ٱلْأَنْفَال : ١٧

  • فَلَمۡ And not
  • تَقۡتُلُوهُمۡ you kill them
  • وَلَٰكِنَّ but
  • ٱللَّهَ Allah
  • قَتَلَهُمۡۚ killed them
  • وَمَا And not
  • رَمَيۡتَ you threw
  • إِذۡ when
  • رَمَيۡتَ you threw
  • وَلَٰكِنَّ but
  • ٱللَّهَ Allah
  • رَمَىٰ threw
  • وَلِيُبۡلِيَ and that He may test
  • ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ the believers
  • مِنۡهُ from Him
  • بَلَآءً (with) a trial
  • حَسَنًاۚ good
  • إِنَّ Indeed
  • ٱللَّهَ Allah
  • سَمِيعٌ (is) All-Hearing
  • عَلِيمٞ All-Knowing
And you did not kill them, but it was Allāh who killed them.1 And you threw not, [O Muḥammad], when you threw, but it was Allāh who threw2 that He might test the believers with a good test.3 Indeed, Allāh is Hearing and Knowing.
Footnotes
1 i.e., Your strength was insufficient to overcome them, but Allāh supported you and gave you victory.
2 When the Prophet (ﷺ) threw a handful of dust into the faces of the disbelievers, Allāh caused it to fill the eyes and nose of every soldier, preventing their advance.
3 So that they would appreciate Allāh's favor to them.
You did not slay them, at Badr by your own might, but God slew them, by giving you assistance, and you threw not, O Muhammad may peace and salutation be upon him, [against] the eyes of the [unbelieving] folk, when you threw, the pebbles, for a handful of pebbles thrown by a human being cannot strike the eyes of [every person in] a large troop, but God threw, by making that [throw] reach them. He did this in order to vanquish the disbelievers, and that He might try the believers with a fair test, a [fair] gift, namely, booty; surely God is Hearing, of their sayings, Knowing, of their conditions.