يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ جَاءَتْكُمْ جُنُودٌ فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِيحًا وَجُنُودًا لَّمْ تَرَوْهَا ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرًا
O you who have faith! Remember Allah’s blessing upon you when the hosts came at you, and We sent against them a gale and hosts whom you did not see, and Allah sees best what you do.
إِذْ جَاءُوكُم مِّن فَوْقِكُمْ وَمِنْ أَسْفَلَ مِنكُمْ وَإِذْ زَاغَتِ الْأَبْصَارُ وَبَلَغَتِ الْقُلُوبُ الْحَنَاجِرَ وَتَظُنُّونَ بِاللَّهِ الظُّنُونَا
When they came at you from above and below you, and when the eyes rolled [with fear] and the hearts leapt to the throats, and you entertained misgivings about Allah,
هُنَالِكَ ابْتُلِيَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَزُلْزِلُوا زِلْزَالًا شَدِيدًا
it was there that the faithful were tested and jolted with a severe agitation.
وَإِذْ يَقُولُ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِم مَّرَضٌ مَّا وَعَدَنَا اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ إِلَّا غُرُورًا
When the hypocrites, as well as those in whose hearts is a sickness, were saying, ‘Allah and His Apostle did not promise us [anything] except delusion.’
وَإِذْ قَالَت طَّائِفَةٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَا أَهْلَ يَثْرِبَ لَا مُقَامَ لَكُمْ فَارْجِعُوا ۚ وَيَسْتَأْذِنُ فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمُ النَّبِيَّ يَقُولُونَ إِنَّ بُيُوتَنَا عَوْرَةٌ وَمَا هِيَ بِعَوْرَةٍ ۖ إِن يُرِيدُونَ إِلَّا فِرَارًا
And when a group of them said, ‘O people of Yathrib! [This is] not a place for you, so go back!’ A group of them sought the Prophet’s permission [to leave the scene of battle], saying, ‘Our homes lie exposed [to the enemy],’ although they were not exposed. They only sought to flee.
وَلَوْ دُخِلَتْ عَلَيْهِم مِّنْ أَقْطَارِهَا ثُمَّ سُئِلُوا الْفِتْنَةَ لَآتَوْهَا وَمَا تَلَبَّثُوا بِهَا إِلَّا يَسِيرًا
Had they been invaded from its flanks and had they been asked to apostatize, they would have done so with only a mild hesitation,
وَلَقَدْ كَانُوا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ مِن قَبْلُ لَا يُوَلُّونَ الْأَدْبَارَ ۚ وَكَانَ عَهْدُ اللَّهِ مَسْئُولًا
though they had already pledged to Allah before that they would not turn their backs [to flee], and pledges given to Allah are accountable.
قُل لَّن يَنفَعَكُمُ الْفِرَارُ إِن فَرَرْتُم مِّنَ الْمَوْتِ أَوِ الْقَتْلِ وَإِذًا لَّا تُمَتَّعُونَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا
Say, ‘Flight will not avail you, if you flee from death, or from being killed, and then you will be let to enjoy only for a little while.’
قُلْ مَن ذَا الَّذِي يَعْصِمُكُم مِّنَ اللَّهِ إِنْ أَرَادَ بِكُمْ سُوءًا أَوْ أَرَادَ بِكُمْ رَحْمَةً ۚ وَلَا يَجِدُونَ لَهُم مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ وَلِيًّا وَلَا نَصِيرًا
Say, ‘Who is it that can protect you from Allah if He desires to cause you harm or desires to grant you His mercy?’ Besides Allah they will not find for themselves any protector or helper.
قَدْ يَعْلَمُ اللَّهُ الْمُعَوِّقِينَ مِنكُمْ وَالْقَائِلِينَ لِإِخْوَانِهِمْ هَلُمَّ إِلَيْنَا ۖ وَلَا يَأْتُونَ الْبَأْسَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا
Allah knows those of you who discourage others, and those who say to their brethren, ‘Come to us!’ and take little part in the battle,
أَشِحَّةً عَلَيْكُمْ ۖ فَإِذَا جَاءَ الْخَوْفُ رَأَيْتَهُمْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَيْكَ تَدُورُ أَعْيُنُهُمْ كَالَّذِي يُغْشَىٰ عَلَيْهِ مِنَ الْمَوْتِ ۖ فَإِذَا ذَهَبَ الْخَوْفُ سَلَقُوكُم بِأَلْسِنَةٍ حِدَادٍ أَشِحَّةً عَلَى الْخَيْرِ ۚ أُولَـٰئِكَ لَمْ يُؤْمِنُوا فَأَحْبَطَ اللَّهُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرًا
grudging you [their help]. So when there is panic, you see them looking at you, with their eyes rolling like someone fainting at death. Then, when the panic is over, they scald you with [their] sharp tongues in their greed for the spoils. They never have had faith. So Allah has made their works fail, and that is easy for Allah.
يَحْسَبُونَ الْأَحْزَابَ لَمْ يَذْهَبُوا ۖ وَإِن يَأْتِ الْأَحْزَابُ يَوَدُّوا لَوْ أَنَّهُم بَادُونَ فِي الْأَعْرَابِ يَسْأَلُونَ عَنْ أَنبَائِكُمْ ۖ وَلَوْ كَانُوا فِيكُم مَّا قَاتَلُوا إِلَّا قَلِيلًا
They suppose the confederates have not left yet, and were the confederates to come [again], they would wish they were in the desert with the Bedouins asking about your news, and if they were with you they would fight but a little.
لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا
There is certainly a good exemplar for you in the Apostle of Allah—for those who look forward to Allah and the Last Day, and remember Allah much.
وَلَمَّا رَأَى الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الْأَحْزَابَ قَالُوا هَـٰذَا مَا وَعَدَنَا اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَصَدَقَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ ۚ وَمَا زَادَهُمْ إِلَّا إِيمَانًا وَتَسْلِيمًا
But when the faithful saw the confederates, they said, ‘This is what Allah and His Apostle had promised us, and Allah and His Apostle were true.’ And it only increased them in faith and submission.
مِّنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ ۖ فَمِنْهُم مَّن قَضَىٰ نَحْبَهُ وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَنتَظِرُ ۖ وَمَا بَدَّلُوا تَبْدِيلًا
Among the faithful are men who fulfill what they have pledged to Allah: there are some among them who have fulfilled their pledge, and some of them who still wait, and they have not changed in the least,
لِّيَجْزِيَ اللَّهُ الصَّادِقِينَ بِصِدْقِهِمْ وَيُعَذِّبَ الْمُنَافِقِينَ إِن شَاءَ أَوْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْهِمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا
that Allah may reward the true for their truthfulness, and punish the hypocrites, if He wishes, or accept their repentance. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.
وَرَدَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِغَيْظِهِمْ لَمْ يَنَالُوا خَيْرًا ۚ وَكَفَى اللَّهُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ الْقِتَالَ ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ قَوِيًّا عَزِيزًا
Allah sent back the faithless in their rage, without their attaining any advantage, and Allah spared the faithful of fighting, and Allah is all-strong, all-mighty.
وَأَنزَلَ الَّذِينَ ظَاهَرُوهُم مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ مِن صَيَاصِيهِمْ وَقَذَفَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمُ الرُّعْبَ فَرِيقًا تَقْتُلُونَ وَتَأْسِرُونَ فَرِيقًا
And He dragged down from their strongholds those who had backed them from among the People of the Book, and He cast terror into their hearts, [so that] you killed a part of them, and took captive [another] part.
وَأَوْرَثَكُمْ أَرْضَهُمْ وَدِيَارَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُمْ وَأَرْضًا لَّمْ تَطَئُوهَا ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرًا
He bequeathed you their land, their houses and their possessions, and a territory you had not trodden, and Allah has power over all things.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
Triangulated across five present sources: Ṭabarsī, Majmaʿ al-Bayān [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan]; al-Qummī [qummi]; al-Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān [tusi_al_tibyan]; al-Baḥrānī, al-Burhān [bahrani_al_burhan]; al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān [tabatabai_al_mizan]. The published Enlightening Commentary is carried separately. None is silent for this passage.
Human-review flags: al-Mīzān [tabatabai_al_mizan] is marked
needs_human_reviewbecause its single coarse unit (covers 9–27) appends a very long baḥth riwāʾī that al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī himself reproduces "in summary" (mulakhkhaṣan) from Ṭabarsī; the duplicated Khandaq/Qurayẓa narrative is condensed faithfully, the load-bearing items kept verbatim in substance.
What the passage says. These nineteen verses are the Qurʾān's retrospective on Ghazwat al-Khandaq (5 AH): the Confederates besieging Medina "from above you and from below you" (9–10), the wind and unseen hosts God sent, and the believers "tried and shaken a mighty shaking" (zulzilū zilzālan shadīdan, 11). Then the hypocrites and diseased-hearted: "God and His Messenger promised us only delusion" (12), "O people of Yathrib, no station for you" and "our houses are exposed" (13), the hinderers (al-muʿawwiqīn) and cowards (18–20). Against them stands the keystone of the exemplar — uswa ḥasana (21) — the believers' contrasting "this is what God and His Messenger promised us" (22), the rijālun ṣadaqū mā ʿāhadū llāha who "fulfilled the vow" (23), God turning back the disbelievers and "sufficing the believers in fighting" (25), and finally Banū Qurayẓa, the People of the Book who backed the siege, brought down from their fortresses, their land inherited (26–27).
How the present sources read it. On the historical frame all five converge — most fully Ṭabarsī [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan], whose qiṣṣat ghazwat al-Khandaq supplies the Salmān-counsel of the trench (with the Prophet's "Salmān is one of us, the People of the House"), the white rock and the three lightning-flashes promising the Yemen, Syria, and the East, Jābir's miraculous feeding (via al-Bukhārī), Ḥuyayy b. Akhṭab's seduction of Kaʿb b. Asad into breaking covenant, Nuʿaym b. Masʿūd's stratagem, and Ḥudhayfa's night-reconnaissance. al-Qummī [qummi] and al-Burhān [bahrani_al_burhan] carry a nearly identical narration (al-Burhān explicitly via ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm), and al-Mīzān [tabatabai_al_mizan] states outright that it abridges Ṭabarsī's version (with al-Qummī and al-Durr al-Manthūr as parallels).
On grammar and readings Ṭabarsī and al-Ṭūsī [tusi_al_tibyan] preserve the qirāʾāt: al-ẓunūnā with or without final alif (verse-endings resembling rhyme-words), lā muqāma / lā muqāmu, and la-atawhā ("come to it") vs la-ātawhā ("give it") at 13–14, al-Ṭūsī noting the latter suits "then they were asked for sedition." Both gloss ʿawra (exposed/unfortified) and report, against the hypocrites' pretext, al-Ṣādiq's reading "rather, lofty and fortified" — a gloss al-Burhān [bahrani_al_burhan] repeats by name (no. 8548).
The passage's interpretive fault-lines are Shīʿī taʾwīl, which the sources advance and which is reported here strictly as-attributed. (1) On 33:23 (man qaḍā naḥbahu), the Sunnī-transmitted naming (via Ibn ʿAbbās, in Ṭabarsī) is Ḥamza and Anas b. al-Naḍr; the Shīʿī chains differ on the names — al-Qummī (via Abū al-Jārūd←Abū Jaʿfar) and Ṭūsī give Ḥamza and Jaʿfar as those who fulfilled the vow and ʿAlī as "he who awaits," while al-Burhān's chains (nos. 8552–8556, via Muḥammad b. al-Ḥanafiyya and ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Ḥasan) add ʿUbayda b. al-Ḥārith alongside Ḥamza and Jaʿfar, ʿAlī reciting "I, by God, am the one who awaits." Ṭabarsī also cites al-Ḥaskānī's chain from ʿAlī, "fīnā nazalat… and I am the one who awaits," which al-Mīzān reproduces. (2) On 33:25 (wa-kafā llāhu l-muʾminīna l-qitāl), all four Shīʿī sources record Ibn Masʿūd's variant reading "bi-ʿAlī" ("through ʿAlī"), tying the verse to ʿAlī's slaying of ʿAmr b. ʿAbd Wudd — al-Burhān (nos. 8561–8565) and al-Mīzān cite al-Ḥaskānī's chain (Sufyān al-Thawrī←Zubayd←Murra←Ibn Masʿūd), and al-Burhān preserves the Prophet's "baraza l-īmānu kulluhu ilā l-shirki kullihi" ("the whole of faith advanced against the whole of polytheism"). The mainstream gloss — that God sufficed them by the wind, the angels, and the cast terror — is given alongside it by Ṭabarsī and al-Ṭūsī, who report the ʿAlī-reading as one view ("wa-qīla… and it is reported from Abū ʿAbd Allāh"). (Web cross-check confirmed the Ibn Masʿūd "bi-ʿAlī" reading and its link to the ʿAmr b. ʿAbd Wudd duel; the fetched primary Arabic was trusted throughout.)
On 33:26–27 the sources agree the supporters brought down are Banū Qurayẓa (al-Ṭūsī and Ṭabarsī both note al-Ḥasan's lone dissent — Banū l-Naḍīr — and reject it as inconsistent with the verses' flow), and divide over "a land you had not trodden": Khaybar (Ibn Zayd, Yazīd b. Rūmān, Muqātil — al-Mīzān's preference), Mecca (Qatāda), Persia-and-Rūm (al-Ḥasan), or every future conquest (ʿIkrima). al-Qummī, al-Burhān, and al-Mīzān all carry the Saʿd b. Muʿādh judgement and "you have judged with the judgement of God from above seven heavens."
Sources present: tabarsi_majma_al_bayan, qummi, tusi_al_tibyan, bahrani_al_burhan, tabatabai_al_mizan; silent: none.