Sūrah al-Aḥzāb

Overview

Sūrah al-Aḥzāb is a Madinan sūrah with 73 āyāt. The word aḥzāb is the plural of ḥizb, which means ‘party’, ‘group’, or ‘section’. It is referring to the Confederates which allied against the Prophet ﷺ and the Muslims during a battle known as the Battle of the Trench (Ghazwat al-Khandaq; see Context for more details). The sūrah speaks in some detail about the events of the battle, hence the name.

Sūrah al-Aḥzāb begins with an exhortation to the Prophet ﷺ to be wary of Allah and not yield to the disbelievers and the hypocrites, sounding the keynote for much of the sūrah from the onset. The following discourse extols the status of the Messenger ﷺ and his venerable wives, and dispels the extension of patrilineal lineage to adopted, non-biological children—another important theme of the sūrah and its legislations (33:1-8). The battle is explicitly discussed from the 9th āyah onwards, where Allah describes the profound tension borne of the possibility of extermination, but how He ultimately sent wind and ‘unseen legions’ against the pagans, leading to a de-escalation and eventual dissolution to fighting—there was no direct engagement between the two armies by the grace of Allah. The sedition of the hypocrites was pronounced throughout the ordeal. Despite the latter’s treason, Allah caused the believers to grow from strength to strength, overtaking the forts of the Jews who broke their treatise with the Muslims, almost upending the whole ummah at the time due to colluding with the enemy (33:9-27).

The rest of the sūrah continuously emphasises the rank of the Prophet ﷺ. He is our uswah (role model), and he is the paragon of virtue. There are also rulings pertaining to marriage, modesty, and the status of adopted children—a man may not marry his biological son’s divorcee, but an adopted son is not a biological son, so there is no ḥaraj here whatsoever. The sūrah concludes, as it began, with exhortations of taqwā. It highlights the profound trust (amānah) which Allah bestowed upon mankind: that of moral accountability.

Context

• In the 5th year after Hijrah, the Arab idolators wished to finish the job they failed to accomplish at Uḥud two years earlier and finally extinguish the light of Islam. Madinah had mountain ranges to its right and left, and the forts of Banū Qurayẓah—a Jewish tribe with whom the Muslims had a peace treaty—to its south. At the advice of Salmān al-Fārisī, the Prophet ﷺ and the Companions dug a trench at the upper part of the city where the assembled armies of the Quraysh would attack. After a stalemate, Allah destroyed the camps of the idolators via severe winds and angelic forces (33:9, 25), and the Muslims punished the treacherous Banū Qurayẓah thereafter (33:26).
• Zayd ibn Ḥārithah was a slave whom the Prophet ﷺ freed and adopted as a son prior to his prophecy. Because of their closeness, people used to refer to Zayd as ‘Zayd ibn Muḥammad’. When the Prophet ﷺ married Zaynab bint Jaḥsh, Zayd’s divorcee, the Jews and the hypocrites cast aspersions as to the validity of the marriage, saying that the Prophet ﷺ disallowed something for his community which he allowed for himself. Allah rebuked their foul play, unequivocally establishing the purity of this union and there being no taboo in it whatsoever (33:4, 37-40, 50).

Themes

• The exalted station of the Chosen One ﷺ and the veneration due unto him from the believers.
• Dhikr as the fundamental form of worship.
• Marital rulings and legislations concerning women.
• Victory as solely belonging to Allah, and His granting it to the steadfast.

Unique Features

• Sūrah al-Aḥzāb has the most direct addresses to the Prophet ﷺ via the phrase: yā ayyuhā al-Nabiyy. The address appears a total of 5 times in the sūrah.
• The 7th āyah of the sūrah is one of two āyāt in the Qur’an where Ulū al-ʿAzm are mentioned altogether, a category of prophets comprised of Nūḥ, Ibrāhīm, Mūsā, ʿĪsā, and Muḥammad—Allah’s peace and blessings be upon them all.
• Zayd ibn Ḥārithah is the only companion mentioned by name in the Qur’an—his name appears in this sūrah (33:37).
• A tajwīd ruling pertaining to an alif-fatḥah binary comes up three times in Sūrah al-Aḥzāb (33:10, 66, 67). The words in question are ẓunūnā, sabīlā, and rasūlā. When stopping on said words, the end is pronounced as an alif. If continuing onto the next āyah, the words end in a fatḥah. The other words where this ruling applies are lākinnā in Sūrah al-Kahf (18:38), qawārīrā in Sūrah al-Insān (76:15), and the word anā wherever it appears in the Qur’an.
• The qur’anic command to have taqwā and be upright in speech which we so often hear in the Jumuʿah khuṭbah appears at the end of this sūrah (33:70-71).
• It is in Sūrah al-Aḥzāb where Allah declares His and the angels’ benedictions upon the Beloved ﷺ, commanding the believers to follow suite:
  ﴾إنَّ اللَّهَ ومَلائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلى النَّبِيِّ يا أيُّها الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا﴿

Lessons

• Other than the declaration of tawḥīd (3:18), there is no action wherein the Almighty, the angels, and the believers engage in altogether like honouring the Prophet ﷺ. This takes place explicitly where ṣalāh and salām are pronounced upon him: “Indeed, Allah and His angels bestow blessings upon the Prophet. You who believe, bestow blessings upon him and abundant greetings of peace” (33:56). A similar honouring of the Messenger ﷺ takes place in Sūrah al-Taḥrīm (66:4).
• The Prophet ﷺ is the quintessence of perfected human godliness. His character, morals, mannerisms, ethics, and virtues are the standard for the rest of mankind. In him ﷺ we find the leader, teacher, diplomat, fighter, orator, monk, and sage. He ﷺ was a loving husband, father, grandfather, friend, and companion. He led by example, and left behind the greatest and best-preserved legacy of any human being. After almost 1.5 millennia since he walked the earth, some 2.3 billion people devoutly honour him and would give everything for just a few minutes in his presence. There is no one more celebrated, loved, and authentically followed than Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdillāh. May the grandest greetings and loftiest litanies be forever dedicated to the Chosen One ﷺ.
• The emphasis in the divine command for dhikr is distinct among other acts of worship. A translation which reflects the Arabic style may read: “O you who believe, mention Allah an abundant mentioning” (33:41). Everything we do, if it revolves around Allah, is a form of dhikr. Our duʿāʾ, ṣalāh, zakāh, pilgrimage, charity, struggle, self-control, goal-setting, sermons, travel, work, and maintaining the ties of kinship is all dhikr given a God-centric outlook. For the believer, dhikr is life; and it is a form of worship which will persist with us in the Hereafter, in shāʾ Allāh.

Virtues and Valuable Information

• While the Companions were digging the trench, a large rock wouldn’t budge despite their best efforts. They informed their leader and master, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He approached it, said bismillāh, and struck it. A third of it broke, and he ﷺ made takbīr and proclaimed he has been given the keys of the Levante. He did the same and the next third broke, and this time proclaimed he has been given the keys to Persia. He struck it a third and final time, and proclaimed he has been given the keys to the Yemen. Within a few decades, these lands became Muslim strongholds and remain so till today.
• Some Muslim ladies mentioned to the Prophet ﷺ that women are not mentioned with virtue like men are in the Qur’an, so Allah revealed: “Indeed, Muslim men and Muslim women…” (33:35).