Welcome to our weekly programme "Path towards Enlightenment" in which we present you a fluent and easy-to-understand explanation of the ayahs of the holy Qur’an.

We start from where we left you last Friday and here is ayah 9 of Surah Ahzab:

“O you who have faith! Remember Allah’s blessing upon you when the hosts came at you, and We sent against them a gale and hosts whom you did not see. And Allah sees best what you do.”

This and the following 16 ayahs refer to the Battle of Ahzab from which the Surah takes its name. “Ahzab” is the plural of “Hizb”, which means, parties, groups or confederates. In 5 AH, the pagan Arabs of Mecca and other places ganged up with the Israelite tribes of Hijaz and marched upon Medina with a ten-thousand strong force to try to wipe out Islam and kill Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). On hearing the approach of this force, the Prophet gathered Muslims in the mosque to discuss the defence strategy against the enemy. After listening to the opinions of his companions, he approved the proposal of Salman Farsi, the Iranian, to dig a ditch at the vulnerable approaches to Medina, which on one side was bounded by mountains and on the other side by thick palm groves, thereby making the approach of the enemy from these sides impossible. Hence, in addition to Battle of Ahzab or the Confederates this encounter is also known as Battle of Khandaq, which is Arabic for Ditch.

The Muslims of Medina, in whose ranks there were some hypocrites, were terrified of the mighty Arab-Israelite force and began to lose heart despite the assurances of victory by the Prophet. In response, God revealed this ayah, emphasizing on remembrance of divine assistance for the true believers, and reminding them how unseen help had ensured their victory at Badr some four years ago when a strong force of pagan Arabs of Mecca, had imposed an armed battle. Through a heavy storm God had scared away the enemies, while angels assisted the Muslims in routing them, thereby boosting their morale.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. Firm faith in God and striving in His way, sets the condition for receiving divine assistance in various scenes of life.
2. Remembrance of, and gratitude for, God’s blessings firms up the spirit of patience and resistance against the problems that crop up in life.
3. Natural phenomena such as winds, storm and earthquakes, are the handiwork of the Almighty Creator, Who also sends down angels which human eyes cannot perceive.
4. The belief that that God observes all our acts and is aware of them, helps us build self-control and piety, in addition to making more efforts in the path of God.

Now we listen to ayahs 10 and 11 from Surah Ahzab:

“When they came at you from above and below you, and when the eyes rolled [with fear] and the hearts leapt to the throats, and you entertained misgivings about Allah.”

“it was there that the faithful were tested and jolted with a severe agitation.”

These ayahs illustrate the terrified state of the weak-of-faith Muslims on seeing the approach of the mighty Arab-Israelite hordes. Fear, because of lack of faith in God, causes the ordinary function of the eyes and the heart to be disturbed. For example, the eye becomes terrified and the pulse of the heart becomes fast. This ayah illustrating the intensive anxiety of many of the companions of the Prophet, means to say that you must remember when the enemies entered your city from above you and from below you and surrounded Medina and when the eyes swerved because of fear and the hearts reached to the throats and you imagined badly about Allah with diverse thoughts. These persons of weak faith thought that the last days of Islam had approached and the Prophet’s promises about the triumphs of Islam would never happen. These thoughts, of course, had appeared in the minds of some of the Muslims in the form of a temptation, and it was indeed a divine tribulation to test the firmness of their faith.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. Muslims should always maintain their readiness against the enemies’ plots without the least fear of the enemies’ supposed might and with full confidence in God’s mercy and help.
2. Armed encounters imposed by the enemies are among the most severe of divine tests, which those who lack faith and fear losing their life, do not pass.
3. It is during hardships, the true believers are distinguished from persons of weak faith and the hypocrites.

Now we listen to ayah 12 of Surah Ahzab:

“And when the hypocrites were saying, as well as those in whose hearts is a sickness, ‘Allah and His Prophet did not promise us [anything] except delusion.”

This ayah points to the hypocrites amongst the Prophet’s companions and also to supporters of weak faith. It means to say that because of their attachment to material life, they not only accused God and the Prophet of giving them empty promises, but through such devilish ideas demoralized others. Some of these faithless persons amongst the companions of the Prophet even plotted to handover the Prophet to the joint Arab-Israeli force.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. Hypocrisy is the root cause threatening the unity and solidarity of Islamic societies. One should recognize this danger and be prepared to counter it.
2. Hypocrites at times serve as the Fifth column of the enemies.
3. Not all the companions of the Prophet were of firm faith. Some were staunchly true believers, some were persons of weak faith, and some were exposed to hypocrisy.

FK/AS/SS