Translation of the meanings Ayah 126 Surah An-Nahl - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary - The Noble Qur'an Encyclopedia

Ayah: 126

وَإِنۡ عَاقَبۡتُمۡ فَعَاقِبُواْ بِمِثۡلِ مَا عُوقِبۡتُم بِهِۦۖ وَلَئِن صَبَرۡتُمۡ لَهُوَ خَيۡرٞ لِّلصَّٰبِرِينَ

(126) ^[3475]When you ˹Believers come to˺ inflict punishment, then inflict a punishment equal in measure to the punishment that was inflicted on you; but should you endure patiently then that is better for the patient^[3476].

[3475] Exegetes have debated the occasion of this aya’s revelation and whether it is a Makkan or a Madinan one. A good number (cf. al-Qurṭubī notes that most exegetes are of this opinion) see it as having been sent down on the day of the conquest of Makkah. In the aftermath of the Battle of Uḥud, when the Qurayshites got the better of the Muslims killing and maiming some of them, especially the great Companion Ḥamzah (رضي الله عنه), the dear uncle of the noble Prophet (ﷺ) at whose sight he suffered painful anguish (cf. al-Ṭabarānī, al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr: 2869), the Muslims were so irate that they vowed to kill more Qurayshites than those Believers they had killed. So the occasion came when the Believers conquered Makkah, but God Almighty sent this aya down, and the Messenger instructed them to hold off their hands and only to exact justice on four people, saying: “We shall be patient and not punish!” (cf. al-Albānī, al-Silsilah al-Ṣaḥīḥah, 5: 491; al-Tirmidhī: 3129). But given that the whole sura is Makkan, others (cf. al-Rāzī, al-Naḥḥās, Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, al-Māwardī, Ibn ʿĀshūr) have taken it to be a Makkan aya. So, they interpret it to be closely related to the previous instructions regarding how to deliver the call. Whoever calls for the Truth in this manner will inevitably touch a nerve with people regarding what they hold as sacred and would provoke retaliation, by inflicting harm and bodily or verbal abuse, which would make the caller bitter and wanting revenge, and, thus, is the Divine instruction given to not be only just and fair in this respect, but rather to better forgive and overlook.
The great scholar and Qur’an interpreter, Ibn Sīrīn (following Mujāhid and al-Nakhaʿī) strongly debunks the earlier (Madinan) interpretation as it casts doubt over the order of the revelation of the Qur’an.
[3476] Abū Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه) said that the Messenger (ﷺ) said: “Forgiveness adds nothing to a servant but honour!” (Muslim: 2588).