Al-Isra: 76

Ayah

Word by Word

وَإِن

And indeed

كَادُواْ

they were about

لَيَسۡتَفِزُّونَكَ

(to) scare you

مِنَ

from

ٱلۡأَرۡضِ

the land

لِيُخۡرِجُوكَ

that they evict you

مِنۡهَاۖ

from it

وَإِذٗا

But then

لَّا

not

يَلۡبَثُونَ

they (would) have stayed

خِلَٰفَكَ

after you

إِلَّا

except

قَلِيلٗا

a little

Translation

Their purpose was to scare thee off the land, in order to expel thee; but in that case they would not have stayed (therein) after thee, except for a little while.

Tafsir

How the Prophet would have been punished if He had given in at all to the Disbelievers' Demands that He change some of the Revelation

Allah tells us that;

How He supported His Prophet and protected him and kept him safe from the evil plots of the wicked transgressors.

Allah is the One Who took care of him and helped him, and would not leave him to any of His creation.

He is the One Who is His Helper, Supporter and Protector, the One Who is to help him achieve victory and make His religion prevail over those who resist him and oppose him and fight him in the east and in the west.

May Allah send peace and blessings upon him until the Day of Judgement

The Reason why these Ayat were revealed

Allah said:

وَإِن كَادُواۡ لَيَسۡتَفِزُّونَكَ مِنَ الَارۡضِ لِيُخۡرِجوكَ مِنۡهَا وَإِذًا لاَّ يَلۡبَثُونَ خِلفَكَ إِلاَّ قَلِيلً

And verily, they were about to frighten you so much as to drive you out from the land. But in that case, they would not have stayed (therein) after you, except for a little while.

This was revealed concerning the disbelievers among the Quraysh, when they wanted to expel the Messenger of Allah from among themselves. So Allah issued a warning to them in this Ayah, telling them that if they expelled him, they would not stay in Makkah for very long after that. And this is what happened after he migrated from them when their persecution became so intense. Only a year and a half after that, Allah brought him and them together on the battlefield of Badr, without any pre-arranged appointment, and He caused him to prevail over them and defeat them, so he killed their leaders and took their families as captives.

Hence Allah said:

سُنَّةَ مَن قَدۡ أَرۡسَلۡنَا

قَبۡلَكَ مِن رُّسُلِنَا وَلَا تَجِدُ لِسُنَّتِنَا تَحۡوِيلً

A Sunnah with which We sentOur Messengers before you and you will not find any alteration in Our Sunnah.

meaning this is what We usually do to those who reject Our Messengers and persecute them by driving the Messenger out from among themselves - the punishment comes to them. If it were not for the fact that the Prophet was the Messenger of Mercy, vengeance would have come upon them such as had never been seen before in this world.

So Allah says:

وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُعَذِّبَهُمۡ وَأَنتَ فِيهِمۡ

And Allah would not punish them while you are among them. (8:33)