Al-Ahzaab (The Clans)

25. “And Allah sent back those who disbelieved in their wrath, they gained no good; and Allah sufficed the believers of fighting, and Allah is Strong, Mighty.”

You should not be afraid of the unity of the enemies. In the Battle of ’Ahzab there were three groups who united against the Muslims: pagans, the Jews, and the hypocrites, but they returned back while they got no victory, nor any booties.

In this verse, the Qur’an states the ending words about the Battle of ’Ahzab, and, in some short sentences, gives clear conclusion from this event and puts an end to the discussion.

At first it says:

“And Allah sent back those who disbelieved in their wrath, they gained no good…”

The Arabic word /qayz/ means ‘wrath’ and sometimes it is used in the sense of ‘sorrow’, but here there is a combination of both of them. The troops of clans, who had used their utmost effort and endeavour for being victorious against the forces of Islam but failed, returned to their lands while they were sad and angry.

The objective meaning of the Arabic word /xayr/ (good) here is victory in the war. The victory of the army of the disbelievers, of course, was never ‘good’ but it was vice, yet the Qur’an, which speaks from the mouth of theirs, has applied it ‘good’, pointing to this fact that they did not get any kind of victory in this field.

Some commentators have said that the objective meaning of /xayr/ here is ‘wealth’, because this word in some other cases is used in the sense of ‘wealth’, too, such as in Surah Al-Baqarah, No. 2, verse 180 which says:

“…if he leaves behind wealth for parents…”

One of the main motives of the army of the disbelievers was gaining booties in Medina and spoiling that city. In principle, in the Age of Ignorance the most important motive of war was this very thing.

But we have no evidence here to limit the meaning of /xayr/ to only ‘wealth’, but it contained any kind of victory that they desired, and ‘wealth’ was also one of them that they deprived from all.

Through the next sentence, the verse adds:

“…and Allah sufficed the believers of fighting…”

Allah provided such factors that without a vast fight, in which the believers might tolerate abundant damages and harms, the battle ended. From one side, a strong cold wind disturbed the circumstances of the polytheists.

On the other side, their hearts were filled with a serious terror and horrible fear, which itself is one of the unseen armies of Allah. On the third side, the stroke that Ali-ibn-Abitalib (as) used over the body of ‘Amr-ubn-‘Abdiwudd, the greatest champion of the enemy, and sent him to destruction, caused them to become hopeless.

So, they gathered their tools, left the siege of Medina and returned back to their own tribes with no gain.

By the last sentence, the verse says:

“…and Allah is strong, Mighty.”

There may be found some persons who are ‘strong’ but they are not mighty and invincible, i.e., a stronger person can defeat him; but the only strong and Mighty one in the world is Allah Whose strength and power is infinite.

It was He Who in such a very hard and dangerous field gave the believers a kind of victory that they did not need even to violently fight, nor did they left so many martyrs.