"O you who have believed, remember the favor of Allah upon you when armies came to [attack] you and We sent upon them a wind and armies [of angels] you did not see. And ever is Allah, of what you do, Seeing."
[Al-Ahzab 33:9]
In this verse, Allah commands the believers to remind themselves of the events of Ghazwa-e-Ahzab or Battle of Trench. In this battle, the Muslim army was 3000 in number while the enemies were 10000. Allah favoured the believers by helping them with unseen forces and thus after the battle, Allah reminds the believers of this help so that they may be thankful.
The windstorm did not lash the enemy forces immediately on their arrival but it occurred while the siege (battle of wits) of Al-Madinah had lasted about a month.
“Armies whom you did not see” implies the hidden powers which operate in the affairs of men under Allah’s command and of which men are totally unaware. Man regards the occurrence of events and incidents as resulting from apparent causes and does not take into account the hidden forces at work, whereas in most cases these very hidden forces play the decisive role. As these forces function under the command of Allah’s angels, the “armies” may imply the angels as well.
At the end of the verse, Allah mentions one of his qualities that is, He is aware or seeing of whatever the believers do. Although Allah watches over the entire universe, here, He mentions that He is watchful over the believers. This is linked with the upper part of the verse and is meant as a test for the believers. It means that after Allah eases the hardships for the believers, He is watchful of those who thank Him and those who do not. Hence, at every moment, we should be thankful to Allah for the blessings He has given us.
Things we learnt:
> Allah reminds the believers of the time when the enemy overpowered them in the Battle of the Trench and Allah sent unseen armies in favour of the believers. These armies may be angels or spirits or anything as Allah knows best.
> Allah also reminds the believers that no matter where they are, Allah is watching them and is well aware of what they do hence even in solitude, a believer's best choice is the remembrance of Allah.
May Allah guide us to the right path.
Ameen.
Wama alayna illal balaghul mubeen.
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O You Who Believe
SpiritualIn the name of Allah, The Most Beneficient, The Most Merciful. Here, we will discuss the number of times Allah has directly referred to the Believers in the Qur'an and the orders He has directly betided upon us.
