“I am convinced about the veracity of my opinions, but I do consider it likely that they may turn out to be incorrect. Likewise, I am convinced about the incorrectness of the views different from mine, but I do concede the possibility that they may turn out to be correct.” — Imam Shafa’i

I am very sensitive about ayahs dwelling on Qitaal (fighting; war). Time and again these are misused  by the violent extremists like the Al Qaeeda or ISIS for their nefarious activities or by  the Islamophobes to malign Islam.

 Taken at face value the index ayah is generally addressing those who have embraced Eemaan to fight those unbelievers who are close to them. They are required to be firm and harsh to them so that the enemy realizes their strength. Lastly God reminds them that HE is with those who are God conscious and God fearing. Let us analyse who is fighting whom and why? Does this ayah have a ta’weele aam i.e. an application in our times.

Here comes the clash between our distorted claims—emotional and irrational— about the language and style of our Holy Text and the world of facts and reality. True, there are portions in the Quran which make immediate sense to a lay reader. Most of the commandments come under this category. However there are many others like the index ayah which need reference to context for correct reading and understanding: one needs to know who are addressed and when and why; what is the background. More over every verse of the Qur’an must be read and interpreted against the background of the Qur’an as a whole as suggested by Dr. Mohammed Asad. This uncritical conformity to the profuse and valuable  hadith literature has caused real distortion and bias in our beautiful Deen. So let us study the ayah on this track.  

Muslims are commanded in this ayah to fight  مِنَ الكُفّارِ ie the unbelievers. However Javed Ahmed Ghamdi, the research scholar and mentor and most other scholars assert that the Munafeqeen (hypocrites) are the main target.  An earlier ayah in the same surah in the same style and content confirms this view:^[3]

“O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and be firm against them. Their abode is Hell,- an evil refuge indeed.”

This command announces an important alteration in the attitude towards the Hypocrites. Hitherto the approach towards them was lenient and tolerant. God Almighty now enjoins the Muslims to adopt a stern policy, treat the hypocrites on one and the same level as the disbelievers and even Jihad against them if necessary. They should be socially boycotted because there was no place of honor or respect or trust for a hypocrite in the Muslim society. “Hypocrisy is a plague and a hypocrite is the rat that carries and spreads its germs” adds Maulana Maudoodi. However, research scholar Ghamdi explains and rationalizes thus:“This is the requirement in the stage of retribution and punishment, in view of which  boycott or non-cooperation is ordered. It has nothing to do with the people who are still in the invitation stage”.

The ayah wants the Muslims to show غِلظَةً ie harshness/firmness/hardness i.e must put up a stout and stiff resistance so that they may not be rated as week. Alternately, this probably does not refer to a physical state but, as the eminent scholar Dr. Mohammed Asad puts in his tafseer “The Message of the Quran” it alludes to  Muslims being “uncompromising with regard to ethical principles”. I like the subtlety introduced by Nasr et al in their modern tafseer “The Study Quran” “The wording indicates that one should be measured in one’s harshness, and that the Command is given to one in whom gentleness and kindness are predominant . Interpreted as a spiritual allegory, the Commands of this verse mean that one should attack one’s own faults—the “disbeliever” in the soul—first, and only then may God place on one’s shoulders the responsibility to rectify the faults within others.”

Various explanations have been offered for  الَّذينَ يَلونَكُم “who are near you”. Near in what way? It could suggest that those who are near are more dangerous in a physical sense. Ghamdi Sahib draws a nuance “Allah Almighty has said that every person has to fight against those who live around him and in some way are his own. This is the real test of faith and sincerity.” “It  becomes clear that here disbelievers who are near you refers to those hypocrites who were doing great harm to the Islamic society by mixing up with the sincere Muslims. …… to impress on the Muslims the importance of the matter and to urge them to do Jihad and crush these internal enemies, without paying the least regard to the racial, family and social relations that had been proving a binding force with them” according to the great scholar Maulana Maudoodi in his celebrated tafseer “Tafheem-ul-Quran. Another great scholar Mufti Mohammed Shafi paints a different picture for this statement in his in-depth tafseer “Ma’aarif-ul-Quran. Nearness could refer to relationship and therefore include close relatives and other social bonds. They should be targeted in preference. He means here dawaa’ rather than fight as is clear when he compares this to the  command given to the Holy Prophet:[4]

“Warn your close relatives”

“He (the Holy Prophet) carried out the command by assembling people from his family and conveyed to them the Word of Allah as revealed to him. The circle then became larger. Keeping the same principle of near and far, confronted first, as compared to others, were disbelievers who lived in the vicinity of Madinah, such as Bani Qurayzah, Bano Nadir and the people of Khaibar. After that came the fight against the rest within the Arabian Peninsula. And after things were settled there, came the last command to fight the disbelievers of Byzantium that resulted in the expedition of Tabuk”.

The ayah ends with a reminder وَاعلَموا أَنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ المُتَّقينَ i.e. “ and know that God is with those who are conscious of Him.” So if the Muslims are “conscious of Him” i.e. “muttaqui” they should not show leniency to the hypocrites because of their relationship with them neither should they fail to scrupulously observe the moral and humane limits in doing Jihad. Alternately, this is the glad tidings of victory and success from God Almighty, and is always given on the condition that the people remain steadfast in piety and do not transgress the limits set by God even in times of war and strife. Being with God means being with His help and support.

Hitherto I have consulted seven authentic Quranic commentators across the board—conservative, conservative-modern and modern—and have produced an epitome for you. However, I need to discuss the outstanding scholar Sayyid Qutb by himself because his rendering of this ayah is that of the “radical Muslims”. In fact the sequence is the reverse. These militant Muslims take their cue from the populist narrative built by Muslim intellectuals on ayahs of Qitaal. 

I have reproduced in the footnotes his views on the index ayah from his classical tafseer Fi Dhilal-il-Quran  for ready reference.^[5]
For easy and short reading, I have hereunder edited this long discourse:

Sayyid Qutb starts with comparing two ayahs of the Quran and then draws a conclusion:
^[6]

“Let there be no compulsion1 in religion……….” and^[7]

“God hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain……….”

If, “There shall be no compulsion in religion” he asks “Why does Islam, then, move forward to fight, and why has God bought the believers’ souls and property, so that “they fight for the cause of God, kill and be killed”? He then explains himself “The answer is that jihād has a reason which is totally different from compelling other people to accept Islam. Indeed jihād seeks to guarantee the freedom of belief.” As I understand, this means it is the Divine right of Muslims to assure the  freedom of Belief and Practice in religion to all humanity at the cost of their sovereignty. Non-Muslims have no right to rule as per this theory. After stating  “It leaves people entirely free to adopt the faith they like” the scholar offers only two options: They are welcome  to become Muslims, when they will have all the rights and duties of all Muslims. But  if they wish to retain their religions, they may do so after paying a tribute, i.e. jizyah. Sayyed Qutb understates it casually as “They only have to pay a tribute, i.e. jizyah”; totally ignoring all the subservience and subordination that is included in the package of jizyah.

Sayyid Qutb gives a few reasons to explain why “some writers about Islam find the general statement in this verse rather odd, and they try to explain it away by limiting the jihād movement to a defensive strategy only.” 

On reflecting the index ayah, he points out that it orders to fight those unbelievers who are near to the Muslim state, without specifying whether these have launched any aggression on the Muslims or their land. This is the final situation (my emphasis) which makes the need to carry Islam forward the basis of the principle of jihād. This will ensure that Islam is available to mankind. It does not have a defensive outlook, as was the case with the provisional orders in the early days after the establishment of the Muslim state in Madinah. 

The respectable scholar asserts confidently: Some of those who speak about the Islamic view of international relations or about the rulings that govern jihād, as well as those who write essays interpreting the Qur’ānic verses speaking about jihād, try to show this verse, which is the final one, limited by the earlier provisional rules. Hence they impose on it a restriction, limiting its application to cases of aggression being launched or expected against the Muslim community. But this statement is general and has no restriction attached to it. Besides, it is the final one.

 Sayyid Qutb emphasizes that a Muslim jihad is not for any territorial gain. It is purely to enforce the rule of God Almighty over the planet. The Muslims alone, according to him can claim the right to seek HIM and HIS Law and then to impose it by force on the whole planet. The other systems existing today are man made and therefore cannot claim to dominate others. However the Devine system proposed by Muslims sets out to overthrow all man-made systems in order to liberate all mankind from the humiliation of submission to other human beings. Never in its history did Islam compel a single human being to change his faith. That is alien to Islamic beliefs and practice. He puts it in his elaborate style: However, those speakers and writers find it incomprehensible that Islam lays down such an order commanding the believers to fight those unbelievers who are near to them, and to continue to do so as long as there remain unbelievers in their vicinity. Hence they try to find limits restricting this general statement, but they can only find these in the earlier statements which were, by nature, provisional. We understand why they find it so incomprehensible. They simply forget that jihād is meant to serve God’s cause. It aims to establish God’s authority and to remove tyranny. It liberates mankind from submission to any authority other than that of God. “Fight them until there is no more oppression, and all submission is made to God alone.” (8: 39) jihād does not aim to achieve the hegemony of one philosophy or system or nation over another. It wants the system laid down by God to replace the systems established by His creatures. It does not wish to establish a kingdom for any one of God’s servants, but to establish God’s own kingdom. Hence it has to move forward throughout the earth in order to liberate the whole of mankind, without discrimination between those who are within the land of Islam and those who are outside it. The whole earth is populated by human beings who are being subjected to different types of tyrannical authority wielded by fellow human beings. 

Referring to the index ayah as the Final Version, the famous scholar continues: The gulf that separates people today from that final version is wide indeed. Hence, they have to start again at the beginning, with the declaration that “There is no deity other than God, and Muĥammad is His Messenger.” They will have to move forward on the basis of this declaration until they reach, in their own good time and with God’s help, the final stage. At that time they will not be the sort of powerless multitude divided by a variety of creeds and desires, and declaring their affiliation to different races and nationalities, as they are today. They will be a united Muslim community that accepts no banner, or manmade creed or system. They will only move with God’s blessings to serve His cause.

The eminent scholar suggests a radical change in approach by Muslims to understand the real meaning and message of Islam: Encumbered with their pathetic weakness, people will not understand the rules of this religion. It is only those who strive in a movement dedicated to the establishment of God’s sovereignty on earth, and the removal of false deities, that fully understand its rules. Understanding this religion in its true nature cannot be taken from those who deal only with books and papers. In other words, academic study is insufficient on its own to formulate any real understanding of Islam, unless it is coupled with striving in a movement. 

Before closing, the scholar reminds us that the Prophet himself set out the ethics of war which must be observed by the Muslim community in any battle it may fight. 

This outstanding Muslim scholar is not alone. He is defining a very popular narrative among Muslims and supported by heavy Muslim scholarship like Maulana Maudoodi, Dr. Israr Ahmed and Muslim Brotherhood. He proposes that Muslims are the only and true recipient of the Divine Message, it is their religious duty to enforce and impose this message on the rest of humanity and to be able to perform this duty only Muslims are entitled to rule over the world. Within this limit, non-Muslims will be free to follow and practice their own religion. Sounds a little impractical. As I said earlier, this thinking is very popular in the Muslim Ummah. After all the “Urge to Dominate” is the third most powerful driver for humans after eating and sex. Based on certain riwaayah, a majority of Muslims are convinced of Muslim domination in every nook and corner of the world near Qiyaamah. However, the scholar concedes that the present day Muslim community is in no position to achieve this high goal. He proposes a scheme for Muslims to work on, starting with a clean slate. Once they have reached that mark, they should embark on the “Final Situation” proposed in the index ayah according to his rendition.

Finally, the dilemma that all of us feel on reading what I have just discussed. It seems usually there is no single definite answer. But, God Almighty orders us to look to the Holy Text and the Holy Prophet for all our disputes and we are sure to find the answers^[8]

“O you who have faith! Obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those vested with authority among you. And if you dispute concerning anything, refer it to Allah and the Apostle, if you have faith in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and more favorable in outcome.”

 I definitely trust what the Holy Text has claimed. It is part of my Eemaan. I will continue to fathom the Holy Quran for the answers I need in my Deen. I am sure all of you will agree on this point. The confusion and controversy that some times follows our attempt to perceive and recognise the Holy Text is the result of our limited power of comprehension. Since all of us are united on our firm belief that the Motive and Design of this life is the Trial and Testing of humanity, it seems that an attempt to comprehend the Holy Text is also part of this Trial. Allah Ta’aala Subhaanahoo is vetting us as we are attempting to appreciate and discern HIS Book. This attempt itself is a reward for us. If we are able to find the right answer, we will merit a big bonus.

May Allah Ta’aala Subhaanahoo guide me, I will cast my vote in favor of the seven commentators. The opinion and conviction of the eminent scholar Sayyid Qutb cuts across the fundamental Message and Mission of Islam. What are these? A good topic for future sessions.

……..and Allah knows best. 

May Allah Ta’aala bless us with true understanding–“fahm”–of our Deen, Aameen.

Dr. Khalid Mitha