Transliteration:( Wa in kaadoo la yaftinoonaka 'anil lazeee awhainaaa ilaika litaftariya 'alainaaa ghairahoo wa izallat takhazooka khaleelaa )
"And indeed, it was near that they would have misled you from what We revealed to you, so that you might invent something else against Us, and then they would have certainly taken you as a close friend."
This verse was revealed regarding a delegation from the tribe of Banu Thaqeef. They approached the Holy Prophet ﷺ and made the following conditional offer for embracing Islam:
They refused to bow in Salah—no Ruku or Sajdah.
Though they agreed to abandon idol worship, they still wanted to:
Contribute to idol-related sacrifices once a year, and
Avoid personally destroying their idols.
They demanded exclusive honours from the Prophet ﷺ, and insisted he justify it as an injunction from Allah.
🔹 The Prophet ﷺ firmly rejected all these conditions.
🔹 This verse was then revealed, praising the Prophet’s ﷺ unshakable firmness and integrity, affirming that:
The disbelievers were close to proposing falsehood, but the Prophet ﷺ was never near accepting it.
This shows that the Prophet ﷺ was divinely protected and naturally resolute.
The verse uses plural pronouns (“they would have misled you”) for the plotting disbelievers.
It also subtly implies that the Prophet ﷺ was under no threat of deviation.
If (hypothetically) the Prophet had agreed, they would have embraced him as a close ally, but that was never to happen.
🔸 This verse reinforces:
The perfection and infallibility of the Prophet ﷺ.
The Divine Guard placed over revelation and the integrity of Prophethood.
73. Verily, they were about to tempt you away from that which We have revealed to you, to fabricate something other than it against Us, and then they would certainly have taken you as an intimate friend! 74. And had We not made you stand firm, you would nearly have inclined to them a little. 75. In that case We would have made you taste a double portion in this life and a double portion after death. And then you would have found none to help you against Us.
Allah tells us how He supported His Prophet and protected him and kept him safe from the evil plots of the wicked transgressors. Allah is the One Who took care of him and helped him, and would not leave him to any of His creation. He is the One Who is His Helper, Supporter and Protector, the One Who is to help him achieve victory and make His religion prevail over those who resist him and oppose him and fight him in the east and in the west. May Allah send peace and blessings upon him until the Day of Judgement.
(17:73) (O Muhammad), they had all but tempted you away from what We have revealed to you that you may invent something else in Our Name.[87] Had you done so, they would have taken you as their trusted friend.
87. In order to understand the significance of this verse, we should keep in view the circumstances through which the Prophet (peace be upon him) had been passing at Makkah during the preceding decade or so. The disbelievers of Makkah were exerting their utmost to turn the Prophet (peace be upon him) away, somehow or other, from his message of Tauhid, which he was presenting, and to force him to make a compromise with shirk and the customs of ignorance. In order to achieve this end, they tempted him in several ways. They practiced deception upon him, and tempted him with greed, held out threats, and raised a storm of false propaganda against him, and persecuted him and applied economic pressure and social boycott against him. In short, they did all that could be done to defeat his resolve.
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