Surah Aal-i-Imraan: Verse 13 - قد كان لكم آية في... - English
Tafsir of Verse 13, Surah Aal-i-Imraan
English Translation
Already there has been for you a sign in the two armies which met - one fighting in the cause of Allah and another of disbelievers. They saw them [to be] twice their [own] number by [their] eyesight. But Allah supports with His victory whom He wills. Indeed in that is a lesson for those of vision.English Transliteration
Qad kana lakum ayatun fee fiatayni iltaqata fiatun tuqatilu fee sabeeli Allahi waokhra kafiratun yarawnahum mithlayhim raya alAAayni waAllahu yuayyidu binasrihi man yashao inna fee thalika laAAibratan liolee alabsariTafsir of Verse 13
Sequence
In the previous verses, the disbelievers were informed that they will be overcome. Now, cited in this verse is an example of how the prophecy has been fulfilled.
Commentary
This verse refers to the Battle of Badr in which the disbelievers had about 1000 men, 700 camels and 100 horses, while the Muslim mujahidin were just over 300, having a total of 70 camels, 2 horses, 6 armours and 8 swords. The encounter was certainly strange as each combating group saw the opponent being twice its own numbers. The sighting of so many Muslims inspired awe in the hearts of the disbelievers, while Muslims who saw the disbelievers as twice of them turned to Allah more fervently. They had hopes of Allah's help, and ultimate victory, because they had placed their total trust in Allah, were steadfast and sincerely believed in the promise of Allah revealed to them in the following words:
إِن يَكُن مِّنكُمْ أَلْفٌ يَغْلِبُوا أَلْفَيْنِ بِإِذْنِ اللَّـهِ
If there be among you a hundred patient one, they shall over-come two hundred. (8:66)
If the actual number of disbelievers which was three times more than their own were to be realized by Muslims, they may have been overawed. This state of sighting the numbers of the other group as twice its own was at a particular time. At another time each of the two combating groups felt the other one as low in numbers, as it would appear later in Surah al-Anfal.
To sum up, it can be safely said that making a small group of people with very little to fight against a much stronger group and score a victory, as prophesied in Makkah, is an unusual event full of lessons for the observant and the discerning.
