They swore allegiance to you under the tree

Question 535, The Enlightening Answer across the Ether

Question:

May Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah be upon you.

I hope to get from you the interpretation of this verse: In The Name of Allah The Merciful The Most Merciful: “Allah was pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance to you under the tree, for He knew well what was in their hearts, and sent down tranquility on them, and rewarded them with an expeditious victory “ (The Holy Qur’an Surah Al-Fath: 18) and who are the believers this verse is mentioning?

Sender: Ahmad Al-Wasiti-Iraq

Answer: In The Name Of Allah The Merciful The Most Merciful… And all Praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and may Allah send his Peace and Blessings upon Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, Imams and Mahdis.

“Allah was pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance to you under the tree, for He knew well what was in their hearts, and sent down tranquility on them, and rewarded them with an expeditious victory”.

“And the first forerunners [in the faith] among the Muhajireen and the Ansar and those who followed them with good conduct – Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him, and He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. That is the great attainment.” (The Holy Qur’an Surah At-Tawba: 100).

The verses above are both Supremacy of Allah and are indicating the satisfaction of Allah with those who swore allegiance to the Vicegerent of Allah on His Earth in their time, and Allah swt. praised them because of this blessed act, and not like some Sunnis who understand the image upside down, and believe that a purification in both verses is to whomever assisted to the Allegiance even if he did what he has done after it.

So the verse: “Allah was pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance to you under the tree, for He knew well what was in their hearts, and sent down tranquility on them, and rewarded them with an expeditious victory” is a praise to the ones who swore Allegiance at its time and that Allah was pleased with them for their (pleging) Allegiance to His Vicegerent on His Earth in their time. So the satisfaction is conditionally related to the Allegiance to the Vicegerent of Allah on His Earth Muhammad (sawas.) (“When they swore allegiance to you under the tree”) so Allah swt. was pleased with them; because they swore Allegiance to the Vicegerent of Allah on His earth in their time. So if they had apostated from this Divine Law, and that is the Allegiance to the Vicegerent of Allah in their time, no satisfaction to them, but it would change to the Wrath of Allah upon them, that’s why it is obligatory for the ones who remained alive after Muhammad (sawas.) that they look for the Vicegerent of Allah and to swear Allegiance to him, so that their faith and loyalty to the Covenant and the endurance, and not to turn over the Divine Law of inauguration which is mentioned clearly in the Qur’an: “And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, “Indeed, I am placing on the earth a caliph (successive authority).” (The Holy Qur’an Surat Al-Baqara : 30) , so that the Qur’anic verse will be applied to them after the death of Muhammad (sawas.) “Allah was pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance to you”.

Allah swt. said: “Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you, [O Muhammad] – they are actually pledging allegiance to Allah. The hand of Allah is over their hands. So he who breaks his word only breaks it to the detriment of himself. And he who fulfils that which he has promised Allah – He will give him a great reward.” (The Holy Qur’an Surah Al-Fath 10), and what is less clearly understood from this verse is that the satisfaction, in the meaning of the verse, is a satisfaction which is conditionally related to Allegiance and its permanence and loyalty to the Covenant of Allah and not only to Allegiance “So he who breaks his word only breaks it to the detriment of himself. And he who fulfils that which he has promised Allah – He will give him a great reward”, and therefore there is no absolute satisfaction and no eternal satisfaction and no permanent satisfaction, only a satisfaction related to a specific and unconditional event, and it is necessary that the loyalty to the Covenant be reached, and it is obligatory to not break the Pledge, and this can not be achieved after the death of the previous Vicegerent of Allah, only with Allegiance to the next Vicegerent, and in this way, the one who swore the Allegiance is loyal to the Covenant and did not really break the Pledge.

Allah swt said: “Then is he who knows that what has been revealed to you from your Lord is the truth like one who is blind? They will only be reminded who are people of understanding -Those who fulfill the covenant of Allah and do not break the contract, And those who join that which Allah has ordered to be joined and fear their Lord and are afraid of the evil of [their] account…But those who break the covenant of Allah after contracting it and sever that which Allah has ordered to be joined and spread corruption on earth – for them is the curse, and they will have the worst home.“ (The Holy Qur’an Surah Ar-Ra’d 19-25).

Allah swt. said: “And the first forerunners [in the faith] among the Muhajireen and the Ansar and those who followed them with good conduct – Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him, and He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. That is the great attainment.” .This verse is a proof of continuation of vicegerency of Allah on His Earth after The Messenger of Allah (sawas.), so the meaning of following the Muhajireen and the Ansar is not with their persons, because they are not infallible, and not with all of their acts, and it is sure that some of their actions are blameworthy and should be avoided, like some of them worshiping idols before the faith, and some of them drinking alcohol after the faith, therefore the meaning here is following them in some important thing which bestowed on them these names – The first forerunners among the Muhajireen and the Ansar – and that is believing in Muhammad (sawas.) considering him as Hujja of Allah in their time and Vicegerent of Allah on His Earth, so they are praised clearly as their reaction is, and that is their belief in Hujja of Allah in their time and their advancement in belief in him, and they have no preference in front of the ones who will be created after them; because they are advancing comparing to the people of their time, so praising them – as a advanced – is a comparison to the people of their time, because preferring them in front of those who are created centuries after them is absolutely an injustice to those who are behind them, rather it is a saying contrary to the Divine Justice and human nature which Allah swt. gave him (human) and that allows him always and forever to be from the finest of creation and ahead of his predecessors, and it is normal that you say about two people present at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (sawas.) and who believed in him one after the other, that someone preceded someone in faith in Muhammad (sawas.), but it is incorrect that you say about two people who were created in different times that someone preceded someone in faith in Muhammad (sawas.), because someone of them proceded the existance of other in this world. Whether one of them was at the time of the Prophet (sawas.) or both of them are later to his time (sawas.), this is because the advanced praise is by competition and progress in work and devotion to others, and not just by a timeline progress.

And therefore, what is meant by the verse: “and those who followed them with good conduct – Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him, and He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. That is the great attainment.” is following them in faith in the Vicegerent of Allah at all times, so those who followed them in good are all the people who believe in Vicegerent of Allah in their time and they support him until the Day of Judgement, and also they have their virtue by their precedence and their work and their dedication. This character (forerunners) is endless; rather the character of Hijra (Immigration) and Nusra (Victory) doesn’t end until the Day of Judgment, so the followers are not group from the first century, second or third, but the followers are the group who is saved until the Day of Judgment.

And to say that they are a certain group limited to a century or two or three is an injustice and prejudice to the right of the believers in later times, who can probably be the best of the first by their dedication, and the first forerunners among the Muhajireen and Ansar is a character of the faithful ones who believed in the Vicegerent of Allah at all times, so they are with Muhammad (sawas.) whom they believed in, and everyone has his preference according to his precedence and work and his dedication, and they are with Ali (a.s.) also, thus the matter is continuous and each time has a first forerunners Muhajironn and Ansar.

May Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah be upon you.

Ahmad Alhasan
Muharram Al Haram/ 1432 H