And indeed, they were about to provoke [i.e., drive] you from the land [i.e., Makkah] to evict you therefrom. And then [when they do], they will not remain [there] after you, except for a little.766
Notes
[766] Only ten years after the Prophet's emigration, Makkah was completely cleared of his enemies.
Verse 76 of Surah Al-Isra (17:76), a Meccan surah, is in juz 15, on page 290 of the mushaf. Read it in Arabic with its transliteration, translations and tafsir, and listen to it recited by 73 reciters.
Listen to verse 76 of Surah Al-Isra
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Tafsir of verse 76
Al-Mukhtasar
And the disbelievers were close to troubling you, due to their enmity towards you, to exile you from Makkah. However, Allah stopped them from exiling you until you yourself migrated on the command of your Lord. And had they exiled you, they would not have remained after exiling you except for a short while.
They were about to provoke you so as to drive you out of the land [of Makkah], but then they would not have remained after you, except for a little while67.
Notes
[67] Makkah was completely cleared of the Prophet's enemies only ten years after his emigration.
And verily they were about to frighten you so much as to drive you out from the land. But in that case they would not have stayed (therein) after you, except for a little while.
And they indeed wished to scare thee from the land that they might drive thee forth from thence, and then they would have stayed (there) but a little after thee.
Their purpose was to scare thee off the land, in order to expel thee; but in that case they would not have stayed (therein) after thee, except for a little while.
And surely they purposed to unsettle you from the land that they might expel you from it, and in that case they will not tarry behind you but a little.
And decidedly they were indeed almost about to startle you from the land, to drive you out of it; and they would have not lingered even to succeed you except a little.
