The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 647
PT. 9 AL-ANFĀL CH. 8 وَإِذْ يَعِدُكُمُ اللهُ إِحْدَى الظَّابِفَتَيْنِ أَنَّهَا And remember the time. 8 لَكُمْ وَتَوَدُّونَ أَنَّ غَيْرَ ذَاتِ الشَّوْكَةِ of the two parties that it should when Allah promised you one be yours, and you wished that تَكُونُ لَكُمْ وَيُرِيدُ اللهُ أَنْ يُحِقَّ الْحَقَّ the one without sting should be بِكَلِمَتِهِ وَيَقْطَعَ دَابِرَ الْكَفِرِينَ yours, but Allah desired to establish the truth by His words and to cut off the root of the disbelievers, 1098 "8:43. after death" on the field of battle (Tabari). What the verse, therefore, means is simply this that as the enemies of Islam abhorred the truth as one abhors death, so, as a result of this, they were going to be punished with death itself. 1098. Important Words: equipped; while the caravan was only lightly armed. Both belonged to Mecca and were equally hostile to Islam. شاك sting) is derived from) الشوكة They say i. e. the thorn hurt or wounded me or it pierced my body. is both the noun-infinitive from and the singular of (thorns, spines, etc. ). means, thorn; sting; point of a spear, etc. ; any weapon or weapons; sharpness of weapons; strength or might or vehemence thereof in war and fighting (Lane & Aqrab). Commentary: The "two parties" mentioned in the verse refer to (1) the Meccan army that had come forth to fight the Muslims, and (2) the Meccan caravan that was returning from the north and proceeding home. The former, besides being much larger in number, was heavily armed and very well- The verse signifies that as Allah had already made a promise to the Holy Prophet that He would give victory to Muslims over one of the two Meccan parties, viz. the caravan or the army, so against all hope He granted them victory in fulfilment of His promise. This shows that while yet at Medina, the Holy Prophet had been informed by God of the possible attack by the Meccan army, for without this Allah could not refer to "one of the two parties," but that the Holy Prophet kept the matter secret. The words, thy Lord Who rightfully brought thee forth from thy house, while a party of the believers were averse (8:6 above), also show that at Medina the Holy Prophet had undoubtedly received Divine revelation informing him of the coming attack by the enemy and that it was God Who had ordered the Holy Prophet to come forth. The above- quoted words also hint that the Holy 1087