The Story of the Three Who Were Left Behind
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you. This questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, regarding the saying of Allah the Exalted[At-Tawbah 9:118]
Answer:
The three who were left behind refers to the story of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) departing for Tabuk, for the Battle of Tabuk. Three of the Companions delayed going out with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). They wanted to catch up with him. They wanted to catch up with him.
But they delayed, they became lazy, and their delay prolonged. In the end, they remained in Madinah and did not catch up with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), despite their faith and sincerity. They were Companions among the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). But because they did not go out with him initially, did not resolve to do so, became lazy, and claimed they would catch up with him, what happened to them happened. This is the result of delaying and not being prompt, not being prompt and going out with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So they regretted it. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived, the hypocrites came and made excuses. These three came and explained that they had no excuse. They were truthful with Allah and truthful with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), stating that they had delayed without excuse and blamed themselves. At that point, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) deferred their case. He did not excuse them as he excused the hypocrites, and he left them to their intentions. He deferred their case until the Qur'an descended regarding their repentance, after fifty nights, while they were in the most severe state of regret and[At-Tawbah 9:118]. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) boycotted them and ordered that they be boycotted, and that people not speak to them until the period was completed. Then the Qur'an descended regarding Allah's acceptance of their repentance, so the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) gave them good news of that. This is the story of those who were left behind. Yes.
May Allah reward you. This questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, regarding the saying of Allah the Exalted
And [He also forgave] the three who were left behind
وَعَلَى الثَّلَاثَةِ الَّذِينَ خُلِّفُواAnswer:
The three who were left behind refers to the story of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) departing for Tabuk, for the Battle of Tabuk. Three of the Companions delayed going out with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). They wanted to catch up with him. They wanted to catch up with him.
But they delayed, they became lazy, and their delay prolonged. In the end, they remained in Madinah and did not catch up with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), despite their faith and sincerity. They were Companions among the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). But because they did not go out with him initially, did not resolve to do so, became lazy, and claimed they would catch up with him, what happened to them happened. This is the result of delaying and not being prompt, not being prompt and going out with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So they regretted it. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived, the hypocrites came and made excuses. These three came and explained that they had no excuse. They were truthful with Allah and truthful with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), stating that they had delayed without excuse and blamed themselves. At that point, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) deferred their case. He did not excuse them as he excused the hypocrites, and he left them to their intentions. He deferred their case until the Qur'an descended regarding their repentance, after fifty nights, while they were in the most severe state of regret and
the earth closed in on them in spite of its vastness and their souls confined them and they were certain that there is no refuge from Allah except in Him
ضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الْأَرْضُ بِمَا رَحُبَتْ وَضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ أَنفُسُهُمْ وَظَنُّوا أَن لَّا مَلْجَأَ مِنَ اللَّهِ إِلَّا إِلَيْهِ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [65] قصة الثلاثة الذين خُلِّفوا - صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.