THE WORD OF GOD
THE Quran is the book of God. It has been preserved in its
entirety since its revelation to the Prophet of Islam between
610 and 632 A.D. It is a book that brings glad tidings to mankind,
along with divine admonition, and stresses the importance of man’s
discovery of the Truth on a spiritual and intellectual level.
Translated from Arabic and commentary
by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
VICTORY
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Truly, We have granted you a clear victory so that God may forgive you your past and future sins and complete His favour to you and guide you to a straight path, and so that God might bestow on you His mighty help. 48: 1-3
In the sixth year of the Hijrah, the Prophet Muhammad left Medina for Makkah along with his companions, so that he could perform the rite of pilgrimage there. He had reached Hudaybiya when the pagans of Makkah came forward and barred his way, saying that they would not allow him to enter Makkah. Mutual negotiations followed, as a result of which a peace treaty was drawn up and signed by both sides.
This treaty was executed apparently on the unilateral terms and conditions dictated by the polytheists. As a consequence, the companions of the Prophet Muhammad were very disheartened: they considered it a degrading treaty. But on the way back from Hudaybiya, this verse was revealed: ‘We have granted you a clear victory.’ The reason for this was that according to this Treaty it was agreed that for ten years there would be no war between the Muslims and polytheists. The end of fighting was in fact synonymous to the opening of the door of dawah. After the Hijrah (migration to Medina), due to incessant fighting, dawah activity had stopped. Now, the truce had created an open atmosphere in which there could be a free exchange of thought between the opponents.
In this way, this treaty changed the sphere of combat. Formerly, the competition between the two sides had been held on the battlefield where the Muslims’ antagonists had the upper hand. Now rivalry shifted to the field of intellect and in this, the theory of the one God clearly triumphed over polytheism. Here now was the ‘straight path’, i.e. the way which made the victory of the flag-bearers of monotheism an absolute certainty.
It was He who sent down tranquillity into the hearts of the believers, to add faith to their faith—the forces of the heavens and earth belong to Him; He is all-knowing and all-wise—and so that He might admit the believers, men and women, into Gardens through which rivers flow, to dwell therein forever, and so that He may remove their evils from them—that is, indeed, a supreme triumph in God’s eyes—and so that He might punish hypocritical men and women as well as the polytheists—men and women who think evil thoughts about God; an evil turn of fortune will fall upon them, for God has become angry with them, and has rejected them and prepared Hell for them. How evil is such a destination. The forces of heavens and earth belong to God; He is almighty and all wise. 48: 4-7
Here tranquillity (sakinah) means not becoming irritated despite provocation. At Hudaybiya the opponents of Islam tried to goad Muslims in different ways into taking such action as would provide them with sufficient justification for aggression. But the Muslims for their part tolerated every attempt at provocation. Right to the end, they were firm on the policy of overlooking and ignoring such attempts.
Had God desired it, He could have subdued the forces of falsehood by means of His direct power and granted dominance to the Truth. Then, why is it that God created Hudaybiya Treaty-like conditions and made the Faithful undertake this journey? The purpose was to enhance the Faith by testing the Faithful. If a man curbs his urge to take revenge and enters into a treaty with an arrogant people simply because that is required by the task of disseminating the Truth, he does so by a conscientious decision. In so doing he makes his mind rule his heart. In this way, he increases his Faith-consciousness. He makes himself the recipient of such divine emotions as cannot be achieved in any other way. The advantage of this is that the people of Paradise and the people of Hell are separated in the process.
We have sent you forth as a witness and a bearer of good tidings and a warner, so that you may believe in God and His Messenger, and may help him, and honour him, and so that you may glorify God morning and evening. Behold, all who pledge their allegiance to you indeed pledge their allegiance to God: the hand of God is over their hands. Hence, he who breaks his oath, breaks it only to his own loss. Whereas he who remains true to what he has pledged to God, shall have a great reward bestowed upon him by God. 48: 8-10
The real work of the Prophet is to be an exponent of the truth (shaahid, as translated by Shah Waliullah). He should clearly show who will be entitled to God’s Grace and who will deserve punishment from God in the eternal life after death.
The rising of such a ‘shaahid’ or witness of Truth poses the greatest trial for his addressees. They have to hear God’s voice in the voice of a human being. They have to see a representative of God in the shape of a human being. While giving their hand into the hands of a man, they have to think that they are giving their hand into the hands of God. For those who prove to have this superior insight, God has great rewards in store, but to those who fail in this test, God will mete out the most severe punishment.
There is nothing that can take
the place of a receptive intellect.
One who remains open to instruction will look
on the whole world as living proof of divine realities.
One who goes through life with a closed mind, however,
is like an animal that hears and sees all, but understands nothing.