48.Al-Fath (Victory) [29 verses]


The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:



إِنَّا فَتَحْنَا لَكَ فَتْحًا مُّبِينًا ﴿١﴾

48: 1. Verily We have granted thee a manifest Victory:

C4866. This is best referred to the Treaty of Hudaybiyah, for which see the Introduction to this Surah. By this Treaty the Makkan Quraish, after many years of unrelenting conflict with Islam, at length recognised Islam as (what they thought) an equal power with themselves.

In reality the door was then opened for the free spread of Islam throughout Arabia and thence through the world.

لِيَغْفِرَ لَكَ اللَّهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِن ذَنبِكَ وَمَا تَأَخَّرَ...

48: 2. That Allah may forgive thee thy faults of the past and those to follow;

C4867. See n. 4428 to 40:55, and Cf. 47:19.

Any mistakes of the past were now rectified, and any future ones prevented by the free scope now offered, by the act of the Quraish Pagans themselves, to the recognition and free promulgation of Islam.

... وَيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكَ وَيَهْدِيَكَ صِرَاطًا مُّسْتَقِيمًا ﴿٢﴾

fulfil His favor to thee; and guide thee on the Straight Way;

وَيَنصُرَكَ اللَّهُ نَصْرًا عَزِيزًا ﴿٣﴾

48: 3. And that Allah may help thee with powerful help.

C4868. Three objects or results of the Treaty are mentioned:

These three are summed up in the comprehensive phrase "powerful (or effective) help".




لَقَدْ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ...

48: 18. Allah's Good Pleasure was on the believers ...

C4891. The noun from the verb radhiya is Ridhwan (Good Pleasure); hence the name of this Baiat, Baiat ur Ridhwan, the Fealty of Allah's Good Pleasure: see n. 4877 to 48:10.

... إِذْ يُبَايِعُونَكَ تَحْتَ الشَّجَرَةِ...

... when they swore Fealty to thee under the Tree:

C4892. The great ceremony of the Fealty of Allah's Good Pleasure took place while the holy Prophet sat under a tree in the plain of Hudaybiyah. (R).

...فَعَلِمَ مَا فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ ...

He knew what was in their hearts,

C4893. Or tested: see n. 4855 to 47:31.

... فَأَنزَلَ السَّكِينَةَ عَلَيْهِمْ ...

and He sent down tranquility to them,

C4894. Sakina = Peace, calm, sense of security and confidence, tranquility. Cf. above 48:4, and n. 4869.

The same word is used in connection with the battle of Hunain in 9:26, and in connection with the Cave of Thaur at an early stage in the Hijrah: 9:40.

... وَأَثَابَهُمْ فَتْحًا قَرِيبًا ﴿١٨﴾

and He rewarded them with a speedy Victory;

C4895. The Treaty of Hudaybiyah itself was a "speedy Victory": it followed immediately after the Bayah.

وَمَغَانِمَ كَثِيرَةً يَأْخُذُونَهَا ...

48: 19. And many gains will they acquire (besides):

...وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمًا ﴿١٩﴾

and Allah is Exalted in Power, Full of Wisdom.

وَعَدَكُمُ اللَّهُ مَغَانِمَ كَثِيرَةً تَأْخُذُونَهَا ...

48: 20. Allah has promised you many gains that ye shall acquire,

C4896. The gains so far seen from the Baiat and their calm and disciplined behaviour were certainly great: in the rapid spread of Islam, in the clearance from the Sacred House of the idolatrous autocracy, and in the universal acceptance of the Message of Allah in Arabia.

...فَعَجَّلَ لَكُمْ هَذِهِ وَكَفَّ أَيْدِيَ النَّاسِ عَنكُمْ ...

and He has given you these beforehand; and He has restrained the hands of men from you;

C4897. The first fruits of the Baiat were the victory or treaty of Hudaybiyah, the cessation for the time being of the hostility of the Makkan Quraish, and the opening out of the way to Makkah. These things are implied in the phrase, "He has restrained the hands of men from you."

...وَلِتَكُونَ آيَةً لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَيَهْدِيَكُمْ صِرَاطًا مُّسْتَقِيمًا ﴿٢٠﴾

that it may be a Sign for the Believers, and that He may guide you to a Straight Path;

C4898. Hudaybiyah (in both the Bayah and the Treaty) was truly a sign-post for the Believers: it showed the solidarity of Islam, and the position which the Muslims had won in the Arab world.

وَأُخْرَى لَمْ تَقْدِرُوا عَلَيْهَا قَدْ أَحَاطَ اللَّهُ بِهَا ...

48: 21. And other gains (there are), which are not within your power, but which Allah has compassed:

C4899. Other gains: these are usually referred to the later victories of Islam, but we must view them not merely in their political or material aspect, but chiefly in the rise of Islam as a world power morally and spiritually.

وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرًا ﴿٢١﴾

and Allah has power over all things.

وَلَوْ قَاتَلَكُمُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَوَلَّوُا الْأَدْبَارَ ...

48: 22. If the Unbelievers should fight you, they would certainly turn their backs;

C4900. Their morale was now truly broken.

... ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُونَ وَلِيًّا وَلَا نَصِيرًا ﴿٢٢﴾

then would they find neither protector nor helper.

سُنَّةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلُ ...



سُنَّةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلُ ...

48: 23. (Such has been) the practice. (Approved) of Allah already in the past:

C4901. Cf. 33:62.

... وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ اللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا ﴿٢٣﴾

no change wilt thou find in the practice (approved) of Allah.

وَهُوَ الَّذِي كَفَّ أَيْدِيَهُمْ عَنكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ عَنْهُم بِبَطْنِ مَكَّةَ ...

48: 24. And it is He who has restrained their hands from you and your hand from them in the midst of Mecca,

C4902. Little incidents had taken place that might have plunged the Quraish and the Muslims from Madinah into a fight. On the one hand, the Quraish were determined to keep out the Muslims, which they had no right to do: and on the other hand, the Muslims, though unarmed, had sworn to stand together, and if they had counter-attacked they could have forced their entrance to the Ka'bah, the centre of Makkah. But Allah restrained both sides from anything that would have violated the Peace of the Sanctuary, and after the Treaty was signed, all danger was past.

...مِن بَعْدِ أَنْ أَظْفَرَكُمْ عَلَيْهِمْ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرًا ﴿٢٤﴾

after that He gave you the victory over them. And Allah sees well all that ye do.



Asad’s Version:


48:1 VERILY, [O Muhammad,] We have laid open before thee a manifest victory,'

(48:2) so that God might show His forgiveness of all thy faults, past as well as future, 2 and [thus] bestow upon thee the full measure of His blessings, and guide thee on a straight way, 3

(48:3) and [show] that God will succour thee with [His] mighty succour


48:18


INDEED, well-pleased was God with the believers when they pledged their allegiance unto thee [O Muhammad] under that tree, 21 for He knew what was in their hearts; and so He bestowed inner peace upon them from on high, and rewarded them with [the glad tiding of] a victory soon to come, 22

(48: 19) and [of] many war-gains which they would achieve: for God is indeed almighty, wise.

48:20 [O you who believe!] God has promised you many war-gains which you shall yet achieve; and He has vouchsafed you these [worldly gains]' well in advance, 25 and has stayed from you the hands of [hostile] people, so that this [your inner strength] may become a symbol to the believers [who will come after you 24 ], and that He may guide you all on a straight way.


48:21 And there are yet other [gains] which are still beyond your grasp, 25 [but] which God has already encompassed [for you]: for God has the power to will anything.


(48:22) And [now,] if they who are bent on denying the truth should fight against you, they will indeed turn their backs [in flight], and will find none to protect them and none to bring them succour: 26


(48:23) such being God's way which has ever obtained in the past - and never wilt thou find any change in God's way. 27


48:24 And He it is who, in the valley of Mecca, stayed their hands from you, and your hands from them, after He had enabled you to vanquish them; and God saw indeed what you were doing. 28



[[ Asad’s notes -

21 I.e., at Hudaybiyyah (see introductory 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.


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


24 Thus Razi.


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


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.


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".


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). ]]