His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "They are the ones who disbelieved and prevented you from the Sacred Mosque and the sacrificial animals from reaching their place. Had it not been for believing men and believing women whom you did not know, that you might trample them and thus incur blame without knowledge, so that Allah may admit into His mercy whom He wills. If they had separated, We would have certainly punished those who disbelieved among them with a painful punishment." "When those who disbelieved had put in their hearts pride, the pride of ignorance, then Allah sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and upon the believers and made them adhere to the word of piety, and they were more deserving of it and worthy of it. And Allah is Knowing of all things." Allah, the Exalted, intends by His saying: "They are the ones who disbelieved" the people of Mecca who have been mentioned previously. And His saying: "And prevented you from the Sacred Mosque" refers to their preventing the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and his companions from performing Umrah in the year of Hudaybiyyah. This is because "the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, set out from Medina in Dhul-Qi'dah in the sixth year of Hijrah intending to perform Umrah and to honor the House, and he set out with a hundred sacrificial animals," as stated by al-Naqqash. It is said that it was seventy, as stated by al-Miswar ibn Makhramah and Marwan ibn al-Hakam. "When he approached Mecca, the people of Mecca said: 'This is Muhammad who has fought us and killed among us, and he intends to enter Mecca in defiance of us. By Allah, we will not allow him until we die defending against that.' So they gathered to fight him and sought help from tribes of the Arabs, who are the Ahbash. They sent and diverted the water sources that are near Mecca. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, came until he descended at the well of Hudaybiyyah. At that time, he placed his arrow in the water and it flowed abundantly until the army was sufficient. Then the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, sent Uthman ibn Affan, may Allah be pleased with him, to Mecca. The people of Mecca sent men to him, among them Urwah ibn Mas'ud and Badil ibn Warqa. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, remained there for several days until Suhail ibn Amr traveled, and with him the peace treaty was concluded on the condition that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, would turn back from them and perform Umrah in the coming year. This was their preventing him." This is well documented in the books of Sira, and thus we have summarized it.

And the majority read: "and the hady" with the dal being silent. Al-A'raj and Hasan ibn Abi Hasan read: "and the hadiy" with the dal being broken and the ya being emphasized. Both are two dialects. It is connected to the pronoun in His saying, the Exalted: ﴿and they prevented you﴾, meaning: and they prevented the hady. "Ma'kufan" is a state, and its meaning is: held back. You say: I held the man back from his need if I detained him. Abu Ali said: "A'kafa" is not known to be transitive. Ibn Sidah and others narrated its transitivity. This detention that occurred for the hady was from the polytheists by their preventing it, and from the Muslims due to their vision and their actions regarding it, so they detained their hady. And "an" in His saying, the Exalted: ﴿that it may reach its place﴾ can be understood as the prevention acting in it, as if He, the Exalted, said: and they prevented the hady out of dislike for it to reach, or from it reaching. It can also be understood as the detention acting in it, so "an" would be an object for it, meaning: the hady that is detained for the purpose of it reaching its place. This is the detention of the Muslims, otherwise the detention of the polytheists is not for the purpose of the hady reaching its place. And ﴿its place﴾ refers to Mecca and the House.

And Allah, the Exalted, mentioned the reason for the Muslims' diversion and that He did not allow them to enter Mecca from that direction, which is that there were believers in Mecca, men and women, whose faith was hidden. If the Muslims had violated its sanctity, they would have destroyed those believers. Qatadah said: So Allah, the Exalted, repelled the polytheists by the blessing of those believers. And He may repel the disbelievers by the believers. And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿you did not know them﴾ is a description of those mentioned. And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿that you trample them﴾ can be understood as a substitute for "men," as if He, the Exalted, said: and were it not for a believing people that you trample them, meaning: were it not for your trampling of a believing people. Thus, it is in a position of raising. It can also be understood as being in a position of accusative as a substitute for the pronoun in His saying, the Exalted: ﴿you did not know them﴾, as if He, the Exalted, said: you did not know their trampling, that it is the trampling of the believers. And trampling here means destruction by sword and otherwise, in the manner of analogy. From this is the saying of the poet:

And you trampled us with a trampling of anger ∗∗∗ like the trampling of the restrained beast.

And from this is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "O Allah, tighten Your trampling upon Mudar." And from this is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Indeed, the last trampling of the Lord on the Day of Wujj in Ta'if"; for it was the last occurrence for the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. This meaning was mentioned by Al-Naqqash.

'And the 'ma'ra' is the evil and the disliked that clings, taken from 'ar' and 'urrah', which is the difficult and persistent scabies. People have differed in determining this 'ma'ra'. Ibn Zayd said: it is the sin. Ibn Ishaq said: it is the blood money. These two opinions are weak because there is no sin or blood money in the killing of a believer who is concealed in faith from the people of war. Al-Tabari - as narrated by Al-Thalabi - said: it is the expiation. Al-Mundhir said: the 'ma'ra' is that the disbelievers criticize them and say: they killed the people of their religion. Some of the interpreters said: it is the blame and the words about that and the pain of the soul from it in the remaining time. These are the sayings of Hassan. The response to 'lawla' is omitted, its meaning being: We would have enabled you to enter Mecca and supported you against them. Al-A'mash read: 'So you will be afflicted by it with a 'ma'ra'.

And the 'lam' in His saying, the Exalted: 'to enter' may be related to an omitted part of the saying, its meaning being: were it not for these, you would have entered Mecca. But these believers have honored us by having mercy on them and repelling because of them from Mecca, so that Allah, the Exalted, may enter, meaning: to clarify to the observer that Allah, the Exalted, enters into His mercy whom He wills, or meaning: for their entry to occur in the mercy of Allah, the Exalted, and His repelling from them. It is possible that it relates to the previously mentioned faith, as if He, the Exalted, said: and were it not for a believing people who believed for Allah to enter into His mercy. This is mentioned but it is weak; because His saying, the Exalted: 'whom He wills' weakens this interpretation.

Then His saying, the Exalted: 'If they had separated' means: if they had gone away from Mecca. You say: I separated Zayd from his place, meaning I removed him. This action is not from 'zala yazulu'. It has been said that it is from it. Abu Haywah and Qatadah read: [tuzayilu] with an 'alif' after the 'zay', meaning: these went away from these and these from these. And His saying, the Exalted: 'from them' is to clarify the type if the pronoun in [tazayalu] refers to all of the believers and disbelievers. Al-Nahhas said: It has been said that His saying, the Exalted: 'And were it not for believing men' - the verse - means (p-685) the Exalted, those in the loins of the disbelievers who will believe in the distant future. Al-Thalabi and Al-Naqqash narrated this from Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, as a raised narration.

And the worker in His saying, the Exalted: ﴿When He made﴾ His saying, the Exalted: ﴿We would surely punish﴾. It is possible that the meaning is: remember when He made. And the "hamiya" that they made is the hamiya of the people of Makkah in preventing. Al-Zuhri said: And the hamiya of Suhail and those who witnessed the contract of peace, in that they prevented the writing of "In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful". They insisted until he wrote "In Your name, O Allah". Likewise, they prevented the writing of "This is what Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, has agreed upon". They insisted until he, blessings and peace be upon him, said to Ali, may Allah be pleased with him: "Erase and write: This is what Muhammad ibn Abdullah has agreed upon..." The narration. And the Exalted made it a hamiya of ignorance because it was without evidence and in an inappropriate place. If the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, had come to them as a warrior, they would have excused themselves for their hamiya. However, he came as one who honors the House and does not seek war. Thus, their hamiya was pure ignorance.

And "as-sakina" is the tranquility towards the matter of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and the trust in the promise of Allah, the Exalted, and obedience and the removal of the arrogance that afflicted Umar and others. And ﴿The word of piety﴾, the majority said: "It is none worthy of worship except Allah". This has been narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. And Ata ibn Abi Rabah said: It is "None worthy of worship except Allah, alone, without partner. To Him belongs the dominion and to Him belongs the praise, and He is capable of all things." Abu Huraira and Ata al-Khurasani said: It is none worthy of worship except Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. And Ali ibn Abi Talib said: It is "None worthy of worship except Allah, and Allah is the Greatest". Al-Thalabi narrated this from Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with both of them. All of these are close and good sayings; because this word protects from the Fire, so it is the word of piety. Al-Zuhri narrated from Al-Miswar and Marwan: The word of piety referred to is: "In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful". This is what the disbelievers of Quraysh rejected, so Allah made it obligatory upon the believers and made them more deserving of it. And "none worthy of worship except Allah" is more deserving of the name "the word of piety" than "In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful". In the Mushaf of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him: "And they were its people and more deserving of it". The meaning is: they were its people absolutely in the knowledge of Allah, the Exalted, and His prior decree for them. It is said: more deserving of it than the Jews and Christians in this world. It is said: its people in the Hereafter with reward. And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And Allah is All-Knowing of everything﴾ is an indication of His knowledge of the believers, whom He defended against the disbelievers of Quraysh because of them. And it indicates His knowledge of the face of the interest in the peace of Hudaybiyyah. It is narrated that when it was concluded, the people were safe during that period from war and fitna, and they mingled, and the call of Islam rose, and all who had understanding among the Arabs submitted to it. The number of Muslims increased many times what it had been before. This necessitates that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was in the year of Hudaybiyyah with fourteen hundred, then he proceeded to Makkah after that with ten thousand horsemen, blessings and peace be upon him.