اَلجِھَادُ فِی سَبِیلِ اللہِ (The siyahah of my ummah is Jihad in the way of Allah).

Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ has said that سَآیٔحِین (sa'ihin: those who journey) in the Qur'an means: صَّائِمِينَ (sa'imin: those who fast). Explaining سَآیٔحِین (as-sa'ihin: those who journey), ` Ikrimah said, ` they are students who leave their homes to seek religious knowledge.' (Mazhari)

At this place, seven attributes of believing mujahidin have been described as those who repent, those who worship, those who praise Allah, those who journey, those who bow in رُکُوع ruku`, those who prostrate in سَجدَہ sajdah, those who bid the Fair and forbid the Unfair. After having enumerated these seven attributes, the eighth attribute was put as: الْحَافِظُونَ لِحُدُودِ اللَّـهِ ` those who preserve the limits prescribed by Allah.' Actually, this expression is an embodiment of all attributes mentioned earlier. In other words, the details given in those seven attributes have been eloquently reduced to one small sentence which means that they are committed to the limits set by Allah, that is, they obey, adhere to and protect the injunctions of the Shari’ ah of Islam.

At the end of the verse (112), it was said: وَبَشِّرِ‌ الْمُؤْمِنِين (And give the good news to the believers). It means that the Prophet of Islam should convey to believers who have the attributes mentioned above the good news of blessings nobody could ever imagine, nor could it be explained in words, nor has anyone heard about it from any source. The reference is to the ultimate blessings of Paradise.

The repenters, the worshipers, the praisers, the journeyers, the bowers, the prostra- tors, the commanders to the honorable and prohibiters of the improper, the keepers of God's bounds-give good news to the faithful! These are the attributes of the faithful, the conduct of the familiar, and the custom of the friends, who are the hindmost in this world and the foremost in that world. They are the witnesses among the prophets and the interceders for the people, the masters of this world, the lovers of the religion and the beloved of the Real. In this verse their grades are mentioned in a pleasing arrangement. He praises them and bears witness to them, beginning with the lowest of them. First He mentions the lower ones, those who repent and turn back from sin, so that they will not stay ashamed and stricken in heart, but will have new hope. He is saying: " The repenters, those who have turned back from sin, who apologize and are regretful; the worshipers, those who worship, observe the commands, and do service; the praisers, those who praise, extol, and laud; the journeyers, those who go on the hajj, keep the fast, and seek for knowl- edge; the bowers, those who are humble, who serve others, who obey the commands of a pir they have reached; the prostrators, those who say the prayer, who plead, and who put their faces in the dust for the sake of My majesty; the commanders to the honorable, those who command the people to the religion, who call out and invite to obedience, who give good counsel and advise each other; and prohibiters of the improper, the just sultans, those who call to remembrance and who bring the people away from evil and who receive them with spirit and heart. Give good news to the faithful! Give good news to the faithful that whatever shortcoming they may have, My unneediness is equal to it. Whatever may be displeasing from them, My loving kindness is on top of that. Whatever the servant may hope, My bounty is greater than that. Give good news to the faithful that when I chose them, I saw the faults. I did not approve before I had examined the hidden things. With My own unneediness I bought the servants as they are.