[a] We have granted thee a manifest victory.] This victory, from which the chapter takes its title, according to the most received interpretation, was the taking of the city of Mecca. The passage is said to have been revealed on Mohammed’s return from the expedition of al Hodeibiya, and contains a promise or prediction of this signal success, which happened not till two years after, the preterite tense being therein used, according to the prophetic style, for the future ^[1] .
There are some, notwithstanding, who suppose the advantage here intended was the pacification of al Hodeibiya, which is here called a victory, because the Meccans sued for peace, and made a truce there with Mohammed, their breaking of which occasioned the taking of Mecca. Others think the conquest of Khaibar, or the victory over the Greeks at Mûta, &c., to be meant in this place.

[1] Al Zamakh. Al Beidawi.

[a] That God may forgive thee;] That is to say, that God may give thee an opportunity of deserving forgiveness by eradicating of idolatry, and exalting his true religion, and the delivering of the weak from the hands of the ungodly, &c.

[b] Thy preceding and thy subsequent sin;] i.e. Whatever thou hast done worthy reprehension; or, thy sins committed as well in the time of ignorance as since. Some expound the words more particularly, and say the preceding or former fault was his lying with his handmaid Mary ^[1] , contrary to his oath; and the latter, his marrying of Zeinab ^[2] , the wife of Zeid his adopted son ^[3] .

[1] See chap. 66. and the notes thereon.

[2] See chap. 33. and the notes thereon.

[3] Al Zamakh.

[c] Swear fealty;] The original word signifies publickly to acknowledge or inaugurate a prince, by swearing fidelity and obedience to him.

[d] The hand of God is over their hands;] That is, he beholdeth from above, and is witness to the solemnity of your giving your faith to his apostle, and will reward you for it ^[4] . The expression alludes to the manner of their plighting their faith on these occasions.

[4] Jallal.

[e] The Arabs of the desart who were left behind;] These were the tribes of Aslam, Joheinah, Mozeinah, and Ghifâr, who, being summoned to attend Mohammed in the expedition of al Hodeibiya, stayed behind, and excused themselves by saying their families must suffer in their absence, and would be robbed of the little they had (for these tribes were of the poorer Arabs); whereas in reality they wanted firmness in the faith, and courage to face the Koreish ^[5] .

[5] Idem, Al Beidawi.

[a] When ye go forth to take the spoil ;] viz. In the expedition of Khaibar. The prophet returned from al Hodeibiya in Dhu’lhajja, in the sixth year of the Hejra, and stayed at Medina the remainder of that month and the beginning of Moharram, and then set forward against the Jews of Khaibar, with those only who had attended him to Hodeibiya; and having made himself master of the place, and all the castles and strongholds in that territory ^[1] , took spoils to a great value, which he divided among them who were present at that expedition, and none else ^[2] .

[1] V. Abulf. Vit. Moh. p. 87, &c.

[2] Al Beidawi.

[b] The word of God;] Which was his promise to those who attended the prophet to al Hodeibiya, that he would make them amends for their missing of the plunder of Mecca at that time by giving them that of Khaibar in lieu thereof. Some think the word here intended to be that passage in the ninth chapter ^[3] , Ye shall not go forth with me for the future, &c., which yet was plainly revealed long after the taking of Khaibar, on occasion of the expedition of Tabûc ^[4] .

[3] Pag. 160.

[4] Al Beidawi.

[c] A mighty and a warlike nation;] These were Banu Honeifa, who inhabited al Yamâma, and were the followers of Moseilama, Mohammed’s competitor; or any other of those tribes which apostatized from Mohammedism ^[5] , or, as others rather suppose, the Persians or the Greeks ^[6] .

[5] Idem.

[6] Jallalo’ddin.

[d] When they sware fidelity to thee under the tree.] Mohammed, when at al Hodeibiya, sent Jawwâs Ebn Omeyya the Khozaïte, to acquaint the Meccans that he was come with a peaceable intention to visit the temple; but they, on some jealousy conceived, refusing to admit him, the prophet sent Othman Ebn Affân, whom they imprisoned, and a report ran that he was slain: whereupon Mohammed called his men about him, and they took an oath to be faithful to him, even to death; during which ceremony he sat under a tree, supposed by some to have been an Egyptian thorn, and by others a kind of lote-tree ^[7] .

[7] Idem, Al Beidawi. V. Abulf. vit. Moh. p. 86.

[e] Tranquility of mind;] The original word is Sakînat, of which notice has been taken elsewhere ^[8] .

[8] In not. ad cap. 2. p. 29.

[f] A speedy victory;] Namely, the success at Khaibar; or, as some rather imagine, the taking of Mecca, &c.

[a] And he restrained the hands of men from you;] i.e. The hands of those of Khaibar, or of their successors of the tribes of Asad and Ghatfân, or of the inhabitants of Mecca, by the pacification of al Hodeibiya ^[1] .

[1] Al Beidawi.

[b] He restrained their hands from you, and your hands from them, &c.] Jallalo’ddin says that fourscore of the infidels came privately to Mohammed’s camp at al Hodeibiya, with an intent to surprise some of his men, but were taken and brought before the prophet, who pardoned them and ordered them to be set at liberty; and this generous action was the occasion of the truce struck up by the Koreish with Mohammed; for thereupon they sent Sohail Ebn Amru and some others (and not Arwa Ebn Masúd, as is said by mistake in another place ^[2] , for his errand was an actual defiance) to treat for peace.
Al Beidâwi explains the passage by another story, telling us that Acrema Ebn Abi Jahl marching from Mecca at the head of five hundred men to al Hodeibiya, Mohammed sent against him Khâled Ebn al Walîd with a detachment, who drove the infidels back to the innermost part of Mecca (as the word here translated valley properly signifies,) and then left them, out of respect to the place.

[2] Al Beidawi.

[c] And hindered the offering being detained, that it should not arrive at the place where it ought to be sacrificed;] Mohammed’s intent, in the expedition of al Hodeibiya, being only to visit the temple of Mecca in a peaceable manner, and to offer a sacrifice in the valley of Mina, according to the established rites, he carried beasts with him for that purpose; but was not permitted by the Koreish either to enter the temple or to go to Mina.

[d] When the unbelievers had put in their hearts an affected preciseness, &c.] This passage was occasioned by the stiffness of Sohail and his companions in wording the treaty concluded with Mohammed; for when the prophet ordered Ali to begin with the form, In the name of the most merciful God, they objected to it, and insisted that he should begin with this: In thy name, O God; which Mohammed submitted to, and proceeded to dictate, These are the conditions on which Mohammed, the apostle of God, has made peace with those of Mecca; to this Sohail again objected, saying, If we had acknowledged thee to be the apostle of God we had not given thee any opposition; whereupon Mohammed ordered Ali to write as Sohail desired, These are the conditions which Mohammed, the son of Abdallah, &c. But the Moslems were so disgusted thereat, that they were on the point of breaking off the treaty, and had fallen on the Meccans, had not God appeased and calmed their minds, as it follows in the text ^[1] .
The terms of this pacification were that there should be a truce for ten years; that any person might enter into league either with Mohammed or with the Koreish, as he should think fit; and that Mohammed should have the liberty to visit the temple of Mecca the next year for three days ^[2] .

[1] Al Beidawi. V. Abulf. vit. Moh. p. 87.

[2] Iidem.

[a] The word of piety;] i.e. The Mohammedan profession of faith; or the Bismillah, and the words, Mohammed, the apostle of God, which were rejected by the infidels.

[b] The vision;] Or dream which Mohammed had at Medina before he set out for al Hodeibiya; wherein he dreamed that he and his companions entered Mecca in security, with their heads shaven and their hair cut. This dream being imparted by the prophet to his followers, occasioned a great deal of joy among them, and they supposed it would be fulfilled that same year; but when they saw the truce concluded, which frustrated their expectation for that time, they were deeply concerned; whereupon this passage was revealed for their consolation, confirming the vision, which was not to be fulfilled till the year after, when Mohammed performed the visitation distinguished by the addition of al Kadâ, or completion, because he then compleated the visitation of the former year, when the Koreish not permitting him to enter Mecca, he was obliged to kill his victims, and to shave himself at al Hodeibiya ^[3] .

[3] Al Beidawi, Jallalo’ddin. V. Abulf. vit. Moh. p. 84, 87.

[c] Having your heads shaved, and your hair cut;] i.e. Some being shaved, and others having only their hair cut.

[d] A speedy victory;] viz. The taking of Khaibar.