Quran (9:118) : Who Are The Three?
وَآخَرُوْنَ مُرْجَوْنَ لِأَمْرِ اللّهِ إِمَّا يُعَذِّبُهُمْ وَإِمَّا يَتُوْبُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَاللّهُ عَلِيْمٌ حَكِيْمٌ. [Similarly,] there are others whose matter has been deferred till the verdict of God. He will either punish them or accept their repentance. God knows everything. He is full of wisdom . [53] (9:106) قَدْ تَّابَ الله عَلَى النَّبِيِّ وَالْمُهَاجِرِيْنَ وَالأَنْصَارِ الَّذِيْنَ اتَّبَعُوهُ فِي سَاعَةِ الْعُسْرَةِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا كَادَ يَزِيْغُ قُلُوْبُ فَرِيْقٍ مِّنْهُمْ ثُمَّ تَابَ عَلَيْهِمْ إِنَّهُ بِهِمْ رَؤُوْفٌ رَّحِيْمٌ. وَعَلَى الثَّلَاثَةِ الَّذِيْنَ خُلِّفُوْا حَتَّى إِذَا ضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الْأَرْضُ بِمَا رَحُبَتْ وَضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ أَنفُسُهُمْ وَظَنُّوْا أَنْ لَّا مَلْجَأَ مِنَ اللّهِ إِلَّا إِلَيْهِ ثُمَّ تَابَ عَلَيْهِمْ لِيَتُوبُوْا إِنَّ اللّهَ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيْمُ. God showed mercy on the Prophet and [his companions] among the Ansar and the Muhajirun who stood up with the Prophet in times of difficulty after it happened that the hearts of some among them had almost become inclined towards deviation. Then God looked at them with mercy. In reality, He is affectionate to them and very merciful. In a similar manner, He looked with mercy on the three whose matter had been deferred. Until when the earth seemed to close in upon them in spite of its vastness and they got sick of themselves and they came to know that there is no place to escape God except with him. [71] Then God turned to them in mercy so that they turn [to Him]. [72] Indeed, it is God Who is very prone to accepting forgiveness and is merciful . (9:117-118) (Excerpt from Quranic Exegesis: Javed Ahmed Ghamidi) (Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem) ______________________________________________________ [53] It is evident from verse 118 ahead that they were three people. Narratives record their names as Ka‘b ibn Malik, Hilal ibn Umayyah and Murarah ibn Rabi‘. They had whole-heartedly confessed the cowardice they had shown in Tabuk. Yet God, on the basis of His knowledge and wisdom had deferred their matter and stated that time will tell whether they should be punished or forgiven. It is quite evident from this that they were still facing God’s anger and He was not pleased with them. In all probability, the reason for this was that such weakness could not be expected from people of their stature. At the same time, they had also not fully realized their mistake to the extent that befitted them. Thus the matter was deferred for their cleansing and purification. [70] In this verse, the preposition of the verb تَابَ is عَلَی and it is ascribed to God. When it occurs in this manner, it encompasses the meaning of mercy and affection. The Prophet (sws) had not committed any such mistake as the ones committed by those who have been warned earlier. It was because of His graciousness and benevolence that at times he had forgiven the hypocrites whereas the Almighty wanted to expose them before punishing them and as such this attitude of the Prophet (sws) was against the scheme of God. This has been alluded to earlier. Similarly, though a very large group of the Muhajirun and the Ansar showed perseverance in the face of great adversities and hardships, a small group showed weakness at the time of Tabuk. The verse actually refers to this group by saying that some hearts had become inclined to deviation. However, these people soon realized their folly and through repentance set their hearts on the right path. This verse gave glad tidings to all that God has turned to them with affection and mercy. They have remained with the Prophet (sws) at the time of Tabuk and at all previous instances of hardship. For this reason, God has pardoned all their mistakes. Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi writes: … These words firstly delineate the fact that real faith is that of those who have succeeded in the trials of hardship. The second thing which is evident is that this attribute of the faith of the Muhajirun and the Ansar made them worthy of God’s affection and He accepted their repentance. God does not deprive His sincere and selfless servants from the urge to do good. When some weakness emanates from them, God instills in them the urge to repent after which they repent and God forgives them. God disregards only those who make claims with their tongues only but are not prepared to face any adversity. (Amin Ahsan Islahi, Tadabbur-i Qur’an, vol. 3, 657) [71] These people have been mentioned earlier in verse 106. It is evident from narratives that these three faced God’s wrath for fifty whole days. At His behest, all Muslims socially boycotted them. Their relatives even their wives and children alienated themselves from the three. (Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur’an al-‘Aẓim, vol. 2, 519). It is this situation which is portrayed by the words of the verse “the earth seemed to close in upon them for them in spite of its vastness.” Their inner selves became badly affected by the nagging feeling that God and His Messenger are angry with them. As a result, they became averse to their own selves and the stage was reached when they had no place of comfort out side their selves and their hearts too lacked peace and poise. The consequence of all this was that their hearts melted and they reached that level of repentance that was needed from people of their status. Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi writes: … The intensity with which these people were taken to task, with the same intensity did these people show urgency to turn to God thinking that when God is seizing them, they can only seek His refuge to save themselves. Two of these three totally isolated themselves in seclusion. Day and night they would cry and plead and express shame and repentance. The third would at times go out but only because he might earn the affection of God and His Messenger. (Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur’an al-‘Aẓim, vol. 2, 519). Had these people any germ of hypocrisy in them, they would have sought the refuge of someone when they had been discarded by God and His Messenger. On the contrary, these people were true in faith. Hence just like a child who in fear clings even more closely to his mother when she scolds him, they ran to seek God’s refuge to save themselves from His wrath . (Amin Ahsan Islahi, Tadabbur-i Qur’an, vol. 3, 659)