Al-Fath · Madani · ayah 22 of 29

Al-Fath 48:22

وَلَوْ قَـٰتَلَكُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لَوَلَّوُا۟ ٱلْأَدْبَـٰرَ ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُونَ وَلِيًّا وَلَا نَصِيرًا

“And if those [Makkans] who disbelieve had fought you, they would have turned their backs [in flight]. Then they would not find a protector or a helper.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Had the disbelievers fought, they would have fled with no one to shelter or help them; the truce was chosen from strength.

A reflection

The fight they could have won, and chose not to

Outside a takeaway late at night, a drunk man shoves a stranger in the queue. The stranger holds a black belt in judo. He could put the man on the pavement in two seconds. He raises his palms, says 'Not tonight, mate', and walks home. His friends call it weakness. Only he knows what it cost, and what it wasn't.

The believers at Hudaybiyah felt like those friends. They had signed a truce whose terms looked one-sided, and they were turned away from the House. In Sahih al-Bukhari, a senior Companion asks why they should accept lowliness in their religion. Years later another Companion, recalling that day, told people to distrust their own opinion. He remembered how ready they had all been to fight that day.

This ayah answers that ache with a counterfactual. Wa-law qātalakumu alladhīna kafarū: had the disbelievers fought you, they would have turned their backs. The commentaries mostly take this to mean the Makkans at Hudaybiyah. The truce was not signed from fear. It was restraint chosen from strength.

The same report in al-Bukhari gives the reason. The Prophet ﷺ said he would accept any plan from them in which they honoured the sanctities of Allah. His concern was the sanctity of Allah's House, not his own reputation.

There is a whole leadership lesson here. Real strength can afford to give way on appearances. It is the insecure leader who must win every exchange in public, because he is not sure he could win the one that matters. The secure leader can sign a humble-looking agreement, absorb his own team's frustration, and wait.

If you are being pushed to prove your strength by using it, ask what you are really protecting. Sometimes the strongest move is the fight you could win and decline.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.