Surah Al-Hashr (59:2). A very powerful verse. Here it is:

Arabic:
يُخْرِبُونَ بُيُوتَهُم بِأَيْدِيهِمْ وَأَيْدِي الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
Full verse (59:2):
“He it is Who expelled the disbelievers among the People of the Book from their homes at the first gathering of forces. You did not think that they would go, and they thought that their fortresses would protect them from Allah. But Allah came upon them from where they had not expected, and He cast terror into their hearts, so that they destroyed their own dwellings with their own hands and the hands of the believers. Then take admonition, O you with eyes to see.”

Context: This verse refers to the Banu Nadir, a Jewish tribe of Madinah who were expelled after plotting against the Prophet ﷺ. When they realized they had to leave, they began demolishing their own homes — either to deny the Muslims any benefit from them, or to salvage the building materials (doors, beams, etc.) to take with them. The Muslims then completed the demolition.
The verse ends with a profound moral: فَاعْتَبِرُوا يَا أُولِي الْأَبْصَارِ — “Take admonition, O people of insight.” It’s a direct call for reflection on how the arrogance of a people can lead them to destroy with their own hands what they had built.
Mawdudi’s Tafheem has an excellent commentary on this — would you like me to pull that as well?

Here is a comprehensive summary of his commentary on 59:2:

Tafheem ul-Quran — Mawdudi’s Commentary on Surah Al-Hashr 59:2

📖 Background: Who Were Banu Nadir?
The Prophet ﷺ had concluded a formal written treaty with the Bani an-Nadir. They had not broken this agreement as such that it should have become void. But the reason they were confronted was that after making different kinds of minor violations, they at last committed such an offense which amounted to breach of trust — they plotted to kill the Prophet ﷺ himself.
When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ visited the tribe to collect blood-money, they made him sit against a wall and secretly plotted that someone should climb that wall and drop a rock on him. But before they could execute their sinister plan, Allah revealed it to him in time. The Prophet ﷺ instantly left, returned to Madinah, and sent them a message: they had betrayed the treaty and were given ten days to leave, or face the consequences.

🏰 Their False Confidence in Their Fortresses
Although the Bani Qainuqa had been expelled before them, and their false pride of valor had proved to be of no avail, the Bani an-Nadir thought that their case was different — they had their own separate fortified settlement and strongholds, and could not imagine that any power could turn them out so easily. That is why when the Prophet ﷺ served them notice to leave within ten days, they boldly retorted: “We are not going to quit — you may do whatever you please.” 

😮 “They Were Fighting Allah — Knowingly”
This is one of Mawdudi’s most striking observations. On the phrase “they thought their fortresses would save them from Allah”:
The fact is that the Jews in this world are a strange people, who have been knowingly fighting Allah. They killed the Prophets of Allah knowing them to be His Prophets, and they declared boastfully and arrogantly that they had killed the Prophets of Allah. This is not a matter of ignorance — it is willful defiance. 

🏚️ “They Destroyed Their Own Homes”
On the specific act of self-demolition mentioned in the verse:
The Banu Nadir spoiled their houses by removing their doors and shutters themselves. As for “spoiling their homes with the hands of the believers” — this refers to when the Jews locked themselves up in their fortresses, and the Muslims destroyed the trees and homes outside the fortresses in order to compel them to surrender. 

🌳 Were Muslims Justified in Cutting the Trees?
Mawdudi addresses an important fiqhi point here:
Spreading disorder means an army under the fit of war hysteria intruding into enemy territory and destroying crops, cattle, gardens, and houses without any reason. The general instruction is the same which Abu Bakr Siddiq gave while dispatching the Muslim army to Syria: “Do not cut down fruit trees, do not destroy crops, do not ravage settlements.” But the specific command in respect of war exigencies is that if destruction is necessary for military operations, it is lawful. Abdullah ibn Masud confirmed that the Muslims had cut down only those trees of the Bani an-Nadir that stood in positions of military necessity. 

📅 What Is the “First Hashr”?
According to one group of commentators, “first hashr” refers to the banishment of the Bani an-Nadir from Madinah — described as the first, because their second hashr took place in the time of Umar رضي الله عنه, when the Jews and Christians were expelled from the Arabian peninsula, and the final hashr will take place on the Day of Resurrection. According to the second group, it refers to the gathering of the Muslim army — that as soon as the Muslims assembled to fight them, and not a drop of blood had been shed, they — by the manifestation of Allah’s power — offered to be banished of their own accord. 

💡 The Closing Lesson
The verse ends with فَاعْتَبِرُوا يَا أُولِي الْأَبْصَارِ — “Take admonition, O people of sight.”
The object of this surah’s opening — that all in the heavens and earth glorifies Allah, the Most Mighty, the Most Wise — is to prepare the mind to understand the truth that the fate this powerful tribe met was not the result of the power of the Muslims, but a manifestation of the power of Allah.

A deeply layered verse — their downfall came not from outside alone, but from their own hands. A timeless lesson in how arrogance and betrayal ultimately turn a people against themselves. Would you like the Urdu Tafheem text for this as well?