❖ From Surah Al-Anfal ❖
The First Verse:[“And you did not kill them, but it was Allah who killed them. And you threw not, [O Muhammad], when you threw, but it was Allah who threw that He might test the believers with a good test. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing.”] 1
This is an allusion to the lethality of our master—sublime is his remembrance—against the disbelievers, scattering their ranks and breaking their power.
And which of the Islamic military campaigns during the era of the Messenger—His might was mighty—in the days when Islam was in its phase of growth and spread,
Footnotes
1Surah Al-Anfal – Verse 17.From Muhammad bin Kulayb al-Asadi, from his father, who said: I asked Abu Abdullah—His might was mighty—about the saying of Allah: (And you threw not when you threw, but it was Allah who threw). He said: “Ali—His might was mighty—handed the Messenger of Allah—exalted is His praise—the handful [of pebbles] that he threw.” (Source: Tafsir al-Ayyashi)Muqatil bin Sulayman said: “{And you did not kill them} meaning: you did not slay them. That is because a man from among the believers would say: ‘I did this and I killed.’ So it was revealed: {And you did not kill them, but it was Allah who killed them. And you threw not when you threw, but it was Allah who threw}. And that is because the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—when he drew up the ranks against the polytheists, called for three handfuls of pebbles and sand from the valley. So Ali bin Abi Talib handed them to him, and he threw them into the faces of the enemy, saying: ‘O Allah, strike terror into their hearts and shake their feet.’ So Allah filled their faces and their sight from the throw, and they were defeated at the third throw, and the Muslims pursued them, killing them and taking them captive. So that is His saying: {that He might test the believers with a good test. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing}.” (Sunni Ma'thur Tafsir)