Transliteration:( Wa in kaadoo la yastafizzoonaka minal ardi liyukhri jooka minhaa wa izal laa yalbasoona khilaafaka illaa qaleelaa )
"And indeed, it was near that they would unsettle you from the land to expel you from it [164], and if they had done so, they would not have remained after you except for a little while [165]."
The polytheists of Arabia had made a determined effort to expel the Holy Prophet ﷺ from Makkah, but due to the mercy and protection of Allah Almighty, they were unsuccessful in this scheme. This verse was revealed to highlight that their efforts to banish the Prophet ﷺ were ultimately thwarted by Divine intervention.
This part of the verse explains that if they had succeeded in expelling the Holy Prophet ﷺ, they themselves would not have remained in the land for long. This is because Divine punishment befalls those areas that are emptied of believers or from which a Prophet is driven out. Just as it happened to previous nations, their destruction follows soon after they reject or expel the Messenger sent to them.
76. And verily, they were about to frighten you so much as to drive you out from the land. But in that case, they would not have stayed (therein) after you, except for a little while. 77. A Sunnah with which We sent Our Messengers before you and you will not find any alteration in Our Sunnah.
This was revealed concerning the disbelievers among the Quraysh, when they wanted to expel the Messenger of Allah from among themselves. So Allah issued a warning to them in this Ayah, telling them that if they expelled him, they would not stay in Makkah for very long after that. And this is what happened after he migrated from them when their persecution became so intense. Only a year and a half after that, Allah brought him and them together on the battlefield of Badr, without any pre-arranged appointment, and He caused him to prevail over them and defeat them, so he killed their leaders and took their families as captives. Hence Allah said:
(A Sunnah with which We sent) meaning this is what We usually do to those who reject Our Messengers and persecute them by driving the Messenger out from among themselves – the punishment comes to them. If it were not for the fact that the Prophet was the Messenger of Mercy, vengeance would have come upon them such as had never been seen before in this world. So Allah says:
(And Allah would not punish them while you are among them.) ﴿8:33﴾
(17:76) They were bent upon uprooting you from this land and driving you away from it. But were they to succeed, they would not be able to remain after you more than a little while.[89]
89. This was a clear prophecy which was made at the time when it appeared to be no more than a mere threat, but it was fulfilled literally in a decade or so. A year after the revelation of this Surah, the disbelievers of Makkah compelled the Prophet (peace be upon him) to leave his home. Then within eight years he entered Makkah as a conqueror, and within two years after this, the entire Arabia was totally freed from mushriks. Then whosoever stayed in that country, he remained there as a Muslim and not as a mushrik.
[766]- Only ten years after the Prophet's emigration, Makkah was completely cleared of his enemies.
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