The Masjid of Harm

As the sūrah continues there is an account of a particular man who was an arch-enemy of Islam. His name was Abū ʿĀmir. He had always been a sworn enemy of Islam and of the Muslims, and had constantly supported the enemies of Islam against the Prophet (peace be upon him) in many of the battles. After the conquest of Makkah Mukarramah, and then after the Battle of Ḥunayn, he was obliged to flee, most of the Arabian Peninsula having by then come under Islam. So he fled to Syria, and from there began his preparations. He entered into communication with the Byzantine Empire — the Roman Empire — with a view to invading this body of Muslims. And what he did was cunning: he sought to draw certain of the hypocrites into helping him. Secretly he made contact with some of the hypocrites of Madīnah Munawwarah, saying: when I have the emperor ready, when I have the Romans ready, you must have your weapons and the rest in store, and be our men within Madīnah Munawwarah.

So he made contact with some of the hypocrites of Madīnah Munawwarah, and what they did was to erect a building in the guise of a masjid. Being hypocrites, they professed Islam outwardly; so they built a mosque, in which they intended to hold their meetings and to store their weapons and the like. They went further and invited the Prophet (peace be upon him) to its inauguration: come and open this masjid for us. It stood very close to Masjid Qubāʾ — Masjid Qubāʾ being the first masjid in Islam, earlier even than Masjid al-Nabawī. They built it on the outskirts there, Masjid al-Nabawī standing in those days on the outskirts, on the southern side;^*** and that is where they built it. Immediately Allah (swt) revealed the verse:

Wa-lladhīna ittakhadhū masjidan ḍirāran wa-kufran wa-tafrīqan bayna al-muʾminīn: those who have taken up this masjid, this masjid of harm — to work harm, out of their disbelief, and to divide the believers — wa-irṣādan li-man ḥāraba Allāha wa-rasūlahu min qabl, and to lie in wait for him who has warred against Allah and His Messenger before. They will surely swear an oath, they will certainly swear: in aradnā illā al-ḥusnā — we intended nothing but good by it; this is a pious endeavour. This is for no wrong; it is a pious endeavour. But Allah (swt) bears witness that they lie.