At-Tawbah 9:43

Commentary

Mentioned in most of the seventeen verses of this entire section are hypocrites who had, on false pretexts, secured permission from the Holy Prophet ﷺ that they would not go to participate in the Jihad of Tabuk. Falling under it, there are many injunctions, rulings and instructions that have been pointed out in the commentary.

The first verse (43) begins in a subtle manner. Here, a complaint has been made to the Holy Prophet ﷺ . He has been told that those hypocrites were lying when they presented themselves as de-serving of being excused from active service in Jihad. But, he accepted their plea without first having made an inquiry about the real state of affairs with them which would have made the true and false of it comes out clearly. This gave them the opportunity to go about congratulating themselves on how smartly they had deceived the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Though, in verses coming next, Allah Ta` ala has also clarified that those people were asking to be excused from Jihad just to play tricks - otherwise, even if they were not permitted, still then, they would have never gone. And in another verse, it was also pointed out that, in case these people did go to this Jihad, it would have been of no use to Muslims - in fact, their conspiracy and mischief would have been far more dangerous.

But, the drift of the argument is that, in case, permission was not given, they were still not going to go anyway - however, their hypocrisy would have definitely been exposed and they would not have had the opportunity to throw taunts at Muslims and exult that they had fooled them. And the real purpose here is not to show wrath or displeasure, instead of that, it is a way of saying that, in future, the motives and moves of such people should be watched and screened carefully. Then, it can be conceded that there does exist a certain kind of displeasure in the external framework of words but it has been coated with a delightful concern for sensitivities, particularly that of his dear prophet. We can see that the expression of displeasure which begins with the words: لِمَ أَذِنتَ لَهُمْ why did you permit them?) does not actually begin until said ahead of it was: عَفَا اللَّهُ عَنكَ (Allah has forgiven you) !

It has been said by people having insight in the nature of God-Prophet relationship that the Holy Prophet ﷺ had a special attachment to Allah Jalla Thana'uh. His heart could not simply bear the shock of being in a situation where he is subjected to questioning from Allah Ta` ala. For instance, if the words: (why did you permit them?) - which translate as interrogation in their formal appearance - were said in the very beginning, the blessed heart of the Holy Prophet ﷺ would have been simply unable to take it. Therefore, the words: عَفَا اللَّهُ عَنكَ (Allah has forgiven you) have been placed earlier. This serves two purposes. Firstly, it gives him the information that something has happened, something that was not liked by Allah. Secondly, the information that he has been forgiven for whatever had happened was being given beforehand so that what is said next should not break his blessed heart.

As for the word of forgiveness, let there be no doubt about it and let no one say that forgiveness is usually given for crimes and sins - and the Holy Prophet ﷺ was ma` sum مَعصُوم (protected from sin) - what, then, would be the sense of forgiveness at this place? The answer is that the way there is forgiveness for sin, similarly, there could also be forgiveness for what is contrary to the preferred way (khilaf al-awla) or is simply undesirable - and that does not violate the concept of the ` ismah (infallibility) of a prophet.