This brings us back to the second Hajj and verses 1-37. Their primary function is to determine when and against whom to declare war. They explain that existing treaties with the pagans may be broken if circumstances warrant, but not if they are being honored. In either case, once a treaty is deemed to have expired, the order to attack, after allowing a four month period for the pagans to capitulate without fighting, is given. These verses drop the pretense of initiating hostilities preemptively in self-defense. This is pure aggression:
- 1
"God and His Messenger declare the abrogation of the peace treaty that existed between them and the pagans".
- 2
"So [pagans]
go about in the land for four months and know that you cannot weaken Allah and that Allah will bring disgrace to the unbelievers".
- 3
"Allah is free from obligation to the idolaters, and so is His messenger. So, if ye repent, it will be better for you".
- 4
"This does not apply to the pagans with whom you have a valid peace treaty and who have not broken it from their side or helped others against you".
- 5
"But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, an seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war; but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them".
Verses 6-16 are little more than a reiteration of the above and previous verses:
- 6 and 11 reconfirm that pagans who wish to convert to Islam will be welcomed.
- 13 is reminiscent of 2:190-191 wherein Muslims were told for the first time that fighting was required of them, and that expelling the prophet and his followers was worse than killing them (whether they actually expelled him or he simply left because they refused to adopt Islam is moot by this point),
"What! will you not fight a people who broke their oaths [the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah]
and aimed at the expulsion of the Messenger, and they attacked you first; do you fear them? But Allah is most deserving that you should fear Him, if you are believers". The underlined claim is simply not true. As stated earlier, Muslims fired the first arrow and are proud of the fact.
- 14 is another command to kill in the name of Allah,
"Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace, and assist you against them and heal the hearts of a believing people".
- 16 again warns that God notices those who do not fight,
"Do you think that you will be left [as you are]
while Allah has not yet made evident those among you who strive [for His cause]
and do not take other than Allah , His Messenger and the believers as intimates?".
Verses 17-22 begin by banning unbelievers from entering the Kaaba, and then transition into praising Muslims who fight:
- 17-18 were aimed at the pagans of the day, but are expressed in such a way as to permanently prohibit any unbeliever from entering the site of the Kaaba,
"It is not for the idolaters to inhabit God's places of worship ... Only he shall visit the mosques of Allah who believes in Allah". To this day non-Muslims are not even allowed into the city of Mecca, let alone near the Kaaba.
- 19 begins the transition by saying,
"Do you reckon the giving of water to pilgrims ... to be the same as one who ... struggles in the way of God?".
- 20-22 complete it with,
"The ones who have believed, emigrated and striven [fought]
in the cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives are greater in rank in the sight of Allah", and are followed by the usual promises of heaven for fighters.
Verses 23-24 repeat that fighting for God is more important than family ties or earthly pursuits,
"Believers, do not accept your fathers and brothers as your guardians if they prefer disbelief to faith ... If your [family and possessions]
are more beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger and jihad in His cause, then wait until Allah executes His command [judgement]
. And Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people". Muhammad Sarwar and Mohsin Khan again assumed the context was obvious enough to translate 'jihad' as 'fight'.
Verses 25-26 continue to rally the troops,
"Assuredly Allah did help you in many battle-fields and on the day of [the battle of]
Hunain your great numbers elated you, but ... you turned back in retreat ... But Allah did pour His calm on the Messenger and on the Believers, and sent down forces which you did not see [swooping angels]
: He punished the Unbelievers; thus does He reward those without Faith". The underlined provides another example of a specific event that yielded a proclamation meant as an enduring lesson.
Verse 28 repeats the command given in 18,
"O ye who believe! Truly the Pagans are unclean; so let them not, after this year of theirs, approach the Sacred Mosque".
Verse 29, in my opinion, is the most problematic passage in the Qur'an as it creates a perpetual state of war between Islam and the rest of the world,
"Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya [protection tax]
with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued".
This verse brings us back to the intended battle with the Byzantines. During the nearly two-year cessation of hostilities between Muslims and Meccans, Mohamed sent emissaries to the remaining holdouts in Arabia and to the Byzantines and Persians with a message - an 'invitation to Islam' - that gives them the options described in this verse. In Hugh Kennedy's book, The Great Arab Conquests, he described on page 113 terms presented to the leaders of various states and tribes (in this case the Persians) thus:
"If you embrace Islam, we will leave you alone. If you agree to pay the poll tax [jizya]
, we will protect you if you need our protection. Otherwise, it is war". Kennedy goes on to explain,
"These three options were becoming the usual offer in negotiations between the Muslims and their opponents".
The options described by Kennedy are essentially verse 9:29, and they served as the template for subsequent conquests.
Verses 30-37 are a final attack on unbelievers:
- 30
"And the Jews say Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say The Messiah is the son of Allah ... may Allah destroy/fight/assail/curse [depending on the translation]
them". As an aside, Jews will probably be surprised to hear that they claim Ezra to be the son of God.
- 31
"They have taken as lords besides Allah their rabbis and their monks and the Messiah, son of Mary, when they were bidden to worship only One Allah".
- 32
"They want to extinguish the light of Allah".
- 33 restates Mohamed's ultimate mission,
"It is He Who hath sent [Mohamed]
with guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religion".
- 34
"Many rabbis and monks consume other people's property by false means and create obstacles in the way of God. Those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend for the cause of God, should know that their recompense will be a painful torment".
- 35
"On the Day of Judgment their treasures will be heated by the fire of hell and pressed against their foreheads, sides and back with this remark, 'These are your own treasures which you hoarded for yourselves. See for yourselves what they feel like'".
- 36
"fight against the disbelievers collectively as they fight against you collectively". This ignores the fact that there was no fighting until Mohamed sent raiding parties to attack Mecca's caravans.
- 37
"Their evil deeds seem attractive to them".
In his tafsir of surah 9, Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi (
9. Surah At Taubah (The Repentance) - Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an), summarizes
"the problems that were confronting the [Islamic]
Community at that time" thus:
- to make the whole of Arabia a perfect Dar-ul-Islam [abode of Islam]
,
- to extend the influence of Islam to the adjoining countries,
- to crush the mischief of the hypocrites, and
- to prepare the Muslims for Jihad against the non- Muslim world.
In order to enable the Muslims to extend the influence of Islam outside Arabia,
they were enjoined to crush with sword the non- Muslim powers and to force them to accept the sovereignty of the Islamic State. As the great Roman and Iranian Empires were the biggest hindrances in the way, a conflict with them was inevitable. The object of Jihad
was not to coerce them to accept Islam they were free to accept or not to accept it-but to prevent them from thrusting forcibly their deviations [non-Islamic religions]
upon others and the coming generations. The Muslims were enjoined to tolerate their misguidance only to the extent that they might have the freedom to remain misguided, if they chose to be so, provided that they paid Jizyah (v. 29) as a sign of their subjugation to the Islamic State.
In order to prepare the Muslims for Jihad against the whole non-Muslim world, it was necessary to cure them even of that slight weakness of faith from which they were still suffering. For there could be no greater internal danger to the Islamic Community than the weakness of faith, especially where it was going to engage itself single-handed in a' conflict with the whole non-Muslim world. That is why those people who had lagged behind in the Campaign to Tabuk or had shown the least negligence were severely taken to task, and were considered hypocrites if they had no plausible excuse for not fulfilling that obligation. Moreover, a clear declaration was made that in future the sole criterion of a Muslim's faith shall be the exertions he makes for the uplift of the Word of Allah and the role he plays in the conflict between Islam and kufr. Therefore, if anyone will show any hesitation in sacrificing his life, money, time and energies, his faith shall not be regarded as genuine. This is a reference to verses 81-96.
