أَحْسَنُوا۟

8:25.

Commentary:

The reference in this and the next verse is to the two expeditions led by the Holy Prophet against the Meccans as a result of the Battle of Uhud. The first was undertaken on the day immediately following that battle. When the Meccans withdrew from Uhud, and took their way back to Mecca, they were, as narrated above, taunted by the Arab tribes for having brought no booty and no prisoners of war from a battle in which they claimed to have won a victory. The Meccans, thereupon, thought of returning to Medina with a view to re-attacking the Muslims and completing their victory. The Holy Prophet, who had also anticipated the return of the Meccans, at once called upon his Companions to join him in the pursuit of the enemy and most wisely restricted the call to only such able-bodied Muslims as had taken part in the Battle of Uhud. So on the following day, he left Medina with 250 men. When the Meccans heard of the Muslims advancing towards them, they lost heart and fled. The Holy Prophet went as far as Hamra’ul-Asad, a distance of about eight miles from Medina on the route to Mecca, and seeing that the enemy had fled, returned to Medina.

The second expedition came a year later. Before leaving the battlefield of Uhud, Abu Sufyan, commander of the Meccan army, had promised the Muslims another engagement next year at Badr. But the ensuing year being a year of famine, he could not keep his appointment. So he sent Nu‘aim bin Mas‘ud to Medina to terrify the Muslims by spreading false rumours of great preparations having been made by the Meccans. This clumsy ruse completely failed to frighten the Muslims, who came to Badr at the appointed time only to find that the Meccans had not appeared. The Muslims profited by this opportunity by taking part in trafficking at the great annual fair that used to be held there every year and returned prosperous as well as triumphant to Medina. This expedition is known in history as the expedition of Badras-Sughra, (i.e. the smaller Badr), to distinguish it from the great Battle of Badr which had taken place about two years earlier.

50:36.

75:23, 24.

Important Words:

الحسنی (the best reward) is derived from حسن which means, he became good, beautiful or pleasing. الحسنی is the feminine of الاحسن and means, that which is better or best; the good ultimate state or condition appointed for the Faithful; Paradise; victory; sharpness or keenness or activeness (Aqrab & Lane). See also 7:181.

یرھق (shall cover) is derived from رھق. They say رھقه i.e. he or it covered him, or came upon him or reached or overtook him or drew near to him. The expression لایرھق وجوھھم قتر means, there shall not come upon or overspread their faces blackness, or darkness. رھقتنا الصلوة means, the time of Prayer came upon us (Lane).

قتر (darkness) is derived from قتر (qatara) which means, (1) it (meat, etc.) exhaled its scent, smell or odour; (2) it was barely sufficient. They say, قترت النار i.e. the fire smoked. قتر علیه رزقه means, his means of subsistence were straitened or made scanty. قتر (qatarun) means, dust, the dust of an army; a dust-colour overspread with blackness; blackness or darkness. قتر (qatrun) means what is barely sufficient to sustain life (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

Since the word الحسنی means, a happy end, victory, keenness and activeness, the Arabic clause rendered as, For those who do good deeds there shall be the best reward, would mean that believers will come to a happy end; that they will attain success, and that God will make them keen and active.

The word زیادة (yet more) signifies that believers will have God Himself as their reward, the word الحسنی (also meaning the view or vision of God) confirming that inference.

39:11.

6:33; 12:110.

Commentary:

V. 25 above stated what disbelievers thought of the revelation sent down to the Holy Prophet. The present verse gives the opinion of the Faithful regarding the Quran in the words, They say, 'The best'. It must be remembered that the Faithful gave this testimony in favour of the Quran at Mecca where they were being bitterly persecuted for believing in it. A testimony given under such circumstances is entitled to the greatest possible respect. The Faithful were asked what they had found in the Book worth believing for which they were undergoing so much persecution, and the reply they invariably gave was that they had found it to be the Ideal Book, i.e. all that was essential for a perfect code of laws to contain was found in it or that this Book exceeded all their expectations.

The words, For those who do good, signify that a change in one’s attitude and outlook brings about a corresponding change in one’s deeds and actions. Disbelievers looked upon the Quran as a mere collection of tales, therefore they disregarded its warnings and consequently became deprived of all good. But believers looked upon it as خیر viz. the Ideal Book, so they acted upon it and thus reaped a good reward in this world and خیر i.e. the ideal reward, in the life to come.

16:31.

3:58; 11:112; 16:97.

Commentary:

This verse warns believers that they will be made to pass through trials and tribulations and will have to leave even their hearths and homes for the sake of God. It is when they have successfully met the ordeal that they will find God’s earth wide and spacious for them and will have their reward from God without measure. The reference in the verse seems to be to the Holy Prophet’s Hijrah to Medina. It is in Medina that Islam found a congenial soil for expansion and consolidation and it is there that Muslims were given possession of God’s spacious earth.

4:124-125; 6:161; 41:47.