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Qur'an 3:140

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Qur'an 3:140
Verse's Information
SuraSura Al Imran (Qur'an 3)
Verse140
Juz'4
Content Information
Cause of
Revelation		Battle of Uhud
AboutConsolation for Muslims and warning against despair in defeats and hardships
Related VersesQur'an 3:139, Qur'an 3:141, Qur'an 4:104


Qur'an 3:140 offers consolation to Muslims and seeks to strengthen their morale following their defeat at the hands of the polytheists in the Battle of Uhud. By comparing the losses suffered by Muslims at Uhud with those suffered by the polytheists at the Battle of Badr, the verse reassures Muslims and warns them against becoming weak, grieving, or despairing.

This verse refers to one of the divine traditions (sunnat Allah), according to which human life is marked by alternating periods of hardship and ease, defeat and victory. One implication of this tradition is that Muslims should not become attached to worldly pleasures and that believers' faith should be rational and sincere. The changing circumstances of life also serve to distinguish believers from non-believers.

Consoling Muslims after the Battle of Uhud

Qur'an 3:140 is understood as offering consolation to Muslims.[1] It also seeks to strengthen their morale following their defeat in the Battle of Uhud.[2] Allama Tabataba'i regards this verse as explaining the instruction in the previous verse not to lose heart or grieve. He explains that Qur'an 3:140 warns Muslims against weakness and grief by contrasting the circumstances of believers with those of their enemies and highlighting some of the wisdom and purposes behind the alternation of days.[3]

According to Abu l-Futuh al-Razi, a Shi'a exegete, seventy or seventy-five Muslims were killed and seventy were wounded in the Battle of Uhud. At the Battle of Badr, seventy polytheists were killed and seventy were taken captive.[4] The verse therefore urges Muslims not to despair after their defeat but to strive to overcome it.[5]

According to a report, when the Prophet (s) returned from the Battle of Uhud, he saw women and children mourning their dead. He then exclaimed, "O God, do they treat Your Prophet like this?" The verse was subsequently revealed.[6]

Life's Ups and Downs as a Divine Tradition

Qur'an 3:140 states that days of victory and defeat alternate among people.[7] According to some exegetes, this phrase refers to one of the divine traditions: human life is marked by alternating periods of hardship and ease, including defeat and victory, and favorable circumstances do not always remain with the same group.[8] Because these fluctuations are temporary, a military defeat should not be regarded as permanent. Instead, Muslims should examine the causes of their defeat and strive to regain victory.[9] According to this interpretation, when oppressors and polytheists gain the upper hand over believers, this does not mean that God supports or loves the oppressors. Rather, such reversals may serve divine purposes, including the forgiveness of believers' sins.[10]

God's Knowledge of Believers

The phrase "and that Allah may know those who believe" (Arabic: وَلِيَعْلَمَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا) refers to God's knowledge of believers.[11] According to some exegetes, the changing circumstances of life reveal the distinction between believers and non-believers.[12] Allama Tabataba'i explains that although God already knows the believers' faith, He wills for their otherwise hidden faith to become manifest. According to him, this manifestation occurs through events and circumstances in accordance with divine tradition and the system of cause and effect.[13] Some exegetes argue that the phrase is not intended to establish God's knowledge but rather to make the object of that knowledge—the faith of believers—manifest.[14] Other exegetes interpret the phrase as referring to the recognition of believers by God's chosen servants, rather than to God acquiring knowledge of them. According to this interpretation, attributing this recognition to God serves to honor those servants.[15]

Meaning of Shuhada in the Verse

The phrase "and may take witnesses from among you" (Arabic: وَيَتَّخِذَ مِنْكُمْ شُهَدَاءَ) is understood as referring to one of the outcomes of the defeat at the Battle of Uhud.[16] Exegetes such as al-Shaykh al-Tusi and Nasir Makarim Shirazi have interpreted the word shuhada (witnesses) as referring to martyrs, that is, those killed in the way of God.[17] According to Makarim Shirazi, the sacrifices made by Muslims at the Battle of Uhud, including the loss of martyrs, served to show them that Islam had not been secured without cost or sacrifice.[18]

According to Allama Tabataba'i, the Qur'an does not use the word shahid specifically to refer to someone killed in battle; rather, this usage developed later within the Muslim community.[19] Accordingly, he, along with other exegetes such as Abu l-Futuh al-Razi, interprets shuhada as meaning "witnesses."[20] On this interpretation, they argue that God honored believers by making them witnesses to people's deeds and sins.[21] Alternatively, some exegetes suggest that, through the defeat at Uhud, God intended to raise witnesses from among the Muslims who could testify to the acts of disobedience committed by some Muslims of that time and by later generations.[22]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 2, p. 600.
  2. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 107.
  3. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 4, p. 27.
  4. ↑ Abū l-Futūḥ al-Rāzī, Rawḍ al-jinān, vol. 5, p. 84; Ṭabarānī, al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, vol. 2, p. 133.
  5. ↑ Kāshānī, Manhaj al-ṣādiqīn, vol. 2, p. 345; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 108.
  6. ↑ Wāḥidī, Asbāb nuzūl al-Qurʾān, p. 128; Abū l-Futūḥ al-Rāzī, Rawḍ al-jinān, vol. 5, p. 84.
  7. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 4, p. 28; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 109.
  8. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 4, p. 28; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 109.
  9. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 109.
  10. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 2, p. 845; Kāshānī, Manhaj al-ṣādiqīn, vol. 2, p. 346; Ṭabarānī, al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, vol. 2, p. 134.
  11. ↑ Abū l-Futūḥ al-Rāzī, Rawḍ al-jinān, vol. 5, p. 85.
  12. ↑ See: Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 2, p. 844; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 109.
  13. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 4, pp. 28–29.
  14. ↑ Kāshānī, Manhaj al-ṣādiqīn, vol. 2, p. 347.
  15. ↑ See: Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 2, p. 844; Kāshānī, Manhaj al-ṣādiqīn, vol. 2, p. 347.
  16. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 109.
  17. ↑ See: Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 2, p. 602; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 109; Ṭabarānī, Al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, vol. 2, p. 134.
  18. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 109.
  19. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 4, p. 29.
  20. ↑ See: Abū l-Futūḥ al-Rāzī, Rawḍ al-jinān, vol. 5, p. 86; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 4, p. 29; Kāshānī, Manhaj al-ṣādiqīn, vol. 2, p. 347.
  21. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 2, p. 845.
  22. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, pp. 109–110.

References

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