- “Allah has promised those of you who believe and do righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession in the land, just as He granted it to those before them; that He will surely establish for them the religion He has approved for them; and that He will surely replace their fear with security. They worship Me and associate nothing with Me. Whoever disbelieves after that—it is they who are defiantly disobedient.”
This is one of His true promises (1), whose fulfillment and promised outcome have been witnessed. He promised those of this nation who uphold faith and righteous deeds that He would grant them succession in the land, making them its rulers and placing its affairs under their administration. He also promised to establish firmly for them the religion He approved for them: Islam, which surpasses all other religions. He approved it for this nation because of its excellence and honor and as a blessing to it, enabling its people to uphold Islam and establish its outward and inward ordinances, both in themselves and among others, while the adherents of other religions and all other unbelievers were defeated and humbled. He further promised to replace their fear with security. Previously, an individual among them could not openly profess his religion and what he believed without suffering considerable harm from the unbelievers. The Muslims were exceedingly few in comparison with others, while all the peoples of the earth had made common cause against them and plotted their destruction.
Allah promised them these things when the verse was revealed, although none of them had yet been witnessed: succession and firm establishment in the land, the ability to establish the religion of Islam, and complete security, such that they could worship Allah without associating anything with Him and fear no one but Allah. The earliest members of this nation then attained a degree of faith and righteous conduct surpassing that of all others. Allah therefore gave them authority over lands and peoples; the eastern and western reaches of the earth were opened to them, and they attained complete security and firm establishment. This is one of Allah’s wondrous and manifest signs. This will remain the case until the Hour: whenever Muslims uphold faith and righteous deeds, Allah’s promise to them will inevitably be fulfilled. Allah permits unbelievers and hypocrites to overpower them and sometimes grants those enemies the upper hand only because the Muslims have fallen short in faith and righteous conduct.
“Whoever disbelieves after that”—after you have been granted such firm establishment and complete authority, O Muslims—“it is they who are defiantly disobedient”: those who have departed from obedience to Allah and become corrupt, rendering them unfit for any righteous deed and devoid of any capacity for good. Indeed, abandoning faith when it enjoys strength and ascendancy, and when there are no impediments preventing one from embracing it, reveals corrupt intent and a wicked inner nature, for nothing else could prompt such a person to abandon the religion.
This verse also indicates that Allah firmly established those before us and granted them succession in the land, as Moses said to his people: “He will make you successors in the land and then observe how you act.” Allah Most High also said: “We desired to show favor to those who had been oppressed in the land, to make them leaders and make them the inheritors, and to establish them firmly in the land.”