Muhammadun rasoolu Allahi wallatheena maAAahu ashiddao AAala alkuffari ruhamao baynahum tarahum rukkaAAan (surah Al Fath: 29)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(48:29) Muhammad is Allah's Messenger, and those who are with him are firm with the unbelievers *52 but compassionate with one another. *53 You see them occupied in bowing and prostrating and in seeking Allah's bounty and good pleasure. They are distinguished *54 from others by the marks of prostration on their faces. Thus are they described in the Torah. *55 And their parable in the Gospel is that of *56 a tilth that puts forth its shoot, then strengthens it so that it becomes stout and stands firmly on its stem. This is a sight pleasing to the sowers and one by which the unbelievers will be enraged. As for those who believe and do righteous deeds, Allah has promised them forgiveness and a great reward. *57

Muhammadur Rasoolul laah; wallazeena ma`ahooo ashiddaaa`u `alal kuffaaari ruhamaaa`u bainahum taraahum rukka`an sujjadany yabtaghoona fadlam minal laahi wa ridwaanan seemaahum fee wujoohihim min asaris sujood; zaalika masaluhum fit tawraah; wa masaluhum fil Injeeli kazar`in akhraja shat `ahoo fa `aazarahoo fastaghlaza fastawaa `alaa sooqihee yu`jibuz zurraa`a liyagheeza bihimul kuffaar; wa`adal laahul lazeena aamanoo wa `amilus saalihaati minhum maghfiratanw wa ajran `azeemaa

*52) "The Companions (of the Holy Prophet) are hard on the disbelievers" : they are not "wax that the disbelievers may mould them as they like; they can neither be cowed nor. purchased by any inducement. The disbelievers have no power to turn them away from the great objective for the sake of which they have joined and followed the Holy Prophet even at the cost of their lives."
*53) That is, "Whatever their hardness and severity, it is only for the disbelievers, not for the believers. As regards the believers they are soft, merciful, affectionate, sympathetic and compassionate. Their unity of aim and object has produced in them love and harmony and complete accord among themselves."
*54) This does not imply the mark that appears on the forehead of some people on account of prostrations, but it implies the marks and traces of the fear of God, munificence, nobility and goodness of manner that naturally appears on the face of a person on account of bowing down before God. Man's face is an open book on the pages of which different states of a man's self can be seen easily. A vain and arrogant person's face is different from the face of a humble, modest and unassuming person; an immoral person's face is clearly distinguished from the face of a righteous and well-mannered person; and there is a marked difference between the facial appearance of a wicked man and of a noble and virtuous man. What AIlah means to say is: "The Companions of Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace) are such that one can recognize them on first sight to be the best of mankind, because their faces shine forth with the light of God-worship and God -consciousness." This is the same thing about which Imam Malik has said that when the armies of the Companions entered Syria, the Syrian Christians remarked: "These people possess the very same qualities and characteristics of the disciples of the Prophet Jesus Christ."
*55) The allusion probably is to Deuteronorny, 33: 2-3, in which the Holy Prophet's advent has been foretold and the word "saints" has been used for his Companions. Apart from this, if some other quality of the Companions has been mentioned in the Torah, it is not found in the existing, corrupted Torah.
*56) This parable is found in a sermon of the Prophet Jesus that has been reported in the New Testament, thus: "And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should east seed into the ground: And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sewn in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: Hut when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shouted out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it." The last portion of this sermon is also found in Matthew, 13: 31-32.
*57) A section of the Muslims translates this verse, thus: "Allah has promised forgiveness and a great reward to those from among these people who have believed and done good works." Thus, they invent a way to vilify and slander the Companions, and claim that according to this verse many people among the Companions were not believers and righteous. But this commentary goes against vv. 4, 5, 18 and 26 of this very Sarah, and dces not even accord with the initial sentences of this verse itself. In vv. 4-5, Allah has made mention of sending down sakinat (tranquillity) and of effecting increase in the Faith of all those Companions who were present with the Holy Prophet at Hudaibiyah, and given them without any exception the good news of admission into Paradise. In verse 18, AIIah has expressed His good pleasure for aII those who took the pledge to the Holy Prophet under the Tra, and in this also there is no exception. In verse 26 also AIIah has used the word mu 'minin (believers) for aII the Companions, has made mention of sending down His sakinat to there, and obliged them to be righteous and pious, for they were most worthy and deserving of aII mankind. Here also it was not said that the news was being given only abut those who were believers among them. Then in the initial sentences also of this verse itself the characteristics mentioned arc of alI those people who were with the Holy Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings). The words are to the effect that aII the people who are with him have this and this quality and characteristic. After this, suddenly in the last sentence there could be no excuse to say that some of them were the believers and others were not.