At Tawbah 9:112

Short Tafseer Ma’arif al-Qur’an

The last verse (112) which begins with the words: التَّائِبُونَ الْعَابِدُونَ ” (They are) those who repent, those who worship…) describes the attributes of the same believers about whom it was said earlier that Allah has bought their lives and their wealth from the believers, against which Paradise shall be for them. Though, the verse was revealed as relating to a particular group of participants in the Bai’atu al-‘Aqabah, but the sense of the verse covers all mujahidin in the way of Allah. As for the list of their attributes which opens with: التَّائِبُونَ (those who repent), they are not there as a condition, because the promise of Paradise has been made for Jihad in the way of Allah, in an absolute sense. The purpose behind the delineation of these attributes is to stress that those who deserve Paradise do have such attributes – as was specially the case with the noble Companions ؓ who were a party to Bai’atu al-‘Aqabah.

The word: السَّائِحُونَ (as-sa’ihun: translated literally as ` those who journey’ ), according to the majority of commentators, means those who fast صَّائِمِونَ (sa’imun). Actually, this word has been derived from: سِیَاحہ (siyahah: journey, pilgrimage). Before Islam, siyahah was taken to be an act of worship in the Christian religion that meant leaving home for the sake of worship. Islam declared it to be monasticism, and prohibited it. It was replaced with fasting as an act of worship. The reason is that siyahah taught disengagement from worldly life while fasting taught that one should abstain from worldly desires for a limited period of time living at home. It is on the same basis that Jihad too has been equated with siyahah in some reports. Ibn Majah, Hakim and Baihaqi have authentically reported that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: سِیَاحَۃُ اُمَّتِی اَلجِھَادُ فِی سَبِیلِ اللہِ (The siyahah of my ummah is Jihad in the way of Allah).

Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ has said that سَآیٔحِین (sa’ihin: those who journey) in the Qur’an means: صَّائِمِينَ (sa’imin: those who fast). Explaining سَآیٔحِین (as-sa’ihin: those who journey), ` Ikrimah said, ` they are students who leave their homes to seek religious knowledge.’ (Mazhari)

At this place, seven attributes of believing mujahidin have been described as those who repent, those who worship, those who praise Allah, those who journey, those who bow in رُکُوع ruku`, those who prostrate in سَجدَہ sajdah, those who bid the Fair and forbid the Unfair. After having enumerated these seven attributes, the eighth attribute was put as: الْحَافِظُونَ لِحُدُودِ اللَّـهِ ` those who preserve the limits prescribed by Allah.’ Actually, this expression is an embodiment of all attributes mentioned earlier. In other words, the details given in those seven attributes have been eloquently reduced to one small sentence which means that they are committed to the limits set by Allah, that is, they obey, adhere to and protect the injunctions of the Shari’ ah of Islam.

At the end of the verse (112), it was said: وَبَشِّرِ‌ الْمُؤْمِنِين (And give the good news to the believers). It means that the Prophet of Islam should convey to believers who have the attributes mentioned above the good news of blessings nobody could ever imagine, nor could it be explained in words, nor has anyone heard about it from any source. The reference is to the ultimate blessings of Paradise.