'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' This is the opening of Mecca, and it was revealed when the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, returned from Mecca in the year of Hudaybiyyah, as a sign of victory. It was brought in the past tense, as is customary for the Lord of Glory, glorified and exalted is He, in His news. This is because its realization and certainty are like that of an existing occurrence. In this, there is a grandeur and indication of the high status of the one being informed, which is not hidden. It has been said that the news of the victory was brought in the past tense even though it had not yet occurred because the intended meaning is the opening of Mecca. The verse was revealed when he, blessings and peace be upon him, returned from Hudaybiyyah before the year of the opening. This is in accordance with the Lord of Glory's custom in His news, as it was realized and revealed as if it were an existing occurrence. In this, there is grandeur and an indication of the high status of the one being informed that is not hidden. It has been said that the grandeur is in the shift from speaking in the first person to the third person. If you say: How is the opening of Mecca a cause for forgiveness? I say: It is not made a cause for forgiveness, but due to the gathering of the four matters mentioned: forgiveness, completion of the blessing, guidance to the straight path, and the mighty victory. It is as if it is said: We have made the opening of Mecca easy for you, and We have granted you victory over your enemy, to combine for you the honor of both worlds and the goals of the immediate and the delayed. It may be that the opening of Mecca, in terms of being a struggle against the enemy, is a cause for forgiveness, reward, and the opening and conquest of the land, whether by force or by peace, through war or without war. It is closed until it is conquered, and when it is conquered and obtained, it has been opened. It has been said that it is the opening of Hudaybiyyah, where there was no intense fighting, but there was some exchange of arrows and stones among the people. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: They threw at the polytheists until they drove them back into their homes. Al-Kalbi said: They prevailed over them until they asked for peace. If you say: How can it be an opening when they were confined and sacrificed and shaved at Hudaybiyyah? I say: That was before the truce, and when they requested it and it was completed, it became a clear opening. Musa ibn Uqbah reported: The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, returned from Hudaybiyyah, and a man from his companions said: This is not an opening; they have prevented us from the House and blocked our sacrificial animals. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, was informed, and he said: 'What a terrible saying this is! Rather, it is one of the greatest openings. The polytheists have accepted to drive you away from their land with ease, and they have asked you for a settlement, and they desire safety from you, having seen from you what they disliked.' This is as reported in the Maghazi of Musa ibn Uqbah from Al-Zuhri, and Al-Bayhaqi narrated it in Al-Dala'il through him and through Abu Al-Aswad from Urwah in a similar lengthy manner. Al-Shabi said: It was revealed at Hudaybiyyah, and the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, experienced in that expedition what he did not experience in any other expedition.

That he was given the pledge of Ridwan, and his previous and later sins were forgiven. The Romans triumphed over the Persians, and guidance reached its place. They were provided with the dates of Khaybar, and there was a great sign in the opening of al-Hudaybiyyah. This is because its water was drained until not a drop remained in it. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, gargled from it and then spat into it. The water began to flow until all those with him drank. It was said: The water surged until it filled up and did not run out. [Agreed upon. From the lengthy narration of al-Bara' with the first wording. And from Muslim from the narration of Salamah ibn al-Akwa'. He said: 'We arrived in Medina and we were fourteen hundred, and there were fifty sheep that could not quench their thirst. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, sat by the side of the cistern and either he prayed or he spat, and then the water surged. We drank and filled our containers. And in the long hadith from al-Miswar ibn Makhramah and Marwan: He diverted from them until he settled at the farthest point of al-Hudaybiyyah at a place with little water. The people soon complained to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, of thirst, so he took an arrow from his quiver and then commanded them to place it in there. By Allah, it continued to surge with water for them, and there is no contradiction in this to the hadith of al-Bara'. This was narrated by al-Waqidi from the path of 'Atā' ibn Abi Marwan from his father. Fourteen men from the companions of Aslam narrated to me that Najiyah ibn al-A'jam said: 'The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, called me when he was informed of the lack of water, and he handed me an arrow from his quiver and commanded a bucket of water. He gargled from it and then spat into the bucket. He said to me: descend and pour the water into the well, and I opened the water with the arrow. I did so. By the One who sent him with the truth, I barely emerged before it nearly overwhelmed me.' It was also narrated from the hadith of Qatadah. He said: When the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, called the man, he descended with the arrow and performed ablution. He gargled from it, then returned it to the well: it surged with water.' After that, it was said: It is the opening of Khaybar, and it was said: the opening of the Romans. It was said: Allah opened for him with Islam, prophethood, and the call with proof and sword, and there is no opening greater or clearer than it, as it is the head of all openings, for there is no opening of the openings of Islam except that it is beneath it and branches from it. It was said: Its meaning is that We have decreed for you a clear decree upon the people of Mecca that you and your companions will enter it next year to perform Tawaf around the House: from the opening, which is the judgment. Likewise, from Qatadah: 'What has preceded of your sin and what has come after' means: all that you have neglected. And from Muqatil: What has preceded in the days of ignorance and what comes after. And it was said: What has preceded from the story of Marya and what has come after from the wife of Zayd, a mighty victory in it, with honor and strength - or described with the description of the victorious in a metaphorical sense or a mighty companion.