9. [at-Tawbah, Medina 113, after Tabuk, 9H]

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَكُونُواْ مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ ﴿١١٩﴾    

9: 119. O ye who believe!

fear Allah and be with those who are true (in word and deed).

مَا كَانَ لِأَهْلِ الْمَدِينَةِ وَمَنْ حَوْلَهُم مِّنَ الأَعْرَابِ أَن يَتَخَلَّفُواْ عَن رَّسُولِ اللّهِ...   

9: 120. It was not fitting for the people of Medina and the bedouin Arabs of the neighbourhood, to refuse to follow Allah's Messenger,

وَلاَ يَرْغَبُواْ بِأَنفُسِهِمْ عَن نَّفْسِهِ...

nor to prefer their own lives to his:

... ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ لاَ يُصِيبُهُمْ ظَمَأٌ وَلاَ نَصَبٌ وَلاَ مَخْمَصَةٌ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ... 

because nothing could they suffer or do,

but was reckoned to their credit as a deed of righteousness,

whether they suffered thirst, or fatigue, or hunger, in the Cause of Allah,

... وَلاَ يَطَؤُونَ مَوْطِئًا يَغِيظُ الْكُفَّارَ...  ...

or trod paths to raise the ire of the unbelievers,

... وَلاَ يَنَالُونَ مِنْ عَدُوٍّ نَّيْلاً إِلاَّ كُتِبَ لَهُم بِهِ عَمَلٌ صَالِحٌ... 

or received any injury whatever from an enemy:

C1371. Again, the illustration is that of Tabuk, but the lesson is general.

We must not hold our own comfort or lives dearer than that of our leader, nor desert him in the hour of danger. If we have true devotion, we shall hold our own lives or comfort cheap in comparison to his.

But whatever service we render to the Cause of Allah, and whatever sufferings, hardships, or injuries we endure, or whatever resources we spend for the Cause, -all goes to raise our degree in the spiritual world. Nothing is lost. Our reward is far greater in worth than any little service we can render, or any little hardship we can suffer, or any little contributions we can make to the Cause. We "painfully attain to joy".

... إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ ﴿١٢٠﴾  

for Allah suffereth not the reward to be lost of those who do good;

Pickthall’s Version:

9: 119

Pickthall O ye who believe! Be careful of your duty to Allah, and be with the truthful.

Transliteration Ya_ ayyuhal lazina a_manu-ttaqulla_ha wa ku_nu_ ma'as sa_diqin(a).

9: 120

Pickthall It is not for the townsfolk of Al-Madinah and for those around them of the wandering Arabs to stay behind the messenger of Allah and prefer their lives to his life. That is because neither thirst nor toil nor hunger afflicteth them in the way of Allah, nor step they any step that angereth the disbelievers, nor gain they from the enemy a gain, but a good deed is recorded for them therefor. Lo! Allah loseth not the wages of the good.

Transliteration Ma_ ka_na li ahlil madinati wa man haulahum minal a'ra_bi ay yatakhallafu_ 'ar rasu_lilla_hi wa la_ yargabu_ bi anfusihim 'an nafsih(i), za_lika bi annahum la_ yusibuhum zama'uw wa la_ nasabuw wa la_ makhmasatun fi sabililla_hi wa la_ yata'u_na mauti'ay yagizul kuffa_ra wa la_ yana_lu_na min 'aduwwin nailan illa_ kutiba lahum bihi 'amalun sa_lih(un), innalla_ha la_ yudi'u ajral muhsinin(a).

[[ Ruby’s note to 9:120 – To prefer someone else’s life over one’s own life is an extra-ordinary demand and in another circumstance could amount to an unreasonable demand. However this circumstance is different. The sacrifice and the hardship one endured in this time of the prophet amount to a service to God. The prophet’s life and work all were geared towards and centered around the fulfillment of his mission of delivering the Message of God and establishing a community which could become a model of the ideas and the ideals of the Quran and help propagate those after he was gone. After the revelation that made him a prophet, his entire life and work became nothing but a service to God. In this case one’s priority to the life of the prophet over his/her own is in that sense. As the highest allegiance and devotion of all believers is to the Creator, this command or exhortation implies that the struggle the believers were enduring was all for God’s cause and nothing but that. That is why this record keeping and the reward of this struggle is mentioned right after the sentence.]]