The sūrah continues its address showing glimpses from the past and compares them with the present. It paints a scene showing a great gulf between the two situations for the benefit of the Muslim community which fought the battle and achieved a great victory. Thus Muslims are able to appreciate God’s grace as manifested in what He had planned for them. Compared to that, all the spoils of war appear trivial and all sacrifices of little consequence.

The first passage described the general situation of the Muslims in Makkah, and also in Madinah before the battle. They were small in number, poor in equipment to the extent that they always feared their enemies could launch an onslaught against them. However, by God’s grace all that was changed to a situation of strength, security and good provision. In the present passage, the sūrah describes the attitude of the unbelievers as they scheme against God’s Messenger shortly before his departure to Madinah. They turn away from God’s revelations, claiming that they could produce something similar if they so wished. Their attitude is so stubborn that they appeal for God’s punishment to come sooner if Muĥammad’s message from God is true. They prefer this to accepting it and following its guidance. The passage also includes a reference to the fact that they allocate their resources so as to turn people away from God’s guidance and pool their money in order to launch an onslaught on God’s Messenger. They are warned that all their efforts will end in total failure in this life, and then they will be driven to hell in the life to come. Loss in both worlds will be the result of their scheming and plotting.

Ultimately God directs the Prophet to confront the unbelievers with a choice between two alternatives. The first is that they stop their stubborn denial of the truth and their hostility to God and His Messenger, in which case God will forgive them all the sins and evil deeds they committed in the past. Alternatively, they continue with their attitude, in which case the fate that engulfed earlier communities will befall them too. They will then suffer the punishment God will determine for them.

God then commands the Muslims to fight them until all their power is destroyed.

Thus, they will no longer be able to scheme against the Muslims and turn them away from their faith. The fight should continue until all Godhead is recognized throughout the earth as belonging to God alone, and all submission is made to Him.

If they, then, give up and surrender, the Prophet (peace be upon him) will accept that from them. As for their thoughts and intentions, these are known to God. He will hold them accountable for these. However, if they turn away and continue with their campaign against the Muslim community, denying God’s Lordship over the whole universe and refusing to submit to Him, the Muslims will then continue to fight them, trusting to God, their Master, who will provide them with His support.

“Remember how the unbelievers were scheming against you, seeking to keep you in chains or have you slain or banished. Thus they plot and plan, but God also plans. God is above all schemers.” (Verse 30) This is a reminder of the situation in Makkah before things underwent a total transformation. This reminder serves also as a reassurance concerning the future, and draws attention to the wisdom behind the operation of God’s will. Those Muslims who were the first to be addressed by the Qur’ān were fully aware of both situations, having experienced both. A reminder of their immediate past, as well as the fear and worry they experienced in those days, was sufficient to make them appreciate the safety and security of the present. They were aware of the unbelievers’ scheming and what they planned to do with the Prophet.

But not only their schemes were totally foiled; the unbelievers also suffered a humiliating defeat.

The unbelievers were considering alternatives: they thought of arresting God’s Messenger and putting him in chains until he died, and they also considered killing him so that they could get rid of him once and for all. They also thought of driving him away, sending him into exile. Having considered the pros and cons of each of these alternatives, they chose to kill him, entrusting the task to a number of young men, each belonging to a different tribe, so that all tribes would share in his assassination. His own clan, Hāshim, would thus be unable to fight all the Arabs at once. They would then accept an offer of blood money and the whole matter would finish at that.

Commenting on this verse, Imām Ahmad relates on the authority of `Abdullāh ibn `Abbās: “The Quraysh were in consultation one night in Makkah. Some of them suggested that the following morning they should put the Prophet in chains; but others suggested that they should kill him, while still others suggested that it was sufficient to have him banished. God revealed to the Prophet what they were scheming. That night, `Alī slept in the Prophet’s bed, while the Prophet (peace be upon him) moved out of the city until he reached the cave. The unbelievers spent the night watching `Alī, but thinking him to be the Prophet. In the morning, they rushed to him, but instead they discovered `Alī sleeping in his bed. They realized that their scheming had been foiled. They asked him: ‘Where is your companion?’ He answered: `I do not know.’ They traced his footsteps, but when they reached the mountain, they could no longer distinguish his trace. They climbed up the mountain and passed by the cave and saw that spiders had weaved their webs over its entrance. They thought that if he had gone into the cave, there would be no spider’s web at the entrance. All in all he stayed in that cave three nights.” “They plot and plan, but God also plans. God is above all schemers.” (Verse 30) These words paint a picture that leaves a profound effect, particularly when we stretch our minds to imagine that meeting of Quraysh idolaters and how they held their consultations discussing alternatives, looking at the advantages and disadvantages of every suggestion that was put forward. Yet, God Almighty was fully aware of all they said and decided. He rendered their schemes futile, but they were totally unaware of His planning. The whole scene is full of acute irony. But it is at the same time an awe-inspiring scene. How could those human beings, weak and clumsy as they were, be compared to God? Could anything they devised be compared to His design, able as He is to accomplish every purpose of His? The Qur’ānic style paints this image in the same inimitable method of the Qur’ān, bringing it alive so that it shakes hearts and set minds thinking.

In his scholarly commentary on the Qur’ān, Ibn Kathīr mentions that the person who said this was al-Nađr ibn al-Ĥārith:

Al-Nađr had been to the Persian Empire where he learnt Persian history and read accounts of past Persian kings, such as Rustam and Isfandayar. When he returned home, he saw God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) after he had been entrusted with God’s message, and he listened to him reciting the Qur’ān to people. When the Prophet finished talking to any group of people, al-Nađr would sit with them and tell them stories of those ancient kings. He would then ask them: ‘Tell me, by God, who tells better stories: I or Muĥammad?’ Hence, when he fell captive on the day of the Battle of Badr, the Prophet ordered that he should be executed. His order was carried out, thank God.34

The Prophet’s Companion who had taken him prisoner was al- Miqdād ibn al- Aswad, as Ibn Jarīr al-Ţabarī reports:

The Prophet ordered the execution of `Uqbah ibn Abī Mu`ayţ, Tu`aymah ibn `Adiy and al-Nađr ibn al-Ĥārith. When he ordered the killing of al-Nadr, al- Miqdād, the Prophet’s Companion who had taken him prisoner, said:

‘Messenger of God, he is my prisoner!’35 The Prophet said: ‘He used to say things against God’s book.’ The Prophet again ordered al-Nadr’s execution.

Al-Miqdād again said: `Messenger of God, he is my prisoner!’ The Prophet said: `My Lord, enrich al-Miqdād with Your bounty.’ Al-Miqdād commented that all he had hoped for was to have such a prayer by the Prophet.

It was in reference to al-Nađr and what he used to say about the Qur’ān that this verse was revealed: “Whenever Our revelations are recited to them, they would say: ‘We have heard them. If we wanted, we could certainly compose the like of this. This is nothing but fables of the ancients.’“ (Verse 31)36

The unbelievers’ claims that the Qur’ān was nothing but the tales of ancient people is mentioned several times in the Qur’ān. In another sūrah we read: “And they say: ‘Fables of ancient times which he has caused to be written down, so that they might be read out to him in the morning and the evening.’“ (25: 5)

This was only one episode in a chain of manoeuvres which they attempted in order to resist the Qur’ān and stop its profound effect. They realized that the Qur’ān put its address to human nature, based on the truth implanted in its very constitution. Hence, its response was bound to be positive. It confronted minds with its overpowering authority and they yielded to its irrefutable logic. Therefore, the elders of the Quraysh concocted some manoeuvres which they knew to be without foundation. Nevertheless, they tried to find in the Qur’ān something similar to the fables and legends of ancient communities in order to spread confusion among the masses. Their aim was simply to maintain their sway over those masses.

A fable is an old tale that includes some superstitious beliefs about deities and the supernatural courage of legendary heroes. It speaks of imaginary events that involve so much superstition.

Those Quraysh elders referred to the accounts given in the Qur’ān of earlier nations and communities, the miracles shown to them and to the Qur’ānic descriptions of how God destroyed the unbelievers and saved the believers and said to the masses that such accounts were only fables of ancient people. They alleged that Muĥammad had it all written down in order to relate the same to the Arabs in Makkah, claiming that they had been revealed to him by God. Al-Nađr ibn al-Ĥārith would take the Prophet’s place after he had finished speaking to people, and would relate to them fables and legends which he had learnt on his travels in Persia. At times, al-Nađr would even have a group of people in a circle sitting next to the group addressed by the Prophet. He would then say to his audience: “These legends are similar to the fables related by Muĥammad, but I do not claim to be a Prophet or to receive any revelations. His are all fables and legends of the same type.” Such claims must, no doubt, have created some confusion among people, particularly at the beginning, before those legends were clearly seen as totally different from the Qur’ān. Hence, we appreciate why the Prophet issued an announcement before the Battle of Badr that al-Nađr ibn al-Ĥārith should be killed.

Then, when he was taken prisoner, the Prophet ordered his execution along with a couple of other prisoners for whom the Prophet was not prepared to accept ransom.

However, such matters did not last long in Makkah. These ploys were seen for what they really were. With its overpowering logic and profound truth that directly appealed to human nature, the Qur’ān could easily overcome all such ploys and manoeuvres. Nothing of them was able to resist the Qur’ān in any way. Hence, the elders of the Quraysh were in terrible fear and called on all their followers: “Do not listen to this Qur’ān. Cut short its recitation with booing and laughter, so that you may gain the upper hand.” (41: 26) But their leaders, such as Abū Sufyān, Abū Jahl and al Akhnas ibn Sharīq went secretly at night, each on his own, to listen to the Qur’ān being recited. None of them could bring himself to refrain from being there night after night, to listen to the Prophet as he recited God’s revelations. Each one of them thought he was totally alone. When they discovered each other, they made a firm pledge of honour not to do it again. They feared that they would be seen by young people who would then listen to the Qur’ān and accept the Islamic faith.

Al-Nađr’s attempt to attract people’s attention to his stories in order to turn them away from the Qur’ān was not the last of its kind. It was repeated in different shapes and forms, and it will continue to be repeated. In our present times, the enemies of this faith have also tried to turn people’s attentions away from the Qur’ān. But when they realize that all their attempts end in failure, they try to reduce the Qur’ān to a collection of hymns that reciters sing to enchant their audience. They also make of it charms and talismans which people wear or put in their pockets or under their pillows. When people do so, they imagine that they are Muslims and they think that they have paid the Qur’ān all its due respect.

The sūrah goes on to describe an attitude of most amazing stubbornness by the unbelievers. They try to wrestle with the truth and they are defeated. Pride, however, prevents them from acknowledging the truth and its authority or submitting to it.

Hence, they appeal to God to rain down stones over them or to smite them with grievous suffering, if the Qur’ān were the truth revealed by Him. Instead of praying to God to guide them to the truth and enable them to follow it, they pray for their own undoing: “They would also say: ‘God, if this be indeed Your revealed truth, then rain down upon us stones from the skies, or inflict grievous suffering on us.’“ (Verse 32)

This is certainly a very strange appeal which betrays a state of unwavering stubbornness that prefers total ruin to yielding to the truth, even when it is the absolute truth. When sound human nature experiences doubt, it prays to God to show it the truth and guide it to it. Sound human nature does not find that at all demeaning. But when it is corrupted by uncontrolled pride, arrogance drives it into sin to the extent that it prefers suffering and ruin to acknowledging the truth when it becomes clear, irrefutable. It is with this type of obstinacy that the unbelievers in Makkah resisted the Prophet’s message. But this message was victorious in the end, despite such persistent obstinacy.

The sūrah makes it clear that they certainly deserved that stones be rained on them from the skies, or that painful suffering be inflicted on them, just as they had prayed for. Nevertheless, God willed not to inflict on them the type of extermination He had inflicted on earlier communities. This is because God’s Messenger was still in their midst, calling on them to follow His guidance. Nor would God punish them for their sins if they continued to seek forgiveness after committing them.

It is untrue that their punishment was postponed because they were the guardians of the Sacred Mosque. Indeed, they were not its true guardians, because its rightful guardians are those who fear God: “But God would not punish them while you were present in their midst, nor would God punish them when they may yet ask for forgiveness.

What [plea] have they now that God should not punish them, when they debar other people from the Sacred Mosque, although they are not its rightful guardians? Its only guardians are those that fear God; but of this most of these [evildoers] are unaware. Their prayers at the House are nothing but whistling and clapping of hands. Taste then this punishment in consequence of your disbelief” (Verses 33-35)

It is, then, through God’s grace that they are not punished for their arrogance and obstinacy, or for turning people away from the Sacred Mosque. They were indeed debarring Muslims from offering pilgrimage to the Sacred Mosque, the while they did not prevent anyone else from visiting the Mosque. It is through God’s grace that they were given respite, so that, perchance, some of them might on a later date find faith creeping into their hearts and that they might follow divine guidance. As long as God’s Messenger remained among them, calling on them to believe in God, then the possibility that some would have a positive change of heart remained. Hence, the respite they are given is in honour of God’s Messenger. The way remains open for them to avoid the punishment of extermination. They only have to give a positive response and seek God’s forgiveness for what they have done in the past: “But God would not punish them while you were present in their midst, nor would God punish them when they may yet ask for forgiveness.” (Verse 33)

It is a common characteristic of unbelievers that they spend their money to cooperate in turning people away from God’s path. This they did on the day of the Battle of Badr. They did the same thing again after Badr to prepare for the next battle.

God warns them that their purpose will be foiled and that they will come to rue the loss of their money. He promises them defeat in this life and the punishment of hell in the life to come: “The unbelievers spend their riches in order to turn people away from the path of God. They will go on spending them, and then this will become a source of intense regret for them; and then they shall be defeated. The unbelievers shall into hell be driven. God will separate the bad from the good. The bad He will place one upon another, so He may heap them all up together, and then cast them into hell. Those indeed are the losers.” (Verses 36- 37)

Muĥammad ibn Isĥāq and others report:

When the Quraysh suffered their major setback at the Battle of Badr, and their defeated army arrived back in Makkah, Abū Sufyān and his trade caravan had already returned there. ‘Abdullāh ibn Rabī`ah, `Ikrimah ibn Abī Jahl, Şafwān ibn Umayyah and a number of other people from the Quraysh who suffered the loss of their fathers, brothers or sons at Badr went to Abū Sufyān and his fellow merchants who had major shares in that trade caravan.

They said to them: `Elders of the Quraysh, Muĥammad has levelled a heavy blow on you and killed a number of the best people among you. Help us to fight him by donating this money to the war effort. This may enable us to secure revenge against him. All of them agreed. It is in comment on their action that God revealed this Qur’ānic verse: “The unbelievers spend their riches in order to turn people away from the path of God. They will go on spending them, and then this will become a source of intense regret for them; and then they shall be defeated.” (Verse 36)

What happened before and after Badr was only an example of this continuous effort by the enemies of this faith. They spend their money, concentrate their efforts and use all their ability to turn people away from the path of God. They set up obstacles to impede the progress of this religion and to suppress the Muslim community everywhere and at all times.

This war against Islam will not cease. Hostile forces will not leave this religion of Islam alone. They will not allow its advocates any time of peace and security. Hence, the method of this religion is to move forward to attack jāhiliyyah. It is the duty of its advocates to take pre-emptive measures to smash the ability of jāhiliyyah to wage aggression, and then to raise God’s banner high, immune from attacks by its enemies.

God warns those unbelievers who spend their money to turn people away from His path that they will come to rue their actions. They allocate their resources for a futile purpose. They will eventually be defeated and the truth will be triumphant.

They will suffer the fate of hell, where they will taste the greatest regret. All this has the purpose outlined in the following statement: “God will separate the bad from the good. The bad He will place one upon another, so He may heap them all up together, and then cast them into hell. Those indeed are the losers.” (Verse 37) But how will this come about?

The sūrah now addresses the believers: “Fight them until there is no more oppression, and all submission is made to God alone. If they desist, God is certainly aware of all they do.

But if they turn away, know that God is your Lord Supreme. How splendid is this Lord Supreme, and how splendid is this giver of support.” (Verses 39-40)

This is the purpose and the limit of jihād, or struggle for God’s cause, not only at a particular period in time, but at all times. The statements related to jihād and the laws of war and peace in this sūrah are not the final ones. The final version is that included in Sūrah 9, Repentance, or al-Tawbah. On the other hand, Islam is a positive movement which deals with human situations employing means that are suitable for different situations. Moreover, it is a well structured movement that uses fitting means and methods for every stage. Nevertheless, we have here a statement that lays down a permanent principle that defines the objectives of the confrontation between Islam and un-Islamic social set-ups. This is embodied in the verse which says: “Fight them until there is no more oppression, and all submission is made to God alone.” (Verse 39)

In our Prologue to this sūrah we mentioned that Islam is a general declaration of the liberation of man on earth from subjugation to other creatures, including his own desires, through the acknowledgement of God’s Lordship over the universe and all creation. We also pointed out that this declaration signifies a total revolution against assigning sovereignty to human beings, whatever forms, systems and situations such sovereignty may take. There are two essential prerequisites for the achievement of this great goal. The first is to put an end to all oppression and persecution which targets the followers of this religion who declare their own liberation from human sovereignty and submit themselves to God alone. This cannot take place unless a community of believers establish their own movement and their own leadership that tries to put this general declaration into practice. This movement will be ready to continue its struggle against every tyrant who persecutes the followers of this religion or uses force, pressure and oppression to turn people away from it.

The second prerequisite is the destruction of every force that is established on the basis of submission to human beings, in any shape or form. This will guarantee the achievement of the first goal and put into effect the declaration that all Godhead and Lordship on earth belong to God alone. Thus, there will be no submission to anyone other than God and no authority except His. We are talking here about submission to God’s authority, not merely believing in Him.

We need to add here a point of clarification, because some people may feel uneasy about what we say, particularly in the light of the Qur’ānic verse: “There shall be no compulsion in [matters of] religion. The right way is henceforth distinct from error.” (2: 256)