Allah is Sufficient for us; and what an excellent Guardian He is!

The highlighted portion of the 173rd verse of Surah Al-i'Imran is the most recited verse when believers are in distress, yet they affirm their allegiance to Allah for they know that it is only strong trust in Allah that would ensure a satisfaction in their hears and resolve for Allah being sufficient for them and than no else can harm them even in the most grim situations. The verse reassures the believers that the strongest barrier against all the threats of the enemy is Faith and trusting in Allah.

Thus believers are advised to remember Allah by reciting this verse (" حَسۡبُنَا اللّٰهُ وَنِعۡمَ الۡوَكِيۡلُ " - Allah is Sufficient for us; and what an excellent Guardian He is!) whenever they are in pain or fear of overcome by others, or they have incurred a loss that hurts them or uncertainty prevails over the affairs that scare them and shrinks their hearts or if some something they encounter that is beyond their comprehension and understanding and inability to overcome.

This verse is related to the setback at the Battle of Uhud, when the Muslims after achieving victory of the forces of pagans of Makkah were overcame by the disbelievers for their overconfidence. Yet despite the setback, the Prophet of Allah assembled a small force to chase the returning forces of pagans of Makkah despite their claims of returning with a superior force, as is being said in the first portion of the verse. Read the incidence after the verse: 

اَلَّذِيۡنَ قَالَ لَهُمُ النَّاسُ اِنَّ النَّاسَ قَدۡ جَمَعُوۡا لَـكُمۡ فَاخۡشَوۡهُمۡ فَزَادَهُمۡ اِيۡمَانًا  ۖ وَّقَالُوۡا حَسۡبُنَا اللّٰهُ وَنِعۡمَ الۡوَكِيۡلُ‏ 

(3:173) When people said to them: 'Behold, a host has gathered around you and you should fear them', it only increased their faith and they answered: 'Allah is Sufficient for us; and what an excellent Guardian He is!'

This verse alludes to those devoted servants of Islam who willingly accompanied the Holy Prophet in his pursuit of the Quraish at that critical juncture.

After the Battle of Uhd, the Quraish marched back towards Makkah. When they had covered a good deal of distance from Al-Madinah, they realized that they had not utilized the golden opportunity of crushing the power of Muhammad (Allah's peace be upon him) and they began to regret: what a folly have we committed by losing that excellent chance! Accordingly, they halted and held a council of war. Though they were in favour of returning to Al-Madinah and making a sudden attack, yet they could not muster up courage and continued their march towards Makkah. At the same time, the Holy Prophet surmised an attack from the enemy; so he assembled the Muslims on the next day after the battle of Uhd and said, "Let us go in pursuit of the Quraish." Although that was a very critical situation, yet the believers and the devoted servants of Allah responded to the call and willingly marched with the Holy Prophet to Hamra-ul-Asad, a place at a distance of 8 miles from Al-Madinah, VV. 173-175 were sent down a year after the Battle of Uhd, but have been included in this discourse because they deal with the events which are connected with the same.

This refers to the terrifying rumours which were being spread in Al-Madinah. On the occasion of his return from Uhd, Abu Sufyan had challenged the Muslims to a fight the following year at Badr. But when the time approached, he could not find courage on account of the famine that was raging in Makkah. So in order to save face, he tried to shift on to the Muslims the responsibility for the postponement. Accordingly, he sent a special spy to Al-Madinah to terrify them by spreading rumours that the Quraish were making great preparations for war and collecting such a large army as could defeat any army in Arabia. This device of Abu Sufyan succeeded in producing the desired panic. When the Holy Prophet made an appeal to the Muslims to meet the Quraish in combat at Badr, it failed to produce any encouraging response. So much so that the Messenger of Allah had to declare before the gathered assembly, "I will go to the combat all alone, if none else is willing to go." It was then that 1,500 devotees volunteered to accompany him, and he reached Badr with them. From the other side, Abu Sufyan left Makkah with an army of 2,000 men. But after two days' journey, he told his men that it did not appear to suit them to have a fight that year, and that they would come next year for it. Accordingly, he returned to Makkah with his men. The Holy Prophet, however, waited for him at Badr for eight days. During these days, his Companions did profitable business with a trading party. Then he came to know that the disbelievers had gone back to Makkah, and he returned to Al Madinah.

Tafsir Jalal - Al-Jalalayn:

Those to whom (alladhīna, substitutes for the previous alladhīna, ‘those who’, or an adjectival qualification [of it]) people, that is, Nu‘aym b. Mas‘ūd al-Ashja‘ī, said, ‘The people, Abū Sufyān (the leader of the pagans of Makkah) and his companions, have gathered, their multitudes, against you, in order to exterminate you, therefore fear them’, and do not go out to [encounter] them; but that, saying, increased them in faith, in their belief in God and in certainty, and they said, ‘God is sufficient for us, He will deal fully for us with their affair; an excellent Guardian is He’, the One to whom the matter is entrusted. They thus set out with the Prophet (s) and arrived at the market-fair of Badr, but God had cast terror into the hearts of Abū Sufyān and his followers and so they did not turn up. They [the believers] had merchandise with them, and so they traded and made profits. 

Tafsir Ibn-Kathir: 

(Those unto whom the people said, "Verily, the people have gathered against you, therefore, fear them.'' But it (only) increased them in faith) it means, those who threatened the people, saying that the disbelievers have amassed against them, in order to instill fear in them, but this did not worry them, rather, they trusted in Allah and sought His help,

(and they said: "Allah is Sufficient for us, and He is the Best Disposer of affairs.'')

Al-Bukhari recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, "Allah Alone is Sufficient for us and He is the Best Disposer of affairs for us.'')

"Ibrahim said it when he was thrown in fire. Muhammad said it when the people said, `Verily, the people have gathered against you, therefore, fear them.' But it only increased them in faith, and they said, `Allah is Sufficient for us and He is the Best Disposer of affairs for us.''' Abu Bakr Ibn Marduwyah recorded that Anas bin Malik said that the Prophet was told on the day of Uhud, "Verily, the people have gathered against you, therefore, fear them.'' Thereafter, Allah sent down this Ayah.

Tafsir Kashani - Kashani:

Those to whom people said, before their arrival at the witnessing, 'The people have gathered against you, therefore fear them', in other words, they have taken into account your existence and reckon with, so you reckon with them; but that, statement, increased them in faith, that is, in certainty and in affirmation of the Oneness by negating any other [than God] and not being concerned by it. By negating what is other than God they attained the very affirmation of God when they said: 'God is sufficient for us. So they witnessed Him before returning to the differentiated mode of the attributes with uprightness, saying: an excellent Guardian is He', which are the words that Abraham, peace be upon him, said when he was cast into the fire and it became coolness and safety for him [cf. Q. 21:69].

You may like to listen to eminent Muslim scholar Nouman Ali Khan explaining the above said verse:

May Allah help us to be steadfast and reassures us that Allah is sufficient for us and that no harm can come to us as long as we have firm and strong belief in Allah. May understand Qur'ān and help us to act upon the commandments of Allah contained therein. Aameen.

For more Selected Verses, please refer to our reference page: Selected Verses from the Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.

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Reading the Qur'ān should be a daily obligation of a Muslim - Reading it with translation will make it meaningful. But reading its Exegesis / Tafsir will make you understand it fully.

An effort has been made to gather explanation / exegesis of the surahs of the Qur'ān from authentic sources and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. In that:

• The plain translation has been taken from the Qur'ān officially published by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. [1]
• The exegesis of the chapters of the Quran is mainly based on the "Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an" by one of the most enlightened scholars of the Muslim World Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi. [2]  

In order to augment and add more explanation as already provided by [2], additional input has been interjected from following sources: 

• Towards Understanding the Quran
• Tafsir Ibn Khatir
• Muhammad Asad Translation
• Al-Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation
• Javed Ahmad Ghamidi / Al Mawrid
• Verse by Verse Qur'an Study Circle

In addition the references of  other sources which have been explored have also been given above. Those desirous of detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to these sites.

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Posted in: Chapter 3,Selected Verses from Quran,Surah Al-i'Imran,Verse 173