وَإِن كَادُوا۟ لَيَسْتَفِزُّونَكَ مِنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ لِيُخْرِجُوكَ مِنْهَا ۖ وَإِذًا لَّا يَلْبَثُونَ خِلَٰفَكَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا
8:31; 60:2.
Important Words:
خلافک (after thee). خلاف is derived from خلف which means, he succeeded or remained after another. خالف عنا means, he remained behind us or after us. قعدت خلافه means, I remained behind him or after him. خلاف means, after or behind; the contrary or opposite, the sleeve of a shirt, etc. The Quranic expression اذا لا یلبثون خلافک الا قلیلا means, in that case they should not have remained after thee but a little while (Lane). See also 7:70, 170; 9:87.
Commentary:
As the Arabic expression استفزہ من الارض means, he expelled him from the land (17:65), the words لیخرجوک (that they might expel thee) occurring immediately after لیستفزونک evidently do not imply simple expulsion because in that case there would have been useless repetition of the same meaning. They signify legal banishment which entails loss of rights of citizenship. Disbelievers wanted to brand the Prophet with the stigma of legal banishment so that he might lose all dignity with his people, but God Himself commanded him to leave Mecca and thus saved him from this stigma which involved loss of citizenship of that town.
8:31; 60:2.
The enemies of the Holy Prophet wanted to brand him with the stigma of legal banishment so that he might lose all dignity with his people, but God Himself commanded him to leave Mecca and thus saved him from this stigma which involved for him the loss of citizenship of that town.