"...And a Land You Have Never Stepped on..." (Quran 33:27)

Published in December 5, 2017

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy

Introduction:

1- By the end of talking about the battle of the confederates, God says the following: "God repelled the disbelievers in their rage; they gained no advantage. God thus spared the believers combat. God is Strong and Mighty" (33:25). This means that God Himself has defeated the troops of the confederates who sieged Yathreb at the time, and the Yathreb dwellers were spared from fighting the enemy. Among the tribes that settled near Yathreb was one of the People of the Book; this tribe had very strong fortifications and its men sieged Yathreb along with the Meccan troops of the confederates. When the latter was defeated by God and their danger ended, troops of Muhammad sieged those aggressors among this tribe of the People of the Book, and a battle ensued; some of the tribesmen were killed and some captured. The captured ones were released and allowed to flee with the rest of the tribe, as its members left their lands, houses, money, possessions, fortifications, etc. and fled Arabia. Such things were taken and inherited by the early believers: "And He brought down from their strongholds those of the People of the Book who backed them, and He threw terror into their hearts. Some of them you killed, and others you took captive. And He made you inherit their land, and their homes, and their possessions, and a land you have never stepped on. God has power over all things." (33:26-27). 

2- The phrase that has caught our attention is as follows: "..and a land you have never stepped on..." (33:27); within our previous writings, we have shown that this is a miraculous prediction: the early believers have been told beforehand (after the defeat of the confederates and the aggressors among the People of the Book near Yathreb) that they will inherit a land never trodden by them before at that point in time. We notice also that God in 33:26-27 does not use the word (Jews) but the term (the People of the Book). 

3- When we were a 'moderate' Sunnite in the early 1970s, we assumed that the phrase "..and a land you have never stepped on..." (33:27) indicates countries invaded through Arab conquests by Abou Bakr, Omar and Othman; at the time, we thought that such conquests were 'great', before we knew later on as a Quranist that such conquests are crimes that violate the Quranic teachings, as we cleansed and purified our heart/mind from Sunnite falsehoods. Those caliphs and Arabs of the conquests are the arch-enemies of Islam, as we have detailed in our book (in English) titled "The Unspoken-of History of the Pre-Umayyad 'Righteous' Caliphs" (found on this link: http://www.ahl-alquran.com/arabic/book_main.php?main_id=83). Thus, the question persists in our mind: what is the indication of the phrase "...and a land you have never stepped on..." (33:27)? Where is this land that God made Muhammad and the early believers inherit after the defeat of the confederates and the aggressive tribe of the people of the Book who fled Arabia? 

Firstly: pondering this verse: "And He made you inherit their land, and their homes, and their possessions, and a land you have never stepped on. God has power over all things." (33:27):-

The meaning of "inherit":

1- It means to possess something that was owned previously by someone else; e.g., a son inherits his father: "And Solomon inherited David..." (27:16). Within the story of Moses and Pharaoh, the Israelites inherited Egypt for a while after the drowning of Pharaoh and his regime, retinue members, courtiers, etc. : "And We made the oppressed people inherit the eastern and western parts of the land, which We had blessed. Thus the fair promise of your Lord to the Israelites was fulfilled, because of their endurance. And We destroyed what Pharaoh and his people had built, and what they had harvested." (7:137); "So We drove them out of gardens and springs. And treasures and noble dwellings. So it was. And We made the Israelites inherit them." (26:57-59); "How many gardens and fountains did they leave behind? And plantations, and splendid buildings. And comforts they used to enjoy. So it was; and We made another people inherit these." (44:25-28).

2- Hence, 33:27 shows that when the aggressive ones of this tribe of the People of the Book deserted their land and possessions in their location near Yathreb, the early believers inherited all these things and land, just as the case was with the Israelites in Egypt after the drowning of Pharaoh. This means that the land inherited by Muhammad and the early believers at this point in time was the one deserted by its owners, for good, after fighting between them and the early believers occurred to punish them for their aggression as they allied themselves to the Meccan aggressors who sieged Yathreb.  

3- The only difference in both cases is that the early believers fought first those aggressors among the People of the Book, and those aggressors were defeated and fled their land and possessions, inherited by the early believers, whereas the Israelites inherited Egypt for a while without fighting at all, after Pharaoh and his cronies and retinue members were drowned.

The meaning of "stepped on":

1- Treading or stepping on a land differs from ordinary walking: to walk in an ordinary manner is expressed in these Quranic verses: "The servants of the Merciful are those who walk the earth in humility..." (25:63); "It is He who made the earth manageable for you, so walk its regions..." (67:15); "...So walk through the earth and note the fate of the deniers." (3:137). Treading or stepping on indicate wars and being chased: "O you who believe! When you tread in the way of God, investigate, and do not say to him who offers you peace, "You are not a believer," aspiring for the goods of this world. With God are abundant riches. You yourselves were like this before, and God bestowed favor on you; so investigate. God is well aware of what you do." (4:94); "When you tread in the land, there is no blame on you for shortening the prayers, if you fear that the disbelievers may harm you. The disbelievers are your manifest enemies." (4:101).

2- Thus, the verb "stepped on" in 33:27 evokes military march or movement, as we infer from these verses about military skirmishes: "It is He who withheld their hands from you, and your hands from them, in the valley of Mecca, after giving you advantage over them. God is Observer of what you do. It is they who disbelieved, and barred you from the Sacred Mosque, and prevented the offering from reaching its destination. Were it not for faithful men and faithful women, whom you did not know, you were about to tread on them, and became guilty of an unintentional crime..." (48:24-25). Hence, in this context, "to tread on" means they were about to attack Mecca and fight to enter into it by force, but God stopped them so as not to hurt unintentionally some believer who concealed their faith inside Mecca, and thus, they were avoided this disgraceful crime.

3- Consequently, the phrase "...and a land you have never stepped on..." (33:27) refers to a land inherited without war or fighting and a land never conquered by fighters.

Secondly: which land is meant by "...and a land you have never stepped on..." (33:27):-

1- As per our studying and analysis of the Quran, this land inherited by the early believers without fighting is indicated in the Quranic Chapter 59 as follows: "It is He who evicted those who disbelieved among the People of the Book from their homes at the first mobilization. You did not think they would leave, and they thought their fortresses would protect them from God. But God came at them from where they never expected, and threw terror into their hearts. They wrecked their homes with their own hands, and by the hands of the believers. Therefore, take a lesson, O you who have insight. Had God not decreed exile for them, He would have punished them in this life. But in the Hereafter they will have the torment of the Fire. That is because they opposed God and His messenger. Whoever opposes God - God is severe in retribution. Whether you cut down a tree, or leave it standing on its trunk, it is by God's will. He will surely disgrace the sinners. Whatever God has bestowed upon His messenger from them; you spurred neither horse nor camel for them, but God gives authority to His messengers over whomever He will. God is Able to do all things." (59:2-6)

2- We note here the following points.

2/1: The phrase "...you spurred neither horse nor camel for them..." (59:6) indicates clearly that the early believers inherited this land without fighting at all; the People of the Book were sieged and felt so terrified (as God inflicted deep fear and fright on them that shook their hearts) that they fled Arabia leaving all their possessions and land, and the early believers entered this land to inherit it without fighting.

2/2: God Himself has defeated the confederates who sieged Yathreb: "O you who believe! Remember God's blessings upon you, when forces came against you, and We sent against them a wind, and forces you did not see. God is Observant of what you do." (33:9); "And He made you inherit their land, and their homes, and their possessions, and a land you have never stepped on. God has power over all things." (33:27). Likewise, God Himself has defeated this aggressive group of the People of the Book mentioned in 59:2-6, who fought against Go and Muhammad, by inflicting deep fear on them, driving them to flee without fighting. God's Omnipotence is asserted in both cases: "...God has power over all things."  (33:27) and "...God is Able to do all things." (59:6). The Omnipotent Lord Himself defeated at the time both the Meccan aggressive confederates and the aggressive People of the Book.

Thirdly: myths of heritage books of traditions:

1- The so-called 'interpreters' of the Quran are ignoramuses who penned books during the Middle Ages, showing their ignorance and their disbelief in (and rejection of) the Quran, and they differ in all their views regarding all Quranic verses; for instance, about 33:27, Al-Qurtubi writes that the intended land was Hunayn as asserted by Ibn Zeid and Yazeed Ibn Roman, while Qotada said that this land was Mecca, Al-Hassan said that it was Persia and Byzantium, and Ekrema said that it was a the entire earth, invaded by believers before the Last Day would come! Those ignoramuses quoted by Al-Qurtubi, in their silly conjectures, did not understand 33:27 at all.    

2- The author Ibn Ishaq was more ignorant in his lies and falsehoods invented by his brain; he was the one to write the first fake biography of Muhammad, and he filled it with his own composed lines of poetry, while claiming that he wrote narratives hard by many series of narrators; we have proven that he never met with his main 'narrator', named Abou Shehab Al-Zohary. Ibn Ishaq was the first one to claim that the People of the Book mentioned in the Quranic Chapters 33 and 59 are two Jewish tribes and he gave them fictional names of Bani Qoraydha and Bani Al-Nudhir. Ibn Ishaq invented such names and events after Muhammad's death by more than a century; his lies include that Muhammad allegedly murdered Jewish captives of such tribes, enslaved Jewish women, and sent assassins who killed Jewish tribal leaders. This fake portrayal of Muhammad by Ibn Ishaq was in fact a sketch of the Abbasid caliph Abou Jaffer Al-Mansour, served by Ibn Ishaq all his lifetime, and such false narratives helped 'justify' the heinous crimes of this caliph who pretended in public that he imitated Muhammad! We are currently writing a book about the life of Ibn Ishaq. 

3- Ibn Ishaq in his fictional narratives make the tribesmen of Bani Al-Nudhir as the ones intended in the Quranic Chapter 59, and he mentions they deserted their land in Arabia in 4 A.H., while the battle of the confederates is said by him to have occurred in 5 A.H. This error led to the misunderstanding, in later eras, of 33:27. Our own pondering on the Quranic verses shows that the People of the Book mentioned in the Quranic Chapter 59 as leaving their land in fear were in an event that occurred AFTER the event of another group of the People of the Book mentioned in the Quranic Chapter 33. This means that the battle of the confederates occurred first and that the event regarding the People of the Book mentioned in the Quranic Chapter 59 has occurred later on and it has nothing to do with the People of the Book mentioned in the Quranic Chapter 33.

4- We give the chance for our fellow Quranist researchers to ponder on the similarities between both groups of the People of the Book mentioned in the Quranic Chapters 59 and 33, as both were aggressors, had fortresses and fortifications, and were defeated by God who tormented them with fear; infliction of torment is God's Sunna/way/method with aggressive polytheists/disbelievers (see 3:151, 8:12. 33:26, and 59:2).