22. Sura al-Hajj [Pilgrimage], Medina 103

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

أُذِنَ لِلَّذِينَ يُقَاتَلُونَ بِأَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوا...

22: 39. To those against whom war is made, permission is given (to fight) because they are wronged --

C2816. Several translators have faded to notice that yuqatalina (in the best-approved texts) is in the passive voice, "against whom war is made", -not "who take arms against the unbelievers" as Sale translates it.

The clause -and verily ... their aid- is parenthetical. Verse 40 connects on with "they are wronged". The wrong is indicated: 'driven by persecution from their home, for no other reason than that they worshipped the One True God'.

This was the first occasion on which fighting -in self-defence- was permitted. This passage therefore undoubtedly dates from Madinah.

...وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى نَصْرِهِمْ لَقَدِيرٌ ﴿٣٩﴾

and verily, Allah is Most powerful for their aid --

الَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا مِن دِيَارِهِمْ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ إِلَّا أَن يَقُولُوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ...

22: 40. (They are) those who have been expelled from their homes in defiance of right -- (for no cause) except that they say, "Our Lord is Allah."

...وَلَوْلَا دَفْعُ اللَّهِ النَّاسَ بَعْضَهُم بِبَعْضٍ...

Did not Allah check one set of people by means of another,

C2817. To allow a righteous people to fight against a ferocious and mischief-loving people was fully justified. But the justification was far greater here, when the little Muslim community was not only fighting for its own existence against the Makkan Quraish, but for the very existence of the Faith in the One True God.

They had as much right to be in Makkah and worship in the Ka'bah as the other Quraish; yet they were exiled for their Faith. It affected not the faith of one peculiar people. The principle involved was that of all worship, Jewish or Christian as well as Muslim, and of all foundations built for pious uses.

...لَّهُدِّمَتْ صَوَامِعُ وَبِيَعٌ وَصَلَوَاتٌ وَمَسَاجِدُ يُذْكَرُ فِيهَا اسْمُ اللَّهِ كَثِيرًا ...

there would surely have been pulled down monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, in which the name of Allah is commemorated in abundant measure.

...وَلَيَنصُرَنَّ اللَّهُ مَن يَنصُرُهُ...

Allah will certainly aid those who aid His (cause);

...إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَقَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ ﴿٤٠﴾

for verily Allah is Full of Strength, Exalted in Might, (Able to enforce His Will).

C2818. 'Aziz means:

- Exalted in power, rank, dignity;

- Incomparable;

- Full of might and majesty;

- Able to enforce His Will.

The last signification is the one that predominates here.

الَّذِينَ إِن مَّكَّنَّاهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ أَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَوُا الزَّكَاةَ...

22: 41. (They are) those who, if We establish them in the land,

- establish regular prayer

- and give regular charity,

...وَأَمَرُوا بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَنَهَوْا عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ...

- enjoin the right and forbid wrong:

C2819. "Enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong" is an essential duty of the Muslim Ummah and one of the main purposes for which it has been raised.

See 3:104, 110; 9:71, 111-112.

...وَلِلَّهِ عَاقِبَةُ الْأُمُورِ ﴿٤١﴾

with Allah rests the end (and decision) of (all) affairs.

Asad’s Version:

22:39

PERMISSION [to fight] is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully waged 57 -

and, verily, God has indeed the power to succour them -:

(22:40) those who have been driven from their homelands against all right for no other reason than their saying, "Our Sustainer is God!" For, if God had not enabled people to defend themselves against one another, 58 [all] monasteries and churches and synagogues and mosques - in [all of] which God's name is abundantly extolled - would surely have been destroyed [ere now]. 5 ' And God will most certainly succour him who succours His cause: for, verily, God is most powerful, almighty,

(22:41) [well aware of] those who, [even] if We firmly establish them on earth, remain constant in prayer, and give in charity, and enjoin the doing of what ts right and forbid the doing of what is wrong; but with God rests the final outcome of all events.

[[Asad’s notes - 56 See surah 4, note 134.

57 Lit, "inasmuch as they have been wronged". Connecting with the promise, in the precedin] verse, that "God will ward off [all evil] from those who attain to faith", the present verse enunciates the permission to fight physically in self-defence. All relevant Traditions (quoted, particular, by Tabari and Ibn Kathir) show that this is the earliest Qur'anic reference to th problem of war as such. According to Abd Allih ibn Abbas, it was revealed immediately after thE Prophet left Mecca for Medina, i.e., at the beginning of the year 1 H. The principle of war ii self-defence - and only in self-defence - has been further elaborated in Al-Baqarah, which was revealed about

a year later (see 2: 1 90- 1 93 and the corresponding notes).

58 Lit., "were it not that God repels some people by means of others" (cf the identical phrase in the second paragraph of 2:251).

59 The implication is that the defense of religious freedom is the foremost cause for which arms may and, indeed, must - be taken up (see 2:193 and the corresponding note 170), or else, as stressed in the concluding clause of 2:251, "corruption would surely overwhelm the earth". ]]