As-Saf

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

1. Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on earth declares the transcendence and purity of Allah (may He be glorified) from everything that is not appropriate for Him. He is the Mighty whom none can overpower, Wise in His creating, decrees and laws.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

or Medinese, consisting of 14 verses. In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful: [61:1] All that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth glorifies God, that is to say, [everything] proclaims His transcendence (the lam [of li’Llahi] is extra, and ma has been used instead of min in order to indicate the predominance [of non-rational creatures]) and He is the Mighty, in His kingdom, the Wise, in His actions. [61:2] O you who believe, why do you say, in demanding [to participate in] the Struggle, what you do not do?, for you retreated at Uhud. [61:3] It is greatly loathsome…

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

2. O you who have faith in Allah, why do you say: ‘We did something,’ when in reality you did not do it?! Like the statement of one of you: “I fought and struck with my sword,’ whereas he did not fight and strike with his sword.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

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Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

3. It is a most detested thing to Allah that you say what you do not do. It is only appropriate for a believer to be truthful with Allah, and for his actions to confirm his statements.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

say, in demanding [to participate in] the Struggle, what you do not do?, for you retreated at Uhud. [61:3] It is greatly loathsome ( maqtan is for Specification) to God that you say (an taqulu constitutes the agent of [the verb] kabura, ‘it is great [ly]’) what you do not do. [61:4] Indeed God loves, He assists and honours, those who fight for His cause in ranks (saffan is a cir¬ cumstantial qualifier, in other words [understand it as] saffina), as if they were a solid Structure, with all of its parts compacted together, firm.

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

4. Allah loves the believers who fight in His path seeking His pleasure, in rows alongside one another as if they are a structure that it tightly compacted.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

the agent of [the verb] kabura, ‘it is great [ly]’) what you do not do. [61:4] Indeed God loves, He assists and honours, those who fight for His cause in ranks (saffan is a cir¬ cumstantial qualifier, in other words [understand it as] saffina), as if they were a solid Structure, with all of its parts compacted together, firm.

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

5. After Allah mentioned fighting and praised the believers who stand tightly together in fighting in His path, He mentioned the opposition that the people of Moses and Jesus displayed towards their messengers, as a warning to the believers against opposing their prophet, and He said: Remember, O Messenger, when Moses said to his people: O my people! Why do you hurt me by going against my instruction when you know that I am Allah’s messenger to you?! When they moved away and deviated from the truth that he brought to them, Allah caused their hearts to move away from the truth and steadfastness…

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

it as] saffina), as if they were a solid Structure, with all of its parts compacted together, firm. [61:5] And, mention, when Moses said to his people, ‘O my people, why do you harm me — [for] they had said that he had a hernia in his teSticles, which he did not have, and they denied him — when cer¬ tainly (qad is for confirmation) you know that I am the messenger of God to you?’ (anni rasulu’Llahi ilaykum: this sentence is a circumstantial qualifier) and [when you know that] messengers ought to be reSpecfted.…

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

6. Remember, O Messenger, when Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him) said: O Israelites, I am Allah’s messenger. He has sent me to you to confirm the Torah that was revealed before me. I am nothing new among the messengers. I have come to give the good news of a messenger who will come after me, whose name is Ahmad. When Jesus brought the evidence indicating his truthfulness to them, they said: ‘This is clear magic, and we will never follow you.’

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

eternity, and God does not guide the immoral folk, those who, in His knowl¬ edge, are disbelievers. [61:6] And, mention, when Jesus son of Mary said, ‘O Children of Israel — he did not say ‘O my people [as did Moses] because he was not related to them in any way — I am indeed God’s messenger to you, confirming what is before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger who will come after me, whose name is Ahmad.’ God, exalted be He, says: Yet when he brought them, [when] Ahmad brought the disbelievers, the clear signs, the revelations and the indications, they said, ‘This, na…

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

7. There is none who is more wrong than the one who makes up lies about Allah when he makes rivals for Him that he worships besides Him, whilst he is called to Islam, the religion of pure monotheism for Allah. Allah does not guide a people who wrong themselves by committing idolatry and sins to that in which lies their rectitude and righteousness.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

reading has sahirun, ‘a sorcerer’, meaning the one who has brought them [is a manifest sorcerer]). [61:7] And who does — that is to say, none does — greater wrong than he who invents lies against God, by ascribing a partner and a child to Him and describing His signs as being sorcery, when he is [adually] being summoned to submission [to God]? And God does not guide the wrongdoing folk, the disbelieving [folk].

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

8. These deniers want to extinguish Allah’s light with the false statements and distortion of the truth that proceed from them. Allah will perfect His light despite them by making His religion triumph in the east and the west of the earth and by raising His word.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

mmoned to submission [to God]? And God does not guide the wrongdoing folk, the disbelieving [folk]. [61:8] They desire to extinguish ( li-yutfi’u is in the subjunctive form because of an implicit an [sc. an yutfi’u], the lam being extra) the light of God, His Law and His proofs, with their mouths, with their sayings, that this is sorcery, or poetry or soothsaying; but God will perfect, He will manifest, His light (mutimmun nurahu: some have read this in the form of a genitive annextation, mutimmu nurihi ) though the disbelievers be averse, to this.

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

9. Allah is the One Who sent His messenger, Muhammad (peace be on him) with the religion of Islam, the religion of guidance and direction to good, the religion of beneficial knowledge and righteous action, so that He makes it prevail over all other religions despite the idolaters who hate for it to be established on earth.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

in the form of a genitive annextation, mutimmu nurihi ) though the disbelievers be averse, to this. [61:9] It is He Who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth, that He may make it prevail, that He may raise it, over all [other] religions, [over] all the religions which oppose it, though the disbelievers be averse, to this. [61:10] O you who believe, shall I show you a commerce that will deliver you (read tunjikum or tunajjikum) from a painful chastisement? It is as if they had replied, ‘Yes’, so that He then says: [61:11] You should believe, you should maintai…

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

10. O you who have faith in Allah, and act on what He has ordained for you, shall I show and guide you to a profitable trade, that will rescue you from a painful punishment.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

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Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

11. This profitable trade is that you have faith in Allah and His messenger, and you strive in His path (may He be glorified) by spending your wealth and giving your lives to seek His pleasure. That action is better for you if you know, so rush towards it.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

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Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

12. The profit of this trade is that Allah will forgive your sins and enter you into gardens under the palaces and trees of which rivers flow and He will enter you into pleasant homes in gardens of permanence from which you will not be transferred. That mentioned recompense is the supreme success to which no other success can come close.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

ons and your lives. That is better for you, should you know, that it is better for you, then do it. [61:12] He will [then] forgive you (yaghfir is the re^onse to an implied conditional, that is to say, ‘if you do this, He will then forgive you’) your sins and admit you into gardens underneath which rivers flow and pleasant dwellings in the Gardens of Eden, as a residence. That is the supreme triumph. [61:13] And, He will give you, another, grace, which you love: help from God and a victory near at hand. And give good tidings to the believers, of assistance and victory.

Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

13. Part of the profit of this trade is another feature that you love, which is immediate in this world, that Allah will assist you against your enemy, and He will give you an imminent victory which is the conquest of Makkah and other places. O Messengers, tell the believers about the victory that will please them in the world and the attainment of Paradise in the afterlife.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

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Al-Mukhtasar

Tafsīr Center for Qur'anic Studies · Contemporary

14. O you who have faith in Allah, and who act on what He has ordained for you, become Allah’s helpers by helping His religion that was brought by your messenger, just as the disciples provided their help when Jesus (peace be upon him) told them: ‘Who will be my helpers to Allah?’ They replied to him at once: ‘We are Allah’s helpers.’ So a group of the Israelites believed in Jesus (peace be upon him) and another group disbelieved. Then We supported those who believed in Jesus against those who rejected him and they became dominant.

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

al-Maḥallī & al-Suyūṭī · 864–911 AH / 1459–1505 CE

God and a victory near at hand. And give good tidings to the believers, of assistance and victory. [61:14] O you who believe, be helpers of God, of His religion (a variant reading [of ansaran li’Llahi ] has the genitive annexation ansara’Llahi ) juft as said ( kama qala to the end [of the Statement] means ‘juSt as the disciples were so’, as is indicated by [what follows]) Jesus son of Mary to the disciples, ‘Who will be my helpers unto God?’, that is to say, who [of you] will be helpers alongside me turning to help God? The disciples said, ‘We will be God’s helpers!’ [These] al-hawariyyun…