Surah Ali 'Imran, Ayah 168

The Reason and Wisdom Behind the Defeat at Uhud

Allah said,

أَوَ لَمَّا أَصَـبَتْكُمْ مُّصِيبَةٌ

(When a single disaster smites you), in reference to when the Muslims suffered seventy fatalities during the battle of Uhud,

قَدْ أَصَبْتُمْ مِّثْلَيْهَا

(although you smote (your enemies) with one twice as great,) during Badr, when the Muslims killed seventy Mushriks and captured seventy others,

قُلْتُمْ أَنَّى هَـذَا

(you say: "From where does this come to us") why did this defeat happen to us

قُلْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ أَنْفُسِكُمْ

(Say, "It is from yourselves.") Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that `Umar bin Al-Khattab said, "When Uhud occurred, a year after Badr, Muslims were punished for taking ransom from the disbelievers at Badr in return for releasing the Mushriks whom they captured in that battle. Thus, they suffered the loss of seventy fatalities and the Companions of the Messenger of Allah gave flight and abandoned him. The Messenger suffered a broken tooth, the helmet was smashed on his head and blood flowed onto his face. Allah then revealed,

Immediately later, in verse 166, the words fa bi idhnillahi: فَبِإِذْنِ اللَّـه indicate that whatever happened there was with the leave and will of Allah Almighty operating behind which are many wise divine arrangements, some of them having been explained earlier. One such wise arrangement is that Allah will 'see' His true believers, and the hypocrites too, that is, the sincerity of Muslims and the hypocrisy of the hypocrites will become so clear that everybody could see it for himself. Here, the reference to Allah's knowing or seeing means seeing in the perspective of our own sense-experience in the mortal world. Otherwise, as far as Allah is concerned, He knows and sees everything, all the time. So, the wise arrangement became all the more clear when, at the time of the trial, the hypocrites bowed out of the harm's way while true Muslims stood undaunted' in the middle of the battle front.

Those who participate in the encounter of truth and untruth in such a way as to make real sacrifices for the sake of truth, are scorned by worldly people as having destroyed themselves for no good reason. But this is a foolish assessment. Incurring a seeming loss in God’s path is a positive happening, because those who have sacrificed everything for God are the ones most deserving of God’s rewards. The foolish speak of those who sacrifice their lives in the path of God as if it is only they who die, as if those who are striving towards worldly ends do not taste death. This is entirely meaningless and those who speak of such things are never serious. Their hearts tell them that they have made a great mistake in not making sacrifices for the cause of truth, but by speaking ill of those who have done so, they want to keep up a pretence that they are in the right. But death is decreed for all human beings by God. It will certainly visit everyone at the appointed time. Whichever path one follows, none can escape from the clutches of death. People realize their mistake in their hearts, but they do not want to acknowledge it. In order to justify their course of action, they utter such words as even their own hearts attest to as being false.