NAME: الحشر, Al-Hashr.
Name taken from Verse 2 where there is a mention of the word “Al-Hashr”.
٢ هُوَ الَّذِي أَخْرَجَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ مِنْ دِيَارِهِمْ لِأَوَّلِ الْحَشْرِ ۚ مَا ظَنَنْتُمْ أَنْ يَخْرُجُوا ۖ وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُمْ مَانِعَتُهُمْ حُصُونُهُمْ مِنَ اللَّهِ فَأَتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَمْ يَحْتَسِبُوا ۖ وَقَذَفَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمُ الرُّعْبَ ۚ يُخْرِبُونَ بُيُوتَهُمْ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ وَأَيْدِي الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فَاعْتَبِرُوا يَا أُولِي الْأَبْصَارِ
2 It is He who expelled the ones who disbelieved among the People of the Scripture from their homes at the first gathering. You did not think they would leave, and they thought that their fortresses would protect them from Allah; but [the decree of] Allah came upon them from where they had not expected, and He cast terror into their hearts [so] they destroyed their houses by their [own] hands and the hands of the believers. So take warning, O people of vision.
ENGLISH NAME: The Gathering.
CHAPTER NUMBER: 59
SURAH HASHR TOTAL VERSES: 24
SURAH HASHR TOTAL WORDS: 447
TOTAL UNIQUE WORDS WITHOUT REPETITION: 299
TOTAL LETTERS: 1,970
REVELATION PERIOD:
Medinan, Approx. 626 – 627 AD.
MAIN CHARACTERS:
God, Prophet Muhammad, Believers, People Of Book, Hypocrites, Satan/ Devil.
SURAH HASHR MAIN TOPICS:
Exile Of Jewish Tribe Of Bani Nadir, Spoils and Introduction of “Fay” i.e Spoils You Get Without Battle Is Not Yours But Of Allah & Prophet, Traits of Hypocrites, If Quran Sent On A Mountain?, Seventeen Attributes Of Allah.
SURAH HASHR KEY VERSES:
٢ هُوَ الَّذِي أَخْرَجَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ مِنْ دِيَارِهِمْ لِأَوَّلِ الْحَشْرِ ۚ مَا ظَنَنْتُمْ أَنْ يَخْرُجُوا ۖ وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُمْ مَانِعَتُهُمْ حُصُونُهُمْ مِنَ اللَّهِ فَأَتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَمْ يَحْتَسِبُوا ۖ وَقَذَفَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمُ الرُّعْبَ ۚ يُخْرِبُونَ بُيُوتَهُمْ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ وَأَيْدِي الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فَاعْتَبِرُوا يَا أُولِي الْأَبْصَارِ
2 It is He who expelled the ones who disbelieved among the People of the Scripture from their homes at the first gathering. You did not think they would leave, and they thought that their fortresses would protect them from Allah; but [the decree of] Allah came upon them from where they had not expected, and He cast terror into their hearts [so] they destroyed their houses by their [own] hands and the hands of the believers. So take warning, O people of vision.
٦ وَمَا أَفَاءَ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِ مِنْهُمْ فَمَا أَوْجَفْتُمْ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ خَيْلٍ وَلَا رِكَابٍ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يُسَلِّطُ رُسُلَهُ عَلَىٰ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
6 And what Allah restored [of property] to His Messenger from them – you did not spur for it [in an expedition] any horses or camels, but Allah gives His messengers power over whom He wills, and Allah is over all things competent.
١٣ لَأَنْتُمْ أَشَدُّ رَهْبَةً فِي صُدُورِهِمْ مِنَ اللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَا يَفْقَهُونَ
13 You [believers] are more fearful within their breasts than Allah. That is because they are a people who do not understand.
١٤ لَا يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ جَمِيعًا إِلَّا فِي قُرًى مُحَصَّنَةٍ أَوْ مِنْ وَرَاءِ جُدُرٍ ۚ بَأْسُهُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ شَدِيدٌ ۚ تَحْسَبُهُمْ جَمِيعًا وَقُلُوبُهُمْ شَتَّىٰ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ
14 They will not fight you all except within fortified cities or from behind walls. Their violence among themselves is severe. You think they are together, but their hearts are diverse. That is because they are a people who do not reason.
٢١ لَوْ أَنْزَلْنَا هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَىٰ جَبَلٍ لَرَأَيْتَهُ خَاشِعًا مُتَصَدِّعًا مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ ۚ وَتِلْكَ الْأَمْثَالُ نَضْرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
21 If We had sent down this Qur’an upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled and coming apart from fear of Allah. And these examples We present to the people that perhaps they will give thought.
SUMMARY OF TOPICS
2-4(Exile Of Jewish Tribe Of Bani Nadir, Because Of Their Opposition Towards Allah And Prophet), 5(Cutting Of Palm Trees By God’s Will), 6-10(Distribution Of Spoils: Spoils You Get Without Battle Is Not Yours, Different From Spoils As In Surah Infaal, It Is Called Fay: It Is Of Allah And His Prophet And Have Five Shares), 11-12(Hypocrites Promise/Conspiracy With People Of Book And Bani Nadir), 12-14(God Tells Believers that They Fear You And Cannot Fight You Even Together, They Have Division In-between), 16( Hypocrites Are Like The Example Of Satan/ Devil When He Says To Man, “Disbelieve.” But When He Disbelieves, He Says, “Indeed, I Am Disassociated From You), 21(If Quran Sent On A Mountain, You Would Have Seen It Humbled And Coming Apart From Fear Of Allah), 23-24(Glory Be To God: 17 Seventeen Attributes Of Allah)
SURAH HASHR BRIEF COMMENTARY & BACKGROUND
This Surah has 24 verses divided into 3 Rukus/Sections. It takes its name from verse 2: هُوَ الَّذِي أَخْرَجَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ مِنْ دِيَارِهِمْ لِأَوَّلِ الْحَشْرِ ۚ where the word “الْحَشْرِ” “Hashr” meaning exile appears, describing the removal of Jewish Bani Nadir tribe from their settlements. This is a Madani Surah revealed after the banishment of Bani Nadir from Madinah which happened after the Battle of Uhud in the 4th year AH.
This Surah is also called الْمُسَبِّحَاتِ Surah as it begins with the glorification of Allah. The collective name of الْمُسَبِّحَاتِ assigns to the following 6 Surahs Hadid, Hashr, Saff, Jumuah, Taghabun and Surah Ala.
Verses 1-5 are regarding the battle of Bani Nadir, Verse 6-10 related to the spoils, controversies of the land of Fadak and the law concerning the lands and properties which came under the control as it was the first time Muslims conquered some land. Verses 11-20 are admonish and warnings to the hypocrites of their behavior towards Muslims. The last three verses of the Surah features 17 attributes of God. Which are: الْحَكِيمُ, الْمُصَوِّرُ, الْبَارِئُ, الْخَالِقُ, الْمُتَكَبِّرُ, الْجَبَّارُ, الْعَزِيزُ, الْمُهَيْمِنُ, الْمُؤْمِنُ, السَّلَامُ, الْقُدُّوسُ, الْمَلِكُ, الرَّحِيمُ, الرَّحْمَٰنُ, عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ, عَالِمُ الشَّهَادَةِ, لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ
It is narrated in Tirmidhi that The Prophet of God PBUH said, ‘Whoever says when he wakes up in the morning ‘I seek refuge with God against Satan the accursed and then recited three verses from the last part of Surah Hashr, will be assigned seventy thousand angels to pray for him until the evening, and should he die that day, he would have died a martyr.
In 70 AD, almost 500 years before the birth of Prophet Muhammad Jews came in Arab and settled in different areas. In 70 AD Roman General Titus destroyed Jerusalem and demolish the Temple and Jews were forced to exile and later settled in different parts of the world and also in Arab. The tribes that settled in Madina were the Bani al-Nadir, Bani Qainuqa and the Bani Quraizah.
Almost 300 years after this in the 5th century AD, there was a great flood in the region of Yemen as also mentioned in Quran Surah Saba, which causes a mass relocation of many tribes of Yemen. Out of these Bani Ghassan settled in Syria and Aus and Khazraj two Yemeni tribe came Arab and settled in Yathrib which at that time was under control of Jews. Aus and Khazraj requested their fellow Yemeni tribe Bani Ghassan of Syria, and with their help, they managed to weaken the power of Jews in Yathrib. After that they got control of the area but they themselves kept fighting with each other and in this also patronized Jewish tribes between each other. They forced two Jewish tribes of Bani Nadir and Bani Quraizaha to settle outside of the city while the 3rd Tribe Bani Qainuqa remained inside the city in the protection of Khazraj and respectively Bani Nadir and Bani Quraizah came under the protection of Aus tribe.
Under this background, when Prophet Muhammad along with Muslims migrated to Madina, he first unified the Aus and Khazraj tribe and the migrants and made them brothers of each other. Second, he negotiated a treaty with the Jewish tribes defining rights of all parties and a pact that each one would fight for the other in case of an external threat.
However, Jewish tribes soon began acting against the treaty to cause harm to the Muslims. The cause for that mainly was the fear that the message of this religion of Islam would destroy their religious superiority over unlettered Arabs whom they always thought inferior as they did not have any book of God. Further, they also feared that their primary profession of trading was based on lending money on substantial interests and unethical conditions which would be in danger in front of a person who himself was a Prophet of God. For all these reasons, they started conspiring against Muslims and especially against the Messenger of Allah. They invented and tried to plant all kinds of doubt and suspicion in the hearts of the believers to turn them back from Islam.
After the defeat of Meccan’s in the battle of Badr, the Jewish became threatened as their only hope that the Meccans would uproot this newly born Islamic state was lost. Kab bin Ashraf, the chief of the Bani Nadir, went to Mecca and motivated them for vengeance. He also said and spread many insulting poems about Prophet Muhammad, Islam, and the Muslim women. He was killed in 3 AH by Muhammad bin Maslamah Ansari on the command of Prophet. Banu Qainuqa was the first of Jewish tribe that was exiled. They were mainly craftsmen and blacksmiths because of which even their children were well armed. They started harassing & insulting Muslim women visiting their shops, and when many incidents happened Prophet visited them and requested them for a decent behavior. But the reply that they gave was; “O Muhammad, maybe you think we are like the Meccans; they did not know how to fight thats why you overpowered them. But when you come in contact with us, you will see how men fight.” Consequently, the Holy Prophet laid siege to their settlements at the end of Shawwal 2 AH. The siege had hardly lasted for 15 days when they surrendered, and all their fighting men were taken prisoners and then later exiled.
Now when just after one year in 3 AH Meccans again attacked Madina with 3000 men and when Bani Nadir saw that the Muslims left Madina to fight with them with only 1000 men. Not only this out of these 1000 men 300 hypocrites left the Muslim army before even the battle started all because of the conspiracies of Abdullah bin Ubayy. Seeing this Bani Nadir refused to help Muslims and broke the treaty according to which they had to defend Madina. Then after the battle of Uhud and set back and injuries that Muslims got, they became so bold that they conspired for the Killing of Prophet Muhammad. Muslims sent them an ultimatum to leave the city in 10 days. The hypocrite Abdullah bin Ubayy one of the chiefs of the Khazraj tribe assured Bani Nadir not to leave as he would help them with 2000 men and that Bani Quraizah Bani Ghatafan will also help them. In 4 AH Muslims siege their area and within days of this they surrendered to leave Madina on the condition that they could keep all their property which they could carry on their camels, except the armor. Thus was the exile of this 2nd Jewish tribe from Madina. Most of them went to the regions of Khyber and settled there.
