The Revelation of Sūrah al-Fath

Mālik narrated—from Zayd ibn Aslam, from his father—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was travelling on one of his journeys while ʿUmar was riding beside him at night. ʿUmar asked him about something, but he did not reply; he asked again, and again there was no answer; he put the question a third time but still received no reply. ʿUmar then said, “May your mother be bereaved of you! You have pressed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” He continued, “So I spurred my camel on until I rode ahead of the people, fearing that a verse of the Qurʾān might be revealed about me. Before long I heard a herald calling out. I thought, ‘I was afraid a revelation had come down concerning me.’ I returned to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, greeted him with peace, and he said, ‘Tonight a sūrah has been sent down to me that is dearer to me than everything upon which the sun rises.’ He then recited: ‘Indeed, We have granted you a manifest victory, so that Allah may forgive you your earlier and later sins…’ (al-Fath 1–2).” Recorded by al-Bukhārī.

Yūnus ibn Bukayr related—from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Masʿūdī, from Jāmiʿ ibn Shaddād, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAlqamah, from Ibn Masʿūd—who said: “When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was returning from al-Hudaybiyah, his she-camel began to lag behind, so we rode on ahead of him. Then the revelation came to him: ‘Indeed, We have granted you a manifest victory.’”

Shuʿbah narrated—from Qatādah, from Anas—that regarding the verse, ‘Indeed, We have granted you a manifest victory,’ he said: “It refers to the treaty of al-Hudaybiyah.” A man exclaimed, “Congratulations and blessed tidings to you, Messenger of Allah—this is yours; what shall we have?” So the verse was revealed: ‘that He may admit believing men and believing women into gardens…’ (al-Fath 5).

Shuʿbah added: “When I reached Kūfah, I reported this tradition on the authority of Qatādah from Anas; then, when I arrived in Baṣrah and mentioned it to Qatādah, he said, ‘The first part is from Anas, but the second…’”