The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 635
with its emergence as a full-fledged State, the ordinances of the Shari'ah began to be revealed in quick succession to guide Muslims in political and social matters. The Surah embodies several such ordinances. It opens with an injunction to the Holy Prophet to put complete trust in God as very hard days were still ahead of him. He is warned that his enemies will conduct a false campaign of calumny and vilification against him and Islam will meet some of its greatest crises. At the outset, the Surah abolishes a deep-rooted custom of the Arabs. The abolition, later on, was to prove a source of great mental anguish and worry to the Holy Prophet. It says that mere calling a person one's son cannot make him one's real son, neither can mere words of the mouth evoke in one's mind the feelings which one entertains for one's real son nor can such words alter hard facts of life. After abolishing the custom of adoption, the Surah proceeds to refer to a very deep and real spiritual relationship that subsists between the Holy Prophet and Muslims. In his capacity as their spiritual father he stands closer to them than even their own selves, and his wives being their spiritual mothers should be treated by them with greater regard and respect than the mothers that have given them birth, because spiritual relationship stands on a much higher plane than physical relationship. After this, the Surah gives a somewhat detailed description of the Battle of the Ditch which was the fiercest encounter in which the Muslims had so far been engaged. The whole of Arabia had risen like one man against Islam and a well-equipped army, numbering from 10,000 to 20,000 strong, had marched on Medina. The Muslims were a paltry 1200, though, according to some writers the total number of those employed in digging the Ditch including women and children was in the neighbourhood of 3000. The combat was quite unequal. The Muslims were in sore straits. Their apparently hopeless condition is graphically portrayed in the Quranic words: "They came upon you from above you, and from below you, and your eyes became distracted, and your hearts reached to the throats, and you thought diverse thoughts about Allah. There and then were the believers sorely tried and they were shaken with a violent shaking" (11-12). When matters came to such a pass, God sent His hosts and the powerful enemy was routed and scattered. In the next few verses the Surah refers to the well-known historical phenomenon that while in a religious community there is no dearth of sincere and devoted followers, there are also to be found in its ranks hypocrites and the weak of faith. It is to these hypocrites in Medina that the Surah refers in vv. 13-28. They loudly professed to be true followers of Islam but when Medina was attacked by a mighty force, they asked to be excused from fighting on the side of Muslims on very lame excuses. They broke their plighted word and, therefore, were warned that by violating their most solemn 2549