Note 1
Namely, the moral victory achieved by the Truce of Hudaybiyyah, which opened the doors to the subsequent triumph of Islam in Arabia (see introductory note, which explains many allusions to this historic event found in the subsequent verses).

Note 2
Lit., "so that God might forgive thee all that is past of thy sins and all that is yet to come" - thus indicating elliptically that freedom from faults is an exclusive prerogative of God, and that every human being, however exalted, is bound to err on occasion.

Note 3
Sc., "to a fulfillment of thy mission", which the Truce of Hudaybiyyah clearly presaged.

Note 4
I.e., endowed them, although they were few and practically unarmed, with calm courage in the face of the much more powerful forces of the enemy.

Note 5
Lit., "so that they might add faith to their faith, seeing that God's are…", etc. Since the latter is obviously a parenthetic clause, I have transposed it in my rendering in order to make the meaning clear.

Note 6
I.e., who deny His existence or man's responsibility to Him, or offend against the concept of His oneness.

Note 7
Lit., "at morn and evening", i.e., at all times.

Note 8
This refers, in the first instance, to the pledge of faith and allegiance (bayat ar-ridwan) which the Muslims assembled at Hudaybiyyah gave to the Prophet (see introductory note). Beyond this historical allusion, however, the above sentence implies that as one's faith in God's message- bearer is to all intents and purposes synonymous with a declaration of faith in God Himself, so does one's willingness to obey God necessarily imply a willingness to obey His message-bearer. The phrase "the hand of God is over their hands" does not merely allude to the hand-clasp with which all of the Prophet's followers affirmed their allegiance to him, but is also a metaphor for His being a witness to their pledge.

Note 9
Lit., "who were left behind": i.e., the bedouin belonging to the tribes of Ghifar, Muzaynah, Juhaynah, Ashja, Aslam and Dhayl, who, although allied with the Prophet and outwardly professing Islam, refused under various pretexts to accompany him on his march to Mecca (which resulted in the Truce of Hudaybiyyah), since they were convinced that the Meccans would give battle and destroy the unarmed Muslims (Zamakhshari ). The excuses mentioned in the sequence were made after the Prophet's and his followers' successful return to Medina ; hence the future tense, sayaqul.

Note 10
Implying that the excuses which they would proffer would be purely hypocritical.

Note 11
Lit., "has anything in his power (that could be obtained) in your behalf from God": a construction which, in order to become meaningful in translation, necessitates a paraphrase.

Note 12
Implying that the real sympathies of those bedouin were with the pagan Quraysh rather than with the Muslims.

Note 13
Implying that He may forgive even the most hardened sinners if they truly repent and mend their ways: an allusion to what the Prophet was to say according to verse 16.

Note 14
Lit., "set forth to take booty": i.e., any expedition other than against the Quraysh of Mecca, with whom the Prophet had just concluded a truce. This is generally taken as an allusion to the forthcoming war against the Jews of Khaybar (in the year 7 H.), but the meaning may well be more general.

Note 15
Evidently a reference to 8:1 - "All spoils of war belong to God and the Apostle" - which, as pointed out in the note on that verse, implies that no individual warrior can have any claim to the booty obtained in war. Moreover, fighting for the sake of booty contravenes the very principle of a "war in God's cause", which may be waged only in defense of faith or liberty (cf. surah 2 note 167), "until there is no more oppression and all worship is devoted to God alone" (see 2:193 and the corresponding note 170). It is to these principles, too, that the Prophet's anticipated answer, mentioned in the sequence, refers.

Note 16
I.e., in the first verse of Al-Anfal, which was revealed in the year 2 H. (see preceding note).

Note 17
This is evidently a prophecy relating to the future wars against Byzantium and Persia.

Note 18
Lit., "before", i.e., at the time of the expedition which resulted in the Truce of Hudaybiyyah.

Note 19
These three categories circumscribe metonymically all kinds of infirmities or disabilities which may prevent a person from actively participating in a war in God's cause.

Note 20
This latter applies, by obvious implication, to such as are unable to participate in the fighting physically, but are in their hearts with those who fight.

Note 21
I.e., at Hudaybiyyah (see introductory note).

Note 22
Most of the commentators assume that this relates to the conquest of Khaybar, which took place a few months after the Truce of Hudaybiyyah. It is probable, however, that the implication is much wider than that - namely, a prophecy of the almost bloodless conquest of Mecca in the year 8 H., the victorious establishment of Islam in all of Arabia and, finally, the tremendous expansion of the Islamic Commonwealth under the Prophet's immediate successors.

Note 23
Sc., "of what is to come to you in the hereafter".

Note 24
thus Razi

Note 25
I.e., the achievement of final bliss in the life to come.

Note 26
This divine promise was fulfilled in the unbroken sequence of Muslim victories after the Truce of Hudaybiyyah, ultimately leading to the establishment of an empire which extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the confines of China. For the conditional nature of the above promise, see note 82 on 3:111.

Note 27
This reference to "God's way" (sunnat Allah) is twofold: on the one hand, "you are bound to rise high if you are (truly) believers" (3:139), and, on the other, "God does not change men's condition unless they change their inner selves" ( 13:11 ), in both the positive and negative connotations of the concept of "change".

Note 28
Shortly before the Truce of Hudaybiyyah was concluded, a detachment of Quraysh warriors - variously estimated at between thirty and eighty men - attacked the Prophet's camp, but his practically unarmed followers overcame them and took them prisoner; after the signing of the treaty the Prophet released them unharmed (Muslim, Nasa'i, Tabari).

Note 29
This interpolation is based on Razi's explanation of the connection between this and the preceding verse.

Note 30
I.e., the Kabah, which, until the year 7 H., the Muslims were not allowed to approach.

Note 31
See the second surah 2 note 175.

Note 32
I.e., killed. After the Prophet's and his followers' exodus to Medina , a number of Meccans - both men and women - had embraced Islam, but had been prevented by the pagan Quraysh from emigrating (Tabari, Zamakhshari ). Their identities were not generally known to the Muslims of Medina.

Note 33
Thus Zamakhshari , supported by Razi, Ibn Kathir, and other commentators.

Note 34
I.e., so that the believers might be spared, and that in time many a pagan Meccan might embrace Islam, as actually happened.

Note 35
Lit., "had they been separated from one another": i.e., the believers and the pagans among the Meccans. In its wider sense, the above implies that man never really knows whether another human being deserves God's grace or condemnation.

Note 36
Although this reference to the "stubborn disdain" (hamiyyah) on the part of the pagan Quraysh may have been characteristic of their over-all attitude towards the Prophet and his mission, it is probable - as Zamakhshari points out - that its special mention here relates to an incident which occurred at Hudaybiyyah during the truce negotiations between the Prophet and the emissary of the Meccans, Suhayl ibn Amr. The Prophet began to dictate to Ali ibn Abi Talib the text of the proposed agreement: "Write down, 'In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace' " ; but Suhayl interrupted him and said: "We have never heard of [the expression] 'the Most Gracious'; write down only what we know." Whereupon the Prophet said to Ali: "Write, then, 'In Thy name, O God'." Ali wrote as he was told; and the Prophet continued: "This is what has been agreed upon between Muhammad, God's Apostle, and the people of Mecca …". But Suhayl interrupted again: "If thou wert (really) an apostle of God, (this would be an admission on our part that) we have been doing wrong to thee; write, therefore, as we understand it." And so the Prophet dictated to Ali: "Write thus: 'This is what has been agreed upon between Muhammad, the son of Abd Allah, son of Abd al-Muttalib, and the people of Mecca …'." (This story is recorded in many versions, among others by Nasa'i, Ibn Hanbal and Tabari.)

Note 37
Lit., "the word of God-consciousness" (kalimat at-taqwa): implying that their consciousness of God and of His all-pervading power enabled them to bear the "stubborn disdain" of their enemies with inner calm and serenity.

Note 38
Shortly before the expedition which ended at Hudaybiyyah, the Prophet had a dream in which he saw himself and his followers entering Mecca as pilgrims. This dream-vision was destined to be fulfilled a year later, in 7 H., when the Muslims were able to perform their first peaceful pilgrimage to the Holy City

Note 39
Male pilgrims usually shave or (which is the meaning of the conjunctive wa in this context) cut their hair short before assuming the pilgrim's garb (ihram), for it is not permitted to do so while in the state of pilgrimage. A repetition of the same act marks the completion of the pilgrimage (cf. 2:196).

Note 40
Namely, the future.

Note 41
See note 22.

Note 42
Sc., "through the revelations which He grants to His prophets". See also 3:19 - "the only [true] religion in the sight of God is [man's] self-surrender unto Him": from which it follows that any religion (in the widest sense of this term) which is not based on the above principle is, eo ipso, false.

Note 43
This composite gives, I believe, the full meaning of the term ashidda (sing. shadid) in the above context.

Note 44
Lit., "among themselves". Cf. 5:54 - "humble towards the believers, proud towards all who deny the truth".

Note 45
The infinitive noun sujud ("prostration") stands here for the innermost consummation of faith, while its "trace" signifies the spiritual reflection of that faith in the believer's manner of life and even in his outward aspect. Since the "face" is the most expressive part of man's personality, it is often used in the Qur'an in the sense of one's "whole being".

Note 46
Regarding the significance of the term Injil ("Gospel") as used in the Qur'an, see the surah 3 note 4.

Note 47
Lit., "infuse with wrath".

Note 48
Whereas most of the classical commentators understand the above sentence as alluding to believers in general, Razi relates the pronoun minhum ("of them" or "among them") explicitly to the deniers of the truth spoken of in the preceding sentence - i.e., to those of them who might yet attain to faith and thus achieve God's forgiveness: a promise which was fulfilled within a few years after the revelation of this verse, inasmuch as most of the Arabian enemies of the Prophet embraced Islam, and many of them became its torchbearers. But in a wider sense, this divine promise remains open until Resurrection Day (Tabari), relating to everybody, at all times and in all cultural environments, who might yet attain to the truth and live up to it.