9 At-Towbah or Al-Baraa’ah

Name and Introduction

This Soorah is called At-Towbah (repentance) because the repentance of a few

believers in a particular situation has been mentioned herein. It is also called Al-
Baraa’ah (disassociation) which is the first word of the Soorah and announces
disassociation from the polytheists.

This Soorah is the only one in the Qur-aan to which the verse “In the name of Allaah,
the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” has not been appended to the beginning. This
verse is the main sign of separation between Soorahs; however, this Soorah was
separated from the preceding Soorah without it. Scholars have given many reasons
for this, but the one reason agreed upon by everyone is that the Prophet recited and
dictated it without that appendage, thus Muslims have preserved it exactly as it was
recited to them by him. It is also a known fact that the Prophet recited to people
exactly as was revealed to him, thus, the decision not to append that verse is in fact
Allaah’s. Because Allaah SWT did not explain His reason to do so, whatever scholars
opine are only guesses. Some of them sound very logical and sensible, but no one
knows if they are valid in the eyes of Allaah SWT.

Reiteration of Some Basic Concepts

To understand the message of this Soorah in its proper context, let us reiterate the
objectives and targets for which Allaah sends His messengers in general, and the
objectives and targets He sent Prophet Muĥammad ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam to
accomplish in particular.

Allaah SWT is Just, likes justice and has ordained balance, equilibrium and justice for
His creation. Allaah SWT knows that human beings are not capable of devising a
properly balanced and just lifestyle on their own. He, being Merciful, granted them a
pre-packaged complete system of life that, if practiced wholly and as advised, not
only establishes a fully balanced and just society, but also provides opportunities for
people to go beyond justice to excel in their performance. This system of life creates
peace, security and tranquility in human society and its environment, hence, Allaah
SWT named it Islam. He mandated the Islamic way of life for all people, but to
maintain human freedom to make decisions, He did not pre-program people to live
by Islam – He left it to us to do so at our own initiative and volition.
If we think of human society as a garden, Allaah wants this garden to be optimally
beautiful and useful. Islam is designed to ensure growth of the plants of beauty and
utility, in a balanced manner.

To ensure that people always have access to the authentic version of Islam and have
a model to follow, Allaah mercifully included in His plan the sending of prophets and
messengers who would provide information about Islam to people and demonstrate
by their own example how it was to be practiced. This was to continue until human
society had matured enough that the Islamic teachings and the prophetic model
could be preserved in its purity for posterity.

Considering that Shayŧaan (Satan) exists to incite people to rebel and reject the
Islamic lifestyle, it is natural for some people to listen to Shayŧaan instead of listening
to Allaah. It is also possible for rebels, who are unjust and corrupt, to take control of
Allaah’s earth and persecute, suppress or coerce those who want to follow Islam. The
people who follow Shayŧaan are like useless and ugly weeds who can aggressively
take over a garden, stifling the growth of beautiful and useful plants.

Now, if the teachings and models are available, but people do not have an
opportunity or freedom to practice those teachings because anti-Islamic forces, who
are rebellious to Allaah, are in control of the society, there have to be mechanisms in
place to provide assistance to those who want to do the right things and establish
justice and excellence in the society. In other words, there has to be some way of
removing the weeds and helping good plants to flourish. For that purpose, Allaah’s
plan included sending His messengers to do this work.

The general mandate of the messengers of Allaah is to restore balance and justice in
the society to which they are sent, so that once that Islamic system becomes the
governing system in that society, the people have full opportunity to excel if they
choose to do so. As the Qur-aan states:

We sent Our messengers with clear evidences and sent down with them the
Book and the Balance so that people may maintain their affairs with justice...
(Al-Ĥadeed 57:25)

Their methodology has been to present the Islamic message in the society, and for
the good elements to accept their message while the wicked of the society become
their enemies. The messenger organizes those good people in the form of a team
and they collectively continue to work hard to expand their team until every citizen
of the society who has any goodness in his/her heart voluntarily joins them. During
this period, the messenger and his companions steadfastly endure the abuse and
persecution which they are subjected to by the corrupt powers in control. When they
have gained enough strength, they take the governance of the society into their own
hands to restore justice and peace as mandated by Allaah SWT. To take care of the
people who continue to disbelieve, the messenger and his followers are required to
fight the corrupt disbelievers until their land is cleaned of them. This is alluded to in
the second part of the verse quoted above:

…And we sent down iron, wherein is great military might and benefits for
people, so that Allaah identifies those who, without seeing Him, support Him
and His messengers. (Al-Ĥadeed 57:25)

If the messenger and followers are still too weak to form a government, when Allaah
determines that no one else from their society is going to open his or her heart to
become Muslim, Allaah takes the Muslims out of that locality and destroys the rest
through a natural disaster. Before that happens, if the corrupt people in power
decide to kill the messenger, the messenger and his followers are saved and the
rebels are immediately destroyed. The result always is that after a messenger has
come, he and his followers are helped by Allaah SWT so that they always succeed
and prevail. Those who refuse to believe, after all opportunities of preaching to them
have been exhausted, are destroyed one way or the other. So the society starts its
new life under a purely Islamic system. This Sunnahi of Allaah is mentioned in the
Qur-aan as follows:

We have already given Our word to Our slaves whom We send as messengers
that they definitely will be helped and that Our armies are the ones that are
going to prevail. Aŝ-Ŝaafaat 37:171-173

Allaah has written, “I will surely prevail, I and My messengers!” Indeed, Allaah
is Powerful, Almighty. Al-Mujaadilah 58:21

Noah (Nooĥ) is an example where despite preaching for about 900 years, his
followers were only few and weak. So, he and his followers were saved, while his
opponents were destroyed by the flood. Moses (Moosa) is an example where both
natural disasters and physical fighting were used. At first, when his followers were
too weak to gain independence, their enemy was destroyed by drowning. Later on,
they fought against the pagans of Palestine and took over their lands to establish
their Islamic state. David (Dawood) and Solomon (Sulaiman) used their fighting
power to establish and expand their Islamic society. Jesus (‘Eesa) tried to wrest
control of Jerusalem from the Jews through a popular uprising, but his plan was

i
Sunnah of Allaah is the way He deals with human beings in a consistent manner.
foiled by the Roman army. However, Allaah saved him by lifting him to the heavens.
Allaah SWT used the Romans to punish the Jewsi. In addition to Noah, other
examples of complete destruction are the people of Lot (Looŧ), people of Thamood,
People of ‘Aad, etc. This is Allaah’s way of cleaning up His garden or a territory of His
garden from all weeds.

After many prophets and messengers, Prophet Muĥammad was sent as the final
Prophet and Messenger with a very clear mandate:

It is He Who sent His messenger with Guidance and the True Deen so that it
dominates over all the lifestyle systems. (Aŝ-Ŝaff; Al-Fatĥ; At-Towbah)

Although the Prophet was sent to be a guide to the whole of mankind and Allaah’s
mercyii to the whole world, the delivery of guidance was to be in two parts. He
himself was personally responsible for the Arabian Peninsula and its surrounding
areas because it was the territory directly in his reach. The rules for that territory
were like any other messenger’s territory in the past – every person was going to be
given full opportunity to understand and accept Islam voluntarily. Those who
accepted Islam and became his companions would be saved and rewarded. Those
who rejected his call even after all means of preaching and all opportunities of
conveying the message had been exhausted, they would be destroyed one way or
the other so that the territory of the Messenger became free from all miscreants or
weeds. This mandate of the Prophet and the Sunnah of Allaah in this respect must be
kept in mind while studying this Soorah.

The second phase was going to be initiated and undertaken by him as much as
circumstances allowed him, but was primarily to be continued and accomplished by
his companions and followers to spread Islam in the rest of the world. Naturally, not
being the messengers, they do not operate under the same mandate. They perform
their duties under the mandate and for the targets as given to the prophets, not
those of the messengers. In other words, they preach and do their best to present
the Islamic message appropriately to everyone they can reach, but those who do not
listen to them, their matter will be dealt with in the Hereafter. The famous Hadeeth
of the Prophet saying, “The (true and sincere) scholars from my Ummah are like the
prophets of Banee Israaeel” profoundly defines the role of Muslim leadership. On the
one hand, it defines their responsibility to keep Islamic knowledge alive through the
ages, preach it to the whole world, implement it fully in their societies and make it

i
As the primary audience of Jesus (‘Eesa), peace be upon him, were the Jews, when he comes back,
those Jews who do not accept him at that time will be completely eliminated, as were the rejecters of
Noah or Lot.
ii
As indicated earlier in these paragraphs, a messenger is a mercy of Allaah SWT.
the dominant world order; on the other hand, it also defines the rules under which
they are going to operate and the Sunnah of Allaah that will apply to them.
Obviously, it is the rules and Sunnah of Allaah applicable to prophets such as John
(Yaĥya) and Zachariah (Zakariyyaa), not the one applicable to the messengers like
Moses (Moosa) and Noah (Nooĥ). Using the example of weeds and garden that has
been used earlier, we can say that the mandate of the Muslims is to ensure that the
garden is dominated by useful, beautiful plants; however the weeds are left alone,
not exterminated.

Context of the Soorah

It is a well known fact that when Allaah SWT appointed Muĥammad ŝall-Allaahu
‘alayhi wa sallam as His messenger and prophet to attain the objectives and targets
mentioned in the previous section, the Prophet had neither the desire nor training to
play that role. Allaah SWT, Who gave him the task, also took upon Himself the
responsibility to provide relevant training, instructions and guidance according to the
need of the time through the revelation of the Qur-aan. Thus, verses of the Qur-aan
were revealed as “Just in Time” guidance, leading the mission through all phases of
the movement from instructions about how to initiate the mission to the
achievement of all objectives.

As mentioned in the preface to the teachings of the Qur-aan, the verses revealed in
that manner were compiled into Soorahs (chapters), which were in turn assembled
into seven groups in a particular order as directed by Allaah SWT. Every revelation
came with specific instructions regarding its placement among the previously
revealed verses. Each of the seven groups starts with one or more Soorahs revealed
in Makkah, and ends with one or more Soorahs revealed in Madeenah. Each group
highlights the process of achieving or tackling one particular aspect of the Islamic
mission.

The first group identifies the process of establishing the Islamic system of peace,
justice and excellence when Muslims have a place to implement it. It starts with a
preamble that gives a very concise overview of the path and where it can go wrong.
Then it takes the believers through four main facets of the process starting with
Soorah Al-Baqarah, until the complete establishment of Deen is attained in Soorah
Al-Maaidah.

The second group of Soorahs takes people through the four main stages through
which the Islamic movement progressed until the goal of Islam’s supremacy was
achieved. The theme of the first Soorah of this group, Al-An‘aam, was to present the
first stage – inviting people to Islam using signs of Allaah people find around them in
their environment and using a logical and rational approach. It was also to clarify that
this was the real path and approach of the forefather Ibraheem. The second Soorah,
Al-A‘raaf, represents the second stage where people were not only invited to use
their common sense to understand Islam but were also warned of the consequences
of opposing the Messenger. These warnings were supported by the historical
examples of previous nations that were destroyed because they rejected and
opposed their messengers. In the first two stages (logical invitation and warning of
consequences), the Muslims were not allowed to retaliate to any act of terror or
persecution to which they were subjected. They had to bear all atrocities and abuse,
patiently and steadfastly, without responding to them physically. Stage three was
when the Muslims had a place to implement Islam but the opponents were
determined to attack and destroy them. Thus, the third Soorah prepared the
Muslims to become ready to fight and respond to acts of aggression in order to
defend themselves, but also in order to take over the Holy Ka‘bah, the original centre
of the Islamic movement established by Ibraheem. A paradigm shift was needed
from the paradigm of complete non-violence to the paradigm of defending
themselves for survival and being ready to fight. They needed to prepare themselves
for facing the enemy including arming themselves appropriately. Soorah Al-Anfaal
addressed those needs along with commenting on the first major encounter with the
attackers at Badr. Thus, Al-Anfaal represents the third stage of the Islamic struggle,
whereby the believers had to begin fighting for their faith. The fourth and final stage
is covered by this Soorah, At-Towbah, whereby the Muslims are encouraged to go on
the offensive, take charge of the land in their own hands, establish the sovereignty of
Islam and clean up the land where the final Messenger has been sent.

Background of the Contents

This Soorah is a collection of different instructions revealed at different times in 8
and 9 AHi in order to direct the Prophet and the Muslims to take certain measures
that were critically essential for: liberating the Holy Ka ’bah; defeating the enemies of
the mission; ensuring the stability and viability of the Islamic state; consolidating its
power; eradicating idolatry from Arabia; and establishing the Islamic system of
peace, justice and excellence on strong footings; and thus, these measures went
beyond merely defending against the invasions by the enemies.

As mentioned in the context section, the revelations in the first 20 months after
Hijrah (migration), in particular Soorah Anfaal, made the Muslims shift their
paradigm from bearing the persecution quietly with patience to fighting steadfastly
in their defence against Makkan terrorism and enemy invasions. Those and other
subsequent revelations (such as Soorah Aali ‘Imran and An-Nisaa) led them through
the survival phase which was, by nature, defensive against the enemies’ attacks

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Counting from the year of Hijrah (Prophet’s migration to Madeenah), the year of Hijrah.
(survival phase). This Soorah prepared Muslims to shift their paradigm from being
passive like sitting ducks (defending only when attacked) to becoming eagles to
enforce the authority and sovereignty of Allaah and Islam (dominance phase).
Through the instructions contained herein, they were being guided to attain their
dominance objective, and thus required them to go on the offensive.

Once again, to understand the instructions in their context, let us very briefly review
the circumstances which are addressed by the revelation of various sections of this
Soorah.

In the introduction to the previous Soorah, Al-Anfaal, we had mentioned how the
Makkans had declared an open war against Muslims of Madeenah, sent bandits and
troopers to conduct robberies and raids on Madeenah and then launched a full force
attack that the Muslims repelled victoriously at Badr.

About a year later, they attacked with an army three-times as large as the first
attack. Then, two years later they collected the whole idolater fighting force from the
surrounding areas and attacked with a more than 10,000 strong army, along with the
support of Jewish forces. With Allaah’s help, the Muslims withstood and survived
these attacks. Now that the disbelievers had exhausted their attempts to annihilate
Muslims and their small state, it was time for Muslims to build upon their survival,
take steps to disable the Makkans to wage a war in future, and ensure the
establishment of lasting peace and security in Arabia. For this purpose, Allaah SWT
commanded the Prophet through a dream to take a brilliant peace initiative. The
Prophet saw in a dream that he was performing an ‘Umrah (smaller pilgrimage) to
the Holy Ka‘bah in Makkah. A prophet’s dream being an instruction from Allaah, the
Prophet started preparing for the journey and announced that Muslims should get
ready to go with him for that journey. They left for pilgrimage in Dzul Qa‘dah of 6 AH.

This move was a brilliant peace initiative because if the Makkans allowed the
Muslims to perform the pilgrimage in accordance with the established traditions and
their tribal responsibility, it would have put an end to their ban on and their
declaration of war against Muslims. If they refused, they would lose the support of
Arabs and thus lose their ability to wage wars against Muslims in the future. Despite
the Makkans’ attempts to engage the visiting Muslims in a battle by blocking their
way and inciting them through different means, the Prophet and Muslims avoided
any armed confrontation practising utmost patience and restraint. They managed to
reach and camp peacefully at Ĥudaibiyah, just outside the sanctuary perimeter.
There, after many testing moments, they were finally able to secure a ten-year peace
treaty with the Makkansi.

The treaty of Ĥudaibiyyah provided an end to the continuous state of war, and gave
the Prophet and Muslims the opportunity to spread the message of Islam, which was
their real goal. The Prophet encouraged his companions to travel through the land to
deliver the message of Islam. He also sent his emissaries to various tribes inviting
them to Islam. People from different tribes also started coming to Madeenah on
their own to learn about Islam, to pledge their allegiance to the Islamic state and to
become Muslims.

This temporary end of hostilities also impacted Muslims’ attitudes towards the
idolaters, as the loyalties based on kinship were the strongest bond that existed in
Arabian society. The Muslims at an advanced level of Islamic knowledge, spirit and
practice had already developed the strongest bond with faith and fellows in faith,
overcoming their loyalties of kinship. But many new Muslims and weak older
Muslims who had idolater relatives still had sympathy, loyalty and a soft corner in
their hearts for them. When the idolaters were attacking the Muslims to obliterate
them, these loyalties were weakened but the cessation of visible hostilities started
perking these loyalties in their minds and attitudes. This was not healthy and would
cause serious problems when the final encounter with the idolaters was to take
place. Some of the verses in this Soorah addressed this issue.

Pursuant to the treaty, the Makkans let the Muslims perform their pilgrimage in the
year 7 AH, but many of them were not sincere in upholding the treaty. Thus, in under
two years, the Makkans broke the treaty by helping and participating in an attack on
one of the tribes allied with the Muslims. This called for an immediate action on the
part of the Islamic state to give the Quraish a clear message that they could not get
away with such a flagrant violation of the treaty. The action was also necessary to
assure the allies of the Islamic state that if the allies’ interests or security was
jeopardized by any act of aggression, the Muslims would help and protect them.

Some of the Muslims were reluctant to attack the Makkans for two reasons: because
of their ties of kinship and because the Makkans were the custodians of the Ka’bah
and served the pilgrims. Similarly some of the Muslims who had only survival mode
in their horizon were becoming complacent towards fighting to make the rule of
Allaah supreme on the earth. Some verses dealt with such matters.

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The details of those events will be described at other appropriate places.
To respond to the violation, the Prophet invited all Muslim tribes to join in the battle,
attacked Makkah with a 10,000 Muslim strong army, and conquered it without any
significant fight or resistance. At the conquest of Makkah, the enemies were
graciously forgiven, and except for those who voluntarily accepted Islam, people
were left free to follow their own conscience. Then the news of Banoo Hawaazin
gathering to fight the Muslims was received and the Prophet confronted them at
Ĥunain. Many of them fled and fortified themselves along with Banoo Thaqeef in
Taaif. The Muslims laid siege of their fort but then lifted it when it seemed
reasonable to assume that they might not come after the Muslims to fight. This
happened in 8 AH.

After the conquest of Makkah, defeat of Banoo Hawaazin and surrender of people of
Taaif, only the people who were personally convinced of the truth of the Prophet’s
claim accepted Islam on their own volition. Everyone else was given respite to
observe, study and make up their own mind whether they wanted to adopt the
Islamic lifestyle or not. The expectation was that since the barriers had been
removed, their misunderstanding had been clarified, the absurdity of idol worship
had been exposed, the beauty of Islam had become evident, the excellence in the
conduct of the Prophet and the Muslims had already been illuminating the society,
every reasonable person would automatically be attracted to Islam. And many in fact
did. People from all walks of life and all places in Arabia were coming in droves to the
Prophet to accept Islam. However, this could not go on forever. There had to be a
time limit at which time everyone having any goodness in his or her heart would
have adopted Islam and only the absolutely wicked and close-minded persons were
left, who needed to be eliminated according to the Sunnah of Allaah with respect to
the direct addressees of a messenger. In particular, the deep rooted institutions of
idolatry needed to be eradicated and the city of Makkah and its sanctuary cleaned-
up to eliminate any possibility of idolatry rearing its ugly head again any time in the
future.

The idolaters were allowed this respite until the 9th year AH when they were finally
put on a four month final notice to accept Islam, leave the Islamic territory or to get
ready to fight with the Muslims. The beginning part of this Soorah announces this
final notice that was publicly delivered and publicized at Ĥajj (the bigger pilgrimage)
of 9 AH. The announcement outlawed idol worship and polytheism in Arabia. It was
also announced that no idolater would be allowed in the future to come for
pilgrimage or enter the Makkan sanctuary. Some people feared that banning the
idolaters from coming for Ĥajj would impact the Makkan economy negatively. Some
others were scared that putting all of the idolaters of the whole of Arabia on notice
might start a bloody civil war. Such people have been educated to adopt the proper
Islamic attitude.
All of the abovementioned matters have been dealt with in the first 28 verses of this
Soorah. Another eight verses give the policy about the people of the Book and the
37th verse abolishes the heretical calendar adjustment that Makkans were practising.

Large sections of the remaining Soorah deal with the situation when the Islamic state
was threatened by the Roman Empire, which was then challenged by the Muslims at
Tabook. Those verses were revealed to prepare Muslims for the battle and to
comment on their performance after the expedition in which the Muslims scored a
moral victory over the Roman Empire, whose army was withdrawn from the border
before the Muslim army arrived (For details, please refer to the overview of the
expedition given before explaining the teachings of verse 38 of the Soorah). As the
hypocrites living in Madeenah had become a dangerous fifth column, the Soorah also
provided guidance about dealing with this cancerous sore.

At the time of the revelation of this Soorah, there were many pockets of idolaters in
Arabia and there were many hypocrites within the Islamic territory. Both of these
groups were hoping that the Muslims would be badly defeated at some front and
consequently they would be able to rise up against them and rout them out. But all
the steps mentioned in this Soorah as well as the moral victory over the Roman
Empire, dashed all their hopes. It made them realize that Islam was there to stay and
that it was truly supported by Allaah. This forced them to re-evaluate their stance.
Thus, delegations from all over Arabia started coming to the Prophet to convert to
Islam and the whole Peninsula became an Islamic society. This completed the mission
of the Prophet entrusted to him by Allaah, as declared in Soorah An-Nasr.
Teachings and Commentary

There were many idolatrous tribes living within the Islamic state under treaties that they had
entered into with the Prophet. Although the Muslims had always fulfilled their obligations
under the treaty, many of the tribes had been violating their treaties by covertly supporting
or facilitating actions against the Islamic states’ interests and security or by shirking their
obligations under the treaty. Some of them would break the treaty when the Muslims were in
the most vulnerable situation in the hope that the Muslims would not be able to survive their
treachery. Such tribes were lurking in wait for the Islamic state to get into a serious difficulty
such as a war with the Roman or Iranian empires or the death of the Prophet to attack it,
once again, when it was most vulnerable. To eliminate that danger from within, Allaah SWT
announced an end to all such treaties where the performance from the other party had been
questionable. The first verse of the Soorah makes this announcement, which is further
explained in verses 2-4.

This was another brilliant move (like that of going for the pilgrimage in 6 AH) to clean up
pockets of enemies from within and to identify sleeping cells of conspirators. When viewed
from the perspective of the revolt against the Islamic state by those who turned their backs
from Islam at the death of the Prophet, the wisdom of this step becomes vividly apparent.
Had this not been done, the problems at the death of the Prophet would have multiplied
exponentially and would have perhaps put the viability of the Islamic state in jeopardy.

The verses declaring dissociation from the Idolaters and giving them a final notice have been
put at the very beginning of the Soorah to underscore the importance of these messages and
to set the tone and mood of the Soorah.

1
Disassociation is hereby declared
by Allaah and His Messenger from       
those polytheistsi with whom you
(O Muslims) have made any      
treaty. 2 Roam about the land (O
disbelievers) for four months and        
know that you cannot
outmanoeuvre Allaah and that     
Allaah will bring disgrace to the
disbelievers.

The declaration of disassociation implies that Allaah and His Messenger are not only free from
any obligation to those polytheists but also that they do not want to have any relationship or
dealings with them whatsoever. Idolaters or polytheists implied here are those of the Arabian

i
Idolaters or those who believe in any kind of partners to Allaah
Peninsula to which the Prophet had the immediate responsibility. In fact, Amin Ahsan Islahi in
his Tafseer has shown that the use of this term as a proper noun in the Qur-aan has always
been applicable only to them, not the polytheists or idolaters of the whole world.

The first phrase of the announcement is addressed to the Muslims by saying “with whom you
have entered into any treaty”, emphasizing the collective nature of those decisions.
Addressing the declaration of disassociation to Muslims gives them a clear message that
Allaah and His Messenger have made this decision, now it is up to them to make up their
minds whether they want to go along with them as sincere Muslims or demonstrate their
hypocrisy of claiming to believe in Allaah and His Messenger while sympathizing with and
being loyal to their idolater friends, relatives and clans. The second phrase is directly
addressed to the idolaters that they have four months to either accept Islam if they are truly
convinced of its truth, otherwise they should either leave the territory or be prepared to
fight. If they decide to fight or to come up with any other game plan to subvert compliance
with this notice, they should realize that they will fail miserably. They will not be able to
outmanoeuvre Allaah or run away from His grip.

The next verse specifies the timing of the announcement and encourages the idolaters to
repent instead of thinking of fighting or resisting.

3
Public announcement to be
made by Allaah and His Messenger       
on the day of the Greater
Pilgrimage that Allaah and His        
Messenger are free from any
obligation to the polytheists. So if         
you repent, it is better for you,
and if you turn away, then know       
that you cannot outmanoeuvre
Allaah. And give tidings of a
painful punishment to those who       
disbelieve. 4 Excepted are those of
the polytheists with whom you      
made a treaty, then they have not
failed you in any respect and have      
not backed up anyone against you,
so fulfill their agreement to the        
end of their term; indeed, Allaah
loves those who are careful of
their obligations.   
 th
Greater pilgrimage refers to “Ĥajj” performed in the 12 month of the Islamic calendar, as
compared to the smaller pilgrimage which is called ‘Umrah and can be performed at any time
of the year. The particular Ĥajj when the announcement was made was that of 9 AH, a little
more than a year after the conquest of Makkah. Although at the time of Ĥajj in 8 AH, the
Muslims had already conquered Makkah, the Muslims were engaged in dealing with other
enemies and thus the Ĥajj was allowed to take place according to the old ways under the old
leadership. Then in the year 9 AH, the Muslims performed Ĥajj in the Islamic way, while the
Idolaters were allowed to perform it in their way. But they were told that never again would
their participation in Ĥajj or their rites, be allowed in future.

The Ĥajj (pilgrimage) rites in 9 AH were officiated and conducted by Aboo Bakr who was
appointed by the Prophet himself to lead the Muslims and to officiate over the Manaasik of
Ĥajj (rites of pilgrimage). Once he had addressed the gathering, ‘Ali, the cousin and son-in-law
of the Prophet, addressed them, and recited these verses to announce the cancellation of the
treaties. These announcements were aggressively publicized and repeated so that everyone
attending the Ĥajj knew about them and could carry the message to all people in their area of
residence. The Prophet had sent ‘Ali especially to make this announcement for two reasons:
Firstly, considering the value the idolaters put on blood relations, the Prophet sent his blood
relative and member of his family to make the announcement on his behalf so that they
understood it as an authentic announcement which must be taken seriously; secondly, the
dispatch of a special representative, in addition to an already appointed leader officiating the
Ĥajj ceremonies to make the announcement was also for underscoring the gravity of the
i
notice.

Verse four clarifies that the cancellation of treaties does not apply to the treaties with tribes
such as Banoo Dhamrah, Banoo Kinaanah and Banoo Khuzaa‘ah who had been honouring
their treaties. Those treaties were to be honoured by the Muslims until the expiry of
stipulated terms. If the other party is fulfilling their part, it would be un-Islamic (against
Taqwa) for the Muslims to cancel that treaty. However, after the expiry of those treaties, they
would not be renewed.

The next verse instructed the Muslims what to do if those remnants of stubborn idolaters did
not become Muslims or leave the territory.

5
Once the inviolable months are
past, then kill the polytheists      
wherever you find them, and
capture them and besiege them    

i
It should also be remembered that, according to the Islamic teachings, the head of the Islamic state
should officiate over the Ĥajj rites and deliver the Ĥajj sermon. The appointment of Aboo Bakr by the
Prophet to lead the rites of Ĥajj was a clear signal that Aboo Bakr was the person to lead the Ummah in
the absence of the Prophet. It was under the leadership of Aboo Bakr that ‘Ali was to perform his role as
the special envoy as well as to perform his Ĥajj rites as an ordinary Muslim, which is exactly what he did.
and sit in wait for them in every
check post; however, if they       
repent and establish Ŝalaah and
pay Zakaah, then let them go their     
way; surely Allaah is Forgiving,
Merciful. 6 And if one of the         
polytheists seeks protection from
you, grant him protection so that     
he may hear the Word of Allaah,
and then escort him to his place of
safety. That is because they are        
people who do not know.
    
The “inviolable months” refer to the four months of the notice period; and the “idolaters”
here refer to idolaters of the Arabian Peninsula, as described earlier, and this command is in
accordance with the Sunnah of Allaah to clean up the land of a messenger from the idolaters -
- a Sunnah that has been in place since the time of Noah (Nooĥ). These commandments
outlawed polytheism or idolatry in Arabia. Only those people were now allowed to live there
who adopted Islam and that adoption was demonstrated by their becoming a part of the
political and social system established on the basis of Ŝalaah and by paying their Zakaah to
the state authority as the foundation of the Islamic fiscal system. Anyone missing any one of
these three attributes had no right to live in that society.

Although this was supposed to be the final notice and four months was enough time for
people to make a decision one way or the other, Allaah mercifully gave people every
opportunity to let them attain salvation if at any time there was any willingness. Verse 6
affords them one more final opportunity. If Muslims took a military action against a tribe who
did not comply with the final notice, but during that action, anyone wanted to reconsider his
stance on idolatry and showed willingness to study Islam to make his final decision, he would
be provided the knowledge and allowed to reach his home safely giving him one last
opportunity to make up his mind.

After the conquest of Makkah, many delegations of people were already coming on their own
from all over Arabia to Madeenah to accept Islam. This conquest not only opened the hearts
and minds of the Prophet’s Makkan adversaries to Islam, it also opened the doors for all Arab
tribes to enter into Islam. Arab tribes were watching the struggle between the Prophet and
his Makkan adversaries with keen interest. To them, the Prophet’s success over his own
people and his own city would prove that he was the true prophet of Allaah. It would also
show the viability of his movement and mission. As soon as they saw him succeed in this
crucial test in 8 AH, they started entering into Islam in droves. The year 9 AH was called the
year of delegations because the delegations from different tribes from all over Arabia were
coming to visit the Prophet and entering into Islam. The announcement by the verses under
discussion made the process faster. The Muslims did not have to fight in any mentionable or
significant way. All Arabs came to Islam voluntarily and the Arabian Peninsula became free
of idolatry or polytheism. This is what was described in the Soorah Naŝr:
1 2
“ When Allaah’s help and triumph comes, and you see people entering into
3
Allaah’s Deen in droves; then glorify your Lord with praise and gratitude and seek
His forgiveness.”

Thus, this was an exceptionally peaceful revolution, of all the revolutions in the history of
i
mankind .

The next section prepares the Muslims mentally to rescind the broken treaties with the
treacherous parties who were not prepared to honour their commitments.

7
How can a treaty with polytheists      
be valid according to Allaah and
His Messenger? – except those      
with whom you made a treaty
near the Masjid Al-Ĥaraamii; so as      
long as they are upright toward
you, be upright to them; indeed,       
Allaah loves those who are careful
of their obligations. – 8 How can it
be valid, when the reality is that if       
they prevail against you, they
honour for you neither obligations       
of kinship nor treaty; they seek to
please you with the words of their     
mouths, while their hearts reject;
and most of them are betrayers. 9       
They have taken a small price for
the revelations of Allaah and
erected hindrances in His way, evil        
indeed is what they have been
doing, 10 For a believer, they

i
To give a glimpse of what other religious personalities did to achieve their objectives, an appendix has
been attached with a few stories of the killing and destruction undertaken by the Biblical personalities
according to the Jewish and Christian teachings as described in the Bible.
ii
The Inviolable Masjid containing the Holy Ka‘bah in Makkah
honour neither obligations of
kinship nor treaty, and they are         
the ones who are violating the
terms. 11 Even then, if they repent      
and establish Ŝalaah and pay
Zakaah, they will become your     
brothers in faith. And We are
explaining revelations for people       
who like to know. 12 And if they
break their oaths after their
commitment and taunt at your      
faith, then fight the leaders of
disbelief – because their oaths       
surely have no value – so that they
stop.       

The only treaty that was signed near the Masjid Al-Ĥaraam was with the Quraish at
Ĥudaibiyyah. Its mention indicates that these verses were revealed before the Makkans had
broken the treaty; hence the advice, “so as long as they are upright toward you, be upright to
them”.

Though the behaviour described in these verses was adopted in particular by the Makkans
who were the leaders of disbelief for all of Arabia, it was generally applicable to all idolaters.
It should be noted that the Arabs prided themselves in fighting for the protection of their
kinsmen and in doing everything in their power to honour their word given to anyone. That
was considered an honourable behaviour and Arabs would die for this pride and honour.
However, when it came to dealing with Muslims, there was no principle, honour or pride in
anything. Every violation of the code of honourable conduct was fair game and every
obligation of kinship and/or treaty was dishonoured. Although they would talk to their
Muslim relatives as if they were their well-wishers, and although they would assure good
conduct while entering into a treaty, in their hearts they would be thinking of schemes to
betray. Even nowadays it is painfully evident that many societies and authorities violate their
own laws, principles and values in denying Muslims their basic rights despite their lofty claims
of being champions of freedom and rights for everyone.

These disbelievers betray both Allaah and the Muslims. They betray Allaah by staying away
from Islam as well as by hindering others from coming to Islam through pressure, propaganda
and falsehood. Despite knowing Allaah to be their Lord, they do so for the sake of their
worldly expediencies and for preserving their worldly interests that are linked with the status
quo. They betray Muslims by violating the very same values and principles of honourable
behaviour they claim to cherish.
The intent of rescinding their hypocritical treaties and taking action in case of flagrant
violation is to put a stop to such treacherous behaviour that can destroy the peace of the
society at a moment of weakness. On the other hand, if they become Muslims and become
parts of the Islamic society by participating in both establishing Ŝalaah and paying Zakaah,
they will be welcomed as equal citizens and part of the family of believers. The last verse is
specifically about the Quraish of Makkah who were the established leaders of polytheism in
Arabia. The Muslims are being told to be ready to fight with them if they break their treaty.

The next section is to prepare the Muslims to fight the Makkans after they had broken the
treaty of Ĥudaibiyyah. This was needed because some Muslims were still in a defensive
mindset; others were scared of the power of the Makkans. The people who had recently
joined the Muslims ranks still needed training and education to put their faith ahead of any
other loyalty and expediency.

13
Will you not fight a people who      
broke their oaths, plotted to
expel the Messenger, and they       
initiated the war by attacking
you first? Do you fear them?        
Then Allaah is most deserving
that you fear Him, if you are     
believers. 14 Fight them, Allaah
will punish them by your hands
and disgrace them, and help you     
against them, satisfy the hearts
of a group of believers, 15 and will      
remove the anger of their hearts.
And Allaah will also accept the          
repentance of whomever He
wills; and Allaah is Knowing,        
Wise. 16 Have you assumed that
you will be left untested while
Allaah has not identified those of       
you who strive hard in His way
and who do not make anyone        
their confidant other than Allaah,
His Messenger and believers?     
And Allaah is aware of whatever
you do.
The first verse gives three reasons for fighting against the Makkans whereby each reason is
compelling enough in itself to undertake military action against the Makkans. Verse 14 gives
Muslims the good news of triumph, while verse 15 foretells about many of the Makkans
becoming Muslims. Then, the new Muslims are reminded that Allaah SWT tests the sincerity
of the believers through such circumstances so that they can demonstrate where their
priorities and loyalties lie.

Once again, although the particular reference in these verses was to fight with the Quraish of
Makkah, the points made to the Muslims were fully applicable to their attitude toward all
idolaters who were put on notice afterwards.

The next section answers the concerns that some Muslims had about taking action against
the Quraish of Makkah, the keepers of the Ka‘bah.

17
It is not right for the polytheists to      
administer the Masaajidi of Allaah,
while they themselves are witnesses      
of their disbelief. As for such, their
deeds are in vain and in the fire they      
will be abiding eternally. 18 Only
those should administer the Masaajid      
of Allaah who believe in Allaah and
the Last Day, and establish Ŝalaah
and pay Zakaah, and fear none at all      
except Allaah. Hopefully, it is they
who will be abiding by the guidance.      

      

 
The first point is that Allaah’s Masaajid (the houses of worship built for Allaah) must not be
under the management, influence or control of those who ascribe partners or equals to
Allaah. They are totally unfit and unworthy of serving or managing them because they do not
even believe in the sole purpose for which those centres of devotion to Allaah had been built.
Their disbelief is contrary to the purpose of the centre’s existence. This was especially true for
the Holy Ka‘bah which was built by Ibraheem for devotion to Allaah, solely and exclusively,

i
Mosques, worshipping centres
and to be the centre of the Islamic movement to spread the message of Towĥeed, but was
under the control of idolaters at the time of this revelation. Thus, it was absolutely essential
and incumbent on the Muslims to free the House of Allaah from the control of idolaters,
necessitating the conquest of Makkah.

Attention should be paid to the attributes mentioned for the Muslims. To be count among
Muslims, belief is not enough but also essential is the active practising of Islam evidenced by
the establishment of the complete Islamic system of life as represented by its two most
important pillars -- socio-political system on the basis of Ŝalaah and economic system on the
basis of Zakaah. The establishment of these systems must be centred in the Masaajid of
Allaah. While working for these objectives, the believers must have full trust and reliance on
Allaah without fearing anyone whatsoever. This is key to avoiding shirk. People usually
practise shirk because they think that someone other than Allaah can harm them, while
Allaah will not protect them from it. Fearing that entity, they devote their attention to
pleasing it – the attention that should have been devoted to please Allaah instead. One form
of shirk is that, instead of establishing Islamic systems exclusively, purely and completely,
they compromise by trying to accommodate existing systems and structures and by not
eradicating them completely from their society. Hence, an outstanding attribute of Muslims is
that when it comes to fulfilling Allaah’s commands, establishing Islamic systems and working
for the objectives of Deen, he or she does not fear anyone other than Allaah. They have no
hesitation or reservation in taking on any power or danger that comes in their way. This
wholesome practise of Deen is indicative that they have properly adopted the guidance of
Allaah.

Often, people have soft spots for those who are doing some ritualistic work, serving a house
of worship or attending to its devotees, even if those people are enemies of the truth and are
opponents of establishing the Deen completely and exclusively. People ignore their heinous
crimes while giving them credit for some work that does not have much value from the
perspective of the objective that Allaah wants to achieve through Islam and Muslims. That
was also how some Muslims felt about the Makkans. Just because the Makkans were
caretakers of the Holy Ka‘bah and were serving the pilgrims, those Muslims forgot all the
atrocities, aggression and terrorism the Makkans practised towards the Muslims and the
hindrances they erected in the way of the Islamic mission. They ignored the Makkans capacity
to do similar harm in future. They wanted to ignore the serious violation committed against
the treaty , instead of punishing them for it.

The next verse strikes at the tendency of equating the value of such services with the efforts
that the true Muslims undertake and sacrifices they make for the establishment of the Deen
of Allaah and its complete systems on this earth. It clarifies that there is absolutely no
comparison between the two kinds of activities and people should not let the so called
servants of the Masaajid hinder or negatively impact the work of the rightly guided Muslims
who are dedicated to the establishment of the Deen of Allaah and attainment of the
objectives of Deen.
19
Do you consider providing water     
to the pilgrims and taking care of
Masjid-al-Ĥaraami to have the      
same value as the dedication of
the person who believes in Allaah        
and the Last Day and strives hard
in Allaah’s way? They are not        
equal in the sight of Allaah, and
Allaah does not guide the wrong-
doers. 20 Those who believed and      
left their homes, and strove hard
in Allaah's way with their assets      
and their lives have the highest
rank in the sight of Allaah; and       
they are the ultimate high-
21
achievers. Their Lord gives      
them good news of mercy from
Himself and His Pleasure and
gardens, wherein enduring        
22
delights will be theirs. They
will be abiding therein forever;      
with Allaah, indeed, there is
immense reward.

“Wrongdoers” disliked by Allaah include all kinds of polytheists including those who support
ii iii
the system of Ŧaghoot while performing ritualistic religious activities, serving the Masaajid
and pilgrims. The message is loud and clear that unless the focus of one’s endeavours (Jihaad)
is the establishment of the complete system of Allaah’s Deen and the readiness to make
whatever sacrifices are required for the attainment of the objectives of Islam, the service of a
Masjid and pilgrims has no value in the eyes of Allaah SWT. The immense reward is reserved
only for those who dedicated everything they have for these goals.

The next few verses address those new or weak Muslims who had not as yet properly
understood the importance of the aforementioned objectives of Deen and the need to
eradicate polytheism from Makkah and Arabia. They still had relatives who were polytheists

i
The Sacred Masjid containing the Holy Ka‘bah
ii
Any system that is deviant from Allaah’s Deen
iii
Mosques, places of worship
or idolaters. For that reason, they were reluctant to fight against them. In other words, their
loyalties to Allaah, Jihaad and the Islamic objectives were not yet strong enough to sacrifice
all other loyalties that may conflict with the Islamic mission and objectives.

23
O you who have believed! Do      
not take your fathers and your
brothers as allies if they prefer      
disbelief over belief. Whoever
allies with them from you, it is       
they who are the wrongdoers. 24
Tell them, “If your fathers, your      
sons, your brothers, your
spouses, your kinsfolk, the assets
that you have acquired, the   
business wherein you fear
slackness, or the dwellings in    
which you delight are dearer to
you than Allaah, His Messenger     
and striving in His way, then wait
until Allaah brings about His      
decision. And Allaah does not
guide the defiantly disobedient
people.”       

     

These two verses describe a litmus test that every Muslim can use to find out if he or she has
the right level of faith acceptable to Allaah SWT or not. The test is that if any liking, love or
loyalty is stronger than love for and dedication to Allaah, His Messenger and Jihaad in Allaah’s
way, then there is a serious problem. The faith is not at the right level. In other words,
anything – career, business, family, relatives, comforts of life, wealth management, hobbies,
friendships, etc. -- that comes in the way of a believer dedicating himself or herself to an
ongoing struggle for the establishment of the complete Islamic system and supremacy of
Islam must be sacrificed as much as needed for the attainment of these objectives. If there is
reluctance to do so for any matter, it is an idol being worshipped other than Allaah. This
i
message is the constant theme of this Soorah. The Muslims who do not bring themselves up

i
For example, in verse 33 it states: “It is He Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the True Deen
so that he makes it prevail over any and all other systems of life, even if Mushriks dislike it.” Mushriks
to that level of faith are being warned by a very severe warning, “then wait until Allaah brings
about His decision.”

Muslims who are content with performing their Islamic rituals without making the
establishment of the complete Deen of Allaah in their societies as their top priority in life
need to heed this warning.

Some Muslims were very concerned about the reaction of the polytheists to the declaration
of war against them after the four-month notice period expired. They were scared that the
polytheists spread all over Arabia would wage a civil war that would be impossible for the
Muslims to fight and win. They are addressed in the next section and reminded that they
would be helped as Allaah had always helped them.

25
Certainly Allaah has helped you       
in many battlefields and on the
day of Ĥunain, when you exulted       
in your great numbers, but they
availed you nothing and the     
earth, vast as it is, seemed
constricting around you, and you     
turned back retreating. 26 Then
Allaah sent down His tranquillity
upon His Messenger and upon       
the believers, and sent down
forces which you did not see, and     
punished those who disbelieved,
and that is the recompense of       
the disbelievers. 27 Then, Allaah
provides the opportunity for        
repentance afterwards to
Whomever He wills. Allaah is Oft-
forgiving, Most Merciful.        



are not only those who worship idols or entities other than Allaah but also those whose love, loyalty and
duty to Allaah is equated with or sidetracked by other loves, loyalties and duties.
 i
The Battle of Ĥunain was fought in Shawwaal 8 AH immediately after the conquest of
Makkah. Looking at their twelve (12) thousand strong army, many Muslims thought their
victory was a foregone conclusion. This feeling led to complacency as well as an attitude of
trust in numbers rather than in Allaah. However, the archers of the Banoo Hawaazin had
taken a strategic position around the mountain pass leading to their army encampment. As
soon as the Muslim army approached, they faced arrows coming at them from all directions,
so much so that most of the army ran away in retreat. Only the Prophet and his close
companions stood their ground and called upon the rest of the army to come back and join
them. Then, only with the help of Allaah, the army was able to regroup, march forward, fight
and win the battle. The purpose of the mention is to remind the Muslims that it is not the
numbers and strength of the army that brought success to the Islamic mission thus far. It was
the help of Allaah SWT. Otherwise, the mission would not have been able to survive in
Makkah or survive the first major assault by the Makkans fought at Badr. Allaah, who had
helped the mission at so many critical points in the past, would not let it fail at this stage.

After their defeat in Ĥunain, the enemies were treated so kindly and so compassionately that
many of them opened their hearts to Islam and became Muslims. When people had a chance
to witness the excellence in the conduct of the Prophet and in the conduct of his followers,
they felt compelled to embrace that excellence. That is how Islam was growing so fast at that
time. Some Muslims had feared that after the expiry of the notice period the bloodshed of
polytheists was imminent. The mention of their conversion was a hint to them that they
should consider the past record before speculating about the future. The Arabs were ready
like ripe fruit to embrace Islam. All they needed was a little nudge. But that nudge would
work only if the warning was seriously stern and the Muslims were ready for the worst
eventuality. Any indication of vacillation by the Muslims at that point would have been
counterproductive. That is why in these discourses (those containing verse 15 and this verse)
the preparation for war has been done very seriously, while hints of mass conversions have
been dropped very subtly.

The series of instructions given and announcement made at the beginning of this Soorah for
the eradication of polytheism in Arabia is ending now with the final instruction in the next
verse:

28
O you who believe! The     
polytheists are nothing but
unclean, so they must not      
approach the Masjid Al-Ĥaraam
after their attendance at this       
pilgrimage; and if you fear
poverty then Allaah will enrich

i th
10 month of the Arabic Calendar
you out of His grace if He wills;
surely Allaah is All-knowing, All-         
wise.
  
Uncleanliness refers to the filth of their polytheistic beliefs, ideas and lifestyles. That filth
must be removed to avoid any possibility of it contaminating the Islamic society. In keeping
with the example of weeds that was used in the introduction and preamble of this Soorah,
unless the roots of the weeds are removed from deep in the ground, they have a way of
regenerating themselves and spreading in the garden. Polytheism and idolatry was so deep-
rooted in Arabia that every possibility of it raising its ugly head again had to be eliminated.

This verse forever outlaws entry of any polytheist in the Masjid Al-Ĥaraam and the sanctuary
surrounding it. This announcement was made in the 9 AH Ĥajj so that when the Prophet came
for Ĥajj in 10 AH, the sanctuary and the Manaasik (rites) were free from any polytheistic
practices and were performed purely in the Islamic way.

Remember that Ĥajj had a major impact on the economy of Makkah in particular and Arabia
in general. It facilitated movement of goods to and from Makkah to and from the rest of
world and thus promoted trade and prosperity. Banning any segment of the population of the
world from coming to Makkah meant reduced business activity. Thus, businessmen were
concerned that it would cause further deterioration in the economic situation of the Muslims.
The message of the verse is that decisions of the Islamic mission are based on principles and
in consideration of the objectives of the mission, not on the basis of the economic
considerations. If Muslims rely on Allaah and make decisions that are most appropriate for
the objectives of Deen, Allaah SWT will take care of their economy.

After dealing with the matters of polytheists of the Arabian Peninsula, the next section
provides a policy for dealing with the Jews and Christians living in the Islamic territory as well
as all non-Muslims outside of the peninsula. Although the verses mention only the “People
with the Book”, the Prophet himself and the Companions unanimously applied these
commands to the Zoroastrians and all other non-Muslims outside of Arabia.

29
As for those who were given the      
Book but they do not believe in
Allaah, nor the Last Day, nor do       
they hold unlawful what Allaah
and His Messenger have      
prohibited, nor implement the
Deen of truth, fight them until
they pay the Jizyahi submissively     
and accept to live in a state of
subjection.      

People who were given the Book before the Prophet, were taught the same Deen and were
given the same responsibility of establishing the Islamic system of peace, justice and
excellence as was taught and given to the Muslims; but they shirked their responsibilities,
corrupted their beliefs and violated the teachings and commands. They have opted out of
living by the rules and regulations that Allaah SWT has taught to establish a balanced, just,
peaceful society and to encourage people to excel in their morals, dealings and practices.
Thus they lost their eligibility to play a leading role in the administration of human society
that must be run according to the Islamic system of peace, justice and excellence mandated
by Allaah SWT and governed by those who fully and exclusively believe in that system of life
(Deen). Thus the Muslims have been commanded to fight them until they surrender the
power, give up the leadership roles, submit to the Islamic rule, accept to live under its
dominance and commit to pay Jizya which is a levy to defray the cost of providing them a
social environment where they can enjoy peace, security, justice and excellence provided by
Islam. Under these terms, they are allowed to practice their religion in their private lives, in
line with the freedom of choice that Allaah has given to human beings, but they have no right
to impose their self devised systems of life on any human society and thus cause injustice,
ii
corruption and chaos on earth . Thus, unlike the polytheists of Arabia, they do not have to
accept Islam. They can adopt the lifestyle and religion of their choice, but only as their
personal faith or choice, not as a matter of public policy, or in a governance role. The public
policy and governance must be in the hands of those who are committed to implement the
God-designed Islamic system of perfect balance, fairness, justice and excellence that brings
peace and beauty to human society to be enjoyed by every citizen.

This policy is applicable to those non-Muslims who resist and fight with the Muslims. Those
non-Muslims who accept the dominance of the Islamic state through negotiations, without
fighting, the terms of their surrender can be mutually agreed upon as long as they accept the
dominion of the Islamic state and Islamic system of life over their territory.

Although it was explained in detail in the preamble to this Soorah, these commands were
given once the Islamic system was already established in the Islamic state so that the Muslims
could then extend the Islamic system of justice, peace and excellence to other areas to
emancipate and benefit other people as well. These commands should not be taken out of
this context to apply where one wants. At the time of this writing, there is absolutely no

i
The cost of (levy for) providing them a social environment where they can enjoy peace, security, justice
and excellence provided by Islam and maintained by the Muslims.
ii
It should be remembered that Islam is the only perfectly balanced system of life that results in
enduring justice and peace in the world. Every man-made system creates some kind of disequilibrium
and thus causes injustice, corruption, strife and chaos.
country in the world that can genuinely claim to be an Islamic state. The responsibility of
contemporary Muslims is first to establish an Islamic society where the complete Islamic
system is fully implemented and practised. Then they would be obliged to spread the justice,
peace and excellence of that society to their surrounding areas. This objective was well
understood by the Muslims in general and their commanders in particular. For example,
Mugheerah bin Shi‘bah, the commander of the Islamic army, talking to the Iranian
commander mentioned the Muslim mission to be, “Freeing people from slavery to human
beings by providing them opportunity to become Allaah’s slaves.” Rab‘ee bin ‘Aamir
explained the mission in this way: “Allaah has sent us to help people shift from being slaves to
human beings to becoming only Allaah’s slaves; from the tightness of the world to its
vastness; and from the tyranny of other systems of life to the justice and balances of Islam.
Thus, He has sent us with His Deen (Islamic system of life) to people so that we can invite
them to it.” This was not only a slogan, rather, it was how they practically behaved and
brought peace and justice to people wherever they went. That is why the public always
welcomed Muslims to attain their freedom from the tyrannical yoke of their rulers. And it was
due to this reason that after witnessing the excellence of the Muslim behaviour, the general
public would flock to accept Islam.

The next few verses give some examples of how the ‘People with the Book’ have deviated
from the Islamic path.

30
The Jews said, “‘Uzair is      
Allaah’s son”; and the
Christians said, “The Messiah is      
Allaah’s son”; but these are
merely the words of their      
mouths that they utter
imitating the saying of those        
who disbelieved before. May
Allaah destroy them, how
deluded they are! 31 They have    
taken their scholars and their
monks as lords beside Allaah,      
so did they take the Messiah,
son of Mary (Maryam), while       
they were commanded to
perform slave-like obedience         
exclusively to One God, besides
Whom there is no deity;
exalted is He far above
whatever they associate with
Him.  

The first grave error they committed was assigning God-like attributes or status to human
beings. This was committed both by the Jews and the Christians. Both of them elevated
human beings to the status of God either by labelling a person as a son of God or by listening
to their priests, rabbis and monks as Allaah should be listened to.

People treat a human being as god or son of God because of deficient faith in the infiniteness
of Allaah SWT. Equating a finite person with Infinite God or assigning finite attributes to Him
is an offensive act that infuriates Allaah SWT. The irony is that both the Jews and the
Christians were taught to believe in Allaah alone and they continue to claim to believe in One
God only. But under the influence of the pagan or polytheist nations among whom they were
living, they internalized their polytheistic concepts without realizing how contrary to their
true belief those views were. They adopted some of those concepts under the pretext of
making their religion more inclusive and more palatable. Then, generation after generation
they continue to blindly follow and adopt those misguided notions. They ignore the fact that
this is a great injustice to Allaah SWT, the Creator, that someone else is given the status,
importance, respect or consideration as much as or more than that is due to Allaah SWT. In
addition, this injustice is the root of all other injustices, corruptions, tyrannies, exploitations
and persecutions. Those who are unjust to the Creator cannot do justice to the people either.
The same worldly motives that make them serve entities other than Allaah also make them so
selfish that they focus only on their own desires and interests without feeling any
compunction in doing whatever evil serves their personal ambitions.

Being our Creator, only Allaah has the right to give us commands or teach us views that must
be accepted, listened to and obeyed readily, submissively and unconditionally, whether we
understand them or not, whether they make sense to us or not, and whether we agree with
them or not. Allaah SWT delegates this right to His messengers to the extent it is needed for
them to play their role as His messengers. When it comes to any other human being, if they
give an opinion, ruling, fatwa or verdict in any matter or teaching of Deen, it must be
supported by the evidence from the words of Allaah or His messengers, otherwise it should
be rejected, regardless of how big the scholar is who pronounces those teachings. The
corruption of religion starts occurring when people accept views or teachings from their
religious leaders without seeking clear reference or strong support from Allaah and His
messengers or without performing due diligence and scrutiny of what they teach. Sometimes
even if it is pointed out to people that their religious leaders’ views are against the teachings
of Allaah and His Messenger, they continue to follow those leaders and devise some
justification for the leaders’ erroneous views. When people accept the views, beliefs, verdicts
or teachings of the religious leaders in any of these manners, they have taken those religious
leaders as gods other than Allaah. All corruptions in religious beliefs and practices occur
mostly because of uncritical acceptance of the views of religious leaders. The human views
and opinions of the scholars that are taken as Islamic teachings add unbalanced and unjust
practices to the religion and destroy the balance and justice that Allaah has built into the
Islamic system.

It was through such adulterations that Islam taught to the Israelites by messengers such as
Jacob, Moses and David ended up becoming Judaism – a racist religion preaching racist views
i
about God for promoting the interests of a certain race at the cost of all other humanity . One
One person who had a strong influence in shaping these racist attitudes in religion was a
religious leader named ‘Uzair (In Arabic) described in the Biblical literature as ‘Ezra, which
name also has variant pronunciations such as ‘Ezer or ‘Azer.

Ezra was a rabbi and priestly scribe. He was able to gain much influence and favour in Babylon
with the king of Persia (Artaxerxes I, 464-423 BC according to some or Artaxerxes II according
to others). He was appointed as the king’s representative in the Palestinian territory wherein
every Jew had to obey him in compliance with the king’s order. The edict of the king
mentioned him with the title of “Ezra the Cohen, the Scribe of the law of the God of heaven”
and included in his edict that “Whoever refuses to obey the law of your God and the law of
the king, let judgment be executed on him swiftly, whether it be death, banishment,
confiscation of goods or imprisonment." With such powers, he was sent by the Persian king to
lead his people and to restore Jewish law and worship in Jerusalem. Ezra reconstituted the
dispersed Jewish community on the basis of the Torah and with a very high emphasis on the
law; and thus it is said that he restored the law when it was forgotten. He also instituted
some new religious practices as well as initiated the resurgence of Hebrew that was forgotten
by the masses during their stay in Babylon. He is also credited with redacting the Torah,
ii
combining the priestly source into the already-combined J, E and D sources , as well as
canonizing the text of the Torah as we know it today. His emphasis on the “law” and “rituals”
contributed to make Judaism a rule-focused religion of rituals that ignored the spirit of the
law and abandoned the Islamic objective of justice and peace. In addition, what he most
passionately campaigned for was the racial purity of the Jews. In this respect, he used his
influence and power to make the Jews who had taken wives from other local races divorce
those wives and banish them from homes along with all their children. This cruel, insensitive
and devious ethnic cleansing was his major feat. Jewish sources hold him in an extremely high
regard and consider him a second Moses or a person who would have been given Torah, had
there been no Moses. There has been a tradition among the Jews that to express someone’s

i
It is a racist religion because it promotes the concept of a “chosen people” on the basis of their being
from a certain race, not on the basis of their accomplishments or excellence. Even within that race,
people are treated differently merely on the basis of the tribe they descend from. God is also
blasphemously ascribed racist attributes by portraying Him as someone who blesses certain people just
because they are progeny of a certain individual, not because of their behavioural excellence; while he
destroys others not because of their sins but merely because they happened to be born in a wrong race.
ii
It is generally agreed among the proponents of the documentary hypothesis that the existing Torah (or
the Five Books of Moses) was derived from originally independent, parallel and complete narratives,
which were subsequently combined into the current form by a series of redactors (editors). There were
four main sources, which came to be known as the Yahwist or Jahwist, J (J being the German equivalent
of the English letter Y); the Elohist, E; the Deuteronomist, D, (the name comes from the Book of
Deuteronomy, D's contribution to the Torah); and the Priestly Writer, P.
 i
closeness to God, he was metaphorically called son of God. Although the current literature
does not mention him with the title of son of God, a segment of Arabian Jews used to regard
him as such. That is why when this verse was revealed, no Jew took exception to it.
Regardless of whether ‘Uzair (‘Ezra) was given this title or not, everyone who has accepted his
redaction of Torah, or obeyed his racist pronouncement, followed other heresies that he
instituted, or everyone who respects him despite his racist stance has practically taken him as
a god other than Allaah. And that is the focal point of these verses. This point has been
clarified in verse 31 where his name has been replaced by the phrase “taken their scholars
and their monks as lords beside Allaah”, indicating that he was practically taken as god in the
sense described by this phrase; while deification of Jesus has been mentioned distinctly
indicating the he (Jesus) was personally taken as god other than Allaah.

As for Christians, they claim to believe in One God, while at the same time continue to insist
that Jesus is the begotten son of God, God Incarnate and an equal partner in Divinity.
Although this is an irrational, illogical and absurd belief, they continue to accept it, blindly
obeying their priests and monks. Thus they have also taken their priests and scholars as gods
other than Allaah, in addition to deifying Jesus.

This is despite the fact that Allaah SWT had clearly commanded them that ‘Ibaadah – the
slave-like, blind, unconditional, and non-critiqued obedience carried out without any
reservations, ifs or buts -- is to be offered only to Allaah alone. Human beings, other than
Allaah’s messengers, must be followed only after due critique and rational evaluation of what
they say in the light of the teachings of Allaah and His messengers.

But their crimes do not stop with the abovementioned problem with their religious paradigm.
If they would have cared even a bit for the Deen of Allaah or had even a little sincerity for the
truth, they would have jumped on the opportunity to believe in the Prophet and helped him
in his mission of establishing the Deen of Allaah in the world. Instead, they had chosen to
oppose him. Not only were they themselves misguided, they were also doing everything in
their power to keep others from attaining guidance. Allaah SWT had sent His Messenger to
illuminate the straight path with the light of Islam. Instead of benefitting from this light, they
were hell-bent on extinguishing it. The Jews had been undertaking plots to kill the Prophet,
inciting pagan Arabs against Islam, providing them ideas and ammunition to attack and
instigating them to fight, as well as themselves fighting against the Muslims to support the
pagans. Similarly, the Christian rulers in the neighbouring areas murdered the Muslim envoys
and amassed troops to invade the Islamic state. The next verse talks about this crime.

32
They desire to blow out      
Allaah’s light with their mouths,
while Allaah refuses except to        
perfect His light, even if the

i
For examples from the Old Testament, please see my book Exploring the Islamic Beliefs, page 201.
disbelievers detest it. 33 It is He
Who has sent His Messenger      
with guidance and the Deen of
Truthi to make it prevail over      
every other system of life, even
if the polytheistsii hate it.     

Islam is Allaah’s light that Allaah has kindly and mercifully provided to people so that it can
show them the right path which will take them to the destination of establishing the most
balanced and just society that benefits everyone with peace and excellence. Characterizing
their efforts as “blows of their mouths” shows that even their vigorous and cunning efforts
would prove to be weak and ineffective in extinguishing the light by which Allaah had decided
to shine and illuminate the whole world. Perfecting this light implies that the Islamic system
would be completely and solidly established in its entirety as a complete system of life in
Arabia.

Every Muslim and non-Muslim must understand clearly that Allaah had sent His Messenger
with guidance and Islam to make this philosophy and system of life the dominant lifestyle all
over the world as the reigning world order until the Day of Judgment. It is only right that
Allaah’s creation lives by Allaah’s law on Allaah’s earth using Allaah’s resources. All people
who choose to live by any other lifestyle or man-made philosophy of life must live in
subservience to the Islamic system within the limits that Islam allows them to operate
iii
under .

Often people overlook the fact that Islam is a complete system of life that covers every aspect
of individual and collective lives of its adherents and that does not leave any room to share
with any other lifestyle. In fact, if a Muslim follows any lifestyle or philosophy other than pure
Islam in any of the individual or collective aspect of life, it is considered shirk (polytheism)
because effectively that aspect of life has been taken out of Allaah’s obedience (Islam) and
given into the obedience of someone else’s ideas. Those who do not understand the nature
of Islam as a Deen (complete system of life) think of Islam merely as a set of religious rituals
like other religions. Hence, they promote the idea of cooperative and equal co-existence of
religions and philosophies, including the ritual Islam, as compared to the true Deen of Islam
being the dominant public order under which other religions and philosophies are allowed to

i
Islam – as the complete system of life, a total package covering every aspect of one’s life, which is
based on the truth from Allaah.
ii
Those who divide their lives into different segments, every segment being ruled by a different god
including such gods as one’s own desires, customs of the society, philosophers, priests, etc.
iii
Let it not be forgotten that this goal is attainable and applicable only where the majority of the
population is that of the Muslims. In places where the Muslims are a minority, their top priorities are to
educate and train Muslims to have the most excellent personality and to spread Islam peacefully,
intellectually, dedicatedly and steadfastly just as the Prophet and his companions had done in Makkah.
exist to be practised in private matters. Similarly, many so-called Muslims may be content in
living under the non-Islamic systems as long as they have freedom to perform their rituals. All
such people are referred to here as polytheists because they want to be or are content with
being governed by other systems besides or along with Allaah’s system.

In brief, the message of these verses is that Allaah SWT bestowed Islam to all prophets and
messengers so that it dominates as the system of life. The people with the Book claim to
believe in Allaah and those prophets and messengers. The natural result of their faith, then,
should have been that they should have welcomed the opportunity to be re-introduced to
their true Deen and should have helped in its establishment. Instead, they want to extinguish
this light because it endangers their vested interests in the status quo. However, despite their
hypocritical opposition to this mission and their chagrin at its success, Islam is going to be
completely and solidly established and become the dominant system of life.

The main culprits among the people with the book in this respect have been their religious
leaders who are blindly followed by the masses and who incite them against Islam to protect
their own worldly interests. The next verse points this out.

34
O you who believe! Certainly,       
many Judaeo-Christian scholars
and monks devour the wealth of     
mankind wantonly and hinder
the people from the way of      
Allaah. Give tidings of a painful
punishment to those who hoard     
up gold and silver and do not
spend it in Allaah's way. 35 One
Day, that gold and silver will be      
heated up in the fire of hell, then
their foreheads and their sides        
and their backs will be branded
with it and they will be told,     
“This is what you hoarded up for
yourselves, so taste what you        
used to hoard.”
 
Matters of Deen or religion should be practised solely and purely for the pleasure of Allaah. If
someone dedicates one’s life to the service of religion or Deen, it should also be done
exclusively for the pleasure of Allaah, not for making a career out of it, because making a
career out of religious matters automatically and naturally brings personal economic interest
into the religious matters that should be selfless. A person may start his religious career in
earnest for the service of Deen, but over time, the service aspect becomes diluted and
preservation of the interests of career becomes practically dominant resulting in
compromising and unscrupulous behaviour. The career interest incites the religious scholars
to make pronouncements and devise schemes that will further their economic interests and
protect their careers. Thus, except for some rare souls who are content to survive on a
minimal subsistence level, most religious leaders become preoccupied in devising ways of
earning and accumulating wealth just like the general public adopts different careers to do so.
i
When that happens, the scholars end up using their authority to issue verdicts and fatwas to
make money by granting them in favour of the highest bidders. They pose to be God’s agents
to bring people salvation from God so that people make them happy with hefty donations as
a way to buy salvation. They devise ways so that people have to bring them offerings for
performing their different religious rituals as well as their normal social events such as
marriages and funerals. They fool people into believing in the effectiveness of their
ii
mezuzahs , phylacteries (Ta’weez), relics (Tabarrukaat), charms and rosaries (Wazeefahs and
Tasbeehs) to extract their money from them. Because of all these personal vested interests,
they do not want their followers to learn and understand pure Islam – the true Deen of
Allaah. Hence, whenever someone stands up to bring the true message of Islam to people,
they become the first and the most vicious enemies of that person and his noble mission.

That is what they were doing to the Prophet and his mission at that time and that is what
continues to happen to this day. Unfortunately, many so-called Islamic scholars have adopted
the same attitude, the same behaviour and the same animosity to the true Islamic message.
They use every heinous plot, cunning scheme and vicious manipulation to protect their turf
and to discredit the person who presents the true and simple Islamic message. The condition
of the Muslims in particular, and the world in general, is not going to get any better unless
and until people with vested economic interest in religion are removed from the leadership
positions and those people are brought up and supported who have not made religion as
their career and who have no vested economic interest in any matter of religion.

This concludes the policy announcements for the establishment and dominance of Islam as a
complete system of life. The next two verses abolished one remnant of the religious
manipulations that the Makkans had enshrined to preserve their economic interest.

36
Indeed, the number of months        
with Allaah has been twelve

i
Religious edicts
ii
A small piece of parchment inscribed with the Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 and marked with the
word Shaddai, a name of God meaning the Almighty, or the All-sufficient, that is rolled up in a container
and affixed by many Jewish households to their door frames. Shaddai is also considered to be the
acronym for “The Guardian of the doors of Israel.”
(lunar) months in Allaah's
ordinance since the day He      
created the heavens and the
earth; of which four are sacred.      
That is the straight Deen; so do
not wrong yourselves during those       
months. And fight the polytheists
collectively as they fight you     
collectively; and know that Allaah
is with those who maintain Taqwa.
37
Displacing the sacred months       
through manipulations of calendar
is in fact an additional act of      
disbelief, whereby those who
disbelieve are misled. They violate       
it one year and keep it sacred
another year; so that by making      
up the count of the months which
Allaah had made sacred, they
make lawful what Allaah has made         
unlawful. The evil of their deeds is
made fair-seeming to them;       
however, Allaah does not guide
the disbelieving people.  

Allaah SWT created the universe in such a way that people on earth will have two calendars:
A solar year of 12 months suitable for planning crops, agriculture and other weather-based
activities; and a 12 month lunar calendar for acts of worship and other Islamic social activities.
In His ultimate wisdom, Allaah SWT also made the lunar year shorter than the solar year so
that the acts of worship and Islamic social activities move around the solar year, coming in
different seasons so that people perform those activities in all kind of seasons and all kind of
weathers in 33 years. Islam being the Deen for all people, this makes it fair and equitable to
all people of the world that everyone performs those acts in all good and bad seasons or
favourable or unfavourable times of the years about twice or thrice in their lifetime. This
arrangement tests the obedience of believers in all seasons and times of the year, but more
importantly, it makes the test equitable and equal for all people regardless of where they are
living on the globe.

This has been the Islamic way since Adam. But people always devise schemes of convenience
so that religious activities prescribed by the lunar calendar become fixed with the solar
calendar so that they always fall on the same season or time of the solar year. For example,
the Jews and Christians have arranged their calendars such that Passover and Easter falls in
April. The Arabs had done the same thing. They used to add one extra month (Kabeesah)
every two or three years so that there are three extra months every eight years and Ĥajj
continues to fall in the same season. This calendar manipulation was called Nasee’. This
manipulation defeated the purpose for which Allaah SWT had prescribed the dates by lunar
calendar.

Out of the 12 months, Allaah SWT had declared four months to be Ĥaraam, or inviolable,
during which absolutely no fighting was allowed even for any legitimate or just cause – Rajab
th
the 7 month of the calendar for ‘Umrah; and Dzul-Qa‘dah, Dzul-Ĥajjah and Muĥarram for
Ĥajj. Naturally, these inviolable months were also displaced by Nasee’ from their true
position. Although they still observed the inviolability of the four months, in reality the real
inviolable months were respected some years while violated due to displacement in other
years. After 32 years, they would correspond back to their real place. Allaah SWT ordained
the matter such that the year the Prophet performed the Ĥajj, the months and dates had
revolved back to their true place. From then on the practice of Nasee’ was outlawed by this
verse and since then the natural calendar has been followed. The emphasis on the
inviolability should be duly noticed by the Muslims; however, they have been given a leave to
defend fully and properly if they are attacked during the inviolable months.

Two important points need to be noted here. Firstly, calendar manipulation was termed as
“increase in disbelief”. In other words, this was an act of disbelief that added to other
disbeliefs that they were practising. It shows that rejecting or altering any command of
Allaah, regardless of its nature is an act of disbelief even if the person continues to claim to be
a believer in Allaah. Secondly, any change in the teachings of the Qur-aan by human beings
regardless of how great the scholar who makes it may be and regardless of the rationale for
making the change, is going to disturb the balance, equilibrium and fairness built into it by
Allaah SWT. It is going to create untold problems in the society which the people suggesting
the adjustment or change may not even realize or be able to think of. Hence the commands
of Allaah must be accepted and practised exactly as they are given, without making any
adjustment or change for any reason whatsoever.
The Second Part
After dealing with matters relating to the idolaters and the people with the Book in the
previous paragraphs, the attention is now diverting to the matters relating to the hypocrites
from the next verse until the end of the soorah. This portion exposes the hypocritical traits
and mischievous games that staunch hypocrites played. Verses 38 to 72 were revealed during
the days when the Prophet was preparing for the Tabook expedition. The remaining verses
(73 to 129) were revealed at various times when he was in Tabook and immediately after his
return to Madeenah. Thus, to understand the background of the remaining part of the
Soorah, the following overview of the Tabook expedition should be kept in mind.

The Tabook expedition had to be undertaken in response to the hostile behaviour of the
Roman Empire towards the mission of the Prophet and the Muslims. It became an issue to be
dealt with urgently because of the following two incidents of criminal murder of the Muslim
missionaries and diplomats by the associates of the Empire:

 Utilizing the environment of peace created by the Ĥudaibiyyah treaty, the Prophet
had sent various missionary groups to peacefully preach the Deen of Allaah in
different parts of Arabia. One such mission consisting of sixteen missionaries was
sent to the Arab Christians politically attached to the Roman Empire. The Christians
killed all of the Muslim missionaries except for the leader of the mission, Ka‘b ibn
‘Umair Ghifaari, who was able to escape during the massacre.

 Also during that period, the Prophet sent an emissary to the Christian governor of
Busra, Shuraĥbeel ibn ‘Amr, with a letter inviting him towards Islam, as he had sent
emissaries to all the heads of various territories throughout Arabia and states around
Arabia. The governor killed the Prophet’s emissary.

Both of these incidents necessitated action against this hostile behaviour that was totally in
violation of the international conventions of that time. Thus, in 8 AH, the Prophet sent an
army of three thousand (3,000) Muslims to hold the criminal perpetrators accountable for
their crimes and to ensure the future safety of the citizens of the Islamic state. When the
Muslim army reached a place called Ma‘aan, they found out that Shuraĥbeel ibn ‘Amr himself
was marching ahead to confront them with an army of one hundred thousand (100,000)
fighters while Caesar had dispatched another army of the same size under the command of
his brother, Theodor, to provide support to the army of Shuraĥbeel ibn ‘Amr. The Muslim
army encountered the army of Shuraĥbeel ibn ‘Amr that was 33.33 times larger than their
own at a place called Mu’tah. After a fierce battle, the Muslim army was able to retreat,
against all odds, without being clearly defeated or routed. This bravery of the Muslims left a
very positive impact on the Arabian tribes of that area and many of them accepted Islam.

Then, another incident occurred. The commander of Rome’s Arabian armies, Farwah ibn ‘Amr
Al-Judzaami, accepted Islam. Caesar ordered him arrested and brought to his court. He
offered ‘Amr two options: renounce Islam and be restored to the post or remain Muslim and
be killed. He chose to keep his faith and was killed for his belief in Islam and his decision to
remain Muslim even at the risk of losing his life.
Caesar also started a recruitment campaign to expand his armies in preparation to attack the
fledgling Islamic state for an all-out war. When the Prophet found out about his preparations,
he realized that a do or die stage in the life of the mission had arrived. If Caesar was not
bravely confronted right away, it would mean the end of the Islamic state. Not only would
Caesar not let it survive, but all the forces in Arabia who were still trying to find a way to stem
the tide of Islam would be emboldened to rise up against the state.

Thus, the Prophet decided not only to confront the enemy but to confront it right at the
border of the Roman Empire. He openly announced to the Muslims to prepare for the
expedition and made it clearly known that every able-bodied Muslim must join the
expedition. This announcement became a litmus test for the faith of the Muslims because the
faith demanded listening to the call of the Prophet while the ground realities made this
decision very challenging for the following reasons:

 It was the height of the hot summer; making travel long and arduous.
 The date crops were just about ready for harvesting.
 There was a severe lack of money and other resources to finance the war or to
acquire arms, provisions and camels for transportation.
 It was not going to be an ordinary battle; it was with the stronger of the two global
super powers of that time.

Despite all these factors, sensible people knew that it was the last critical point to determine
if the Islamic movement was to survive and spread, or die within its own territory. So the
sincere believers started their preparations to march, even if they had to lose all their
possessions and their lives in the way of Allaah. Only the hypocrites, who loved this world
more than the Hereafter, were reluctant and wanted to find a way out. Previously, the
hypocrites could hide their lack of commitment to Islam through various excuses, but not
accompanying the Prophet in this expedition was a clear sign of hypocrisy for any able-bodied
person in Madeenah who claimed to be a Muslim.

To finance the war, the sincere Muslims donated everything they could. Aboo Bakr donated
everything he owned, not leaving any assets for himself or his family. ‘Umar donated fifty
percent (50%) of whatever he owned. Those who had nothing to donate worked as labourers
and donated all their earnings. Sincere Muslims from all over the Islamic state arrived at
Madeenah enthusiastically offering themselves in the way of Allaah. Those who could not be
armed for lack of resources would cry at their inability to serve in the way of Allaah. Those
who could join would thank Allaah for the blessed opportunity. All sincere Muslims of
Madeenah joined the army except for Ten (10) of them who lazily stayed behind. All
hypocrites stayed behind except a few who were sent to spy and to keep their gang in
Madeenah informed of the various developments as well as to murder the Prophet on a
vulnerable opportunity such as a complete defeat, which they were expecting. Their plots
have been referred to in verse 74.
The Prophet departed Madeenah in Rajab 9 AH with a thirty thousand (30,000) strong army
which included ten thousand (10,000) cavalry. However, they did not have enough camels to
ride. People had to take turns riding on the camels, several persons allocated to one camel,
which meant that the army could move only at walking speed in the intensely hot weather.
Naturally, travelling through an arid desert, the availability of drinking water for 30,000
persons was another huge problem. However, despite the difficulties and challenges, the
army reached Tabook, the frontier of the Roman Empire.

Before the Muslim army arrived at Tabook, Caesar withdrew his army from the frontier and
decided not to confront the Muslims because the Prophet had outmanoeuvred him by
coming out to encounter him before he had completed his preparations to attack. In addition,
Caeser realized that the odds of his army winning against a thirty-thousand-Muslim army led
by the Prophet himself were non-existent considering that his hundred-thousand strong army
could not score a clear win against a meagre army of three thousand Muslims not led by the
Prophet himself. But in the end, it was one of the ways Allaah SWT used to help His
Messenger.

Instead of entering the Roman territory, the Prophet camped at Tabook for twenty days. He
used this opportunity to enter into the treaties of allegiance with the Christian Arab tribes
settled in that area. These treaties extended the frontier of the Islamic state to the borders of
the Roman Empire.

This overview should put the criticality of the Tabook expedition for the survival and
completion of the mission of the Prophet in perspective. The initial portion of this part of the
Soorah was revealed when the army for this expedition was still being organized. Verses 38-
39 indicate that not responding to the call of the Prophet for setting out to fight with the
enemy is hypocritical behaviour, not of a sincere believer; and that such behaviour will be
punished severely by Allaah SWT. Then, verse 41 urges sincere Muslims to avoid being like
hypocrites and volunteer to join the army. Although the persons who were reluctant to come
forward for the battle were considered hypocrites, verse 38 still addresses them with “O
believers” because they publicly pretended to believe and claimed to be Muslims. This style
of address encourages those who are not staunch hypocrites to reform themselves and
become true believers.

38
O believers! What is the matter        
with you that when you are asked
to set out in the way of Allaah, you        
gravitate to the ground (unwilling
to rise)! Do you cherish the life of       
this world more than that of the
Hereafter? Remember, then, that
        
all the enjoyments of worldly life
will seem so trivial in the
Hereafter. 39 If you do not set out
as required, He will punish you      
with a painful punishment and
substitute you with a people other        
than you, and you will not be able
to do Him any harm; and Allaah is   
Able to do all things.

The question “Do you cherish the life of this world more than that of the Hereafter” identifies
the root cause of their ignoring the call of the Prophet. Whenever a person is unwilling to
sacrifice his worldly interests for the needs of the Islamic movement and the objectives of
Deen, it is a clear indication that success in worldly matters to that person is more important
than success in the Hereafter. This only happens when people do not properly understand or
they forget that the comforts and hardships of this world are temporary. Everything is left
behind at the time of death. The comforts of the temporary world have no comparison
whatsoever to the everlasting infinite comforts of the Hereafter and the temporary hardships
of this world have no comparison whatsoever to the punishment in the everlasting life of the
Hereafter. One cannot even calculate a ratio of a few decades of the life of this world to the
infinite life of the Hereafter.

Verse 39 gives a clear message that anyone who does not respond to a general call for taking
up arms made by a competent authority of Muslims, and who has no genuine handicap
acknowledged or leave granted by the Sharee‘ah, is considered a hypocrite and his faith is
considered suspect.

People also need to understand that by refusing to fight in the way of Allaah SWT, they are
not doing Him any harm; they are just harming themselves by depriving themselves the
opportunity and privilege of pleasing Him and of succeeding in the Hereafter. As for Allaah,
He can make happen whatever He wants. He neither needs any assistance from anyone, nor
can anyone stop Him from achieving what He desires.

Similarly, the Prophet is not dependent on their help either. He has been given the mission by
Allaah SWT and Allaah’s help is sufficient. .

40
If you do not help him (the        
Prophet), Allaah will continue to help
him as Allaah did indeed help him        
when the disbelievers drove him out
(of Makkah) as one of two when they        
were both in the cave and he was
saying to his companion, “Do not
      
worry; because Allaah is surely with
us.” So Allaah bestowed tranquility
from Himself upon him, and     
strengthened him with forces which
you could not see, and made the         
wordi of the disbelievers the lowest,
while the wordii of Allaah does  
remain the highest; and Allaah is
Mighty, Wise.

The example of Allaah’s help used here is very thought provoking. That was the most testing
time in the history of the Islamic movement (mission of the Prophet). A whole city had
decided to kill the Prophet and his house was surrounded for that purpose. Escape was
impossible. The Makkans thought that that would be it for him and his mission. But Allaah
SWT took him out safely. Even then people were sure that he would not be able to reach
Madeenah without being caught and killed. Thousands of people were actively out to hunt
him down. In those dire and dangerous circumstances, the only human companion he had
was Aboo Bakr AŜ-Siddeeq, the most dedicated testifier to the truth of the Prophet. In their
frantic search, some of the Makkans reached the cave where both were hiding. During all this
time when there was absolutely no apparent hope of survival, the Prophet did not worry nor
panic because he knew Allaah was on His side protecting him and because Allaah granted Him
tranquility from Himself. Against all odds, Allaah ensured his safe arrival in Madeenah.

Thus, by giving this example, Allaah SWT is making the half-hearted Muslims realize that:

 If they think that this battle with the Roman Empire is going to be the most testing
time in deciding the fate of the mission, they should think again. The One Who
helped the Prophet at the time of his migration has not abandoned him. He is still
with him and He has infinite power and wisdom to make happen whatever He wants.

 The mission of the Prophet will continue and succeed regardless of whether they
support his mission or not. If they support it, they will be doing their duty for their
own good. If they do not support it, Allaah SWT has His own ways of supporting him
and ensuring the success of the Islamic mission. If they want to be a part of the
success in the mission and the eternal success in the Hereafter, they should get out
and say yes to the Prophet’s call. They do so for their personal success, not as a
favour to Allaah or His Messenger.

41
Set out, whether ill-equipped or     
well-equipped, and strive hard in

i
Their claims and slogans
ii
Allaah’s decision
Allaah's way with your assets and
yourselves; that is best for you if         
you only knew.
  

The words used in this verse literally mean “Set out whether light or heavy” implying that
joining in and participating is a must whether one is well-equipped with arms and equipment,
wealth, resources, capabilities, physical strength, expertise, etc., or is ill-equipped in any or all
of the things needed for effective participation in the struggle in the way of Allaah. Being ill-
equipped in any respect is not an excuse for not volunteering. Everyone can help the mission
in some way and to some extent. Allaah SWT does not require perfection in action or
anything more than a person’s capability, but only instant obedience in doing whatever a
person is capable of doing. Everyone must volunteer to contribute whatever that person’s
individual capacity is.

The second point that every Muslim needs to remember is that striving hard (Jihaad) in the
way of Allaah must be both monetarily and physically, where “physically” includes time,
energy, abilities and all kind of physical work.

This verse serves a serious reminder to contemporary Muslims. Currently, the state of
Muslims being the way it is, a gigantic amount of work needs to be done to bring the Muslims
and their communities to the level of goodness and excellence that Islam expects them to be
at. Many people realize the need but only a few want to do something about it. Many people
think that they do not have adequate power, knowledge, influence, expertise, time,
resources, opportunities and even responsibility to do the Islamic work needed for that
purpose. They all assume that it is someone else’s responsibility and expect someone else to
do it. Mostly it is considered to be the responsibility of religious or political leaders of the
community, or of the Muslim countries. This verse clarifies to them that each person is
responsible according to his or her own capacity, regardless of the level of their capacity. To
fulfill that responsibility it is irrelevant whether someone else does their job or not. Everyone
is singly responsible for his or her role and will be held accountable for it. So everyone’s
concern should be for himself or herself and not for others. To understand this message fully,
it will be helpful to keep the verse of Al-Maaidah in mind:

O believers! Take care of your own selves. Another person’s misguidance is not going
to harm you provided you yourself follow the guidance. To Allaah you will all return,
and then He will inform you of what you used to do. Al-Maaidah 5:105

The next verse exposes the psychology of the hypocrites. Because of their lack of sincerity for
the Islamic mission, they do not want to take the pains necessary to establish the Deen of
Allaah; while at the same time, they do not want their insincerity exposed. Thus, if something
is easy or if they see some personal benefit in a matter, they cooperate and participate,
otherwise they fabricate excuses to avoid responsibility and make false oaths about their
sincerity in an attempt to fool people.
42
Had there been an easy gain in sight      
and a moderate journey, they would
have followed you, but the expedition is      
too long and hard for them. Yet they will
swear by Allaah, “If we were able, we     
would certainly come out to join you.”
They are inflicting destruction on
     
themselves, as Allaah knows that they
indeed are liars.
 

They usually think that they are clever because they are keeping everyone happy without
doing much. What they forget is that even if people believe their pretences, Allaah knows
their lies for which they will be punished severely in the Hereafter. Thus, in reality, they are
destroying their eternal life by their own doings.

The Prophet ŜA'WS was very polite and courteous to people, including his rude enemies.
When the hypocrites were coming to him with false excuses, and he knew their falsity, he
would accept their excuses without confronting them and exposing their lies through cross
questioning or refusing to grant them leave so that they were compelled to expose their
hypocrisy by staying behind without being granted permission to do so. The next verse
criticizes the Prophet for such politeness, but in a loving style wherein his being forgiven is
announced before even mentioning the issue. This in reality is an indirect but severe rebuke
to the hypocrites, who were playing such games.

43
May Allaah pardon you (O
Muĥammad), why did you grant         
them leave before it would
become evident to you those who      
told the truth and you would also
know the liars? 44 Those who truly      
believe in Allaah and the Last Day
will never seek your permission to
      
be excused from striving hard with
their assets and their persons; and
Allaah knows those who have      
Taqwa. 45 Such permissions are
sought only by those who do not      
really believe in Allaah and the
Last Day, and their hearts are in
such doubt that they are
vacillating in their doubt.     

These verses clearly differentiate between the attitude adopted by a sincere believer from
that of a hypocrite at the time of difficulty or crisis. When the Islamic movement is
threatened psychologically, socially, financially or physically or is militarily attacked by its
enemies, a sincere believer willingly and readily strives hard personally in the way of Allaah
along with everything he or she owns, without seeking any leave or break. Seeking exemption
or leave from such endeavours is an evident sign of insincerity and hypocrisy. The last verse
also identifies the root cause of hypocrisy: hypocrites really do not believe in the tenets of the
Islamic faith. It is their doubts that cause hypocritical behaviour. Those who truly understand
the reality of the Islamic faith and do not have any doubts whatsoever about it will always be
willing and ready to sacrifice their world for the Hereafter.

The next verse identifies a factual, physical contradiction of their pretence that they really
wanted to join the army but they could not for this or that reason:

46
If they had intended to come out,        
they would certainly have made
some preparation for it. But Allaah       
did not like their rising, so He kept
them back, and they were told,  
“Stay with those who stay behind.”

Even if the hypocrites would have risen to join the army, it would have been half-hearted,
dispirited rising out of shame, which can be more problematic than no participation at all.
Such attitude of a participant can impact other members of the army and create morale and
motivation problems. That is why Allaah SWT does not like that kind of rising or participation.

It is human nature that when a person lacks initiative and does not want to do something, he
will not be motivated to do it unless he is coerced or forced to do so. As we have explained
multiple times previously in this Tafseer, Allaah SWT attributes to Himself everything that
happens naturally because He is the Creator and Promulgator of nature and its laws.

The last phrase of the verse is to put them to shame that they stayed behind with those who
are unable to fight such as the women, sick or handicapped persons.
The next verse exposes how dangerous and counterproductive a role the hypocrites play,
i
even when they participate. This not only unveils their fifth-columnist role but also impresses
impresses upon the Muslims that they are better off without them.

47
Had they come out with you, they
would not have added anything for       
you except trouble, and they would
have been active among you     
seeking to cause fitnahii, while
among you there are those who        
listen to them; and Allaah knows
the wrong-doers. 48 They certainly
       
have caused fitnah previously and
distorted matters to create issues
for you; however, the Truth       
succeeded and Allaah’s plan
prevailed to their disgust. 

There are many examples where they have caused fitnah in the past. At the time of Badr,
even after knowing the intent of Allaah and the Prophet to the contrary, they continued to
argue and lobby for attacking the Makkan trade caravan. At the time of Uĥad, they suggested
the strategically dangerous option of remaining in the city and defending the Makkan attack
from inside the city. When on the basis of the majority opinion of the Muslims, the Prophet
decided to go out of the city and encounter the Makkan army at Uĥad, they used the
adoption of majority opinion instead of their advice as an excuse to create dissension and
thus keep 300 fighters away from the battle. Then, when seventy (70) Muslims were
martyred in the battle because of a tactical mistake of a few Muslims, they tried to use this
loss to propagate dissent against the Prophet. At the time of the battle of Aĥzaab, they tried
to destroy the morale of the Muslims by their propaganda and their taunting at the
challenging conditions the Muslims were facing. During the expedition of Bani Muŝtalaq, they
tried to incite racism and cause a fight between the Muhaajireen and Anŝaar. Then, they
slandered ‘Ayeshah baselessly to create serious problems for the Prophet. After the
distribution of the booty at Ĥunain, they tried to use the distribution to Makkans to sow
seeds of discontent and dissension among the Anŝaar. In short, at every delicate time, they
tried their best to cause trouble, discord and dissension among the Muslims to destroy their
morale and manufacture their defeat; however, every time, truth and Allaah’s help prevailed
and the Muslims came out of the challenge stronger and better. Unfortunately, one reason
that helped them succeed in creating problems at such occasions was that many naïve

i
Fifth columnist role means acting traitorously and subversively out of a secret sympathy with the
enemies of their state.
ii
Disorder, sedition, discord and dissension
Muslims were not perceptive of their motives and their games and would listen to their
distorted stories and views; and thus, believing their lies, would end up being played.

Some of the hypocrites would try to shroud their lame excuses in the cloak of pretentious
piety, as if their refusing to join the army was for righteous reasons. For example, a person
named Jadd ibn Qais claimed that his sexual urge was too strong to resist a beautiful woman.
Considering that the Roman women were very attractive, he should be excused from joining
the Rome-bound army to save him from temptation (fitnah) of sinning.

49
And among them is he who says,
“Grant me leave and tempt me not          
into fitnah”. Mind it, into fitnah they
have already fallen; and most surely      
Hell is surrounding the disbelievers.
 

While pretending as such, they forgot that their mere refusal to the call of the Prophet and
shirking from the duty of defending the Deen was such a grave fitnah that nothing else
mattered. On top of this fitnah, they added fitnahs of deceit, pretence, lies, etc.

It should also be noted that although the hypocrites want to be counted among the believers,
Allaah SWT counts them among disbelievers because insincere practice of faith is the same as
not having the faith. In addition, their pretence does not change the reality, thus no amount
of pretence or excuses is going to save them from Hell, even if people believe in their
i
pretences or excuses.

An evident trait of hypocrites is that they dislike seeing the Islamic mission succeed, while
they are happy seeing it fail. That is why their gloom at Muslim successes and their glee at
their setbacks are evident in their body language and their attitude. Their sympathies are with
the enemies of the Islamic movement. That is why they avoid doing anything that would help
the mission, while they continue to act as fifth columnists to defeat the movement from
inside. When tough times come to the movement, instead of helping and making sacrifices
for the mission, they focus on preserving their own interest. They establish friendships and
make deals with the enemies of the Muslims to benefit from this relationship, in case the
Muslims are defeated. Thus, if the Muslims encounter defeat, partly because of their
machinations, they feel happy about their deceitful strategy and proud of taking care of their
personal interest. Usually they are the kind of people who are appointed governors and
presidents, once the Muslims resisting the attack are defeated.

i
The readers should keep in mind that hypocritical traits mentioned in this Soorah were not found only
in the hypocrites of the Prophet’s era. Many Muslims continue to adopt similar behaviour patterns.
Whoever does so, despite knowing the proper Islamic behaviour, falls in the category of hypocrites.
50
If something good happens to       
you, it bothers them; but if
hardship afflicts you, they turn        
away rejoicing and saying, “We did
take our precautions beforehand”.        
51
Say, "Nothing will happen to us
except what Allaah has decreed
        
for us; Allaah is our Guardian, and
only on Allaah should the believers
rely.” 52 Say, “Can you expect for       
us any fate other than one of two
beautiful outcomes (martyrdom or       
victory) while we are wondering
whether Allaah inflicts upon you a        
punishment from Himself or from
our hands? So wait; we too will
    
wait with you.”

The hypocrites adopt the attitude of preserving self interest because they are focused on the
life of this world, not being really concerned about the Hereafter. Hence all their decisions are
made from the worldly perspective. As opposed to the hypocrites, the goal of the sincere
Muslims is to maximize the pleasure of Allaah SWT to succeed in the Hereafter. Thus all their
decisions are made from that perspective. Those who have dedicated their lives to the
pleasure of Allaah SWT execute the commands of Allaah SWT and His Messenger
energetically and enthusiastically, without worrying about results. They do their job to the
best of their abilities and resources and leave the outcome to Allaah. They accept whatever
outcome they encounter and continue to focus on doing their job in the most excellent
manner possible to maximize Allaah’s pleasure. This is called “Tawakkul” or reliance on
Allaah. This tawakkul makes the Muslims successful in achieving their goals of maximizing
Allaah’s pleasure, regardless of the outcome of their endeavours. Thus, the sincere Muslims
never lose; they are always successful.

But the hypocrites did not fully understand these points. For the expedition of Tabook, the
Muslims could have faced only two outcomes: either they would win the war or be defeated
and killed. In both cases, they would be the winners: In the first case, they would succeed in
their mission of establishing the Deen in this world; in the second case, they would succeed in
obtaining the highest pleasure of Allaah SWT and enjoying the extraordinary success of the
Hereafter. On the other hand, the hypocrites could also face only one of the two outcomes
according to the Sunnah of Allaah in the matter of His messengers: either they would be
destroyed by a natural disaster sent by Allaah SWT or would be punished at the hands of the
Muslims. It is decreed, as described in detail in the introduction to this Soorah, that the
opponents of the Messenger of Allaah are doomed one way or another.
Most of the hypocrites were older, rich people of the society who owned many properties
and businesses. They were so preoccupied with their wealth and their businesses that they
could not be bothered about Islam or the Hereafter. However, the majority of the population,
including their own children and family members, had accepted Islam enthusiastically and
had dedicated themselves happily for the mission. Although the rich and famous themselves
had no interest in Islam, to maintain their influence, honour and status among the people of
Madeenah in that environment of enthusiasm for Islam, they had no choice but to declare
acceptance of Islam publicly, without committing to its ideology sincerely. Sincere acceptance
of Islam called for working hard for the mission, fighting for its defence, enduring hardship for
its sake, and making physical and fiscal sacrifices, none of which they were prepared to do.
However, they were willing to make such financial donations as would be enough for them to
be counted among the Muslims so that their insincerity and hypocrisy would not become
evident. The next set of verses comments on such people.

53
Say, “Whether you spend willingly
or unwillingly, it shall not be         
accepted from you; you certainly
have been a defiantly disobedient        
people”. 54 What prevents their
charitable spending being accepted       
from them is that they disbelieve in
Allaah and in His Messenger and
      
they do not come to Ŝalaah except
lazily and reluctantly, nor do they
spend in charity except with dislike.        
55
Let not, then, their assets nor
their children impress you; by        
means of these, Allaah only intends
to punish them in worldly life and       
arranges that they continue to be
disbelievers when their souls
 
depart.

For any good action to be acceptable to Allaah SWT, sincerity and the purity of the intention
for His pleasure is the prerequisite. Allaah SWT knew their intentions, but their lifestyle of
disobedience to Allaah SWT was also an evident proof of their hypocrisy. Even their reluctant,
half-hearted and lazy participation in the congregational Ŝalaah was an evidence of
insincerity, as compared to the devotional and enthusiastic attendance by the sincere
Muslims.

Often Muslims wish that such influential and wealthy persons join the Islamic movement so
that the mission is strengthened by their influence and supported by their wealth. However,
this is usually only wishful thinking. Working for the Deen is a risky proposition that can be
undertaken only by brave souls who are willing to make sacrifices for principles; while these
rich persons’ love for the wealth and focus on the worldly life makes them cowards, risk-
averse people keeping them away from adopting Islam sincerely. Hence, they are bound to
die as disbelievers. Thus, the Muslims were told that they should not be impressed by the
wealth and resources of the hypocrites because that wealth was going to keep them away
from sincere faith and become a source of misfortune both in this world and the Hereafter:

 In this world, they would witness the success of the Islamic mission to their chagrin.
When that success happens, they will have no status, influence or respect in the
Islamic state.
 In the Hereafter, they would be facing severe punishment for their disbelief, because
their wealth is going to make them die as disbelievers.

As mentioned earlier, these rich people did not want to embrace Islam, but were forced to
pretend to be believers for their personal worldly objectives which they wanted to achieve by
fooling the Muslims. The next two verses describe the mental condition they were
experiencing while maintaining this facade.

56
And they swear by Allaah that they      
definitely are with you, while they are
not with you, but they are a people who      
are afraid of you. 57 If they could find a
refuge or caves or any hiding place to      
enter into, they would certainly turn
thereto, bolting away from you.
    

People whose words are not supported by their character usually have to resort to taking
oaths to make others believe in their words. Such was frequently the case for the hypocrites.
Whenever their behaviour would disclose their hypocrisy, they used to resort to using oaths
to establish trust in the eyes of their Muslim friends and associates. However, by their
pretence they had locked themselves in a difficult dilemma. On the one hand, they did not
want to be Muslim, on the other hand they had to pose like the Muslims. Every so often a
situation would arise that could blow their cover. To maintain their pretence, they needed to:
go for Ŝalaah which they found to be onerous; pay Zakaah on their wealth which they found
to be painful; defend their lack of participation whenever there was a war requiring everyone
to defend the Deen, a hardship and danger they hated to undertake. But this dilemma was of
their own doing. The root cause was their unprincipled view of life. They did not want to
make any sacrifice for what they believed in. If Islam did not appeal to them, they could have
easily remained disbelievers publicly. But they did not want to go against the tide of the
society and thus lose their standing. In short, their love of the worldly benefits and their
timidity to take a stand for any principle had put them in a situation that they wanted to run
away from it all if they could find a way do so without losing their wealth, market, status and
influence.

Then there was another class of hypocrites who, although not poor like most of the Muslims,
were not that rich. Like the rich hypocrites, their only motive to pretend to be Muslim was
also purely for “pragmatic” reasons, i.e., purely worldly interest. They wanted to gain some
wealth out it. It was the first time in the history of Arabia that a central government was
established and Zakaah and other revenue was coming from all over, which the Prophet was
distributing to the needy and spending on the welfare of people. These hypocrites wanted to
benefit from this wealth, but that was not easy because the Prophet would distribute all
charities as soon as they were received to the most deserving people in the community,
regardless of who they were. He would not even use any of those revenues for himself or his
family, declaring them to be unlawful for him and his relatives. Naturally, the hypocrites
would not receive as much as they greedily desired, so they would express their anger by
unduly accusing the Prophet with various fabrications.

58
Some of them criticize you in the       
matter of the alms. So, if they are given
from it, they are happy; but if they are        
not given any, they instantly become
angry. 59 It would have been only      
proper attitude if they were content
with what Allaah and His Messenger
     
gave them, and had said, “Sufficient for
us is Allaah; He will give us more of His
bounty, and so will His Messenger;        
surely towards Allaah do we tend and
turn our hopes.” 60 Alms are only      
meant for the poor, for the needy, for
the administrators of charities, for    
those who are to be won over, and to
be used in freeing those who are in
     
captivity or bondage, in redeeming
those who are crushed by debt, in
Allaah’s cause, and in helping the         
stranded travelers – an obligatory duty
from Allaah. And Allaah is Knower,   
Wise.
Verse 59 describes the befitting attitude of a sincere Muslim. Sincere Muslims are not only
content with what they receive with full confidence in Allaah and His Messenger, but also
their focus is on Allaah’s pleasure and approval rather than anything else.

After describing the appropriate attitude, Allaah SWT has decreed the legitimate uses of the
i
alms and charities, including Zakaah , so that those responsible for distributing it know where
to spend and those expecting a share from it know who legitimately deserves and who does
not. The eight legitimate, decreed categories are:

1. Poor -- anyone who needs help in meeting subsistence needs.

2. Needy -- those who are destitute and helpless, in worse condition than poor, but may be
overlooked by the society and need to be sought out to be helped.

3. Administrators of charities -- salaries and expenses incurred in collecting, distributing and

administering the charity. In an Islamic state, it is the government’s basic responsibility to
collect, administer and distribute charity and to look after the needs of people. In the
absence of an Islamic government, charities still should be collected and administered by
the community. In that case, administration expenses of the community organizations
that perform this duty are covered under this category. Similarly, it also applies to the
guardians, administrators or trustees administering the affairs of those who cannot take
care of themselves such as orphans, sick, handicapped, etc.

4. Gifts to key persons out of the Islamic territory or at its outskirts -- who may be won over
for supporting the Islamic mission or brought closer to Islam. Examples can be: some
influential persons that may be sitting on the fence and a gesture of goodwill may tip
their heart over towards supporting the Islamic mission; or key figures among the new
converts in a new Islamic territory who need to feel welcomed; or any other leaders or
celebrities whose help may be needed for the missionary strategy of the Islamic
government; or the vocal enemies of Islam who need to be neutralized to clear the air for
clear communication of the Islamic message. On the basis of an incident whereby ‘Umar
rescinded such a grant during the time of Aboo Bakr, some jurists think that this category
is now expired. But according to the opinions of many other scholars, that decision was
according to the situation at that time and not binding forever. This is a situational
category allowed by Allaah on the basis of His Wisdom, and the Islamic government of
the time can use it as the situation demands.

i
By the time of this revelation, obligatory Zakaah was fully established and the term had been
frequently used in the verses of the Qur-aan as well as in the actions of the society. To command these
legitimate categories of using charitable resources, the Qur-aan has used a general term “Aŝ-Ŝadaqaat”,
“the charities”, not “Zakaah” the obligatory charity. Hence they apply to all charities. There is no reason
to consider them to be applicable only to Zakaah, as some people think. They may base their opinion on
the phrase “an obligatory duty from Allaah”, but that obligation applies to the legitimacy of the
categories, not on the term “charities”.
5. Emancipating slaves and people in captivity or bondage – the term used is “in freeing
necks”.

6. Redeeming those who are crushed under debt – they are those honest, responsible
people who make their best efforts to free themselves from the burden of debt, but due
to the situation beyond their control or bad circumstances have been unable to do so.
This includes an entrepreneur whose business failed despite proper feasibility, planning,
execution and hard work, resulting in bankruptcy.

7. In Allaah’s cause – it includes financing of all efforts to spread Islam and to serve and
establish the Deen of Allaah in the society. Those who volunteer for the service of Deen,
their expenses can be met when they are on the mission, even if they may be resourceful
in their own lives.

8. Stranded Travelers – when travellers are stranded, they deserve help to meet their basic
needs if they are unable to fulfil them at that time, even if they may be well to do at
home.

The Prophet declared the use of charitable funds unlawful for himself, his family, his relatives,
people of his clan and any of his descendents that can be traced back to him. Even if they
were engaged in the administration of the charity, they would do it as volunteers and would
not be allowed to accept salary under category 3.

Before listing the categories, the verse uses the preposition “Li” meaning “for”, which may
indicate use, purpose, benefit, or ownership. Hanafis think that in this verse, it means
ownership and conclude that the charitable assets can be given only to individuals who can
take ownership of the assets so distributed. Until they take the ownership, Zakaah is not
considered paid. In other words, Zakaah cannot be used in projects undertaken for the
collective benefits of those who are legitimate recipients according to this verse, even if the
collective projects may take care of their needs better than giving them the charity
individually. A majority of the scholars disagree with them. Both Syed Abul A’la Maududi and
Amin Ahsan Islahi have given very strong arguments indicating invalidity of the Hanafi
opinion. For example, Islahi has pointed out that the last four categories are not even under
“li” but under “fi” (meaning “in”) which can never denote ownership but connotes meanings
like: to be used in the service, in fulfilling needs, in benefitting, in helping, etc. Similarly, Syed
Maududi has pointed out that even if “li” is taken to mean “ownership”, the ownership will
apply equally to all first four categories that are listed under the preposition “li”. From that
perspective, as soon as the administrators take the ownership, the Hanafi requirement is met.
Then, the administrators can use the funds or assets to serve the best interests of the
beneficiaries listed in the verse. He also quoted a Ĥadeeth reported by Imam Aĥmad ibn
Ĥanbal from Anas ibn Maalik wherein Anas states that a person came to the Prophet and
asked: “I have paid my Zakaah to your representative, does that absolve me from my
responsibility to Allaah and His Messenger?” The Prophet replied, “Yes, once you have paid it
to my representative, you have absolved yourself from your responsibility in that respect to
Allaah and His Messenger, and you will get your reward. If anyone misappropriates, the onus
of the sin will be on him.”

Maligning the Prophet by their accusations of mal-distribution of alms was not the only abuse
the hypocrites inflicted on the Prophet in their gossip campaigns. To vent their frustrations on
the success of the Prophet and the Islamic mission and to create as many problems as they
could, they would twist the words he uttered and make fun of his sayings, they would concoct
lies about his actions and mock at them and they would ridicule his plans to confront the
Roman superpower. Seeing the Muslims enthusiastically getting ready for the expedition,
despite their meagre resources and lack of equipment, they would tease and taunt the
Muslims about their intention of facing a well-equipped army with empty hands and empty
stomachs. They would do whatever they could to discourage the Muslims from joining the
expedition and break down their morale. This was all done behind the Prophet’s back. On his
face, they would pose as his ardent followers, and try to flatter him and impress him about
their loyalty to him and his mission. Naturally, the sincere Muslims would report their
infractions to the Prophet who had an open door policy for all Muslims. There were no class
or status barriers. Every Muslim was treated with respect and dignity, given due attention and
listened to. This bothered the hypocrites greatly because their machinations were exposed.
Frustrated that the Prophet believed the “riff-raff” Muslims instead of the “elite” hypocrites,
they would go back to their gossiping sessions and disparagingly call him “ears” implying he
heard every Tom, Dick and Harry and believed everything that he heard.

61
Some of them abuse the Prophet and     
say, “He is all earsi.” Say, “He is ears of
goodness for you; he believes in Allaah,         
trusts the true believers, and is a mercy
to those of you who believe. As for them     
who abuse the Messenger of Allaah,
there will be a painful punishment.
       

 

The response makes the following points:

1. What he hears and believes is only in the best interest of all people of his society and of
the Islamic mission; in fact, his patiently hearing all who come to him is also good for the
hypocrites because if he were to cross-question what he hears publicly, the invalidity of
their lame excuses will become evident and their hypocrisy will be exposed in public;

i
He hears everyone and believes everything that he hears.
2. What he believes is not merely based on hearsay because he believes what Allaah
informs him of the hypocrites machinations;
3. Though he hears everyone, he knows who are the true believers and trusts only them
because of their honesty and sincerity; and
4. He is an embodiment of mercy for the sincere believers and mercifully accords them full
respect, dignity and honour regardless of how the hypocrites view them.

What the hypocrites should worry about is the painful punishment that is awaiting them.

To be effective in their plans, the hypocrites needed to maintain their credibility among the
Muslim masses. When any aspect of their hypocrisy became public, they would try to restore
their credibility by using oaths to satisfy Muslims about their sincerity. The Muslims are being
reminded that had these oath-takers been sincere in the faith, their greatest worry would
have been to please and satisfy Allaah and His Messenger, instead of propagating against the
Prophet by calling him “ears”. How could they be credible when they launch immoral attacks
on the Prophet while at the same time swearing that they were sincere?

62
To you (Muslims), they swear by     
Allaah to please you; while Allaah and
His Messenger have greater right that      
their pleasure be sought by these
people, if they are true believers. 63 Do       
they not know that whoever opposes
Allaah and His Messenger -- that for       
him is fire of Hell wherein he will abide
eternally? That is the supreme
disgrace.      

All the hypocrites’ propaganda and oaths were in an effort to maintain their respect and
honour in the society. They have been reminded that what they really needed to worry about
was the ultimate disgrace they would face in Hell for their opposition to the Prophet.

While doing everything they were doing to maintain their credibility, they were also very
scared that a revelation from Allaah SWT may expose them beyond doubt in the eyes of
people. The next verse comments on their apprehension.

64
The hypocrites are apprehensive lest      
a Soorah is sent down for them
announcing to them what is in their        
minds. Say, “Keep on mocking! Allaah
will definitely be disclosing what you
fear that He may”. 65 And if you       
question them, they will certainly say,
“We were only toying with words and       
being playful.” Ask, “What? Was it
Allaah and His revelations and His     
Messenger that you were joking
about?” 

When the hypocrites were confronted about their slanderous gossips and about mocking the
Prophet and the Muslims at their preparations for the expedition, they would try to justify
them as facetious, non-serious, playful comments, as if it was not a matter of concern. The
reality is that a sincere Muslim would never mention Allaah or His revelations or His
Messenger in jest or playfully. Rather, he would tremble with awe at the mention of his Lord
and Creator’s name, and would stand in respect and devotion on hearing His revelations, and
would pray for Allaah’s blessing on the Prophet when uttering or hearing his name. Using any
of them for jokes, even if no disrespect is intended, is inappropriate and in itself a sign of
hypocrisy.

Thus, the excuse they used was as bad a crime as the original one.

66
Do not make excuses; you have        
disbelieved after believing. Even if We
pardon some of you, We will punish       
others of you, because they are guilty.
  

Not all hypocrites who engaged in such gossip and joking were at the same level. Some of
them were deliberately and purposefully engaged in such subversive activities, while others
may be some naïve persons who just went along with other hypocrites. Mercifully, Allaah
SWT had indicated that such people could be forgiven, if they disassociate from the real
culprits.

Hypocrisy was not a specialty of men only. It was found in both genders, with all hypocrites
bearing the same kind of personality profile. The next set of verses describes the typical
profile of a hypocrite so that it is clearly understood and distinguished from a true believer’s
personality. So far, the hypocrites were mixed among the Muslims and no effort had been
undertaken to distinguish one from the other. Now, through these verses, both are being
clearly separated from Muslims. They are being identified as a separate group or community
that belongs to each other and does not belong to the Muslims in any way whatsoever. Just
as in the beginning of the Soorah disassociation from the polytheists was announced and then
from the People with the Book, now Muslims are being signalled to differentiate and separate
themselves from the hypocrites so that Muslims of Madeenah become purified from all forms
of disbelief.

67
The hypocrite men and the      
hypocrite women belong to each
other. They enjoin the wrong and     
forbid the right, and withhold their
hands from giving. They have        
forgotten Allaah; so He has
forgotten them. Verily the
     
hypocrites are the defiantly
disobedient! 68 Allaah has promised
the hypocrite men, hypocrite     
women and the disbelievers, the
fire of hell to abide therein forever -          
- it befits them – and Allaah has
cursed them; and they shall have an   
enduring punishment.

We need to clearly understand the three signs of hypocrisy mentioned in this verse, but
keeping in mind that we are talking about those who call themselves Muslims and the terms
“wrong” and “right” or “bad” and “good” are as defined so by Allaah and His Messenger:

1. The first sign reminds us that when people become this-world-centred, they become
preoccupied with the accumulation of assets such as wealth, power, influence, fame,
praise and glory, as well as with the maximum gratification of one’s desires. This pre-
occupation drives them to use any illegal, immoral or evil means to gratify their desires
and achieve their objectives, as long as they think that they can get away with it without
being caught or paying a heavy price. Now, this kind of behaviour cannot be adopted
alone in a vacuum, but involves other people as well. Thus, these wrongdoers corrupt
other people who they transact with. In addition, they condone, encourage, support and
defend their friends, associate and other people who behave like them. Some people go
even further, and they feel happy and comfortable with the people of their own kind to
develop an environment all around them that cherishes and promotes their “values”.
They play their role in developing this environment by hiring, praising, promoting,
awarding and recognizing according to their own capacity and power. Thus, wherever a
hypocrite is, he contributes to evil in his own capacity as a politician, lawmaker, judge,
celebrity, writer, columnist, news anchor, businessman, show host, bureaucrat, policy
maker, etc. Furthermore, when other people see them succeed in the world becoming
rich and famous, they also copy them. The point we need to understand is that enjoining
 wrong covers all these forms of spreading evil in the society. It is not limited to giving an
order to someone else to do something bad, as most people may think.

2. On the other hand, such people consider goodness their enemy and treat it as such. They
discourage goodness in the society by their disapproval, criticism, sarcasm, jokes, satire,
cartoons, name calling, stereotyping, etc. If someone wants to do something good, they
advise them against it “in their best interest”. If someone stands up to promote
goodness, they become hell-bent on making him fail. In addition, all the tools used to
promote evil are used against goodness.

3. When it comes to spending in the way of Allaah or on a good cause, they are extremely
tight-fisted. Spending even a little bit of money in the way of Allaah seems such a
monumental task to them, while they will easily spend huge amounts of money on
showing off, on their personal luxuries or on societal customs and traditions.

Such behaviour is a result of their forgetting about Allaah and their accountability to Him. In
turn Allaah has also forgotten them in the sense that when they will need Allaah’s help and
when no other help will be available, they will not have any and they will be thrown in hell
where they belong.

The comment that they are defiantly disobedient (Faasiq) is made not only to identify the
sources of the three attributes listed above, but also to let people know that their claim to be
Muslims does not mean anything because their behaviour is clearly contradicting their claim.

After identifying their key attributes and warning them of the dire consequences of their
behaviour awaiting them in the Hereafter, Allaah SWT addresses them directly in the next
verse reminding them that they are not the first ones in adopting that kind of behaviour so
they should learn from the examples of their predecessors to understand what will be the
consequences of their behaviour for them in this world.

69
(O hypocrites! In your behaviour and      
corresponding punishment,) you are
like your predecessors who were     
stronger than you in power and more
affluent than you in wealth and    
children. They enjoyed their share of
enjoyment and you have enjoyed your
    
share of enjoyment as your
predecessor enjoyed their share; and
you indulged in vain discourses the      
same way as they did. They were those
whose works perished in this world and       
the Hereafter and they were the losers.
 

Often people misinterpret their prosperity and affluence to conclude that they must be doing
the right thing. These verses clarify the correct view that material well being is the wrong
criterion of success. All successes and enjoyments of this world disappear as soon as the eyes
close at the time of death. Those who focused their energies for the world will have nothing
to show in the Hereafter. The real success lies in doing the right things according to the Deen
of Allaah and establishing the justice and excellence that Allaah has mandated for people in
the society, as demonstrated by His messengers. Those who oppose the messengers become
losers both in this world and Hereafter. Here are some examples of their loss in this world:

70
Has there not reached them the story        
of those before them -- the People of
Nooĥi, ‘Aad, Thamood, the people of     
Ibraheemii, inhabitants of Madyaniii and
the overthrown citiesiv? Their     
messengers came to them with clear
signs, but they refused to listen. Allaah       
was not to do them injustice; it was
them who were unjust to themselves.
   

Allaah SWT had told human beings at the time of creation that they must live a life of
obedience to Him in this world and they should not listen to Shayŧaan because he is their
enemy. Allaah taught this message to Adam also, and even provided him training to live a life
of obedience while avoiding the traps of Shayŧaan. After that, it would have been perfectly
reasonable for Him to punish every human being who disobeyed Him. But He was very kind to
people. Mercifully, He sent messenger after messenger to remind people of their obligation
to their Lord and to practically teach them how to live their life in a way that will please Allaah
SWT. Those who chose to reject His messengers sent so mercifully, were their own enemies.
They had been unjust to themselves, despite Allaah’s kindness.

To clearly establish separation of the hypocrites from the Muslims, the next verse re-asserts
the fact that the Muslims belong to each other and are allies and brothers of each other. They
have no linkage with the hypocrites and possess the attributes that are totally opposite to the
hypocritical attributes. Although both communities claim to believe in Allaah, His Messenger

i
Noah
ii
Abraham
iii
Midian (Biblical) or Median (Saudi)
iv
The people of Looŧ (Lot).
and His Deen, nothing else is common among the two. Their attitudes, paradigms, objectives,
lifestyle and priorities – all are opposite to each other: hypocrites’ nullify their claim to faith,
Muslims’ verify the sincerity of their faith.

71
The believing men and the    
believing women are allies of one
another. They enjoin the right and      
forbid the wrong, establish Ŝalaah,
pay Zakaah and obey Allaah and His    
Messenger. Upon them Allaah will
have mercy; indeed Allaah is Mighty,
     
Wise.

        

    

72
Allaah has promised to the
believing men and the believing       
women gardens beneath which rivers
flow, wherein they will abide
      
eternally, and beautiful mansions in
the perpetually lush gardens, and
above all -- the pleasure of Allaah.       
That is the supreme success.

Establishing Ŝalaah and paying Zakaah are mentioned as additional qualities of the true
believers. These are two pillars which play the most instrumental roles in establishing the
Deen of Allaah collectively as a system of life, instead of being merely a religion of ritual
worship. Muslims do not live individually, but as an organized community. The community of
the faithful organizes itself and establishes its social and political system around the structure
of Ŝalaah and takes care of collective finances through a fiscal system based on the principles
of Zakaah.

As opposed to those who use worldly achievements as a measure of success, the real and
ultimate success is the success of the Hereafter. And if Muslims practise their Deen as it
should be practised, they attain the supreme success, the glimpses of which have been
described in this verse.
The Third Part
The part of the Soorah starting from verse 73 to the end of the Soorah contains verses that
were revealed at various times when the Prophet was stationed in Tabook and after he had
just returned to Madeenah.

Up until the revelation of these verses, the hypocrites of Madeenah were handled very
leniently. Although they had proven to be the snakes in the grass, always striking when
Muslims were most vulnerable, they were tolerated without being punished for their crimes:
their infractions were overlooked, their sabotages were ignored, their lame excuses and lies
were accepted without questioning, they were granted leave when it was not warranted,
they were included in public consultations despite their record of giving harmful advice, etc.
There were two key reasons for such leniency: not opening a front within the state while it
was constantly under attack from the disbelievers outside; and, providing them a chance to
study and observe the Islamic mission closely and directly so that if their hypocrisy was due to
some genuine doubts or misgivings, they could find answers to their satisfaction. Nine years
had provided them ample opportunities to address their genuine concerns. Also, in those
nine years, the external dangers were duly taken care of. Now, it was time to put them in
their proper place and to clearly and distinctly delineate the hypocrite community from the
Muslims Ummah for reasons such as:

 People will clearly understand that a claim to be Muslims has no value if the
behaviour is defiantly disobedient or is anti-Islam and anti-Muslim;
 When understood to be a totally different community from the Muslim Ummah,
hypocrites will not be able to play their fifth-columnist role as effectively as before;
and the Muslims will not be fooled or drawn into playing in their hands, giving them
a chance to create discord and discontent within the Islamic society; and
 Ideological separation of the two communities will minimize the impact of
hypocritical moral decadence on the behaviour of the Muslims who would know that
the hypocrites are not Muslims, but are disbelievers, not fit to be a part of the
Muslim community.

In addition, it was time to deal with them austerely and sternly in order to defang them so
that the Muslims are protected from their poisonous attitudes and views, thereby avoiding
future problems. Thus, the Prophet and the Muslims were commanded to: expose their
hypocrisy, hold them harshly responsible for their mischief and machinations, stop
befriending them, refrain from defending their actions or justifying their behaviour,
disassociate from them completely in terms of social interactions and relationships,
disapprove hypocritical behaviour openly, confront them on their lies sternly, refuse their
testimony, exclude them from consultative sessions, decline to have dinner parties with
them, etc. That is what the next verse commands.

73
O Prophet! Deal with hypocrites
and disbelievers austerely and be     
stern to them; eventually, their
home will be hell, an awful        
destination.


Although the message was about hypocrites, the disbelievers were included because they
both are one and the same from the Islamic perspective and both should be dealt with in the
same stern manner.

The next verse gives some key examples of their transgressions that call for determined and
harsh response from the Prophet and the Muslims, though the hypocrites continue to deny
their crimes when confronted, true to their lying personalities.

74
They swear by Allaah that they       
said nothing wrong, while they did
utter a statement of disbelief and      
they did disbelieve after their
professing Islam and they were         
determined in the plans that they
could not achieve. They are not
       
avenging anything but that Allaah
and His Messenger by their bounty
have made them rich! Therefore, if         
they repent, it will be better for
them; and if they turn away, Allaah        
will afflict them with a painful
punishment in the world and the    
Hereafter, and they will not have
any protector or supporter on
earth.

The statement this verse refers to can be any of the myriad words of disbelief the hypocrites
used to utter including: derision of the Prophet, Islamic teachings and the Muslims’ passion
for serving Allaah (as mentioned in verse 64-65); comments such as, “If what this man (the
Prophet ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) presents is right, then we are worse than donkeys”,
and “He gives us news from the heavens, but does not even know where his camel is”.

The plans alluded to in the verse include the example we quoted under verse 48. Another
example is their plot to kill the Prophet, on his way from Tabook, when about 12 of them
hiding their faces came to cause an “accident” to throw him off a very narrow pass into a
deep ditch. The Prophet had found out about the plot beforehand, and had taken measures
to encounter them. Thus when they came to execute the plot and were confronted, they ran
away lest their identities were exposed. But the Prophet knew who they were and confided
their names to Ĥudzaifah ibn Yamaan. For that reason, Ĥudzaifah was called the “keeper of
the secret told by the Prophet”. Also, the hypocrites who had stayed at home were expecting
a crushing defeat of the Muslims in Tabook, so they had prepared a plan to enthrone
‘Abdullaah ibn Ubayy as their king, as soon as the news of defeat was received. In short, they
never let a challenging time pass without plotting against the Prophet and the Muslims;
however, Allaah ensured that none of their plots succeeded.

The irony was that these hypocrites were the greatest beneficiaries of the establishment of
the Islamic state and the presence of the Prophet. Before the advent of the Prophet,
Madeenah used to be a small town called Yathrib, inhabited mostly by farmers with a very
low standard of living. Within nine years of his arrival, it had become the capital city of an
ever expanding state and a hub of economic activity with revenues coming from all over
Arabia. As sincere Muslims were preoccupied with the missionary demands and duties, and
were also spending freely in the way of Allaah, the hypocrites had a great opportunity to
benefit from those economic opportunities while not spending much in the way of Allaah at
all. In addition, the Prophet used to give them more than the sincere Muslims, so that if they
had any goodness in their hearts, the gestures of kindness of the Prophet might open their
hearts to adopt sincerity. All these opportunities had made them quite rich. But instead of
appreciating the benefits they had received, they continued to bite the hand that fed them.

Many of those who became rich because of the economic opportunities provided by Islam
used to express their desire during their days of poverty that they would donate generously in
the way of Allaah if they ever became resourceful. Now, they had completely backed off from
their pledge.

75
There are some among them who        
pledged to Allaah: “If He grants us
from His bounty, we will certainly      
spend in charity and we will surely
be among the righteous”. 76 Then,        
when He gave them from His
bounty, they became miserly with it
      
and turned back on their pledge
while being evasive. 77 As a result of
their breaking the pledge they made        
with Allaah and their habitual lying,
Allaah penalized them with   
hypocrisy ingrained in their psyches
until the day they will meet Him.
The hypocritical psyche is the natural result of a person’s repeatedly behaving insincerely.
After a few instances where a person gives preferences to self interest over his words or
principles, his mind starts regarding hypocrisy as the most prudent behaviour and gradually
this approach becomes ingrained in his psyche. As has been explained previously, all
consequences that people encounter as a natural result of the operation of the laws of nature
created by Allaah SWT, are duly attributed to Him in the Qur-aan.

On the one hand, hypocrites do not want to do good things themselves, but on the other
hand, they detest when the sincere people do their duty diligently because others’ good
performance makes them look bad. Thus, they try to stop others from doing the same good
they themselves have refused to do. Those sincere people who perform their duty as best as
they can, the hypocrites attack and slander them, finding faults with their performance and
accusing them of things that would not have even crossed the duty-bound sincere person’s
mind. If the person is good at doing his duty, they accuse him of showing-off, self promotion,
haughtiness, and ascribe countless other ulterior motives to him doing his Islamic duty. If the
person conscientiously performs his duty but is not good at it because of his limitations, they
ridicule him and deride his sincere performance. Thus, when the Prophet appealed to
everyone to contribute generously for financing the Tabook expedition, the hypocrites held
their fists tight while the sincere Muslims emptied their pockets and presented everything
they could, only to be accused of all sorts of the aforementioned ulterior motives by the
hypocrites. There were some very poor Muslims who had nothing to give, but they worked at
whatever labour jobs they could find and donated what they earned, even if it were only a
handful of dates. The hypocrites would laugh at them for their meagre contribution and
derided them with comments such as “They are going to conquer Rome with a widow’s
mite”.

78
Do they not realize that Allaah knows      
their secret thoughts as well as their
confidential whispers and that Allaah is      
the Absolute Knower of all things
hidden? 79 (He is well aware of the    
miserly hypocrite) who find faults with
alms of those believers who give
    
willingly and sincerely and those who
find nothing to donate except
sacrificing the meagre earnings from       
their hard labour. They ridicule these
sincere believers, while Allaah ridicules        
the miserly hypocrites for whom there
is a painful punishment. 80 (O Prophet!)        
Whether you seek forgiveness for them
or not, (they will not be forgiven). Even
if you ask forgiveness for them seventy
times, Allaah will not forgive them.         
That is because they disbelieved in
Allaah and His Messenger; and Allaah       
does not guide the defiantly
disobedient people.  

Despite the repeated observation of treachery and animosity from the hypocrites, the
Prophet, by virtue of his lenient nature, was still kind and forgiving to them and used to pray
that Allaah guide them so that they attain salvation. As a policy of complete separation and
stern dealings, verse 80 prohibits him strictly from praying for the hypocrites anymore.

The next set of verses comments on those who stayed behind at their homes under various
pretexts; however, the word used for them connotes “those who were left behind” indicating
that by granting their request to be excused, the Prophet deliberately left the unwilling and
trouble making participants behind.

81
Those who were left behind were     
delighted in staying home after the
departure of the Messenger of Allaah       
(for Tabook expedition); and they
hated to strive for Allaah’s cause with          
their assets and their persons, and said,
“Do not set out in such a heat.” Say,        
“The fire of Hell is more intense in
heat." If only they could understand! 82
Thus, they should laugh a little and      
weep a lot, as a recompense for what
they used to earn. 83 Now, if Allaah       
takes you back among some of them
and they seek your permission to set      
out for a future battle, tell them, “You
will never go out with me, ever, and
       
you will never fight along with me
against an enemy. You were happy to
sit out the first time, so keep sitting       
with those who stay behind.” 84 And
never offer a funeral prayer on any of        
them who dies, ever, nor stand at his
grave; for they did disbelieve in Allaah
and His Messenger, and died while         
they were defiantly disobedient.
    

Again, in keeping with the hypocritical nature described under verse 77, they tried to
discourage other people from joining the expedition citing the peak of summer heat and
other inconveniences. Although they felt very happy that they were able to avoid the trouble
of joining the expedition, they should have been crying for the destruction they had brought
upon themselves. In this world, they would be completely cut off from the Muslim
community and in the Hereafter they would face a painful punishment eternally.

Verses 83 and 84 are in continuation of the instructions to the Muslim community to cut
hypocrites off completely. Soon after the Prophet came back from Tabook, the chief
hypocrite and the key person behind almost all of the anti-Islamic intrigues, ‘Abdullaah ibn
Ubayy died. At the request of his son, a sincere Muslim, the Prophet graciously gave his own
clothes for the chief hypocrite’s burial. He even acceded to his son’s request to pray the
funeral prayer upon him, but was stopped from doing so by Allaah through verse 84. The
lesson for us on the basis of these teachings is that the leadership of the Muslim Ummah
should refrain from performing funeral prayers for the persons who are well known for being
defiantly disobedient to Allaah SWT.

While reading the Qur-aanic comments on hypocritical behaviour and their consequences,
the readers should be reflecting on the current situation of Muslims in the light of these
points because they are all relevant and applicable to the current situation of the Muslims
Ummah. For example, the current situation requires that Muslims give top priority to the
service of Deen until it is fully established in their societies as it was established in Madeenah.
That is an immense responsibility requiring huge sacrifices to which not many Muslims are
paying any attention. Rather, when a sincere Muslim stands up to perform his duty in the
service of Deen, and makes personal sacrifices for that purpose, many hypocrites who are not
sincere enough to do so, counsel such a devotee to focus on his family and self interests
i
instead. And if he continues, then they label him with all the labels mentioned earlier .

The next verse reminds the Muslims once again, as was done in verse 55, not to be impressed
with the prosperity and power the hypocrites seem to enjoy. Such reminders are needed
repeatedly because many people continue to wish to bring such “resourceful and influential
people” into the fold of the Islamic movement. In that passion, people often advocate
compromise on principles under the pretext of accommodation, diplomacy, tact or the like.

i
Muslims are required to strike a balance among the demands of the Islamic work, their family duties
and their personal needs. How to strike that balance depends on many factors discussed in my article on
maintaining a balance: http://www.ayubhamid.com/reflections/paradigms-a-attitudes/612-
maintaining-balance-as-a-muslim.
85
And let not their assets and their        
children impress you; by means of
these, Allaah only intends to punish        
them in this worldly life and
arranges that they continue to be       
disbelievers when their souls
depart. 86 When a Soorah was sent
     
down enjoining to believe in Allaah
and to fight along with His
Messenger, those fully capable       
among them sought your leave,
saying, “Leave us to be with those       
sit at home.” 87 They preferred to be
with the women who stay behind,       
and their minds were sealed, so
they do not understand any more.
    
88
On the other hand, the
Messenger and those who believed       
with him fought using their assets
and their person. For them are all       
the good things and they are those
who are the successful. 89 Allaah has        
prepared for them gardens beneath
which rivers flow, to dwell therein
   
forever; that is the supreme
success.

The hypocritical attitude of preserving material self-interest at any cost often puts them in
cowardly, shameful or dishonourable situations, but when they continue accepting shame
and dishonour, soon they even lose that sense. They do not even feel shame in a situation
where a sincere person would feel humiliated. Among Arabs, staying at home like women
while men go out to fight was a very dishonourable and humiliatingly shameful behaviour.
But the hypocrites had accepted that dishonour as their lifestyle.

Allaah SWT continues to mention proper Islamic behaviour after each identification of
hypocritical traits for two reasons: firstly, to encourage those among the hypocrites who still
have some goodness in their hearts to reform and adopt the proper Islamic behaviour; and
secondly to appreciate the sincerity of the true believers and give them the good news of the
wonderful life awaiting them in the Hereafter.
The subject matter so far was the behaviour of the urban hypocrites, the next section talks
particularly about the residents of rural settlements in the desert around Madeenah. Most of
the traits are common among all hypocrites, but the Bedouins are being addressed directly so
that they take notice, in case some of them feel that the previous address was not about
them

90
The excuse-makers from among the     
Bedouins also came to seek exemption
for them, while those who lied to Allaah       
and His Messenger just sat at home.
Soon will a painful punishment afflict      
those of them who disbelieved.


The verse mentions two types of hypocrites: the ones who came with artificial excuses; and,
the others who completely ignored the call and just stayed home. Three points have been re-
emphasized here: a verbal confession of faith without the conviction of the heart and the
mind behind it, is a lie, and such a person remains a disbeliever in Allaah’s books; not
responding to the call of a Messenger without a legitimate reason is a proof of that lie; and,
whether by ignoring the call or through an invalid excuse, shirking from striving for the
establishment of Allaah’s Deen without a legitimate reason is a sign of insincere faith and
thus is hypocrisy, which takes the person to the fire of hell. The phrase “those of them who
disbelieved” is used to provide exception for true believers who stayed behind for a
legitimate reason.

The next verse describes the legitimate reasons so that everyone understands them clearly.

91
Not guilty are the infirm, nor are       
the sick, nor are those who do not
find anything to spend, as long as      
they are sincere to Allaah and His
Messenger. There is no reason to        
blame those who excel in their
sincerity; and Allaah is Forgiving,       
Merciful. 92 Nor is there any blame
upon those who when they came to
you that you arrange transport for        
them, you told them, “I have
nothing for you to ride upon”, they
went back with their eyes
overflowing with tears from sadness       
for not having anything to spend for
that purpose.        

 

Infirmity due to advanced age, sickness or lack of resources to join in the effort is a legitimate
reasons as long as the person is sincerely devoted to the mission. This is something only
known to Allaah and the person himself, but it also shows itself in the attitude of the person
through his longing for the success of the mission, feeling deprived and sad for not being able
to participate, and trying to compensate by doing whatever little he can do, even if it is only
the passionate du’aas to Allaah SWT for the success of those who are actively engaged. In
fact, those who are hindered from serving the Deen due to a legitimate reason but their heart
remains longing for it and they feel more strongly for the missed opportunity than the
greatest loss a person can face in life, Allaah SWT mercifully grants them full reward as if they
have performed that service. Thus, the Prophet addressed his companions on their way back
from Tabook, saying, “There are people in Madeenah who have been with you all along your
journey.” When the companions wondered, “While they have been in Madeenah?”, he
explained, “Yes, while they have been in Madeenah, because they were forced to stay behind
by legitimate reasons, but they really did not want to stay.”

On the other hand, a person is insincere if he feels happy that he was excused because of
those reasons, or criticizes the activities of the mission or its participants, talks negatively
about it or spreads damaging rumours. If a person is able to avoid a responsibility by making
illegitimate excuses, to Allaah SWT, he is still guilty of shirking responsibility even if people
accept his excuse.

93
The blame is fully justified against     
those who claim exemption from you
while they are rich and are happy to be      
among stay-behind women. As a result,
Allaah has sealed their minds thus they       
do not even realize (the consequences of
their attitude).    

When a person adopts cowardice or starts shirking responsibility, he accepts even such
situations that are normally considered personally dishonourable and humiliating by norms of
the society because of his cowardice or to avoid the responsibility or sacrifices expected of
him. As he continues to do so, he becomes so conditioned to that humiliation or dishonour
that he does not even feel ashamed of it and accepts it as a normal situation. This
conditioning is described by the verse as “Allaah has sealed their minds thus they do not even
realize (the consequences of their attitude)”. If we reflect at the condition of Muslim Ummah
today, we will realise how badly an overwhelming majority of Ummah is suffering from this
malaise. Day by day, the enemies of Islam are pushing us to lower and lower levels of
dishonour and humiliation. Some Muslims show a bit of reaction when a new low is hit, but
then the new low is accepted as the new norm; and the Muslims continue their lives merrily
as if everything is fine.

Although most of the comments made in this part of the Soorah were made in reference to
the Tabook expedition, they apply in general to all attempts to establish the Deen of Allaah in
the society, not only to those warlike activities that are undertaken when the existence of the
Islamic state is threatened. Currently, when there is no Islamic state in existence, it applies to
all peaceful and democratic activities that are needed to launch an Islamic movement for the
purpose of achieving the objectives of Deen. Given the current conditions of the Ummah,
every Muslim community should have a clear definition of goals in the light of the objectives
of Deen as well as a strategy and concrete plans to achieve them. Definition of goals and
developing the strategy should be the highest priority work for the community leadership
while the execution of the plans should be the highest priority item in every Muslim’s daily
task list. Thus, every Muslim is duty-bound to strive hard for the attainment of the objectives
of Deen. Not giving a high priority to this work in a person’s life is hypocrisy in the same way
as mentioned in this part of the Soorah. This becomes an especially serious issue in the eyes
of Allaah SWT if some sincere Muslims are trying to fulfil this responsibility and call upon
others to join those efforts. Those who refuse to join such genuine efforts for their personal
worldly expediencies, without having one of the abovementioned legitimate reasons, their
sincerity to Islam becomes blotted in Allaah’s books. They are shirking their responsibility in
the same way as those condemned in this verse, and if they do not feel the dishonour and
humiliation in the current situation, it is because their hearts and minds have been sealed as
mentioned therein.

The next set of verses informs the Prophet and the believers beforehand that when the
hypocrites now see the Prophet and believers returning home safe and sound, they will try to
mend their reputation and ameliorate the Prophet and the Muslims with fabricated reasons
for their staying behind.

94
When you return to them, they will       
present a variety of excuses to you. Tell
them plainly, “Do not present any        
excuses; we are not going to believe
you. Allaah has already informed us of      
your real reasons. Now Allaah and His
Messenger will observe your      
behaviour. Eventually, you will be
brought back to the Knower of the
invisible and the visible; and He will      
inform you of what you have been
doing.” 95 They will swear to you by      
Allaah, when you return to them, so
that you overlook them. So do turn       
away from them! They are unclean and
their home will be Hell, a fitting
      
compensation for what they have been
earning. 96 They will swear unto you
so that you may be pleased with them.     
Even if you are pleased with them,
even then Allaah is not going to be        
pleased with such defiantly disobedient
people.     

At the time of the Prophet, Muslims had the benefit of the communications from Allaah to
the Prophet. Considering that we do not have that source of information, we must not
dispute anyone’s claim to be exempt for a valid reason, unless the excuse is blatantly invalid
or there is clear and strong evidence of its invalidity. On the other hand, it does not mean that
we should act naively or blindly and ignore a person’s hypocritical behaviour. We must not
judge anyone’s intentions, but we must point out hypocritical behaviour and encourage
people to avoid it. If someone practices hypocritical behaviour, that person should not be
befriended, socialized with, accorded protocols or given a position of responsibility.
Otherwise, it will spread hypocrisy and cause moral degeneration in the society, as has been
discussed earlier. Even in verse 94, the hypocrites are being told that their performance will
be watched. It is their future performance that will determine if they still belong to the
hypocritical community or have decided to join the community of the sincere believers.

The command to turn away from them, once again, means that the Muslims should segregate
themselves completely from the hypocrites.

Once again, the message of verse 96 is that those who are found to be defiantly disobedient,
the Muslims should not behave with them in any way that can be construed as a tacit
approval or condoning of their behaviour. The same was true for the Bedouins who were not
taking Islam seriously.

As mentioned earlier, “Al-A‘raab” or Bedouin were residents of various scattered rural or

desert settlements around Madeenah, who were self-governed within their own clans and
were not accustomed to being governed by any central authority. When the Islamic state was
established in Madeenah, they observed with interest. Initially, they watched the conflict
between pagans and the Muslims from the sidelines. When the Islamic state became a power
to reckon with and it defeated all of its enemies, many of them thought it expedient to
become Muslims and align with a growing power. According to the general concept of
religion which has been prevalent among the majority of people of the world over the ages,
they assumed Islam would be a similar religion. Instead of showing their devotion to an idol,
they would make the devotion to Allaah, respect the Prophet as other religious leaders were
respected, present him some offerings once in a while, and get some blessings and amulets
for their successes in the matters of the material world. They did not bother to learn Islam
properly so that they would clearly understand that it was a Deen, a system of life, not merely
a religion. Once they accepted Islam, they were expected to spend time in learning the Deen,
establish Ŝalaah, pay Zakaah annually according to the established rates, abide by the law and
order, submit to the political authority and court system, and above all strive hard for the
objective of Deen and fight in the way of Allaah when needed. This was all too much for
them. They had no inclination or time to leave their flocks and crops and spend time on
learning the Deen. Zakaah was particularly troubling for them to pay on their crops at the
time of the harvest and annually on their entire assets including their flocks. Although they
were used to fighting for the defence of their clan, or for looting and robbing, fighting only for
the pleasure of Allaah was also extremely hard for them. That is why they would devise
different excuses to get out of this responsibility. In other words, they did not want to make
any sacrifice for the Deen, neither their time, nor their assets nor their persons, indicating a
lack of sincerity for and purity of faith. That is precisely what hypocrisy and disbelief is. And
that is why Allaah will remain displeased with them unless and until they rid themselves of
their hypocritical behaviour. These are the points that the next verse is referring to.

97
The reason is that currently the      
Bedouins are stronger in disbelief and
hypocrisy, and are more likely to be        
ignorant of the limits of what Allaah has
revealed to His Messenger; and Allaah is       
Knowing, Wise. 98 Some of them consider
Zakaah they pay as a penalty and await
       
turns of misfortune for you (to get rid of
your governance). Upon them will be the
misfortune of evil; and Allaah is Hearing,        
Knowing.

Some of the Bedouin tribes had accepted Islam only as an expedient move to align with a
rising power, but they were not serious about it. Rather, they were waiting for a major defeat
of the Muslims in order to rebel. This opportunity arose at the death of the Prophet, when
such tribes declared apostasy and others refused to pay Zakaah, thus rebelling against Aboo
Bakr’s Khilaafah (Caliphate).

However, not all of them were that way. There were also many tribes who had accepted
Islam sincerely. The next verse recognizes those noble souls.
99
However, there are among Bedouins      
also those who truly believe in Allaah
and the Last Day, and treat what they       
pay as a means of obtaining nearness to
Allaah and the Messenger's invocations        
for Allaah’s blessings. Of course! It surely
is a means of nearness for them. Soon
       
will Allaah admit them to His Mercy;
surely Allaah is Forgiving, Merciful.
 

So far the focus was on identifying and highlighting hypocritical behaviour and its
consequences in general as well as educating Muslims how to segregate themselves
completely from hypocrites, and thus, remove the hypocritical cancer from their society. In
the next section, the whole society has been categorized in different groups according to
their response to the call of the Prophet for the Tabook expedition, and the fate of each
group has been commented upon. The first category is of those who excel in sincerity and
obedience to Allaah SWT.

100
As for the pioneers, the first of the    
Muhaajireeni and the Anŝaarii, and
those who followed them superbly,     
Allaah is pleased with them and they
are pleased with Him; and He has       
prepared for them gardens beneath
which rivers flow, wherein they will
       
abide forever. That is the supreme
success.
     
101
Some of the Bedouin living around
you are hypocrites, as are some of the       
people of Madeenah; they have
become deft in hypocrisy. You do not         
know them; We know them. We will

i
The Immigrants -- those Muslims who left their relatives and their properties and migrated from other
parts of Arabia to Madeenah for the sake of the Islamic mission to establish the Islamic society.
ii
The Helpers -- the local Muslims of Madeenah who welcomed the immigrant Muslims, helped them
settle, and helped the mission as well as the establishment of the Islamic state.
punish them here twice, and then they
will be relegated to a tremendous      
punishment.
 

The second category consists of both the urban and rural hypocrites. The mention of the
hypocrites’ deftness reminds the Muslims to be extra sensitive and careful not to be fooled by
them, considering them to be one of the sincere Muslims. The Muslims must be on their
guard and watch for the signs of hypocritical behaviour. There is also a warning for the
hypocrites that regardless of how deft they become in hiding their hypocrisy, they cannot
hide it from Allaah.

The two punishments in this world are: firstly, the hypocrites thought that they were playing
smart games keeping everyone – Muslims as well as their foes – happy, without making any
sacrifice for any party, and thus protecting their worldly interests. They would fail in this goal
quite miserably, especially after the commands for segregation were given in this part of the
Soorah. Secondly, they had been conspiring against the Islamic movement and wanted to see
it fail. To their chagrin, Islam would be firmly established and spread all over the world.

The third category is for sincere but sinful Muslims. At this point, the difference between a
hypocrite and a sinning Muslim should be clearly understood. A hypocrite does not really
believe in Islam, harbours doubts about the truth of Islam, but pretends to be faithful. Their
claim is falsified by defiant disobedience on a regular basis, rebelling against Qur-aanic
injunctions, considering the Qur-aan inapplicable or irrelevant, making fun of authentic
Islamic symbols or Qur-aanic teachings, siding with enemies of Islam, intentionally doing
things that hurt the interest of Islam or Muslims, being unwilling to spend time or money for
Islamic objectives or to make any sacrifices for Islam, or defending and justifying disobedience
of the Qur-aanic commands instead of accepting one’s mistake. If a person consistently and
clearly displays hypocritical behaviour, the Muslims should totally disengage with such a
person, refuse to accept any donation he makes, and not pray the funeral prayer upon him or
seek forgiveness for him even if he is a very close relative such as a father or son. On the
other hand, a sinner Muslim believes in Islam but slips and makes mistakes or commits sins
but not defiantly or rebelliously, has not been disobeying regularly, acknowledges his mistake
and feels remorse on such sins instead of trying to justify them or come up with excuses, has
performed well in other matters of obedience in the past, does not challenge the authority of
Allaah and His Messenger or relevance of the Qur-aan, respects Islamic symbols and
teachings, etc. Such a person will be treated like all other Muslims. This is a general
differentiation between a hypocrite and a sinful Muslim.

Keep in mind that the Tabook expedition was an extraordinary test of sincerity and loyalty to
Islam. In this case, the sin was staying behind, while good deeds of the past were the track
record of sacrifices made for the Deen in the past. A hypocrite would come up with excuses
to justify his staying behind and would have dubious record in the past, while a sinning
Muslim would confess the mistake and would have a good track record of sacrifices in the
past.

102
There are others who have confessed     
their sins, having mixed good and bad
actions in their performance. Hopefully,       
Allaah will turn to them mercifully; surely
Allaah is Forgiving, Merciful. 103 Accept         
charity out of their assets, you would
purify them and grow them in virtues      
thereby. Also, invoke Allaah’s blessings
on them, as your invocation will bring
them comfort; and Allaah is Hearing,         
Knowing. 104 Do they not know that
Allaah accepts repentance from His        
slaves as well as their charities and that
Allaah is Ever-Accepting of repentance,     
the Merciful.
105       
Tell them O Prophet: “Perform as you
like to; and Allaah, His Messenger and
the believers will be observing your     
performance; eventually, you will be
brought back to the Knower of the      
invisible and the visible; and He will
inform you of what you have been      
doing”.

For people in this category, the remedy of the sin of not joining the Tabook expedition
consisted of: turning remorse into repentance; giving charity to expiate the sin; and showing
improvement in dedication to the Deen from then on, which will be carefully observed by
Allaah, His Messenger and the Muslims. If their past record has been good, and they perform
according to these criteria, they will remain a part of the Muslim community, the Prophet will
accept their charity and will pray for them including their funeral prayer.

Reporters of Ĥadeeth have reported a case of Aboo Lubaabah and six others who were in this
category. They were sincere believers but were negligent in this case. The revelation of the
earlier part of this Soorah shook them up and they realized the graveness of their
carelessness. They presented themselves to the Prophet, professed their negligence and tied
themselves to the pillars of the Masjid, not to eat, drink or sleep until they were forgiven.
They fainted after some time in that condition, then Allaah announced their forgiveness
through these verses. They offered to give all their possessions in charity as expiation of their
negligence, because it was the worldly considerations that had stopped them from
participating. But the Prophet asked them to give only 1/3, which they instantly donated. This
demonstrates clearly the difference between hypocritical and sincere Muslim attitudes. This
also illustrates what type of attitude causes Allaah SWT to forgive.

Despite the acceptance of their repentance, they have been put on notice that their future
performance will be observed so that they do not lapse again and continue to improve their
performance.

The message we need to learn from these verses and their background is that:

 The real test of a Muslim’s faith is how much priority the establishment of Deen and
the attainment the objectives of Deen has in a person’s list of priorities, and how
much sacrifice a person is willing to make for his Deen or suffering he is willing to
endure. Unfortunately, an overwhelming majority of Muslims nowadays have
abandoned these objectives completely and are not willing to suffer much for their
Deen.

 Justifying or defending one’s sinful activity is a sign of hypocrisy, while remorse and
repentance is a sign of faith.

 Spending generously in the way of Allaah is an effective cure against hypocrisy

because the root cause of hypocrisy is the love of the world. When repentance is
accompanied by charity, it transforms the verbal repentance into a practical
repentance.

 Sincerity of the repentance is evidenced by the subsequent behaviour of the person.

There were three more individuals in this category – Ka‘b ibn Maalik, Hilaal ibn Umayyah and
Muraarah ibn Rubai’ -- who were sincere Muslims but had been negligent in the matter of the
Tabook expedition. They had also come to the Prophet and remorsefully confessed their
mistake. However, their behaviour had not yet demonstrated the level and intensity of their
remorse. Thus, Allaah SWT deferred the acceptance of their repentance.

106
There are others whose matter has
been deferred awaiting Allaah’s verdict;      
He may punish them or accept their
repentance; and Allaah is Knowing, Wise.        

Their repentance was also accepted later on and announced in verse 118.

Worst among them all was the final group, the hypocrites who, in addition to other
hypocritical behaviour mentioned so far, were also actively engaged in serious intrigues
against the Islamic state. To understand the background of their schemes, an introduction of
the activities of Aboo ‘Aamir, the Monk will be helpful.

Aboo ‘Aamir was a member of the Khazraj tribe of Madeenah who had converted to
Christianity and become a monk. He was well regarded as a Christian scholar as well as a
monk. He commanded special respect and reverence among the ignorant Arabs of Yathrab
(Madeenah). The advent of the Prophet eclipsed his importance, which made him a bitter
enemy of the Prophet. At first he hoped, along with other hypocrites, that the Quraish would
succeed in obliterating the Muslims. When those hopes were dashed in the Battle of Badr, he
set out travelling among different tribes to incite them against the Muslims. He played an
important role in inciting the Makkan attack that was defended by the Muslims in the Battle
of Uĥad. The ditches dug in the battle field, one of which the Prophet fell into and sustained
injuries, were dug on his command. He was instrumental in inciting all of the tribes to attack
Madeenah in unison with a combined force of ten thousand (10,000) fighters that resulted in
the Battle of the Trench. In short, despite being Christian, he continued to support idolaters
against the Muslim worshipers of one God, until the Muslims succeeded in defeating their
Arab enemies. Then, he turned to Rome, his fellow Christians. It was after Aboo ‘Aamir’s
audiences with Christian authorities that the Prophet started receiving the news of Rome’s
preparation for attacking the Muslims.

During all his anti-Islamic activities, he remained in touch with the network of the hypocrites
within Madeenah who were fully supportive of his activities and coordinated their anti-Islam
intrigues with his. When he was leaving for Rome, he made arrangements with the hypocrites
of Madeenah that they should build their own separate masjid where the hypocrites allied
with him could meet and plan their activities. In addition, Aboo ‘Aamir’s messengers could
come from Rome and stay in that masjid to exchange news and coordinate plans.

Madeenah already had two masjids that were meeting the needs of the Muslims. There was
no need to have another one. Besides, building another masjid meant dividing the
community, which was not acceptable to the Prophet or the sincere Muslims. However, the
hypocrites came to the Prophet to inform him that they were going to build a masjid close to
their residences for the elderly and handicapped as well as for other people during the
inclement weather. When the building was ready, they invited the Prophet to inaugurate it
by leading Ŝalaah in it but the Prophet excused himself because of the demands of the
preparations for the expedition. When the Prophet was gone for the expedition, this was the
place where the hypocrites had resolved to enthrone the Chief Hypocrite, ‘Abdullaah ibn
Ubayy, as their king as soon as the news of Muslims’ defeat was received from the Roman
frontiers.

The next few verses were revealed to the Prophet on his way back to Madeenah. At this
revelation, he sent a few persons ahead who demolished the masjid and burnt its debris.

107
Then there are those who put up a     
masjid for harming the Islamic
mission, practising disbelief, causing     
disunity among the believers, and
serving as an outpost for those who        
have been warring against Allaah and
His Messenger. They will definitely       
swear that they had only good
intentions, but Allaah testifies that
      
they certainly are liars. 108 You must
never stand therein! Certainly a
masjid founded on Taqwa from the       
very first day is more deserving that
you should stand for worship in it; in         
there are people who love to be
purified; and Allaah loves those who      
purify themselves.
109      
Then, is he who founded his
building upon Taqwa of Allaah and
His pleasure better or he who        
founded his building on the edge of a
crumbling, overhanging precipice         
which then collapsed with him into
the fire of hell. And Allaah does not       
guide the wrongdoing people. 110
Their building which they built will
       
never cease to cause scepticism in
their hearts, until their hearts are cut
to pieces; and Allaah is Knowing,        
Wise.

The Arabic word used in verse 109 is “juruf”. It is used to describe an overhanging precipice
created by the force of water flow under a river bank, which is highly unstable and may fall at
anytime into the river. The allegory indicates how hypocritical activities are morally and
ethically decadent and founded upon a rotten, hollow and unstable philosophy of life that
crumbles and falls into hell. In fact, any activity that is not undertaken for the pleasure of
Allaah is similarly flawed.

Verse 110 describes the psychological condition where the person has gone to such an
extreme in some matter to a point of no return. In the case of hypocrites, it is their extreme
scepticism that has become so ingrained in their nature that they remain doubtful even when
the truth stands naked in front of them.
The other points we learn are: A masjid’s value does not come from its building but from the
intentions and motives for which it is built. It is a sacred place only if it is built with the right
intentions, for the right reasons, and it is inhabited by those who possess Taqwa, purity of
thoughts and are dedicated to attain excellence in their character. Thus, building a masjid in
itself is not a rewarding act unless it is clearly linked to the attainment of the Islamic
objectives.

After commenting on the behaviour of different groups, the next two verses concisely define
what it means to be a Muslim so that all those claiming to be Muslims clearly know what is
expected of them. These verses define the standard against which Muslims can measure
themselves to see if their attitude and behaviour is Islamic or hypocritical.

111
Indeed, Allaah has purchased from      
the believers their persons and their
possessions in exchange for the       
promise that they will have Jannahi;
they fight for Allaah’s cause, so they       
kill and are killed; it is a true promise
binding on Him made in the Towraah       
(Torah), the Injeel (Gospel) and the
Qur-aan. So, who is better in fulfilling
his promise than Allaah? Rejoice then      
in your bargain that you have made;
and that is the supreme success.        

  

The message of the verse is that being a Muslim is not a matter of uttering a few words or
performing a few rituals; it is selling one’s life and possessions to Allaah SWT as a price for
Jannah. While reflecting on this point we should remember that our life and everything we
own is Allaah’s, and they have been given to us in trust for a short span of time -- our life in
the world. As trustees, we are morally and ethically bound to spend our time and resources
according to the wishes of Allaah SWT, the real Owner. Allaah has every right to demand that
type of behaviour without giving anything in return. But mercifully and graciously, He buys it
back from us and if we do as He tells, He pays for it with Jannah.

The implications of this deal are as described in the following paragraphs.

i
Gardens of Paradise
A person’s life, time, energies, capabilities, money, wealth, influence, power and all other
imaginable resources at his disposal, without any limits, constraints or exceptions (whether
private or public, spiritual or carnal, individual or collective), are not going to be spent
according to the way he or she wants but according to the way Allaah wants them to be used
in achieving the objectives of Deen. The objectives of Deen are: to attain personal excellence
individually and to establish the complete Deen of Allaah in the society collectively so that the
society as a whole also becomes imbued with justice, peace, and excellence. Allaah SWT has
described the objectives, as well as the way to achieve them, in the Qur-aan and has also sent
His Messenger to practically demonstrate exactly how that should be done. This is the deal
we acknowledge, accept and ratify when we say “There is no ilaah except Allaah and
Muĥammad is the Messenger of Allaah”.

From the perspective of this deal, if a person fulfils all Islamic rituals regularly but spends his
time and resources in other matters as he likes, or as his family and friends like, or as the
customs and traditions of the society like, that person is reneging on his deal and will not get
the price promised for the deal. If the person does not even consider the applicability of the
deal to every aspect of his life and resources, he is not even counted as a believer in Allaah’s
books, although he is defined as a Muslim according to Fiqh. The definition of a Muslim in the
books of Fiqh is for worldly affairs, but Allaah SWT will deal with people in the Hereafter
according to His definitions such as given in this verse.

The mention of killing and being killed in the verse indicates the extent to which this deal
applies. The essence of the deal is: not holding back anything at anytime whatsoever from
Allaah; and not showing any laxity or reservations whatsoever in doing what is needed to be
done for the attainment of the objectives of Deen. What needs to be done is determined by
the leadership of the Islamic movement, which at the time of the revelation was the Prophet
himself, according to the needs of the time at a particular stage of the Islamic movement. The
overall methodology and the crux of the Islamic movement is propagating its message
peacefully, selling ideas, removing doubts, providing answers, changing attitudes, shifting
paradigms, broadening the outlook – in short, convincing intellectually. When freedom of
expression is curtailed or denied and thus Muslims are hindered from sharing, selling or
delivering their message, the movement has to find tactful ways of doing it. If Muslims are
persecuted for giving the message, they are required to take all persecution in stride and bear
the persecution without responding in any aggressive way whatsoever, as was the behaviour
of the Muslims in the Makkah. It is only when an Islamic state is democratically (meaning:
respecting the will of the majority of the residents) established and a situation of a formal war
arises, then and only then, “killing and being killed” applies, as was the case of earlier wars
the Muslims fought against the Makkans and of the Tabook expedition.

The Muslim minorities living in Western countries, and especially in the UK, US and Canada,
must understand it clearly that they are at the Makkan stage of the Islamic work. They are still
required to dedicate their lives and resources to the service of Allaah’s Deen. If the service of
Allaah’s Deen is not given top priority in their busy lives, they will be guilty of violating the
deal referred to in this verse. But these efforts must be in line with the Makkan style of
Islamic work. Just like the Muslims in Makkah were required to tolerate everything without
responding aggressively, we must do the same. In the current circumstances, any aggression
exhibited by the Muslims living in these countries is un-Islamic.

This deal has always been the essence of Islam since Adam’s time. The verse mentions the
Torah and the Gospel as examples. We know that the Bible and Torah, as they exist today, are
neither accurate nor complete records of the teachings of the earlier messengers of Allaah.
i
However, the essence of the deal can still be seen reflected in some of their verses :

The Torah:
Hear, O Israel! The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:4-
5)

Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD
your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with
all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD'S commandments and His
statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)

Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father
who has bought you? He has made you and established you. (Deuteronomy 32:6,
New American Standard)

The Gospel:

When asked about the most important or foremost commandment of Allaah, Jesus
responded, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Matthew 22:37, Mark
12:30, Luke 10:27)

He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find
it. (Matthew 10:39)

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake
will find it. (Matthew 16:25 and similar verses in Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, and Luke
17:33).

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or
children or fields for My sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit
eternal life. (Matthew 19:29)

i
Some quotations given in the Appendix may also be relevant.
 And He said to them, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife
i
or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God , who will not
receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life." (Luke
18:29-30 and similar passage in Mark 10:29-30)

Those Muslims who truly adopt Islam as mentioned above, possess the characteristics
mentioned in the next verse:

112
Such believers are those who are   
repentant, who serve Him like true
slaves, who praise Him with   
gratitude, who travel around for His
cause, who bow down in rukoo’,     
who prostrate in worship, who
enjoin what is right and forbid what
     
is wrong, and who strictly observe
Allaah’s limits; and give good news
to such believers. 

Before discussing the attributes of the believers mentioned in this verse, the point that
should be noted is that being “attributes” these characteristics are integral parts of their
personality, exhibited in their behaviour on a regular basis, not “activities” undertaken
occasionally.

The first attribute is that they are repentant. Although they understand the deal and they are
fully committed to do their part of the deal, being human beings they are not free from
making mistakes or slipping. But whenever they err or slip, they immediately repent sincerely.
To start with this attribute was very relevant in the context of the shortcomings of some
people in fulfilling their obligations at the occasion of the Tabook expedition. A sincere
Muslim would waste no time before sincerely repenting.

The second attribute is that they serve Allaah SWT like His true slaves. Many translators do
not qualify “service” with “like slaves”, but without this qualifier the real meaning of the word
is not properly conveyed that connotes from the root word ‘Abd (slave). It is necessary to
include it to convey two important meanings: It is a whole life, 24/7 service; and it calls for
total obedience without any limits, without any option or choice to pick and choose what to
obey and what not to obey. For example, people do not make the decision when to stay
behind to look after their worldly needs and when to join the Islamic struggle. Only Allaah and

i
Jesus used this term, Kingdom of God, as we use the term establishing Allaah’s Deen. This is clear in the
Lord ’s Prayer, when it is said, ““Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Matthew 6:10
His Messenger make those decisions. After repentance, re-dedicating oneself to the complete
slave-like servitude of Allaah SWT is the natural step.

The third attribute is that they praise Him with gratitude. As was explained in detail in the
Tafseer of Soorah Al-Faatiĥah, “Ĥamd” is the praise that that comes out of one’s heart when
impressed and overwhelmed with the praised entity’s kindness, bounties and favours.
Muslims are fully perceptive of the countless kindnesses, bounties and favours of Allaah SWT
and hence praise Him appreciatively all the time. Allaah’s appreciative praise is actually the
soul behind all of the acts of devotion and worship of Allaah SWT.

The fourth attribute is that they travel around for His cause. Some translators and
commentators translate it as “those who fast”. This word has not been used in Arabic for
fasting. It is only used for travelling. Even in the second verse of this Soorah, it has been used
for that meaning. Usually a Ĥadeeth is quoted to the effect that the Prophet gave it that
meaning, but Syed Abul A’la Maududi has questioned the authenticity of that Ĥadeeth and its
attribution to the Prophet. However, there is an authentic Ĥadeeth reported by Aboo
Dawood, “The religious travelling of my Ummah is performing Jihaad for Allaah’s cause”.
From that perspective, it includes all sacrifices of one’s personal life that are made (including
the time spent out of home) in one’s efforts to attain the objectives of Deen (to develop and
grow in personal excellence, to propagate the message of Islam and to establish the Deen of
Allaah in the society).

The attributes of bowing and prostrating go beyond the performance of the five-times daily
Ŝalaah to include other optional worships and expressions of devotion to Allaah SWT.

The concepts of enjoining good and forbidding wrong were commented on while discussing
verses 67 and 71 of this Soorah. This is an extremely important activity for the establishment
and maintenance of the Deen in the society.

The final attribute mentioned in the verse is that they strictly observe Allaah’s limits. All
restrictions that Allaah SWT has specified for us in all matters such as beliefs, worship, morals
and ethics, conduct and dealings, fiscal and social rules, legal and political matters, internal
and international affairs, are Allaah’s limits. Muslims individually and Muslim society
collectively must implement, observe and stay within those restrictions and limits.

Muslims whose personalities are imbued with these attributes are the ones who are true
believers, doing their part of the deal with Allaah SWT.
Concluding Remarks for the Soorah

The soorah started with complete dissociation from the idolaters or polytheists (Mushriks) as
a final stage of eradicating idol worship and polytheism from the Arabian society. The first
verse of this last part of the soorah is to ensure that disassociation is complete in every
respect, including being rid of any sympathetic sentiments for them.

113
It is not fitting for the Prophet and      
those who believe, that they should seek
forgiveness for polytheists, even if they     
were near relatives, after it has become
clear to them that they are inmates of       
the flaming fire. 114 As for Ibraheem’s
seeking forgiveness for his father, it was      
only because of a promise he had made;
but when it became clear to him that his
father was Allaah’s enemy, he       
dissociated from him completely. Verily,
Ibraheem was most tender-hearted,          
forbearing.
   

Seeking forgiveness for polytheists implies two things: the person seeking forgiveness
assumes that the sin of associating partners with Allaah (Shirk) is forgivable; and the person
has love and sympathy towards that polytheist. Firstly, a Muslim knows that associating or
equating partners with Allaah is a sin that Allaah does not forgive unless a person abandons it
completely and repents. How can a Muslim then pray for such a person’s forgiveness?
Secondly, considering Allaah’s declaration about the unforgivable nature of Shirk, it is obvious
that even if the Prophet or Muslims seek forgiveness for the polytheists, it is not going to
make any difference at all. However, making such a du’aa indicates the seeker’s heart is not
at the right place. He has not yet fully surrendered his emotions or aligned his likes or dislikes
with Allaah’s. True Muslims’ love and hate are also for the sake of Allaah and fully aligned
with His wishes. This point was explained by the Prophet when he said, “Whoever loves for
Allaah, hates for Allaah, gives for Allaah and refuses for Allaah, has completed his faith”.
Allaah wants us to be tender and kind to all people, until they rebel defiantly against Allaah.
In that case, we must be stern and strong, abandoning all emotional attachments. Thirdly, by
the time of this revelation, the polytheists had been given every opportunity to abandon
Shirk. They had been approached every possible way – through education, information,
logical arguments, rational reasoning, historical lessons, heritage of Ibraheem and Isma‘eel,
warnings, empirical evidence in the form of the success of the Islamic movement, final
ultimatum, so on and so forth. The only people left were polytheists who had sealed their
minds shut from receiving the guidance, were rebellious to Allaah SWT and were avowed
enemies of the Islamic movement. Seeking forgiveness for such people meant that the person
was giving preference to his kinship sentiments over loyalty to the Truth, which is not
befitting a Muslim.

In case people misuse the example of Ibraheem (AS) praying for his father, the point has been
clarified. When Ibraheem invited his father and his people to Islam, he was thrown out of his
home by his father and forced to emigrate, not knowing where to go. Ibraheem, being a very
tender-hearted person, indicated to his father that he would pray for his forgiveness in an
effort to save him from the fire of hell. Initially, he did pray for him as promised, but when he
realized that his father is an enemy of Allaah’s Deen and thus cannot be sympathized by a
“friend of Allaah”, he disassociated from him completely, abandoning any feelings or
emotions for him.

It should be remembered that when there is still hope that a disbeliever may accept the
guidance of Islam, praying for his or her guidance is not prohibited. Similarly, as human
beings, their rights must be respected and fulfilled. If they need help in their basic human
needs, they must be helped generously like any other human being.

The next verse describes a policy statement about the Sunnah of Allaah that explains why
Allaah SWT identifies and describes the behaviours that the Muslims should avoid.

115
It is not Allaah’s way to let a people       
stray after He has guided them until
making clear to them what they should        
avoid; indeed Allaah knows all things. 116
Indeed, Allaah's is the kingdom of the         
heavens and the earth; He grants life
and causes death; and besides Allaah,       
you have no protector or helper.

       



Allaah SWT lets Muslims know what kinds of ideas, attitudes and actions they must avoid, so
that they can remain within Allaah’s limits. Then, if they cross any of those limits, their loyalty
to Allaah and their faith diminishes to the extent of violation. If they continue to violate limits
of Allaah, they become too comfortable with that kind of lifestyle and Allaah leaves them to
go astray as they like. Thus, after adopting Islam, Muslims’ remaining on the path of guidance
depends on the choices they make. If they make the choices that are in violations of His limits
that should have been avoided, Allaah does not hold them back. After providing the
knowledge of limits through revelations, He does not force people to abide by them, but lets
people make their choices and drift away, if they want.
i
For example, in the case of praying for the Mushriks , He has informed people what He does
not like. If Muslims follow their sentiments and remain sympathetic to the Mushriks despite
knowing their rebellion against Allaah SWT, He will not interfere in any way to stop them. This
first step of theirs in the wrong direction may then slowly draw them more and more into the
love of Mushriks while compromising their loyalty to the Deen, until it becomes a challenging
ii
fitnah for them. It was due to such sentiments for Mushrik family members that led a Badri
companion, Ĥaaŧib ibn Abi Balta’ah, to provide sensitive military information to the pagans.

That is exactly what happened to those sincere Muslims who stayed behind when the
Prophet left for Tabook. Initially, they were merely lazy in responding to the call of the
Prophet, though they had no intention of disobeying him or staying behind. But one thing led
to another and they ended up staying behind.

Those who make the wrong choices should remember that they will have no helper or
protector in the universe to save them from the consequences of their wrong choices and
from the punishment of Allaah.

From verse 38 onwards, Allaah SWT used the performance of the Muslims in respect of the
Tabook expedition to identify and correct the deficiencies they showed in their dedication to
the establishment, defence and maintenance of the Deen of Allaah SWT. After segregating
the hypocrites and completely cutting them off from the Muslim community, the next section
declares the mercy of Allaah SWT for all sincere believers in the form of His acceptance of
their repentance for the mistakes thus made.

117
Certainly Allaah turned mercifully to      
the Prophet and those of the
Muhaajireen and the Anŝaar who      
followed him in a time of difficulty, after
the thoughts of some of them were        
about to deviate; but when they stayed
the path, He turned to them mercifully.
        
Indeed, He is affectionate and Merciful
to them.

The bestowal of Allaah’s mercy is listed for each major segment of Islamic society starting
from the Prophet in the order of their status in the eyes of Allaah SWT. The status of people
in the eyes of Allaah is determined not by the criterion used by people in judging others such

i
Polytheists, idolaters, those who equate others with Allaah
ii
One who fought against Makkans at Badr
as wealth, genealogy, education, capabilities, power or influence but is based solely on their
contribution to and sacrifices for the establishment of Allaah’s Deen in the society. The
Prophet ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is mentioned not because he made any mistake but
because he was a bit short of the standard of perfection set for him when he was too polite to
the hypocrites in the matter of their lame excuses.

The next group is that of the Muhaajireen who had made the highest sacrifice, second only to
the ultimate sacrifice -- martyrdom -- a person can make for a cause or movement. They are
followed by the Anŝaar who provided a home for the movement, happily accepted
Muhaajireen as their brothers, provided them full support, and helped the mission in all
respects. Allaah SWT acknowledges and appreciates the sincerity and support both provided
in the test of the Tabook expedition. However, the reluctance some of them initially felt in
their hearts was not appreciated. Because they overcame the initial reluctance, their
reluctance has been mercifully forgiven.

The final group of Muslims are those who, despite their sacrifices in the past, stayed behind
at that difficult time. Seven of those were already forgiven. The forgiveness of the remaining
three whose matter was deferred is declared in the next verse. But before reading the verse
announcing their forgiveness, let us review what had transpired.

All three were sincere Muslims who had made many sacrifices for the Deen in the past and
had proven their sincere loyalty to the Deen in many ways. Hilaal and Muraarah were of
those very special companions who had participated in the Battle of Badr. Ka‘b had
demonstrated his dedication to the mission in all battles after Badr. Somehow, they showed
laziness and stayed behind at the occasion of Tabook, when every able-bodied Muslim was
commanded to join the expedition. When the Prophet came back from Tabook and asked
people their reasons for staying behind, hypocrites presented their fabricated excuses and
the Prophet heard them without confronting them. When these three sincere Muslims were
asked for their reasons, they remorsefully accepted their fault without trying to justify it with
invalid reasons. The Prophet asked them to wait for Allaah’s decision, and asked all Muslims
to boycott them socially until that time, which lasted for fifty (50) days.

Ka‘b ibn Maalik has described his story as follows:

When the Prophet would ask the Muslims to join the expedition, I would intend
to do so but would procrastinate to prepare for it thinking that there was much
time yet to get ready. Then the day of the army’s departure came and I had not
yet made any preparation. I figured that it should not be a problem because I
can catch up with them within a day or two. However, I kept procrastinating
until I realized that I have lost even the opportunity to catch up with the army.

Now I started feeling badly because the only people who stayed behind in
Madeenah were either hypocrites or handicapped in one way or the other.
When the Prophet came back, he offered two raka‘h of Ŝalaah in his Masjid as
he usually used to do after returning from a journey. Then, he sat down to meet
and greet people. Hypocrites would come, present false excuses supported by
their false oaths, and the Prophet would accept them as presented. When he
asked me for my reason, I said: By Allaah, if I were talking to some secular
person, I could have given many excuses because I am as capable of doing this
as anyone else. However, I know that even if I satisfy you with my excuses,
Allaah will make you displeased with me again (by revealing the truth). On the
other hand, if I tell you the truth, you may be disappointed in me, but Allaah
may forgive me out of His mercy. The truth is that I had no reason to stay
behind.

The Prophet commented, “This person has spoken the truth. Now, you can go
and wait until Allaah reveals His decision in your matter.” Two other noble souls
also spoke the truth in the same way.

Then, the Prophet asked the Muslims to boycott us three socially. The other two
started staying at their homes, but I continued to come to the Masjid and to the
market. However, no one would talk to me or respond to my salaam, it would
appear as if I am a total stranger in the city. When I would go for Ŝalaah and say
salaam to the Prophet, he would not look at me or respond. When I would be
busy in the worship, I would stealthily glance toward the Prophet and I would
find him looking at me in a kind manner. As soon as I would finish the worship,
he would turn his sight away. One day I was feeling much distressed, so I went
to my cousin and childhood friend, Aboo Qataadah, and said salaam to him. He
did not respond at all. I asked him in Allaah’s name, “What do you think? Do I
not love Allaah and His Messenger?” He remained quiet. I asked again, and he
remained quiet. On my third attempt, he said, “Allaah and His Messenger know
better!”

One day when I was wandering in the market, an emissary of the king of
Ghassaan handed me a silk-wrapped letter from the king with the message, “I
have heard that your leader is treating you very badly. You are not a man of
disgrace. A person such as you absolutely does not deserve to be put to waste.
Come to us. We will recognize your due honour and value.” I threw the letter
into fire.

This boycott had already gone for forty days, when the Prophet sent a person to
command separation from my wife as well. I asked if I should divorce her. I was
told only to separate. So I sent her to her parent’s home to wait for Allaah’s
th
decision. On the 50 day of the boycott, I was sitting on the roof of my house
totally distraught, when a person shouted, “Congratulations, O K‘ab, Allaah has
forgiven you! I fell into prostration to thank Allaah. People started coming
rushing to congratulate me. I went to the Masjid and the Prophet was all smiles.
He congratulated me and said, “This is the best day of your life.” I asked, O
 Messenger of Allaah, should I give everything I own as charity as a part of my
repentance. The Prophet advised that keeping some for my own and family
needs would be better. Then, I kept my share from Khayber and gave the rest of
my assets in charity.

This background should be kept in mind, while reading the next verse, some very important
lessons to be learnt from this episode will be listed thereafter.

118
He also forgave those three whose      
case was postponed until when the earth
seemed closing on them, despite being      
vast as it is, and their souls felt as if
constricting, and they knew that there        
was no refuge from Allaah except in Him.
Then He turned to them mercifully so
         
that they repent. Indeed, Allaah is
Accepting of Repentance, the Merciful.
  

Following are the lessons that every Muslim needs to reflect upon:

1. It is the first and foremost responsibility of the Muslim residents of an Islamic state or
members of an Islamic community to stand up with Islam and strive along with the
Muslims, treating every other duty or personal interest as secondary and subsidiary,
whenever there is a danger to the Islamic state’s or an Islamic community’s existence or
a strife or clash with enemy forces. This is so crucial a matter that if a person shirks this
responsibility: even lazily, without any hint of bad intentions or insincerity; even once,
not regularly; and even despite an excellent record of past service; such person’s reward
for all other worships and services may be endangered. At each and all such critical
moments, a sincere Muslim has no option other than giving 100 percent of himself to the
Islamic mission.

2. While doing one’s Islamic duty, laziness or procrastination is dangerous. A person may
fall into the procrastination trap and commit a serious mistake that may jeopardize his
Aakhirah. If it does result in disobedience of Allaah or His Messenger, the gravity of the
error is not diminished even a bit on the grounds that the mistake was caused by laziness
or procrastination and not by bad intentions or lack of sincerity. Allaah’s anger for the
disobedience and the consequences of the action are not impacted by the motive of the
doer. Motives are relevant only in determining the value of a good action in the books of
Allaah SWT.
3. The acceptability of the repentance is dependent on the severity of the remorse of the
disobedience in question, not the past history of good deeds. The seven persons whose
remorse was intense to start with, were forgiven quickly. The three persons who thought
that they had made extensive sacrifices in the past and thus staying behind for once was
not a serious matter, were not forgiven until they realized the seriousness of the mistake,
independent of their past record, and they started feeling the intensity of their remorse
with that realization.

4. Allaah SWT burdens people according to the strength of their faith so that they become
better and move to the next desired level of excellence. As a believer progresses in the
strength of his faith, the expectation of excellence in obedience to Allaah and His
Messenger increases progressively. That is how He makes the believers excel in their
behaviour. Thus, the hypocrites were let go on false excuses, because there was no
expectation of goodness from them and because their presence in the army would have
been a source of problems, rather than being helpful. However, it was unimaginable for
the believers of the calibre of the three who stayed behind to be slack in that manner.
They needed to be put through the furnace to be purified to the desired standard.

5. To maintain the highest standard of quality and excellence, substandard performance

cannot be tolerated or condoned in the Islamic society. If strict and swift action is not
taken to remedy a case of substandard performance, such behaviour will be deemed
acceptable in the society and the quality of performance will start going down. The
higher the profile of a person whose performance did not meet the standard, the harsher
and the swifter the remedy needed.

The story of Ka‘b also highlights the dynamics of the society of the Prophet’s companions:

The first highlight to note is the discipline of the society. One utterance by the Prophet to
effect the boycott instantly implemented such a complete boycott that even persons very
close to those disciplined would not speak a word to them either in public or in the total
privacy of their homes. Fifty days is not a short time for a violation to occur. For the last ten
days, even spousal communication was disallowed. This is the kind of disciplined society the
sincere Islamic faith produces.

The second highlight to note is the sincerity and loyalty of those subjected to the disciplinary
boycott. Each of the three endured the most difficult punishment they could have ever had in
their life with unswerving loyalty and sincerity to Islam, the Prophet and the Muslims. None
of them complained or displayed even an iota of bitterness or annoyance, although this
continued for fifty unbearable days. They had no ego to be worshipped or pampered. They
had given their whole self in humility to Allaah and His Deen. Thus, none of them went
around in the society to protest the tough punishment that did not acknowledge their past
service, nor did they try to gain sympathies of other people about the treatment they were
receiving, or spread discontent or form a group of their supporters, etc. They did not even
take the bait from the enemies of Islam, which is impossible if a person has even somewhat
disgruntled feelings. Instead of having complaints, they were so appreciative of the
forgiveness that they were willing to give up every material thing they had as a gratitude for
that forgiveness. That teaches every Muslim a lesson of the kind of loyalty that is desired
toward Allaah, Islam and the Prophet as well as the righteous leadership of the Ummah.

The third highlight to note is the immense love for each other they all had before, during and
after the disciplinary measures. The society as a whole understood that the disciplinary action
was to correct a sub-standard performance, and was not at all directed against the persons
themselves. Thus, no one attacked their character or sincerity in general, or called them
names or described them in any bad way throughout this ordeal. The Prophet himself had a
very kind attitude towards them and would affectionately look at them when they were not
watching. The whole community was only waiting to hug them and express their love for
them as soon as Allaah SWT forgave them. The subjects of the discipline themselves only
longed for the affection and approval of their beloved leader, and kept looking for his loving
glances. Hence, once the forgiveness from Allaah was declared, they all came together as if
nothing had happened. In addition, Allaah used a very loving style in declaring forgiveness for
them. When they had proven their loyalty for 50 days, humbly but superbly, Allaah Himself
turned to them in mercy, as if stepping forward to receive them back into the fold of His
kindness.

A point that we should all note from this whole Soorah is the high standard of excellence
expected of the sincere believers individually, as well as the Muslim community collectively,
i
at the time of the Ŝaĥaabah . This standard of excellence is what made them collectively a
model for all Muslims to come. That is what the Prophet described when he said, “The best
society is my society”. When we are looking for a standard of performance to measure our
performance as Muslims, we have to look at the collective model of that society of those
Ŝaĥaabah who had gone through extremely tough times and training with the Prophet, not
any person claiming to be a Muslim during his life or last minute converts who did not have
ii
chance to go through the training of excellence administered by the Prophet himself .

The next few verses take the opportunity to encourage all Muslims to improve their
commitment to Islam to the desired level and identify the points they need to understand in
this respect.

119
O Believers! Maintain Allaah’s Taqwa       
and be with the truthful.
    

i
The companions of the Prophet
ii
This point should not be confused with the slogan of the Muĥadditheen, “All companions are fair
reporters (‘Adool)”. Being fair in reporting is very distinct from being trained in the proper standard of
excellence expected of the Companions in particular, and the Muslims in general.
120
It was not proper for the people of      
Madeenahi and the Bedouins of the
surrounding areas to stay behind when      
the Messenger of Allaah departed; nor
to prefer their own lives over his. That is       
because they do not suffer thirst, or
fatigue, or hunger in Allaah’s cause, nor
      
do they tread a path which enrages the
disbelievers, nor do they inflict on the
enemy any infliction but a good deed is      
written for them. Indeed Allaah does not
let the reward of those who excel in       
goodness to be lost.
        
121
Similarly, they do not spend in
     
Allaah’s way any money, small or large,
nor do they traverse a valley, but it is
written down to their credit, so that      
Allaah may reward them according to
the best of their performance.       

   

The first thing every Muslim needs to work on is developing, strengthening and maintaining
Taqwa -- the paradigm or the attitude of making all decisions with a goal of cautiously and
carefully avoiding Allaah’s displeasure and of eagerly maximizing Allaah’s pleasure. The
second thing is surrounding oneself with truthful people as well as joining and supporting the
truthful people. Truthful in this context means being true to the faith to the standard
emphasized in this Soorah, which includes leaving everything aside to attend to the call of the
Prophet and being ready to sacrifice all of one’s own comforts and one’s own life for him.
Creating an environment around oneself of the truthful people helps a person to become like
them, while joining and supporting the truthful people is the way to help the Islamic mission.

The verse corrects the wrong perception of religiosity often held by the people of the world.
They think that the religious actions are limited to the performance of only the so called
“spiritual” rituals. This verse clarifies that any hardships one endures in the way of Allaah or
the sacrifices one makes for the establishment of the Deen in the society is a good deed in the

i
Also spelled as Medina, Madina, Madinah
eyes of Allaah SWT for which He will reward amply and tremendously. Even if it may be seen
that their hard work is not bearing fruit in this world, they will be successful in the eyes of
Allaah SWT to the level of the excellence with which that duty was performed, so none of
their sincere efforts towards excellence in His obedience ever go to waste. That includes all
money and resources spent in the struggle for the establishment of Allaah’s Deen in the
society. In addition, although human beings cannot excel consistently and their level of
excellence will vary from time to time, Allaah SWT will reward them graciously according to
the best level of excellence in His obedience they would have attained.

Usually people fall short in the proper performance in matters of Deen because they do not
have a proper understanding of the Deen, and for that reason, the next verse emphasizes the
importance of acquiring that understanding and suggests the best way to do it.

122
Also, it was not required that all
believers leave their homes at once to       
learn the Deeni. But why did not some
people from each group leave their       
homes to obtain proper understanding of
the Deen and then, on their return, warn      
their people so that they also learn to be
cautious in avoiding the un-Islamic     
attitudes.

This was specially directed towards the Muslims living out of Madeenah who were mentioned
in verse 97, that they do not have to fold their farm and business operations so that all of the
family, clan or town goes for learning the Deen at the same time. Rather, they can send
representatives to learn the proper understanding of Deen, who can then go back and teach
others. People can continue taking turns until all their population is properly educated in
what it means to be a Muslim. As you can see from the words of the verse, the objective of
this education is to a develop such an understanding of the Deen that it is clear to them what
it means to be a Muslim so as to avoid un-Islamic attitudes.

The verse uses the term “to attain the Fiqh of Deen” which means proper understanding of
what the Deen of Islam is, what its objectives are, what its principles are and how to apply
them to every aspect of life, how to achieve those objectives and what kind of obedience,
commitment and dedications must be practised for establishing the Deen and attaining its
objectives to be acceptable to Allaah SWT. In other words, it refers to the same points that
have been the central theme of this whole Soorah. Today’s Muslims may miss this point or

i
The verb used in this verse means “to leave”, “to go out”, or “to set out”. The second part of the verse
makes it very clear that the setting out in this verse is for developing the proper understanding of Deen.
However, some people think it refers to setting out for fighting because it was used for that purpose
earlier in this Soorah. There the context was clear to specify the setting out for fighting. Here the
context of the verse itself makes the objective of setting out clear.
misunderstand the intent of the verse because of the current use of the term Fiqh. Currently,
Fiqh is used for the body of rules deduced by various jurists about the acts of worship and
i
Sharee‘ah, which are only a part of the Deen . Thus, people may think that this verse is about
learning Fiqh, while it is not at all. No doubt that learning Fiqh is important and it has its role
in the Islamic learning, but that is not the subject matter of this verse. The verse is talking
about the concepts of Deen as applicable to all aspects of life, the objectives of Deen and the
desired standards of performance in the struggle for establishing the Deen, as given
throughout the Qur-aan and re-iterated in detail in this Soorah.

In the end, the next verse once again reminds Muslims of the gist of the message of this
Soorah that Muslims must make a clean break in a stern manner with all disbelievers,
whether hypocrites or polytheists (mushriks). The Muslim society of Madeenah must be
cleaned up of all the disbelievers, even if the Muslims have to fight to achieve that goal.

123
O Believers! Fight those of the      
disbelievers who are near to you, and let
them experience sternness in you; and      
know that Allaah is with those who have
Taqwa.      

“Near to you” implies relatives, neighbours and friends. The message is clear that personal
relationships must not become a consideration for leniency in cleaning up the society as was
commanded in the beginning of the Soorah for the mushriks and then in verse 73 about
hypocrites. If the relationship comes in the way of the duty, it is sign of weakness of the
commitment to Allaah SWT. Regardless of how close they are to a Muslim, they must find him
stern, harsh and uncompromising in fighting against the disbelievers and in cleansing the
Islamic society from them. Any feeling of leniency for any of them will be against Taqwa;
while if they fight against them with the attitude of Taqwa and sincerity for Allaah, they will
prevail and succeed with His help. However, the harshness must not translate into adoption
of any immoral, unethical or barbaric practices, it must be carried out in accordance with
Allaah’s laws and the limits set by Him. Those who adopt improper behaviour will lose His
ii
support because He stays only with those who have Taqwa, not those who exceed limits.

i
For details, refer to my article on Deen and Sharee‘ah at http://ayubhamid.com/reflections/paradigms-
http://ayubhamid.com/reflections/paradigms-a-attitudes/309-deen-and-shareeah
ii
This fighting for cleansing of the society, it must be once again remembered, was a special
requirement of the time of the Prophet ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam according to the Sunnah of Allaah
described in detail in the introduction to this Soorah. The society was to become and serve as the model
of pure Islamic practises for millenniums until the Day of Judgment and thus had to be free of
contamination from un-Islamic influences and practices, which are bound to occur if non-Muslims are
mixed with Muslims. Also remember that even for the Messenger and his Companions, such matters
were decreed at the end of the Islamic mission as the last step before the completion of the mission.
Muslims need to realize that the behaviour of the remaining hypocrites is indicative of the
fact that they have already chosen disbelief over belief, closed their minds and sealed their
fate. Their attitude and behaviour speaks loudly of their mindset.

124
Whenever a Soorah is sent down,       
some of them facetiously ask, “Which of
you has had his faith increased by it?”       
Well, it has increased in faith those who
truly believe, and they do rejoice in its      
revelation. 125 As for those who have
diseased psyches, it adds squalor to their
     
squalor, and they die while they are
disbelievers.
    

126
Do they not see that they are tested     
once or twice in every year? Yet they
neither repent, nor do they pay heed.       
127
Whenever a Soorah is sent down,
     
they exchange glances with each other
wondering, “Is anyone watching you?”
Then they slip away. Allaah has turned        
away their minds because they are a
people who do not comprehend.      

       

 

At the revelation of new commands or policy statements, the Prophet would ask the Muslims
to gather in the Masjid and then recite the revelation to them. The sincere Muslims realized

They are commands strongly linked to the presence of a Messenger of Allaah. Thus, the next occasion of
such cleansing will arise only after Jesus peace be upon him (‘Eesa AS) comes back, completes his
mission and then performs a final cleanup of the society. These types of verses must not be
misinterpreted in an effort to justify killing innocent persons in the world today. No one has any right to
apply these types of verses to the current situation of the world today. Anyone doing so will be violating
Islamic teachings, going against Taqwa and be punished in hell for the murder of innocent people.
that the revelations of Allaah SWT were the greatest mercy of Allaah on people because they
provided much needed guidance that was impossible for people to arrive at on their own.
They properly understood the Deen, the mission of the Prophet and the objectives of the
Deen and therefore would see the wisdom, the relevance, and the timeliness of the current
revelation in light of the needs of the mission. Thus they would see its tremendous value and
would be fully tuned to it. Because of their unparalleled love for Allaah and their gratitude for
His guidance, they would appreciate every revelation and welcome it happily, learn it by
heart, practice it in their behaviour and through this process grow in their faith in and their
connection with Allaah SWT. That is why the Qur-aan mentions (Soorah Al-Anfaal 8:2) that
when the revelations of Allaah are recited, the true Muslims’ faith is strengthened and
enhanced.

On the other hand, hypocrites would come to such a meeting unwillingly and listen
inattentively and thus feel bored. They would have no interest in the content of the
revelation and would not see its wisdom; instead, they would be troubled by the demands
made or commands given in it. Blinded by their personal vendettas and their limited concept
of the success of the temporary world, they would not perceive the value in the guidance that
was designed to make them the leaders of the world and enable them to succeed both in this
world and the Hereafter. Deprived of the understanding because of their own closed minds
and negative attitudes, they would deride the revelation by mockingly asking, “Which of you
has had his faith increased by it?” kinds of questions. In addition, when the believers would
be busy pondering the message and enthusiastically planning its execution, the hypocrites
would quietly sneak out and disappear before they would have to indicate their plan of action
to fulfil the responsibility enunciated by the new command. On occasions such as these their
hypocrisy would show in their dread for any hardship they might be expected to endure.

Because the mission was progressing at a rapid pace and was being frequently challenged by
all kinds of opponents, every few months or so, there was something coming along testing
the faith of the people: a new law to comply, a new restriction to observe, a new command to
obey, a hardship to endure, an attack to defend, an expedition to undertake, existing
relationships and friendships to break, etc. All these were opportunities they could have
utilized to reform and repent; and all these were times when their hypocritical reaction would
expose their insincerity. What we need to understand is that we all are put through various
tests on an ongoing basis to see if we wake up, reform and repent or if we keep going even
deeper and faster in the wrong rut. Also, every teaching of Islam we learn or discover is a test
whether we disregard it like hypocrites or we adopt it and strengthen our faith.

The last two verses of the Soorah conclude the discussion by reminding the hypocrites in
particular and the Muslims in general how great a mercy the advent and presence of the
Prophet is, especially considering that he is an embodiment of affection, mercy and concern
for the wellbeing of the believers. People may resent the commands they have to follow and
the difficulties they have to endure, but the reality is that he has dedicated every moment
and every comfort of his life to bring the goodness of Islam to the people and to save them
from the tyrannies of the ignorant lifestyle in this world and the punishment of Allaah in the
Hereafter. He cannot see people suffer in ignorance. Even in guiding them, he is so kind to
make matters as easy and gentle as possible for his followers. Those who do not take
advantage of this tremendous blessing of Allaah SWT, do not appreciate his being an
embodiment of mercy and kindness and choose to play games against his mission are warned
that they are not depriving the Prophet of anything, but themselves of this great opportunity.
As for the Prophet, he is going to complete his mission superbly with the help of the Lord of
the Tremendous Throne.

128
There has certainly come to you a     
Messenger from among yourselves;
grievous to him is what you suffer;      
ardently anxious is he for your wellbeing;
and to the believers, he is affectionate,      
merciful. 129 But if they turn away, say,
“Sufficient is Allaah for me; there is no
        
deity but He; on Him do I rely, and He is
the Lord of the Tremendous Throne.
      

At this point Allaah did not even want to talk to the hypocrites: The first point was
communicated through the believers. This second point was addressed through the Prophet,
with additional emphasis that he should stop worrying about such ungrateful, wretched and
hopeless people. He has done his job in the most excellent manner and is just about to
complete the accomplishment of what he was sent to accomplish with the help of his Lord.
Appendix
Old Testament

There are many, many places in the Old Testament where killings and destruction of
whole populations of enemy territories have been mentioned. The following are only
a few examples:
7
You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before
you. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will
chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before
you. Leviticus 26
3
The LORD listened to Israel's plea and gave the Canaanites over to
them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place
was named Hormah. …24 Israel, however, put him to the sword and
took over his land … 25 Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites
and occupied them … 35 So they struck him down, together with his
sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they
took possession of his land. (Numbers 21)
1
The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Take vengeance on the Midianites for
the Israelites…" 7 They fought against Midian, as the LORD
commanded Moses, and killed every man. … 9 The Israelites
captured the Midianite women and children and took all the
Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. 10 They burned all
the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their
camps… 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army …who
returned from the battle… 15 "Have you allowed all the women
to live?" he asked them… 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every
woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves
every girl who has never slept with a man… 32 The plunder remaining
from the spoils that the soldiers took was 675,000 sheep, 33 72,000
cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys 35 and 32,000 women who had never
slept with a man. (Numbers 31)
31
The LORD said to me, "See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country
over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land." 32 When Sihon and
all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz, 33 the LORD our God
delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and
his whole army. 34 At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed
them—men, women and children. We left no survivors. (Deuteronomy 2)
 6
We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon king of Heshbon,
destroying every city— men, women and children. (Deuteronomy 3:6)
2
and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have
defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with
them, and show them no mercy. (Deuteronomy 7:2)

You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God gives over to you. Do not
look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to
you. Deuteronomy 7:16
13
When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the
men in it. 14 As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else
in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the
plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies. 15 This is how you are
to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the
nations nearby. 16 However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is
giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. 17
Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites,
Hivites and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you. 18
Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in
worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.
(Deuteronomy 20)

Note the common theme in all of Joshua’s ventures, such as the

following:
21
They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every
living thing in it-men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and
donkeys… 24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they
put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury
of the LORD's house. 25 (Joshua 6)

They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire... Israel cut
them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives. 23 But they took
the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua… 24 When Israel had finished
killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the desert where they had
chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all
the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. 25 Twelve
thousand men and women fell that day-all the people of Ai… 27 But Israel
did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the
LORD had instructed Joshua.
28
So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate
place to this day. 29 He hung the king of Ai on a tree and left him there
until evening. (Joshua 8)
28
That day Joshua took Makkedah. He put the city and its king to the
sword and totally destroyed everyone in it. He left no survivors. And he did
to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho. 29 Then
Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Makkedah to Libnah and
attacked it. 30 The LORD also gave that city and its king into Israel's hand.
The city and everyone in it Joshua put to the sword. He left no survivors
there. And he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho. 31 Then
Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Libnah to Lachish; …The city
and everyone in it he put to the sword, just as he had done to Libnah… 34
Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Lachish to Eglon; they
took up positions against it and attacked it. 35 They captured it that same
day and put it to the sword and totally destroyed everyone in it, just as
they had done to Lachish. 36 Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up
from Eglon to Hebron and attacked it. 37 They took the city and put it to
the sword, together with its king, its villages and everyone in it. They left
no survivors. Just as at Eglon, they totally destroyed it and everyone in it.
38
Then Joshua and all Israel with him turned around and attacked Debir.
39
They took the city, its king and its villages, and put them to the sword.
Everyone in it they totally destroyed. They left no survivors. They did to
Debir and its king as they had done to Libnah and its king and to Hebron.
40
So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the
Negev, the western foothills and the mountain slopes, together with all
their kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just
as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded. 41 Joshua subdued them
from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza and from the whole region of Goshen to
Gibeon. (Joshua 10)

They defeated them and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon, to
Misrephoth Maim, and to the Valley of Mizpah on the east, until no
survivors were left. 9 Joshua did to them as the LORD had directed: He
hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots. 10 At that time Joshua
turned back and captured Hazor and put its king to the sword. (Hazor had
been the head of all these kingdoms.) 11 Everyone in it they put to the
sword. They totally destroyed them, not sparing anything that breathed,
and he burned up Hazor itself. 12 Joshua took all these royal cities and their
kings and put them to the sword. He totally destroyed them, as Moses the
servant of the LORD had commanded… 14 The Israelites carried off for
themselves all the plunder and livestock of these cities, but all the people
they put to the sword until they completely destroyed them, not sparing
anyone that breathed. (Joshua 11)
List of Defeated Kings
1
These are the kings of the land whom the Israelites had defeated and
whose territory they took over east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge to
Mount Hermon, including all the eastern side of the Arabah… 24 thirty-one
kings in all. (Joshua 12)

The following is what David did:

David arose and went, along with his men, and killed two hundred of the
Philistines; and David brought their foreskins, which were given in full
number to the king, that he might become the king's son-in-law. And Saul
gave him his daughter Michal for a wife. (1Sam.18: 27)

He also put to the sword Nob, the town of the priests, with its men and
women, its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep. (1Samuel
22:19)

Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive,
but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. (1Samuel 27:9)

And David commanded his young men, and they killed them, and cut off
their hands and feet, and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron. (
2Sam.4:12)

And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew of the Syrians the men of
seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand foot soldiers, and killed also
Shophach the commander of their army. (1Chr.19:18)

New Testament

Some people assume that Jesus’ mission was different. His was only the mission of
love. The New Testament does not support that view. The truth is that he did not
have a chance to act, before he was cornered, surrounded and had to be rescued by
Allaah. The following excerpts show that he had plans similar to those of the
Prophets of the Old Testament:

Jesus’ plan was to recruit supporters and then wage a war against
adversaries:
 "... the brother shall deliver up his brother to death, and the father
his child, ... children shall rise up against their parents, and cause
them to be put to death." (Matt 10:21)

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to
bring peace, but a sword. (Matt.10:34)

"For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter

against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in- law a
man's enemies will be the members of his own family." (Matt
10:35-36)

So he commanded them to buy swords:

He said to them, "But now, let him who has a purse take it, and
likewise a bag. And let him who has no sword sell his mantle and
buy one. (Luke 22:36)

He started his revolutionary actions, not by offering the other cheek, but
by leading a popular uprising, entering the temple, and then using force
and violence to drive moneychangers and sellers from the temple:

And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began
to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple,
and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats
of those who sold pigeons; and he would not allow anyone to carry
anything through the temple. And he taught, and said to them, "Is
it not written, `My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the
nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers." (Mark 11:15-17)

And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold,
[46] saying to them, "It is written, `My house shall be a house of
prayer'; but you have made it a den of robbers." (Luke 19:45)

And Jesus entered the temple of God and drove out all who sold and
bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-
changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them,
"It is written, `My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you
make it a den of robbers." (Matt.21:12-13)

So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple
area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money
changers and overturned their tables. (John 2:15)
But then the Jews used the Roman army to get them before they were
ready to wage a war. They did not give them a chance and caught them at
night when they were away from supporters, engaged in worship. Even
then, the sword was used:

And when those who were about him saw what would follow, they
said, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?" (Luke.22:49)

But one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the slave
of the high priest and cut off his ear. (Mark.14:47)

Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high
priest's slave and cut off his right ear. The slave's name was
Malchus. (John.18:10)