Under the Tree, and the Gains Promised

And Allah says again about those who pledged allegiance under the tree: Allah was pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you under the tree; He knew what was in their hearts, and He sent down tranquillity upon them, and rewarded them with a speedy victory. This tree was a tree that became known after that, and some Muslims would come and pray beside that tree because of the special occasion that had occurred there — and this tree is mentioned in the Qurʾān. So ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) ordered that tree to be cut down, because ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb was worried that it could lead to shirk: it could end up being like Dhāt Anwāṭ, which existed in the time of Jāhiliyyah; the people of Jāhiliyyah used to think that this tree, Dhāt Anwāṭ, would give them barakah. So ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ordered this tree to be cut down — even though it was a special tree; the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sat under it, and the tree is mentioned in the Qurʾān. But in Islam it is substance, and not symbols, that count. And many gains will they acquire besides; and Allah is Exalted in power, full of wisdom. So Allah promised the believers bounties: the first of them was Khaybar, and then many other gains they would acquire — and this refers to the ghanāʾim the Muslims would win until the Day of Judgement.

Allah has promised you many gains that you shall acquire, and He has given you these beforehand, and He has restrained the hands of men from you, that it may be a sign for the believers, and that He may guide you to a straight path. And there are other gains which are not yet within your power, but which Allah has encompassed; and Allah has power over all things.

And if the unbelievers should fight you, they would certainly turn their backs; then they would find neither protector nor helper. So if the disbelievers were going to retreat, why did the Muslims not fight them? Because Allah says that if they had fought you, they would have been defeated. Such has been the practice of Allah already in the past, and you will find no change in the practice of Allah. So it is a law of Allah that the believers will win. They might lose a battle, but eventually they win, because Allah (swt) says, wa al-ʿāqibatu li-l-muttaqīn (7:128). It is a law, just as there are laws of physics and laws of chemistry. This is a law: the believers will win. They might lose a battle, but they win the war. Allah (swt) says, wa la-yanṣuranna Allāhu man yanṣuruh (22:40): Allah (swt) will give victory to those who support Him. And Allah (swt) says, wa al-ʿāqibatu li-l-muttaqīn: the end belongs to those who have taqwā. And Allah (swt) says, yā ayyuhā alladhīna āmanū in tanṣurū Allāha yanṣurkum wa yuthabbit aqdāmakum (47:7): Allah (swt) will make your feet firm.

So the Muslims, yes, lost at Uḥud, but eventually they won the war against Quraysh. The Muslims might have lost some battles against the Romans, but eventually they won. They might have lost some battles with the Persians, but eventually they conquered the entire domain of the Persian Empire. So this is a promise from Allah (swt): as long as they are fulfilling the commands of Allah, and as long as they are believers, and as long as they are giving nuṣrah to the religion of Allah, Allah (swt) has promised them victory.

If it is the case that the enemy would flee, why did they not fight them? Allah (swt) says: and it is He who restrained their hands from you, and your hands from them, in the midst of Makkah, after He had given you the upper hand over them; and Allah sees well all that you do. The incident when the kuffār sent forty men to take prisoners from the Muslims was told earlier: they ended up falling as prisoners into the hands of the Muslims, and then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) released them. So here Allah is telling us that Allah prevented war. It was prevented by the Muslims discovering these kuffār beforehand, which prevented the kuffār from taking prisoners — because if they had taken prisoners, war would have occurred. And then Allah (swt) stopped the war through the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) freeing the forty men of the kuffār, because, had he not, that could possibly have led to war.

So why all of this? Why was war prevented? Allah (swt) says: they are the ones who disbelieved and hindered you from the Sacred Mosque, and the sacrificial animals, detained from reaching their place of sacrifice. See here: had there not been believing men and believing women whom you did not know, whom you might have trampled down, so that a crime would have accrued to you on their account without your knowledge — Allah would have allowed you to force your way; but He held back your hands. It is because there were some muʾminūn in Makkah that Allah (swt) prevented war from happening, to save those muʾminūn: had the Muslims made their way through Makkah by force, there would have been bloodshed, and some Muslim men and Muslim women would have been killed. That is why the qadar of Allah was to hold back the Muslims and the kuffār from war. And Allah (swt) also had a plan for the people of Makkah. Allah says: that He may admit to His mercy whom He wills. Many of the people of Makkah were admitted into the mercy of Allah (swt): they became Muslim. Had they been apart — had the believers been separate from the non-believers — We would certainly have punished the unbelievers among them with a grievous punishment. So this was a qadar of Allah that prevented war. It was not a command of Allah to the Muslims; it is not an amr sharʿī, a command from Allah to the Muslims not to fight. It was an amr qadarī, a decree of Allah upon the Muslims that they not fight.

While the unbelievers stirred up in their hearts the heat and cant of ignorance, of Jāhiliyyah, Allah sent down His tranquillity upon His Messenger and upon the believers, and made them hold fast to the word of self-restraint, and well were they entitled to it and worthy of it; and Allah has full knowledge of all things. Had the believers acted, then these things Allah mentions — the maʿarrah — could have happened. But they were restrained, and they were patient, and this was good for them in the long term.