8. Al-Anfaal

And know that whatever spoils you have taken you have seized from the disbelievers by force the fifth of it is for God to have it dispensed as He will and for the Messenger and for the kinsmen the kinsmen of the Prophet s from among the Banū Hāshim and the Banū ‘Abd al-Muttalib and the orphans children of Muslims those whose fathers have passed away and are in poverty and the needy those Muslims in dire need and the traveller those Muslims cut off during travel — in other words it the fifth is due to the Prophet s and those of these four categories in the way that he used to apportion it a fifth of the fifth for each one and the remaining four fifths for those who had captured the spoils if you believe in God then be aware of that and that which wa-mā is a supplement to bi’Llāhi ‘in God’ We sent down upon Our servant Muhammad (s) in the way of angels and signs on the Day of Discrimination that is the day of the battle of Badr which discriminated between truth and falsehood the day the two armies the Muslims and the believers met. And God has power over all things including giving you victory despite your being few and their being greater in number.

When idh substitutes for yawma ‘the day’ you were on the nearer bank the one nearer to Medina read ‘udwa or ‘idwa meaning ‘the side of a valley’ and they were on the yonder bank the one further from it and the cavalcade the caravan was in a place below you the coastal side; and had you and the enemy band agreed to meet for battle you would have surely failed to keep meeting; but He brought you together at a different time that God might conclude a matter that was to be done through His knowledge — namely the victory of Islam and the obliteration of unbelief — He did this so that he who perished might perish might be a disbeliever even after a clear proof that is after a manifest proof has been established against him namely the triumph of the believers despite their small number over the larger enemy army; and that he who survived might live might believe after a clear proof; surely God is Hearing Knowing.

Remember when God showed them to you in your dream in your sleep as few and so you informed your companions of this and they were delighted and had He shown them to you as many you would have faltered shrunk in cowardice and quarrelled fallen into disagreement over the matter the matter of fighting; but God saved you from faltering and quarrelling. He knows that which is in the breasts that which is in the hearts.

And when God made you see them O believers when you met — in your eyes as few as 70 or 100 when they were in fact 1000 so that you would advance against them; and He made you seem as few in their eyes so that they would advance and not turn back from fighting you — this was before close combat had begun but when it began He made them the disbelievers see these believers as twice their number as stated in sūrat Āl ‘Imrān Q. 313 — so that God might conclude a matter that was to be done; and to God all things are returned reverting.

O you who believe when you meet a host a group of disbelievers then stand firm to fight them and do not flee in retreat and remember God much call upon Him for victory that you may succeed that you may triumph.

And obey God and His Messenger and do not quarrel with one another do not fall into dispute with one another lest you falter become cowardly and your strength your power and dominion fade; and be patient. Surely God is with the patient giving them victory and assistance.

And mention that Satan Iblīs adorned their deeds for them by encouraging them to go to meet the Muslims when they had feared to set out on account of their enemy the Banū Bakr and said to them ‘Today no person shall overcome you for I shall be your protector’ from among the Banū Kināna — he appeared to them in the form of Surāqa b. Mālik the chieftain of that region. But when the two armies the Muslims and the disbelievers sighted each other when they met and he Satan saw the angels his hand clasping that of al-Hārith b. Hishām he turned his back he withdrew in flight saying — when they had said to him ‘Are you abandoning us in such a predicament?’ ‘I am quit of you of being your protector for I see what you do not see in the way of angels. I fear God lest He destroy me; and God is severe in retribution’.

When the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is a sickness a weakness of faith said ‘Their religion has deluded them’ that is the Muslims for they had set out to fight a large army despite their small number in the mistaken belief that they will be victorious because of this. God exalted be He says in response to them but whoever relies on God whoever puts his trust in Him he will triumph; for truly God is Mighty His way will prevail Wise in His actions.

And if you could only see O Muhammad (s) when the angels take read either as yatawaffā or tatawaffā the disbelievers beating yadribūna is a circumstantial qualifier their faces and their backs with hooked iron rods and they say to them ‘Taste the chastisement of burning that is the Fire the response to the clause beginning with law ‘if’ would be la-ra’ayta amran ‘azīman ‘you would truly have seen an terrible sight’.