Strive Hard in God’s Cause

9. Surah At Tawbah

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

أَجَعَلْتُمْ سِقَايَةَ الْحَاجِّ وَعِمَارَةَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ كَمَنْ...   

9: 19.  Do ye make the giving of drink to pilgrims, or the maintenance of the Sacred Mosque, equal to (the pious service of)

C1269. Giving drinks of cold water to thirsty pilgrims, and doing material services to a mosque are meritorious acts, but they are only external. If they do not touch the soul, their value is slight. Far greater, in the sight of Allah, are Faith, Endeavour, and self-surrender to Allah.

Men who practice these will obtain honour in the sight of Allah. Allah's light and guidance comes to them, and not to those self-sufficient beings who think that a little show of what the world considers piety is enough.

...آمَنَ بِاللّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَجَاهَدَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ ...

those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and strive with might and main in the Cause of Allah?

...لاَ يَسْتَوُونَ عِندَ اللّهِ...

They are not comparable in the sight of Allah:

...وَاللّهُ لاَ يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ ﴿١٩﴾  

and Allah guides not those who do wrong.

الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ وَهَاجَرُواْ وَجَاهَدُواْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ أَعْظَمُ دَرَجَةً عِندَ اللّهِ...   

9: 20.  Those who believe, and suffer exile and strive with might and main, in Allah's cause, with their goods and their persons, have the highest rank in the sight of Allah:

C1270. Here is it good description of Jihad. It may require fighting in Allah's cause, its a form of self-sacrifice. But its essence consists in;

-        a true and sincere Faith, which so fixes its gaze on Allah, that all selfish or worldly motives seem paltry and fade away, and

-        an earnest and ceaseless activity, involving the sacrifice (if need be) of life, person, or property, in the service of Allah.

Mere brutal fighting is opposed to the whole spirit of Jihad, while the sincere scholar's pen or preacher's voice or wealthy man's contributions may be the most valuable forms of Jihad.

...وَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْفَائِزُونَ ﴿٢٠﴾  

They are the people who will achieve (salvation).

Asad’s Version:

9: 19 Do you, perchance, regard the [mere] giving of water to pilgrims and the tending of the inviolable House of Worship as being equal to [the work of] one who believes in God and the Last Day and strives hard in God’s cause? These are not equal in the sight of God.

9: 20 Those who believe, and who have forsaken the domain of evil and have striven hard in God’s cause with their possessions and their lives have the highest rank in the sight of God ; and it is they, they who shall triumph [in the end]!

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33. Al-Ahzab (The Confederates)[73 verses]

Medina Period 90 [3-5 Hijrah]

Asad’s Version:

33:21 VERILY, in the Apostle of God you have a good example for everyone who looks forward (with hope and awe] to God and the Last Day, and remembers God unceasingly. 24

33:22 And [so,] when the believers saw the Confederates (advancing against them], they said, "This is what God and His Apostle have promised us!" - and, "Truly spoke God and His Apostle!" 25 - and all this but increased their faith and their readiness to surrender themselves unto God.

33:23 Among the believers are men who have [always] been true to what they have vowed before God; M and among them are such as have [already] redeemed their pledge by death, and such as yet await (its fulfilment] without having changed [their resolve] in the least.

33:24 [Such trials are imposed upon man] so that God may reward the truthful for having been true to their word, and cause the hypocrites to suffer - if that be His will - or [if they repent,] accept their repentance: 27 for, verily, God is indeed much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace!

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ...

33: 21. Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern of (conduct)

...لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ ...

for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day,

C3694. We now have the psychology of the Believers,-God-fearing men, led by that pattern of men and of leaders, Muhammad Al-Mustafa.

... وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا ﴿٢١﴾

and who engages much in the praise of Allah.

C3695. Cf. 26:227: see especially the last clause of that verse in a Makkan Surah, which was amply fulfilled in Madinah.

وَلَمَّا رَأَى الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الْأَحْزَابَ قَالُوا...

33: 22. When the Believers saw the Confederate forces, they said:

...هَذَا مَا وَعَدَنَا اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَصَدَقَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ...

"This is what Allah and His Messenger had promised us, and Allah and his Messenger told us what was true."

C3696. This is in contrast to what the Hypocrites said in verse 12 above.

The divine promise of help and success is contingent upon our striving and faith. Nothing comes to the poltroon and the skeptical idler. Dangers and difficulties, and conflict with Evil, are foretold us, and we must meet them with fortitude and courage.

...وَمَا زَادَهُمْ إِلَّا إِيمَانًا وَتَسْلِيمًا ﴿٢٢﴾

And it only added to their faith and their zeal in obedience.

مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ...

33: 23. Among the Believers are men who have been true to their Covenant with Allah:

...فَمِنْهُم مَّن قَضَى نَحْبَهُ وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَنتَظِرُ...

of them some have completed their vow to (the extreme), and some (still) wait:

C3697. In the fight for truth were (and are) many who sacrificed their all-resources, knowledge, influence, life itself-in the Cause, and never wavered.

If they won the crown of martyrdom, they were blessed. Such a one was Sa'd ibn Muaz, the chief of the Aus tribe, the intrepid standard-bearer of Islam, who died of a wound he had received in the Battle of the Trench. Other heroes fought valiantly and lived, always ready to lay down their lives.

Both classes were staunch: they never changed or wavered.

...وَمَا بَدَّلُوا تَبْدِيلًا ﴿٢٣﴾

but they have never changed (their determination) in the least:

لِيَجْزِيَ اللَّهُ الصَّادِقِينَ بِصِدْقِهِمْ...

33: 24. That Allah may reward the men of Truth for their Truth

...وَيُعَذِّبَ الْمُنَافِقِينَ إِن شَاء أَوْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْهِمْ...

and punish the Hypocrites if that be His Will, or turn to them in Mercy:

C3698. Before Allah's Mercy there is always room for repentance and forgiveness, even after treason and crime; but the forgiveness will be according to Allah's Will and Plan, which will judge the penitent's sincerity and capacity for good to the nicest degree in his favour.

Cf. also 33:17 above.

...إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا ﴿٢٤﴾

for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful