9:8 At-Tawba (The Repentance)

إن شأن المشركين أن يلتزموا بالعهود ما دامت الغلبة لغيرهم، أما إذا شعروا بالقوة على المؤمنين فإنهم لا يراعون القرابة ولا العهد، فلا يغرنكم منهم ما يعاملونكم به وقت الخوف منكم، فإنهم يقولون لكم كلامًا بألسنتهم؛ لترضوا عنهم، ولكن قلوبهم تأبى ذلك، وأكثرهم متمردون على الإسلام ناقضون للعهد.

أي‏:‏ ‏{‏كَيْفَ‏}‏ يكون للمشركين عند اللّه عهد وميثاق ‏{‏و‏}‏ الحال أنهم ‏{‏وَإِنْ يَظْهَرُوا عَلَيْكُمْ‏}‏ بالقدرة والسلطة، لا يرحموكم، و ‏{‏لَا يَرْقُبُوا فِيكُمْ إِلًّا وَلَا ذِمَّةً‏}‏ أي‏:‏ لا ذمة ولا قرابة، ولا يخافون اللّه فيكم، بل يسومونكم سوء العذاب، فهذه حالكم معهم لو ظهروا‏.‏ ولا يغرنكم منهم ما يعاملونكم به وقت الخوف منكم، فإنهم ‏{‏يُرْضُونَكُمْ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَتَأْبَى قُلُوبُهُمْ‏}‏ الميل والمحبة لكم، بل هم الأعداء حقا، المبغضون لكم صدقًا، ‏{‏وَأَكْثَرُهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ‏}‏ لا ديانة لهم ولا مروءة‏.‏

يقول تعالى محرضا للمؤمنين على معاداتهم والتبري منهم ومبينا أنهم لا يستحقون أن يكون لهم عهد لشركهم بالله تعالى وكفرهم برسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ولأنهم لو ظهروا على المسلمين وأديلوا عليهم لم يبقوا ولم يذروا ولا راقبوا فيهم إلّاً ولا ذمة قال علي بن أبي طلحة وعكرمة والعوفي عن ابن عباس: الآل القرابة والذمة العهد وكذا قال الضحاك والسدي كما قال تميم بن مقبل: أفسد الناس خلوف خلفوا قطعوا الإل وأعراق الرحم وقال حسان بن ثابت رضي الله عنه: وجدناهم كاذبا إليهم وذو الإل والعهد لا يكذب وقال ابن أبي نجيح عن مجاهد لا يرقبون في مؤمن إلّاً: قال إلا الله ; وفي رواية لا يرقبون الله ولا غيره وقال ابن جرير: حدثني يعقوب حدثنا ابن علية عن سليمان عن أبي مجلز في قوله تعالى " لا يرقبون في مؤمن إلا ولا ذمة " مثل قوله جبريل ميكائيل إسرافيل كأنه يقول لا يرقبون الله والقول الأول أظهر وأشهر وعليه الأكثر. وعن مجاهد أيضا الإل العهد. وقال قتادة الإل الحلف.

How can they have a pact when if they get the better of you if they have the upper hand over you they do not respect they do not take into consideration any bond kinship or treaty pact with regard to you but will instead harm you as much as they can the conditional sentence ‘if they …’ is also a circumstantial qualifier pleasing you with their tongues with charming words while their hearts refuse to be true to these words; and most of them are wicked violators of pacts.

Earlier when it was said that disbelieving people had nursed betrayal in their hearts right from the beginning and had no intention of staying faithful to their pledge, an exception was also granted. Similarly, when the text says: أَكْثَرُ‌هُمْ فَاسِقُونَ (Most of them are sinners - 8), it hints that all of them were not like that. There were some nice people among them too, who wanted to stand by their commitment, but they were not heard before others.

This is the same subject the Holy Qur'an takes up elsewhere saying in very clear terms: لَا يَجْرِ‌مَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا (and malice against a people should not bid you to not doing justice - 5:8)

After that comes the ninth verse with the reason why these Mushriks were so chronically treacherous and what was it that ailed them. Thus, they too were given a prescription of hope to ponder about so that they could still correct themselves if they chose to. At the same time, Muslims at large were also served with a warning that they should take their guard against the pitfall of treachery and disobedience which had sucked these people in and make a total abstention from this behavior model their distinct life style. The reason is their relentless love of the material. The desire to acquire, possess and expend the limitless range of things of this world had blinded them to the limit that they would not hesitate to sell off the very Words of Allah and their own faith in exchange for paltry gains. This character is, to make an understatement, evil.

Moving on to the tenth verse, the text describes the extreme crookedness of these people by saying: لَا يَرْ‌قُبُونَ فِي مُؤْمِنٍ إِلًّا وَلَا ذِمَّةً (They do not observe, in the case of a believer, any bond or treaty). The sense is that this was no isolated case of disbelieving people acting treacherously against Muslims to whom they were bound by ties of kinship and treaty obligations. In fact, disbelieving people were a lot who would never consider kinship or pledge as valid grounds when dealing with Muslims.

Given the aforesaid behavior pattern of disbelieving people, it could have been but natural for Muslims to have become disillusioned with them forever and refuse to have any brotherly relationship with them under any condition. Therefore, as the Qur'anic justice and equity would have it, the eleventh verse gives the following instruction: