فَسِيحُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ غَيْرُ مُعْجِزِي اللَّهِ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ مُخْزِي الْكَافِرِينَ ﴿۲﴾ وَأَذَانٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ إِلَى النَّاسِ يَوْمَ الْحَجِّ الْأَكْبَرِ أَنَّ اللَّهَ بَرِيءٌ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ وَرَسُولُهُ فَإِنْ تُبْتُمْ فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ وَإِنْ تَوَلَّيْتُمْ فَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ غَيْرُ مُعْجِزِي اللَّهِ وَبَشِّرِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ ﴿۳﴾ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ عَاهَدْتُمْ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَنْقُصُوكُمْ شَيْئًا وَلَمْ يُظَاهِرُوا عَلَيْكُمْ أَحَدًا فَأَتِمُّوا إِلَيْهِمْ عَهْدَهُمْ إِلَى مُدَّتِهِمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَّقِينَ ﴿۴﴾

﴾2﴿ Faseehoo fil ardi arba'ata ashhurinw wa'lamoooannakum ghairu mu'jizil laahi wa annal laaha mukhzil kaafireen
﴾3﴿ Wa azaanum minal laahi wa Rasooliheee ilan naasi yawmal Hajjil Akbari annal laaha bareee'um minal mushrikeena wa Rasooluh; fa-in tubtum fahuwa khairullakum wa in tawallaitum fa'lamooo annakum ghairu mu'jizil laah; wa bashiril lazeena kafaroo biazaabin aleem
﴾4﴿ Illal lazeena 'aahattum minal mushrikeena summa lam yanqusookum shai'anw-wa lam yuzaahiroo 'alaikum ahadan fa atimmooo ilaihim 'ahdahum ilaa muddatihim; innal laaha yuhibbul muttaqeen

﴾2﴿ So travel through the earth for four months and know that you will not be able to frustrate Allah, and that Allah will surely disgrace the disbelievers
﴾3﴿ And it is a proclamation from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the Greater Hajj, that Allah is indeed displeased with the polytheists, and so is His Messenger So if you repent, it is better for you. But if you turn away, then you will not be able to defeat Allah. And give good tidings to those who disbelieve of a painful punishment
﴾4﴿ Except those with whom you made a covenant, they did not do you any harm, nor did they help anyone against you So fulfill their covenant with them for their appointed term. Indeed, Allah loves the righteous

[2] This verse contains the second ruling regarding the polytheists—that they are granted a four-month reprieve.
These four months are: Shawwāl, Dhū al-Qaʿdah, Dhū al-Ḥijjah, and Muḥarram. This is based on the narration from Aʿzhar which states that this surah was revealed at the beginning of the month of Shawwāl.
The second opinion is that the four months are counted from the day of Ḥajj al-Akbar (the major pilgrimage), extending to the end of Rabīʿ al-Thānī—but the first opinion is preferred, supported by the context of verse 5.
This grace period is given for reflection, in the hope that they may embrace faith.
The phrase (وَاعْلَمُوا) is used to dispel two misconceptions:
1. That this delay might suggest Allah is unable to confront them—this is refuted by (أَنَّكُمْ غَيْرُ مُعْجِزِي اللَّهِ): “You will not escape Allah.”
2. That this reprieve may indicate honor or respect for them—this is answered with (وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ مُخْزِي الْكَافِرِينَ): “And that Allah will disgrace the disbelievers.”
[3] This verse mentions the public declaration of disassociation (barā’ah) from the polytheists who had made treaties but were at war.
Since this declaration was made during the days of Ḥajj and less than four months remained until the next Ḥajj, the mention of the four-month reprieve is omitted in this verse.
Question: In the first verse, it says “to those with whom you made a treaty”, while here it says “to the people”. Why the difference?
Answer: The first declaration was specific to those treaty-breakers among the polytheists, while this verse is a general announcement to all polytheists—whether they had treaties or not. In fact, even the believers are included as listeners of this announcement.
The phrase (وَرَسُولُهُ) is in nominative case (رفْع) and is either a new subject whose predicate is omitted, or it is connected grammatically to the position of the word “Allah” in the phrase (أَنَّ اللَّهَ).
The phrase (فَإِنْ تُبْتُمْ) is an encouragement to repent during the grace period.
The phrase (فَاعْلَمُوا) is a warning—intended as a threat—while in verse 2, it was used to remove misconceptions, as explained earlier.
The command (وَبَشِّرِ)—“give glad tidings”—is expressed here in a tone of mockery (tahakkum), meaning to announce doom rather than actual good news.
“With a painful punishment” refers to worldly punishment like being killed or captured, and eternal punishment in the hereafter.
[4] In this verse, the second category of polytheists is mentioned—those known as mu‘āhadīn (those with whom there is a fixed-term treaty).
They are called so because they had not broken their treaty. These included two tribes: Banū Ḍumrah and Kinānah.
The ruling regarding them is that their treaty should be honored until the appointed time, and at that point, there were nine (9) months remaining in their treaty.
However, this is conditional upon two things:
1. They did not break the treaty with you (لم ينقصوكم).
2. They did not support anyone against you (لم يظاهروا).
The ruling is given with the command (فَأَتِمُّوا) – “then fulfill [the treaty]” – and the phrase (إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَّقِينَ) is the reason for this command, proving that honoring treaties is an act of piety (taqwā).