هَمُّ

1176

Commentary:

The words, who plotted to turn out the Messenger, do not refer to the Meccans, but to those who, when the Holy Prophet went on an expedition to the Syrian border, plotted to bring about his downfall by making the different tribes of Arabia stand up as one man against him on his return (see notes on 9:3,4, above). The Meccans did not merely plot to turn out the Holy Prophet, but actually turned him out (see 47:14). Moreover, by the time these verses were revealed, the Meccans had embraced Islam and all hostilities between Muslims and Meccans had ceased.

The words, they were the first to commence hostilities against you, also refer not to the Meccans but to those infidels, whether open or secret, who lived in and about Medina. The words provide conclusive proof of the fact that, far from being the transgressor, Islam was transgressed against. It was the infidels who first began hostilities against it. They acted most treacherously and resorted to all sorts of foul means to annihilate it. It was only such men that Muslims had been commanded to fight. Christian critics of Islam will do well to compare the wars of Islam with the wars of their great Lawgiver, Moses, against a people who had never taken up arms against him and had done nothing to offend him. Yet these people were ruthlessly butchered and even their women and children were not spared (Deut. 20:16, 17). As compared with this, the Holy

Prophet took up arms only against those who first started hostilities, and even then he directed that their women and children and their religious devotees, as well as their churches, should be spared (Muslim, Tahawi & Dawud). Those, who regard the wars of Moses as holy, have certainly no reason to criticize the wars of the Holy Prophet of Islam.

1228

Commentary:

The words, They swear by Allah that they said nothing, also show that the preceding verse refers not to disbelievers and hypocrites jointly, but only to hypocrites. As the verse points out, some of the disbelievers who later turned hypocrites were not insincere in the beginning; but as time went on and Islam made progress, they gradually drifted into disbelief and hypocrisy. For instance, ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy, who afterwards became leader of the hypocrites, was at first a believer. But when he found that by giving his allegiance to the Holy Prophet his own prestige and importance had declined, he turned hostile and began to plot against Islam.

The expression, because Allah and His Messenger had enriched them out of His bounty, means that with the advent of the Holy Prophet to Medina, the prosperity of the town very much increased, its trade thrived and its inhabitants grew rich.