2. Sūrat al-Baqarah

٢۔ سُورَةُ البَقَرَة

Qurʾān > Chapter 2 > Section 80
القرآن > كتاب ٢ > باب ٨٠

2.80 Persecution is worse than killing. Commandment to fight those who fight you but do not transgress bounds.

٢۔٨٠ مقطع في سُورَةُ البَقَرَة

quran:2:190 –

Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors.  

After the Prophet (s) was prevented from ˹visiting˺ the House in the year of the battle of Hudaybiyya, he made a pact with the disbelievers that he would be allowed to return the following year, at which time they would vacate Mecca for three days. Having prepared to depart for the Visitation ˹‘umra˺, ˹he and˺ the believers were concerned that Quraysh would not keep to the agreement and instigate fighting. The Muslims were averse to becoming engaged in fighting while in a state of pilgrimage inviolability in the Sacred Enclosure ˹al-haram˺ and during the sacred months, and so the following was revealed: And fight in the way of God, to elevate His religion, with those who fight against you, the disbelievers, but aggress not, against them by initiating the fighting; God loves not the aggressors, the ones that overstep the bounds which God has set for them: this stipulation was abrogated by the verse of barā’a, ‘immunity’ ˹Q. 9:1˺, or by His saying ˹below˺:
القرآن:٢:١٩٠ –

وَقَاتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ وَلَا تَعْتَدُوا ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُعْتَدِينَ  

ولما صُدَّ محمد ﷺ عن البيت عام الحديبية وصالح الكفار على أن يعود العام القابل ويُخلوا له مكة ثلاثة أيام وتجهز لعمرة القضاء وخافوا أن لا تفي قريش ويقاتلوهم وكره المسلمون قتالهم في الحرم والإحرام والشهر الحرام نزل {وقاتلوا في سبيل الله} أي لإعلاء دينه {الذين يقاتلونكم} الكفار {ولا تعتدوا} عليهم بالابتداء بالقتال {إن الله لا يحب المعتدين} المتجاوزين ما حد لهم وهذا منسوخ بآية براءة أو بقوله.
quran:2:191 –

And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.  

And slay them wherever you come upon them, and expel them from where they expelled you, that is, from Mecca, and this was done after the Conquest of Mecca; sedition, their idolatry, is more grievous, more serious, than slaying, them in the Sacred Enclosure or while in a state of pilgrimage inviolability, the thing that you greatly feared. But fight them not by the Sacred Mosque, that is, in the Sacred Enclosure, until they should fight you there; then if they fight you, there, slay them, there (a variant reading drops the alif in the three verbs ˹sc. wa-lā taqtilūhum, hattā yaqtulūkum, fa-in qatalūkum, so that the sense is ‘slaying’ in all three, and not just ‘fighting’˺) — such, killing and expulsion, is the requital of disbelievers.
القرآن:٢:١٩١ –

وَاقْتُلُوهُمْ حَيْثُ ثَقِفْتُمُوهُمْ وَأَخْرِجُوهُمْ مِنْ حَيْثُ أَخْرَجُوكُمْ ۚ وَالْفِتْنَةُ أَشَدُّ مِنَ الْقَتْلِ ۚ وَلَا تُقَاتِلُوهُمْ عِنْدَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ حَتَّىٰ يُقَاتِلُوكُمْ فِيهِ ۖ فَإِنْ قَاتَلُوكُمْ فَاقْتُلُوهُمْ ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ جَزَاءُ الْكَافِرِينَ  

{واقتلوهم حيث ثقفتموهم} وجدتموهم {وأخرجوهم من حيث أخرجوكم} أي من مكة وقد فعل بهم ذلك عام الفتح {والفتنة} الشرك منهم {أشد} أعظم {من القتل} لهم في الحرم أو الإحرام والذي استعظمتموه {ولا تقاتلوهم عند المسجد الحرام} أي في الحرم {حتى يقاتلوكم فيه فإن قاتلوكم} فيه {فاقتلوهم} فيه، وفي قراءة بلا ألف في الأفعال الثلاثة {كذلك} القتل والإخراج {جزاء الكافرين}.
quran:2:192 –

And if they cease, then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.  

But if they desist, from unbelief and become Muslims, surely God is Forgiving, Merciful, to them.
القرآن:٢:١٩٢ –

فَإِنِ انْتَهَوْا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ  

{فإن انتهوا} عن الكفر وأسلموا {فإن الله غفور} لهم {رحيم} بهم.
quran:2:193 –

Fight them until there is no ˹more˺ fitnah and ˹until˺ worship is ˹acknowledged to be˺ for Allah. But if they cease, then there is to be no aggression except against the oppressors.  

Fight them till there is no sedition, no idolatry, and the religion, all worship, is for God, alone and none are worshipped apart from Him; then if they desist, from idolatry, do not aggress against them. This is indicated by the following words, there shall be no enmity, no aggression through slaying or otherwise, save against evildoers. Those that desist, however, are not evildoers and should not be shown any enmity.
القرآن:٢:١٩٣ –

وَقَاتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّىٰ لَا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ وَيَكُونَ الدِّينُ لِلَّهِ ۖ فَإِنِ انْتَهَوْا فَلَا عُدْوَانَ إِلَّا عَلَى الظَّالِمِينَ  

{وقاتلوهم حتى لا تكون} توجد {فتنة} شرك {ويكون الدين} العبادة {لله} وحده لا يعبد سواه {فإن انتهوا} عن الشرك فلا تعتدوا عليهم دل على هذا {فلا عدوان} اعتداء بقتل أو غيره {إلا على الظالمين} ومن انتهى فليس بظالم فلا عدوان عليه.
quran:2:194 –

˹Fighting in˺ the sacred month is for ˹aggression committed in˺ the sacred month, and for ˹all˺ violations is legal retribution. So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he has assaulted you. And fear Allah and know that Allah is with those who fear Him.  

The sacred month, in return, for the sacred month, therefore, just as they fight you during it, kill them during it: a response to the Muslims’ consideration of the momentous nature of this matter; holy things (hurumāt, plural of hurma, is what must be treated as sacrosanct) demand retaliation, in kind if these ˹holy things˺ are violated; whoever commits aggression against you, through fighting in the Sacred Enclosure, or during a state of ritual purity or in the sacred months, then commit aggression against him in the manner that he committed against you, the ˹Muslim˺ response is also referred to as ‘aggression’, because that is what it resembles formally; and fear God, when avenging yourselves and ˹by˺ renouncing aggression, and know that God is with the God-fearing, helping and assisting ˹them˺.
القرآن:٢:١٩٤ –

الشَّهْرُ الْحَرَامُ بِالشَّهْرِ الْحَرَامِ وَالْحُرُمَاتُ قِصَاصٌ ۚ فَمَنِ اعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ فَاعْتَدُوا عَلَيْهِ بِمِثْلِ مَا اعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الْمُتَّقِينَ  

{الشهر الحرام} المحرم مقابل {بالشهر الحرام} فكلما قاتلوكم فيه فاقتلوهم في مثله رد لاستعظام المسلمين ذلك {والحرمات} جمع حرمة ما يجب احترامه {قصاص} أي يقتص بمثلها إذا انتهكت {فمن اعتدى عليكم} بالقتال في الحرم أو الإحرام أو الشهر الحرام {فاعتدوا عليه بمثل ما اعتدى عليكم} سمى مقابلته اعتداء لشبهها بالمقابل به في الصورة {واتقوا الله} في الانتصار وترك الاعتداء {واعلموا أن الله مع المتقين} بالعون والنصر.