Surah At Tawbah Tafseer

Idolators are no longer allowed into Al-Masjid Al-Haram

Allah says;

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ امَنُواْ إِنَّمَا الْمُشْرِكُونَ نَجَسٌ فَلَ يَقْرَبُواْ الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَامَ بَعْدَ عَامِهِمْ هَـذَا

O you who believe! Verily, the Mushrikin are impure. So let them not come near Al-Masjid Al-Haram after this year;

Allah commands His believing servants, who are pure in religion and person, to expel the idolators who are filthy in the religious sense, from Al-Masjid Al-Haram.

After the revelation of this Ayah, idolators were no longer allowed to go near the Masjid.

This Ayah was revealed in the ninth year of Hijrah. The Messenger of Allah sent Ali in the company of Abu Bakr that year to publicize to the idolators that no Mushrik will be allowed to perform Hajj after that year, nor a naked person allowed to perform Tawaf around the House.

Allah completed this decree, made it a legislative ruling, as well as, a fact of reality.

Abdur-Razzaq recorded that Jabir bin Abdullah commented on the Ayah,

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ امَنُواْ إِنَّمَا الْمُشْرِكُونَ نَجَسٌ فَلَ يَقْرَبُواْ الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَامَ بَعْدَ عَامِهِمْ هَـذَا

(O you who believe! Verily, the Mushrikin are impure. So let them not come near Al-Masjid Al-Haram after this year),

"Unless it was a servant or one of the people of Dhimmah."

Imam Abu Amr Al-Awza'i said,

"Umar bin Abdul-Aziz wrote (to his governors) to prevent Jews and Christians from entering the Masjids of Muslims, and he followed his order with Allah's statement,

إِنَّمَا الْمُشْرِكُونَ نَجَسٌ

(Verily, the Mushrikin are impure).

Ata said,

"All of the Sacred Area (the Haram) is considered a Masjid, for Allah said,

فَلَ يَقْرَبُواْ الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَامَ بَعْدَ عَامِهِمْ هَـذَا

(So let them not come near Al-Masjid Al-Haram (at Makkah) after this year)."

This Ayah indicates that idolators are impure and that the believers are pure. In the Sahih is the following,

الْمُوْمِنُ لَا يَنْجُس

The believer does not become impure.

Allah said,

وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ عَيْلَةً فَسَوْفَ يُغْنِيكُمُ اللّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ

and if you fear poverty, Allah will enrich you, out of His bounty.

Muhammad bin Ishaq commented,

"The people said, `Our markets will be closed, our commerce disrupted, and what we earned will vanish.'

So Allah revealed this verse,

وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ عَيْلَةً فَسَوْفَ يُغْنِيكُمُ اللّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ

(and if you fear poverty, Allah will enrich you, out of His bounty), from other resources,

إِن شَاء

(if He wills), until,

وَهُمْ صَاغِرُونَ

(... and feel themselves subdued).

This Ayah means, `this will be your compensation for the closed markets that you feared would result.'

Therefore, Allah compensated them for the losses they incurred because they severed ties with idolators, by the Jizyah they earned from the People of the Book."

Similar statements were reported from Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Ikrimah, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Qatadah and Ad-Dahhak and others.

Allah said,

إِنَّ اللّهَ عَلِيمٌ

Surely, Allah is All-Knowing, (in what benefits you),

حَكِيمٌ

All-Wise,

in His orders and prohibitions, for He is All-Perfect in His actions and statements, All-Just in His creations and decisions, Blessed and Hallowed be He. This is why Allah compensated Muslims for their losses by the amount of Jizyah that they took from the people of Dhimmah.

The Order to fight People of the Scriptures until They give the Jizyah

Allah said