'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Al-Mumtahanah

And it is a Medinan surah by consensus of the interpreters.

His saying, exalted is He:

﴿O you who have believed, do not take My enemy and your enemy as allies, extending to them affection, while they have disbelieved in what has come to you of the truth, having driven out the Messenger and you, because you believe in Allah, your Lord. If you have come out for jihad in My cause and seeking My pleasure, you conceal affection for them, and I know what you have concealed and what you have declared. And whoever of you does that has certainly strayed from the soundness of the way﴾

"The enemy" is a name that applies to both plural and singular, and what is meant here is the disbelievers of Quraysh. This verse was revealed because of Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah. This is because "the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, intended to go out to Mecca in the year of the conquest, and he concealed that in Khaybar. It became known among the people that he was going out to Khaybar, and he informed a group of his companions of his intention to go to Mecca, among them Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah. Hatib wrote to a group of the disbelievers of Mecca informing them of the intention of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, towards them. The news reached the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and he sent Ali, Al-Zubair, and a third, it is said to be Al-Miqdad, and it is said to be Abu Mirthad. He said: 'Go until you reach Rawdat Khakh, for there is a woman with a letter from Hatib to the polytheists.' So they went until they found the woman, and her name was Sarah, a freedwoman of a group from Quraysh. It is said rather that she was a woman from Muzayna and her name was not Sarah. They said to her: 'Bring out the letter.' She said: 'I do not have a letter.' They searched all her belongings but found nothing. Some of them said: 'She does not have a letter.' Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 'The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, did not lie, nor was he lied to. By Allah, you will bring out the letter or we will strip you.' She said: 'Leave me alone.' Then she untied it from her hair. It is said that she brought it out from her garment. They brought it to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him. He said to Hatib: 'Who wrote this?' He said: 'I did, O Messenger of Allah, but do not hasten against me. By Allah, I did not do this out of apostasy from my religion nor out of desire for it, but I was a man closely associated with Quraysh and I was not one of them. I wanted to have a hand with them that would protect me through my kinship.' Umar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said: 'Let me, O Messenger of Allah, strike the neck of this hypocrite.' The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'Hatib has spoken the truth. He is from the people of Badr. And what do you know, O Umar, perhaps Allah looked upon the people of Badr and said:

'You will cast' is in the position of the description for 'the allies.' 'I cast' is transitive with a preposition and without a preposition. Thus, the inclusion of the preposition 'ba' and its absence are the same. This is similar to His saying, glorified and exalted is He: 'And I cast upon you love from Me' [Ta-Ha: 39] and His saying, exalted is He: 'We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve' [Al-Imran: 151]. Al-Mu'alla reported from Asim that he read: 'And they have disbelieved for what' with a 'lam.' And His saying, exalted is He: 'They will expel' is in the position of the state from the pronoun in 'disbelieved,' and the meaning is: they will expel the Messenger and expel you. It is a confirmed state, and for that reason, He presented the action in the future while the expulsion has already occurred. The constriction of the disbelievers upon the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and the believers is an expulsion since it leads to the expulsion. And His saying, exalted is He: 'that you believe' is a purpose for which it is done, meaning: they expel you for the sake of your belief in your Lord. And His saying, exalted is He: 'If you are' is a condition, the response of which is implied in the meaning of what preceded it. This is permissible because the action of the condition has not appeared, and the estimation is: if you have exited to strive in My cause and seeking My pleasure, then do not take My enemy and your enemy as allies. 'Striving' is in the accusative as a verbal noun, and likewise 'seeking.' It is also permissible for that to be a purpose for which it is done. 'Pleasure' is a verbal noun like 'contentment.' 'You conceal' is a substitute for 'you will cast,' and it is permissible for it to be in the position of a news statement, as if He, exalted is He, said: 'You conceal.' It is valid for it to be an unqualified action with which the saying began. And the casting with affection means what it means, and the secrecy of it is an additional meaning beyond the casting. Thus, it returns with this that 'you conceal' is an action that began with the saying, meaning: you do that and I know. And His saying, exalted is He: 'I know' may be understood as 'I will do,' and it may be understood as an action because you say 'I knew about such and such,' so the 'ba' enters. And His saying, exalted is He: 'And I know' is a complete statement in the position of the state. The people of Medina read: 'And I' with the elongation of the 'alif' in the insertion, while others read 'And I' by omitting the 'alif' in the insertion. The pronoun in 'he does it' refers back to the mentioned taking, and 'the same' may be a purpose acted upon by 'he strayed,' and that is based on the transitive 'he strayed.' It may also be an adverb without transitivity because it comes in both ways, and the first is better in meaning. 'The same' means the middle, and that is because its ratio is equal to the ends of the thing. And 'the way' here refers to the Sharia of Allah, exalted is He, and the path of His religion.