Our fifth and final stop is with chapter 9 of the Qur’an. Its revelation took place in the 9^th year A.H., 14 months after retrieving Makkah from pagans. It includes several verses that speak about fighting. Allah says:

“This is a declaration of immunity from Allah and His Messenger to the polytheists, with whom you had made agreements: Travel in the land (i.e. Makkah) for four months, but know that you cannot frustrate the plan of Allah and that Allah will surely disgrace those who deny the truth. This is a proclamation from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the Pilgrimage, that Allah repudiates the polytheists, and so does His Messenger. If you repent, it will be better for you, but if you turn away, then know that you cannot frustrate Allah’s plan. Announce a grievous punishment to those who are bent on denying the truth. As for those who have honored the treaty you made with them and who have not supported anyone against you: fulfill your agreement with them to the end of their term. Allah loves those who are righteous. When the sacred months have passed, kill the polytheists [who are at war with you] wherever you find them. Take them as captives, and besiege them, and wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, and take to prayer regularly and pay the alms, then let them go their way. Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. If any one of the polytheists seeks refuge with you, grant him your refuge so that he may hear the words of Allah, then accompany him to his place of safety. That is because they are people who have no knowledge. How can the polytheists have a pact with Allah and His Messenger, except for those with whom you entered into a treaty at the Sacred Mosque? As long as they act uprightly towards you, act uprightly towards them. Allah loves those who are righteous. How [can there be a pact] while if they get the upper hand over you, they will respect neither kinship nor pact. They [try to] please you with their tongues but their hearts reject you, most of them are perfidious. They have sold Allah’s revelations for a paltry price, and barred others from His path. How evil is what they have been doing! Where believers are concerned, they respect no tie of kinship or pact. They are people who transgress the limits. If they repent and keep up their prayers and pay the alms, then they are your brethren in faith. We make Our messages clear for people who are willing to learn. But if they break their oath after pledging it and revile your religion, then fight the leaders of unbelief, for they have no regard for their oaths, may they then desist. Will you not fight against those who have broken their oaths and conspired to banish the Messenger? They were the first to attack you. Do you fear them? Surely Allah is more deserving of your fear, if you are true believers. Fight them: Allah will punish them at your hands, and will disgrace them. He will grant you victory over them and heal the hearts of the faithful, He will remove the rage from their hearts. Allah will turn in His mercy to whom He wills. Allah is All Knowing and Most Wise. Do you [O believers] think that you will be spared before Allah identifies which of you have struggled and did not take anyone for friends and protectors except Him, His Messenger, and the believers? Allah is fully aware of all your actions. It is not right that polytheists maintain [polytheistic worships] at Allah’s worship places while they confess that they are unbelievers. It is they whose works shall come to nothing and they shall abide in Hell.” [The Qur’an (9:1-17)]

After retrieving Makkah, the remaining pagan Arab tribes who were allies with Quraish realized that Muslims were becoming stronger day after day, so they decided to direct a fatal blow to Muslims. They unified their leadership and rode out to attack Muslims in Makkah. When the news reached the prophet, he rode out to meet that army away from the sacred city. At a place called Hunain the two armies met and Muslims were granted victory after a fierce battle. Later on, Muslim emissaries were dispatched all over Arabia calling all Arabs to Islam and explaining to them its teachings. The news of Islam pervading Makkah and gaining a wider base in the sacred city made many Arabs incline towards accepting it. The news of this victory was conveyed to the Roman leadership and their native allies in Sham, consequently, they decided to attack Hejaz and started preparing a huge army to invade Arabia.

News about the Roman preparations reached the prophet and his companions. The Nabatean merchants coming from Sham, brought news of the Roman preparations, they informed their Arab brethren in Madinah that the native Ghassanide tribes in Sham have decided to join Heraclius’s army as well and that the Roman army comprised more than 40,000 soldiers. ‘Omar Ibn Al-Khattab narrated this incident to some of his companions later on saying: “I used to take turn in attending the prophet’s assembly with one of my friends, later on each one of us informed the other about what happened during his absence. We both lived near the borders of Madinah, so we used to call on the Prophet alternatively during that time of suspense. Then one day, my friend came knocking at my door hysterically saying: ‘Open up! Open up!’ I hurried to open the door and asked wondering: ‘What’s the matter? Has the Ghassanides come?’ But my friend said: ‘No it is more serious than that. The prophet has divorced his wives!’.” [Authenticated by Bukhari]

Without indulging into the story of the prophet and his wives for this is not the place for it, this narration reports to us the state of alertness and anxiety Muslims were living under during these days. Moreover, the hypocrites were conspiring with the enemy to stab their Muslim fellow citizens in their back during the invasion. Based on the previous, the prophet decided to ride out towards the borders and meet the Roman army there in order to protect the country and the sacred places from any invasion.

It was summer and the long trip to the north without taking enough provisions and water could have killed most of the soldiers. Preparing an army fit to meet the Romans at that time was an extremely hard task, this is why Muslims called this army “The arduous-times army.” When the news of the Muslim army reached the Romans, they realized that their scheme was smitten in its cradle, now they won’t be able to besiege the Muslims inside their cities, the hypocrites who stayed behind won’t be able to help them anymore, the open land would give Muslims the opportunity to drag the Romans deep into the Arabian desert which may cause the Roman army to perish, this meant that the Arabs can then invade Sham so easily without any difficulty. Consequently, Heraclius called his army to quarters.

Although the two armies never met in the battle field, this incident landed so heavily on the hopes of the hypocrites and their allies. The group of hypocrites who refused to ride out with the prophet was now known to all Muslims and their schemes were scandalized. The chief of the hypocrites ‘Abdullah Ibn Salul died out of depression and spite. More pagans in Arabia and the surrounding kingdoms were amazed by the huge triumphs Muslims were achieving one after another and started wondering: are these victorious gallants the same ones who started out as a few bunch of slaves and shepherds, and were tortured and starved in Makkah 20 years ago!

This incident took place in the second half of the 9^th year A.H. After the Muslim army returned to Madinah, some Muslims expressed their will to perform pilgrimage. The prophet P.B.U.H. told them to prepare themselves and he dispatched Abu-Bakr as the leader of the pilgrims’ delegation. After the delegation left Madinah, the prophet received the above verses. The verses were addressing the Arab tribes who have betrayed their peace pact with the prophet. They are ordering Muslims to announce to those people that they can travel to Makkah freely for another four months, after this period, let them know that they shall be dealt with as hostile enemies, if they try to approach Makkah, then they expose themselves to be killed on spot, they shall find Muslims guarding every entrance to the sacred city, they shall besiege and capture whomever they find lurking to approach the sacred city.

The verses order the Muslims not to harm those who embrace Islam from among the treacherous tribes. This is because Islam teaches that embracing it wipes away all past sins no matter how grievous they were. This is why Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H. said: “I was ordered to fight the people until they bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that I’m His messenger, and until they perform the prayers and pay the Zakah, if they do so, then they will have gained protection against me for their lives and property, unless they do acts that are punishable in accordance with Islam, and their reckoning will be with Allah the Almighty.” [Recorded by Bukhari and Muslim] Unlike what some Muslims understand from this tradition, the expression “the people” is not indefinite, it’s referring to the treacherous Arab tribes and the Makkan pagans who have betrayed their pact before. They all used to perform pilgrimage to Makkah and practice their invented polytheistic rituals. The above verses are speaking about them. This is why, after those people embraced Islam in multitudes, Prophet Muhammad received the chapter that says: “When Allah’s help and victory has come, and you see the people entering Allah’s religion in multitudes then glorify your Lord with His praise and seek His forgiveness. He always accepts repentance.” [The Qur’an (110)]. “The people” referred to in the mentioned tradition and those verses are the same sect intended.

As for the pagans who didn’t betray their pact with the prophet, the verses order Muslims to fulfill their agreement with them. The verses also order Muslims that if any pagan from among the treacherous tribes seeks the refuge of a Muslim, the Muslim should grant it to him and help him return to his homeland, maybe on hearing the recital of the Qur’an, he will think and rectify his idea about Islam.

Then the verses continue dispraising the treacherous attitude of these tribes and ordering Muslims not to show them any leniency. They had betrayed their pact, they prepared a massive attack on Makkah, they don’t respect the sanctity of the mosque built by their great grandfather Abraham, they banished the prophet and tried to kill him, and they respect neither a covenant nor a pledge. The verses ask Muslims in disapproval to their lenient attitude: “Will you not fight against those who have broken their oaths and conspired to banish the Messenger? They were the first to attack you. Do you fear them? Surely Allah is more deserving of your fear, if you are true believers.”

The polytheists used to worship idols thinking that they can bring them closer to the Creator. The verses came ordering Muslims to prevent any polytheistic acts of worship inside Makkah after the time limit specified. No polytheist who worships idols, seeks any kind of intermediacy between himself and his Lord, or associates partners to Allah should be allowed after this period to enter Makkah. The sacred city was originally established by Prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael as a grand house dedicated for worshipping Allah alone and it has once again returned to be so. Later on in the same chapter, Allah describes the polytheistic acts to be sacrilegious saying: “O Believers, know that the polytheists are sacrilegious so they should not approach the Sacred Mosque after this year onwards. If you should fear destitution, Allah will enrich you out of His bounty, if He so wishes. Allah is All-aware and Most-wise.” [The Qur’an (9:28)]

On receiving these verses, the prophet P.B.U.H. ordered his cousin ‘Ali Ibn Abi-Taleb to travel to Makkah and recite these verses in all of the pilgrimage locations where people gather and deliver the message to them all. ‘Ali caught up with Abu-Bakr, recited the verses to him, and told him of the prophet’s orders which they both carried out precisely. Through these verses, polytheism was abolished from Makkah once and for all till the end of time, and as the Arabs once before followed the Makkans in taking idols for worship besides Allah, again they followed them in returning to the pure creed of Abraham P.B.U.H. and worshipping Allah alone.

The above verses of chapter 9 hold the following injunctions:

1. Fight against the polytheists who try to attack Makkah and occupy it again.
2. Fight against those who betray their peace pacts and break their pledges.
3. Fulfill your pacts with those who deal with you in an upright manner and respect their pacts.
4. Grant your refuge to noncombatant enemies who seek it and accompany them to their place of safety.
5. Do not allow any sort of Polytheism to be practiced inside Makkah again.
6. If any pagan from among those who committed treason embraced Islam, do not harm him, for embracing Islam abolishes all previous sins.

In order to fully understand, kindly read my previous posts:
Roots of “JIHAD” Part I        Roots of “JIHAD” Part II       Roots of “JIHAD” Part III
Roots of “JIHAD” Part IV     Roots of “JIHAD” Part V       Roots of “JIHAD” Part VI
Roots of “JIHAD” Part VII

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Written By: Ehab Shawky