O Prophet,
struggle against the unbelievers and the Hypocrites and be hard to them. (9:73) (66:9)
Two Naturally Hostile Groups
Servants of God and Rebels of God naturally stand against one another
in conflict, in opposite camps. Hostility must exist between them as a permanent
feature. There can be no friendship between the two.
For you there is
indeed a good example in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people,
we are quit of you and what you serve apart from God; we reject you, and enmity and
hatred have shown them between us and you forever, till you believe in God, the
Only! (60:4)
Why Struggle
According to Quran, God alone is the king. His kingship is, therefore,
to be established over ever-revolting human race, and His law is to be enforced by His
soldiers -- the Believers --- by dethroning all those who wrongfully raise their banners
against God.
Preaching alone is not sufficient to put things right. Only a few noble
souls listen to preaching. But mankind cannot be allowed to while away life in amusements
and enjoy at the cost of the people at large; nor the tyrants can be allowed to enslave
servants of God. Only sword plays the decisive role and can establish one peaceful
fraternity of mankind in the service of God. God, therefore, granted sword to His
Messenger, in addition to His Book, to fight against the unbelievers and hypocrites.
Fighting is, therefore, not a defensive action in Islam but a positive
obligation on such Believers as have the capability to fight to achieve the aforesaid
ends.
Prescribed for you
is fighting and it is hateful to you; yet you may hate a thing and it may be good for you,
and you may like a thing and it may be bad for you; and God knows but you do not know.
(2:216)
Idolatry to be wiped out
Serving false gods instead of One True God is not at all to be accepted
by the Believers. Fighting against the idolaters is, therefore, to continue till they
leave idol-worship, join the Prayer and pay the Due-Alms. Idol worship is a challenge to
God and has to be completely wiped out. There is no midway on this point.
It is a
proclamation from God and His Messenger to mankind on the Day of Great Pilgrimage that God
and His Messenger are quit of the idolaters: now if you repent, it will be better
for you; and if you trun away, then know that you cannot frustrate God. And give
thou good news of a painful punishment to the unbelievers except those among the idolaters
with whom you made covenant and they did not fail you nor did they support any against
you. Fulfill the covenant made with them to its term; God loves the godfearing. Then, when
the sacred months are drawn away, kill the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them
and confine them. If they repent, establish the Prayer and pay the Due-Alms, leave their
way, for God is Forgiving, Merciful. (9:3-5)
People of the Book to be dethroned
People of the Book possess some Light (Book) from God which enables
them to see the truth. Therefore they are to be fought till they surrender power. They are
to be denuded of kingdom but are given peace, provided they accept it in all humility and
agree to pay tribute.
Fight those, out of
the people of the Book, who do not believe in God, nor in the Last Day, nor do they forbid
what God and His Messenger have forbidden, nor do they adopt the Religion of Truth, till
they pay the tribute with their hands in all humility. (9:20)
Permission For War
The enemies of God always try to destroy the Muslim community, both
openly and disguised. War, therefore, may become a necessity even when Muslims are looking
after their own home.
Permission is given
to those who are being fought, because they have been wronged and God is surely powerful
to help them --- who have been expelled from their homes, without right, except that they
said, our Lord is God. And if God had not repelled the people, some by means
of others, there had been pulled down cloisters, churches, synagogues and mosques, wherein
Gods Name is mentioned much. And God will definitely help those who help Him; God is
surely Strong and Mighty. (22:39-40)
How is it with you
that you do not fight in the way of God and for the sake of the oppressed among men, women
and children, who say, our Lord, take us out of this town whose people are
wrong-doers, and appoint for us a friend from Thee, and appoint for us a helper from Thee.
The Believers fight in the way of God, and the unbelievers fight in the way of the Devil.
So fight you against the friends of the Devil; the design of the Devil is surely weak.
(4:75-76)
If God had not
repelled the people some by means of others, there would have been disorder all over, but
God is Bounteous to the world. (2:251)
If they break their
oaths in spite of their pacts and be sarcastic to you religion, then fight the leaders of
unbelief ---for they have no oathsthat they may give over. (9:12)
Help
Other Muslims
A Group of Muslims which
is not very firm in its Belief and tries to remain unconcerned about the Community is also
to be helped. Otherwise, Muslims may be destroyed piecemeal at different places.
Those who believed
and emigrated and struggled with their wealth and their selves in the way of God, and
those who gave shelter and helped, they are friends of one another. But those who believed
but did not emigrate, you have no friendship with them at all until they emigrate; yet if
they ask you for help for the sake of the religion, it is your duty to help them, except
against a people between whom and you there is a pact; and God sees the things you do. The
unbelievers are friends of one another, therefore, unless you do this, there will be
turmoil and a great disorder. (8:72-73)
Fighting is Obligatory
The Quran does not believe in paid mercenaries who fight for the glory
of their masters. The war puts the very existence of the Community at stake and must be
fought by every person except those who are unable to fight, like the sick, the lame and
the blind. It is obligatory on all Believers. They must uphold the banner of God even at
the cost of their lives.
Out of the Bedouins
came those who made excuses that they be given leave; and those who lied with God and His
Messenger sat behind; there shall befall the unbelievers among them a painful punishment.
There is no blame on the weak, nor on the sick, nor on those who find nothing to expend,
provided they are true to God and His Messenger. (9:90-91)
When a chapter is
sent down: believe in God and struggle along with His Messenger, the affluent
among them ask leave from thee and say, leave us to be with those who sit
behind. They are pleased to be with those behind, for their hearts are sealed, so
they do not understand. (9:86-87)
There is no blame
on the blind, nor on the lame, nor on the sick. (48:17)
Preparation for War
To frighten the enemy, to keep them subdued and to meet mischief and
aggression, the Quran enjoins full preparations.
Make ready for
them, whatever force and steeds of horses you can afford; you terrify thereby Gods
enemy and your enemy, and others besides them, whom you do not know but God knows them.
And whatever you will expend in the way of God, it shall be repaid to you in full, and you
will not be wronged. (8:60)
Had they desired to
go forth, they would have made some preparation for it. (10:46)
Expend in the Way
of God, and cast not yourselves to destruction by your own hands. (2:195)
Ha, you are those
who are called upon to expend in the way of God; then among you are niggardly, but whoso
is niggardly he is niggardly to himself; and God is the All-Sufficient and you are the
poor ones. And He will substitute another people in place of you,
then they will not be like you. (47:38)
Fight a Big Enemy
O
Prophet, urge on the Believers to fight. If there be twenty steadfast among you, they
overcome two hundreds, and if there be a hundred among you they overcome a thousand of the
unbelievers, as they are a people who understand not Now, God has lightened it for you,
knowing that there is weakness in you; so, if there be a hundred steadfast among you, they
overcome two hundreds, and if there be a thousand, they overcome two thousands, by the
leave of God; and God is with the steadfast. (8:65-66)
Fight With Full Vigour
Fight
the unbelievers totally, even as they fight you totally, and know that God is with the
godfearing. (9:36)
When you encounter
the unbelievers, smite their necks till, when you have made wide slaughter to them, tie
them; and, after this, let it be with grace or with ransom, till the war lays down its
loads. (47:4)
Do not slow down
and call for peace, for you shall be the uppermost, and God is with you, and He will not
deprive you of your deeds. (47:35)
Many a Prophet
there has been, along with whom many men of God fought, and for what befell them in the
way of God, they showed no loss of spirit, or weakness; and God loves the steadfast.
(3:146)
No Turning Back
O
Believers, when you encounter the unbelievers marching to battle, do not turn your backs
to them. And if any turns his back to them that day, except changing of position for the
battle or joining a troop, he shall incur Gods wrath, and his abode shall be Hell,
an evil destination. (8:15-16)
Guard against Defeat
Obey God
and His Messenger, and do not quarrel together, for then you will lose heart, and power
will depart you; and be steadfast, for God is with the steadfast. (8:46)
Pursuit
Slow not
down in seeking that people. If you suffer, they also suffer as you suffer, but you hope
from God what they hope not; and God is surely Knowing, Wise. (4:104)
How Long the Battle
Fight
them, till there remains no turmoil and the religion is Gods. if they give over,
then there shall be no enmity except against the wrong-doers. (2:193)
If they incline to
peace, do thou also incline to it, and put thy trust in God; surely He is the One Hearing,
the Knowing. And if they desire to deceive thee, then God shall suffice thee. (8:61-62)
If thou fearest
treachery at the hands of a people, throw it back on them on equal basis; God does not
love the treacherous. (8:58)
Enemy Agents
Had they
gone forth along with you, they would have added to your trouble only, and had run to and
fro in your midst, seeking turmoil for you. And among you are listeners for them, and God
knows the wrong-does. (9:47)
Keep Morale High
There
afflicts them neither thirst, nor fatigue, nor hunger, in the way of God, nor they tread
anywhere enraging the unbelievers, nor they gain anything form enemy, but thereby is
written a righteous deed for them; surely God does not waste the wage of the good-doers.
(9:120-121)
How often a small
force has overcome a big force by Gods leave; God is with the steadfast. (2:249)
Do not say of those
that are killed in the way of God, that they are dead; no, they are living, but you do not
perceive. (2:154)
Rumours
When
there comes to them a matter of security or fear, they broadcast it. If they had referred
it to the Messenger and to the commanders among them, then those of them who can deduce
would have known it. (4:83)
Shed Free Blood in Early Battles
It is
not for a Prophet to have prisoners till he has made wide slaughter in the land; you
desire the goods of this world, but God desires the Hereafter, and He is Mighty, Wise.
(8:67)
Status of the Fighter
The
sitters among the Believers, when not disabled, do not equal those who struggle in the way
of God, with their wealth and their selves; God exalts in rank those who struggle with
their wealth and their selves against the sitters. (4:95)
God loves those who
fight in His way in ranks, as if they were a well-compacted building. (61:4)
Think not those who
are killed in the way of God as dead; no, they are living, and are being provided by their
Lord, rejoicing in bounty that God has given them. (3:168-169)
Spoils of War
They ask
thee about the spoils. Say, the spoils belong to God and the Messenger; so fear God
and set thing right between you, and obey God and His Messenger, if you are
Believers. (8:1)
Know that whatever
booty you take, the fifth of it is for God, for the Messenger, and for kindred, the
orphans, the needy and the traveller. (8:41)
Whatever spoils God
has given to His Messenger, against which you pricked neither horse nor camel they are for
God, for the Messenger and for next-of-kin, the orphans, the needy and the traveller.
(59:6-7)
Lasting Reward
O
Believers, should I direct you to a trade that shall save you from a painful punishment.
You shall believe in God and His Messenger and struggle in the Way of God with your wealth
and your selves; that is better for you, if you know; He will forgive you your sins and
admit you to gardens underneath which rivers flow, and to fine residences in the gardens
of eternity; that is the great success. And the other thing that you love---help form God
and a near victory; and give thou good news to the Believers. (6:10-13)
God has bought form
the Believers their selves and their wealth in the way of God, that Paradise be theirs; so
they kill and are killed; it is a promise binding on God in the Torah, the Gospel and the
Quran. (9:111)
This is the
similitude of Paradise promised to godfearing therein are rivers of unstaling water,
rivers of milk of unchanging flavor, rivers of wine for a delight to the drinkers, and
rivers of pure honey; and therein for them is every fruit and forgiveness form their Lord.
(47:15)
Gardens of
Eternity, they shall enter; there they shall be adorned with bracelets of gold and with
pearls; and their dress there shall be of silk. And they shall say, praise be to God
Who has taken all grief from us; our Lord is surely Forgiving and Thankful, Who, out of
His bounty, has given us the permanent Abode, where neither weariness touches us, nor
fatigue touches us. (35:33-35)
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