8-29 O you who believe, if you keep your duty to Allah, He will grant you a distinction and do away with your evils and protect you. And Allah is the Lord of mighty grace.a
يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ آمَنوا إِن تَتَّقُوا اللَّهَ يَجعَل لَكُم فُرقانًا وَيُكَفِّر عَنكُم سَيِّئَاتِكُم وَيَغفِر لَكُم ۗ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الفَضلِ العَظيمِ (۲۹)
8-29a: One manifest فُرقان or distinction is the one that was given to the Muslims in the Battle of Badr. The reference here though is to the internal distinction that is granted to a believer in that he is imparted a light that distinguishes him from others. An overt distinction or victories can only be beneficial when the real distinction, that is the internal light is born.
8-30 And when those who disbelieved devised plans against thee that they might confine thee or slay thee or drive thee away — and they devised plans and Allah, too, had arranged a plan; and Allah is the best of planners.a
وَإِذ يَمكُرُ بِكَ الَّذينَ كَفَروا لِيُثبِتوكَ أَو يَقتُلوكَ أَو يُخرِجوكَ ۚ وَيَمكُرونَ وَيَمكُرُ اللَّهُ ۖ وَاللَّهُ خَيرُ الماكِرينَ (۳۰)
8-30a: يُثبِتوكَ – ثَبات (durability or permanence in a position) is the opposite of زوال (coming to an end or termination) and ثابِت is spoken of what is present before your eyes and also for what is proven based on oral testimony, as for example, I think this matter is correct based on the testimony. The meaning of يُثبِتوكَ is to imprison you or to put you in a maze of bewilderment (R). Thus, the meaning of اَثۡبَتَه is to put a person in a place from where he cannot leave, and the word is also used for a person who cannot move because of illness or a wound (LA). It follows that the meaning of يُثبِتوكَ can be taken in two ways, that is to imprison or to cause an injury that will render the person immobile. However, the first meaning is preferable because according to a narration, some of them said اثبتوہ بالوثاق (LA).
This verse describes the difficulties of Muslims at a time when even the Holy Prophet could not find a peaceful sanctuary. The disbelievers gathered in the Darul Nadwa (Assembly Hall) to consider various schemes to rein in the Holy Prophet and these included to murder him, or to confine him or to expel him. The other plans were rejected, and consensus was achieved on the plan to kill him. Allah states that He too planned to counter their nefarious plan and it was Allah’s plan to save the Prophet that succeeded. On the one side, there was the unanimous plan of the Makkans and on the other, a lone person without any resources was taken out through the line of assassins near their houses and saved.
خَيرُ الماكِرينَ – مکر means a secret plan whether for good or evil as has been explained in 3-54a. It is only necessary to add here that the use of the word خَيرُ with ماكِر shows that there is no connotation in ماكِر of whether it is being used for a good or bad cause because the word خَيرُ is never used in a bad sense.
8-31 And when Our messages are recited to them, they say: We have heard. If we wished, we could say the like of it; this is nothing but the stories of the ancients.
وَإِذا تُتلىٰ عَلَيهِم آياتُنا قالوا قَد سَمِعنا لَو نَشاءُ لَقُلنا مِثلَ هٰذا ۙ إِن هٰذا إِلّا أَساطيرُ الأَوَّلينَ (۳۱)
8-32 And when they said: O Allah, if this is indeed the truth from Thee, then rain down on us stones from heaven or inflict on us a painful chastisement.a
وَإِذ قالُوا اللَّهُمَّ إِن كانَ هٰذا هُوَ الحَقَّ مِن عِندِكَ فَأَمطِر عَلَينا حِجارَةً مِنَ السَّماءِ أَوِ ائتِنا بِعَذابٍ أَليمٍ (۳۲)
8-32a: When mention is made to the disbelievers about previous nations, which they claim are only stories, and they are reminded of the end of those who opposed the truth, they say that if the Holy Prophet is indeed true then why does a punishment like that of the previous nations does not befall them. It is also proven that they made a similar prayer in Badr.
8-33 And Allah would not chastise them while thou wast among them; nor would Allah chastise them while they seek forgiveness.a
وَما كانَ اللَّهُ لِيُعَذِّبَهُم وَأَنتَ فيهِم ۚ وَما كانَ اللَّهُ مُعَذِّبَهُم وَهُم يَستَغفِرونَ (۳۳)
8-33a: Reason for the delay in punishing the disbelievers: The disbelievers are told that it is inevitable that they will be punished, but the punishment is withheld as long as the Holy Prophet is among them. The tradition of Allah is that the punishment overtakes the disbelievers only after their prophet separates from them. Hence for the Makkans too, the punishment would come after the Holy Prophet had migrated. The second reason disclosed is that they would also ask for forgiveness. Thus, overtly in their state of enmity, they would even ask to be punished but they would regret it later and ask for forgiveness in their homes. However, when they finally came out with the sword in their hand to confront the Muslims and to completely destroy them, then the condition of seeking forgiveness no longer remained applicable. Alternatively, there is an indication in هُم يَستَغفِرونَ to the forgiveness sought by Muslims so that when there was a party among them who sought forgiveness, then how could the punishment come.
8-34 And what excuse have they that Allah should not chastise them while they hinder (men) from the Sacred Mosque and they are not its (true) guardians? Its guardians are only those who keep their duty, but most of them know not.a
وَما لَهُم أَلّا يُعَذِّبَهُمُ اللَّهُ وَهُم يَصُدّونَ عَنِ المَسجِدِ الحَرامِ وَما كانوا أَولِياءَهُ ۚ إِن أَولِياؤُهُ إِلَّا المُتَّقونَ وَلٰكِنَّ أَكثَرَهُم لا يَعلَمونَ (۳۴)
8-34a: The punishment must necessarily come because they do not give up their opposition to the truth and prevent the Muslims from going to the Sacred Mosque even though by virtue of being polytheists, they had no right to be custodians of the Sacred Mosque. The Mosque is a monument to the Oneness of Allah and now only those people will be made custodian whose religion is based on monotheism, that is the followers of Islam. Here, by those who keep their duty are meant those who are not polytheists as opposed to polytheists who are mentioned in this verse and this distinction is a basic distinguishing feature of those who are righteous and those who do not abstain from evil. There is also a prophecy in this that the Muslims will be the future custodians of the Sacred Mosque.
8-35 And their prayer at the House is nothing but whistling and clapping of hands. Taste, then, the chastisement, because you disbelieved.a
وَما كانَ صَلاتُهُم عِندَ البَيتِ إِلّا مُكاءً وَتَصدِيَةً ۚ فَذوقُوا العَذابَ بِما كُنتُم تَكفُرونَ (۳۵)
8-35a: مُكاءً – It is the chirping of birds (R). It also means whistling (LA).
تَصدِيَةً – صَدَی means echo or reverberation and تَصدِيَةً is a sound that is like an echo which makes no sense or has no benefit.
The nature of the worship of Arab polytheists: According to a narration of Ibn Abbas, the polytheists circumambulated the Kabah naked and clapped and whistled as they moved around the Kabah. Alternatively, the indication in the verse is to the actions that the disbelievers resorted to disrupt the Holy Prophet’s worship in the Kabah by clapping and whistling. Thus, their worship had been reduced to disturbing the worship of others by clapping and whistling. According to Raghib, the purport is that their prayer and worship had no reality just as whistling and clapping are meaningless actions or sounds.
8-36 Surely those who disbelieve spend their wealth to hinder (people) from the way of Allah. So they will go on spending it, then it will be to them a regret, then they will be overcome. And those who disbelieve will be gathered together to hell,a
إِنَّ الَّذينَ كَفَروا يُنفِقونَ أَموالَهُم لِيَصُدّوا عَن سَبيلِ اللَّهِ ۚ فَسَيُنفِقونَها ثُمَّ تَكونُ عَلَيهِم حَسرَةً ثُمَّ يُغلَبونَ ۗ وَالَّذينَ كَفَروا إِلىٰ جَهَنَّمَ يُحشَرونَ (۳۶)
8-36a: What is conveyed here is that the enmity of the disbelievers with Muslims is for no other reason than that they wanted to destroy the religion of Islam. In the Battle of Badr too the real motivation of the disbelievers was that the religion of Islam was slowly increasing in adherents, and they were afraid that ultimately the Muslims may gain so much strength that it would be difficult to destroy them. This was their real motivation, though overtly they riled up their people’s emotions by invoking the killing of Amr ibn al-Hadrami by the Muslims but that was used only as a pretext. The killing of Amr ibn al-Hadrami was accidental and was occasioned by a reconnaissance party of a few men sent by the Holy Prophet under Abdullah ibn Jash. The written instructions to the party was to proceed up to Nakhlah and gather information about the preparations the Quraish were making for war. The party encountered a trading caravan that was coming from Taif under the leadership of Amr ibn al-Hadrami who was accidentally killed by the reconnaissance party. The traditional custom among the Arabs for such accidental killings was to pay blood money to the deceased’s relatives, but Abu Jahl made the killing a pretext and raised an army to attack Madinah. Seven hundred camels and three hundred horses were made ready for this army and a considerable sum of wealth was spent for these preparations.
The prophecy of more battles after Badr and the vanquishing of the disbelievers: Besides the money already spent for the Badr campaign, there is a prophecy that after Badr, the disbelievers will spend even more money in opposing Islam, but this spending will only be a source of regret for them because they will be unsuccessful. Not only will they be unsuccessful in their expeditions against the Muslims but in the end, they will be overcome by the Muslims. Even after the Battle of Badr a prophecy like this was beyond human imagination because the strength of the disbelievers was not broken and the total number of men the Muslims could field in a battle was just three or four hundred.
8-37 That Allah may separate the wicked from the good, and put the wicked one upon another, then heap them together, then cast them into hell. These indeed are the losers.a
لِيَميزَ اللَّهُ الخَبيثَ مِنَ الطَّيِّبِ وَيَجعَلَ الخَبيثَ بَعضَهُ عَلىٰ بَعضٍ فَيَركُمَهُ جَميعًا فَيَجعَلَهُ في جَهَنَّمَ ۚ أُولٰئِكَ هُمُ الخاسِرونَ (۳۷)
8-37a: الخَبيثَ – الطَّيِّبِ – For the meaning of خَبيثَ and طَيِّبِ see 2-267and 2-57c. By الخَبيثَ and الطَّيِّبِ can also be meant bad and good actions, or bad and good persons or disbelievers and believers (R). A person is طَّيِّبِ who is free from ignorance, impiety and evil deeds and is adorned by knowledge, belief and good deeds (R).
یرکم – The meaning of رَکَم is to pile one thing over another, as in سَحابٌ مَركومٌ (piled-up clouds) (52:44) and رُکام are things piled one on top of another, as in: ثُمَّ يَجعَلُهُ رُكامًا (then piles them up) (24:43).
The result of the defeat of the believers is explained here, namely that the pure and impure will be separated. The separation may be between خَبيثَ (wicked) and طَّيِّبِ (pious) men and also wealth etcetera. If the purport is humans, then the meaning is that the defeat will make a clear distinction between the disbelievers and Muslims and the disbelievers will be dispatched to hell one after another. An alternate meaning is that the armies of the disbelievers will keep coming one after the other, but the result will always be failure on their part and this is their hell. If the purport is wealth, then the meaning will be that a distinction will be made between the wealth spent by the believers and that spent by the disbelievers. The wealth spent by one will provide the means of success and that spent by the other will lead to failure. The closing words of the verse give preference to the former interpretation.
Bayan-ul-Quran 