بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful
بَرَاءَةٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ إِلَى الَّذِينَ عَاهَدتُّم مِّنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ
[This is] a [declaration of] repudiation by Allah and His Apostle [addressed] to the polytheists with whom you had made a treaty:
فَسِيحُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ غَيْرُ مُعْجِزِي اللَّهِ ۙ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ مُخْزِي الْكَافِرِينَ
Travel [unmolested] in the land for four months, but know that you cannot frustrate Allah, and that Allah shall disgrace the faithless.
وَأَذَانٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ إِلَى النَّاسِ يَوْمَ الْحَجِّ الْأَكْبَرِ أَنَّ اللَّهَ بَرِيءٌ مِّنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ۙ وَرَسُولُهُ ۚ فَإِن تُبْتُمْ فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ ۖ وَإِن تَوَلَّيْتُمْ فَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ غَيْرُ مُعْجِزِي اللَّهِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ
[This is] an announcement from Allah and His Apostle to all the people on the day of the greater Hajj: that Allah and His Apostle repudiate the polytheists: If you repent that is better for you; but if you turn your backs [on Allah], know that you cannot frustrate Allah, and inform the faithless of a painful punishment
إِلَّا الَّذِينَ عَاهَدتُّم مِّنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَنقُصُوكُمْ شَيْئًا وَلَمْ يُظَاهِرُوا عَلَيْكُمْ أَحَدًا فَأَتِمُّوا إِلَيْهِمْ عَهْدَهُمْ إِلَىٰ مُدَّتِهِمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَّقِينَ
(barring the polytheists with whom you have made a treaty, and who did not violate any [of its terms] with you, nor backed anyone against you. So fulfill the treaty with them until [the end of] its term. Indeed Allah loves the Godwary).
فَإِذَا انسَلَخَ الْأَشْهُرُ الْحُرُمُ فَاقْتُلُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ حَيْثُ وَجَدتُّمُوهُمْ وَخُذُوهُمْ وَاحْصُرُوهُمْ وَاقْعُدُوا لَهُمْ كُلَّ مَرْصَدٍ ۚ فَإِن تَابُوا وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَوُا الزَّكَاةَ فَخَلُّوا سَبِيلَهُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Then, when the sacred months have passed, kill the polytheists wherever you find them, capture them and besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every ambush. But if they repent, and maintain the prayer and give the zakat, then let them alone. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.
وَإِنْ أَحَدٌ مِّنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ اسْتَجَارَكَ فَأَجِرْهُ حَتَّىٰ يَسْمَعَ كَلَامَ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ أَبْلِغْهُ مَأْمَنَهُ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَّا يَعْلَمُونَ
If any of the polytheists seeks asylum from you, grant him asylum until he hears the Word of Allah. Then convey him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know.
كَيْفَ يَكُونُ لِلْمُشْرِكِينَ عَهْدٌ عِندَ اللَّهِ وَعِندَ رَسُولِهِ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ عَاهَدتُّمْ عِندَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ ۖ فَمَا اسْتَقَامُوا لَكُمْ فَاسْتَقِيمُوا لَهُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَّقِينَ
How shall the polytheists have any [valid] treaty with Allah and His Apostle?! (Barring those with whom you made a treaty at the Holy Mosque; so long as they are steadfast with you, be steadfast with them. Indeed Allah loves the Godwary.)
كَيْفَ وَإِن يَظْهَرُوا عَلَيْكُمْ لَا يَرْقُبُوا فِيكُمْ إِلًّا وَلَا ذِمَّةً ۚ يُرْضُونَكُم بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَتَأْبَىٰ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَأَكْثَرُهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ
How? For if, they get the better of you, they will observe toward you neither kinship nor covenant. They please you with their mouths while their hearts spurn you; and most of them are transgressors.
اشْتَرَوْا بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا فَصَدُّوا عَن سَبِيلِهِ ۚ إِنَّهُمْ سَاءَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
They have sold the signs of Allah for a paltry gain, and have barred [the people] from His way. Evil indeed is what they have been doing.
لَا يَرْقُبُونَ فِي مُؤْمِنٍ إِلًّا وَلَا ذِمَّةً ۚ وَأُولَـٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُعْتَدُونَ
They observe toward a believer neither kinship nor covenant, and it is they who are the transgressors.
فَإِن تَابُوا وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَوُا الزَّكَاةَ فَإِخْوَانُكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ ۗ وَنُفَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ
Yet if they repent and maintain the prayer and give the zakat, then they are your brethren in faith. We elaborate the signs for a people who have knowledge.
وَإِن نَّكَثُوا أَيْمَانَهُم مِّن بَعْدِ عَهْدِهِمْ وَطَعَنُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ فَقَاتِلُوا أَئِمَّةَ الْكُفْرِ ۙ إِنَّهُمْ لَا أَيْمَانَ لَهُمْ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَنتَهُونَ
But if they break their pledges after their having made a treaty and revile your religion, then fight the leaders of unfaith—indeed, they have no [commitment to] pledges,—maybe they will desist.
أَلَا تُقَاتِلُونَ قَوْمًا نَّكَثُوا أَيْمَانَهُمْ وَهَمُّوا بِإِخْرَاجِ الرَّسُولِ وَهُم بَدَءُوكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ ۚ أَتَخْشَوْنَهُمْ ۚ فَاللَّهُ أَحَقُّ أَن تَخْشَوْهُ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ
Will you not make war on a people who broke their pledges and resolved to expel the Apostle, and opened [hostilities] against you initially? Do you fear them? But Allah is worthier of being feared by you, should you be faithful.
قَاتِلُوهُمْ يُعَذِّبْهُمُ اللَّهُ بِأَيْدِيكُمْ وَيُخْزِهِمْ وَيَنصُرْكُمْ عَلَيْهِمْ وَيَشْفِ صُدُورَ قَوْمٍ مُّؤْمِنِينَ
Make war on them so that Allah may punish them by your hands and humiliate them, and help you against them, and heal the hearts of a faithful folk,
وَيُذْهِبْ غَيْظَ قُلُوبِهِمْ ۗ وَيَتُوبُ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ مَن يَشَاءُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ
and remove rage from their hearts, and Allah turns clemently to whomever He wishes, and Allah is all-knowing, all-wise
أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تُتْرَكُوا وَلَمَّا يَعْلَمِ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا مِنكُمْ وَلَمْ يَتَّخِذُوا مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ وَلَا رَسُولِهِ وَلَا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَلِيجَةً ۚ وَاللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ
Do you suppose that you will be let off while Allah has not yet ascertained those of you who wage jihad and those who do not take anyone as [their] confidant besides Allah and His Apostle and the faithful? Allah is well aware of what you do.
مَا كَانَ لِلْمُشْرِكِينَ أَن يَعْمُرُوا مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ شَاهِدِينَ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِم بِالْكُفْرِ ۚ أُولَـٰئِكَ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ وَفِي النَّارِ هُمْ خَالِدُونَ
The polytheists may not maintain Allah’s mosques while they are witness to their own unfaith. Their works have failed, and they shall remain in the Fire [forever].
إِنَّمَا يَعْمُرُ مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَأَقَامَ الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَى الزَّكَاةَ وَلَمْ يَخْشَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ ۖ فَعَسَىٰ أُولَـٰئِكَ أَن يَكُونُوا مِنَ الْمُهْتَدِينَ
Only those shall maintain Allah’s mosques who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and maintain the prayer, and give the zakat, and fear no one except Allah. They, hopefully, will be among the guided.
أَجَعَلْتُمْ سِقَايَةَ الْحَاجِّ وَعِمَارَةَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ كَمَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَجَاهَدَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۚ لَا يَسْتَوُونَ عِندَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ
Do you regard the providing of water to Hajj pilgrims and the maintenance of the Holy Mosque as similar [in worth] to someone who has faith in Allah and [believes in] the Last Day and wages jihad in the way of Allah? They are not equal with Allah, and Allah does not guide the wrongdoing lot.
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَهَاجَرُوا وَجَاهَدُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ أَعْظَمُ دَرَجَةً عِندَ اللَّهِ ۚ وَأُولَـٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَائِزُونَ
Those who have believed and migrated, and waged jihad in the way of Allah with their possessions and persons have a greater rank near Allah, and it is they who are the triumphant.
يُبَشِّرُهُمْ رَبُّهُم بِرَحْمَةٍ مِّنْهُ وَرِضْوَانٍ وَجَنَّاتٍ لَّهُمْ فِيهَا نَعِيمٌ مُّقِيمٌ
Their Lord gives them the good news of His mercy and [His] pleasure, and for them there will be gardens with lasting bliss,
خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عِندَهُ أَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌ
to remain in them forever. With Allah indeed is a great reward.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا آبَاءَكُمْ وَإِخْوَانَكُمْ أَوْلِيَاءَ إِنِ اسْتَحَبُّوا الْكُفْرَ عَلَى الْإِيمَانِ ۚ وَمَن يَتَوَلَّهُم مِّنكُمْ فَأُولَـٰئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ
O you who have faith! Do not befriend your fathers and brothers if they prefer faithlessness to faith. Those of you who befriend them—it is they who are the wrongdoers.
قُلْ إِن كَانَ آبَاؤُكُمْ وَأَبْنَاؤُكُمْ وَإِخْوَانُكُمْ وَأَزْوَاجُكُمْ وَعَشِيرَتُكُمْ وَأَمْوَالٌ اقْتَرَفْتُمُوهَا وَتِجَارَةٌ تَخْشَوْنَ كَسَادَهَا وَمَسَاكِنُ تَرْضَوْنَهَا أَحَبَّ إِلَيْكُم مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَجِهَادٍ فِي سَبِيلِهِ فَتَرَبَّصُوا حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَ اللَّهُ بِأَمْرِهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْفَاسِقِينَ
Say, ‘If your fathers and your sons, your brethren, your spouses, and your kinsfolk, the possessions that you have acquired, the business you fear may suffer, and the dwellings you are fond of, are dearer to you than Allah and His Apostle and to waging jihad in His way, then wait until Allah issues His edict, and Allah does not guide the transgressing lot.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
Sources present (all six non-silent): Ṭabarsī, Majmaʿ al-Bayān [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan]; Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān [tusi_al_tibyan]; Baḥrānī, al-Burhān [bahrani_al_burhan]; al-Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī [qummi]; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān [tabatabai_al_mizan]; An Enlightening Commentary [enlightening_commentary]. The four classical Arabic sources and al-Mīzān were fetched and translated here from their verified Arabic; the Enlightening Commentary is reproduced from its published English. Lexical and grammatical apparatus is condensed with disclosure; full Arabic is preserved in each original_ar.
What the passage says. The sūra opens, without a basmala, by declaring God and His Messenger "quit" (barāʾa) of the polytheists with whom treaties stood, granting them four months' safe passage (1–2); a proclamation on "the day of the Greater Pilgrimage" announces this dissociation, with a call to repent (3); faithful treaty-partners are excepted and their term honored (4); when the months lapse, the polytheists are to be fought, seized, besieged, or ambushed — yet spared if they repent, pray, and give zakat, and granted asylum if they seek to hear God's word (5–6). It then denies that treacherous polytheists can hold any covenant, excepts those upright at the Sacred Mosque, and incites the believers to fight the oath-breakers who resolved to expel the Messenger (7–16); bars polytheists from maintaining God's mosques (17–18); and rejects the equation of watering pilgrims and tending the Mosque with faith and jihād, closing by setting love of God, His Messenger, and striving above kin and property (19–24).
The nature and grounds of the dissociation. Ṭabāṭabāʾī's distinctive thesis is that barāʾa is a judicial decree, not pure legislation — proven by the Messenger's being joined with God in it, whereas the Qurʾan reserves pure legislation to God alone (18:26) — so it lifts a previously-granted security for cause (their treachery), never arbitrarily, and only after notice (8:58), the exception of the faithful (v. 4) confirming this. Ṭabarsī, Ṭūsī, and the Enlightening Commentary converge on three lawful modes of annulment (a conditional pact, manifest treachery, or an expired term), all stressing that betrayal must be announced "lest they be seized unawares." Ṭūsī adds the canonical chronology — Mecca conquered in year 8, Barāʾa revealed in year 9, the Farewell Pilgrimage in year 10 — and explains the sūra's missing basmala (al-Mubarrad: the basmala is a formula of security, and Barāʾa came to lift security).
The delivery and the proclamation. All sources record that the Prophet first sent Abū Bakr, then, by Gabriel's word that "none conveys for you but a man from you," sent ʿAlī to take and recite Barāʾa on the Day of Sacrifice (web-confirmed in both Sunnī and Shīʿī transmission). Qummī and Baḥrānī read "an announcement (adhān)… on the day of the Greater Pilgrimage" (v. 3) as a title of ʿAlī himself ("I was the Adhān among the people"), Baḥrānī amassing many chains and an eschatological gloss (the rising of the Qāʾim). On "the day of the Greater Pilgrimage," al-Mīzān argues by context and Ahl al-Bayt ḥadīth for the Day of Sacrifice (the great gathering at Minā), against ʿArafa — the majority commentarial view, web-confirmed. (Baḥrānī's witness corrects Qummī's printed "year seven" to the historically correct year nine.)
The four months, asylum, and certainty. Al-Mīzān distinctively holds that "the sacred months" of v. 5 are the four months of respite (prior mention), not the well-known sacred months, and reads the four commands (kill, seize, besiege, ambush) as graduated means. On the asylum verse (6), he argues at length that it is muḥkama, never abrogated, since "there is no accountability before the proof is complete," and that belief in religion's foundations must rest on certain knowledge, not opinion. Ṭabarsī and Ṭūsī add that the recited Qurʾan is itself "the word of God," and that sparing conditional on prayer grounds the ruling that one who deliberately abandons prayer may be fought.
The Imāmī readings. Qummī, Baḥrānī, and Ṭūsī all transmit that "fight the leaders of disbelief… they have no oaths" (12) was applied by ʿAlī to Ṭalḥa and al-Zubayr at the Battle of the Camel ("the oath-breaking faction"), recalling the Prophet's charge to fight the nākithīn, qāsiṭīn, and māriqīn. Qummī and Baḥrānī gloss the "intimate" (walīja) of v. 16 as anyone taken besides the Family of Muḥammad. For 19–24, every source carries the occasion of ʿAlī, al-ʿAbbās, and Shayba (or Ṭalḥa) vying over the watering and the Mosque's upkeep — Baḥrānī adducing Sunnī chains (al-Thaʿlabī, al-Nasāʾī) too — which al-Mīzān frames as a "lifeless husk of a deed" set against "a living deed" alive with faith, so that "greater in rank" marks not a shared scale but no proportion at all. The Ḥāṭib b. Abī Baltaʿa occasion (Ṭabarsī, Ṭūsī, Baḥrānī) and the Quraysh-grief occasion (Qummī) close the passage on faith above kinship.