The Holy Quran 8:44 — Surah Al-Anfal

Arabic text

وَإِذْ يُرِيكُمُوهُمْ إِذِ ٱلْتَقَيْتُمْ فِىٓ أَعْيُنِكُمْ قَلِيلًا وَيُقَلِّلُكُمْ فِىٓ أَعْيُنِهِمْ لِيَقْضِىَ ٱللَّهُ أَمْرًا كَانَ مَفْعُولًا ۗ وَإِلَى ٱللَّهِ تُرْجَعُ ٱلْأُمُورُ

Translation

And when you (Muslims) clashed with them (the Mushrikeen), (Allaah made them appear as) few in number in your eyes (so that you may not lose courage by seeing an army much larger than your own) and He reduced their numbers in your eyes (to encourage the Sahaabah رضي الله تعالى عنهم to fight) so that Allaah may conclude a matter that was (destined) to happen. All matters return only to Allaah (Whose decision will always prevail). (Because it was destined that the Mushrikeen should be defeated at the hands of the Muslims, Allaah made it appear to the Mushrikeen that the Muslims were much less than they actually were, so that the Mushrikeen would advance with all fervour to be defeated. However, once the battle had begun, Allaah made it appear to the Mushrikeen that the Muslims were many more, causing them to lose courage and to fight in a less fierce manner)

Tafsir (excerpt) — Tafsir Usmani

The dream of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: the disbelievers appeared few to the Prophet ﷺ in a dream, and to the Muslims at the time of the encounter, so that they would fight boldly. The dream of the Prophet ﷺ was not mistaken: among them those who were to remain disbelievers were indeed few; most of them were those who later became Muslims.

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