The Revelation of Surat al-Fath

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi explains:

On the road back to Madinah, ʿUmar, troubled by his outburst, rode up to the Prophet ﷺ and greeted him; there was no reply. A second and third salām went unanswered, and ʿUmar feared the worst, telling himself, "Let ʿUmar's mother mourn him, I am ruined." Then a rider summoned him: the Prophet ﷺ was calling for him. He came expecting the end, and found the Prophet's ﷺ face beaming, reciting a newly revealed chapter: "Innā fataḥnā laka fatḥan mubīnā. Li-yaghfira laka Allāhu mā taqaddama min dhanbika wa mā ta'akhkhar..." (إِنَّا فَتَحْنَا لَكَ فَتْحًا مُبِينًا ۝ لِيَغْفِرَ لَكَ اللَّهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِكَ وَمَا تَأَخَّرَ, "Indeed We have given you a clear victory, that Allah may forgive you what preceded of your sin and what will follow..."). The whole of Sūrat al-Fatḥ came down at once. ʿUmar asked, "Is it a victory, O Messenger of Allah?" and the Prophet ﷺ answered, "Ī wallāhi, yes, by Allah." ʿUmar cried "Allāhu Akbar!" and raced his camel up and down the lines proclaiming the clear victory. The Prophet ﷺ said Allah had sent down a sura dearer to him than everything on earth.

Sūrat al-Fatḥ foretells much, the coming spoils of Khaybar ("wa maghānima kathīratan ta'khudhūnahā"), the forgiveness and Paradise of the Companions, Allah's pleasure with those who pledged under the tree, and closes with one of the Qurʾān's most beautiful portraits of the Companions (48:29): "Muḥammadun rasūlu Allāhi wa-alladhīna maʿah... sīmāhum fī wujūhihim min athari al-sujūd" (مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ... سِيمَاهُمْ فِي وُجُوهِهِمْ مِنْ أَثَرِ السُّجُودِ), likening them to a strong crop that delights the farmer who planted it, the Prophet ﷺ delighting in Companions who, for all their emotion and the severity of the test, in the end followed through.

Dr. Qadhi draws a subtle theological point from the Companions' instant reversal, ʿUmar's full turn from despair to takbīr. Their unease had been that the terms might be the Prophet's ﷺ own judgment (ijtihād) rather than direct revelation; the moment Allah confirmed it as a clear victory, their hearts settled. This illustrates a theme running through the Sīrah: the Prophet ﷺ was permitted ijtihād, binding on the Ummah regardless, with revelation correcting it when needed and confirming it by silence otherwise.