Tafsir

The Reason why these Ayat were revealed

This was revealed concerning the disbelievers among the Quraysh, when they wanted to expel the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from among themselves. So Allah issued a warning to them in this Ayah, telling them that if they expelled him, they would not stay in Makkah for very long after that. And this is what happened after he migrated from them when their persecution became so intense. Only a year and a half after that, Allah brought him and them together on the battlefield of Badr, without any pre-arranged appointment, and He caused him to prevail over them and defeat them, so he killed their leaders and took their families as captives. Hence Allah said:سُنَّةَ مَن قَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا(A Sunnah with which We sent) meaning this is what We usually do to those who reject Our Messengers and persecute them by driving the Messenger out from among themselves - the punishment comes to them. If it were not for the fact that the Prophet was the Messenger of Mercy, vengeance would have come upon them such as had never been seen before in this world.

So Allah says:وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُعَذِّبَهُمْ وَأَنتَ فِيهِمْ(And Allah would not punish them while you are among them.) 8:33أَقِمِ الصَّلَوةَ لِدُلُوكِ الشَّمْسِ إِلَى غَسَقِ الَّيْلِ وَقُرْءَانَ الْفَجْرِ إِنَّ قُرْءَانَ الْفَجْرِ كَانَ مَشْهُودًا

The last verse (77): سُنَّةَ مَن قَدْ أَرْ‌سَلْنَا (Such has been Our way with the messengers We sent ...) tells us that, according to the customary way and law of Allah Ta` ala, when a people expel their prophet from his home-land, or compel him to leave by scaring and harassing, then, those people too are not left to continue living there. They are visited by the punishment of Allah Ta’ ala.

تلك سنة الله تعالى في إهلاك الأمة التي تُخرج رسولها من بينها، ولن تجد -أيها الرسول- لسنتنا تغييرًا، فلا خلف في وعدنا.

( سنة من قد أرسلنا قبلك من رسلنا ) أي : هكذا عادتنا في الذين كفروا برسلنا وآذوهم : يخرج الرسول من بين أظهرهم : ويأتيهم العذاب . ولولا أنه عليه [ الصلاة و ] السلام رسول الرحمة ، لجاءهم من النقم في الدنيا ما لا قبل لأحد به ؛ ولهذا قال تعالى : ( وما كان الله ليعذبهم وأنت فيهم وما كان الله معذبهم وهم يستغفرون ) [ الأنفال : 33 ] .