Sūrat at-Tawbah
Section 20 of 20 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
The Closing Verses
Then Allah (swt), to close the sūrah, censures once more the munāfiqīn and their response to the verses:
وَإِذَا مَآ أُنزِلَتْ سُورَةٌ فَمِنْهُم مَّن يَقُولُ أَيُّكُمْ زَادَتْهُ هَـٰذِهِۦٓ إِيمَـٰنًا ۚ فَأَمَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ فَزَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَـٰنًا وَهُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ
“When a Sūrah is sent down, some of them (the hypocrites) say, “Whose faith from among you has been increased by this?” So far as the believers are concerned, it has certainly increased their faith, and they are quite happy.” (9:124)
Wa-idhā mā unzilat sūratun fa-minhum man yaqūlu ayyukum zādat-hu hādhihi īmānā. They would mock at it. When a new verse came they would ask people: has this profited you? Has this verse increased any of you in goodness? Has it increased your īmān? Fa-ammā alladhīna… Allah says: as for those who believe — verse 124 — it increases them in their īmān, and they have much to look for. But those who have maraḍ in their hearts, and weakness and sickness in their hearts — it increases them only in rebellion, in their filth, in their impurity.
The final verses here are 128 and 129. Verse 128 is again a support for the Prophet (peace be upon him), and the manner in which Allah addresses him is remarkable. Allah addresses him by two of His own particular names, which He has given to no one else in that pairing. Allah says:
لَقَدْ جَآءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتُّمْ حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُم بِٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ
“Surely, there has come to you, from your midst, a Messenger who feels it very hard on him if you face a hardship, who is very anxious for your welfare, and for the believers he is very kind, very merciful.” (9:128)
La-qad jāʾakum rasūlun min anfusikum: a messenger has come to you from among yourselves. ʿAzīzun ʿalayhi mā ʿanittum ḥarīṣun ʿalaykum bi-l-muʾminīna raʾūfun raḥīm. Raʾūf and Raḥīm are names of Allah: the Compassionate and the Merciful. Raḥmān may be given to no one, being exclusive to Allah; Raḥīm may be used of others. Allah confers this name upon the Prophet (peace be upon him), that he is the raʾūf and the raḥīm, because whatever would trouble you would trouble the Prophet (peace be upon him), and whatever is to your benefit he would eagerly seek. Such is the character of the Prophet (peace be upon him). May Allah make us of those who wish good to all, who eagerly seek good for people, and who feel the hurt of others as their own.
And then Allah says:
فَإِن تَوَلَّوْا۟ فَقُلْ حَسْبِىَ ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ ۖ وَهُوَ رَبُّ ٱلْعَرْشِ ٱلْعَظِيمِ
“So, if they turn away, say (O Messenger,) “Enough for me is Allah. There is no god but He. In Him I have placed my trust, and He is the Lord of the Great Throne.”” (9:129)
Fa-in tawallaw fa-qul ḥasbiya Allāh — fa-in tawallaw fa-qul ḥasbiya Allāh: if they turn away, then say: Allah is sufficient for me. Lā ilāha illā Huwa: there is no god but He. ʿAlayhi tawakkaltu: upon Him I rely. Wa-Huwa Rabbu al-ʿArshi al-ʿaẓīm: and He is the Lord of the Mighty Throne.
***
* "To their south, in Yemen, it was the Romans" is kept as said. By the ninth year of the Hijrah, Yemen had been under Persian (Sasanian) governance since the Abyssinians were driven out around 570 CE, and its Persian governor Bādhān had accepted Islam; the Roman (Byzantine) power lay to the north, in Syria.
** "Verse 64–65" is kept as said. The words recited and explained here — yaʿtadhirūna ilaykum idhā rajaʿtum ilayhim, yaḥlifūna bi-llāhi lakum, yaḥlifūna lakum li-tarḍaw ʿanhum — are verses 9:94, 9:95 and 9:96, and the blocks are labelled accordingly.
*** Kept as said. Masjid Qubāʾ lies on the southern outskirts of Madīnah, some three kilometres south of Masjid al-Nabawī, which stood at the centre of the town.
**** "A leader of the Sassanids" is kept as said. In Kaʿb ibn Mālik's own narration of the three who were left behind (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī), the letter came from the king of Ghassān, the Arab kingdom of Syria allied to the Romans.
***** "Verse 132" is kept as said. The sūrah has 129 verses, as stated at the start of this chapter; the words recited — wa-mā kāna al-muʾminūna li-yanfirū kāffah — are verse 9:122, and the block is labelled accordingly.