اہلِ کتاب اور منافقین کے خلاف حتمی جنگ کے متعلق سورة التوبة کی آیات کا زمانۂ نزول ............................... Occasions of Revelation for Surat Al-Tawbah Verses regarding the Final Battle against People of the Book and Hypocrites

Abstract

The paper aims to ascertain the “occasion of revelation” for the verses of Suratal-Tawbah regarding the final battle against the People of the Book and the hypocrites during the era of the Prophet (peace be on him). It shows that verses 29 to 35, related to the war against the People of the Book, were revealed in the mid-7 AH and it were these verses which obliged Muslims to go on the Tabukexpedition against the Byzantines. Then, verses 38 to 42 were revealed when Muslims were preparing for the expedition. After this, verses 43 to 122 were revealed during and after the Tabukexpedition in four stages. Thus, verses 29 to 122 (with the exception of verses 36-37) of the surah have been placed in a chronological order. However, after this, the first part of the surah (verses 1-28 and 36-37) was revealed at the end of 9 AH in two stages: the first 12 verses were revealed before the hajj of 9 AH and verses 13 to 28 and 36-37 were revealed when the pagans tried to stage a counter-revolution against the Muslim rule. Then, the final part of the surah (verses 123 to 129) was revealed in two parts: first, verses 123-127 were revealed which made it obligatory for Muslims to continue fighting against the Byzantines and other non-Muslim powers in the vicinity of the Arabian Peninsula; second, the last two verses of the surah were revealed as the farewell message from the Prophet (peace be on him) to his community. Thus, the paper shows that the verses of the surah were revealed in a span of almost two years in ten pieces. It is hoped that this work on ascertaining the historical setting of the various groups of verses in the surah will help in gaining a better understanding of the message of the surah