At-Tawbah


At-Tawbah, also known as Bara'ah, is the ninth chapter of the Quran. It contains 129 verses and is one of the last Medinan surah.
This Surah is reported to have been revealed at the time of the Battle of Tabuk in Madinah in the 9th year of the Hijrah. The Sanaa manuscript preserves some verses, on parchment radiocarbon dated to between 578/44bh and 669/49ah.
It is the only Surah of the Quran that does not begin with Bismillah. It deals with almost the same topics as those dealt with in Surat al-Anfal. It is the only surah in the Qur'an which does not begin with the usual opening formula, In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate. In contrast to all other surahs, prophet Muhammad, did not order that this formula should be put at the beginning of this surah.

Name

This Surah is known by two names - At-Taubah and Al-Bara'at. It is called At-Taubah in light of the fact that it articulates taubah and informs about the conditions of its acceptance.. The second name Bara'at is taken from the opening word of the Surah.

Oversight of Bismillah

Out of all 114 Surahs of the Quran this is the only one to which Bismillah isn't prefixed. Among the explanations put forward for his not doing so, the most commonly accepted according Unal is that, like the Islamic salutation, Peace be upon you, the expression, In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate conveys security and giving of quarter to those addressed. However, Surat at-Tawbah begins with an ultimatum to certain polytheists in Arabia. It deals, for the most part, with a re-evaluation of the relations with the polytheists who were frequently violating their agreements, the campaign to Tabuk, a disclosure of the intrigues of the hypocrites in Madinah, the importance of jihad in God's cause, and relationships with the People of the Book.

Periods of revelation

This Surah includes three Discourses :-
From opening up to the 37th ayat, the initial talk, was uncovered in Zil-Qa'adah A.H. 9. As the significance of the subject of the talk required its affirmation on the event of Hajj Muhammad dispatched Ali to follow Abu Bakr, who had just left for Makkah to lead the Pilgrims to the Ka'abah. He trained Ali to convey the talk before the representatives of the various clans of Arabia in order to advise them regarding the new policy guidelines pertinent to the mushriks.
Starting from ayat 38 up to 72nd ayat the subsequent talk was revealed during Rajab A.H. 9 or a little before this, when Muhammad was occupied with getting ready for the Campaign of Tabuk. The Believers were encouraged to take a dynamic part in Jihad, and the shirkers were seriously reproached for keeping down their riches and for wavering to forfeit their lives in the path for Allah due to their hypocrisy, powerless belief or carelessness.
The final section of ayaat 73rd to last, was uncovered on his return from the Campaign of Tabuk. There are a few pieces revealed in different events during the same time frame and were incorporated by Muhammad into the Surah as per instructions from Allah. This talk cautions the hypocrites of their malevolent deeds and censures those Believers who had remained behind in the Campaign of Tabuk. At that point in the wake of berating them, Allah exculpates those genuine Believers who had not partaken in the Jihad in the Way of Allah for one explanation or the other.

Contents

According to Zayd ibn Thabit, when the Qu'ran was first being compiled, he found the last verses of this Surah in the possession of Abu al-h al-Ansari and no one else. In another account, Ubay ibn Ka'b informed Zayd that Muhammad taught him the end of this sūrah and recited the same verses. Some, like Ibn Hazm, suggested that Abu Khuzayma was the only one to have the last verses in written form, as Zayd and others had memorized them. In a continuum of Surah Al-Anfal, this Surah additionally manages the issues of harmony and war and puts together the subject with respect to the Tabuk Expedition.The Significant Issues, Divine Laws and pieces of Guidance incorporated in this surah are as follows
  1. Policy guidelines for Muslims pertaining the mushriks.
  2. Instructions to participate in Jihad.
  3. Guidelines about hypocrisy, feeble faith, and carelessness.
  4. Battle of Tabuk.
  5. Foundation of a Dar-ul-Islam.
  6. Stretching out the impact of Islam to abutting nations.
  7. Pulverizing the underhandedness of the hypocrites.
  8. Setting up the Muslims for a battle in the reason for Islam.

    Exegesis

Verses 9:2 - 9:6

is termed as the Sword Verse. The journalist Arun Shourie has criticized this and many other verses from the Quran contending that the Sunnah and the Hadith are equally evocative in their support of Jihad. Many mainstream Islamic scholars, however, assert that this verse relates to a very specific event in early Islamic history i.e. the covenant that was made and consecutively broken by the polytheist tribes of Mecca.:74-91 According to Asma Afsaruddin, citing various early exegetes' opinions regarding the Arab polytheists, the consensus among the earliest commentators has been that this does not translate into indiscriminate killing.:88-89
Similarly, Western Islam-scholar Rudolph Peters also asserts that indiscriminate killing is not supported in this verse.

Verse 9:29

At-Tawbah also contains:
Al-Rāzī, on this occasion quoted an early exegetical authority, Abū Rawq, who explained that this verse was not a unilateral condemnation of all Jews and Christians, but those "who do not heed the prescriptions contained in the Torah and the Gospel, respectively". Similarly Al-Qurṭubī "did not read into Qurān 9:29 a wholesale denunciation of the People of the Book as an undifferentiated collectivity".:278 Modern Muslim scholars like Muhammad Abduh shared similar views, agreeing that this verse was revealed on the occasion of the military campaign in Tabuk, and this verse specifically deals with the People of the Book", and also that "the only kind of legitimate war on which there is unanimity among Muslim scholars is the defensive war when proclaimed by the Imām in the event of an attack upon Muslim territory". The Grand Imam of al-Azhar from 1935 to 1945, Mustafa Al-Maraghi, notes that 9:29 means: "fight those mentioned when the conditions which necessitate fighting are present, namely, aggression against you or your country, oppression and persecution against you on account of your faith, or threatening your safety and security, as was committed against you by the Byzantines, which was what lead to Tabuk.

Verse 9:103

In Kitab al-Kafi, Ja'far al-Sadiq has narrated that Imams are not needy to what people own but rather collect religious tax on accord that Allah said, "Take from their wealth and charity by which you purify them and cause them to increase and invoke blessings upon them." Therefore, it is the people who need that the Imam accepts from them.

Sanaa manuscript folio 22, Q9:122-129

Verses 122-129 are preserved in Folio 22 of the Sanaa manuscript. The sequence of Sanaa 1 chapters do not follow any other known quranic order and folio 22 is shared with Chapter 19. Saudi-based experts in Quranic history emphasize that while the prophet Muhammad was alive, Quranic texts did not follow any standard sequence of surahs.
Folio 22, recto Visible TracesReconstructionStandard Text
Quran 9, Verse 122
Line 3, p. 62		ما ﺎ ﮞمَا كَانَمَا كَانَ
Quran 9:122
Line 4		مں كل ا ﻣﻪمِن كُلِّ مِن كُلِّ
Quran 9:124
Line 9		و ا د ا ا ٮر لٮوَإِذَا أُنزِلَتْوَإِذَا أُنزِلَتْ
Quran 9:125
Line 12		ڡی ٯلو ٮهم ر حسفِى قُلُوبِهِم فِى قُلُوبِهِم
Quran 9:125
Line 13		ر حر ا ا لی ر ﺣﺴـﻢ إِلَىٰ رِجْسِهِمْ إِلَىٰ رِجْسِهِمْ
Quran 9:125
Line 13		و ما ٮو ا و هم ڡـ ﮞوَمَاتُوا۟ وَهُمْ وَمَاتُوا۟ وَهُمْ
Quran 9:126
Line 13		ا / / ٮر وأَوَلَا أَوَلَا
Quran 9:126
Line 15		و لا ٮــﺪ كر و ﮞوَلَا يَتَذَكَّرُونَوَلَا هُمْ يَذَّكَّرُونَ
Quran 9:127
Line 15		و ا د ا ا ـﺮ ـٮوَإِذَا أُنزِلَتْوَإِذَا أُنزِلَتْ
Quran 9:127
Line 16		هل ٮر ٮٮاهَلْ هَلْ
Quran 9:127
Line 17		ڡا ٮـ ڡـ اﭑنصَرَفُوا انصَرَفُوا
Quran 9:127
Line 17		ڡصر ڡ ا ﻟـﻠـﻪـصَرَفَ اللهُصَرَفَ ٱللَّـهُ
Quran 9:127
Line 17		د لک ٮـ// ـﻮ م لا ٮڡٯهو ﮞ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَّا يَفْقَهُونَبِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَّا يَفْقَهُونَ
Quran 9:128
Line 18		و لٯد حا کملَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْلَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ
Quran 9:128
Line 18		ر سو ل ﻣٮــﻢرَسولٌ رَسُولٌ
Quran 9:128
Line 19		عر ٮر ﻠ ما عٮٮکمعَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا
Quran 9:129
Line 20		ڡا / / ـﻮ لو ا ـﮏفَإن تَوَلَّوْا فَإن تَوَلَّوْا
Quran 9:129
Line 21		ا لد ی لا ا ﻟ ا لا ﻫﻮ لَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَلَا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ

Hadith

The first and foremost exegesis/tafsir of the Qur'an is found in hadith of Muhammad. Ḥadīth is literally "speech" or "report", that is a recorded saying or tradition of Muhammad validated by isnad; with Sirah Rasul Allah these comprise the sunnah and reveal shariah. According to Aishah, the life of Prophet Muhammad was practical implementation of Qur'an. Therefore, higher count of hadith elevates the importance of the pertinent surah from a certain perspective. This surah was held in special esteem in hadith, which can be observed by these related narratives.