“Indeed, to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. He gives life and causes death, and besides Allah you have no protector and no helper.”

His words, Most High: “Allah has certainly turned in mercy to the Prophet,” to the end of the verse: Allah’s turning in mercy means that He excused and pardoned. His turning in mercy to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was for his having permitted the hypocrites to remain behind rather than accompany him. It was also said that He began the statement by mentioning him because he was the cause of their repentance, so He mentioned him together with them, just as He says, “Indeed, one fifth of it belongs to Allah and the Messenger” (al-Anfal 41), and similar verses.

“And the Emigrants and the Helpers who followed him in the hour of hardship”: that is, at the time of hardship; it does not refer to a particular hour. The expedition to Tabuk was called the Expedition of Hardship, and the army was called the Army of Hardship. Hardship means severe difficulty, and this expedition was difficult for them in respect to mounts, provisions, and water.

Al-Hasan said: “Ten of them would set out upon a single camel, taking turns to ride it: one man would ride for a while, then dismount so that his companion could ride, and so on. Their provisions were worm-eaten dates and spoiled barley. A group of them would set out with nothing but a few dates shared between them. When one of them was overcome by hunger, he would take a date and chew it until he tasted its flavor, then give it to his companion, who would suck on it. Then he would drink a sip of water after it, and they would continue in this manner until it reached the last of them, and nothing remained of the date except its pit. Yet they proceeded with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, to Tabuk in their sincerity and certainty.” (1)

Umar ibn al-Khattab said: “We set out with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, for Tabuk in intense heat. We halted at a place where thirst afflicted us so severely that we thought our necks would be severed. A man would go off in search of water and not return, until we would think that his neck had been severed. A man would even slaughter his camel, squeeze out the contents of its stomach and drink it, and place what remained upon his liver. Then Abu Bakr al-Siddiq said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, Allah has accustomed you to goodness in supplication, so supplicate to Allah for us.’ He said, ‘Would you like that?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ So he raised his hands and did not lower them until the sky gathered clouds, shaded us, and then poured down rain. They filled what they had with them, then we went to look and found that it had not passed beyond the camp.” (2) (3)

“After the hearts of a party among them had nearly swerved”: Hamzah and Hafs recited it as yazighu (“would nearly swerve”), with the masculine prefix, on account of the verb kāda (“nearly”).